Elucidating the mechanisms that underlie metastasis is of paramount importance to understanding tumor progression and to the development of novel therapeutics. Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) plays a vital role in tumor cell dissemination and is regulated by a core cassette of transcription factors. Despite recent advances, the molecular pathways that regulate the EMT program have no...

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 overlapped with the spawning of many pelagic fish species in the Gulf of Mexico, including mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) released during the spill have been shown to cause photo-induced toxicity under ultraviolet (UV) radiation. In the present study, mahi-mahi embryos were exposed to high-energy water accommodate...

Cardiovascular performance is altered by temperature in larval fishes, but how acute versus chronic temperature exposures independently affect cardiac morphology and physiology in the growing larva is poorly understood. Consequently, we investigated the influence of water temperature on cardiac plasticity in developing mahi-mahi. Morphological (e.g. standard length, heart angle) and physiologic...

Siah2 is a zebrafish homologue of mammalian Siah family. Siah acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase that binds proteins destined for degradation. Extensive homology between siah and Drosophila Siah homologue (sina) suggests their important physiological roles during embryonic development. However, detailed functional studies of Siah in vertebrate development have not been carried out. Here we report t...

Beta-catenin is a key component of the Wnt signaling pathway that functions as a transcriptional co-activator of Wnt target genes. Upon UV-induced DNA damage, beta-catenin is recruited for polyubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation by a unique, p53-induced SCF-like complex (SCF(TBL1)), comprised of Siah-1, Siah-1-interacting protein (SIP), Skp1, transducin beta-like 1 (TBL1), and...

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS and acts on both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). The mGluRs are widely distributed in the CNS and modulate a variety of neuronal processes, including neurotransmitter release and ion channel function. In hippocampus and cortex, mGluR5 is highly expressed and plays an important role in the regulatio...

The Siah (seven in absentia homolog) family of RING-domain proteins are components of ubiquitin ligase complexes, targeting proteins for proteasomal degradation. Siah family members have been reported to function in Ras, estrogen, DNA-damage, and hypoxia response pathways. Although earlier reports implicated Siah proteins as tumor suppressors, recent studies in mouse models have shown that Siah...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common worldwide malignancy with high morbidity and mortality. Hepatitis B viral (HBV)-encoded X protein (HBx) and natural HBx variants play important roles in HBV-associated HCC development. HBx is an unstable protein that can be degraded in vivo. Our previous study found that the E3 ubiquitin ligase Siah-1 could target HBx for poly-ubiquitylation and protea...

The Drosophila seven in absentia (sina) gene is required for R7 photoreceptor cell formation during Drosophila eye development, where it functions within the Ras/Raf pathway and targets other proteins for degradation via associations with a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme. Recently, a mammalian sina homologue was reported to be a p53-inducible gene in a myeloid leukemia cell line. To explore the f...

The impacts of Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil on morphology and function during embryonic development have been documented for a number of fish species, including the economically and ecologically important pelagic species, mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). However, further investigations on molecular events and pathways responsible for developmental toxicity have been largely restricted due to the...