Conserved tryptophan mutation disrupts structure and function of immunoglobulin domain revealing unusual tyrosine fluorescence.

Immunoglobulin (Ig) domains are the most prevalent protein domain structure and share a highly conserved folding pattern; however, this structural family of proteins is also the most diverse in terms of biological roles and tissue expression. Ig domains vary significantly in amino acid sequence but share a highly conserved tryptophan in the hydrophobic core of this beta-stranded protein. Palladin is an actin binding and bundling protein that has five Ig domains and plays an important role in normal cell adhesion and motility.

A course-based undergraduate research experience investigating the consequences of nonconserved mutations in lactate dehydrogenase.

There is a growing movement to involve undergraduate students in authentic research experiences. A variety of studies have indicated the strength of this approach in developing scientific aptitude, confidence, critical thinking skills, and increasing the likelihood to become career scientists. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) foster opportunities for students to carry out authentic research at both primarily undergraduate and large research institutions.

Cytostatic inhibition of cancer cell growth by lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside.

Our previous study demonstrated that lignan metabolites enterolactone and enterodiol inhibited colonic cancer cell growth by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, the dietary lignans are naturally present as glycoside precursors, such as secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), which have not been evaluated yet. This study tested the hypothesis that dietary SDG might have a different effect than its metabolites in human colonic SW480 cancer cells.

Enhancing lignan biosynthesis by over-expressing pinoresinol lariciresinol reductase in transgenic wheat.

Lignans are phenylpropane dimers that are biosynthesized via the phenylpropanoid pathway, in which pinoresinol lariciresinol reductase (PLR) catalyzes the last steps of lignan production. Our previous studies demonstrated that the contents of lignans in various wheat cultivars were significantly associated with anti-tumor activities in APC(Min) mice. To enhance lignan biosynthesis, this study was conducted to transform wheat cultivars ('Bobwhite', 'Madison', and 'Fielder', respectively) with the Forsythia intermedia PLR gene under the regulatory control of maize ubiquitin promoter.