Upon the incidence of DNA stress, the ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) and Rad3-related (ATR) signaling kinases activate a transient cell cycle arrest that allows cells to repair DNA before proceeding into mitosis. Although the ATM-ATR pathway is highly conserved over species, the mechanisms by which plant cells stop their cell cycle in response to the loss of genome integrity are unclear. W...

Activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is characterized by a diurnal rhythm with an AM nadir and PM peak. Splanchnic nerve transection disrupts the diurnal rhythm in plasma corticosterone; however, there is a controversy as to whether the nerve-mediated effect is 1) via inhibition in the AM vs. excitation in the PM, or 2) involves changes in adrenal sensitivity to ACTH. The present...

The paralogous maize proteins EMPTY PERICARP2 (EMP2) and HEAT SHOCK FACTOR BINDING PROTEIN2 (HSBP2) each contain a single recognizable motif: the coiled-coil domain. EMP2 and HSBP2 accumulate differentially during maize development and heat stress. Previous analyses revealed that EMP2 is required for regulation of heat shock protein (hsp) gene expression and also for embryo morphogenesis. Devel...

In plant factories, measurements of plant conditions are necessary at an early stage of growth to predict harvest times of high value-added crops. Moreover, harvest qualities depend largely on environmental stresses that elicit plant hormone responses. However, the complexities of plant hormone networks have not been characterized under nonstress conditions. In the present study, we determined ...

Frequent blood sampling from males rats was used to study hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation during arthritis and its association with diminished responses to acute psychological stress. In control rats, corticosterone release occurred in a series of 13 +/- 1 pulses per 24 h. Induction of arthritis by Mycobacterium-adjuvant injection initially increased the rate of hormone rel...

Deregulation of the expression of p53R2, a p53-inducible homologue of the R2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, has been found in various human cancer tissues; however, the roles p53R2 plays in cancer progression and malignancy remain controversial. In the present study, we examined changes in gene expression profiles associated with p53R2 in cancer cells, using the analysis of cDNA microarra...

A tBLASTn search of the Myxococcus xanthus genome database at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) identified three genes (pdeA, pdeB, and pdeC) that encode proteins homologous to 3',5'-cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase. pdeA, pdeB, and pdeC mutants, constructed by replacing a part of the gene with the kanamycin or tetracycline resistance gene, showed normal growth, development, and germ...

The glyoxalase pathway involving glyoxalase I (gly I) and glyoxalase II (gly II) enzymes is required for glutathione-based detoxification of methylglyoxal. We had earlier indicated the potential of gly I as a probable candidate gene in conferring salinity tolerance. We report here that overexpression of gly I+II together confers improved salinity tolerance, thus offering another effective strat...