The Caenorhabditis elegans heterochronic gene lin-14 specifies the temporal sequence of postembryonic developmental events. lin-14, which encodes differentially spliced LIN-14A and LIN-14B1/B2 protein isoforms, acts at distinct times during the first larval stage to specify first and second larval stage-specific cell lineages. Proposed models for the molecular basis of these two lin-14 gene act...

Abstract Sarcopenia, characterized by reduced muscle mass and fiber number leading to muscular atrophy, has been associated with serious socioeconomic challenges among the elderly in developed countries. Therefore, preventing sarcopenia could be a promising strategy for achieving healthy aging society. Nutmeg ( Myristica fragrans ) used as spice increase flavor prevent putrefaction of food. con...

The precise factors involved in the transition of the relaxed pregnant uterus to the contractile state at the onset of parturition remain unclear, but it is accepted that cAMP-generating pathways contribute to uterine relaxation. We have previously reported an increased expression of the adenylyl cyclase (AC)-stimulating protein Galphas in human myometrium during gestation, with a corresponding...

Dramatic structural changes in microtubules (MT) and the assembly of complicated intercellular connections are seen during the development of the cellular matrix of the sense organ for hearing, the organ of Corti. This report examines the expression of marshalin, a minus-end binding protein, during this process of cochlear development. We discovered that marshalin is abundantly expressed in bot...

background: hla-g gene contains 15 alleles including a null allele, hla-g*0105n. previous studies have shown that hla-g*0105n does not encode the complete hla-g1 or hla-g5 isoforms but encodes a functional hla-g protein with the ability to in-hibit nk cell cytolysis. thus, although the biological functions of hla-g1 and hla-g5 proteins are abrogated, other isoforms such as hla-g2 can replace th...

Neuronal cell fate decisions are directed in Drosophila by NUMB, a signaling adapter protein with two protein-protein interaction domains: a phosphotyrosine-binding domain and a proline-rich region (PRR) that functions as an SH3-binding domain. Here we show that there are at least four human NUMB isoforms and that these serve two distinct developmental functions in the neuronal lineage: differe...

Advances in high-throughput mass spectrometry are making proteomics an increasingly important tool in genome annotation projects. Peptides detected in mass spectrometry experiments can be used to validate gene models and verify the translation of putative coding sequences (CDSs). Here, we have identified peptides that cover 35% of the genes annotated by the GENCODE consortium for the human geno...

It was previously shown that ALA1, the only alanyl-tRNA synthetase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, codes for two functionally exclusive protein isoforms through alternative initiation at two consecutive ACG codons and an in-frame downstream AUG. We reported here the cloning and characterization of a homologous gene from Candida albicans. Functional assays show that this gene can substitute fo...

UNLABELLED Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a betaherpesvirus, persists indefinitely in the human host through poorly understood mechanisms. The UL136 gene is carried within a genetic locus important to HCMV latency termed the UL133/8 locus, which also carries UL133, UL135, and UL138. Previously, we demonstrated that UL136 is expressed as five protein isoforms ranging from 33-kDa to 19-kDa, arisin...

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGF-A) can be generated as multiple isoforms by alternative splicing. Two families of isoforms have been described in humans, pro-angiogenic isoforms typified by VEGF-A165a, and anti-angiogenic isoforms typified by VEGF-A165b. The practical determination of expression levels of alternative isoforms of the same gene may be complicated by experimental protoc...