Page 13 - Scientific Library

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression and influence numerous cellular functions. Together with

The Notch signaling pathway plays a vital role in the regulation of asymmetric cell division, cell fate specification and proliferation. Mammals possess 4 different Notch receptors, referred to as Notch1,

In a previous post I discussed 3 new unique research tools

Bioactive small molecules facilitate numerous types of Life Science research approaches (enzyme substrates, activators and inhibitors, cell signaling modulator, cell culture...). Accessing reasonably priced,

In a recent paper published in PNAS, Wang et al. show that the inhibition of the deubiquitinase USP9x by the small molecule WP-1130 is able to induce degradation of the transcription factor E-twenty-six

The synergistic combination of Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP) and Topoisomerase I (Top1) inhibitors most beneficial on endonuclease-deficient cancer cells in cancer therapies ?

This is one

Celastrol is a biologically active substance initially described in the traditional Chinese medicine. Celastrol (or (9ß,13α,14ß,20α)-3-Hydroxy-9,13-dimethyl-2-oxo-24,25,26-trinoroleana-1(10),3,5,7-tetraen-29-oic

The Janus kinase (JAK) / Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) pathway a key regulator of cellular proliferation, differentiation, migration, apoptosis and survival. Numerous cytokines,

Deak AT et al. decipher the mechanisms by which mitochondria contribute to Ca2+ intracellular signaling. In their recent paper (1), they show that mitochondrial "Ca2+ buffering" close to the Endoplasmic Reticulum predominately shapes cytosolic Ca2+ micro-domains. To perform their studies, the authors used stable knock-down (KD) HeLa cellular models optimized for loss-of-function analysis.

Two proteins known to be essential for mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake (Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter (MCU) or Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2)) have thus been stably silenced with sh-RNA engineered HeLa cell lines (MCU-KD and UCP2-KD HeLa cell lines). This shRNA technology has already been used in Drug Discovery approaches (ex. PARP inhibitors efficiency by Synthetic Lethality in Hypoxic conditions). (2)

Finally, the authors present two diagrams illustrating the role of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake for Stromal Interacting Molecule 1 (STIM1) oligomerization and Store-Operated Ca2+ Entry (SOCE) maintainance in their HeLa cellular models.

Want to know more?

(1) Deak AT et al. "Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-mediated STIM1 oligomerization requires intact mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake" (2014) J Cell Sci. 2014 May 7. DOI: 10.1242/?jcs.149807

(2) Mennesson