Washington State University

About: Washington State University is a education organization based out in Pullman, Washington, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 26947 authors who have published 57736 publications receiving 2341509 citations. The organization is also known as: WSU & Wazzu.

Ivermectin sensitivity in collies is associated with a deletion mutation of the mdr1 gene

Abstract: A subpopulation of collie dogs is extremely sensitive to neurotoxicity induced by ivermectin. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanistic basis for this phenomenon. The multi-drug-resistance gene (mdr1) encodes a large transmembrane protein, P-glycoprotein (P-gp), that is an integral part of the blood-brain barrier. P-gp functions as a drug-transport pump at the blood-brain barrier, transporting a variety of drugs from the brain back into the blood. Since ivermectin is a substrate for P-gp, we hypothesized that ivermectin-sensitive collies had altered mdr1 expression compared with unaffected collies. We report a deletion mutation of the mdr1 gene that is associated with ivermectin sensitivity. The 4-bp deletion results in a frame shift, generating several stop codons that prematurely terminate P-gp synthesis. Dogs that are homozygous for the deletion mutation display the ivermectin-sensitive phenotype, while those that are homozygous normal or heterozygous do not display increased sensitivity to ivermectin.

Social integration, individual perceptions of collective efficacy, and fear of crime in three cities

Abstract: Several rival explanations have been advanced to account for fear of crime among neighborhood residents. Social integration is the least developed concept in this regard. We assess the mediating role that perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy, defined as the trustworthiness of neighbors and their willingness to intervene as informal social control agents, have in the relationship between social integration and fear of crime. Our data were obtained from random sample surveys of residents conducted in three cities. Structural equation models indicate that social integration operates through perceptions of collective efficacy in predicting fear of crime, and similar results appear across three cities.

Flavors of protein disorder.

Abstract: Intrinsically disordered proteins are characterized by long regions lacking 3-D structure in their native states, yet they have been so far associated with 28 distinguishable functions. Previous studies showed that protein predictors trained on disorder from one type of protein often achieve poor accuracy on disorder of proteins of a different type, thus indicating significant differences in sequence properties among disordered proteins. Important biological problems are identifying different types, or flavors, of disorder and examining their relationships with protein function. Innovative use of computational methods is needed in addressing these problems due to relative scarcity of experimental data and background knowledge related to protein disorder. We developed an algorithm that partitions protein disorder into flavors based on competition among increasing numbers of predictors, with prediction accuracy determining both the number of distinct predictors and the partitioning of the individual proteins. Using 145 variously characterized proteins with long (>30 amino acids) disordered regions, 3 flavors, called V, C, and S, were identified by this approach, with the V subset containing 52 segments and 7743 residues, C containing 39 segments and 3402 residues, and S containing 54 segments and 5752 residues. The V, C, and S flavors were distinguishable by amino acid compositions, sequence locations, and biological function. For the sequences in SwissProt and 28 genomes, their protein functions exhibit correlations with the commonness and usage of different disorder flavors, suggesting different flavor-function sets across these protein groups. Overall, the results herein support the flavor-function approach as a useful complement to structural genomics as a means for automatically assigning possible functions to sequences.

Involvement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor stimulation in the ventral tegmental area and amygdala in behavioral sensitization to cocaine.

Abstract: Systemic administration of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists prevents the development of behavioral sensitization to amphetamine-like psychostimulants. Pretreatment with the noncompetitive NMDA antagonist, MK-801, resulted in a dose-dependent blockade of behavioral sensitization to cocaine. However, pretreatment with the highest dose of MK-801 (0.25 mg/kg i.p.) alone inhibited the behavioral response to a subsequent cocaine challenge 24 hr later. The induction of behavioral sensitization is known to result, at least partly, from an action by psychostimulants in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). To determine whether the dose-dependent inhibition of behavioral sensitization to cocaine by NMDA antagonists resulted from receptor blockade in the VTA, rats were pretreated in the VTA with the MK-801 or the competitive NMDA antagonist, 3-(2-carboxypiperazine-4-yl) propyl-1-phosphonic acid, before systemically administered cocaine (30 mg/kg i.p.). Two to 3 days later rats were challenged with cocaine alone (15 mg/kg i.p.). Pretreatment with either NMDA antagonist into the VTA prevented the manifestation of behavioral sensitization. Intracranial pretreatment with MK-801 was also made into the nucleus accumbens and amygdala which have been implicated in psychostimulant-induced sensitization. Whereas MK-801 was without effect in the nucleus accumbens, when microinjected into the ventral amygdala it prevented the manifestation of behavioral sensitization to a cocaine challenge. The blockade of sensitization by MK-801 in the VTA was produced with a minimum effective dose of 0.01 nmol, whereas the minimum effective dose in the amygdala was 1.0 nmol. These data demonstrate that stimulation of NMDA receptors in the VTA and amygdala is necessary in the development of behavioral sensitization to cocaine.