Expression of metallothionein (MT) genes is regulated by heavy metals mainly at the transcriptional level, via cis-acting elements called the metal-responsive elements (MREs). A HeLa cell nuclear factor that recognizes MREs of the human MTIIA (hMTIIA) gene, MREBP, was characterized. Mobility shift assay and DNase I footprinting experiments showed that MREBP binds specifically to several MREs pr...

L-mimosine is a naturally occurring plant amino acid and iron chelator that arrests the cell cycle in the late G(1) phase, although its mechanism of action is not known. Some studies indicate that mimosine prevents the initiation of DNA replication, whereas other studies indicate that mimosine disrupts elongation of the replication fork by impairing deoxyribonucleotide synthesis by inhibiting t...

Commensal microbes, whether they are beneficial or pathogenic, are sensitive to host processes that starve or swamp the prokaryote with large fluctuations in local zinc concentration. To understand how microorganisms coordinate a dynamic response to changes in zinc availability at the molecular level, we evaluated the molecular mechanism of the zinc-sensing zinc uptake regulator (Zur) protein a...

Zinc plays a critical role in many biological processes. However, it is toxic at high concentrations and its homeostasis is strictly regulated by metal-responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1) together with many other proteins to protect cells against metal toxicity and oxidative stresses. In this paper, we used high-resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) to profile global change...

Stress associated proteins (SAPs) are the A20/AN1 zinc-finger containing proteins which can regulate the stress signaling in plants. The rice SAP protein, OsSAP1 has been shown to confer abiotic stress tolerance to plants, when overexpressed, by modulating the expression of endogenous stress-related genes. To further understand the mechanism of OsSAP1-mediated stress signaling, OsSAP1 interacti...

Hydrogel electrolytes, which feature intriguing characteristics of being soft and wet, accompanied with high solubility zinc salts, are especially advantageous for fabricating flexible Zn-based batteries. Furthermore, the abundant tunable chemistries hydrogels offer opportunities to bestow novel affiliated functionalities, such as super toughness, extreme temperature tolerance, stimuli-responsi...

Abiotic stress negatively affects the yield of many crops. The SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein-like proteins (SBPs) represent a family plant-specific transcription factors which play essential roles in plant growth, development, and responsiveness. In this study, 18 putative SBPs (PgSBPs) were identified genome pearl millet on basis SBP domain. One or two zinc finger-like structure(s) nuclear...