Project description:PURPOSE: To provide a detailed gene expression profile of the normal postnatal mouse cornea. METHODS: Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was performed on postnatal day (PN)9 and adult mouse (6 week) total corneas. The expression of selected genes was analyzed by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: A total of 64,272 PN9 and 62,206 adult tags were sequenced. Mouse corneal transcriptomes are composed of at least 19,544 and 18,509 unique mRNAs, respectively. One third of the unique tags were expressed at both stages, whereas a third was identified exclusively in PN9 or adult corneas. Three hundred thirty-four PN9 and 339 adult tags were enriched more than fivefold over other published nonocular libraries. Abundant transcripts were associated with metabolic functions, redox activities, and barrier integrity. Three members of the Ly-6/uPAR family whose functions are unknown in the cornea constitute more than 1% of the total mRNA. Aquaporin 5, epithelial membrane protein and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) omega-1, and GST alpha-4 mRNAs were preferentially expressed in distinct corneal epithelial layers, providing new markers for stratification. More than 200 tags were differentially expressed, of which 25 mediate transcription. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing a detailed profile of expressed genes in the PN9 and mature mouse cornea, the present SAGE data demonstrate dynamic changes in gene expression after eye opening and provide new probes for exploring corneal epithelial cell stratification, development, and function and for exploring the intricate relationship between programmed and environmentally induced gene expression in the cornea. Keywords: other
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as regulators of cancer progression as they modulate different cellular processes. The objective of this study is to demonstrate a multi-dimensional function of miR-30e through regulating genes involved in various signaling pathways including androgen receptor signaling. miR-30e targets androgen receptor mRNA and functions as a tumor suppressor. We noted loss of miR-30e expression in prostate tumors and restored expression of miR-30e led to cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis, improved drug sensitivity in prostate cancer cells, and reduced tumor progression in prostate cancer xenograft models. To understand the tumor suppressor function of miR-30e on a global scale, we performed total RNA-sequence analysis upon overexpression of miR-30e in a prostate cancer cell line 22Rv-1, which expresses a splice variant of androgen receptor and represents an androgen-independent and drug-resistant form of prostate cancer.qRT-PCR validation of RNA-sequencing data supports our in vitro study showeing differential expression of genes involved in cell cycle progression, apoptosis and ubiquitination upon expression of miR-30e in prostate cancer cells.
Project description:Aberrant androgen receptor (AR)-mediated transcription is a critical driver in progression of human prostate cancer. It's known that different doses of androgens can elicit differential transcriptional and proliferative responses in prostate-tumor cells. Here, we set out to examine the androgenic regulation of glycoprotein expression in the membrane fraction of prostate-tumor cells that could serve as mediators or markers of androgen-induced proliferative responses observed in prostate-tumor cells. A bioanalytical workflow involving lectin-affinity chromatography and label-free quantitative mass spectrometry was used to identify androgen-sensitive glycomembrane protein expression associated with androgen-mediated proliferation. This study would facilitate the identification of surface membrane proteins involved in androgen-mediated proliferation and provide potential therapeutic targets in the detection treatment of proliferation prostate-tumors.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Translational research is commonly performed in the C57B6/J mouse strain, chosen for its genetic homogeneity and phenotypic uniformity. Here, we evaluate the suitability of the white-footed deer mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) as a model organism for aging research, offering a comparative analysis against C57B6/J and diversity outbred (DO) Mus musculus strains. Our study includes comparisons of body composition, skeletal muscle function, and cardiovascular parameters, shedding light on potential applications and limitations of P. leucopus in aging studies. Notably, P. leucopus exhibits distinct body composition characteristics, emphasizing reduced muscle force exertion and a unique metabolism, particularly in fat mass. Cardiovascular assessments showed changes in arterial stiffness, challenging conventional assumptions and highlighting the need for a nuanced interpretation of aging-related phenotypes. Our study also highlights inherent challenges associated with maintaining and phenotyping P. leucopus cohorts. Behavioral considerations, including anxiety-induced responses during handling and phenotyping assessment, pose obstacles in acquiring meaningful data. Moreover, the unique anatomy of P. leucopus necessitates careful adaptation of protocols designed for Mus musculus. While showcasing potential benefits, further extensive analyses across broader age ranges and larger cohorts are necessary to establish the reliability of P. leucopus as a robust and translatable model for aging studies.
Project description:We found that BAP1 (BRCA1 Associated Protein-1) shows loss of heterozygosity in over 25% of pancreatic cancer patients and functions as tumor suppressor. Conditional deletion of Bap1 in murine pancreas led to genomic instability, accumulation of DNA damage, and an inflammatory response that evolved to pancreatitis with full penetrance. Concomitant expression of oncogenic KrasG12D led to malignant transformation and development of invasive and metastatic pancreatic cancer. At the molecular level, BAP1 maintains the integrity of the exocrine pancreas by regulating genomic stability and its loss confers sensitivity to radio- and platinum-based therapies.
Project description:Following extensive treatment with androgen receptor (AR) pathway inhibitors, a significant number of metastatic prostate cancer develop treatment resistance, and approximately 20% of these castration-resistant prostate cancers (CRPC) transdifferentiate, at least partially, into neuroendocrine (NE) prostate cancer (NEPC).In human cancer, FOXA2 is highly expressed in most of NEPC and a small portion of CRPC patients, has been suggested as a marker of NEPC and elevated in other NE lineage cancers including SCLC. In addition, preclinical studies demonstrated that Foxa2 is required for NEPC tumor growth and metastasis in TRAMP mouse model and associated with NEPC transformation in Pten, Trp53, and Rb1 triple knockout mouse model. However, whether FOXA2 is an essential driver of NEPC, and the underlying mechanism in shaping epigenetic landscape of NEPC is largely unknown.
Project description:Following extensive treatment with androgen receptor (AR) pathway inhibitors, a significant number of metastatic prostate cancer develop treatment resistance, and approximately 20% of these castration-resistant prostate cancers (CRPC) transdifferentiate, at least partially, into neuroendocrine (NE) prostate cancer (NEPC).In human cancer, FOXA2 is highly expressed in most of NEPC and a small portion of CRPC patients, has been suggested as a marker of NEPC and elevated in other NE lineage cancers including SCLC. In addition, preclinical studies demonstrated that Foxa2 is required for NEPC tumor growth and metastasis in TRAMP mouse model and associated with NEPC transformation in Pten, Trp53, and Rb1 triple knockout mouse model. However, whether FOXA2 is an essential driver of NEPC, and the underlying mechanism in shaping epigenetic landscape of NEPC is largely unknown.
Project description:BackgroundCopy number variation is an important dimension of genetic diversity and has implications in development and disease. As an important model organism, the mouse is a prime candidate for copy number variant (CNV) characterization, but this has yet to be completed for a large sample size. Here we report CNV analysis of publicly available, high-density microarray data files for 351 mouse tail samples, including 290 mice that had not been characterized for CNVs previously.ResultsWe found 9634 putative autosomal CNVs across the samples affecting 6.87% of the mouse reference genome. We find significant differences in the degree of CNV uniqueness (single sample occurrence) and the nature of CNV-gene overlap between wild-caught mice and classical laboratory strains. CNV-gene overlap was associated with lipid metabolism, pheromone response and olfaction compared to immunity, carbohydrate metabolism and amino-acid metabolism for wild-caught mice and classical laboratory strains, respectively. Using two subspecies of wild-caught Mus musculus, we identified putative CNVs unique to those subspecies and show this diversity is better captured by wild-derived laboratory strains than by the classical laboratory strains. A total of 9 genic copy number variable regions (CNVRs) were selected for experimental confirmation by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).ConclusionThe analysis we present is a comprehensive, genome-wide analysis of CNVs in Mus musculus, which increases the number of known variants in the species and will accelerate the identification of novel variants in future studies.
Project description:BackgroundLong terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons make up a large fraction of the typical mammalian genome. They comprise about 8% of the human genome and approximately 10% of the mouse genome. On account of their abundance, LTR retrotransposons are believed to hold major significance for genome structure and function. Recent advances in genome sequencing of a variety of model organisms has provided an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate better the diversity of LTR retrotransposons resident in eukaryotic genomes.ResultsUsing a new data-mining program, LTR_STRUC, in conjunction with conventional techniques, we have mined the GenBank mouse (Mus musculus) database and the more complete Ensembl mouse dataset for LTR retrotransposons. We report here that the M. musculus genome contains at least 21 separate families of LTR retrotransposons; 13 of these families are described here for the first time.ConclusionsAll families of mouse LTR retrotransposons are members of the gypsy-like superfamily of retroviral-like elements. Several different families of unrelated non-autonomous elements were identified, suggesting that the evolution of non-autonomy may be a common event. High sequence similarity between several LTR retrotransposons identified in this study and those found in distantly-related species suggests that horizontal transfer has been a significant factor in the evolution of mouse LTR retrotransposons.