Cooperative-Binding and Splicing-Repressive Properties of hnRNP A1▿ †

hnRNP A1 binds to RNA in a cooperative manner. Initial hnRNP A1 binding to an exonic splicing silencer at the 3′ end of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) tat exon 3, which is a high-affinity site, is followed by cooperative spreading in a 3′-to-5′ direction. As hnRNP A1 propagates toward the 5′ end of the exon, it antagonizes binding of a serine/arginine-rich (SR) protein to an exonic splicing enhancer, thereby inhibiting splicing at that exon's alternative 3′ splice site. tat exon 3 and the preceding intron of HIV-1 pre-mRNA can fold into an elaborate RNA secondary structure in solution, which could potentially influence hnRNP A1 binding. We report here that hnRNP A1 binding and splicing repression can occur on an unstructured RNA. Moreover, hnRNP A1 can effectively unwind an RNA hairpin upon binding, displacing a bound protein. We further show that hnRNP A1 can also spread in a 5′-to-3′ direction, although when initial binding takes place in the middle of an RNA, spreading preferentially proceeds in a 3′-to-5′ direction. Finally, when two distant high-affinity sites are present on the same RNA, they facilitate cooperative spreading of hnRNP A1 between the two sites

Graphene Oxide (GO) Materials—Applications and Toxicity on Living Organisms and Environment

Graphene-based materials have attracted much attention due to their fascinating properties such as hydrophilicity, high dispersion in aqueous media, robust size, high biocompatibility, and surface functionalization ability due to the presence of functional groups and interactions with biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acid. Modified methods were developed for safe, direct, inexpensive, and eco-friendly synthesis. However, toxicity to the environment and animal health has been reported, raising concerns about their utilization. This review focuses primarily on the synthesis methods of graphene-based materials already developed and the unique properties that make them so interesting for different applications. Different applications are presented and discussed with particular emphasis on biological fields. Furthermore, antimicrobial potential and the factors that affect this activity are reviewed. Finally, questions related to toxicity to the environment and living organisms are revised by highlighting factors that may interfere with it

Thermally induced oxygen related defects in eco-friendly ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles for enhanced wastewater treatment efficiencies

Herein, a simple but highly effective strategy of thermal annealing to modulate oxygen vacancies related defects in ZnFe2O4 (ZFO) nanoparticles for obtaining enhanced wastewater treatment efficiencies is reported. The as-prepared nanoparticles were thermally annealed at three different temperatures (500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C) and their phase purity was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). All samples were found to exhibit pure phases of ZFO with different crystallite sizes ranging from 10 nm to 25 nm. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed well dispersed nanoparticles and a strong correlation of grain size growth with annealing temperature was established. The optical absorption and emission characteristics were estimated through UV–visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the variation of oxygen vacancies in the synthesized samples’ lattice. The photocatalytic activities of all samples were investigated and the highest efficiencies were recorded for the ZFO samples annealed at 500 °C. Under high salinity condition, the organic dye degradation efficiency of the same sample remained the highest among all. The excellent dye degradation abilities in ZFO samples can be attributed to the abundance of oxygen vacancies in the crystal lattice that slow down the recombination rate during the photocatalysis process. Moreover, cytotoxicity tests revealed that all prepared ZFO samples showed insignificant cell structure effects on Picochlorum sp microalgae, as verified by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. On the other hand, no significant changes were detected on the viable cell concentration and Chlorophyll a content. This work presents a systematic way to finely tune the crystal sizes and to modulate oxygen related defects in ZFO through a highly effective annealing approach to signify their potential in industrial wastewater and seawater treatment processes

Acta Linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 43.

1995 / 1-2. sz. 1 KIEFER FERENC: Preface 5 ANWAR, MOHAMED SAMI: The case of un- 7 BAUER, LAURIE: Is morpological productivity non-linguistic? 23 BEHRENS, LEILA: Lexical rules cross-cutting inflection and derivation 37 CECH, PETRA: Inflection/derivation in Sepecides-Romani 71 ESCHENLOHR, STEFANIE: Derivational morphology and the system of word classes in German 97 FRADIN, BERNARD: On morphological entities and the copy principle 115 KENESEI ISTVÁN: On bracketing paradoxes in Hungarian 157 KIEFER FERENC: Prefix reduplication in Hungarian 179 NIKOLAJEVIC, DRAGANA: The visual field effects on processing words in grammatical context 199 PLÉH CSABA - JUHÁSZ LEVENTE: Processing of multimorphemic words in Hungarian 215 SUGIOKA, YOKO: Regularity in inflection and derivation : rule vs. analogy in Japanese deverbal compound formation 235 SZYMANEK, BOGDAN: Parametric dimensions in morhology : on inalienable possession in English and Polish 259 ZWANENBURG, WIECHER: French adverb formation, derivation versus inflection and word structure levels 281 1995 / 3-4. sz. 301 KONTRA MIKLÓS: Guest editor's note 305 VÁRADI TAMÁS: Stylistic variation and the (bVn) variable in the Budapest Sociolinguistic Interview 307 BORBÉLY ANNA: Attitudes as a factor of language choice : a sociolinguistic investigation in a bilingual community of Romanian-Hungarians 323 LANGMAN, JULIET: The role of code-switching in achieving understanding : Chinese speakers of Hungarian 335 KONTRA MIKLÓS: English Only's Cousin : Slovak Only 357 BEREGSZÁSZI ANIKÓ: Language planning issues of Hungarian place-names in Subcarpathia 385 FENYVESI ANNA: The case of American Hungarian case : morphological change in McKeesport, PA 393 BARTHA CSILLA: Social and linguistic characteristics of immigrant language shift : the case of Hungarian in Detroit 417 BOOK REVIEWS 445 RIESE, TIMOTHY: Kassai Ilona: Kétnyelvűség és magyar nyelvhasználat = Bilingualism and Hungarian language usage 445 HETZRON, ROBERT: Vázsonyi Andrew - Kontra Miklós: Túl a Kecegárdán : Calumet-vidéki amerikai magyar szótár = Beyond castle garden : an American Hungarian dictionary of the Calumet region 447 FENYVESI ANNA: Zalabai Zsigmod: Mit ér a nyelvünk, ha magyar? = What is our language worth if it is Hungarian? 448 PECKHAM, DONALD W.: Jeffrey Harlig - Pléh Csaba: When East met West : sociolinguistics in the former socialist bloc 449 OLSSON, MAGNUS: Response to Siptár's review 45

Antisense Masking of an hnRNP A1/A2 Intronic Splicing Silencer Corrects SMN2 Splicing in Transgenic Mice

survival of motor neuron 2, centromeric (SMN2) is a gene that modifies the severity of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a motor-neuron disease that is the leading genetic cause of infant mortality. Increasing inclusion of SMN2 exon 7, which is predominantly skipped, holds promise to treat or possibly cure SMA; one practical strategy is the disruption of splicing silencers that impair exon 7 recognition. By using an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)-tiling method, we systematically screened the proximal intronic regions flanking exon 7 and identified two intronic splicing silencers (ISSs): one in intron 6 and a recently described one in intron 7. We analyzed the intron 7 ISS by mutagenesis, coupled with splicing assays, RNA-affinity chromatography, and protein overexpression, and found two tandem hnRNP A1/A2 motifs within the ISS that are responsible for its inhibitory character. Mutations in these two motifs, or ASOs that block them, promote very efficient exon 7 inclusion. We screened 31 ASOs in this region and selected two optimal ones to test in human SMN2 transgenic mice. Both ASOs strongly increased hSMN2 exon 7 inclusion in the liver and kidney of the transgenic animals. Our results show that the high-resolution ASO-tiling approach can identify cis-elements that modulate splicing positively or negatively. Most importantly, our results highlight the therapeutic potential of some of these ASOs in the context of SMA