Establishment of an Immunocompetent Metastasis Rat Model with Hepatocyte Cancer Stem Cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for the maintenance, metastasis, and relapse of various tumors. The effects of CSCs on the tumorigenesis of HCC are still not fully understood, however.

Isoform-specific functions of an evolutionarily conserved 3 bp micro-exon alternatively spliced from another exon in Drosophila homothorax gene.

Micro-exons are exons of very small size (usually 3-30 nts). Some micro-exons are alternatively spliced. Their functions, regulation and evolution are largely unknown.

Abscisic acid- and stress-induced highly proline-rich glycoproteins regulate root growth in rice.

In the root of rice (Oryza sativa), abscisic acid (ABA) treatment, salinity, or water deficit stress induces the expression of a family of four genes, REPETITIVE PROLINE-RICH PROTEIN (RePRP). These genes encode two subclasses of novel proline-rich glycoproteins with highly repetitive PX₁PX₂ motifs, RePRP1 and RePRP2. RePRP orthologs exist only in monocotyledonous plants, and their functions are virtually unknown.

A fine physical map of the rice chromosome 5.

A fine physical map of the rice (Oryza sativa spp. Japonica var. Nipponbare) chromosome 5 with bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) and PI-derived artificial chromosome (PAC) clones was constructed through integration of 280 sequenced BAC/PAC clones and 232 sequence tagged site/expressed sequence tag markers with the use of fingerprinted contig data of the Nipponbare genome.