Helicobacter pylori-eliminating effects of FEMY-R7, composed of fucoidan and evening primrose extract, were investigated in mice and humans. Male C57BL/6 mice were infected with the bacteria by intragastric inoculation (1×10(9) CFU/mouse) 3 times at 2-day intervals, and simultaneously, orally treated twice a day with 10 or 100 mg/kg FEMY-R7 for 2 weeks. In Campylobcter-like organism-detection t...

Loss-of-function mutations in the sevenless (sev) gene in Drosophila result in the failure to differentiate a specific photoreceptor cell type--namely, the R7 cell. The sev gene encodes a cell-surface receptor tyrosine kinase that functions in the presumptive R7 cell to transduce developmental cues from its neighbors, instructing it to differentiate along the R7 cell pathway. We have isolated t...

BACKGROUND We recently discovered that short polymers of arginine efficiently translocate across the cytoplasmic membrane independent of the basic amino acid transporter. We evaluated the kinetics and biological effects of heptamers of L-arginine and D-arginine (L-R7 and D-R7, respectively) in vascular cells. We assessed the effects of these peptides on the NO synthesis pathway and vascular cel...

The retina of the mosquito Aedes aegypti can be divided into four regions based on the non-overlapping expression of a UV sensitive Aaop8 rhodopsin and a long wavelength sensitive Aaop2 type rhodopsin in the R7 photoreceptors. We show here that another rhodopsin, Aaop9, is expressed in all R7 photoreceptors and a subset of R8 photoreceptors. In the dorsal region, Aaop9 is expressed in both the ...

We have screened a collection of transposable-element-induced mutations for those which dominantly modify the extra R7 phenotype of a hypomorphic yan mutation. The members of one of the identified complementation groups correspond to disruptions of the tramtrack (ttk) gene. As heterozygotes, ttk alleles increase the percentage of R7 cells in yan mutant eyes. Just as yan mutations increase ectop...

In a genome-wide expression profile search for genes required for Drosophila R7 photoreceptor development we found β amyloid protein precursor-like (Appl), the ortholog of human APP, which is a key factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. We analyzed Appl expression in the eye imaginal disc and found that is highly accumulated in R7 photoreceptor cells. The R7 photoreceptor is respons...

Flies use specialized photoreceptors R7 and R8 in the dorsal rim area (DRA) to detect skylight polarization. R7 and R8 form a tiered waveguide (central rhabdomere pair, CRP) with R7 on top, filtering light delivered to R8. We examine how the division of a given resource, CRP length, between R7 and R8 affects their ability to code polarization angle. We model optical absorption to show how the l...

Drosophila N-cadherin is required for the formation of precise patterns of connections in the fly brain. Alternative splicing is predicted to give rise to 12 N-cadherin isoforms. We identified an N-cadherin allele, N-cad(18Astop), that eliminates the six isoforms containing alternative exon 18A and demonstrate that it strongly disrupts the connections of R7 photoreceptor neurons. During the fir...

Two rainbow trout chemokine receptors have been sequenced, with homology to CXC-R4 and CC-R7 molecules. The CXC-R4 sequence consisted of 1681 nucleotides, which translated into a mature protein of 357 amino acids, with 80.7% similarity to human CXC-R4. The CC-R7 sequence consisted of 2287 nucleotides, which translated into a 368-amino acid mature protein with 64.5% similarity to human CC-R7. Bo...

In the Drosophila visual system, the color-sensing photoreceptors R7 and R8 project their axons to two distinct layers in the medulla. Loss of the receptor tyrosine phosphatase LAR from R7 photoreceptors causes their axons to terminate prematurely in the R8 layer. Here we identify a null mutation in the Lipringene based on a similar R7 projection defect. Liprinphysically interacts with the inac...