The rhodopsin gene (RHO) encodes a highly expressed G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) which is central to visual transduction in rod photoreceptors. A suite of recombinant 2/5 adeno-associated virus (AAV) RHO replacement vectors has been generated in an attempt to recapitulate endogenous rhodopsin levels from exogenously delivered AAV vectors in the retina of mice with a targeted disruption in ...

Photoactivation of rhodopsin (Rho), a G protein-coupled receptor, causes conformational changes that provide a specific binding site for the rod G protein, G(t). In this work we employed structural mass spectrometry techniques to elucidate the structural changes accompanying transition of ground state Rho to photoactivated Rho (Rho(∗)) and in the pentameric complex between dimeric Rho(∗) and he...

Rhodopsin (Rho) is a G protein-coupled receptor that initiates phototransduction in rod photoreceptors. High expression levels of Rho in the disc membranes of rod outer segments and the propensity of Rho to form higher oligomeric structures are evident from atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and chemical cross-linking experiments. To explore the structural and functional...

Continuing our quantitative analysis of rho-dependent termination at the trp t ' terminator, we here present evidence that the position of rho-dependent terminators along the template is strongly regulated by the secondary structure of the nascent RNA transcript, and that the prerequisite for establishing an effective kinetic competition between elongation and rho-dependent RNA release at a par...

Rho-GDIs are a family of Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitors that are critical in modulating the activity of the small GTPases, Cdc42 and RhoA. Two Rho-GDI isoforms are expressed in the brain, Rho-GDIg and Rho-GDIa. Here, we describe the expression of both of these isoforms in the developing and mature brain. The mRNA expression patterns of Rho-GDIg and Rho-GDIa were almost identical in the brain w...

Transcription termination protein Rho of Escherichia coli interacts with newly synthesized RNA chains and brings about their release from elongation complexes paused at specific Rho-dependent termination sites. Rho is thought to accomplish this by binding to a specific Rho "loading site" on the nascent RNA and then translocating preferentially along the transcript in a 5'-->3' direction. On rea...

Consider an entire (absolutely convergent in $\mathbb{C}$) Dirichlet series $F$ with the exponents $\lambda_n$, i.e., of form $F(s)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty a_ne^{s\lambda_n}$, and, for all $\sigma\in\mathbb{R}$, put $\mu(\sigma,F)=\max\{|a_n|e^{\sigma\lambda_n}:n\ge0\}$ and $M(\sigma,F)=\sup\{|F(s)|:\operatorname{Re}s=\sigma\}$. Previously, first authors M.M.~Sheremeta proved that if $\omega(\lambda)...

The assembly of contractile proteins into organized sarcomeric units is one of the most distinctive features of cardiac myocyte hypertrophy. In a well characterized in vitro model system using cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, a subset of G protein-coupled receptor agonists has been shown to induce actin-myosin filament organization. Pretreatment of myocytes with C3 exoenzyme ADP-ribo...

Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor beta (Rho-GDI beta), an inhibitor of Rho GTPases, is primarily expressed by hematopoietic cells but is also found in epithelial cancer cells. Recently, we have identified Rho-GDI beta as a target of the transcription factor Ets1. Here, we show that, in breast cancer cells, Ets1 regulates Rho-GDI beta expression and binds to the upstream region of the Rho-GDI beta ...

The Rho family of small GTPases are essential during early embryonic development making it difficult to study their functions in adult animals. Using inducible transgenes expressing either a constitutively active version of the single C. elegans Rho ortholog, RHO-1, or an inhibitor of endogenous Rho (C3 transferase), we demonstrate multiple defects caused by altering Rho signaling in adult C. e...