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Aprataxin
Aprataxin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''APTX'' gene. This gene encodes a member of the histidine triad (HIT) superfamily, some of which have nucleotide-binding and diadenosine polyphosphate hydrolase activities. The encoded protein may play a role in single-stranded DNA repair. Mutations in this gene have been associated with ataxia–ocular apraxia. Multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been identified for this gene, however, the full length nature of some variants has not been determined. Function Aprataxin removes AMP from DNA ends following abortive ligation attempts by DNA Ligase IV during non-homologous end joining, thereby permitting subsequent attempts at ligation. DNA strand breaks Ataxia oculomotor apraxia-1 is a neurological disorder caused by mutations in the APTX gene that encodes aprataxin. The neurological disorder appears to be caused by the gradual accumulation of unrepaired DNA strand breaks resulting from abortive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XRCC1
DNA repair protein XRCC1, also known as X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''XRCC1'' gene. XRCC1 is involved in DNA repair, where it complexes with DNA ligase III. Function XRCC1 is involved in the efficient repair of DNA single-strand breaks formed by exposure to ionizing radiation and alkylating agents. This protein interacts with DNA ligase III, polymerase beta and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase to participate in the base excision repair pathway. It may play a role in DNA processing during meiogenesis, i.e. during the induction of meiosis and recombination in germ cells. A rare microsatellite polymorphism in this gene is associated with cancer in patients of varying radiosensitivity. The XRCC1 protein does not have enzymatic activity, but acts as a scaffolding protein that interacts with multiple repair enzymes. The scaffolding allows these repair enzymes to then carry out their enzymatic steps in repairing DNA. XRC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oculomotor Apraxia
Oculomotor apraxia (OMA) is the absence or defect of controlled, voluntary, and purposeful eye movement.Tada, M, Yokoseki, A, Sato, T, Makifuchi, T, Onodera, O. Early-onset ataxia with ocular motor apraxia and hypoalbuminemia/ataxia with oculomotor apraxia 1. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 685 (2010): 21-33. It was first described in 1952 by the American ophthalmologist David Glendenning Cogan.Le Ber, I, Brice, A, Dürr, A. New autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias with oculomotor apraxia. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports 5.5 (2005): 411-7. People with this condition have difficulty moving their eyes horizontally and moving them quickly. The main difficulty is in saccade initiation, but there is also impaired cancellation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. Patients have to turn their head in order to compensate for the lack of eye movement initiation in order to follow an object or see objects in their peripheral vision, but they often exceed their target. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity. A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity and the molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protein-coding genes and noncoding genes. During gene expression, the DNA is first copied into RNA. The RNA can be directly functional or be the intermediate template for a protein that performs a function. The transmission of genes to an organism's offspring is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits. These genes make up different DNA sequences called genotypes. Genotypes along with environmental and developmental factors determine what the phenotypes will be. Most biological traits are under the influence of polygenes (many different genes) as well as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Repair
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in tens of thousands of individual molecular lesions per cell per day. Many of these lesions cause structural damage to the DNA molecule and can alter or eliminate the cell's ability to transcribe the gene that the affected DNA encodes. Other lesions induce potentially harmful mutations in the cell's genome, which affect the survival of its daughter cells after it undergoes mitosis. As a consequence, the DNA repair process is constantly active as it responds to damage in the DNA structure. When normal repair processes fail, and when cellular apoptosis does not occur, irreparable DNA damage may occur, including double-strand breaks and DNA crosslinkages (interstrand crosslinks or ICLs). This can eventually lead to malig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LIG4
DNA ligase 4 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the LIG4 gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is an ATP-dependent DNA ligase that joins double-strand breaks during the non-homologous end joining pathway of double-strand break repair. It is also essential for V(D)J recombination. Lig4 forms a complex with XRCC4, and further interacts with the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) and XLF/Cernunnos, which are also required for NHEJ. The crystal structure of the Lig4/XRCC4 complex has been resolved. Defects in this gene are the cause of LIG4 syndrome. The yeast homolog of Lig4 is Dnl4. LIG4 Syndrome In humans, deficiency of DNA ligase 4 results in a clinical condition known as LIG4 syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by cellular radiation sensitivity, growth retardation, developmental delay, microcephaly, facial dysmorphisms, increased disposition to leukemia, variable degrees of immunodeficiency and reduced number of blood cells. Haematopoietic st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-homologous End Joining
Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a pathway that repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. NHEJ is referred to as "non-homologous" because the break ends are directly ligated without the need for a homologous template, in contrast to homology directed repair(HDR), which requires a homologous sequence to guide repair. NHEJ is active in both non-dividing and proliferating cells, while HDR is not readily accessible in non-dividing cells. The term "non-homologous end joining" was coined in 1996 by Moore and Haber. NHEJ is typically guided by short homologous DNA sequences called microhomologies. These microhomologies are often present in single-stranded overhangs on the ends of double-strand breaks. When the overhangs are perfectly compatible, NHEJ usually repairs the break accurately. Imprecise repair leading to loss of nucleotides can also occur, but is much more common when the overhangs are not compatible. Inappropriate NHEJ can lead to translocations and telomere fusion, hallma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurological Disorder
A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakness, poor coordination, loss of sensation, seizures, confusion, pain and altered levels of consciousness. There are many recognized neurological disorders, some relatively common, but many rare. They may be assessed by neurological examination, and studied and treated within the specialities of neurology and clinical neuropsychology. Interventions foneurological disordersinclude preventive measures, lifestyle changes, physiotherapy or other therapy, neurorehabilitation, pain management, medication, operations performed by neurosurgeons or a specific diet. The World Health Organization estimated in 2006 that neurological disorders and their sequelae (direct consequences) affect as many as one billion people worldwide, and ident ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superoxide Dismutase
Superoxide dismutase (SOD, ) is an enzyme that alternately catalyzes the dismutation (or partitioning) of the superoxide () radical into ordinary molecular oxygen (O2) and hydrogen peroxide (). Superoxide is produced as a by-product of oxygen metabolism and, if not regulated, causes many types of cell damage. Hydrogen peroxide is also damaging and is degraded by other enzymes such as catalase. Thus, SOD is an important antioxidant defense in nearly all living cells exposed to oxygen. One exception is ''Lactobacillus plantarum'' and related lactobacilli, which use a different mechanism to prevent damage from reactive . Chemical reaction SODs catalyze the disproportionation of superoxide: : 2 HO2 → O2 + H2O2 In this way, is converted into two less damaging species. The pathway by which SOD-catalyzed dismutation of superoxide may be written, for Cu,Zn SOD, with the following reactions: * Cu2+-SOD + → Cu+-SOD + O2 (reduction of copper; oxidation of superoxide) * Cu+ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcription (biology)
Transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA into RNA. The segments of DNA transcribed into RNA molecules that can encode proteins are said to produce messenger RNA (mRNA). Other segments of DNA are copied into RNA molecules called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). mRNA comprises only 1–3% of total RNA samples. Less than 2% of the human genome can be transcribed into mRNA ( Human genome#Coding vs. noncoding DNA), while at least 80% of mammalian genomic DNA can be actively transcribed (in one or more types of cells), with the majority of this 80% considered to be ncRNA. Both DNA and RNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairs of nucleotides as a complementary language. During transcription, a DNA sequence is read by an RNA polymerase, which produces a complementary, antiparallel RNA strand called a primary transcript. Transcription proceeds in the following general steps: # RNA polymerase, together with one or more general transcription factors, binds to promot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances in the normal redox state of cells can cause toxic effects through the production of peroxides and free radicals that damage all components of the cell, including proteins, lipids, and DNA. Oxidative stress from oxidative metabolism causes base damage, as well as strand breaks in DNA. Base damage is mostly indirect and caused by the reactive oxygen species generated, e.g., O2− ( superoxide radical), OH (hydroxyl radical) and H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). Further, some reactive oxidative species act as cellular messengers in redox signaling. Thus, oxidative stress can cause disruptions in normal mechanisms of cellular signaling. In humans, oxidative stress is thought to be involved in the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cancer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cellular Senescence
Cellular senescence is a phenomenon characterized by the cessation of cell division. In their experiments during the early 1960s, Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead found that normal human fetal fibroblasts in culture reach a maximum of approximately 50 cell population doublings before becoming senescent. This process is known as "replicative senescence", or the Hayflick limit. Hayflick's discovery of mortal cells paved the path for the discovery and understanding of cellular aging molecular pathways. Cellular senescence can be initiated by a wide variety of stress inducing factors. These stress factors include both environmental and internal damaging events, abnormal cellular growth, oxidative stress, autophagy factors, among many other things. The physiological importance for cell senescence has been attributed to prevention of carcinogenesis, and more recently, aging, development, and tissue repair. Senescent cells contribute to the aging phenotype, including frailty syndr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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