Project description:The overall goal of this project is to investigate the role of TGF-beta signaling in tissue-tissue interactions between myogenic precursors of craniofacial muscles and cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs). Here, we conducted gene expression profiling of the tongue bud from mice at embryonic day E13.5 with a CNCC-specific conditional inactivation of the TGF-beta receptor type 1 gene Alk5. These mice provide a model of microglossia as well as disrupted extraocular and masticatory muscle development, which are congenital birth defects commonly observed in several syndromic conditions. To investigate the adverse effects of dysfunctional TGF-beta signaling on tissue-tissue interactions between CNCCs and myogenic precursors of craniofacial muscles, we analyzed tongue bud tissue of mice with a CNCC-specific conditional inactivation of Alk5 (Wnt1-Cre; Alk5 fl/fl). We performed microarray analyses of the tongue bud of Alk5 fl/fl control mice and Wnt1-Cre; Alk5 fl/fl mutant mice, collected at embryonic day E13.5 (n=4 per group).
Project description:The overall goal of this project is to investigate the role of TGF-beta signaling in tissue-tissue interactions between myogenic precursors of craniofacial muscles and cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs). Here, we conducted gene expression profiling of the tongue bud from mice at embryonic day E13.5 with a CNCC-specific conditional inactivation of the TGF-beta receptor type 1 gene Alk5. These mice provide a model of microglossia as well as disrupted extraocular and masticatory muscle development, which are congenital birth defects commonly observed in several syndromic conditions.
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.