Alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs can rapidly regulate the expression of large groups of proteins. The RNA binding protein TRA2B (SFRS10) plays well-established roles in developmentally regulated alternative splicing during Drosophila sexual differentiation. TRA2B is also essential for mammalian embryogenesis and is implicated in numerous human dis...
During animal development, gene transcription is tuned to tissue-appropriate levels. Here we uncover antagonistic regulation of transcript levels in the germline of Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites. The histone methyltransferase MES-4 (Maternal Effect Sterile-4) marks genes expressed in the germline with methylated lysine on histone H3 (H3K36m...
The cellular form of the prion protein (PrP(C)) is found in both full-length and several different cleaved forms in vivo. Although the precise functions of the PrP(C) proteolytic products are not known, cleavage between the unstructured N-terminal domain and the structured C-terminal domain at Lys-109↓His-110 (mouse sequence), termed α-cleavage, ha...
Metal contamination was investigated in soils of the Vallecamonica, an area in the northern part of the Brescia province (Italy), where ferroalloy industries were active for a century until 2001. The extent in which emissions from ferroalloy plants affected metal concentration in soils is not known in this area. In this study, the geogenic and/or a...
The discovery of air-stable n-dopants for organic semiconductor materials has been hindered by the necessity of high-energy HOMOs and the air sensitivity of compounds that satisfy this requirement. One strategy for circumventing this problem is to utilize stable precursor molecules that form the active doping complex in situ during the doping proce...
Manganese (Mn) is an essential nutrient, but overexposure can be neurotoxic. Over 800 000 kg of Mn-containing fungicides are applied each year in California. Manganese levels in teeth are a promising biomarker of perinatal exposure. Participants in our analysis included 207 children enrolled in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Ch...
Pre-mRNA splicing is required for the accurate expression of virtually all human protein coding genes. However, splicing also plays important roles in coordinating subsequent steps of pre-mRNA processing such as polyadenylation and mRNA export. Here, we test the hypothesis that nuclear pre-mRNA processing influences the polyribosome association of ...
The ends of linear chromosomes are extended by telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein complex minimally consisting of a protein subunit called telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and the telomerase RNA (TER). TERT functions by reverse transcribing a short template region of TER into telomeric DNA. Proper assembly of TERT and TER is essential for telom...