Q fever (Coxiella burnetti) is thought to account for 1% (700 cases) of community acquired pneumonia in the United Kingdom each year, and can result in serious complications such as endocarditis. Although outbreaks have frequently been reported worldwide, the causes are often not clearly identified and there have been few studies of risk factors in...
The Maternal-Effect Sterile (MES) proteins are essential for germline viability in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we report that MES-4, a SET-domain protein, binds to the autosomes but not to the X chromosomes. MES-2, MES-3, and MES-6 are required to exclude MES-4 and markers of active chromatin from the X chromosomes. These findings strengthen the ...
Activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway enhances long-range transactivation by the beta-globin locus control region (LCR) (W. K. Versaw, V. Blank, N. M. Andrews, and E. H. Bresnick, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:8756-8760, 1998). The enhancement requires tandem recognition sites for the hematopoietic transcription factor N...
Although it is known that the methylation of DNA in 5 promoters suppresses gene expression, the role of DNA methylation in gene bodies is unclear. In mammals, tissue- and cell type-specific methylation is present in a small percentage of 5 CpG island (CGI) promoters, whereas a far greater proportion occurs across gene bodies, coinciding with high...
Control of gene expression at the translational level is crucial for many developmental processes. The mRNA cap-binding protein, eIF4E, is a key player in regulation of translation initiation; appropriate levels of eIF4E are essential for normal cell-cycle regulation and tissue differentiation. The observation that eIF4E levels are elevated during ...
There are 481 segments longer than 200 base pairs (bp) that are absolutely conserved (100% identity with no insertions or deletions) between orthologous regions of the human, rat, and mouse genomes. Nearly all of these segments are also conserved in the chicken and dog genomes, with an average of 95 and 99% identity, respectively. Many are also sig...
In the rodent, epithelial end buds define the tips of elongating mammary ducts. These highly motile structures undergo repeated dichotomous branching as they aggressively advance through fatty stroma and, turning to avoid other ducts, they finally cease growth leaving behind the open, tree-like framework on which secretory alveoli develop during pr...
DBA/1 mice immunized with native chick type II collagen (NcII) emulsified in complete Freund s adjuvant develop arthritis, whose underlying mechanisms are still undefined. As an initial step to studying the role of T cells in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), we have established T cell lines specific to type II collagen. Characterizations of the an...
We have conducted a comprehensive search for conserved elements in vertebrate genomes, using genome-wide multiple alignments of five vertebrate species (human, mouse, rat, chicken, and Fugu rubripes). Parallel searches have been performed with multiple alignments of four insect species (three species of Drosophila and Anopheles gambiae), two specie...