Search results for "Morphogen"
showing 10 items of 258 documents
Modulation of Hedgehog target gene expression by the Fused serine-threonine kinase in wing imaginal discs
1998
0925-4773 doi: DOI: 10.1016/S0925-4773(98)00130-0; The Fused (Fu) serine–threonine kinase and the Suppressor of fused (Su(fu)) product are part of the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway both in embryos and in imaginal discs. In wing imaginal discs, the Hh signal induces Cubitus interruptus (Ci) accumulation and activates patched (ptc) and decapentaplegic (dpp) expression along the anterior/posterior (A/P) boundary. In this paper, we have examined the role of the Fu and Su(fu) proteins in the regulation of Hh target gene expression in wing imaginal discs, by using different classes of fu alleles and an amorphic Su(fu) mutation. We show that, at the A/P boundary, Fu kinase activity is involved …
Review: How was metazoan threshold crossed? The hypothetical Urmetazoa.
2001
The origin of Metazoa remained — until recently — the most enigmatic of all phylogenetic problems. Sponges [Porifera] as ‘living fossils’, positioned at the base of multicellular animals, have been used to answer basic questions in metazoan evolution by molecular biological techniques. During the last few years, cDNAs/genes coding for informative proteins have been isolated and characterized from sponges, especially from the marine demosponges Suberites domuncula and Geodia cydonium. The analyses of their deduced amino acid sequences allowed a molecular biological resolution of the monophyly of Metazoa. Molecules of the extracellular matrix/basal lamina, with the integrin receptor, fibronec…
Inorganic Polyphosphates: Biologically Active Biopolymers for Biomedical Applications
2013
Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a widely occurring but only rarely investigated biopolymer which exists in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Only in the last few years, this polymer has been identified to cause morphogenetic activity on cells involved in human bone formation. The calcium complex of polyP was found to display a dual effect on bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-resorbing osteoclasts. Exposure of these cells to polyP (Ca2+ complex) elicits the expression of cytokines that promote the mineralization process by osteoblasts and suppress the differentiation of osteoclast precursor cells to the functionally active mature osteoclasts dissolving bone minerals. The effect o…
The multiple directions of evolutionary change.
2008
The theory of Punctuated Equilibria challenges the neo-Darwinian tenet that evolution is a uniform process. Recently, an article by Hunt1 has found that directional change during the evolution of a lineage is relatively small (occurring only in 5% of 250 analyzed traits). Of those traits that were shown to follow a trend, size was more likely to show gradual changes, whereas shape changes were more random. Here, we provide a short view of the nature of evolutionary trends, showing that directional change within lineages and among clades provides valuable evolutionary information about the processes involved in their generation. BioEssays 30:521–525, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Predictive validity of the GOSLON Yardstick index in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate: A systematic review
2017
Among the various indices developed for measuring the results of treatment in patients born with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), the GOSLON Yardstick index is the most widely used to assess the efficacy of treatment and treatment outcomes, which in UCLP cases are closely linked to jaw growth. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to validate the predictability of growth using the GOSLON Yardstick in patients born with UCLP. A systematic literature review was conducted in four Internet databases: Medline, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Embase, complemented by a manual search and a further search in the databases of the leading journals that focus on this topic. An el…
The Role of Autophagy and Apoptosis During Embryo Development
2015
Programmed cell death (PCD) and cell survival are two sides of the same coin. Autopha‐ gy and apoptosis are crucial processes during embryo development of Invertebrates and Vertebrates organisms, as they are necessary for the formation of a new organism, start‐ ing from a fertilized egg. Fertilization triggers cell remodeling from each gamete to a toti‐ potent zygote. During embryogenesis, the cells undergo various processes, thus allowing the transformation of the embryo into an adult organism. In particular, cells require the appropriate tools to suddenly modify their morphology and protein content in order to respond to intrinsic and external stimuli. Autophagy and apoptosis are involved…
The interaction of recombinant subdomains of the procollagen C-proteinase with procollagen I provides a quantitative explanation for functional diffe…
2006
The procollagen C-proteinase (PCP) is a zinc peptidase of the astacin family and the metzincin superfamily. The enzyme removes the C-terminal propeptides of fibrillar procollagens and activates other matrix proteins. Besides its catalytic protease domain, the procollagen C-proteinase contains several C-terminal CUB modules (named after complement factors C1r and C1s, the sea urchin UEGF protein, and BMP-1) and EGF-like domains. The two major splice forms of the C-proteinase differ in their overall domain composition. The longer variant, termed mammalian tolloid (mTld, i.e., PCP-2), has the protease- CUB1-CUB2-EGF1-CUB3-EGF2-CUB4-CUB5 composition, whereas the shorter form termed bone morphog…
The protease domain of procollagen C-proteinase (BMP1) lacks substrate selectivity, which is conferred by non-proteolytic domains.
2007
Abstract Procollagen C-proteinase (PCP) removes the C-terminal pro-peptides of procollagens and also processes other matrix proteins. The major splice form of the PCP is termed BMP1 (bone morphogenetic protein 1). Active BMP1 is composed of an astacin-like protease domain, three CUB (complement, sea urchin Uegf, BMP1) domains and one EGF-like domain. Here we compare the recombinant human full-length BMP1 with its isolated proteolytic domain to further unravel the functional influence of the CUB and EGF domains. We show that the protease domain alone cleaves truncated procollagen VII within the short telopeptide region into fragments of similar size as the full-length enzyme does. However, u…
Biological properties of extracellular vesicles and their physiological functions
2015
The authors wish to thank Dr R Simpson and Dr D Taylor for critical reading of the manuscript and acknowledge the Horizon 2020 European Cooperation in Science and Technology programme and its support of our European Network on Microvesicles and Exosomes in Health & Disease (ME-HaD; BM1202 www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/bmbs/Actions/BM1202). In the past decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as potent vehicles of intercellular communication, both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This is due to their capacity to transfer proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, thereby influencing various physiological and pathological functions of both recipient and parent cells. While intensive invest…
Human germ cell differentiation from fetal- and adult-derived induced pluripotent stem cells
2010
Historically, our understanding of molecular genetic aspects of human germ cell development has been limited, at least in part due to inaccessibility of early stages of human development to experimentation. However, the derivation of pluripotent stem cells may provide the necessary human genetic system to study germ cell development. In this study, we compared the potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), derived from adult and fetal somatic cells to form primordial and meiotic germ cells, relative to human embryonic stem cells. We found that ∼5% of human iPSCs differentiated to primordial germ cells (PGCs) following induction with bone morphogenetic proteins. Furthermore, …