Little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which the embryo proper and suspensor of plant embryos activate specific gene sets shortly after fertilization. We analyzed the upstream region of the scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) G564 gene to understand how genes are activated specifically within the suspensor during early embryo development. Previously, we showed that the G564 ups...

Crystallographic studies have shown that the coiled-coil motif occurs in several viral membrane-fusion proteins, including HIV-1 gp41 and influenza virus hemagglutinin. Here, the LearnCoil-VMF program was designed as a specialized program for identifying coiled-coil-like regions in viral membrane-fusion proteins. Based upon the use of LearnCoil-VMF, as well as other computational tools, we repo...

To examine the associations among fibrillin gene mutations, protein function, and Marfan syndrome phenotype, we screened for alterations in the fibrillin coding sequence in patients with a range of manifestations and clinical severity. A cysteine to serine substitution at codon 1409 (C1409S) was identified in an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like motif from one fibrillin allele which segregates...

Infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) promotes the development of hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. HBV X protein (HBx) is an important effector for HBV pathogenesis, but its cellular targets and acting mechanisms remain elusive. We show here that HBx interacts with the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl...

The Delta6-desaturase catalyzes key steps in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. Although the gene coding for this enzyme has been isolated in diverse animal species, the protein structure remains poorly characterized. In this work, rat Delta6-desaturase expressed in COS-7 cells was shown to localize in the endoplasmic reticulum. As the enzyme contains an N-terminal cytochrome b...

Hammerhead ribozymes previously were found in satellite RNAs from plant viroids and in repetitive DNA from certain species of newts and schistosomes. To determine if this catalytic RNA motif has a wider distribution, we decided to scrutinize the GenBank database for RNAs that contain hammerhead or hammerhead-like motifs. The search shows a widespread distribution of this kind of RNA motif in di...

some thoughts and events are of a prominent position in human life as if they lead human to insistence and repetition by becoming a part of his concerns and at last they represent themselves as an individual and permanent feature in his conscious and unconscious. but permanent repetition of the mentioned imagery represents a subject  of whose reality there is no information available under norm...

this work presents a hybrid method for motif discovery in dna sequences. the proposed method called spso-lk, borrows the concept of chebyshev polynomials and uses the stochastic local search to improve the performance of the basic pso algorithm as a motif finder. the chebyshev polynomial concept encourages us to use a linear combination of previously discovered velocities beyond that proposed b...

in a structural analysis, the “rebellion & decline” theme creates a narrative structure in which eleven stories of shāhnāmeh – equal to 3.18 per cent of the whole epic – are included, which makes it the tenth largest sequence of the shāhnāmeh. this narrative structure (sequence) consists of initial tranquillity, the king’s rebellion, his decline, and ultimate tranquillity. the epical theme of r...

quorum sensing controls the luminescence of vibrio fischeri through the transcriptional activator luxr and the specific autoinducer signal produced by luxi. amino acid sequences of these two genes were analyzed using bioinformatics tools. luxi consists of 193 amino acids and appears to contain five α-helices and six ß-sheets when analyzed by sspro8. luxi belongs to the autoinducer synthetase fa...