Actomyosin contraction generates mechanical forces that influence cell and tissue structure. During convergent extension in Drosophila melanogaster, the spatially regulated activity of the myosin activator Rho-kinase promotes actomyosin contraction at specific planar cell boundaries to produce polarized cell rearrangement. The mechanisms that direct localized Rho-kinase activity are not well un...

Background: Growth retardation is a long-term complication in pediatric transfusion-dependent thalassemias (TDTs), presented as short-stature and upper body segment shortening. The cause of this condition was chronic hypoxia, iron overload, endocrinopathy, inadequate transfusion, and iron chelation. We analyze the relationship between ferritin level and growth status of pediatric TDTs. Methods...

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 ...

Dvl is a key protein that transmits the Wnt signal to the canonical beta-catenin pathway and the noncanonical planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway. We studied the roles of Rho-associated kinase (Rho-kinase), which is activated by Dvl in the PCP pathway of mammalian cells. The expression of Dvl-1, Wnt-1, or Wnt-3a activated Rho-kinase in COS cells, and this activation was inhibited by the Rho-bind...

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...

A significant proportion of the mortality and morbidity of severe burns is attributable to the ensuing hypermetabolic response. This response can last for as long as 1 year after injury and is associated with impaired wound healing, increased infection risks, erosion of lean body mass, hampered rehabilitation, and delayed reintegration of burn survivors into society. Pharmacologic and nonpharma...

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 ...

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...