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Home >> Dictionary of Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, Biotechnology >> CARD Domains - Cassette Mutagenesis
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Carcinogenesis The development of cancer.
Carcinoid A tumour of the gastrointestinal tract produced from argentaffin cells.
Carcinoma A malignant tumour derived from epithelial tissue, such as the skin and the outer cell layers of internal organs.
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Cardiolipin A phospholipids formed from phosphatidyglycerol. It is found in mitochondrial membranes.
Cardiomegaly Enlargement of the heart.
Cardiomyopathy A disease of the heart muscle.
Cardiovascular Refers to the heart and blood vessels.
Cardiovascular diseases Diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels. These include several conditions that result from atherosclerosis, such as myocardial infarction (heart attack), congestive heart failure, and stroke.
Cardiac muscle Specialised striated muscle found in the heart.
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Caretaker genes Genes required for the maintenance of genomic stability. Caretaker genes prevent carcinogen-induced DNA damage by regulating genes encoding proteins that are involved in DNA repair, replication, chromosome segregation, cell cycle progression, and carcinogen metabolism and reduce the mutations rates in oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes thereby maintaining genomic stability.
Alterations in caretaker genes can result in genomic instability manifested at the single nucleotide level as point mutations or at the chromosomal level as translocations, deletions, amplifications and aneuploidy. Both these forms of genetic instability can lead to the mutator phenotype characteristic of cancer.
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Carotenoid Red to yellow pigments responsible for the characteristic colour of plants parts or fruits, such as carrots, tomatoes, etc. These are lipid-soluble photosynthetic pigments derived from isoprene units. The oxidation products of carotenes are xanthophylls. Carotenoids function as light-harvesting molecules in photosystems. These pigments also play a role in protecting prokaryotes from the deleterious effects of light.
Carotid arteries Arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the head and neck.
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Carrier 1. In genetics, refers to an individual with one normal allele and one mutant allele of a gene and whose phenotype is normal. i.e., an individual who is heterozygous for a recessive harmful allele and a dominant normal allele and passes the defective (recessive) allele to half of the offspring. 2. A large immunogenic determinant is attached allowing the determinant to become immunogenic.
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Carnitine A carrier of the fatty acyl CoA group across the inner mitochondrial membrane which is not permeable to long chain fatty acyl CoA.
Carnitine acyltransferase I An enzyme that transfers the fatty acyl CoA group to carnitine which functions as a carrier.
Carnitine acyltransferase II An enzyme that transfers the acyl group from acylcarnitine to CoA in the mitochondrial matrix.
Carotene (L. carota, carrot). A reddish-orange pigment involved in light reactions in photosynthesis.
β-carotene See beta carotene.
Carrier DNA DNA of undefined sequence that is added to the transforming (plasmid) DNA used in physical DNA transfer procedures. This enhances transformation efficiency in electroporation and chemically mediated DNA-delivery systems.
Carrier gas The gas that carries the sample in gas chromatography.
CARD domains Caspase activation and recruitment domains. CARD domains belong to a subclass of protein motif known as the death fold. containing six to seven antiparallel alpha helices with a hydrophobic core and an outer face composed of charged residues. Direct interactions between individual CARD domains mediate the formation of large protein complexes. These domains are found in a wide array of proteins involved in inflammation and apoptosis such as helicases, kinases, mitochondrial proteins, caspases and Cytosolic fctors.
Carrier molecule 1. A molecule that has a role in transporting electrons through the electron transport chain. These molecules are generally proteins linked to nonprotein groups and undergo oxidation and reduction relatively easily, thus allowing electron transport 2. A lipid-soluble molecule that binds to lipid-insoluble molecules to facilitate their transport across membranes. Carrier molecles contain specific sites that interact with the molecules they transport. The efficiency of carrier molecules can be altered by modifying the interacting sites through genetic engineering.
Carrier protein A protein embedded in the cell membrane that bind to a specific compound or group of related compounds an functions to transport the compound from outside the cell interior through the cell membrane.
Cartilage A type of connective tissue made up of chondrocytes embedded in a matrix rich in type II collagen and chondroitin sulphate.
Casamino acids A mixture of amino acids resulting from the breakdown of the milk protein casein.
Cascade A series of reactions triggered by one reaction or compound.
Case-control study A study, in which exposures of people who have been diagnosed with a disease (cases) are compared to those of people without the disease (controls).
Casein A group of proteins present in milk.
Casein hydrolysate Te breakdown product of the milk protein casein to its constituent amino acids by enzyme or acid that hydrolyses he peptide bonds between the amino acids.
CASP Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction This organises blind tests of protein structure predictions in which participating crystallographers and NMR spectroscopists make the amino acid sequences of proteins being investigated public and agree to keep the experimental structure secret until predictors their models.
Caspases A family of cysteine proteases that play an important role in apoptosis. These enzymes are produced as inactive zymogens and are activated by proteolytic cleavage at specific aspartate residues. The active enzyme in turn cleave other caspases after aspartate residues via a proteolytic cascade. While some caspases operate as upstream initiators, others function as downstream effectors.
The upstream initiator caspases link death signals to the cellular death programme whereas effector caspases carry out the cell death programme by proteolytic cleavage of various death substrates including cytosolic and nuclear proteins, which have a role in DNA replication and repair, RNA splicing, cell division and cytoskeletal structure. Caspases participate in apoptosis as triggers of death programme, regulatory elements and effector elements.
Cassette A type of mobile genetic elements seen in yeast.
Cassette mutagenesis An in vitro mutagenesis technique which involves the excision of a fragment of donor DNA using restriction endonucleases and its replacement by a synthesized oligonucleotide carrying the desired mutation.
CAT assay An assay to determine whether a given DNA fragment contains promoter activity by ligation of the fragments to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene in an expression vector.
CAT gene Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. A bacterial gene that catalyses the transfer of an acetyl group to chloramphenicol. It is used as a reporter gene to assess whether a DNA sequence functions as a promoter.
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