Boron Ions: Simultaneous Boron Ion‐Channel/Growth Factor Receptor Activation for Enhanced Vascularization (Adv. Biosys. 1/2019)

Simultaneous Boron Ion‐Channel/Growth Factor Receptor Activation for Enhanced Vascularization

[EN] Boron ion is essential in metabolism and its concentration is regulated by ion-channel NaBC1. NaBC1 mutations cause corneal dystrophies such as Harboyan syndrome. Here we propose a 3D molecular model for NaBC1 and show that simultaneous stimulation of NaBC1 and vascular growth factor receptors (VEGFR) promote angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo with ultra-low concentrations of VEGF. We show Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) organization into tubular structures indicative of vascularization potential. Enhanced cell sprouting was found only in the presence of VEGF and boron, effect abrogated after blocking NaBC1. We demonstrate that stimulated NaBC1 promotes angiogenesis via P…

EFFECT OF DELETERIOUS MUTATION-ACCUMULATION ON THE FITNESS OF RNA BACTERIOPHAGE MS2

RNA viruses show the highest mutation rate in nature. It has been extensively demonstrated that, in the absence of purifying selection, RNA viruses accumulate deleterious mutations at a high rate. However, the parameters describing this accumulation are, in general, poorly understood. The present study reports evidences for fitness declines by the accumulation of deleterious mutations in the bacteriophage MS2. We estimated the rate of fitness decline to be as high as 16% per bottleneck transfer. In addition, our results agree with an additive model of fitness effects.

The Hammerhead Ribozyme: A Long History for a Short RNA

Small nucleolytic ribozymes are a family of naturally occurring RNA motifs that catalyse a self-transesterification reaction in a highly sequence-specific manner. The hammerhead ribozyme was the first reported and the most extensively studied member of this family. However, and despite intense biochemical and structural research for three decades since its discovery, the history of this model ribozyme seems to be far from finished. The hammerhead ribozyme has been regarded as a biological oddity typical of small circular RNA pathogens of plants. More recently, numerous and new variations of this ribozyme have been found to inhabit the genomes of organisms from all life kingdoms, although th…