University of Nottingham

About: University of Nottingham is a education organization based out in Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 54772 authors who have published 119600 publications receiving 4227408 citations. The organization is also known as: The University of Nottingham & University College, Nottingham.

A type VII myosin encoded by the mouse deafness gene shaker-1.

Abstract: GENETIC deafness is common, affecting about 1 in 2,000 births1. Many of these show primary abnormalities of the sensory neuro-epithelia of the inner ear, as do several hearing-impaired mouse mutants, suggesting that genes involved in sensory transduction could be affected. Here we report the identification of one such gene, the mouseshaker-1(shl) gene. Shaker-1 homozygotes show hyperactivity, head-tossing and circling due to vestibular dysfunction, together with typical neuroepithelial-type cochlear defects involving dysfunction and progressive degeneration of the organ of Corti2–7. The shl gene encodes an unconventional myosin molecule of the type VII family. Three mutations are described, two mis-sense mutations and a splice acceptor site mutation, all in the region encoding the myosin head. The myosin type VII molecule encoded byshl is the first molecule to be identified that is known, by virtue of its mutations, to be involved in auditory transduction.

A reader's guide to contemporary literary theory

Abstract: Preface to the Fifth Edition. Introduction. 1. New Criticism, moral formalism and F. R. Leavis 2. Russian formalism and the Bakhtin school 3. Reader-oriented theories 4. Structuralist theories 5. Marxist theories 6. Feminist theories 7. Poststructuralist theories 8. Postmodernist theories 9. Postcolonialist theories 10. Gay, lesbian and queer theories Conclusion: Post-Theory. Appendix 1: Recommended glossaries of theoretical and critical terms and concepts. Appendix 2: Literary, critical and cultural theory journals. Index

Quorum sensing, communication and cross-kingdom signalling in the bacterial world

Abstract: Although unicellular, bacteria are highly interactive and employ a range of cell-to-cell communication or ‘quorum sensing (QS)’ systems for promoting collective behaviour within a population. QS is generally considered to facilitate gene expression only when the population has reached a sufficient cell density and depends on the synthesis of small molecules that diffuse in and out of bacterial cells. As the bacterial population density increases, so does the synthesis of QS signal molecules and consequently, their concentration in the external environment increases. Once a critical threshold concentration is reached, a target sensor kinase or response regulator is activated, so facilitating the expression of QS-dependent target genes. Several chemically distinct families of QS signal molecules have been described, of which the N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) family in Gram-negative bacteria have been the most intensively investigated. QS contributes to environmental adaptation by facilitating the elaboration of virulence determinants in pathogenic species and plant biocontrol characteristics in beneficial species as well as directing biofilm formation and colony escape. QS also crosses the prokaryotic–eukaryotic boundary in that QS signal molecules influence the behaviour of eukaryotic organisms in both the plant and mammalian worlds such that QS signal molecules may directly facilitate bacterial survival by promoting an advantageous lifestyle within a given environmental niche.