Increase in Tau Pathology in P290S Knock-In Mice Crossed with Mice.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by the pathologic assembly of amyloid β (Aβ) peptide, which deposits into extracellular plaques, and tau, which accumulates in intraneuronal inclusions. To investigate the link between Aβ and tau pathologies, experimental models featuring both pathologies are needed. We developed a mouse model featuring both tau and Aβ pathologies by knocking the P290S mutation into murine and crossing these knock-in (KI) mice with the KI line.

A manual collection of Syt, Esyt, Rph3a, Rph3al, Doc2, and Dblc2 genes from 46 metazoan genomes--an open access resource for neuroscience and evolutionary biology.

Background: Synaptotagmin proteins were first identified in nervous tissue, residing in synaptic vesicles. Synaptotagmins were subsequently found to form a large family, some members of which play important roles in calcium triggered exocytic events. These members have been investigated intensively, but other family members are not well understood, making it difficult to grasp the meaning of family membership in functional terms.

Structural mapping of post-translational modifications in human interleukin-24: role of N-linked glycosylation and disulfide bonds in secretion and activity.

Human interleukin-24 (IL-24) is unique among the IL-10 superfamily as there is considerable evidence that it possesses multiple anti-cancer properties, including direct tumor cell cytotoxicity, helper T cell (TH1) immune stimulation, and anti-angiogenic activities. The primary sequence of human IL-24 differs from homologous cytokines, because it possesses three consensus N-linked glycosylation sites and the potential for a single disulfide bond. To address the significance of these modifications in human IL-24, we analyzed the relationship between post-translational modifications and the cytokine activity of the human IL-24 protein.

Evolutionary genomics of plant genes encoding N-terminal-TM-C2 domain proteins and the similar FAM62 genes and synaptotagmin genes of metazoans.

Background: Synaptotagmin genes are found in animal genomes and are known to function in the nervous system. Genes with a similar domain architecture as well as sequence similarity to synaptotagmin C2 domains have also been found in plant genomes. The plant genes share an additional region of sequence similarity with a group of animal genes named FAM62.