Vasa is a broadly conserved DEAD-box RNA helicase associated with germ line development and is expressed in multipotent cells in many animals. During embryonic development of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Vasa protein is enriched in the small micromeres despite a uniform distribution of vasa transcript. Here we show that the Vasa coding region is sufficient for its selective enr...

Oligofructans represent one of the most important groups of sucrose-derived water-soluble carbohydrates in the plant kingdom. In cereals, oligofructans accumulate in above ground parts of the plants (stems, leaves, seeds) and their biosynthesis leads to the formation of both types of glycosidic linkages [β(2,1); β(2,6)-fructans] or mixed patterns. In recent studies, tissue- and development- spe...

To investigate the role of 3' end formation in yeast mRNA export, we replaced the mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation signal with a self-cleaving hammerhead ribozyme element. The resulting RNA is unadenylated and accumulates near its site of synthesis. Nonetheless, a significant fraction of this RNA reaches the cytoplasm. Nuclear accumulation was relieved by insertion of a stretch of DNA-encoded ...

Cross-amplification of five Arabidopsis abiotic stress-responsive genes (AtPAP, ZFAN, Vn, LC4 and SNS) in Lepidium has been documented in plants raised out of seeds pre-treated with potassium nitrate (KNO 3) for assessment of enhanced drought stress tolerance. cDNA was synthesized from Lepidium plants pre-treated with KNO 3 (0.1% and 0.3%) and exposed to drought conditions (5% and 15% PEG) at s...

Light is among the most important exogenous factors that regulate plant development. To sense light quality, intensity, direction, and duration, plants have evolved multiple photoreceptors that enable the detection of photons from the ultraviolet B (UV-B) to the far-red spectrum. To study the effect of different light qualities on early gene expression, dark-grown Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thali...

Mutant alleles of two genetic regulatory elements, which underlie a three- to sixfold reduction in beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity levels, distinguish mice of the H haplotype from those of the other two common GUS haplotypes, A and B. Both elements are tightly linked to the GUS structural gene over which they exert control. One (Gus-u) exerts a cis-active effect upon GUS activity levels in al...

Metallothioneins are cysteine-rich metal-binding proteins. In the present study, SaMT2, a type 2 metallothionein gene, was isolated from Cd/Zn co-hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii Hance. SaMT2 encodes a putative peptide of 79 amino acid residues including two cysteine-rich domains. The transcript level of SaMT2 was higher in shoots than in roots of S. alfredii, and was significantly induced by Cd...

The ability to store fat in the form of cytoplasmic triglyceride droplets is conserved from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to humans. Although much is known regarding the composition and catabolism of lipid droplets, the molecular components necessary for the biogenesis of lipid droplets have remained obscure. Here we report the characterization of a conserved gene family important for lipid droplet ...

Lytic infection by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is associated with an extensive shutoff of host gene expression, mediated chiefly by accelerated mRNA turnover due to expression of the viral SOX protein. We have previously identified a small number of host mRNAs that can escape SOX-mediated degradation. Here we present a detailed, transcriptome-wide analysis of host shutoff, wi...