Fitness Trade-Offs in Competence Differentiation of Bacillus subtilis.

In the stationary phase, Bacillus subtilis differentiates stochastically and transiently into the state of competence for transformation (K-state). The latter is associated with growth arrest, and it is unclear how the ability to develop competence is stably maintained, despite its cost. To quantify the effect differentiation has on the competitive fitness of B.

Oxygen governs gonococcal microcolony stability by enhancing the interaction force between type IV pili.

The formation of small bacterial clusters, called microcolonies, is the first step towards the formation of bacterial biofilms. The human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae requires type IV pili (T4P) for microcolony formation and for surface motility. Here, we investigated the effect of oxygen on the dynamics of microcolony formation.

Monitoring of acute myeloid leukemia patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation employing semi-automated CD34+ donor cell chimerism analysis.

Determination of donor chimerism profiles in blood or bone marrow from patients with allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is useful for monitoring engraftment or predicting relapse, when specific molecular markers are lacking. CD34+ donor cell chimerism (DCC) analysis in peripheral blood samples from CD34+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myleodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients proved to be a highly sensitive diagnostic tool that is useful to detect imminent relapse significantly earlier compared to total white blood cell donor cell chimerism monitoring. However, flow-cytometric enrichment of CD34+ cells requires high efforts to human resources and equipment.

α4 integrin levels on mobilized peripheral blood stem cells predict rapidity of engraftment in patients receiving autologous stem cell transplantation.

Rapidness of leukocyte engraftment in patients receiving peripheral blood stem cell transplantation is clinically important because the risk of fatal opportunistic infections increases with time to engraftment. Adhesion receptor molecules on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have been shown to modulate homing and engraftment of HSCs. Therefore, we correlated expression levels of α4 (CD49d) and α6 (CD49f) integrins in the CD34(+) HSC compartment with time to engraftment.

Comparison of ATP-binding cassette transporter interactions with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors imatinib, nilotinib, and dasatinib.

Although the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) to control the unregulated activity of BCR-ABL revolutionized the therapy of chronic myeloid leukemia, resistance to TKIs is a clinical reality. Among the postulated mechanisms of resistance is the overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, such as P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) and breast cancer resistance protein (ABCG2), which mediate reduced intracellular drug accumulation. We compared the interactions of the TKIs imatinib, nilotinib, and dasatinib with ABCB1 and ABCG2 in ex vivo and in vitro systems.

Overlapping functions of argonaute proteins in patterning and morphogenesis of Drosophila embryos.

Argonaute proteins are essential components of the molecular machinery that drives RNA silencing. In Drosophila, different members of the Argonaute family of proteins have been assigned to distinct RNA silencing pathways. While Ago1 is required for microRNA function, Ago2 is a crucial component of the RNA-induced silencing complex in siRNA-triggered RNA interference.

Functional analysis of the glutathione S-transferase 3 from Onchocerca volvulus (Ov-GST-3): a parasite GST confers increased resistance to oxidative stress in Caenorhabditis elegans.

This study examined the genomic organisation of the coding region of the glutathione S-transferase 3 (Ov-GST-3) from the human parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus; alternative splicing leads to three different transcripts (Ov-GST-3/1; Ov-GST-3/2 and Ov-GST-3/3). Since the expression of Ov-GST-3 is inducible by oxidative stress, it is assumed that it is involved in the defense against reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting from cellular metabolism. Furthermore, we suggest that Ov-GST-3 plays an important role in the protection of the parasite against ROS derived from the host's immune system.