Two kinds of tubulin (alpha and beta) have been described in microtubules from many different systems. In this study a discontinuous acrylamide-gel system containing sodium dodecyl sulfate was used to separate milligram quantities of alpha- and beta-tubulin from microtubules of chick-embryo brain and from outer doublets of sea-urchin sperm. The isolated tubulins were characterized by peptide ma...

To investigate the prevalence of fungal agents in local Egyptian broiler breeder chicken’s premises, tracheal and cloacal swabs from chickens, feed, and water samples were collected. The targeted breed's dead-in-shell eggs and newly hatched chick’s samples were also tested. All fungal isolates were morphologically typed and the predominant fungal species were further subjected to molecular typi...

Microtubules are polymers of alpha/beta-tubulin participating in essential cell functions. A multistep process involving distinct molecular chaperones and cofactors produces new tubulin heterodimers competent to polymerise. In vitro cofactor A (TBCA) interacts with beta-tubulin in a quasi-native state behaving as a molecular chaperone. We have used siRNA to silence TBCA expression in HeLa and M...

The biogenesis of microtubules comprises several steps, including the correct folding of alpha- and beta-tubulin and heterodimer formation. In vitro studies and the genetic analysis in yeast revealed that, after translation, alpha- and beta-tubulin are processed by several chaperonins and microtubule-folding cofactors (TFCs) to produce assembly-competent alpha-/beta-tubulin heterodimers. One of...

PURPOSE To demonstrate the presence of corneal stromal precursors that express neural markers in vitro. METHODS To isolate sphere-forming cells, human corneal stromal cells were subjected to a reaggregation-free neurosphere assay in medium containing methylcellulose gel matrix. To promote differentiation, the isolated sphere colonies were plated in wells with medium containing fetal bovine se...

The dinoflagellate Kryptoperidinium foliaceum has replaced its ancestral peridinin-containing plastid with a fucoxanthin-containing diatom plastid via tertiary endosymbiosis. The diatom endosymbiont of K. foliaceum is much less reduced than well-studied endosymbiotic intermediates, such as cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes, where relict nuclear genomes are retained in secondary endosymbionts...

Expression of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor gene is stimulated by EGF and the phorbol ester, 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). PMA elevates EGF receptor mRNA levels in human KB epidermoid carcinoma cells, but does not significantly affect the half-life of this mRNA when its decay is examined after the addition of actinomycin D. In contrast, EGF greatly prolongs the half...

The genes encoding alpha- and beta-tubulins have been widely sampled in most major fungal phyla and they are useful tools for fungal phylogeny. Here, we report the first isolation of alpha-tubulin sequences from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). In parallel, AMF beta-tubulins were sampled and analysed to identify the presence of paralogs of this gene. The AMF alpha-tubulin amino acid phylogen...

An analysis of the polymorphism of 16 genes from Onchocerca volvulus was undertaken, in two populations of worms from either ivermectin-naïve patients or patients who had been repeatedly treated with ivermectin, in Ghana. Six genes were selected for analysis because studies in other nematodes had suggested a possible association with ivermectin resistance. The other 10 genes were included as co...

In addition to the overall complexity of transcriptional regulation, cells also must take into account the subcellular distribution of these gene products. This is particularly challenging for morphologically complex cells such as neurons. Yet the interaction between cellular morphology and gene expression is poorly understood. Here we provide some of the first evidence for a relationship betwe...