In the more than twenty years since its discovery, both the phylogenetic origin and cellular function of the prion protein (PrP) have remained enigmatic. Insights into a possible function of PrP may be obtained through the characterization of its molecular neighborhood in cells. Quantitative interactome data demonstrated the spatial proximity of two metal ion transporters of the ZIP family, ZIP...

In angiosperms, the production of flowers marks the beginning of the reproductive phase. At the emergence of flower primordia on the flanks of the inflorescence meristem, the WUSCHEL (WUS) gene, which encodes a homeodomain transcription factor starts to be expressed and establishes de novo stem cell population, founder of the floral meristem (FM). Similarly to the shoot apical meristem a precis...

The stamen produces pollen grains for pollination in higher plants. Coordinated development of four microsporangia in the stamen is essential for normal fertility. The roles of miR165/166-directed pathways in the establishment of adaxial-abaxial polarity have been well defined in leaves. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the adaxial-abaxial polarity of the stamen is elusive. Here it i...

Purification of Lactic Acid Produced from Sugarcane Molasses Andrea Komesu, Patrícia F. Martins, Johnatt Oliveira, Betânia H. Lunelli, Rubens Maciel Filho, Maria Regina Wolf Maciel School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Box: 6066, Zip: 13083-970, Campinas-SP, Brazil. Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Zip Code: 099...

We tested the effect of chronic leptin treatment on fasting-induced torpor in leptin-deficient A-ZIP/F-1 and ob/ob mice. A-ZIP/F-1 mice have virtually no white adipose tissue and low leptin levels, whereas ob/ob mice have an abundance of fat but no leptin. These two models allowed us to examine the roles of adipose tissue and leptin in the regulation of entry into torpor. Torpor is a short-term...

Academic research, government inquiries, and press accounts show extensive mortgage fraud during the housing boom of the mid-2000s. We explore a particular type of mortgage fraud: the overstatement of income on mortgage applications. We define “income overstatement” in a zip code as the growth in income reported on home-purchase mortgage applications minus the average IRS-reported income growth...

The leucine zipper (ZIP) motif consists of a periodic repetition of a leucine residue at every seventh position and forms an a-helical conformation, which facilitates dimerization and in some cases higher oligomerization of proteins. Inmany eukaryotic gene regulatory proteins, the ZIP motif is flanked at its N-terminus by a basic region containing characteristic residues that facilitate DNA bin...

Ixodes pacificus, particularly the nymphal life stage, is the primary vector to humans of the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi in California. During 2004, we collected I. pacificus nymphs from 78 woodland sites in ecologically diverse Mendocino County, which has a moderately high incidence of Lyme disease. Within this county, nymphal density was elevated in forested areas with a growing ...

Class III HD-Zip (HD-Zip III) family genes play key roles in a number of fundamental developmental programs in Arabidopsis thaliana, such as embryo patterning, meristem initiation and homeostasis, lateral organ polarity and vascular development. Semidominant gain-of-function alleles of the HD-Zip III genes PHABULOSA (PHB), PHAVOLUTA (PHV) and REVOLUTA (REV) disrupt the negative regulation of th...

Genes in the ZIP family encode transcripts to store and transport bivalent metal micronutrient, particularly iron (Fe) and or zinc (Zn). These transcripts are important for a variety of functions involved in the developmental and physiological processes in many plant species, including most, if not all, Poaceae plant species and the model species Arabidopsis. Here, we present the report of a ge...