SR31747A is an immunosuppressive agent that arrests cell proliferation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this microorganism, SR31747A was shown to inhibit the ERG2 gene product, namely the delta8-delta7 sterol isomerase, involved in the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway. Although previous genetic experiments pointed to this enzyme as the target for SR31747A in yeast, the existence of other potential targets could not be ruled out.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe neuron-specific rat enolase (NSE) promoter was employed to establish transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase in the central nervous system. Founders were crossed with dormant lacZ indicator mice and specificity as well as efficiency of Cre-mediated transgene activation was determined by PCR and/or X-gal staining. Whereas most transgenic lines exhibited Cre activity in early development resulting in widespread Cre activity, one line (NSE-Cre26) expressed high levels of Cre in the developing and adult brain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe GAGA box of the rat serine protease inhibitor 2 (spi 2) genes not only acts as a basal promoter element, but also mediates transcriptional activation by growth hormone and interleukin-6. The GAGA box is separated from the TATA box by only 12 bp, and this close association is required for efficient transcription. Hence, the GAGA box may influence transcription efficiency through interactions between GAGA box binding proteins and some components of the RNA polymerase II complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta
November 1998
Id proteins antagonise the functional properties of DNA-binding, basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Id proteins inhibited cell differentiation in various model systems, both in vitro and in vivo. They are transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally regulated during cell cycle progression and promote cell proliferation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe amino acid sequence of MG160, a membrane sialoglycoprotein of the medial cisternae of the rat Golgi apparatus, is more than 90% identical with CFR, a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) binding protein of chicken membranes, and with ESL-1, a ligand for E-selectin of plasma membranes of myeloid cells; furthermore, MG160, isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography from rat brain membranes, binds to basic FGF. The gene for MG160 has been assigned to human chromosome 16q22-23. To characterize this protein further in the human, its cDNA was cloned and sequenced.
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