Genes, Volume 8, Issue 5

Introduction: Major histocompatibility complex class II genes are considered major genetic risk factors for autoimmune diabetes. We analysed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) DR and DQ haplotypes in a cohort with early-onset (age < 5 years), long term...

High-grade astrocytoma of WHO grade 4 termed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a common human brain tumor with poor patient outcome. Astrocytoma demonstrates two known telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMMs) based on telomerase activity (TA) and on alt...

Identification of 108 genomic regions significantly associated with schizophrenia risk by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium was a milestone for the field, and much work is now focused on determining the mechanism of risk associated with each locus....

Early postnatal exposures to Bisphenol A (BPA) and genistein (GEN) have been reported to predispose for and against mammary cancer, respectively, in adult rats. Since the changes in cancer susceptibility occurs in the absence of the original chemical...

Overexpression of MYC is a hallmark of many human cancers. The MYC oncogene has long been thought to execute its neoplastic functions by acting as a classic transcription factor, deregulating the expression of a large number of specific target genes....

A neuron is unique in its ability to dynamically modify its transcriptional output in response to synaptic activity while maintaining a core gene expression program that preserves cellular identity throughout a lifetime that is longer than almost eve...

Escherichia coli endonuclease VIII (Endo VIII) is a DNA glycosylase with substrate specificity for a wide range of oxidatively damaged pyrimidine bases. Endo VIII catalyzes hydrolysis of the N-glycosidic bond and β, δ-elimination of 3′- and 5′-phosph...

Cytosine modifications, including DNA methylation, are stable epigenetic marks that may translate environmental change into transcriptional regulation. Research has begun to investigate DNA methylation dynamics in relation to cocaine use disorders. S...

A woman with rectal cancer was scheduled for surgery. However, she also had hypokalemia, hyperreninemia, and hyperaldosteronism in the absence of any known predisposing factors or endocrine tumors. She was given intravenous potassium, and her blood a...

Prenatal alcohol exposure causes persistent neuropsychiatric deficits included under the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Cellular identity emerges from a cascade of intrinsic and extrinsic (involving cell-cell interactions and signaling...

The primary role of the bacterial protein DnaA is to initiate chromosomal replication. The DnaA protein binds to DNA at the origin of chromosomal replication (oriC) and assembles into a filament that unwinds double-stranded DNA. Through interaction w...

RNA interference (RNAi), including microRNAs, is an important player in the mediation of differentiation and migration of stem cells via target genes. It is used as a potential strategy for gene therapy for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Stem...

MYC is a transcription factor that is essential for cellular proliferation and development. Deregulation or overexpression of MYC occurs in a variety of human cancers. Ectopic expression of MYC causes hyperproliferation and transformation of cells in...

Genetic isolated populations have features that may facilitate genetic analyses and can be leveraged to improve power of mapping genes to complex traits. Our aim was to test the extent to which a population with a former history of geographic isolati...

Smoking has been established as a major risk factor for developing oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but less attention has been paid to the effects of smokeless tobacco products. Our objective is to identify potential biomarkers to distinguish th...

Lipids are an important energy supply in our cells and can be stored or used to produce macromolecules during lipogenesis when cells experience nutrient starvation. Our proteomic analysis reveals that the Drosophila homologue of human Stearoyl-CoA de...

Intense gene flux between prokaryotes result in high percentage of archaeal genes in the genome of the thermophilic bacteria Thermus spp. Among these archaeal genes a homolog to the Sulfolobus spp. HerA protein appears in all of the Thermus spp. stra...

In addition to the cholesterol-lowering activity of red yeast rice (RYR), its anticancer activities have been frequently reported. However, the mechanism of action of the anticancer activity of RYR is not yet fully understood. The objective of the cu...

In fission yeast, the small, intrinsically disordered protein S-phase delaying protein 1 (Spd1) blocks DNA replication and causes checkpoint activation at least in part, by inhibiting the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase, which is responsible for the...