Lowe syndrome, also known as oculocerebrorenal syndrome, is caused by mutations in the X chromosome-encoded OCRL gene. The OCRL protein is 51% identical to inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase II (5-phosphatase II) from human platelets over a span of 744 aa, suggesting that OCRL may be a similar enzyme. We engineered a construct of the OCRL cDNA that encodes amino acids homologous to the platel...

4-(Dimethylamino)-N-(4-(4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl)butyl)benzamide (WC-10), a N-phenyl piperazine analog, displays high affinity and moderate selectivity for dopamine D3 receptors versus dopamine D2 receptors (Chu et al. [2005] Bioorg Med Chem 13:77–87). In this study, WC-10 was radiolabeled with tritium (specific activity 5 80 Ci/mmol), and quantitative autoradiography studies were cond...

Diamides, such as flubendiamide and chlorantraniliprole, belong to a new chemical class of insecticides that act as conformation-sensitive activators of insect ryanodine receptors (RyRs). Both compounds are registered for use against lepidopteran species such as the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, a notorious global pest of cruciferous crops. Recently acquired resistance to diamide insec...

Pseudomonas taiwanensis is a broad-host-range entomopathogenic bacterium that exhibits insecticidal activity toward agricultural pests Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera exigua, Spodoptera litura, Trichoplusia ni and Drosophila melanogaster. Oral infection with different concentrations (OD = 0.5 to 2) of wild-type P. taiwanensis resulted in insect mortality rates that were not significantly differ...

Bluetongue virus (BTV) and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) are orbiviruses that infect both livestock and wild ruminants. Antigenic cross-reactivity between BTV and EHDV often results in serologic misdiagnosis. Competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (c-ELISAs) show increased sensitivity and specificity for the identification of these viral diseases; however, the preparation o...

Genetic screens in Drosophila have identified p50(cdc37) to be an essential component of the sevenless receptor/mitogen-activated kinase protein (MAPK) signaling pathway, but neither the function nor the target of p50(cdc37) in this pathway has been defined. In this study, we examined the role of p50(cdc37) and its Hsp90 chaperone partner in Raf/Mek/MAPK signaling biochemically. We found that c...

The URF13 protein, which is encoded by the mitochondrial gene T-urf13, is responsible for cytoplasmic male sterility and pathotoxin sensitivity in the Texas male-sterile cytoplasm (cms-T) of maize. Mitochondrial sensitivity to two host-specific fungal toxins (T toxins) is mediated by the interaction of URF13 and T toxins to form pores in the inner mitochondrial membrane. A carbamate insecticide...

BACKGROUND VP4 protein is as spikes on rotavirus outer capsid shell which is responsible for virus attachment to the host. VP4 induces production of neutralizing antibodies which could be used for serotyping of different isolates. METHODS Simian rotavirus SA11 gene 4 cDNA was cloned into a cloning plasmid pDONRTM by recombination reaction using clonase II enzyme mix. The resulting clone was c...

The P2X7 receptor is an extracellular ATP-gated ion channel found only in eukaryotes (Bartlett et al., 2014). Due to its unique properties among P2X receptors, such as formation of a large conductance pore, the P2X7 receptor has been implicated in devastating diseases like chronic pain (North and Jarvis, 2013). However, mechanisms underlying the P2X7 specific properties remain poorly understood...

Several mammalian viruses have been shown to induce a cellular DNA damage response during replication, and in some cases, this response is required for optimal virus replication. However, nothing is known about whether a DNA damage response is stimulated by DNA viruses in invertebrates. Cell cycle arrest and apoptosis are two of the downstream effects of the DNA damage response, and both are st...