Differentiation of pancreatic β-cells is regulated by a wide range of signalling pathways. The aim of our current work was to evaluate the effect of the Jak/Stat signalling pathway on the differentiation of human non-endocrine pancreatic cells into insulin-producing cells. Activation of the Jak/Stat signalling pathway by leukaemia inhi...

Cementum is a periodontal support tissue that is directly connected to the periodontal ligament. It shares common traits with bone tissues, however, unlike bone, the cementum has a limited capacity for regeneration. As a result, following damage the cementum rarely, if ever, regenerates. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) are able to differentiate into osteoblastic and cementogenic lineages acc...

Exogenous glucose delays seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana not only in wild type (WT), but also in a number of mutants in hormone signalling pathways. This study demonstrates that the ABA Insensitive 3 (ABI3) gene in the ABA signalling pathway and the RGA-like 2 (RGL2) and SPINDLY (SPY) genes in the GA signalling pathways all play important roles in the glucose-induced delay of seed germ...

One of the most fundamental aspects of growth in plants is its plasticity in relation to fluctuating environmental conditions. Growth of meristematic cells relies predominantly on protein synthesis, one of the most energy-consuming activities in cells, and thus is tightly regulated in accordance with the available nutrient and energy supplies. The Target of Rapamycin (TOR) signalling pathway ta...

Plant hormones have pivotal roles in almost every aspect of plant development. Over the past decades, physiological and genetic studies have revealed that hormone action in plants is determined by complex interactions between hormonal signalling pathways. Evidence is accumulating for the existence of crosstalk between the auxin and jasmonate (JA) signalling pathways. Recently, the JASMONATE ZIM...

The cyclic adenosine monophosphate-protein kinase A (cAMP-PKA) pathway is a central signalling cascade that transmits extracellular stimuli and governs cell responses through the second messenger cAMP. The importance of cAMP signalling in fungal biology has been well documented and the key conserved components, adenylate cyclase (AC) and the catalytic subunit of PKA (CPKA), have been functional...

We present a method for logical analysis of signal-transduction networks, focusing on metabolic and mitogenic signalling by the insulin receptor, with specific emphasis on dependence of the signalling properties on the timing of binding events. We discuss a basic model which demonstrates this dependence (hormone binding leads to activation of the receptor which can lead to a commitment to mitog...

Vaccinia virus (VACV) encodes multiple proteins inhibiting the NF-κB signalling pathway. One of these, A49, targets the E3 ubiquitin ligase β-TrCP, which is responsible for the ubiquitylation and consequential proteosomal degradation of IκBα and the release of the NF-κB heterodimer. β-TrCP is a pleiotropic enzyme ubiquitylating multiple cellular substrates, including the transcriptional activat...

Protein kinase A is a key mediator of cAMP signalling downstream of G-protein-coupled receptors, a signalling pathway conserved in all eukaryotes. cAMP binding to the regulatory subunits (PKAR) relieves their inhibition of the catalytic subunits (PKAC). Here we report that ARHGAP36 combines two distinct inhibitory mechanisms to antagonise PKA signalling. First, it blocks PKAC activity via a pse...

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signalling pathway is a key mediator of fibroblast activation that drives the aberrant synthesis of extracellular matrix in fibrotic diseases. Here we demonstrate a novel link between transforming growth factor-β and the canonical Wnt pathway. TGF-β stimulates canonical Wnt signalling in a p38-dependent manner by decreasing the expression of the Wnt anta...