A total of 120 Iberian pigs of the Lampiña line that grew under outdoor conditions were used to study the effect of the age at the beginning of Montanera period (AM) on meat characteristics and fatty acid (FA) profile of subcutaneous fat. AM period is a free-range fattening phase from November to February in which pigs ate mainly acorns and grass. There were two treatments with two AM (20 pigs ...

Nine aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases with three auxiliary components are forming a multisynthetase complex which is essential component of protein biosynthesis machinery. The smallest auxiliary component p18 takes part in biosynthesis channeling. It is also a regulator of p53 and has tumor suppressing function. Particular structure of this protein is still unknown. Here methods of structural bioinfo...

In late gestation, enhanced myometrial contractility is mediated in part through increased Rho/Rho kinase. Since leptin, which is elevated in pregnancy and obesity, can directly depress myometrial function, we hypothesized that in leptin receptor-deficient mice, myometrial contractility would be greater in late pregnancy due to increased Rho/Rho kinase activity. To test this, we correlated RhoA...

We have previously reported that the cytotoxic activity of murine CD8(+) CTLs specific for HIV-1 gp160 envelope protein was markedly inhibited in vitro by brief exposure to a free epitope peptide P18-I10 (aa: RGPGRAFVTI) using the epitope-specific CTL line (LINE-IIIB) or a clone (RT-1). We have also shown that recently stimulated P18-I10-specific murine CTLs rapidly fell into apoptosis in vitro...

An 18-kDa protein (p18) was detected in lysates and conditioned medium from contact-arrested NIH 3T3 fibroblasts, but was not detected when the cells were transformed by the oncogene ras. Analysis of transformation-defective cell clones generated after mutagenesis of the ras-retroviral vector used to transduce the ras gene showed an inverse correlation between p18 expression and the degree of t...

GATA3, a lineage specifier, controls lymphoid cell differentiation and its function in T cell commitment and development has been extensively studied. GATA3 promotes T cell specification by repressing B cell potential in pro T cells and decreased GATA3 expression is essential for early B cell commitment. Inherited genetic variation in GATA3 has been associated with lymphoma susceptibility. Howe...

Female mammals call on hormonally driven metabolic adaptations to meet the energy demand of late pregnancy and lactation. These maternal adaptations preserve limiting nutrients and promote their transfer to the uterus during pregnancy or mammary gland during lactation. The novel metabolic hormone fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF21) was recently shown to increase suddenly at the onset of lactati...

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV), a member of the Closteroviridae, possesses a 19.3-kb positive-stranded RNA genome that is organized into twelve open reading frames (ORFs). The CTV genome contains two sets of conserved genes, which are characteristic of this virus group, the replication gene block (ORF 1a and 1b) and the quintuple gene block (p6, HSP70 h, p61, CPm, and CP). With the exception of th...

A murine monoclonal antibody (MAb), named C.V.K., was produced after immunization with highly purified and sonicated lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). No monoclonal antibody was observed with intact virus used as immunogen. C.V.K. MAb recognizes an epitope present on the precursor gag protein of 55 kilodaltons. Western blot analysis and pulse-chase experiments support the interpretation t...

T cell stimulation by the human immunodeficiency virus 1 gp160-derived peptide p18 presented by H-2Dd class I major histocompatibility complex molecules in a cell-free system was found to require proteolytic cleavage. This extracellular processing was mediated by peptidases present in fetal calf serum. In vitro processing of p18 resulted in a distinct reverse phase high performance liquid chrom...