Cellular basis for the olfactory response to nicotine.

Smokers regulate their smoking behavior on the basis of sensory stimuli independently of the pharmacological effects of nicotine (Rose J. E., et al.

Proliferation-specific genes activated by Galpha(12): a role for PDGFRalpha and JAK3 in Galpha(12)-mediated cell proliferation.

Galpha(12), the alpha-subunit of G protein G12, is ubiquitously expressed and it has been identified as a putative "causative oncogene" of soft-tissue sarcomas. Overexpression of wild-type or GTPase-deficient mutant of Galpha(12) (Galpha(12)Q229L or Galpha(12)QL) leads to the oncogenic transformation of NIH3T3 cells. Galpha(12)QL-tramsformed NIH3T3 cells show a distinct oncogenic phenotype defined by increased cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, reduced growth-factor dependency, attenuation of apoptotic signals, and neoplastic cytoskeletal changes.

Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BioS-1, for the detection of water-borne toxic metal contaminants.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae responds to extracellular toxic stimuli by increasing intracellular cyclic AMP levels, leading to activation of a cAMP-dependent protein kinase, protein kinase A (PKA). Activated PKA phosphorylates downstream substrates, including specific DNA-binding proteins, to turn off the expression of most or all of the yeast genes. Such cAMP-PKA-mediated inhibition of gene expression in response to toxic stimuli appears to be unique to S.