Enhancing soil arsenic immobilization with organic and inorganic amendments: insights from sorption-desorption study.

The retention and mobility of arsenic (As) in soil depend on various physical and chemical factors. The knowledge of the sorption-desorption chemistry of As in soil is necessary for predicting the fate and behavior of As in soil environments. Therefore, this study assessed different organic (sugarcane bagasse and vermicompost) and inorganic amendments (steel slag and fly ash) for their impact on sorption-desorption of As in texturally different contaminated soils (of sandy clay (SC) and sandy clay loam (SCL) texture) to understand the effect of amendments on As retention and mobility.

The Prostate Cancer Androgen Receptor Cistrome in African American Men Associates with Upregulation of Lipid Metabolism and Immune Response.

Unlabelled: African-American (AA) men are more likely to be diagnosed with and die from prostate cancer than European American (EA) men. Despite the central role of the androgen receptor (AR) transcription factor in prostate cancer, little is known about the contribution of epigenetics to observed racial disparities. We performed AR chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing on primary prostate tumors from AA and EA men, finding that sites with greater AR binding intensity in AA relative to EA prostate cancer are enriched for lipid metabolism and immune response genes.

Cistrome and transcriptome analysis identifies unique androgen receptor (AR) and AR-V7 splice variant chromatin binding and transcriptional activities.

The constitutively active androgen receptor (AR) splice variant, AR-V7, plays an important role in resistance to androgen deprivation therapy in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Studies seeking to determine whether AR-V7 is a partial mimic of the AR, or also has unique activities, and whether the AR-V7 cistrome contains unique binding sites have yielded conflicting results. One limitation in many studies has been the low level of AR variant compared to AR.

Nuclear receptor SHP dampens transcription function and abrogates mitotic chromatin association of PXR and ERα via intermolecular interactions.

Mitosis is a cellular process that produces two identical progenies. Genome-wide transcription is believed to be silenced during mitosis. However, some transcription factors have been reported to associate with the mitotic chromatin to uphold a role in 'gene-bookmarking'.

Nuclear localization signal region in nuclear receptor PXR governs the receptor association with mitotic chromatin.

In recent years, some transcription factors have been observed to remain associated with mitotic chromatin. Based on these observations, it is suggested that these chromatin-bound transcription factors may serve as 'epigenetic marks' for transmission of pattern of gene expression from progenitor to progeny cells. In this context, our laboratory has reported that nuclear receptor PXR, a master regulator of xenobiotic metabolism, remains constitutively associated with mitotic chromatin.

Heterodimerization of Retinoid X Receptor with Xenobiotic Receptor partners occurs in the cytoplasmic compartment: Mechanistic insights of events in living cells.

Retinoid X Receptor (RXR) serves as the heterodimeric partner of two major xenobiotic nuclear receptors, Pregnane and Xenobiotic Receptor (PXR) and Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR). These receptors are primarily involved in the metabolism and clearance of endobiotics and xenobiotics (including clinical drugs) from the body. Here, we report for the first time that intermolecular interactions between RXR-PXR and RXR-CAR occurs in the cytoplasmic compartment of the cell in a ligand-independent manner.

Novel Application of Red Fluorescent Protein (DsRed-Express) for the Study of Functional Dynamics of Nuclear Receptors.

Arrivals of fluorescent proteins have revolutionized the way we do research in the areas of molecular cell biology. In the present study, we have successfully exploited the multimer-forming property of Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP) in living cells to preferentially shift the unliganded nuclear receptors from the nuclear to the cytoplasmic compartment. Subsequently, these cytoplasmic-shifted unliganded receptors could be induced to translocate into the nucleus by their ligands.

Phenotypic and Marker-Assisted Genetic Enhancement of Parental Lines of Rajalaxmi, an Elite Rice Hybrid.

The cytoplasmic male sterile line system comprising CRMS 32A and its maintainer line CRMS 32B is a popular choice for the development of new hybrids in India as CRMS 32A, having Kalinga 1 cytoplasm (other than WA), is a viable alternative to WA cytoplasm. However, both lines are susceptible to bacterial blight (BB), a major disease on rice. As enhancement of host plant resistance is the most effective and economical strategy to control this disease, four resistance genes (Xa4, xa5, xa13, and Xa21) were transferred from a BB pyramid line of IR64, into the A and B lines using a marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB) breeding strategy.