Project description:FIT-039 is a novel antiviral compound. Antiviral mechanism of FIT-039 is the inhibition of the viral transcription through suppression of the CTD phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II. We used microarrays to evaluated the effect of FIT-039 on host cellular transcriptome, compared with Flavopiridol which is an existing pan-specific CDK9 inhibitor. HeLa cells were incubated with FIT-039 or flavopiridol at the concentration of IC80 for 24 hr, and cellular RNAs were collected and subjected to microarray analysis. The solvent DMSO was used as a negative control.
Project description:FIT-039 is a novel antiviral compound. Antiviral mechanism of FIT-039 is the inhibition of the viral transcription through suppression of the CTD phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II. We used microarrays to evaluated the effect of FIT-039 on host cellular transcriptome, compared with Flavopiridol which is an existing pan-specific CDK9 inhibitor.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.