Genes, basic properties

The control of eukaryotic gene transcription is complicated by the fact that DNA in eukaryotic chromosomes is not bare. Instead, eukaryotic DNA is tightly bound to a group of small basic proteins called histones. In fact, histones constitute half the mass of a eukaryotic chromosome. The entire complex of a cell s DNA and associated protein is called chromatin. Five major histones are present in chromatin four histones, called H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, associate with one another the other histone is called Hi. Histones have strikingly basic properties because a quarter of the residues in each histone are either arginine or lysine. 

All these activities appear to be driven by the basic property of Hsp70s to interact with short hydrophobic peptide segments of protein substrates in an ATP-dependent fashion. The broad spectrum of cellular functions of Hsp70 proteins is achieved through three strategies. First, the amplification and diversification of hspK) genes in evolution... 

Over 4 decades, between 1960 and 2000, the development of new antibiotics used well characterized basic structures for partial synthetic modifications, primarily to overcome resistance by increasing the pharmacodynamic properties and, secondarily, to improve the pharmacokinetic profile of older compounds. However, bacteria rapidly responded by acquiring additional genetic alterations either as mutations or by accumulating resistance genes as part of mobile genetic elements ( integrons) on transferable resistance plasmids. 

The basic biology of chemokines and their receptors is well covered in Chapters 2 and 3 of this book, and we will focus hereafter upon the roles of individual chemokines and receptors in atherosclerosis. The largest amount of data on the roles of chemokines in cardiovascular disease (C VD) has been obtained from in vitro studies and murine models, which will be discussed in detail. In man, genetic polymorphisms in chemokine and chemokine-receptor genes have pointed to an important role for specific chemokines in various atherosclerotic diseases including coronary artery disease and carotid artery occlusive disease. For properties see Table 1. 

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