Project description:MED20 is a non-essential subunit of the transcriptional coactivator Mediator complex, but its physiological function remains largely unknown. Here we show that MED20 plays a key role in the development of adipose tissue and diet-induced obesity. Through affinity purification and candidate screening, we demonstrate that MED20 is targeted for degradation by the anti-obesity CRL4-WDTC1 E3 complex. Depleting MED20 in either 3T3-L1 cells or primary preadipocytes inhibits adipogenesis. Mice with MED20 knocked out in preadipocytes show dramatic defect in the development of brown adipose tissue. Furthermore, removing one allele of Med20 in preadipocytes protects mice from diet-induced obesity, and reverses weight gain in Cul4a- or Cul4b-depleted mice. Mechanistically, MED20 plays a key role in organizing the early adipogenic complex by bridging C/EBPβ and RNA polymerase II and thereby stimulating the transcription of PPARγ. Our study has thus identified MED20 as a potential target for obesity treatment.
Project description:At Schizosaccharomyces pombe centromeres, non-coding RNAs are transcribed by RNA polymerase II and processed by the RNAi machinery to direct heterochromatin formation. Mediator is a regulator of RNA polymerase II transcription and we here demonstrated that it also controls the levels of centromeric transcripts. Loss of the Mediator subunit Med20 increases transcription of non-coding RNAs and disrupts the centromeric heterochromatin structure. We have used tilling arrays to study the gene expression changes in Med20 deletionVs WT and Med20 dcr1 double mutant Vs Dcr1 mutant in exponentially growing fission yeast cells to detect how the Med20 gene affect centromeric expression.
Project description:Mediator is a co-regulator of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), transducing signals from regulatory elements and transcription factors to the general transcription machinery at the promoter. We here demonstrate that Med20 influences ribosomal protein expression in fission yeast. In addition, loss of Med20 leads to an accumulation of aberrant readthrough tRNA transcripts. The aberrant transcripts are polyadenylated and targeted for degradation by the exosome. Similarly, other specialized RNA molecules, such as snRNA, snoRNA and rRNA are also accumulated in the absence of Med20. We suggest that fission yeast Mediator takes part in a regulatory pathway of Pol III transcripts.
Project description:Intervention type:DRUG. Intervention1:Huaier, Dose form:GRANULES, Route of administration:ORAL, intended dose regimen:20 to 60/day by either bulk or split for 3 months to extended term if necessary. Control intervention1:None.
Primary outcome(s): For mRNA libraries, focus on mRNA studies. Data analysis includes sequencing data processing and basic sequencing data quality control, prediction of new transcripts, differential expression analysis of genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and the KEGG pathway database are used for annotation and enrichment analysis of up-regulated genes and down-regulated genes.
For small RNA libraries, data analysis includes sequencing data process and sequencing data process QC, small RNA distribution across the genome, rRNA, tRNA, alignment with snRNA and snoRNA, construction of known miRNA expression pattern, prediction New miRNA and Study of their secondary structure Based on the expression pattern of miRNA, we perform not only GO / KEGG annotation and enrichment, but also different expression analysis.. Timepoint:RNA sequencing of 240 blood samples of 80 cases and its analysis, scheduled from June 30, 2022..