Genetic loss or pharmacological blockade of testes-expressed taste genes causes male sterility.

TAS1R taste receptors and their associated heterotrimeric G protein gustducin are involved in sugar and amino acid sensing in taste cells and in the gastrointestinal tract. They are also strongly expressed in testis and sperm, but their functions in these tissues were previously unknown. Using mouse models, we show that the genetic absence of both TAS1R3, a component of sweet and amino acid taste receptors, and the gustducin α-subunit GNAT3 leads to male-specific sterility.

Real-time imaging of HIF-1alpha stabilization and degradation.

HIF-1alpha is overexpressed in many human cancers compared to normal tissues due to the interaction of a multiplicity of factors and pathways that reflect specific genetic alterations and extracellular stimuli. We developed two HIF-1alpha chimeric reporter systems, HIF-1alpha/FLuc and HIF-1alpha(DeltaODDD)/FLuc, to investigate the tightly controlled level of HIF-1alpha protein in normal (NIH3T3 and HEK293) and glioma (U87) cells. These reporter systems provided an opportunity to investigate the degradation of HIF-1alpha in different cell lines, both in culture and in xenografts.

Relationship between REL amplification, REL function, and clinical and biologic features in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

Although it has been suggested that REL is the critical target gene of 2p12-16 amplification in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), little experimental evidence supports this notion. In the present study, we sought to evaluate the relationship between REL amplification and REL function in a panel of 46 newly diagnosed DLBCLs and to correlate with DLBCL subgroups as identified by gene expression profiles and clinical features. The results indicate that amplification of the REL locus is not associated with accumulation of the active form of REL, as evaluated by immunofluorescence analysis.

BCL8 is a novel, evolutionarily conserved human gene family encoding proteins with presumptive protein kinase A anchoring function.

BCL8 is a novel human gene family initially identified through cloning of BCL8A, located at the t(14;15)(q32;q11-q13) translocation breakpoint, in a case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Multiple copies of BCL8A map to the 1-Mb proximal duplicated region at 15q. We identified additional copies on human chromosomes 13 (BCL8B), 22 (BCL8C), 2 (BCL8D), and 10 (BCL8E) by cDNA cloning and sequence analysis.