RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) contains a unique C-terminal domain that is composed of heptapeptide repeats and which plays important regulatory roles during gene expression. RNAPII is responsible for the transcription of most protein-coding genes, a subset of non-coding genes, and retrotransposons. Retrotransposon transcription is the first step in their multiplication cycle, given that the RNA in...

The classical twin design (CTD) uses observed covariances from monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs to infer the relative magnitudes of genetic and environmental causes of phenotypic variation. Despite its wide use, it is well known that the CTD can produce biased estimates if its stringent assumptions are not met. By modeling observed covariances of twins' relatives in addition to twins themse...

The Escherichia coli DNA mismatch repair (MMR) protein MutS is essential for the correction of DNA replication errors. In vitro, MutS exists in a dimer/tetramer equilibrium that is converted into a monomer/dimer equilibrium upon deletion of the C-terminal 53 amino acids. In vivo and in vitro data have shown that this C-terminal domain (CTD, residues 801-853) is critical for tetramerization and ...

Neonicotinoids are pesticides used worldwide. They bind to insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) with high affinity. We previously reported that clothianidin (CTD), one of the latest neonicotinoids, reduced antioxidant expression and induced germ cell death in the adult testis of vertebrates. Here, we investigated the male reproductive toxicity of prenatal and early postnatal exposu...

The C-terminal domain (CTD) of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein is involved in regulating multiple stages of the HBV lifecycle. CTD phosphorylation correlates with pregenomic-RNA encapsidation during capsid assembly, reverse transcription, and viral transport, although the mechanisms remain unknown. In vitro, purified HBV core protein (Cp183) binds any RNA and assembles aggressively, indepe...

The term connective tissue diseases (CTD) defines a group of illnesses characterized by the presence of immune abnormalities and by widespread inflammation involving various organs and tissues including the lung. These diseases are not frequent in the paediatric age group. Very few data on pulmonary function are available in paediatric CTD. We investigated possible early lung function abnormali...

Spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric and inferior mesenteric arteries and of the celiac artery is uncommon occurrence [1]. Celiac artery dissection (CTD) is rare, and can present with intimal flap, mural thrombus or infiltration of fat around the artery. The causes of CTD are several and different: hypertension, arteriosclerosis, degeneration of the arterial wall, trauma, pregnancy...

Eukaryotic gene expression requires that RNA Polymerase II (RNAP II) gain access to DNA in the context of chromatin. The C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNAP II recruits chromatin modifying enzymes to promoters, allowing for transcription initiation or repression. Specific CTD phosphorylation marks facilitate recruitment of chromatin modifiers, transcriptional regulators, and RNA processing factors ...

The C-terminal repeat domain (CTD), an unusual extension appended to the C terminus of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, serves as a flexible binding scaffold for numerous nuclear factors; which factors bind is determined by the phosphorylation patterns on the CTD repeats. Changes in phosphorylation patterns, as polymerase transcribes a gene, are thought to orchestrate the association o...

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) capsid (CA) protein assembles into a hexameric lattice that forms the mature virus core. Contacts between the CA N-terminal domain (NTD) of one monomer and the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the adjacent monomer are important for the assembly of this core. In this study, we have examined the effects of mutations in the NTD region associated with this interacti...