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Mesoangioblast
A mesoangioblast is a type of progenitor cell that is associated with vasculature walls. Mesoangioblasts exhibit many similarities to pericytes, which are found in the small vessels. Mesoangioblasts are multipotent stem cells with the potential to progress down the endothelial or mesodermal lineages. Mesoangioblasts express the critical marker of angiopoietic progenitors, KDR (FLK1). Because of these properties, mesoangioblasts are a precursor of skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle cells along with endothelial cells. Research has suggested their application for stem cell therapies for muscular dystrophy and cardiovascular disease. Discovery and properties Mesoangioblasts were initially isolated in 1997 by researchers at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy. Their discovery was sparked by the findings of Mavilio et al., who found that a skeletal muscle precursor could be found in postnatal mice bone marrow. This instigated the search for cells that could differentiat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TNNI3
Troponin I, cardiac muscle is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TNNI3'' gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei .... It is a tissue-specific subtype of troponin I, which in turn is a part of the troponin complex. The ''TNNI3'' gene encoding cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is located at 19q13.4 in the human chromosomal genome. Human cTnI is a 24 kDa protein consisting of 210 amino acids with isoelectric point (pI) of 9.87. cTnI is exclusively expressed in adult cardiac muscle. Gene evolution left, Figure 1: A phylogenetic tree is derived from alignment of amino acid sequences. cTnI has diverged from the skeletal muscle isoforms of TnI (slow TnI and fast TnI) mainly with a unique N-terminal extension. The amino acid sequence of cTnI is strongly conserved among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actinin
Actinin is a microfilament protein. The functional protein is an anti-parallel dimer, which cross-links the thin filaments in adjacent sarcomeres, and therefore coordinates contractions between sarcomeres in the horizontal axis. Alpha-actinin is a part of the spectrin superfamily. This superfamily is made of spectrin, dystrophin, and their homologous and isoforms. In non-muscle cells, it is found by the actin filaments and at the adhesion sites. The lattice like arrangement provides stability to the muscle contractile apparatus. Specifically, it helps bind actin filaments to the cell membrane. There is a binding site at each end of the rod and with bundles of actin filaments. The non-sarcomeric alpha-actinins, encoded by '' ACTN1'' and '' ACTN4'', are widely expressed. '' ACTN2'' expression is found in both cardiac and skeletal muscle, whereas ''ACTN3'' is limited to the latter. Both ends of the rod-shaped alpha-actinin dimer contain actin-binding domains. Six different protei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actin
Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of over 100 μM; its mass is roughly 42 kDa, with a diameter of 4 to 7 nm. An actin protein is the monomeric subunit of two types of filaments in cells: microfilaments, one of the three major components of the cytoskeleton, and thin filaments, part of the contractile apparatus in muscle cells. It can be present as either a free monomer called G-actin (globular) or as part of a linear polymer microfilament called F-actin (filamentous), both of which are essential for such important cellular functions as the mobility and contraction of cells during cell division. Actin participates in many important cellular processes, including muscle contraction, cell motility, cell division and cytokinesis, vesicle and organelle mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myosin
Myosins () are a Protein family, family of motor proteins (though most often protein complexes) best known for their roles in muscle contraction and in a wide range of other motility processes in eukaryotes. They are adenosine triphosphate, ATP-dependent and responsible for actin-based motility. The first myosin (M2) to be discovered was in 1864 by Wilhelm Kühne. Kühne had extracted a viscous protein from skeletal muscle that he held responsible for keeping the tension state in muscle. He called this protein ''myosin''. The term has been extended to include a group of similar ATPases found in the cell (biology), cells of both striated muscle tissue and smooth muscle tissue. Following the discovery in 1973 of enzymes with myosin-like function in ''Acanthamoeba, Acanthamoeba castellanii'', a global range of divergent myosin genes have been discovered throughout the realm of eukaryotes. Although myosin was originally thought to be restricted to muscle cells (hence ''wikt:myo-#Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GJA1
Gap junction alpha-1 protein (GJA1), also known as connexin 43 (Cx43), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''GJA1'' gene on chromosome 6. As a connexin, GJA1 is a component of gap junctions, which allow for gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) between cells to regulate cell death, proliferation, and differentiation. As a result of its function, GJA1 is implicated in many biological processes, including muscle contraction, embryonic development, inflammation, and spermatogenesis, as well as diseases, including oculodentodigital dysplasia (ODDD), heart malformations, and cancers. Structure GJA1 is a 43.0 kDa protein composed of 382 amino acids. GJA1 contains a long C-terminal tail, an N-terminal domain, and multiple transmembrane domains. The protein passes through the phospholipid bilayer four times, leaving its C- and N-terminals exposed to the cytoplasm. The C-terminal tail is composed of 50 amino acids and includes post-translational modification ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transforming Growth Factor Beta
Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a multifunctional cytokine belonging to the transforming growth factor superfamily that includes three different mammalian isoforms (TGF-β 1 to 3, HGNC symbols TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3) and many other signaling proteins. TGFB proteins are produced by all white blood cell lineages. Activated TGF-β complexes with other factors to form a serine/threonine kinase complex that binds to TGF-β receptors. TGF-β receptors are composed of both type 1 and type 2 receptor subunits. After the binding of TGF-β, the type 2 receptor kinase phosphorylates and activates the type 1 receptor kinase that activates a signaling cascade. This leads to the activation of different downstream substrates and regulatory proteins, inducing transcription of different target genes that function in differentiation, chemotaxis, proliferation, and activation of many immune cells. TGF-β is secreted by many cell types, including macrophages, in a latent form in whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser Capture Microdissection
Laser capture microdissection (LCM), also called microdissection, laser microdissection (LMD), or laser-assisted microdissection (LMD or LAM), is a method for isolating specific cells of interest from microscopic regions of tissue/cells/organisms (dissection on a microscopic scale with the help of a laser). Principle Laser-capture microdissection (LCM) is a method to procure subpopulations of tissue cells under direct microscopic visualization. LCM technology can harvest the cells of interest directly or can isolate specific cells by cutting away unwanted cells to give histologically pure enriched cell populations. A variety of downstream applications exist: DNA genotyping and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis, RNA transcript profiling, cDNA library generation, proteomics discovery and signal-pathway profiling. The total time required to carry out this protocol is typically 1–1.5 h. Extraction A laser is coupled into a microscope and focuses onto the tissue on the slide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Fluorescence ''in situ'' hybridization (FISH) is a molecular cytogenetic technique that uses fluorescent probes that bind to only particular parts of a nucleic acid sequence with a high degree of sequence complementarity. It was developed by biomedical researchers in the early 1980s to detect and localize the presence or absence of specific DNA sequences on chromosomes. Fluorescence microscopy can be used to find out where the fluorescent probe is bound to the chromosomes. FISH is often used for finding specific features in DNA for use in genetic counseling, medicine, and species identification. FISH can also be used to detect and localize specific RNA targets (mRNA, lncRNA and miRNA) in cells, circulating tumor cells, and tissue samples. In this context, it can help define the spatial-temporal patterns of gene expression within cells and tissues. Probes – RNA and DNA In biology, a probe is a single strand of DNA or RNA that is complementary to a nucleotide sequence of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA is in the cell nucleus, and, in plants and algae, the DNA also is found in plastids, such as chloroplasts. Mitochondrial DNA is responsible for coding of 13 essential subunits of the complex oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system which has a role in cellular energy conversion. Human mitochondrial DNA was the first significant part of the human genome to be sequenced. This sequencing revealed that human mtDNA has 16,569 base pairs and encodes 13 proteins. As in other vertebrates, the human mitochondrial genetic code differs slightly from nuclear DNA. Since animal mtDNA evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers, it represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcoglycan
The sarcoglycans are a family of transmembrane proteins (α, β, γ, δ or ε) involved in the protein complex responsible for connecting the muscle fibre cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix, preventing damage to the muscle fibre sarcolemma through shearing forces. The dystrophin Dystrophin is a rod-shaped cytoplasmic protein, and a vital part of a protein complex that connects the cytoskeleton of a muscle fiber to the surrounding extracellular matrix through the cell membrane. This complex is variously known as the costa ... glycoprotein complex (DGC) is a membrane-spanning complex that links the interior cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix in muscle. The sarcoglycan complex is a subcomplex within the DGC and is composed of six muscle-specific, transmembrane proteins (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-, epsilon-,and zeta-sarcoglycan). The sarcoglycans are asparagine-linked glycosylated proteins with single transmembrane domains. The disorders caused by the mutations of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
