University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute

About: University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gene & Population. The organization has 1565 authors who have published 2458 publications receiving 171434 citations. The organization is also known as: UMBI.

Soaking it up: the complex lives of marine sponges and their microbial associates.

Abstract: Marine sponges (phylum Porifera) are among the oldest multicellular animals (metazoans), the sea's most prolific producers of bioactive metabolites, and of considerable ecological importance due to their abundance and ability to filter enormous volumes of seawater In addition to these important attributes, sponge microbiology is now a rapidly expanding field

Ecdysone-induced expression of the caspase DRONC during hormone-dependent programmed cell death in Drosophila is regulated by Broad-Complex

Abstract: The steroid hormone ecdysone regulates both cell differentiation and cell death during insect metamorphosis, by hierarchical transcriptional regulation of a number of genes, including the Broad-Complex (BR-C), the zinc finger family of transcription factors. These genes in turn regulate the transcription of a number of downstream genes. DRONC, a key apical caspase in Drosophila, is the only known caspase that is transcriptionally regulated by ecdysone during development. We demonstrate that dronc gene expression is ablated or reduced in BR-C mutant flies. Using RNA interference in an ecdysone-responsive Drosophila cell line, we show that DRONC is essential for ecdysone-mediated cell death, and that dronc upregulation in these cells is controlled by BR-C. Finally, we show that the dronc promoter has BR-C interaction sites, and that it can be transactivated by a specific isoform of BR-C. These results indicate that BR-C plays a key role in ecdysone-mediated caspase regulation.

Control of HIV-1 infection by soluble factors of the immune response

Abstract: An increasing body of evidence indicates that the immune system uses a range of soluble molecules to suppress certain viral infections without killing infected host cells Recent studies indicate that such factors might have an especially important role in the immune response to HIV-1 Accordingly, this review uses HIV-1 as a model to explore the diversity of non-cytolytic antiviral factors and considers how these molecules might be used to develop new therapeutic and prophylactic strategies to fight viral infections