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1.
Direct sequencing of the mitochondrial displacement loop (D-loop) of shrews
(genus Sorex) for the region between the tRNA(Pro) and the conserved
sequence block-F revealed variable numbers of 79-bp tandem repeats. These
repeats were found in all 19 individuals sequenced, representing three
subspecies and one closely related species of the masked shrew group (Sorex
cinereus cinereus, S. c. miscix, S. c. acadicus, and S. haydeni) and an
outgroup, the pygmy shrew (S. hoyi). Each specimen also possessed an
adjacent 76-bp imperfect copy of the tandem repeats. One individual was
heteroplasmic for length variants consisting of five and seven copies of
the 79-bp tandem repeat. The sequence of the repeats is conducive to the
formation of secondary structure. A termination-associated sequence is
present in each of the repeats and in a unique sequence region 5' to the
tandem array as well. Mean genetic distance between the masked shrew taxa
and the pygmy shrew was calculated separately for the unique sequence
region, one of the tandem repeats, the imperfect repeat, and these three
regions combined. The unique sequence region evolved more rapidly than the
tandem repeats or the imperfect repeat. The small genetic distance between
pairs of tandem repeats within an individual is consistent with a model of
concerted evolution. Repeats are apparently duplicated and lost at a high
rate, which tends to homogenize the tandem array. The rate of D- loop
sequence divergence between the masked and pygmy shrews is estimated to be
15%-20%/Myr, the highest rate observed in D-loops of mammals. Rapid
sequence evolution in shrews may be due either to their high metabolic rate
and short generation time or to the presence of variable numbers of tandem
repeats.
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2.
High voltage-activated (HVA) Cav channels form complexes with KCa1.1 channels, allowing reliable activation of KCa1.1 current through a nanodomain interaction. We recently found that low voltage-activated Cav3 calcium channels also create KCa1.1-Cav3 complexes. While coimmunoprecipitation studies again supported a nanodomain interaction, the sensitivity to calcium chelating agents was instead consistent with a microdomain interaction. A computational model of the KCa1.1-Cav3 complex suggested that multiple Cav3 channels were necessary to activate KCa1.1 channels, potentially causing the KCa1.1-Cav3 complex to be more susceptible to calcium chelators. Here, we expanded the model and compared it to a KCa1.1-Cav2.2 model to examine the role of Cav channel conductance and kinetics on KCa1.1 activation. As found for direct recordings, the voltage-dependent and kinetic properties of Cav3 channels were reflected in the activation of KCa1.1 current, including transient activation from lower voltages than other KCa1.1-Cav complexes. Substantial activation of KCa1.1 channels required the concerted activity of several Cav3.2 channels. Combined with the effect of EGTA, these results suggest that the Ca2+ domains of several KCa1.1-Cav3 complexes need to cooperate to generate sufficient [Ca2+]i, despite the physical association between KCa1.1 and Cav3 channels. By comparison, Cav2.2 channels were twice as effective at activating KCa1.1 channels and a single KCa1.1-Cav2.2 complex would be self-sufficient. However, even though Cav3 channels generate small, transient currents, the regulation of KCa1.1 activity by Cav3 channels is possible if multiple complexes cooperate through microdomain interactions. 相似文献
3.
Aravinthan DT Samuel Venkatesh N Murthy Michael O Hengartner 《BMC developmental biology》2001,1(1):8-6
Background
Of the animals typically used to study fertilization-induced calcium dynamics, none is as accessible to genetics and molecular biology as the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Motivated by the experimental possibilities inherent in using such a well-established model organism, we have characterized fertilization-induced calcium dynamics in C. elegans.Results
Owing to the transparency of the nematode, we have been able to study the calcium signal in C. elegans fertilization in vivo by monitoring the fluorescence of calcium indicator dyes that we introduce into the cytosol of oocytes. In C. elegans, fertilization induces a single calcium transient that is initiated soon after oocyte entry into the spermatheca, the compartment that contains sperm. Therefore, it is likely that the calcium transient is initiated by contact with sperm. This calcium elevation spreads throughout the oocyte, and decays monotonically after which the cytosolic calcium concentration returns to that preceding fertilization. Only this single calcium transient is observed.Conclusion
Development of a technique to study fertilization induced calcium transients opens several experimental possibilities, e.g., identification of the signaling events intervening sperm binding and calcium elevation, identifying the possible roles of the calcium elevation such as the completion of meiosis, the formation of the eggshell, and the establishing of the embryo's axis of symmetry. 相似文献4.
Human ecology and crime: A routine activity approach 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
Prior explanations of the distributions of crime have tended to emphasize the criminal intentions of people without considering adequately the circumstances in which criminal acts occur. This paper examines how community structure generates these circumstances and applies Amos Hawley's human ecological theory in treating criminal acts as routine activities which feed upon other routine activities. For example, we consider how married women in the labor force, persons living alone, and lightweight durable goods provide offenders with circumstances favorable for carrying out certain illegal acts. We examine in particular how directcontact predatory violations require the convergence in space and time of offenders, suitable targets,and the absence of effective guardians.Various trends in the social structure can alter crime rates by affecting the likelihood of this convergence, without necessarily requiring changes in the criminal inclinations of individuals. 相似文献
5.
Kate L Holliday Wendy Thomson Tuhina Neogi David T Felson Ke Wang Frederick C Wu Ilpo T Huhtaniemi Gyorgy Bartfai Felipe Casanueva Gianni Forti Krzysztof Kula Margus Punab Dirk Vanderschueren Gary J Macfarlane Michael A Horan William Ollier Antony Payton Neil Pendleton John McBeth 《Molecular pain》2012,8(1):1-5
Background
Chronic pain conditions are characterized by significant individual variability complicating the identification of pathophysiological markers. Leukocyte telomere length (TL), a measure of cellular aging, is associated with age-related disease onset, psychosocial stress, and health-related functional decline. Psychosocial stress has been associated with the onset of chronic pain and chronic pain is experienced as a physical and psychosocial stressor. However, the utility of TL as a biological marker reflecting the burden of chronic pain and psychosocial stress has not yet been explored.Findings
The relationship between chronic pain, stress, and TL was analyzed in 36 ethnically diverse, older adults, half of whom reported no chronic pain and the other half had chronic knee osteoarthritis (OA) pain. Subjects completed a physical exam, radiographs, health history, and psychosocial questionnaires. Blood samples were collected and TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Four groups were identified characterized by pain status and the Perceived Stress Scale scores: 1) no pain/low stress, 2) no pain/high stress, chronic pain/low stress, and 4) chronic pain/high stress. TL differed between the pain/stress groups (p = 0.01), controlling for relevant covariates. Specifically, the chronic pain/high stress group had significantly shorter TL compared to the no pain/low stress group. Age was negatively correlated with TL, particularly in the chronic pain/high stress group (p = 0.03).Conclusions
Although preliminary in nature and based on a modest sample size, these findings indicate that cellular aging may be more pronounced in older adults experiencing high levels of perceived stress and chronic pain. 相似文献6.
7.
Distribution of amiloride-sensitive sodium channels in the oral cavity of the hamster 总被引:3,自引:3,他引:0
The distribution of amiloride-sensitive sodium channels (ASSCs) in taste
buds isolated from the oral cavity of hamsters was assessed by patch clamp
recording. In contrast to the case for rats, taste cells from the
fungiform, foliate and vallate papillae and from the soft palate all
contain functional ASSCs. The differential distribution of ASSCs between
the hamster and the rat may be important for understanding the physiology
underlying the differing behavioral responses of these species to sodium
salts.
相似文献
8.
Felson DT 《Arthritis research & therapy》2008,10(1):106
Geographic or ethnic differences in the occurrence of disease often provide insights into causes of disease and possible opportunities
for disease prevention. Persons in China appear to have a consistently lower prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia
than persons in the United States and Europe; reasons for these prevalence differences might include genetic differences,
differences in environmental exposures or a combination of both. With increasing obesity, gout is becoming endemic in China.
Finally, symptomatic knee osteoarthritis is extremely common in China and constitutes a major public health problem there. 相似文献
9.
In the past 20 years great progress has been made in the development of multidimensional outcome measures (such as the Disease Activity Score and ACR20) to evaluate treatments in rheumatoid arthritis, a process disseminated throughout rheumatic diseases. These outcome measures have standardized the assessment of outcomes in trials, making it possible to evaluate and compare the efficacy of treatments. The methodologic advances have included the selection of pre-existing outcome measures that detected change in a sensitive fashion (in rheumatoid arthritis, this was the Core Set Measures). These measures were then combined into a single multidimensional outcome measure and such outcome measures have been widely adopted in trials and endorsed by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and regulatory agencies. The secular improvement in treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis has been facilitated in part by these major methodologic advancements. The one element of this effort that has not optimized measurement of outcomes nor made it easier to detect the effect of treatments is the dichotomization of continuous measures of response, creating responders and non-responder definitions (for example, ACR20 responders; EULAR good responders). Dichotomizing response sacrifices statistical power and eliminates variability in response. Future methodologic work will need to focus on improving multidimensional outcome measurement without arbitrarily characterizing some patients as responders while labeling others as non-responders. 相似文献
10.
Naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) fromPseudomonas sp strain NCIB 9816 is a multicomponent enzyme system which initiates naphthalene catabolism by catalyzing the addition of both atoms of molecular oxygen and two hydrogen atoms to the substrate to yield enantiomerically pure (+)-cis-(1R,2S)-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene. NDO has a relaxed substrate specificity and catalyzes the dioxygenation of many related 2- and 3-ring aromatic and hydroaromatic (benzocyclic) compounds to their respectivecis-diols. Biotransformations with a diol-accumulating mutant, recombinant strains and purified enzyme components have established that in addition tocis-dihydroxylation, NDO also catalyzes a variety of other oxidations which include monohydroxylation, desaturation (dehydrogenation),O-andN-dealkylation and sulfoxidation reactions. In several cases, the absolute stereochemistry of the oxidation products formed by NDO are opposite to those formed by toluene dioxygenase (TDO). The reactions catalyzed by NDO and other microbial dioxygenases can yield specific hydroxylated compounds which can serve as chiral synthons in the preparation of a variety of compounds of interest to pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries. We present here recent work documenting the diverse array of oxidation reactions catalyzed by NDO. The trends observed in the oxidation of a series of benzocyclic aromatic compounds are compared to those observed with TDO and provide the basis for prediction of regio- and stereospecificity in the oxidation of related substrates. Based on the types of reactions catalyzed and the biochemical characteristics of NDO, a mechanism for oxygen activation by NDO is proposed. 相似文献