Purpose To determine genetic linkage between myopia and Han Chinese patients with a family history of the disease. Methods One hundred seventy-six Han Chinese patients from 34 extended families were given eye examinations, and mean spherical equivalent (MSE) in diopters (D) was calculated by adding the spherical component of the refraction to one-half the cylindrical component and taking the ...

PURPOSE To present genome-wide association analyses of genotypic and environmental risks on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using 593 subjects from the age-related eye disease study (AREDS), after adjusting for population stratification and including questionable controls. METHODS Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations with AMD for the non-Hispanic white population were inve...

HtrA2, a trimeric proapoptotic serine protease is involved in several diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Its unique ability to mediate apoptosis via multiple pathways makes it an important therapeutic target. In HtrA2, C-terminal PDZ domain upon substrate binding regulates its functions through coordinated conformational changes the mechanism of which is yet to be elucid...

The widely distributed members of the Deg/HtrA protease family play an important role in the proteolysis of misfolded and damaged proteins. Here we show that the Deg protease rHhoA is able to degrade PsbO, the extrinsic protein of the Photosystem II (PSII) oxygen-evolving complex in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and in spinach. PsbO is known to be stable in its oxidized form, but after reduction b...

UNLABELLED Competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae develops in response to accumulation of a secreted peptide pheromone and was one of the initial examples of bacterial quorum sensing. Activation of this signaling system induces not only expression of the proteins required for transformation but also the production of cellular chaperones and proteases. We have shown he...

BACKGROUND Acute gastroenteritis caused by the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is associated with attachment of bacteria to the intestinal epithelium and subsequent invasion of epithelial cells. In C. jejuni, the periplasmic protein HtrA is required for efficient binding to epithelial cells. HtrA has both protease and chaperone activity, and is important for virulence of several bacter...