The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of extracellular calcium such that abnormalities, which result in a loss or gain of function, lead to hypercalcemia or hypocalcemia, respectively, in patients. Mice carrying CaSR knockout alleles develop hypercalcemia that mimics the disorders observed in humans. To date, there is no mouse model for an acti...

Activating mutations in protein tyrosine phosphatase 11 (Ptpn11) have been identified in childhood acute leukemias, in addition to juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), which is a myeloproliferative disorder (MPD). It is not clear whether activating mutations of this phosphatase play a causal role in the pathogenesis of acute leukemias. If so, the cell origin of leukemia-initiating stem cell...

Grain yield in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is largely determined by inflorescence architecture. Zang734 an endemic Tibetan variety that exhibits a rare triple spikelet (TRS) phenotype with significantly increased spikelet/floret number per spike. However, the molecular basis underlying this specific spike morphology completely unknown. Through map-based cloning, causal genes for TRS trai...

The discovery of the highly prevalent activating JAK (Janus kinase) 2 V617F mutation in myeloproliferative neoplasms, and of other pseudokinase domain-activating mutations in JAK2, JAK1 and JAK3 in blood cancers, prompted great interest in understanding how pseudokinase domains regulate kinase domains in JAKs. Recent functional and mutagenesis studies identified residues required for the V617F ...

One Japanese pedigree of familial essential thrombocythemia (FET) inherited in an autosomal-dominant manner is presented. A unique point mutation, serine 505 to asparagine 505 (Ser505Asn), was identified in the transmembrane domain of the c-MPL gene in all of the 8 members with thrombocythemia, but in none of the other 8 unaffected members in this FET family. The Ba/F3 cells expressing the muta...

OBJECTIVES Owing to novel therapy strategies in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated patients, molecular analysis of the EGFR and KRAS genome has become crucial for routine diagnostics. Till date these data have been derived mostly from clinical trials, and thus collected in pre-selected populations. We therefore screened 'allcomers' with a newly diagnosed non-small cell lung carcino...