Project description:Gene expression studies were performed to identify pathways possibly dysregulated by mutant in the gene GM-NM-1(olf). These experiments employed RNA derived from lymphoblastoid cell lines established for 4 affected carriers and 4 non-carriers. In comparison to endogenous control and other dystonia-associated genes, GNAL was expressed at relatively low levels in lymphoblastoid cell lines. Comparison of whole blood expression profiles of mutation carrying dystonia patients with normal controls
Project description:Dystonia is a centrally driven movement disorder characterized by often painful twisting motions and postures. The majority of dystonia cases are idiopathic and sporadic, although a significant number of rare inherited forms have defined genetic causes. However, regardless of etiology, the biological mechanisms for nearly all forms of dystonia are still largely unknown and there are currently no disease-modifying treatments. Here we show a common role for impaired functioning of the eIF2α stress-response pathway in rare inherited and common sporadic forms of dystonia. We first identified a potential role for the eIF2α pathway in dystonia through a genome-wide RNAi screen aimed at correcting a DYT1 dystonia-related cellular phenotype. Mechanistically, we find that the corrective effect is mediated by activating the eIF2α pathway through an eIF2α-phosphorylation and ATF4 transcription factor-dependent mechanism. We further find evidence that this pathway is impaired in DYT1 patient-derived cell lines, suggesting a role in pathogenesis. Notably, pathogenicity of reduced eIF2α pathway signaling is supported by another known cause of dystonia, DYT16, which is due to loss-of-function mutations in the PRKRA gene that encodes an eIF2α kinase activator. Here, we demonstrate that sporadic cervical dystonia patients share a rare, conserved, loss-of-function ATF4 mutation. Finally, we show that pharmacologically enhancing eIF2α signaling improves DYT1-related phenotypes in both a cultured cell system and a mouse model. Our results identify eIF2α signaling as a novel pathway in the pathogenesis of multiple forms of dystonia. Our work also shows that the eIF2α pathway constitutes an attractive biological target for the development of dystonia therapeutics.
Project description:Gene expression studies were performed to identify pathways possibly dysregulated by mutant in the gene Gα(olf). These experiments employed RNA derived from lymphoblastoid cell lines established for 4 affected carriers and 4 non-carriers. In comparison to endogenous control and other dystonia-associated genes, GNAL was expressed at relatively low levels in lymphoblastoid cell lines.
Project description:Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) was used to profile the transcriptome of 16,015 nuclei in human adult testis. This dataset includes five samples from two different individuals. This dataset is part of a larger evolutionary study of adult testis at the single-nucleus level (97,521 single-nuclei in total) across mammals including 10 representatives of the three main mammalian lineages: human, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, gibbon, rhesus macaque, marmoset, mouse (placental mammals); grey short-tailed opossum (marsupials); and platypus (egg-laying monotremes). Corresponding data were generated for a bird (red junglefowl, the progenitor of domestic chicken), to be used as an evolutionary outgroup.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
