Background. Members of the eukaryote/archaea specific eRF1 and eRF3 protein families have central roles in translation termination. They are also central to various mRNA surveillance mechanisms, together with the eRF1 paralogue Dom34p and the eRF3 paralogues Hbs1p and Ski7p. We have examined the evolution of eRF1 and eRF3 families using sequence similarity searching, multiple sequence alignment an

In eukaryotes, termination of mRNA translation is triggered by the essential polypeptide chain release factors eRF1, recognizing all three stop codons, and eRF3, a member of the GTPase superfamily with a role that has remained opaque. We have studied the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the interactions between eRF3 and GTP, GDP and the non-hydrolysable GTP analogue GDPNP in the presence (K

Methods have been developed for the preparation of suspensions of viable rat pancreatic islet cells and their analysis and sorting in the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS III or IV). Histograms of cell number versus light scattering in a near forward angle (1-15 degrees) demonstrated that viable islet cells produce a broad peak that is distinctly separated from the peaks generated by exocr

Supercapacitive biofuel cells’ (SBFCs) most recent advancements are herein disclosed. In conventional SBFCs the biocomponent is employed as the pseudocapacitive component, while in self-charging biodevices it also works as the biocatalyst. The performance of different types of SBFCs are summarized according to the categorization based on the biocatalyst employed: supercapacitive microbial fuel cel

The stringent response is a central adaptation mechanism that allows bacteria to adjust their growth and metabolism according to environmental conditions. The functionality of the stringent response is crucial for bacterial virulence, survival during host invasion as well as antibiotic resistance and tolerance. Therefore, specific inhibitors of the stringent response hold great promise as molecula

The alarmones guanosine tetraphosphate and guanosine pentaphosphate (collectively referred to as (p)ppGpp) are involved in regulating growth and several different stress responses in bacteria. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of (p)ppGpp metabolism and (p)ppGpp-mediated regulation. In this Review, we summarize these recent insight

Tom40 is an integral protein of the mitochondrial outer membrane, which as the central component of the Translocase of the Outer Membrane (TOM) complex forms a channel for protein import. We characterize the diffusion properties of individual Tom40 molecules fused to the photoconvertable fluorescent protein Dendra2 with millisecond temporal resolution. By imaging individual Tom40 molecules in inta

We consider dynamical systems (X, T, μ) which have exponential decay of correlations for either Hölder continuous functions or functions of bounded variation. Given a sequence of balls (Bn)n=1∞, we give sufficient conditions for the set of eventually always hitting points to be of full measure. This is the set of points x such that for all large enough m, there is a k< m with Tk(x) ∈ Bm. We also g

Shiga toxin (Stx), the unique virulence factor released by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), associated with gastrointestinal infection and in severe cases hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Up until now, no effective therapies have been developed to control disease progression. In this thesis, four novel treatment strategies have been investigated targeting different aspects of EHEC pathog

Disaster-induced and conflict-induced forced displacements areamong the biggest humanitarian and development challenges of the countriesaround the world in the 21st century. The increasing rate of the forced displacementputs significant pressure on the built environment which popularly includes thechallenges associated with delivering the essential goods and services, providingadequate and appropr

Purpose – The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami prompted global efforts to develop end-to-end multi-hazard warning systems. Taking this event as a starting point, and drawing on experiences from the following advancement of the Indonesian tsunami early warning system, this paper aims to highlight the importance of paying attention to human factors and the perceptions and behaviors of end recipients when try

Engineered bamboo has recently received lots of attention of civil engineers and professional researchers due to its better mechanical performance than that of softwood timber. Parallel strand bamboo is one important part of engineered bamboo for its excellent durable performance compared to the laminated veneer bamboo. The required curing temperature in hot-pressing process is usually higher than

The bacterial stringent response is a key regulator of bacterial virulence, biofilm formation and antibiotic tolerance, and is a promising target for the development of new antibacterial compounds. The intracellular nucleotide (p)ppGpp acts as a messenger orchestrating the stringent response. A synthetic peptide 1018 was recently proposed to specifically disrupt biofilms by inhibiting the stringen

Hepatic failure is an important risk factor for poor outcome in septic patients. Using a chemical tagging workflow and high-resolution mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that rapid proteome remodeling of the vascular surfaces precedes hepatic damage in a murine model of Staphylococcus aureus sepsis. These early changes include vascular deposition of neutrophil-derived proteins, shedding of vascular