Conditional mutant mice equipped with heterologous recombination systems (Cre/lox or Flp/frt) are promising for studying tissue-specific gene function and for designing better models of human diseases. The utility of these mice depends on the cell target specificity, on the efficiency and on the control over timing of gene (in)activation. We have explored the utility of adenoviral vectors and t...

Previous work has shown that the katX gene encodes the major catalase in dormant spores of Bacillus subtilis but that this enzyme has no role in dormant spore resistance to hydrogen peroxide. Expression of a katX-lacZ fusion began at approximately h 2 of sporulation, and >75% of the katX-driven b-galactosidase was packaged into the mature spore. A mutation in the gene coding for the sporulation...

In Escherichia coli, the gcvB gene encodes a small non-translated RNA that regulates several genes involved in transport of amino acids and peptides (including sstT, oppA and dppA). Microarray analysis identified cycA as an additional regulatory target of GcvB. The cycA gene encodes a permease for the transport of glycine, d-alanine, d-serine and d-cycloserine. RT-PCR confirmed that GcvB and th...

BACKGROUND Gene therapy stimulating the growth of blood vessels is considered for the treatment of peripheral and myocardial ischemia. Here we aimed to achieve angiogenic synergism between vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A, VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) in murine normoperfused and ischemic limb muscles. METHODS Adeno-associated viral vectors (AAVs) carrying β-galactos...

The gpr gene, which codes for the protease that initiates degradation of small, acid-soluble proteins during spore germination, has been cloned from Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus subtilis, and its nucleotide sequence has been determined. Use of a translational gpr-lacZ fusion showed that the B. subtilis gpr gene was expressed primarily, if not exclusively, in the forespore compartment of the...

Expression of the Escherichia coli cadBA operon, encoding functions required for the conversion of lysine to cadaverine and for cadaverine excretion, requires at least two extracellular signals: low pH and a high concentration of lysine. To better understand the nature of the lysine-dependent signal, mutants were isolated which expressed a cadA-lacZ transcription fusion in the absence of lysine...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) gene expression in squamous epithelia is differentiation dependent in benign patient lesions and in organotypic raft cultures of primary human keratinocytes (PHKs). Using the lacZ reporter in raft cultures, we previously showed that this transcriptional regulation of the HPV type 11 (HPV-11) enhancer-promoter located in the upstream regulatory region (URR) appears to ...

Gene transfer into nervous tissue is a powerful tool for the analysis of gene function. By using a rat hippocampal slice culture preparation, we show here that Semliki Forest virus (SFV) and Sindbis virus (SIN) vectors are useful for the effective infection of neurons. The stratum pyramidale and/or the granular cell layer were injected with recombinant virus encoding beta-galactosidase (LacZ) o...

An artificial small RNA (afsRNA) scaffold was designed from an Escherichia coli sRNA, SibC. Using the lacZ reporter system, the gene silencing effects of afsRNAs were examined to explore the sRNA-mediated gene-silencing mechanisms in E. coli. Substitution of the original target recognition sequence with a new sequence recognizing lacZ mRNA led to effective reduction of lacZ gene expression. Sin...

The paired-related homeobox gene, prx-1, is expressed in the postmigratory cranial mesenchyme of all facial prominences and is required for the formation of proximal first arch derivatives. We introduced lacZ into the prx-1 locus to study the developmental fate of cells destined to express prx-1 in the prx-1 mutant background. lacZ was normally expressed in prx-1(neo); prx-1(lacZ )mutant cranio...