Poorly understood

Chamaecrista pumila has empirically been used to treat inflammation-associated complications. However, the molecular mechanism and chemical components underlying the anti-inflammatory activity of this medicinal plant are poorly understood. Hence, the present study aimed to identify main bioactive compounds from the ethyl acetate fraction of C. pumila extract, which was demonstrated to possess the strongest anti-inflammatory effect in a previous study, and provide mechanistic insights into modulation of inflammatory responses by the compound of interest.

13p vihyuga 04-03-2025 3 1   Download

Calcium sulfate beads (CSBs) are biocompatible hydrophilic crystals that are used to deliver local antibiotics in periprosthetic joint infections. Hypercalcemia after placement of CSBs is uncommon and poorly understood.

3p caothientrangnguyen 09-05-2020 14 2   Download

Oligomerization into multimeric complexes is a prerequisite for the chaperone function of almost all a-crystallin type heat shock proteins (a-Hsp), but the molecular details of complex assembly are poorly understood. The a-Hsp proteins from Bradyrhizobium japonicum are suitable bacterial models for structure-function studies of these ubiquitous stress proteins. They fall into two distinct classes, A and B, display chaperone activity in vitro and form oligomers of  24 subunits.

9p research12 01-06-2013 55 6   Download

Complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) is the largest multiprotein enzyme of the oxidative phosphorylation system. Its assembly in human cells is poorly understood and no proteins assisting this process have yet been described. A good candidate is NDUFAF1, the human homologue of Neurospora crassacomplex I chaperone CIA30. Here, we demonstrate that NDUFAF1 is a mitochondrial protein that is involved in the complex I assembly process.

10p fptmusic 12-04-2013 48 4   Download

Alterations in mitochondrial activity resulting from defects in mitochond-rial DNA (mtDNA) can modulate the biogenesis of mitochondria by mech-anisms that are still poorly understood. In order to study mitochondrial biogenesis in cells with impaired mitochondrial activity, we used rho-L929 and rho 0 143 B cells (partially and totally depleted of mtDNA, respectively),

25p fptmusic 12-04-2013 56 4   Download

Calcium metabolism in oysters is a very complicated and highly controlled physiological and biochemical process. However, the regulation of calcium metabolism in oyster is poorly understood. Our previous study showed that calmodulin (CaM) seemed to play a regulatory role in the process of oyster calcium metabolism. In this study, a full-length cDNA encoding a novel calmodulin-like protein (CaLP) with a long C-terminal sequence was identi-fied from pearl oysterPinctada fucata, expressed in Escherichia coliand characterizedin vitro. ...

12p fptmusic 12-04-2013 42 3   Download

The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system transports folded proteins across the bacterial plasma membrane. Three subunits, TatA, B and C, are known to be involved but their modes of action are poorly understood, as are the inter-subunit interactions occurring within Tat complexes. We have generated mutations in the single transmembrane (TM) spans of TatA and TatB, with the aim of generating structural distortions.

15p awards 06-04-2013 33 2   Download

Juvenile hormones (JHs) of insects are sesquiterpenoids that regulate a great diversity of processes in development and reproduction. As yet the molecular modes of action of JH are poorly understood. TheMethoprene-tolerant (Met) gene of Drosophila melanogasterhas been found to be responsible for resistance to a JH analogue (JHA) insecticide, methoprene. Previous studies onMethave implicated its involvement in JH signaling, although direct evidence is lacking.

0p awards 05-04-2013 40 2   Download

Why do proteins adopt the conformations that they do, and what determines their stabilities? While we have come to some understandingof the forces that underlie protein architecture, a precise, predictive, physicochemical explanation is still elusive. Two obstacles to addressing these questions are the unfathomable vastness of protein sequence space, and the difficulty in makingdirect phy-sical measurements on large numbers of protein variants. Here, we review combinatorial methods that have been applied to problems in protein biophysics over the last 15 years.

14p dell39 03-04-2013 62 3   Download

Metallothioneins (MTs) are noncatalytic peptides involved in storage of essential ions, detoxification of nonessential metals, and scavenging of oxyradicals. They exhibit an unusual primary sequence and unique 3D arrangement. Whereas vertebrate MTs are characterized by the well-known dumbbell shape, with abdomain that binds three bivalent metal ions and anadomain that binds four ions, molluscan MT structure is still poorly understood.

10p dell39 27-03-2013 46 4   Download

The tight junction protein occludin participates in cell adhesion and migra-tion and has been shown to possess antitumorigenic properties; however, the exact mechanism underlying these effects is poorly understood. In liver cell lines, we identified an occludin splice variant deleted in exon 9 (Occ DE9 ).

12p galaxyss3 07-03-2013 53 4   Download

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) has been the focus of a number of stu-dies due to its ability to promote septic shock and a massive impact on the human immune system. Even though symptoms and pathology associated with SEB is well known, early molecular events that lead to lethality are still poorly understood.

11p galaxyss3 07-03-2013 32 3   Download

The functions of long smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase (L-MLCK), a molecule with multiple domains, are poorly understood. To examine the existence of further potentially functional domains in this molecule, we ana-lyzed its amino acid sequence with a tangoprogram and found a putative aggregation domain located at the 4Ig domain of the N-terminal extension.

12p media19 06-03-2013 29 3   Download

The nuage is a unique organelle in animal germ cells that is known as an electron-dense amorphous structure in the perinuclear region. Although the nuage is essential for primordial germ cell (PGC) determination and devel-opment, its roles and functions are poorly understood.

9p media19 05-03-2013 46 2   Download

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily that modulate target gene expression in response to fatty acid ligands. Their regulation by post-translational modifications has been reported but is poorly understood.

9p media19 04-03-2013 46 1   Download

EnteropathogenicEscherichia coli(EPEC) has been shown to disrupt the barrier function of host intestinal epithelial tissues through entering tight junctions. However, the mechanism by which this occurs remains poorly understood. In this study, we determined that EPEC invades host cells through tight junctions as it initiates infection.

11p vinaphone15 28-02-2013 41 2   Download

Helicobacter pylori, an important bacterial pathogen, causes gastric ulcer and gastric adenocarcinoma in humans. The fundamentals of basic biology such as DNA replication are poorly understood in this pathogen. In the present study, we report the cloning and functional characterization of the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein from H. pylori.

13p vinaphone15 27-02-2013 32 3   Download

Despite the critical importance of protein ubiquitination in the regulation of diverse cellular processes, the molecular mechanisms by which cells rec-ognize and transmit ubiquitin signals remain poorly understood. The endosomal sorting machinery component hepatocyte growth factor-regu-lated tyrosine kinase substrate (Hrs) contains a ubiquitin-interacting motif (UIM), which is believed to bind ubiquitinated membrane cargo proteins and mediate their sorting to the lysosomal degradation pathway.

14p vinaphone15 27-02-2013 43 3   Download

Obesity is associated with a high prevalence of erectile dysfunction; how-ever, the pathophysiological link between obesity and erectile dysfunction remains poorly understood. In this minireview, we have attempted to eval-uate the existing literature pertaining to obesity and erectile dysfunction to determine whether a common pathophysiological link exists.

13p viettel02 20-02-2013 40 3   Download

Cdx1 and Cdx2, which are transcription factors regulating normal intesti-nal development, have been studied as potential key molecules in the pathogenesis of the precancerous intestinal metaplasia of the human stomach. However, the regulation of Cdx1 expression in the intestinal metaplasia is poorly understood.

11p viettel02 20-02-2013 55 1   Download