RESUMO
Igaki explores how cell-cell communication directs tissue and tumor development.
Assuntos
Caspase 1 , Proteínas de Drosophila , Proteínas de Membrana , Doenças Neurodegenerativas , Animais , Caspase 1/genética , Caspase 1/história , Caspase 1/metabolismo , Proteínas de Drosophila/genética , Proteínas de Drosophila/história , Proteínas de Drosophila/metabolismo , Drosophila melanogaster , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Proteínas de Membrana/genética , Proteínas de Membrana/história , Proteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/genética , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/história , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/metabolismo , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/patologia , Retratos como AssuntoRESUMO
The family of Toll-like receptors plays an essential role in the induction of the immune response. These receptors sense the presence of microbial ligands and activate the nuclear factor-κB transcription factor. We review the key studies that led from the formulation of the concept of pattern recognition receptors to the characterization of Toll-like receptors, insisting on the important role played by the model organism Drosophila melanogaster and on the increasing evidence connecting these receptors to cardiovascular disease.
Assuntos
Receptores Toll-Like/fisiologia , Animais , Doenças Cardiovasculares/imunologia , Proteínas de Drosophila/história , Proteínas de Drosophila/imunologia , Drosophila melanogaster/imunologia , Drosophila melanogaster/metabolismo , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Interações Hospedeiro-Patógeno/imunologia , Humanos , Imunidade Inata , Macrófagos/imunologia , Receptores Toll-Like/históriaRESUMO
Transposable elements comprise a considerable part of eukaryotic genomes, and there is increasing evidence for their role in the evolution of genomes. The number of active transposable elements present in the host genome at any given time is probably small relative to the number of elements that no longer transpose. The elements that have lost the ability to transpose tend to evolve neutrally. For example, non-LTR retrotransposons often become 5' truncated due to their own transposition mechanism and hence lose their ability to transpose. The resulting transposons can be characterized as "dead-on-arrival" (DOA) elements. Because they are abundant and ubiquitous, and evolve neutrally in the location where they were inserted, these DOA non-LTR elements make a useful tool to date molecular events. There are four copies of a "dead-on-arrival" RT1C element on the recently formed Sdic gene cluster of Drosophila melanogaster, that are not present in the equivalent region of the other species of the melanogaster subgroup. The life history of the RT1C elements in the genome of D. melanogaster was used to determine the insertion chronology of the elements in the cluster and to date the duplication events that originated this cluster.