Using adenovirus (Ad)-based vectors is a promising strategy for novel cancer treatments; however, current tracking approaches in vivo are limited. The C-terminus of the Ad minor capsid protein IX (pIX) can incorporate heterologous reporters to monitor biodistribution. We incorporated metallothionein (MT), a low-molecular-weight metal-binding protein, as a fusion to pIX. We previously demonstrat...

A series of experiments were conducted in 2003 in the Upper Gila River Valley in Safford, AZ to evaluate several different formulations of the plant growth regulator (PGR) Pix manufactured by BASF. Two experiments were conducted at the Safford Agricultural Center (SAC) while the third was conducted on a grower-cooperator field in the same valley. Experiments conducted at SAC involved evaluating...

The utility of the present generation of adenovirus (Ad) vectors for gene therapy applications could be improved by restricting native viral tropism to selected cell types. In order to achieve modification of Ad tropism, we proposed to exploit a minor component of viral capsid, protein IX (pIX), for genetic incorporation of targeting ligands. Based on the proposed structure of pIX, we hypothesi...

The 51 serotypes of human adenoviruses (HAdVs) of the genus Mastadenovirus are classified into the six species HAdV-A to HAdV-F. For the detection of genus- and species-specific antibodies in human sera an immunoblot assay was developed. The recombinant long fiber of HAdV-41[F] (Ad41Fi) and the native hexon of HAdV-5[C] were used as genus-specific antigens. The recombinant capsid protein IX (pI...

The nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat containing protein NOD2 serves as a cytoplasmic pattern recognition molecule sensing bacterial muramyl dipeptide (MDP), whereas TLR2 mediates cell surface recognition of bacterial lipopeptides. In this study, we show that NOD2 stimulation activated Rac1 in human THP-1 cells and primary human monocytes. Rac1 inhibition or knock-down, or actin...

MshC catalyzes the ATP-dependent condensation of GlcN-Ins and cysteine to form Cys-GlcN-Ins, which is an intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway of mycothiol, i.e., 1-D-myo-inosityl-2-(N-acetyl-L-cysteinyl)amido-2-deoxy-alpha-D-glucopyranoside (MSH or AcCys-GlcN-Ins). MSH is produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, members of the Actinomycetes family, to maintain an intracellular reducing envir...

Current targeting strategies for genetic vectors imply the creation of a specific vector for every targeted receptor, which is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the development of a universal vector system whose surface can specifically bind molecules to provide efficient targeting is of particular interest. In this study, we propose a new approach in creating targeted vectors based on t...

Cell shape changes are crucial for metazoan development. During Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis, epidermal cell shape changes transform ovoid embryos into vermiform larvae. This process is divided into two phases: early and late elongation. Early elongation involves the contraction of filamentous actin bundles by phosphorylated non-muscle myosin in a subset of epidermal (hypodermal) cells....

gene delivery might be affected by several tribulations based on carrier/vector applied. bacteriophages lambda and m13 have different genome conformations; linear double-stranded and circular single-stranded respectively. therefore, it might be expected that these two common classes of gene delivery vehicles will have different capacity for gene delivery and expression in eukaryote cells. to ad...