We compared the regulation of human FUT4 gene transcription in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) using promoter/luciferase analyses. Using a series of promoter deletion constructs, we identified a potential regulatory site located between 0.8 and 1.6kb of the FUT4 promoter. As shown by EMSA and ChIP analyses, heat-shock factor 1 (HSF1) and Sp1are required for FUT4 promoter activity. In addition, we explored the role of HSF1 and Sp1 on cell proliferation, and found that the ERK1/2 MAPK

and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways regulate the expression of FUT4, which play a role in cell proliferation via HSF1 and Sp1. These results suggest Bak protein that FUT4 is a target gene for HSF1 and Sp1 that is required for cell cycle progression in breast cancer epithelial cells. J. Cell. Biochem. 115: 168-178, 2014. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.”
“Runoff generation at the hillslope scale is an important component of the hydrological cycle. Recent work has shown that a common hillslope runoff response mechanism is driven by connectivity of saturated patches in the subsurface (via filling and spilling) to a threshold initiation of lateral flow at the hillslope base. Here, we show that directed percolation theory is able to represent this key runoff process including the details of dynamical flowpath development and filling and spilling processes at the soil-bedrock

interface. We then use the directed percolation model to investigate how changes in slope angle, soil depth, and subsurface microtopography influence stormflow response. We map BMS-754807 supplier the evolving subsurface flow network under different hillslope classes and compare Cilengitide order them to the natural system response. Our results suggest that the natural system sheds water more efficiently than randomly generated systems providing some insights into key hydrogeomorphic controls on water shedding in the environment.

(C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Synthetic biology has developed numerous parts for building synthetic gene circuits. However, few parts have been described for prokaryotes to integrate two signals at a promoter in an AND fashion, i.e. the promoter is only activated in the presence of both signals. Here we present a new part for this function: a split intein T7 RNA polymerase. We divide T7 RNA polymerase into two expression domains and fuse each to a split intein. Only when both domains are expressed does the split intein mediate protein trans-splicing, yielding a full-length T7 RNA polymerase that can transcribe genes via a T7 promoter. We demonstrate an AND gate with the new part: the signal-to-background ratio is very high, resulting in an almost digital signal. This has utility for more complex circuits and so we construct a band-pass filter in Escherichia coli. The split intein approach should be widely applicable for engineering artificial gene circuit parts.