Background:
The level of nucleotide diversity observed across the genome is positively correlated with the local rate of recombination. Avian karyotypes are typified by large variation in chromosome size and the rate of recombination in birds has been shown to be negatively correlated with chr... The aromatic substrate prenyltransferase (AS-PT) family plays a critical role in the biosynthesis of important quinone compounds such as ubiquinone and plastoquinone, although biochemical characterizations of AS-PTs have rarely been carried out because most members are membrane-bound enzymes with m... Many biological processes require the cooperative involvement of both microtubules and microfilaments. However, only a few proteins mediating the interaction between microtubules and microfilaments have been identified from plants. In this study, a cotton kinesin GhKCH2, which contains a calponin ho... The mechanisms involved in sensing oxidative signaling molecules such as H2O2 in plant and animal cells are not completely understood. In the present study, we tested the postulate that oxidation of methionine (Met) to Met sulfoxide (MetSO) can couple oxidative signals to changes in protein phosphor... Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are a particular type of defective class II transposons present in genomes as highly homogeneous populations of small elements. Their high copy number and close association to genes make their potential impact on gene evolution particularly rel...