Caspases, a family of aspartate-specific cysteine proteases, play a major role in apoptosis and a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Fourteen mammalian caspases have been identified and can be divided into two groups: inflammatory caspases and apoptotic caspases. Based on the structure and function, the apoptotic caspases are further grouped into initiator/apical caspases (cas...

CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells (Treg) play a crucial role in the regulation of immune responses. Although many mechanisms of Treg suppression in vitro have been described, the mechanisms by which Treg modulate CD8(+) T cell differentiation and effector function in vivo are more poorly defined. It has been proposed, in many instances, that modulation of cytokine homeostasis could be an importa...

Primary immune responses generate short-term effectors and long-term protective memory cells. The delineation of the genealogy linking naive, effector, and memory cells has been complicated by the lack of phenotypes discriminating effector from memory differentiation stages. Using transcriptomics and phenotypic analyses, we identify Bcl2 and Mki67 as a marker combination that enables the tracki...

Pathogen-associated secretion systems translocate numerous effector proteins into eukaryotic host cells to coordinate cellular processes important for infection. Spatiotemporal regulation is therefore important for modulating distinct activities of effectors at different stages of infection. Here we provide the first evidence of "metaeffector," a designation for an effector protein that regulat...

In this paper, we present a study on modular end effector systems. As the available services of robots grow, robots need to carry out different tasks for various purposes. To carry out these tasks in different environments, flexibility and reusability of the robot system are the most important factors. Therefore, in this study we consider the three following conditions. First, the size of the e...

CD8 T cells play a critical role in protection against viral infections. During effector differentiation, CD8 T cells dramatically change chromatin structure and cellular metabolism, but how energy production increases in response to these epigenetic changes is unknown. We found that loss of basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ATF-like (BATF) inhibited effector CD8 T-cell differentiation...

Oomycetes form a phylogenetically distinct group of eukaryotic microorganisms that include some the most notorious pathogens plants and animals. Through deployment remarkably diverse array effector proteins, oomycete succeed to overcome host defences cause infection. Effectors can operate extracellularly or enter living cells where they target subcellular compartments. Genome sequence informati...

Effector cells in delayed hypersensitivity and in vitro cytotoxicity were studied in lymph node cells from animals immunized with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) in complete Freund's adjuvant. Delayed hypersensitivity response (DHR) was assayed by the increase in foot pad swelling after the intrafoot pad injection of immune cells plus antigen. Cell-mediated cytotoxicity against SRBC was assayed by a ...

Diverse gram-negative bacteria deliver effector proteins into the cells of their eukaryotic hosts using the type III secretion system. Collectively, these type III effector proteins function to optimize the host cell environment for bacterial growth. Type III effector proteins are essential for the virulence of Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas spp., Ralstonia solanacearum and Erwinia species. ...

The Guard Model for disease resistance postulates that plant resistance proteins act by monitoring (guarding) the target of their corresponding pathogen effector. We posit, however, that guarded effector targets are evolutionarily unstable in plant populations polymorphic for resistance (R) genes. Depending on the absence or presence of the R gene, guarded effector targets are subject to opposi...