Project description:To investigate the molecular mechanism of PCOS underlying the hyperandrogenic phenotype, prenatally androgenized (PNA) mice were used to mimic this phenotype in women with PCOS. Methylated DNA binding domain sequencing (MBD-seq) and RNA-seq were performed on PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=4) and validations were applied on ovarian samples from PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=6) using MSP (methylation-specific PCR) and qPCR. The immunohistochemistry (IHC) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) profiling was separately conducted on tissue sections and granular cells of PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=6). We identified 857 genes with differently methylated promoters and 3317 differently expressed genes in PNA mice and control group. We found that PCOS group had a down-regulation of Dnmt1 gene expression, accompanied by global hypomethylation compared with the control group. The promoter regions of Map3k1(mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 1) and Map1lc3ka (microtubule-associated protein1 light chain 3) were hypomethylated, accompanied by up-regulation of their mRNA expression, which may be involved in the regulation of PCOS through MAPK/p53 pathway activition and autophagy alteration.
Project description:To investigate the molecular mechanism of PCOS underlying the hyperandrogenic phenotype, prenatally androgenized (PNA) mice were used to mimic this phenotype in women with PCOS. Methylated DNA binding domain sequencing (MBD-seq) and RNA-seq were performed on PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=4) and validations were applied on ovarian samples from PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=6) using MSP (methylation-specific PCR) and qPCR. The immunohistochemistry (IHC) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) profiling was separately conducted on tissue sections and granular cells of PNA mice (n=6) and control group (n=6). We identified 857 genes with differently methylated promoters and 3317 differently expressed genes in PNA mice and control group. We found that PCOS group had a down-regulation of Dnmt1 gene expression, accompanied by global hypomethylation compared with the control group. The promoter regions of Map3k1(mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 1) and Map1lc3ka (microtubule-associated protein1 light chain 3) were hypomethylated, accompanied by up-regulation of their mRNA expression, which may be involved in the regulation of PCOS through MAPK/p53 pathway activition and autophagy alteration.
Project description:Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in Mediterranean areas and also acts as an opportunistic parasite in HIV patients. Metacyclic promastigotes are transmitted during bloodmeals of the sand-fly host after development. Metacyclogenesis can be micmiked in axenic cultures and peanut lectin (PNA) agglutination followed by two-step centrifugation allows the separation of procyclic and metacyclic promastigotes in L. major. The purpose of this study is to isolate both fractions simultaneously from the same population of L. infantum in stationary phase of axenic culture and compare their expression profiles through DNA microarrays, specially focusing on metacyclic promastigotes. Whole-genome shotgun DNA microarrays were constructed and used to analyse the stationary-phase procyclic and metacyclic expression profiles. Four biological replicates of the experiment were performed and analysed, so that 322 clones with meaningful values of stage-specific regulation were selected. We found several genes dealing with primary metabolism, differentiation in procyclic promastigotes and with development of infectivity in metacyclic promastigotes. The differences we have found between the procyclic (PNA+) and metacyclic (PNA-) transcriptomes demonstrate that negative selection of metacyclic promastigotes through PNA agglutination is suitable in L. infantum and both fractions can be isolated. In addition, up-regulation of genes implied in lipophosphoglycan (LPG), proteophosphoglycan (PPG) and glycoprotein biosynthesis indicate that metacyclic promastigotes are related with infectivity. Keywords: comparative hybridization between cDNAs from procyclic PNA+ and metacyclic PNA- promastigotes of L.infantum
Project description:Antisense peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) inhibiting mRNAs of essential genes provide a straight-forward way to repurpose our knowledge of bacterial regulatory RNAs for development of programmable species-specific antibiotics. While there is ample proof of PNA efficacy, their target selectivity and impact on bacterial physiology are poorly understood. Moreover, while antibacterial PNAs are typically designed to block mRNA translation, effects on target mRNA levels are not well-investigated. Here, we pioneer the use of global RNA-seq analysis to decipher PNA activity in a transcriptome-wide manner. We find that PNA-based antisense oligomer conjugates robustly decrease mRNA levels of the widely-used target gene, acpP, in Salmonella enterica, with limited off-target effects. Systematic analysis of several different PNA-carrier peptides attached not only shows different bactericidal efficiency, but also activation of stress pathways. In particular, KFF-, RXR- and Tat-PNA conjugates especially induce the PhoP/Q response, whereas the latter two additionally trigger several distinct pathways. We show that constitutive activation of the PhoP/Q response can lead to Tat-PNA resistance, illustrating the utility of RNA-seq for understanding PNA antibacterial activity. In sum, our study establishes an experimental framework for the design and assessment of PNA antimicrobials in the long-term quest to use these for precision editing of microbiota.
Project description:Eastern Clinical Oncology Group trial number 5998 determined the efficacy of the immunosupressives methotrexate (step 1) and cylophosphamide (step 2) in the treatment of Large Granular Lymphocyte leukemia. Expression data from pre-treatment samples were evaluated for a priori ability to predict treatment response to Step 1 and for correlation with STAT3 mutation types predictive of response. Method: patient PBMCs from Ficoll, normal patient PBMCS enriched for CD3+/CD8+ or CD3+/CD8+/CD45RA+/CCR7- were extracted in Trizol. Conclusion: A gene expression profile was associated with response to treatment with evidence of particular STAT3 mutations driving this expression profile and response.
Project description:Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a neutral DNA analog uniquely suited for triple helical recognition of nucleic acids. However, the practical applications of triplex-forming PNAs have been limited by sequence restrictions, as stable base triples are formed only with purines. Hoogsteen recognition of pyrimidines has been a long-standing challenge. Here, a new approach to improve pyrimidine recognition by enhancing nucleobase stacking in the PNA strand is demonstrated by targeting procursor micro RNA (pre-miRNA). Placing 5-triazolyl uridine adjacent to the modified nucleobases designed for Hoogsteen recognition of pyrimidines in double helical RNA increased the binding affinity while maintaining sequence specificity. The increased binding affinity improved the biological activity of triplex-forming PNAs. RNA-seq analysis targeting mature microRNAs showed that a PNA recognizing a mixed sequence of three nucleobases (G, A, and U) had higher specificity than a similar PNA featuring a uniform purine recognition tract. These results demonstrate a novel strategy to address the issue of pyrimidine recognition, which has been the critical bottleneck for triple helical targeting of nucleic acids.
Project description:Here, we determined the ability of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers, coupled to different cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), to interfere in regulatory RNA circuits of human blood-derived leukocytes. Using RNA-seq, FACS and confocal microscopy we identified octaarginin as a CPP enabling PNA delivery and sequence-dependent RNA inhibition in blood-derived myeloid cells at nanomolar concentration. At 200 nM, an R8-PNA targeting immune-regulatory microRNA-155 was delivered into nearly 100 % of human macrophages within 24 hours without apparent cytotoxicity, and globally de-repressed microRNA-155 target-mRNAs. This was not observed when coupling the PNA inhibitor to a K3 instead of the R8 peptide. We suggest that CPP choice is a fundamental success-determining factor for therapeutic RNA-inhibition in human myeloid leukocytes.