RNA sequencing is an approach to transcriptomic profiling that enables the detection of differentially expressed genes in response to genetic mutation or experimental treatment, among other uses. Here we describe a method for the use of a customizable, user-friendly bioinformatic pipeline to identify differentially expressed genes in RNA sequencing data obtained from C. elegans, with attention to the improvement in reproducibility and accuracy of results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTall fescue is one of the primary sources of forage for livestock. It grows well in the marginal soils of the temperate zones. It hosts a fungal endophyte (), which helps the plants to tolerate abiotic and biotic stresses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNonhost disease resistance is the most common type of plant defense mechanism against potential pathogens. In the present study, the metabolic enzyme formate dehydrogenase 1 (FDH1) was identified to associate with nonhost disease resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana. In Arabidopsis, AtFDH1 was highly upregulated in response to both host and nonhost bacterial pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRoot hairs are single-cell protrusions that enable roots to optimize nutrient and water acquisition. These structures attain their tubular shapes by confining growth to the cell apex, a process called tip growth. The actin cytoskeleton and endomembrane systems are essential for tip growth; however, little is known about how these cellular components coordinate their activities during this process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIsolation of good quality chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is a challenge in different plant species, although several methods for isolation are known. Attempts were undertaken to isolate cpDNA from grass species by using available standard protocols; however, they failed due to difficulties separating intact chloroplasts from the polysaccharides, oleoresin, and contaminated nuclear DNA that are present in the crude homogenate. In this study, we present a quick and inexpensive protocol for isolating intact chloroplasts from seven grass varieties/accessions of five species using a single layer of 30% Percoll solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe endomembrane system plays essential roles in plant development, but the proteome responsible for its function and organization remains largely uncharacterized in plants. Here, we identified and characterized the HYPERSENSITIVE TO LATRUNCULIN B1 (HLB1) protein isolated through a forward-genetic screen in Arabidopsis thaliana for mutants with heightened sensitivity to actin-disrupting drugs. HLB1 is a plant-specific tetratricopeptide repeat domain-containing protein of unknown function encoded by a single Arabidopsis gene.
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Premise Of The Study: Plants will be an important component of advanced life support systems during space exploration missions. Therefore, understanding their biology in the spacecraft environment will be essential before they can be used for such systems.•
Methods: Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown for 2 wk in the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) hardware on board the second to the last mission of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-131).
Homing endonuclease I-CreII has been used to study the consequences and repair of a double-strand break (DSB) in the chloroplast genome of Chlamydomonas and Arabidopsis. Since I-CreII is from a mobile psbA intron of Chlamydomonas, it cleaves the psbA gene of an intronless-psbA strain of Chlamydomonas. And it cleaves specifically in the psbA gene of Arabidopsis, which is naturally intronless.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2010
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is under great photooxidative stress, yet its evolution is very conservative compared with nuclear or mitochondrial genomes. It can be expected that DNA repair mechanisms play important roles in cpDNA survival and evolution, but they are poorly understood. To gain insight into how the most severe form of DNA damage, a double-strand break (DSB), is repaired, we have developed an inducible system in Arabidopsis that employs a psbA intron endonuclease from Chlamydomonas, I-CreII, that is targeted to the chloroplast using the rbcS1 transit peptide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The main pathology of haemodialysis graft stenosis is venous neointimal hyperplasia at graft-venous anastomoses. Neointimal hyperplasia is also observed in cases of coronary artery in-stent restenosis. Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat cancer, and has been proven to inhibit neointimal hyperplasia of coronary artery in-stent restenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegrin linked kinase 1 (ILK1), a member of the serine/threonine kinases, has been shown to be crucial for the cell survival, differentiation, and Wnt signaling. Firstly, by using a confocal microscopy and a transfection approach, we obtained the evidence that ILK1 interacts physically with caveolin-1, a 22-kDa integral membrane protein, which is the principal structural and regulatory component of caveolae membranes. By ILK1 deletion mutant analysis, we characterized the caveolin-1-binding domain in the kinase domain of ILK1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe microtubule-associated protein, tau, is involved in numerous neuronal processes such as vesicle transport, microtubule-plasma membrane interaction and the intracellular localization of proteins. Tau is known to be phosphorylated by several kinases such as mitogen activated protein kinase, microtubule affinity regulating kinase, and protein kinase A. We found a putative serum- and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase 1 (SGK1) phosphorylation site within the 207GSRSRTPSLP216 tau amino acid sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
January 2005
3-Phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1), a member of the serine/threonine kinase family, has been demonstrated to be crucial for cellular survival, differentiation, and metabolism. Here, we present evidence that PDK1 is associated with caveolin-1, a 22-kDa integral membrane protein, which is the principal structural and regulatory component of the caveolae membranes in COS-1. First, we noted the presence of two potential caveolin-1 binding motifs ((141)FFVKLYFTF(149) and (299)YDFPEKFF(306)) in the PDK1 catalytic domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNephrol Dial Transplant
December 2004
Background: Nephrin is a recently identified protein that is a key component of the slit diaphragm. This protein may play a crucial role in maintaining the glomerular filtration barrier, and mutations in the gene for nephrin reportedly lead to congenital nephrosis. However, the expression of nephrin in acquired glomerular disease has not yet been fully clarified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 3 (MEKK3) is a member of the MAP kinase family whose cellular activity is elevated in response to growth factors, oxidative stress, and hyperosmolar conditions. MEKK3 regulates MKK3 and MKK5/6/7. MEKK3 is involved distinctively in the signal pathway for blocking cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, contradictory to the biological responses commonly associated with other members of MEKKs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Na(+)/H(+) exchanger regulatory factor 2 (NHERF2/TKA-1/E3KARP) contains two PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (PDZ) domains which interact with the PDZ docking motif (X-(S/T)-X-(V/L)) of proteins to mediate the assembly of transmembrane and cytosolic proteins into functional signal transduction complexes. One of the PDZ domains of NHERF2 interacts specifically with the DSLL, DSFL, and DTRL motifs present at the carboxy-termini of the 2-adrenergic receptor, the platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, respectively. Serum- and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase 1 (SGK1) also carries a putative PDZ-binding motif (D-S-F-L) at its carboxy tail, implicated in the specific interaction with NHERF2.
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