UPRRP College of Natural Sciences

About: UPRRP College of Natural Sciences is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Apoptosis & Population. The organization has 9323 authors who have published 11826 publications receiving 284172 citations.

ERK5 and the regulation of endothelial cell function.

Abstract: ERK5 (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 5), also termed BMK1 [big MAPK1 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 1)], is the most recently discovered member of the MAPK family. It is expressed in a variety of tissues and is activated by a range of growth factors, cytokines and cellular stresses. Targeted deletion of Erk5 in mice has revealed that the ERK5 signalling cascade is critical for normal cardiovascular development and vascular integrity. In vitro studies have revealed that in endothelial cells, ERK5 is required for preventing apoptosis, mediating shear-stress signalling, regulating hypoxia, tumour angiogenesis and cell migration. This review focuses on our current understanding of the role of ERK5 in regulating endothelial cell function.

Oligopeptides Represent a Preferred Source of Organic N Uptake: A Global Phenomenon?

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, our understanding of soil nitrogen (N) cycling has changed with evidence that amino acids are major substrates for both soil microorganisms and plants. However, the recent discovery that plants and microorganisms can directly utilize small peptides in soil needs to be evaluated for its ecological significance, because peptides are released earlier in protein decomposition and thus would provide significant competitive advantage to any organism that can use them directly. We tested whether soil microorganisms took up peptides faster than amino acids across a broad range of ecosystems. We show that l-enantiomeric-peptidic-N is taken up significantly faster than the equivalent monomer, and that this is universal across soils from different ecosystems, with distinct microbial communities. Peptides may have an unrecognized, global, importance in the terrestrial N cycle, providing N to soil microorganisms at an earlier stage of decomposition than previously acknowledged.

Acidithiobacillus ferridurans sp. nov., an acidophilic iron-, sulfur- and hydrogen-metabolizing chemolithotrophic gammaproteobacterium.

Abstract: Twelve strains of iron-oxidizing acidithiobacilli isolated from acidic sites throughout the world, including some previously shown by multi-locus sequence analyses and DNA–DNA hybridization to comprise a distinct species, were characterized in terms of their physiologies. The bacteria were shown to be obligately chemolithotrophic, acidophilic and mesophilic, and grew in both oxic and anoxic environments, using ferrous iron, reduced sulfur or hydrogen as electron donors and oxygen or ferric iron as electron acceptors. Some of the strains grew at lower pH than those reported for the two recognized iron-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus species, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans . Tolerance of transition metals and aluminium, and also specific rates of iron oxidation and reduction, were more similar to those of A. ferrooxidans (to which the strains are more closely related) than to A. ferrivorans . The name Acidithiobacillus ferridurans sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate the 12 strains, with the type strain being JCM 18981T ( = ATCC 33020T).