The Nucleocapsid (N) Proteins of Different Human Coronaviruses Demonstrate a Variable Capacity to Induce the Formation of Cytoplasmic Condensates.

To date, seven human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have been identified. Four of these viruses typically manifest as a mild respiratory disease, whereas the remaining three can cause severe conditions that often result in death. The reasons for these differences remain poorly understood, but they may be related to the properties of individual viral proteins.

Ectopic expression of HIV-1 Tat modifies gene expression in cultured B cells: implications for the development of B-cell lymphomas in HIV-1-infected patients.

An increased frequency of B-cell lymphomas is observed in human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-infected patients, although HIV-1 does not infect B cells. Development of B-cell lymphomas may be potentially due to the action of the HIV-1 Tat protein, which is actively released from HIV-1-infected cells, on uninfected B cells. The exact mechanism of Tat-induced B-cell lymphomagenesis has not yet been precisely identified.

Molecular Coevolution of Nuclear and Nucleolar Localization Signals inside the Basic Domain of HIV-1 Tat.

During evolution, viruses had to adapt to an increasingly complex environment of eukaryotic cells. Viral proteins that need to enter the cell nucleus or associate with nucleoli possess nuclear localization signals (NLSs) and nucleolar localization signals (NoLSs) for nuclear and nucleolar accumulation, respectively. As viral proteins are relatively small, acquisition of novel sequences seems to be a more complicated task for viruses than for eukaryotes.

Calpain activity in plasma of patients with essential tremor and Parkinson's disease: a pilot study.

: Essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are the two most common movement disorders in adults with similar clinical symptoms, which is hinting towards existence of coincident pathogenesis steps.: The objective of this report is to characterize the relationship between ET and PD severity and the activity of calcium-dependent proteases calpain in plasma.: The study enrolled 12 volunteers for each condition: ET, PD, healthy.

m-Calpain is released from striatal synaptosomes.

We aimed to investigate whether m-calpain (a Ca2+-dependent neutral cysteine protease) is released from synaptosomes. This research was carry on Wistar male rats and isolated nerve endings - synaptosomes. The synaptosomal integrity was checked by the method of measuring LDH activity.

Glibenclamide as a neuroprotective antidementia drug.

In the view of progressively aging human population and increased occurrence of dysmetabolic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, cognitive impairment becomes a major threat to the national health. To date, the molecular mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction are partially described for diabetes and diseases of different nature, such as Alzheimer disease or Parkinson disease. The emergence of data pointing towards pleotropic effects of hypoglycaemic medicines indicates involvement of their targets in pathogenesis of cognitive impairment.

The GAR domain integrates functions that are necessary for the proper localization of fibrillarin (FBL) inside eukaryotic cells.

Fibrillarin (FBL) is an essential nucleolar protein that participates in pre-rRNA methylation and processing. The methyltransferase domain of FBL is an example of an extremely well-conserved protein domain in which the amino acid sequence was not substantially modified during the evolution from to . An additional N-terminal glycine-arginine-rich (GAR) domain is present in the FBL of eukaryotes.

Synthetic biology-based cellular biomedical tattoo for detection of hypercalcemia associated with cancer.

Diagnosis marks the beginning of any successful therapy. Because many medical conditions progress asymptomatically over extended periods of time, their timely diagnosis remains difficult, and this adversely affects patient prognosis. Focusing on hypercalcemia associated with cancer, we aimed to develop a synthetic biology-inspired biomedical tattoo using engineered cells that would (i) monitor long-term blood calcium concentration, (ii) detect onset of mild hypercalcemia, and (iii) respond via subcutaneous accumulation of the black pigment melanin to form a visible tattoo.

Directional R-Loop Formation by the CRISPR-Cas Surveillance Complex Cascade Provides Efficient Off-Target Site Rejection.

CRISPR-Cas systems provide bacteria and archaea with adaptive immunity against foreign nucleic acids. In type I CRISPR-Cas systems, invading DNA is detected by a large ribonucleoprotein surveillance complex called Cascade. The crRNA component of Cascade is used to recognize target sites in foreign DNA (protospacers) by formation of an R-loop driven by base-pairing complementarity.

Direct observation of R-loop formation by single RNA-guided Cas9 and Cascade effector complexes.

Clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems protect bacteria and archaea from infection by viruses and plasmids. Central to this defense is a ribonucleoprotein complex that produces RNA-guided cleavage of foreign nucleic acids. In DNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas systems, the RNA component of the complex encodes target recognition by forming a site-specific hybrid (R-loop) with its complement (protospacer) on an invading DNA while displacing the noncomplementary strand.