Down-Regulation of SOX2 Underlies the Inhibitory Effects of the Triphenylmethane Gentian Violet on Melanoma Cell Self-Renewal and Survival

n/

A Flat Process Calculus for Nested Membrane Interactions

The link-calculus has been recently proposed as a process calculus for representing interactions that are open (i.e., that the number of processes may vary), and multiparty (i.e., that may involve more than two processes). Here, we apply the link-calculus for expressing, possibly hierarchical and non dyadic, biological interactions. In particular, we provide a natural encoding of Cardelli's Brane calculus, a compartment-based calculus, introduced to model the behaviour of nested membranes. Notably, the link-calculus is flat, but we can model membranes just as special processes taking part in the biological reaction. Moreover, we give evidence that the link-calculus allows one to directly model biological phenomena at the more appropriate level of abstraction

Phenotypic characterization of Adig null mice suggests roles for adipogenin in the regulation of fat mass accrual and leptin secretion

Adipogenin (Adig) is an adipocyte-enriched transmembrane protein. Its expression is induced during adipogenesis in rodent cells, and a recent genome-wide association study associated body mass index (BMI)-adjusted leptin levels with the ADIG locus. In order to begin to understand the biological function of Adig, we studied adipogenesis in Adig-deficient cultured adipocytes and phenotyped Adig null (Adig−/−) mice. Data from Adig-deficient cells suggest that Adig is required for adipogenesis. In vivo, Adig−/− mice are leaner than wild-type mice when fed a high-fat diet and when crossed with Ob/Ob hyperphagic mice. In addition to the impact on fat mass accrual, Adig deficiency also reduces fat-mass-adjusted plasma leptin levels and impairs leptin secretion from adipose explants, suggesting an additional impact on the regulation of leptin secretion