The ability to conditionally turn on a signal or induce a function in the presence of a user-defined RNA target has potential applications in medicine and synthetic biology. Although sequence-specific pumilio repeat proteins can target a limited set of ssRNA sequences, there are no general methods for targeting ssRNA with designed proteins. As a first step toward RNA recognition, we utilized th...

Inositol 1,3,4,5,6-pentakisphosphate 2-kinases (IP5 2-Ks) are part of a family of enzymes in charge of synthesizing inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) in eukaryotic cells. This protein and its product IP6 present many roles in cells, participating in mRNA export, embryonic development, and apoptosis. We reported previously that the full-length IP5 2-K from Arabidopsis thaliana is a zinc metallo-en...

Bioabsorbable metal zinc (Zn) is a promising new generation of implantable scaffold for cardiovascular and orthopedic applications. In cardiovascular stent applications, zinc ion (Zn(2+)) will be gradually released into the surrounding vascular tissues from such Zn-containing scaffolds after implantation. However, the interactions between vascular cells and Zn(2+) are still largely unknown. We ...

background: since the treatments of long tracheal leisions are associated with some limitations, tissue enginered trachea is considered as an alternative option. this study aimed at preparing a composite scaffold, based on natural and synthetic materials for tracheal tissue engineering. methods: nine chitosan silk-based scaffolds were fabricated using three freezing rates (0.5, 1, and 2°c/min) ...

stem cells are self-renewing cells that can be differentiated into other cell types. conventional in vitro models for studying stem cells differentiation are usually preformed in two-dimensional (2d) cultures. the design of three-dimensional (3d) in vitro models which ideally are supposed to mimic the in vivo stem cells microenvironment is potentially useful for inducing stem cell derived tissu...

in this present study, we examined the differentiation potential of human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hbmscs) into hepatocytes on a three-dimentional (3d) nanofibrous scaffold formed by poly (ε-caprolactone) (pcl), collagen and polyethersulfone (pes). the nanofiber was prepared by the electrospining technique. hbmscs were isolated using combining gradient density centrifugation ...

nanofber  mats  of  poly(ε-caprolactone)/nanoclay  nanocomposites  were fabricated by electrospinning. the effects of the solution concentration and  the  nanoclay  content  of  nanocomposite  materials  on  the  fnal nanofber  structure were  investigated. morphology  and  diameter  of  the  nanofbers were studied using optical and scanning electron microscope. it was observed that the  poly(ε...

Karilysin is the only metallopeptidase identified as a virulence factor in the odontopathogen Tannerella forsythia owing to its deleterious effect on the host immune response during bacterial infection. The very close structural and sequence-based similarity of its catalytic domain (Kly18) to matrix metalloproteinases suggests that karilysin was acquired by horizontal gene transfer from an anim...

Abstract The CCCH-type zinc finger (ZnF) containing ZC3H12 ribonucleases are crucial in post-transcriptional immune homoeostasis with ZC3H12A being the only structurally studied member of family. In this study, we present a structural-biochemical characterization ZC3H12C, which is linked chronic disorders like psoriasis. We established that RNA substrate cooperatively recognized by PIN and ZnF ...