Characterization of the mIF4G Domains in the RNA Surveillance Protein Upf2p.

Thirty percent of all mutations causing human disease generate mRNAs with premature termination codons (PTCs). Recognition and degradation of these PTC-containing mRNAs is carried out by the mechanism known as nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Upf2 is a scaffold protein known to be a central component of the NMD surveillance pathway.

Virtually the Same? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Remote Undergraduate Research Experiences.

In-person undergraduate research experiences (UREs) promote students' integration into careers in life science research. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted institutions hosting summer URE programs to offer them remotely, raising questions about whether undergraduates who participate in remote research can experience scientific integration and whether they might perceive doing research less favorably (i.e.

"How Do We Do This at a Distance?!" A Descriptive Study of Remote Undergraduate Research Programs during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down undergraduate research programs across the United States. A group of 23 colleges, universities, and research institutes hosted remote undergraduate research programs in the life sciences during Summer 2020. Given the unprecedented offering of remote programs, we carried out a study to describe and evaluate them.

CREARE: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience To Study the Responses of the Endangered Coral Acropora cervicornis to a Changing Environment.

There is mounting evidence to support that students who participate in scientific research experiences are more likely to continue on to advanced degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To introduce more students to the benefits of research, we have drawn on an ongoing project aimed at understanding how the Caribbean staghorn coral responds to environmental fluctuations to develop a semester-long course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), entitled CREARE (Coral Response to Environment Authentic Research Experience). The main mode of instruction in CREARE is through topic modules, and course evaluation is achieved through writing assignments.

The microbial biosphere of the coral in Northeastern Puerto Rico.

Background: Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems in the marine realm, and they not only contribute a plethora of ecosystem services to other marine organisms, but they also are beneficial to humankind via, for instance, their role as nurseries for commercially important fish species. Corals are considered holobionts (host + symbionts) since they are composed not only of coral polyps, but also algae, other microbial eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In recent years, Caribbean reef corals, including the once-common scleractinian coral , have suffered unprecedented mortality due to climate change-related stressors.

CtIP interacts with TopBP1 and Nbs1 in the response to double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) in Xenopus egg extracts.

In the presence of double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs), the activation of ATR is achieved by the ability of ATM to phosphorylate TopBP1 on serine 1131, which leads to an enhancement of the interaction between ATR and TopBP1. In Xenopus egg extracts, the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 (MRN) complex is additionally required to bridge ATM and TopBP1 together. In this report, we show that CtIP, which is recruited to DSB-containing chromatin, interacts with both TopBP1 and Nbs1 in a damage-dependent manner.