Thymidylate synthase (TS) is an E2F1-regulated enzyme that is essential for DNA synthesis and repair. TS protein and mRNA levels are elevated in many human cancers, and high TS levels have been correlated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal, breast, cervical, bladder, kidney, and non-small cell lung cancers. In this study, we show that ectopic expression of catalytically active TS is sufficient to induce a transformed phenotype in mammalian cells as manifested by foci formation, anchorage independent growth, and tumor formation in nude mice. In contrast, comparable levels of two TS mutants carrying single point mutations within the catalytic domain had no transforming activity. In addition, we show that overexpression of TS results in apoptotic cell death following serum removal. These data demonstrate that TS exhibits oncogene-like activity and suggest a link between TS-regulated DNA synthesis and the induction of a neoplastic phenotype.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1535-6108(04)00080-7 | DOI Listing |
Forensic Sci Int Genet
December 2024
Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
With the advent of commercial DNA databases, investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) has emerged as a powerful forensic tool, rivalling the impact of STR analyses, introduced four decades ago. IGG has been frequently applied in the US and tested in other countries, but never in Norway. Here, we apply IGG to three cold criminal cases and successfully identify the donor of the DNA in two of these cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Synth Biol
January 2025
Laboratory of Synthetic Microbiology, School of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China.
The fusion expression of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication-related proteins with nucleotide deaminase enzymes promotes random mutations in bacterial genomes, thereby increasing genetic diversity among the population. Most previous studies have focused on cytosine deaminase, which produces only C → T mutations, significantly limiting the variety of mutation types. In this study, we developed a fusion expression system by combining DnaG (RNA primase) with adenine deaminase TadA-8e (DnaG-TadA) in , which is capable of rapidly introducing A → G mutations into the genome, resulting in a 664-fold increase in terms of mutation rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Open
December 2024
Institut Curie, Université PSL, CNRS UMR3348, 91400 Orsay, France.
The SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) family is involved in multiple cellular processes via a wide range of mechanisms to maintain genome stability. One of the evolutionarily conserved functions of STUbL is to promote changes in the nuclear positioning of DNA lesions, targeting them to the nuclear periphery. In Schizossacharomyces pombe, the STUbL Slx8 is a regulator of SUMOylated proteins and promotes replication stress tolerance by counteracting the toxicity of SUMO conjugates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
University of São Paulo Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Background: The Down Syndrome (DS), also referred to as trisomy of chromosome 21, is a prevalent cause of intellectual disability and also contributes to the acceleration of aging, among other developmental and health concerns. Certain pathological characteristics shared by DS and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) indicate similar commonalities. This study aims to unravel the relationship between the canonical Wnt/pathway, the amyloid precursor protein processing, the telomere shortening in DS individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Background: Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) quantifies the number of mitochondria genomes per nucleated cell, with reduced mtDNAcn being associated with increased Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology. Blood-based mtDNAcn has technical confounders, such as DNA purification, and biological confounders, such as compensatory upregulation of mtDNA. Therefore, we optimized a protocol for mtDNAcn quantification using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) by testing (i) whole peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) vs platelet-depleted PBMCs, (ii) column-based DNA extraction vs cell lysate, and (iii) mitochondrial DNA replication (mtDNArep).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!