An acidic fibroblast growth factor protein generated by alternate splicing acts like an antagonist.

Polymerase chain reaction amplification of cDNA for acidic fibroblast growth factor in several lines of cultured human cells revealed two forms of mRNA. The novel smaller mRNA lacks the entire second coding exon of the acidic fibroblast growth factor gene, whereas the previously identified mRNA consists of three coding exons. The truncated variant of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF') is only 60 amino acids long with an apparent molecular mass of 6.7 kD on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels in contrast to 18 kD for the full-length acidic fibroblast growth factor. aFGF' elicits only minimal fibroblast proliferation and antagonizes the effects of acidic fibroblast growth factor when added exogenously to or when coexpressed with aFGF in BALB/c/3T3 fibroblasts. Thus, the truncated variant of acidic fibroblast growth factor may provide fibroblasts with a unique mechanism for endogenous regulation of their responses to acidic fibroblast growth factor

The deuteron: structure and form factors

A brief review of the history of the discovery of the deuteron in provided. The current status of both experiment and theory for the elastic electron scattering is then presented.Comment: 80 pages, 33 figures, submited to Advances in Nuclear Physic

Dynamism in the solar core

Recent results of a mixed shell model heated asymmetrically by transient increases in nuclear burning indicate the transient generation of small hot spots inside the Sun somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 solar radii. These hot bubbles are followed by a nonlinear differential equation system with finite amplitude non-homologous perturbations which is solved in a solar model. Our results show the possibility of a direct connection between the dynamic phenomena of the solar core and the atmospheric activity. Namely, an initial heating about DQ_0 ~ 10^{31}-10^{37} ergs can be enough for a bubble to reach the outer convective zone. Our calculations show that a hot bubble can arrive into subphotospheric regions with DQ_final ~ 10^{28} - 10^{34} ergs with a high speed, up to 10 km s-1, approaching the local sound speed. We point out that the developing sonic boom transforms the shock front into accelerated particle beam injected upwards into the top of loop carried out by the hot bubble above its forefront traveling from the solar interior. As a result, a new perspective arises to explain flare energetics. We show that the particle beams generated by energetic deep-origin hot bubbles in the subphotospheric layers have masses, energies, and chemical compositions in the observed range of solar chromospheric and coronal flares. It is shown how the emergence of a hot bubble into subphotospheric regions offers a natural mechanism that can generate both the eruption leading to the flare and the observed coronal magnetic topology for reconnection. We show a list of long-standing problems of solar physics that our model explains. We present some predictions for observations, some of which are planned to be realized in the near future.Comment: 44 pages, 20 figure

Comparative proteomics: assessment of biological variability and dataset comparability

BACKGROUND: Comparative proteomics in bacteria are often hampered by the differential nature of dataset quality and/or inherent biological deviations. Although common practice compensates by reproducing and normalizing datasets from a single sample, the degree of certainty is limited in comparison of multiple dataset. To surmount these limitations, we introduce a two-step assessment criterion using: (1) the relative number of total spectra (R (TS)) to determine if two LC-MS/MS datasets are comparable and (2) nine glycolytic enzymes as internal standards for a more accurate calculation of relative amount of proteins. Lactococcus lactis HR279 and JHK24 strains expressing high or low levels (respectively) of green fluorescent protein (GFP) were used for the model system. GFP abundance was determined by spectral counting and direct fluorescence measurements. Statistical analysis determined relative GFP quantity obtained from our approach matched values obtained from fluorescence measurements. RESULTS: L. lactis HR279 and JHK24 demonstrates two datasets with an R (TS) value less than 1.4 accurately reflects relative differences in GFP levels between high and low expression strains. Without prior consideration of R (TS) and the use of internal standards, the relative increase in GFP calculated by spectral counting method was 3.92 ± 1.14 fold, which is not correlated with the value determined by the direct fluorescence measurement (2.86 ± 0.42 fold) with the p = 0.024. In contrast, 2.88 ± 0.92 fold was obtained by our approach showing a statistically insignificant difference (p = 0.95). CONCLUSIONS: Our two-step assessment demonstrates a useful approach to: (1) validate the comparability of two mass spectrometric datasets and (2) accurately calculate the relative amount of proteins between proteomic datasets. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-015-0561-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Immunolocalization of the mercurial-insensitive water channel and glycerol intrinsic protein in epithelial cell plasma membranes

Two water channel homologs were cloned recently from rat kidney, mercurial-insensitive water channel (MIWC) and glycerol intrinsic protein (GLIP). Polyclonal antibodies were raised against synthetic C-terminal peptides and purified by affinity chromatography. MIWC and CLIP antibodies recognized proteins in rat kidney with an apparent molecular mass of 30 and 27 kDa, respectively, and did not cross-react, By immunofluorescence, MIWC and GLIP were expressed together on the basolateral plasma membrane of collecting duct principal cells in kidney, By immunohistochemistry, MIWC and GLIP were expressed on tracheal epithelial cells with greater expression of GLIP on the basal plasma membrane and Mn;VC on the lateral membrane; only MIWC was expressed in bronchial epithelia, In eye, GLIP was expressed in conjunctival epithelium, whereas MIWC was found in iris, ciliary body, and neural cell layers in retina, MIWC and GLIP colocalized on the basolateral membrane of villus epithelial cells in colon and brain ependymal cells, Expression of MIWC and GLIP was not detected in small intestine, liver, spleen, endothelia, and cells that express water channels CHIP28 or WCH-CD, These studies suggest water/solute transporting roles for MIWC and GLIP in the urinary concentrating mechanism, cerebrospinal fluid absorption, ocular fluid balance, fecal dehydration, and airway humidification. The unexpected membrane colocalization of MIWC and GLIP in several tissues suggests an interaction at the molecular and/or functional levels

Akt-dependent phosphorylation specifically regulates Cot induction of NF-kappa B-dependent transcription

The Akt (or protein kinase B) and Cot (or Tpl-2) serine/threonine kinases are associated with cellular transformation. These kinases have also been implicated in the induction of NF-kappaB-dependent transcription. As a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K) family, Cot can also activate MAP kinase signaling pathways that target AP-1 and NFAT family transcription factors. Here we show that Akt and Cot physically associate and functionally cooperate. Akt appears to function upstream of Cot, as Akt can enhance Cot induction of NF-kappaB-dependent transcription, and dominant-negative Cot blocks the activation of this element by Akt. Furthermore, deletion analysis shows that binding to Akt is critical for Cot function. The regulation of NF-kappaB- dependent transcription by Cot requires Akt-dependent phosphorylation of serine 400 (S400), near the carboxy terminus of Cot. However, phosphorylation at this site is not required for Cot kinase activity or AP-1 induction, suggesting it specifically regulates Cot effector function at the level of the NF-kappaB pathway. Mutation of S400 in Cot does indeed abolish its ability to activate IkappaB-kinase (IKK) complexes, but paradoxically it allows for increased Cot association with the IKK complex. This mutated form of Cot also acts as a dominant negative for T-cell antigen receptor/CD28- or Akt/phorbol myristate acetate-induced NF-kappaB induction, while having relatively little effect on tumor necrosis factor induction of NF-kappaB. These findings suggest that the activation of different signaling pathways by MAP3Ks may be regulated separately and may provide evidence for how such discrimination by one member of this kinase family occu