Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates maintain the biofilm formation capacity and the gene expression profiles during the chronic lung infection of CF patients.

Phenotypic and genotypic diversifications of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) promote long-term survival of bacteria during chronic lung infection. Twelve clonally related, sequential mucoid and non-mucoid paired P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from three Danish CF patients were investigated.

Evaluation in mammalian oocytes of gene transcripts linked to epigenetic reprogramming.

The mature mammalian metaphase II (MII) oocyte has a unique ability to reprogram sperm chromatin and support early embryonic development. This feature even extends to the epigenetic reprogramming of a terminally differentiated cell nucleus as observed in connection with somatic cell nuclear transfer. Epigenetic nuclear reprogramming is highly linked to chromatin structure and includes covalent modifications of DNA and core histone proteins as well as reorganization of higher-order chromatin structure.

Bypass of senescence by the polycomb group protein CBX8 through direct binding to the INK4A-ARF locus.

The Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are essential for embryogenesis, and their expression is often found deregulated in human cancer. The PcGs form two major protein complexes, called polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2) whose function is to maintain transcriptional repression. Here, we demonstrate that the chromodomain-containing protein, CBX8, which is part of one of the PRC1 complexes, regulates proliferation of diploid human and mouse fibroblasts through direct binding to the INK4A-ARF locus.

Characteristics of gastrin controlled ECL cell specific gene expression.

Background: The ECL cells are histamine-producing endocrine cells in the oxyntic mucosa that synthesize and secrete proteins and peptides. They are the primary target for gastrin and mediate the control of gastrin on acid secretion and oxyntic mucosal growth. Knowledge of the molecular biology of the ECL cell is therefore important for understanding gastric physiology.

The proline-histidine-rich CDK2/CDK4 interaction region of C/EBPalpha is dispensable for C/EBPalpha-mediated growth regulation in vivo.

The C/EBPalpha transcription factor regulates growth and differentiation of several tissues during embryonic development. Several hypotheses as to how C/EBPalpha inhibits cellular growth in vivo have been derived, mainly from studies of tissue culture cells. In fetal liver it has been proposed that a short, centrally located, 15-amino-acid proline-histidine-rich region (PHR) of C/EBPalpha is responsible for the growth-inhibitory function of the protein through its ability to interact with CDK2 and CDK4, thereby inhibiting their activities.