Introduction Endocardial cushions give rise to heart valves and the septa that separate the cardiac chambers (Lin et al, 2012) and maintain the unidirectional blood flow in the heart, which are essential for the normal heart function (Wu et al, 2017; O’ …
Introduction Niemann–Pick disease type C (NPC) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) affecting an estimated 1 in 120,000 newborns worldwide (Vanier, 2010). Mutations in NPC1 can be found in ∼95% of NPC patients, although the gene’s …
Introduction Collective cell migration is a highly coordinated process important for development, tissue homeostasis, and wound healing. It can take several forms because cells can migrate as sheets, streams, or clusters (1, 2, 3). Collective cell …
Introduction The maintenance of genome stability depends on accurate and efficient DNA replication and is crucial for life in eukaryotes. Importantly, DNA damage caused by endogenous and external sources threatens the activity and processivity of the …
Introduction Shear, tension, and compression are ubiquitous mechanical forces exerting physiological responses on cells. Shearing force corresponds to the application of a force that is parallel to cell surface; the force applied to cells is perpendicular …
How would you explain the main findings of your article, and how did it come about? This article deals with germ cells, more precisely with meiocytes and the integrity of their chromosomes. For higher organisms, germ cells may be considered the “origin of …
The CTP nucleotide is a key precursor of nucleic acids metabolism essential for DNA replication. De novo CTP production relies on CTP synthetases 1 and 2 (CTPS1 and CTPS2) that catalyze the conversion of UTP into CTP. CTP synthetase activity is high in …
Introduction Lipid raft composed of tightly packed lipid molecules is critical for membrane-initiated signaling in eukaryotic cells (Sezgin et al, 2017). Previous studies highlighted the importance of lipid rafts in regulating various biological processes …
Introduction Current high-throughput technologies are now capable of reliably quantifying, at the scale of an entire organism, the molecular changes that arise in response to diseases or environmental disturbances. To identify the most relevant genes for …
Abstract Base-J (β-D-glucopyranosyloxymethyluracil) is a modified DNA nucleotide that replaces 1% of thymine in kinetoplastid flagellates. The biosynthesis and maintenance of base-J depends on the base-J-binding protein 1 (JBP1) that has a thymidine …
Introduction Cellular senescence (CS) is known to contribute to a wide array of age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and osteoarthritis (1). Diverse stressors including genotoxic, epigenotoxic, oxidative, and oncogenic insults …
Introduction Eukaryotic protein-coding genes give rise to several protein variants, or proteoforms, through various mechanisms including genetic alterations, alternative promoter usage during transcription, and alternative splicing (1, 2, 3). Crosstalk …
Phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) and phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate (PI5P) are low-abundance phosphoinositides crucial for key cellular events such as endosomal trafficking and autophagy. Phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate 4-kinase (PIP4K) is an …
The interplay between genetic and environmental factors influences the course of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this context, genetic alterations in the kidney disease gene MUC1 (Mucin1) predispose to the development of CKD. These variations comprise the …
Abstract SLIT/ROBO signaling impacts many aspects of tissue development and homeostasis, in part, through the regulation of cell growth and proliferation. Recent studies have also linked SLIT/ROBO signaling to the regulation of diverse phagocyte functions. …
Introduction Pathological cells are the driving force of certain diseases, and their depletion serves as an attractive therapeutic strategy in many settings. The most prominent examples lie in cancer. The main focus of oncology aims to eliminate tumor …
Introduction Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive dysfunction and demise of specific groups of motor neurons (Taylor et al, 2016), whereas frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a spectrum of …
Introduction Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease with progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells, characterized by optic nerve atrophy and defect of visual field, eventually leading to irreversible blindness (1). Glaucoma is the first irreversible …
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset developmental disorder in children, characterized by deficits in socialization, restricted, repetitive behaviors, and alterations in brain size and dendritic/synaptic development (1, 2, 3, 4). …
Introduction The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) allele exists as three major isoforms in humans: ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4, with ApoE3 being the most common form, followed by ApoE4. ApoE4 is the most important genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (1, 2 …
