BACKGROUND The leading actin network in motile cells is composed of two compartments, the lamellipod and the lamellum. Construction of the lamellipod requires a set of conserved proteins that form a biochemical cycle. The timing of this cycle and the roles of its components in determining actin network architecture in vivo, however, are not well understood. RESULTS We performed fluorescent sp...

Oleic acid capped monodisperse SnO(2) quantum dots (QDs) of size 2.7 nm were synthesized by thermal decomposition and oxidation of Sn(II)(oleate) complex in high boiling nonpolar solvent octadecene using oleic acid as a capping agent and N-methylmorpholine N-oxide as an oxidizing agent. FTIR, DSC and TGA were employed to understand the growth of the oleic acid capped SnO(2) QDs through the deco...

We study liquid adsorption in narrow rectangular capped capillaries formed by capping two parallel planar walls (a slit pore) with a third wall orthogonal to the two planar walls. The most important transition in confined fluids is arguably condensation, where the pore becomes filled with the liquid phase which is metastable in the bulk. Depending on the temperature T, the condensation in cappe...

5'-Capping is an early mRNA modification that has important consequences for downstream events in gene expression. We have isolated mammalian cDNAs encoding capping enzyme. They contain the sequence motifs characteristic of the nucleotidyl transferase superfamily. The predicted mouse and human enzymes consist of 597 amino acids and are 95% identical. Mouse cDNA directed synthesis of a guanylyla...

Ecotoxicological effects of 2 carbonaceous and 7 mineral capping materials suggested for in situ remediation of contaminated sediments in the Grenland fjords, Norway, were investigated in a mesocosm experiment. The primary objective was to compare the various materials with regard to potentially harmful effects on the benthic ecosystem. The materials assessed were activated carbon, Kraft-lignin...

We report the isolation and characterization of a second capping ribozyme, called 6.17. This ribozyme has substrate requirements that are very similar to a previously isolated capping ribozyme called Iso6. Both ribozymes promote capping and cap exchange reactions with a broad range of nucleotide substrates. The ribozymes mediate a reaction where the terminal phosphate of the nucleotide substrat...

The actin-Capping Protein heterodimer, composed of the α and β subunits, is a master F-actin regulator. In addition to its role in many cellular processes, Capping Protein acts as a main tumor suppressor module in Drosophila and in humans, in part, by restricting the activity of Yorkie/YAP/TAZ oncogenes. We aimed in this report to understand how both subunits regulate each other in vivo. We sho...

Kinesin1 plays a major role in neuronal transport by recruiting many different cargos through its kinesin light chain (KLC). Various structurally unrelated cargos interact with the conserved tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain of KLC. The N-terminal capping helix of the TPR domain exhibits an atypical sequence and structural features that may contribute to the versatility of the TPR domain to...

We report on the use of surface-sensitive techniques (x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism) to investigate interfacial effects in sputtered manganite thin films, La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 (LCMO) and La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO), with different capping layers [MgO, LaAlO3 (LAO), SrTiO3 (STO), NdGaO3 (NGO), and Au]. To ensure surface sensitivity, data were acquired by using the total...

Twf (twinfilin) is an evolutionarily conserved regulator of actin dynamics composed of two ADF-H (actin-depolymerizing factor homology) domains. Twf binds actin monomers and heterodimeric capping protein with high affinity. Previous studies have demonstrated that mammals express two Twf isoforms, Twf1 and Twf2, of which at least Twf1 also regulates cytoskeletal dynamics by capping actin filamen...