The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 

Candidate ligand for the c-kit transmembrane kinase receptor: KL, a fibroblast derived growth factor stimulates mast cells and erythroid progenitors.

The c-kit proto-oncogene encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor for an unidentified ligand and is allelic with the murine white-spotting locus (W). W mutations affect melanogenesis, gametogenesis and hematopoiesis during development and in adult life. Cellular targets of W mutations in hematopoiesis include distinct cell populations in the erythroid and mast cell lineages as well as stem cells. In the absence of interleukin-3 (IL-3) mast cells derived from normal mice but not from W mutant mice can be maintained by co-culture with 3T3 fibroblasts. Based on the defective proliferative response of W mast cells in the 3T3 fibroblast co-culture system it had been proposed that fibroblasts produce the c-kit ligand. We have used a mast cell proliferation assay to purify a 30 kd protein, designated KL, from conditioned medium of Balb/3T3 fibroblasts to apparent homogeneity. KL stimulates the proliferation of normal bone marrow derived mast cells but not mast cells from W mice, although both normal and mutant mast cells respond similarly to IL-3. Connective tissue-type mast cells derived from the peritoneal cavity of normal mice were found to express a high level of c-kit protein on their surface and to proliferate in response to KL. The effect of KL on erythroid progenitor cells was investigated as well. In combination with erythropoietin, KL was found to stimulate early erythroid progenitors (BFU-E) from fetal liver and spleen cells but not from bone marrow cells of adult mice and from fetal liver cells of W/W mice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)[1]

References

 
WikiGenes - Universities