Article Abstract:
Molecular biological techniques were performed to characterize Frzb, a soluble Xenopus homolog bearing an amino-terminal Frizzled motif. Frzb was found to be expressed in the Spemann organizer during early gastrulation. Functional assays revealed that Frzb antagonizes Xwnt-8, a ventralizing factor exhibiting an expression pattern complementary to that of Frzb. It was also shown that Frzb inhibits the induction of MyoD. These findings thus indicated that Frzb is involved in axial patterning and it can inhibit inappropriate ventral signaling in developing dorsal tissues.
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Article Abstract:
A research update on the characteristics of calreticulin, a calcium-binding protein present in both muscle and nonmuscle tissues, is presented. Available data provide evidences that there exists a signaling network in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum in which calreticulin plays the central role of coordinating different cellular functions including protein synthesis, gene expression and calcium signaling.
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Article Abstract:
A study of the function of luminal calcium-binding protein calreticulin (CRT) in inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3)-mediated calcium signalling in Xenopus oocytes shows that CRT regulates intracellular Ca(super 2+) signalling through the high affinity-low capacity Ca(super)-binding domain. The repetitive waves of Ca2+ release are produced by the Ca(super 2+)-sensitive gating of the IP3 receptor.
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