Telomeres consist of repeat DNA sequences located at the terminal portion of chromosomes that shorten during mitosis, protecting the tips of chromosomes. During chronic degenerative conditions associated with high cell replication rate, progressive telomere attrition is accentuated, favoring senescence and genomic instability. Several lines of evidence suggest that this process is involved in l...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an efficient antimicrobial agent. A role for mycothiol in protecting mycobacteria from nitrosative damage was revealed by showing that a Mycobacterium smegmatis mutant is sensitive to NO. A direct correlation between NO and mycothiol levels confirmed that mycothiol is important for protecting mycobacteria from NO attack.

The transcription factor NF-κB is important for expression of genes involved in immune responses, viral infections, cytokine signaling and stress. In addition NF-κB plays a crucial role in protecting cells from TNFα-induced apoptotic stimuli, presumably by activating anti-apoptotic genes. Here we report that the substoichiometric TFIID subunit TAFII105 is essential for activation of anti-apopto...

Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures present at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that play a central role in guarding the integrity of the genome by protecting chromosome ends from degradation and fusion. Length regulation is central to telomere function. To broaden our knowledge about the mechanisms that control telomere length, we have carried out a systematic examination of approximately...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Innate immune dysfunction can promote chronic inflammatory diseases of the liver. For example, mice lacking the flagellin receptor Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) show microbial dysbiosis and predisposition to high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic steatosis. The extent to which hepatocytes play a direct role in detecting bacterial products in general, or flagellin in particular, is ...

A general problem that exists in the assembly of large and organized DNA structures from smaller fragments is secondary structure that blocks or prevents it. For example, it is common to assemble longer synthetic DNA and RNA fragments by ligation of smaller synthesized units, but blocking secondary structure can prevent the formation of the intended complex before enzymatic ligation can occur. ...

background: recently, the use of t7 rna polymerase instead of other viral and cellular promoters is increasing due to high efficacy of transcription in the cell cytoplasm by this polymerase. in order to translate the transcripts produced by t7 rna polymerase in mammalian cell lines, it is necessary to include internal ribosome entry site (ires) sequences. in addition, if sequence of poly a sign...

Since the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) in nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans 1998 by Fire and Mello et al., strides have been made exploiting RNAi for therapeutic applications more recently highly selective insect pest control. Although triggering mRNA degradation insects through offers significant opportunities crop protection, application environmental naked dsRNA is often ineffecti...