Project description:The Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne disease present in several countries of Africa and Middle East. It is caused by RVF virus which can infect both humans and animals. In humans, it leads to various manifestations including hepatitis, encephalitis and death, while in domestic animals it usually causes miscarriage in pregnant females and it is often fatal for the newborn. Not all people or animal infected by the virus present the same disease. Some patients exhibit unapparent or moderate febrile reactions, while others develop severe symptoms. This observation suggests that host genetic factors play a role in controlling the outcome of infection. In this work, we compare the response of two different inbred strains of mice, MBT/Pas and BALB/cByJ, to infection with RVF virus. These strains exhibit different profiles of susceptibility to RVF virus infection. Indeed, MBT/Pas mice rapidly develop high viraemia and die soon after infection, while BALB/cByJ mice have a lower viraemia and die later. Interestingly, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) obtained from MBT/Pas foetuses allows higher viral production than BALB/cByJ MEFs. Keywords: expression profiling The experiment was designed to include ARN samples from MBT/Pas and BALB/cByJ MEFs infected with the Rift Valley Fever (RVF) virus, and their respective mock-infected controls; each one of those in triplicate. Therefore, we have used 12 different samples for the study, divided as follows: 3 samples of RVF virus-infected BALB/cByJ MEFs, 3 samples of mock-infected BALB/cByJ MEFs, 3 samples of RVF virus-infected MBT/Pas MEFs and 3 samples of mock-infected MBT/Pas MEFs. Each RNA was extracted from a different culture well.
Project description:We found BALB/cByJ mice showed enhanced sensitivity on the 53.5°C hot plate and mechanical stimulation in the von Frey test compared to BALB/cJ mice and replicated decreased gross brain weight in BALB/cByJ versus BALB/cJ. We then identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 13 for hot plate sensitivity (LOD = 10.7; p < 0.001; peak = 56 Mb) and a QTL for brain weight on chromosome 5 (LOD = 8.7; p < 0.001). Expression QTL mapping of brain tissues identified H2afy (56.07 Mb) as the top transcript with the strongest association at the hot plate locus (FDR = 0.0002) and spliceome analysis identified differential exon usage within H2afy associated with the same locus. These data are spinal cord RNAseq to confirm differential expression of H2afy and other candidate genes.
Project description:The Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne disease present in several countries of Africa and Middle East. It is caused by RVF virus which can infect both humans and animals. In humans, it leads to various manifestations including hepatitis, encephalitis and death, while in domestic animals it usually causes miscarriage in pregnant females and it is often fatal for the newborn. Not all people or animal infected by the virus present the same disease. Some patients exhibit unapparent or moderate febrile reactions, while others develop severe symptoms. This observation suggests that host genetic factors play a role in controlling the outcome of infection. In this work, we compare the response of two different inbred strains of mice, MBT/Pas and BALB/cByJ, to infection with RVF virus. These strains exhibit different profiles of susceptibility to RVF virus infection. Indeed, MBT/Pas mice rapidly develop high viraemia and die soon after infection, while BALB/cByJ mice have a lower viraemia and die later. Interestingly, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) obtained from MBT/Pas foetuses allows higher viral production than BALB/cByJ MEFs. Keywords: expression profiling
Project description:Balb/cJ mice on a low-fat diet show a decline in promoter H3K9-butyryl (H3K9Bu) in the heart, after subjecting them to transverse aortic constriction (TAC). In contrast, Balb/cByJ, which has a deletion in the ACADS gene, exhibit an increase in promoter H3K9Bu. Conversely, H3K9ac increases in the former and declines in the latter.
Project description:We found BALB/cByJ and BALB/cJ mice differ in their responses to oxycodone state dependent conditioned place preference, whole brain [oxycodone] and its metabolites [noroxycodone] and [oxymorphone] following oxycodone administration, the 53.5°C hot plate, mechanical stimulation in the von Frey test, and gross brain weight. We then identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 15 for whole brain [Oxymorphone] (LOD = 7.07; p < 0.001), 13 for hot plate sensitivity (LOD = 10.7; p < 0.001; peak = 56 Mb) and a QTL for brain weight on chromosome 5 (LOD = 8.7; p < 0.001). These tissues were used to investigate the transcriptome of the liver in parental strain mice in order to generate hypothosis concerning the quantitative trait mechanism for our observed effects.
Project description:We found BALB/cByJ and BALB/cJ mice differ in their responses to oxycodone state dependent conditioned place preference, whole brain [oxycodone] and its metabolites [noroxycodone] and [oxymorphone] following oxycodone administration, the 53.5°C hot plate, mechanical stimulation in the von Frey test, and gross brain weight. We then identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 15 for whole brain (LOD = 7.07; p < 0.001), 13 for hot plate sensitivity (LOD = 10.7; p < 0.001; peak = 56 Mb) and a QTL for brain weight on chromosome 5 (LOD = 8.7; p < 0.001). These tissues were used for expression QTL mapping to highlight the candidate genes Zhx2 (57 Mb) as the top transcript with the strongest association at the ch15 oxymorphone locus and identified H2afy (56 Mb) as the top transcript with the strongest association at the ch13 hot plate locus.
Project description:We found BALB/cByJ and BALB/cJ mice differ in their responses to oxycodone state dependent conditioned place preference, whole brain [oxycodone] and its metabolites [noroxycodone] and [oxymorphone] following oxycodone administration, the 53.5°C hot plate, mechanical stimulation in the von Frey test, and gross brain weight. We then identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 15 for whole brain (LOD = 7.07; p < 0.001), 13 for hot plate sensitivity (LOD = 10.7; p < 0.001; peak = 56 Mb) and a QTL for brain weight on chromosome 5 (LOD = 8.7; p < 0.001). These tissues were used for expression QTL mapping to highlight the candidate genes Zhx2 (57 Mb) as the top transcript with the strongest association at the ch15 oxymorphone locus and identified H2afy (56 Mb) as the top transcript with the strongest association at the ch13 hot plate locus.
Project description:Hybrid insulin peptides (HIPs) result from the linkage of an insulin C-peptide fragment and another peptide via a traditional peptide bond to generate a sequence that is not encoded in the genome. Here, we sought to identify HIPs naturally present in the pancreatic islets of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, BALB/c mice, and non-diabetic human donors by mass spectrometry.
Project description:BALB/c mice are susceptible to proteoglycan (PG) aggrecan-induced arthritis (PGIA), a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis (Glant,T.T. and Mikecz,K., Proteoglycan aggrecan-induced arthritis. A murine autoimmune model of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods Mol.Med. 2004. 102: 313-338.). However, there are marked differences among BALB/c colonies (maintained by different vendors at different locations) in PGIA onset and severity, which could be the result of subtle variations in their genetic background. In the present microarray study, we have identified differences among BALB/c colonies, and an altered immunization-related gene expression pattern in PGIA model. Experiment Overall Design: In this study we compared the gene expression profile of 12 spleens from PG-immunized (RNA was isolated 12 days after immunization) and naive mice from BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ colonies (3-3 from each group), then made comparisons between colonies and based on immunization.