Search results for "splicing"
showing 10 items of 235 documents
Il neonato che “sa di sale”
2021
Pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1 (PHA1) is a rare genetic disease due to the peripheral resistance to aldosterone. Clinical spectrum with neonatal onset includes salt loss, hyponatremia, hypochloraemia, hyperkalaemia, metabolic acidosis and increased plasmatic levels of aldosterone. Two forms of the disease - renal and systemic – have been described, which are genetically distinct and with wide clinical expressivity. The most severe generalized PHA1 is caused by mutations in the genes encoding for the subunits of the epithelial sodium channels (ENaC). The paper reports the case of a newborn of the first pregnancy of healthy and consanguineous Sicilian parents, with a clinical and hormonal pic…
Homozygous familial hypobetalipoproteinemia: two novel mutations in the splicing sites of apolipoprotein B gene and review of the literature.
2015
Objective: Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL) is autosomal codominant disorder of lipoprotein metabolism characterized by low plasma levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) and apolipoprotein B (apoB) below the 5 th percentile of the distribution in the population. Patients with the clinical diagnosis of homozygous FHBL (Ho-FHBL) are extremely rare and few patients have been characterized at the molecular level. Here we report the medical history and the molecular characterization of one paediatric patient with clinical features of Ho-FHBL. Methods: A one month old infant with failure to thrive, severe hypocholesterolemia and acanthocytosis was clin…
Correction: Daunorubicin reduces MBNL1 sequestration caused by CUG-repeat expansion and rescues cardiac dysfunctions in a Drosophila model of myotoni…
2018
ABSTRACT Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a dominantly inherited neuromuscular disorder caused by expression of mutant myotonin-protein kinase (DMPK) transcripts containing expanded CUG repeats. Pathogenic DMPK RNA sequesters the muscleblind-like (MBNL) proteins, causing alterations in metabolism of various RNAs. Cardiac dysfunction represents the second most common cause of death in DM type 1 (DM1) patients. However, the contribution of MBNL sequestration in DM1 cardiac dysfunction is unclear. We overexpressed Muscleblind (Mbl), the Drosophila MBNL orthologue, in cardiomyocytes of DM1 model flies and observed a rescue of heart dysfunctions, which are characteristic of these model flies and resem…
More than a pore: How voltage-gated calcium channels act on different levels of neuronal communication regulation.
2021
ABSTRACT Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) represent key regulators of the calcium influx through the plasma membrane of excitable cells, like neurons. Activated by the depolarization of the membrane, the opening of VGCCs induces very transient and local changes in the intracellular calcium concentration, known as calcium nanodomains, that in turn trigger calcium-dependent signaling cascades and the release of chemical neurotransmitters. Based on their central importance as concierges of excitation-secretion coupling and therefore neuronal communication, VGCCs have been studied in multiple aspects of neuronal function and malfunction. However, studies on molecular interaction partners …
Androgen-inducible gene 1 increases the ER Ca(2+) content and cell death susceptibility against oxidative stress.
2016
Androgen-induced gene 1 (AIG1) is a transmembrane protein implicated with survival (its expression level was shown to correlate with the survival of patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma) and Ca(2+) signaling (over-expression of AIG1 increased transcription mediated by the Ca(2+)-dependent nuclear factor of activated T cells). We aimed to shed light on this less-studied protein and investigated its tissue expression, genomic organization, intracellular localization and membrane topology as well as its effects on cell death susceptibility and the Ca(2+) content of the endoplasmic reticulum. Immunoblotting of mouse tissues demonstrated highest expression of AIG1 in the liver, lung …
All-atom simulations disentangle the functional dynamics underlying gene maturation in the intron lariat spliceosome
2018
The spliceosome (SPL) is a majestic macromolecular machinery composed of five small nuclear RNAs and hundreds of proteins. SPL removes noncoding introns from precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) and ligates coding exons, giving rise to functional mRNAs. Building on the first SPL structure solved at near–atomic-level resolution, here we elucidate the functional dynamics of the intron lariat spliceosome (ILS) complex through multi-microsecond-long molecular-dynamics simulations of ∼1,000,000 atoms models. The ILS essential dynamics unveils (i) the leading role of the Spp42 protein, which heads the gene maturation by tuning the motions of distinct SPL components, and (ii) the critical particip…
Marked systems and circular splicing
2007
Splicing systems are generative devices of formal languages, introduced by Head in 1987 to model biological phenomena on linear and circular DNA molecules. In this paper we introduce a special class of finite circular splicing systems named marked systems. We prove that a marked system S generates a regular circular language if and only if S satisfies a special (decidable) property. As a consequence, we show that we can decide whether a regular circular language is generated by a marked system and we characterize the structure of these regular circular languages.
The inner nuclear membrane protein Src1 associates with subtelomeric genes and alters their regulated gene expression
2008
Inner nuclear membrane proteins containing a LEM (LAP2, emerin, and MAN1) domain participate in different processes, including chromatin organization, gene expression, and nuclear envelope biogenesis. In this study, we identify a robust genetic interaction between transcription export (TREX) factors and yeast Src1, an integral inner nuclear membrane protein that is homologous to vertebrate LEM2. DNA macroarray analysis revealed that the expression of the phosphate-regulated genes PHO11, PHO12, and PHO84 is up-regulated in src1Δ cells. Notably, these PHO genes are located in subtelomeric regions of chromatin and exhibit a perinuclear location in vivo. Src1 spans the nuclear membrane twice an…
Isolation and characterization of two T-box genes from sponges, the phylogenetically oldest metazoan taxon
2003
It is now well established that all metazoan phyla derived from one common ancestor, the hypothetical Urmetazoa. Due to the basal position of Porifera (Demospongiae) in the phylogenetic tree of Metazoa, studies on the mechanisms controlling the development of these animals can provide clues on the understanding of the origin of multicellular animals and on how the first organization of the body plan evolved. In this report we describe the isolation and genomic characterization of two T-box genes from the siliceous sponge Suberites domuncula. The phylogenetic analysis classifies one into the subfamily of Brachyury, Sd-Bra, and the second into the Tbx2 subfamily, Sd-Tbx2. Analyses of the Sd-B…
Altered splicing pattern of TACC1 mRNA in gastric cancer
2002
Abstract Transforming acidic coiled-coil ( TACC ) proteins are centrosome and microtubule-associated proteins that are essential for mitotic spindle function. We identified TACC1 as an immunogenic protein and a potential tumor antigen by applying serological identification of antigens by recombinant expression cloning (SEREX) technique to screen a gastric cancer cDNA library. The 5′RLM-RACE and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed at least six different transcript variants of TACC1 with variable transcription start sites and alternative exon usage (designated TACC1-A–TACC1-F ). All transcripts differ in their 5′ ends but share an identical 3′ region encoding coi…