Non-random Codon Usage of Synonymous and Non-synonymous Mutations in the Human HLA-A Gene.

The structure and function of human leucocyte antigen (HLA-A) is well known and is an extremely variable protein. From the public HLA-A database, we chose 26 high frequency HLA-A alleles (45% of sequenced alleles). Using five arbitrary references from these alleles, we analyzed synonymous mutations at the third codon position (sSNP) and non-synonymous mutations (NSM).

Serum ethanolamine and hepatocyte proliferation in perinatal and partially hepatectomized rats.

It has been shown that the administration of ethanolamine (Etn) to partially hepatectomized rats enhances stimulation of DNA synthesis in regenerating hepatocytes. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that the level of serum Etn in vivo may be regulated to control the growth of hepatocytes. Concentrations of serum Etn were determined in rats 1) of varying ages (from embryonic-19 (E-19) to 7-week-old), and 2) during regeneration following two-thirds hepatectomy (PH), to investigate whether serum Etn concentration correlates with the rate of proliferation of hepatocytes in growing animals or during regeneration.

Phosphatidylethanolamine deficiency in membrane lipids inhibits keratinocyte intercellular networks formation.

Ethanolamine (Etn) is required for the growth of epithelial cells in culture. Without Etn, the amount of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in membrane lipids is reduced, and cell proliferation stops. When the membrane lipids are deficient of PE, some extracellular signaling processes become impaired.

Intra-strand biases in bacteriophage T4 genome.

In bacteriophage T4, a major portion of DNA replication is initiated at random along the map, although several proven and putative origins have been described for early replication. In order to analyze the contribution of transcription and translation as well as DNA replication to intra-strand bias from A = T and G = C, we examined the pattern of the intra-strand biases in the first, second, and third codon positions of the coding regions as well as the intergenic regions of the T4 genome. We found, along the map, characteristic biases both from A = T and G = C for each codon position and the intergenic regions.