Regulatory role of CD39 and CD73 in tumor immunity.

CD39 is the rate-limiting enzyme for the molecular signal cascade leading to the generation of ADP and adenosine monophosphate (AMP). In conjunction with CD73, CD39 converts adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to ADP and AMP, which leads to the accumulation of immunosuppressive adenosine in the tumor microenvironment. This review focuses on the role of CD39 and CD73 in immune response and malignant progression, including the expression of CD39 within the tumor microenvironment and its relationship to immune effector cells, and its role in antigen presentation.

regulates the kinetics of heat-induced expression in Arabidopsis.

Arabidopsis contains four heat shock transcription factors ( , , , and ) that regulate the primary response to high temperature stress responses. These genes have overlapping functions and, while double and triple mutants have thermotolerance phenotypes, these genes have no reported single mutant thermotolerance phenotypes. We used an automated fluorescence microscopy system to quantitate the expression of a 6:GFP reporter with high temporal resolution to show that is required for normal heat-induced expression.

Is an Arabidopsis Choline/Ethanolamine Kinase Required for Normal Development and Chilling Responses.

Phospholipid biosynthesis is a core metabolic pathway that affects all aspects of plant growth and development. One of the earliest step in this pathway is mediated by choline/ethanolamine kinases (CEKs), enzymes in the Kennedy pathway that catalyze the synthesis of the polar head groups found on the most abundant plant phospholipids. The Arabidopsis genome encodes four s.

Genetic Interactions Between and Multiple 26S Proteasome Subunits Suggest a Role for Proteostasis in Regulating Development.

Protein folding and degradation are both required for protein quality control, an essential cellular activity that underlies normal growth and development. We investigated how , an small heat shock protein, maintains normal plant development. mutants exhibit organ polarity defects and have expanded domains of KNOX gene expression.

The RootScope: a simple high-throughput screening system for quantitating gene expression dynamics in plant roots.

Background: High temperature stress responses are vital for plant survival. The mechanisms that plants use to sense high temperatures are only partially understood and involve multiple sensing and signaling pathways. Here we describe the development of the RootScope, an automated microscopy system for quantitating heat shock responses in plant roots.

The Embryonic Transcriptome of the Red-Eared Slider Turtle (Trachemys scripta).

The bony shell of the turtle is an evolutionary novelty not found in any other group of animals, however, research into its formation has suggested that it has evolved through modification of conserved developmental mechanisms. Although these mechanisms have been extensively characterized in model organisms, the tools for characterizing them in non-model organisms such as turtles have been limited by a lack of genomic resources. We have used a next generation sequencing approach to generate and assemble a transcriptome from stage 14 and 17 Trachemys scripta embryos, stages during which important events in shell development are known to take place.

Some like it hot, some like it warm: phenotyping to explore thermotolerance diversity.

Plants have evolved overlapping but distinct cellular responses to different aspects of high temperature stress. These responses include basal thermotolerance, short- and long-term acquired thermotolerance, and thermotolerance to moderately high temperatures. This 'thermotolerance diversity' means that multiple phenotypic assays are essential for fully describing the functions of genes involved in heat stress responses.

Identification of a cellulose synthase-associated protein required for cellulose biosynthesis.

Cellulose synthase-interactive protein 1 (CSI1) was identified in a two-hybrid screen for proteins that interact with cellulose synthase (CESA) isoforms involved in primary plant cell wall synthesis. CSI1 encodes a 2,150-amino acid protein that contains 10 predicted Armadillo repeats and a C2 domain. Mutations in CSI1 cause defective cell elongation in hypocotyls and roots and reduce cellulose content.

Temperature compensation of auxin dependent developmental patterning.

The establishment of localized auxin gradients plays a central role in developmental patterning in plants. Auxin levels and responses have been shown to increase with temperature although developmental patterning is not affected. This suggests the existence of a homeostatic mechanism that ensures that patterning occurs normally over a range of temperatures.

Partitioning the apical domain of the Arabidopsis embryo requires the BOBBER1 NudC domain protein.

The apical domain of the embryo is partitioned into distinct regions that will give rise to the cotyledons and the shoot apical meristem. In this article, we describe a novel screen to identify Arabidopsis thaliana embryo arrest mutants that are defective in this partitioning, and we describe the phenotype of one such mutant, bobber1. bobber1 mutants arrest at the globular stage of development, they express the meristem-specific SHOOTMERISTEMLESS gene throughout the top half of the embryo, and they fail to express the AINTEGUMENTA transcript normally found in cotyledons.

BOBBER1 is a noncanonical Arabidopsis small heat shock protein required for both development and thermotolerance.

Plants have evolved a range of cellular responses to maintain developmental homeostasis and to survive over a range of temperatures. Here, we describe the in vivo and in vitro functions of BOBBER1 (BOB1), a NudC domain containing Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) small heat shock protein. BOB1 is an essential gene required for the normal partitioning and patterning of the apical domain of the Arabidopsis embryo.

Developmental disaster1: A novel mutation causing defects during vegetative and inflorescence development in maize (Zea mays, Poaceae).

Axillary meristems, which give rise to branches and flowers, play a critical role in plant architecture and reproduction. To understand how axillary meristems initiate, we have screened for mutants with defects in axillary meristem initiation to uncover the genes controlling this process. These mutants, called the barren class of mutants in maize (Zea mays), have defects in axillary meristem initiation during both vegetative and reproductive development.

Combinatorial control of meristem identity in maize inflorescences.

The architecture of maize inflorescences, the male tassel and the female ear, is defined by a series of reiterative branching events. The inflorescence meristem initiates spikelet pair meristems. These in turn initiate spikelet meristems which finally produce the floret meristems.

Utility and distribution of conserved noncoding sequences in the grasses.

Control of gene expression requires cis-acting regulatory DNA sequences. Historically these sequences have been difficult to identify. Conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) have recently been identified in mammalian genes through cross-species genomic DNA comparisons, and some have been shown to be regulatory sequences.

Biodiversity (Communications arising): maize transgene results in Mexico are artefacts.

Quist and Chapela's conclusion that the transgenes they claim to have detected in native maize in Oaxaca, Mexico, are predominantly reassorted and inserted into a "diversity of genomic contexts" seems to be based on an artefact arising from the inverse polymerase chain reaction (i-PCR) they used to amplify sequences flanking 35S transgenes from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV).

The stability and fate of a spliced intron from vertebrate cells.

Introns constitute most of the length of typical pre-mRNAs in vertebrate cells. Thus, the turnover rate of introns may significantly influence the availability of ribonucleotides and splicing factors for further rounds of transcription and RNA splicing, respectively. Given the importance of intron turnover, it is surprising that there have been no reports on the half-life of introns from higher eukaryotic cells.

The role of T2-weighted gradient echo in MRI demonstration of spinal multiple myeloma.

Fifty patients with proven multiple myeloma (MM) underwent magnetic resonance (MR) examination of entire spine in sagittal view using T1-weighted image (T1), T2-weighted image (T2), and T2-weighted gradient echo (GE). In 18 patients, the myelomatous foci were hyperintensive in GE and T2 and hypointensive in T1. They corresponded with osteolytic lesions in computed tomography (CT) scan.

Acne conglobata and arthritis: report of a case and review of the literature.

The association of acne conglobata and arthritis is rare and has been reported in only single case reports in the literature. We describe a patient whose associated arthropathy appeared 21 years after the onset of the skin disease. The relevant literature is reviewed.

Mitral valve prolapse in psoriatic arthritis.

Twenty-five patients with psoriatic arthritis were studied by echocardiography in view of the known association of related seronegative arthropathies with aortic-valve lesions. The study group included 15 men and ten women with a mean age of 46.5 +/- 14.

Pleuro-pulmonary manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus: clinical features of its subgroups. Prognostic and therapeutic implications.

Correct identification of the subsets of pulmonary lupus has an unquestioned importance in planning the proper therapeutic regimen in this extremely variegated disease. Asymptomatic pulmonary lupus needs no treatment; however, pulmonary involvement in lupus may be life threatening, in which case prompt and aggressive treatment is mandatory. The different aspects of pulmonary lupus are demonstrated through the clinical histories of patients who suffered from pleuro-pulmonary lupus.

Positive serological tests for infectious mononucleosis in a patient with Mediterranean spotted fever.

The Monospot test is an accurate and reliable test for infectious mononucleosis. False positive reactions have been seldom recorded. We report the conversion of the Monospot test from negative to positive during the course of Mediterranean spotted fever.