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Identification and biochemical analysis of GRIN1 and GRIN2.

We have identified the novel Galphaz-binding protein, which is referred to as the G-protein-regulated inducer of neurite outgrowth (GRIN1) using the far-western method. GRIN1 is expressed specifically in brain and binds preferentially to the activated form of alpha subunits of Gz, Gi, and Go. Coexpression of GRIN1 and the activated form of Galphao induce neurite outgrowth in Neuro2a cells. We have further identified two human GRIN1 homologs, GRIN2 and GRIN3, in the database. This article shows that GRIN2 can also bind to the GTP-bound form of Galphao. These findings suggest that the GRIN1 family may function as a downstream effector for Galphao to regulate neurite growth.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

Development and application of a rat ovarian gene expression database.

The pituitary gonadotropins play a key role in follicular development and ovulation through the induction of specific genes. To identify these genes, we have constructed a genome-wide rat ovarian gene expression database (rOGED). The database was constructed from total RNA isolated from intact ovaries, granulosa cells, or residual ovarian tissues collected from immature pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG)/human chorionic gonadotropin-treated rats at 0 h (no PMSG), 12 h, and 48 h post PMSG, as well as 6 and 12 h post human chorionic gonadotropin. The total RNA was used for DNA microarray analysis using Affymetrix Rat Expression Arrays 230A and 230B (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). The microarray data were compiled and used for display of individual gene expression profiles through specially developed software. The final rOGED provides immediate analysis of temporal gene expression profiles for over 28,000 genes in intact ovaries, granulosa cells, and residual ovarian tissue during follicular growth and the preovulatory period. The accuracy of the rOGED was validated against the gene profiles for over 20 known genes. The utility of the rOGED was demonstrated by identifying six genes that have not been described in the rat periovulatory ovary. The mRNA expression patterns and cellular localization for each of these six genes (estrogen sulfotransferase, synaptosomal-associated protein 25 kDa, runt-related transcription factor, calgranulin B, alpha1-macroglobulin, and MAPK phosphotase-3) were confirmed by Northern blot analyses and in situ hybridization, respectively. The current findings demonstrate that the rOGED can be used as an instant reference for ovarian gene expression profiles, as well as a reliable resource for identifying important yet, to date, unknown ovarian genes.

Amphiregulin↗

The mouse SWISS-2D PAGE database: a tool for proteomics study of diabetes and obesity.

A number of two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) reference maps from mouse samples have been established and could be accessed through the internet. An up-to-date list can be found in WORLD-2D PAGE (http://www.expasy.ch/ch2d/2d- index.html), an index of 2-DE databases and services. None of them were established from mouse white and brown adipose tissues, pancreatic islets, liver nuclei and skeletal muscle. This publication describes the mouse SWISS-2D PAGE database. Proteins present in samples of mouse (C57BI/6J) liver, liver nuclei, muscle, white and brown adipose tissue and pancreatic islets are assembled and described in an accessible uniform format. SWISS-2D PAGE can be accessed through the World Wide Web (WWW) network on the ExPASy molecular biology server (http://www.expasy.ch/ ch2d/).

Animals↗

ProClust: improved clustering of protein sequences with an extended graph-based approach.

MOTIVATION: The problem of finding remote homologues of a given protein sequence via alignment methods is not fully solved. In fact, the task seems to become more difficult with more data. As the size of the database increases, so does the noise level; the highest alignment scores due to random similarities increase and can be higher than the alignment score between true homologues. Comparing two sequences with an arbitrary alignment method yields a similarity value which may indicate an evolutionary relationship between them. A threshold value is usually chosen to distinguish between true homologue relationships and random similarities. To compensate for the higher probability of spurious hits in larger databases, this threshold is increased. Increasing specificity however leads to decreased sensitivity as a matter of principle. Sensitivity can be recovered by utilizing refined protocols. A number of approaches to this challenge have made use of the fact that proteins are often members of some larger protein family. This can be exploited by using position-specific substitution matrices or profiles, or by making use of transitivity of homology. Transitivity refers to the concept of concluding homology between proteins A and C based on homology between A and a third protein B and between B and C. It has been demonstrated that transitivity can lead to substantial improvement in recognition of remote homologues particularly in cases where the alignment score of A and C is below the noise level. A natural limit to the use of transitivity is imposed by domains. Domains, compact independent sub-units of proteins, are often shared between otherwise distinct proteins, and can cause substantial problems by incorrectly linking otherwise unrelated proteins. RESULTS: We extend a graph-based clustering algorithm which uses an asymmetric distance measure, scaling similarity values based on the length of the protein sequences compared. Additionally, the significance of alignment scores is taken into account and used for a filtering step in the algorithm. Post-processing, to merge further clusters based on profile HMMs is proposed. SCOP sequences and their super-family level classification are used as a test set for a clustering computed with our method for the joint data set containing both SCOP and SWISS-PROT. Note, the joint data set includes all multi-domain proteins, which contain the SCOP domains that are a potential source of incorrect links. Our method compares at high specificities very favorably with PSI-Blast, which is probably the most widely-used tool for finding remote homologues. We demonstrate that using transitivity with as many as twelve intermediate sequences is crucial to achieving this level of performance. Moreover, from analysis of false positives we conclude that our method seems to correctly bound the degree of transitivity used. This analysis also yields explicit guidance in choosing parameters. The heuristics of the asymmetric distance measure used neither solve the multi-domain problem from a theoretical point of view, nor do they avoid all types of problems we have observed in real data. Nevertheless, they do provide a substantial improvement over existing approaches. AVAILABILITY: The complete software source is freely available to all users under the GNU General Public License (GPL) from http://www.bioinformatik.uni-koeln.de/~proclust/download/

Algorithms↗

3pK, a new mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase located in the small cell lung cancer tumor suppressor gene region.

NotI linking clones, localized to the human chromosome 3p21.3 region and homozygously deleted in small cell lung cancer cell lines NCI-H740 and NCI-H1450, were used to search for a putative tumor suppressor gene(s). One of these clones, NL1G210, detected a 2.5-kb mRNA in all examined human tissues, expression being especially high in the heart and skeletal muscle. Two overlapping cDNA clones containing the entire open reading frame were isolated from a human heart cDNA library and fully characterized. Computer analysis and a search of the GenBank database to reveal high sequence identity of the product of this gene to serine-threonine kinases, especially to mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase 2, a recently described substrate of mitogen-activated kinases. Sequence identitiy was 72% at the nucleotide level and 75% at the amino acid level, strongly suggesting that this protein is a serine-threonine kinase. Here we demonstrate that the new gene, referred to as 3pK (for chromosome 3p kinase), in fact encodes a mitogen-activated protein kinase-regulated protein serine-threonine kinase with a novel substrate specificity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Identification of the gonad-specific anion transporter SLCO6A1 as a cancer/testis (CT) antigen expressed in human lung cancer.

Serological analysis of recombinant cDNA expression libraries (SEREX) has led to the identification of many of the antigens recognized by the immune system of cancer patients, which are collectively referred to as the cancer immunome. We used SEREX to screen a testicular cDNA expression library with sera obtained from non-small cell lung cancer patients and isolated cDNA clones for 82 antigens. These included a total of 31 antigens previously identified by SEREX, and 51 that did not match entries in the Cancer Immunome Database and were considered newly identified antigens. Overall, the antigens comprised 62 known proteins and 20 uncharacterized gene products. Six antigens (NY-TLU-6, -37, -39, -57, -70, -75) were identified as putative cell surface proteins that are potential targets for monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapy. Of these, the gonad-specific anion transport protein SLCO6A1 (NY-TLU-57) was shown to be tissue-restricted. RT-PCR showed it to be expressed strongly only in normal testis, and weakly in spleen, brain, fetal brain, and placenta. In addition, NY-TLU-57 mRNA was found in lung tumor samples (5/10) and lung cancer cell lines (6/11), as well as bladder (5/12) and esophageal (5/12) tumor samples. These data suggest that SLCO6A1 is a putative cancer/testis (CT) cell surface antigen of potential utility as a target for antibody-based therapy for a variety of tumor types. The analysis also permits us to estimate the eventual size of the SEREX-defined cancer immunome at around 4000 genes. This emphasizes the importance of continued SEREX screening to define the cancer immunome.

Anion Transport Proteins↗

Deciphering Arabidopsis thaliana gene neighborhoods through bibliographic co-citations.

In the framework of genome annotation, scientific literature is obviously the major source of biological knowledge. The aim of the work described in this paper is to exploit this source of data for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The first step has consisted in constituting a relevant bibliographic references dataset for plant genomic research. Genes co-citations have then been systematically annotated in this reference dataset, starting from the simple idea that if genes are cited in the same publication, they must probably share some related functional properties. In order to deal with the synonymous gene name problem, a gene name reference list has been constituted starting from A. thaliana SwissProt entries. This list was used to build clusters of co-cited genes by a single linkage procedure such that any gene in a given cluster possesses at least one co-cited partner in the same cluster. Analysis of the clusters demonstrate the biological consistency of this approach, with only very few fortuitous links. As an example, a cluster including genes related to flowering time is more deeply described in the paper. Finally, a graphical representation of each cluster was performed, which provides a convenient way to retrieve the genes (the nodes of the graphs) and the references in which they were co-cited (the edges of the graphs). All the results can be accessed at the URL http://chlora.Igi.infobiogen.fr:1234/bib_arath/.

Arabidopsis↗

Sequence-structure mapping errors in the PDB: OB-fold domains.

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is the single most important repository of structural data for proteins and other biologically relevant molecules. Therefore, it is critically important to keep the PDB data, as much as possible, error-free. In this study, we have analyzed PDB crystal structures possessing oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide binding (OB)-fold, one of the highly populated folds, for the presence of sequence-structure mapping errors. Using energy-based structure quality assessment coupled with sequence analyses, we have found that there are at least five OB-structures in the PDB that have regions where sequences have been incorrectly mapped onto the structure. We have demonstrated that the combination of these computation techniques is effective not only in detecting sequence-structure mapping errors, but also in providing guidance to correct them. Namely, we have used results of computational analysis to direct a revision of X-ray data for one of the PDB entries containing a fairly inconspicuous sequence-structure mapping error. The revised structure has been deposited with the PDB. We suggest use of computational energy assessment and sequence analysis techniques to facilitate structure determination when homologs having known structure are available to use as a reference. Such computational analysis may be useful in either guiding the sequence-structure assignment process or verifying the sequence mapping within poorly defined regions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Management of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome: a systematic review.

CONTEXT: Antiphospholipid antibodies are autoantibodies directed against proteins that bind to phospholipid. Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) refers to the association between antiphospholipid antibodies and thrombosis risk or pregnancy morbidity. Patients with APS may be at increased risk of recurrent arterial or venous thrombosis or pregnancy loss. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the evidence for treatment of thrombosis risk in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies or APS. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Search of MEDLINE (1966 to November 2005) and Cochrane Library electronic databases (2005) and reference lists for randomized trials, meta-analyses of randomized trials, and prospective cohort studies of the treatment of thrombosis risk in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies or APS. Studies were selected on the basis of clinical relevance. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Among patients with antiphospholipid antibodies, the absolute risk of developing new thrombosis is low (<1% per year) in otherwise healthy patients without prior thrombotic events, may be moderately increased (up to 10% per year) in women with recurrent fetal loss without prior thrombosis, and is highest (>10% in the first year) in patients with a history of venous thrombosis who have discontinued anticoagulant drugs within 6 months. Compared with placebo or untreated control, anticoagulation with moderate-intensity warfarin (adjusted to a target international normalized ratio [INR] of 2.0-3.0) reduces the risk of recurrent venous thrombosis by 80% to 90% irrespective of the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and may be effective for preventing recurrent arterial thrombosis. No evidence exists that high-intensity warfarin (target INR, >3.0) is more effective than moderate-intensity warfarin. For patients with a single positive antiphospholipid antibody test result and prior stroke, aspirin and moderate-intensity warfarin appear equally effective for preventing recurrent stroke. Treatment issues that have not been addressed in clinical trials, or for which the evidence is conflicting, include the role of antithrombotic prophylaxis in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies without prior thrombosis, the optimal treatment of noncerebrovascular arterial thrombosis, recurrent thrombosis despite warfarin therapy, and treatment of women with antiphospholipid antibodies and recurrent fetal loss. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with APS, moderate-intensity warfarin is effective for preventing recurrent venous thrombosis and perhaps also arterial thrombosis. Aspirin appears to be as effective as moderate-intensity warfarin for preventing recurrent stroke in patients with prior stroke and a single positive test result for antiphospholipid antibody. The optimal treatment of other thrombotic aspects of APS needs to be addressed in well-designed prospective studies.

Antibodies, Antiphospholipid↗

Golgi localization of Syne-1.

We have previously identified a Golgi-localized spectrin isoform by using an antibody to the beta-subunit of erythrocyte spectrin. In this study, we show that a screen of a lambdagt11 expression library resulted in the isolation of an approximately 5-kb partial cDNA from a Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cell line, which encoded a polypeptide of 1697 amino acids with low, but detectable, sequence homology to spectrin (37%). A blast search revealed that this clone overlaps with the 5' end of a recently identified spectrin family member Syne-1B/Nesprin-1beta, an alternately transcribed gene with muscle-specific forms that bind acetylcholine receptor and associate with the nuclear envelope. By comparing the sequence of the MDBK clone with sequence data from the human genome database, we have determined that this cDNA represents a central portion of a very large gene ( approximately 500 kb), encoding an approximately 25-kb transcript that we refer to as Syne-1. Syne-1 encodes a large polypeptide (8406 amino acids) with multiple spectrin repeats and a region at its amino terminus with high homology to the actin binding domains of conventional spectrins. Golgi localization for this spectrin-like protein was demonstrated by expression of epitope-tagged fragments in MDBK and COS cells, identifying two distinct Golgi binding sites, and by immunofluorescence microscopy by using several different antibody preparations. One of the Golgi binding domains on Syne-1 acts as a dominant negative inhibitor that alters the structure of the Golgi complex, which collapses into a condensed structure near the centrosome in transfected epithelial cells. We conclude that the Syne-1 gene is expressed in a variety of forms that are multifunctional and are capable of functioning at both the Golgi and the nuclear envelope, perhaps linking the two organelles during muscle differentiation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

An enhanced RNA alignment benchmark for sequence alignment programs.

BACKGROUND: The performance of alignment programs is traditionally tested on sets of protein sequences, of which a reference alignment is known. Conclusions drawn from such protein benchmarks do not necessarily hold for the RNA alignment problem, as was demonstrated in the first RNA alignment benchmark published so far. For example, the twilight zone - the similarity range where alignment quality drops drastically - starts at 60 % for RNAs in comparison to 20 % for proteins. In this study we enhance the previous benchmark. RESULTS: The RNA sequence sets in the benchmark database are taken from an increased number of RNA families to avoid unintended impact by using only a few families. The size of sets varies from 2 to 15 sequences to assess the influence of the number of sequences on program performance. Alignment quality is scored by two measures: one takes into account only nucleotide matches, the other measures structural conservation. The performance order of parameters--like nucleotide substitution matrices and gap-costs--as well as of programs is rated by rank tests. CONCLUSION: Most sequence alignment programs perform equally well on RNA sequence sets with high sequence identity, that is with an average pairwise sequence identity (APSI) above 75 %. Parameters for gap-open and gap-extension have a large influence on alignment quality lower than APSI < or = 75 %; optimal parameter combinations are shown for several programs. The use of different 4 x 4 substitution matrices improved program performance only in some cases. The performance of iterative programs drastically increases with increasing sequence numbers and/or decreasing sequence identity, which makes them clearly superior to programs using a purely non-iterative, progressive approach. The best sequence alignment programs produce alignments of high quality down to APSI > 55 %; at lower APSI the use of sequence+structure alignment programs is recommended.

Journal Article↗

Two-dimensional database of a Burkitt lymphoma cell line (DG 75) proteins: protein pattern changes following treatment with 5'-azycytidine.

Hypermethylation is an important mechanism for repression of tumor gene suppressor in cancer. The drug 5'-azacytidine (AZC) has been used as demethylating agent to induce the expression of previously silencing genes. In the present work, we attempted to determine, using proteomics, the changes in protein expression profiles following a treatment of an Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-negative Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cell line DG 75. The effects of the treatment in terms of cell viability and growth were first examined. The following observations were made: AZC treatment led to (i) a decrease in cell growth with an arrest of the cell at G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, (ii) the expression of p16, a tumor-suppressor gene whose expression was dependent on its promoter demethylation. Proteomic study evidenced that AZC treatment affected protein expression in two different ways. Twenty-one polypeptides were down-expressed, while 14 showed an increased expression. Some of the upregulated proteins appeared related to the energy metabolism, to organization of cytoskeletal structures, and to cell viability and protein synthesis. We also established a reference map for proteins in DG 75 cell line, comprising 74 different polypeptides corresponding to 67 proteins. This map will be accessible via Internet as a resource for proteome analyses of B-cells. Taken together, the results presented here highlight new insights into lymphoma cell gene regulations following a treatment of lymphoma cells with AZC and illustrate a use of proteomics to evidence the direct and indirect effects of a drug and the pathways it possibly regulates.

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic↗

Genomic organization of the S core region and the S flanking regions of a class-II S haplotype in Brassica rapa.

The nucleotide sequence of an 86.4-kb region that includes the SP11, SRK, and SLG genes of Brassica rapa S-60 (a class-II S haplotype) was determined. In the sequenced region, 13 putative genes were found besides SP11-60, SRK-60, and SLG-60. Five of these sequences were isolated as cDNAs, five were homologues of known genes, cDNAs, or ORFs, and three are hypothetical ORFs. Based on their nucleotide sequences, however, some of them are thought to be non-functional. Two regions of colinearity between the class-II S-60 and Brassica class-I S haplotypes were identified, i.e., S flanking region 1 which shows partial colinearity of non-genic sequences and S flanking region 2 which shows a high level of colinearity. The observed colinearity made it possible to compare the order of SP-11, SRK, and SLG genes in the S locus between the five sequenced S haplotypes. It emerged that the order of SRK and SLG in class-II S-60 is the reverse of that in the four class-I S haplotypes reported so far, and the order of SP11, SRK and SLG is the opposite of that in the class-I haplotype S-910. The possible gene designated as SAN1 (S locus Anther-expressed Non-coding RNA like-1), which is located in the region between SP11-60 and SRK-60, has features reminiscent of genes for non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), but no homologous sequences were found in the databases. This sequence is transcribed in anthers but not in stigmas or leaves. These features of the genomic structure of S-60 are discussed with special reference to the characteristics of class-II S haplotypes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Polymorphisms in xenobiotic metabolism genes and autism.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental syndrome defined by deficits in social reciprocity and communication and by unusual repetitive behaviors. Although there is an underlying genetic predisposition, the etiology of autism is currently unknown. A recent increase in prevalence suggests that genetically determined vulnerability to environmental exposure might contribute to the causation of autism. We performed family-based association studies of polymorphisms in metal-regulatory transcription factor 1(MTF1), a multispecific organic anion transporter (ABCC1), proton-coupled divalent metal ion transporters (SLC11A3 and SLC11A2), paraoxonase 1 (PON1), and glutathione S-transferase (GSTP1) genes in 196 autistic disorder families. There was deviation from the expected pattern of transmission for polymorphisms in MTF1 (Single nucleotide polymorphism database reference identification number, dbSNP rs3790625, P = .02) and divalent metal ion transporter SLC11A3 (dbSNP rs2304704, P = .07) genes. Although these results might represent chance finding, further investigations of genetic variations of metal metabolism in autism are warranted.

Autistic Disorder↗

Multicomponent fortified human milk for promoting growth in preterm infants.

BACKGROUND: For term infants, human milk provides adequate nutrition to facilitate growth, as well as potential beneficial effects on immunity and the maternal-infant emotional state. However, the role of human milk in premature infants is less well defined as it contains insufficient quantities of some nutrients to meet the estimated needs of the infant. There are potential short term and long term benefits from human milk, although observational studies have suggested that infants fed formula have a higher rate of growth than infants who are breast fed. Commercially-produced multicomponent fortifiers provide additional nutrients to human milk (in the form of protein, calcium, phosphate, and carbohydrate, as well as vitamins and trace minerals). OBJECTIVES: The main objective was to determine if addition of multiple dietary supplements to human milk leads to improved growth, bone metabolism and neurodevelopmental outcomes without significant adverse effects in premature infants. SEARCH STRATEGY: The standard search strategy of the Neonatal Review Group was used. This includes searches of the Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials, MEDLINE, previous reviews including cross references, abstracts, conferences and symposia proceedings, expert informants, journal handsearching mainly in the English language. SELECTION CRITERIA: All trials utilising random or quasi-random allocation to supplementation of human milk with multiple nutrients or no supplementation in premature infants within a nursery setting were eligible. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted using the standard methods of the Cochrane Collaboration and its Neonatal Review Group, with separate evaluation of trial quality and data extraction by each author and synthesis of data using relative risk and weighted mean difference. MAIN RESULTS: Supplementation of human milk with multicomponent fortifiers is associated with short term increases in weight gain, linear and head growth. There is no effect on serum alkaline phosphatase levels. Bone mineral content and nitrogen retention appear to be increased. There are insufficient data to evaluate long term neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes. Adverse effects of fortification do not appear to be significantly increased, although the total number of infants studied and the unavailability of results for some infants randomized and subsequently withdrawn reduces confidence in this conclusion. Blood urea levels are increased and blood pH levels minimally decreased, but the significance of this is uncertain. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Multicomponent fortification of human milk is associated with short-term improvements in weight gain, linear and head growth. Despite the absence of evidence of long-term benefit and insufficient evidence to be reassured that there are no deleterious effects, it is unlikely that further studies evaluating fortification of human milk versus no supplementation will be performed. Further research should be directed toward comparisons between different proprietary preparations and evaluating both short-term and long-term outcomes in search of the "optimal" composition of fortifiers.

Food, Fortified↗

Plasma and red blood cell protein maps: update 1993.

This publication updates the reference plasma and red blood cell protein maps obtained with immobilized pH gradients. Seventeen polypeptide spots or chains were partially characterized by direct N-terminal sequencing or by sequencing of peptides obtained from enzymatic digestion. Additional new polypeptides and previously known proteins are listed in a table and/or labeled on the protein maps, thus providing the 1993 update of the human plasma and red blood cell two-dimensional gel SWISS-2DPAGE database. SWISS-2DPAGE and the SWISS-PROT protein sequence databases are closely linked together through the use of common accession numbers.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Profiling of abundant proteins associated with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane resistance in Drosophila melanogaster.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) metabolism-based resistance in Drosophila melanogaster is a complex metabolic system associated with the transcription of detoxification related genes, ion transport, lipid and sugar metabolism pathways. However, little is known about the differences regarding the proteome of field- and laboratory-selected resistant Drosophila genotypes. We investigated the impact of DDT resistance in the abundant proteome of field- and laboratory- selected resistant Drosophila using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis DDT reference map. Proteomic profiling was performed in two DDT susceptible genotypes (Canton-S and 91-C) and three DDT resistant lines (Rst(2)DDT(91-R), Rst(2)DDT(Wisconsin) and Rst(2)DDT(Hikone-R)). Protein spots were stained with Coomassie blue and compared using PDQuest software. Selected protein spots were cut out and analyzed using matrix assisted laser desorption-time of flight mass spectrometry. Querying the NCBInr. 10.21.2003 database with mass spectrometric data yielded the identity of 21 differentially translated proteins in Rst(2)DDT(91-R), Rst(2)DDT(Wisconsin) and Canton-S representing proteins putatively involved in biochemical pathways such as glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, the Krebs cycle and fatty acid oxidation. We hypothesize that both strategies are aimed to use of the pentose phosphate pathway to increase glucose utilization while Rst(2)DDT(91-R) relies primarily on glycolysis to produce reduced NADP and increase DDT detoxification. DDT exposure in Canton-S induced six proteins, while four proteins were repressed in Rst(2)DDT(Hikone-R). Our data suggest that insecticide resistance appears to impact different metabolic pathways in Drosophila genotypes selected with the same pesticide (DDT).

Animals↗

Comparative sequence analysis of the DNA packaging, head, and tail morphogenesis modules in the temperate cos-site Streptococcus thermophilus bacteriophage Sfi21.

The temperate Streptococcus thermophilus bacteriophage Sfi21 possesses 15-nucleotide-long cohesive ends with a 3' overhang that reconstitutes a cos-site with twofold hyphenated rotational symmetry. Over the DNA packaging, head and tail morphogenesis modules, the Sfi21 sequence predicts a gene map that is strikingly similar to that of lambdoid coliphages in the absence of any sequence similarity. A nearly one to one gene correlation was found with the phage lambda genes Nu1 to H, except for gene B-to-E complex, where the Sfi21 map resembled that of coliphage HK97. The similarity between Sfi21 and HK97 was striking: both major head proteins showed an N-terminal coiled-coil structure, the mature major head proteins started at amino acid positions 105 and 104, respectively, and both major head genes were preceded by genes encoding a possible protease and portal protein. The purported Sfi21 protease is the first viral member of the ClpP protease family. The prediction of Sfi21 gene functions by reference to the gene map of intensively investigated coliphages was experimentally confirmed for the major head and tail gene. Phage Sfi21 shows nucleotide sequence similarity with Lactococcus phage BK5-T and a lactococcal prophage and amino acid sequence similarity with the Lactobacillus phage A2 and the Staphylococcus phage PVL. PVL is a missing link that connects the portal proteins from Sfi21 and HK97 with respect to sequence similarity. These observations and database searches, which demonstrate sequence similarity between proteins of phage from gram-positive bacteria, proteobacteria, and Archaea, constrain models of phage evolution.

Amino Acid Sequence↗