Ribonuclease L (RNase L) is activated as part of the innate immune response and plays an important role in the clearance of viral infections. When activated, it endonucleolytically cleaves both viral and host RNAs, leading to a global reduction in protein synthesis. However, it remains unknown how widespread RNA decay, and consequent changes in the translatome, promote the elimination of viruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA problem often encountered in the detection and identification of undeclared tree nut food allergens is the lack of analytical methods. This problem is accentuated by the current trend, whereby the primary methods used to detect food allergens are antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and the development of analyte-specific antibodies takes months. The recently developed xMAP food allergen detection assay (xMAP FADA) has the ability to generate multiantigen profiles with tree nuts, thereby providing a potential solution to this problem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dinoflagellates are eukaryotes with unusual cell biology and appear to rely on translational rather than transcriptional control of gene expression. The eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) plays an important role in regulating gene expression because eIF4E binding to the mRNA cap is a control point for translation. eIF4E is part of an extended, eukaryote-specific family with different members having specific functions, based on studies of model organisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMar Freshw Harmful Algae (2014)
January 2015
Dinoflagellates are unusual eukaryotes with large genomes and a reduced role for transcriptional regulation compared to other eukaryotes. The mRNA in dinoflagellates is -spliced with a 5'-spliced-leader sequence, yielding a 22-nucleotide 5'-sequence with a methylated nucleotide cap. Since the control of gene expression is primarily post-transcriptional, this study focuses on mRNA recruitment as a means for regulating gene expression and specifically on the diversity of eIF4E family members.
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