Molecular Characterization of the Schistosoma mansoni Zinc Finger Protein SmZF1 as a Transcription Factor

Schistosomes are parasites that exhibit a complex life cycle during which they progress through many morphological and physiological transformations. These transformations are likely accompanied by alterations in gene expression, making genetic regulation important for parasite development. Here we describe a Schistosoma mansoni protein (SmZF1) that may act as a parasite transcription factor. These factors are key proteins for gene regulation. We have previously demonstrated that SmZF1 is able to bind DNA and that its mRNA is present at different stages during the parasite life cycle. In this study we aimed to define if this protein can function as a transcription factor in S. mansoni. SmZF1 was detected in the nucleus of adult male worms, cercariae and schistosomula cells. It was not, however, observed in female cells, suggesting it to be gender specific. We used mammalian cells expressing recombinant SmZF1 to analyze if SmZF1 protein is able to activate/repress gene transcription and demonstrated that it increased the expression of a reporter gene by two-fold. The results obtained confirm SmZF1 as a S. mansoni transcription factor

M6 Membrane Protein Plays an Essential Role in Drosophila Oogenesis

We had previously shown that the transmembrane glycoprotein M6a, a member of the proteolipid protein (PLP) family, regulates neurite/filopodium outgrowth, hence, M6a might be involved in neuronal remodeling and differentiation. In this work we focused on M6, the only PLP family member present in Drosophila, and ortholog to M6a. Unexpectedly, we found that decreased expression of M6 leads to female sterility. M6 is expressed in the membrane of the follicular epithelium in ovarioles throughout oogenesis. Phenotypes triggered by M6 downregulation in hypomorphic mutants included egg collapse and egg permeability, thus suggesting M6 involvement in eggshell biosynthesis. In addition, RNAi-mediated M6 knockdown targeted specifically to follicle cells induced an arrest of egg chamber development, revealing that M6 is essential in oogenesis. Interestingly, M6-associated phenotypes evidenced abnormal changes of the follicle cell shape and disrupted follicular epithelium in mid- and late-stage egg chambers. Therefore, we propose that M6 plays a role in follicular epithelium maintenance involving membrane cell remodeling during oogenesis in Drosophila

Genomics and epidemiology for gastric adenocarcinomas (GE4GAC): a Brazilian initiative to study gastric cancer

Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide with high incidences in Asia, Central, and South American countries. This patchy distribution means that GC studies are neglected by large research centers from developed countries. The need for further understanding of this complex disease, including the local importance of epidemiological factors and the rich ancestral admixture found in Brazil, stimulated the implementation of the GE4GAC project. GE4GAC aims to embrace epidemiological, clinical, molecular and microbiological data from Brazilian controls and patients with malignant and pre-malignant gastric disease. In this letter, we summarize the main goals of the project, including subject and sample accrual and current findings

A manually annotated Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis (kiwifruit) genome highlights the challenges associated with draft genomes and gene prediction in plants

Most published genome sequences are drafts, and most are dominated by computational gene prediction. Draft genomes typically incorporate considerable sequence data that are not assigned to chromosomes, and predicted genes without quality confidence measures. The current Actinidia chinensis (kiwifruit) 'Hongyang' draft genome has 164\ua0Mb of sequences unassigned to pseudo-chromosomes, and omissions have been identified in the gene models

Moving on up How youth work raises achievement and promotes social inclusion

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:99/20402 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Replication Data for: Design and validation of a 90K SNP genotyping assay for the Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

This .zip file contains 3 files: 2 PLINK files containing the genotype information and one residual file containing the phenotypic information used for this paper. - genabelLATT.tped -> Transposed ped file in PLINK format. Genotypes are already edited for MAF as declared in the paper. - genabelLATT.tfam -> Transposed map file in PLINK format, containing 529 individuals. - RESIDUALS.txt -> File containing the residuals used for the GWAS in this paper. The model used to obtain this data from raw files was: Lact_record ~ Farm + CalvYear + CalvMonth + CalvingNumber + Age + Polygenic_effect + e The "e" term was then used as dependent variable in a GWAS using qtscore function in GENABEL

Replication Data for: Design and validation of a 90K SNP genotyping assay for the Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

This .zip file contains 3 files: 2 PLINK files containing the genotype information and one residual file containing the phenotypic information used for this paper. - genabelLATT.tped -> Transposed ped file in PLINK format. Genotypes are already edited for MAF as declared in the paper. - genabelLATT.tfam -> Transposed map file in PLINK format, containing 529 individuals. - RESIDUALS.txt -> File containing the residuals used for the GWAS in this paper. The model used to obtain this data from raw files was: Lact_record ~ Farm + CalvYear + CalvMonth + CalvingNumber + Age + Polygenic_effect + e The "e" term was then used as dependent variable in a GWAS using qtscore function in GENABEL