Project description:Genetic variations in drug metabolising enzymes play a role in how individuals respond to drugs. Pharmacogene variation data in the Ghanaian population is limited and this study looks at exploring common variations that exist in our population for commonly used drugs. Samples were validated with PCR-RFLP for accuracy
Project description:Genetic variations in drug metabolising enzymes play a role in how individuals respond to drugs. Pharmacogene variation data in the Ghanaian population is limited and this study looks at exploring common variations that exist in our population for commonly used drugs. In addition, the study also looks at the how variations in cytokines and HLA play a role in HBV pathogenesis. Samples were validated with PCR-RFLP for accuracy
Project description:Genetically identical inbred mice exhibit substantial stable individual variability in exploratory behavior. We used microarrays to look at gene expression differences in the hippocampus in female mice separated by stable differences in exploratory behavior
Project description:Population-associated molecular variation in breast tissue may contribute to differences in tissue biology and disease susceptibility, yet the extent to which such variation is shaped by underlying tissue states remains unclear. We performed integrated transcriptomic and lipidomic profiling of histologically normal breast tissue samples from African American and Caucasian White individuals. Unsupervised transcriptomic analysis revealed two baseline transcriptional states, G1 and G2, that defined the primary axis of molecular variation and corresponded to epithelial-enriched and vascular-enriched tissue contexts. Global comparisons between African American and Caucasian White samples showed limited transcriptomic differences. However, when samples were stratified by baseline transcriptional state, 191 genes were differentially expressed within G1, with coordinated upregulation of extracellular matrix organization and proliferative/cytoskeletal programs in African American samples. No comparable population-associated differences were observed within G2. Lipidomic analyses showed partial but non-significant trends consistent with transcriptomic structure. These findings suggest that population-associated molecular differences in normal breast tissue are context-dependent and emerge within specific baseline transcriptional states.
Project description:Plants display remarkable developmental and phenotypic plasticity in order to adapt to their environment. It has long been postulated that epigenetics plays a key role in these processes, but with one or two exceptions, solid evidence for the role of epigenetic variation in these processes is lacking. A key impediment to understanding these processes is the lack of information on the extent of epigenetic variation and how it relates to genetic and phenotypic variation in natural population, both over the lifecycle of an individual, and over evolutionary time. Here we show that genetic variants under selection in the north of Sweden appear to drive variation in DNA methylation, which in turn is highly correlated with local climate. Selective sweeps and genetic variants associated with adaptation to the local environment have previously been identified within the Swedish Arabidopsis population. Our finding that they harbour variants responsible for climate associated epigenetic variation strongly supports the role of epigenetic processes in local adaptation. These findings provide a basis for further dissecting the role of epigenetics in local adaptation at the molecular level Bisulfite sequencing of 113 F2 crosses between T550 and Brosarp-11-135.
Project description:Sloths, a group of xenarthran mammals comprised of 6 distinct species, have been the focus of much physiological animal research due to their extremely slow metabolisms, deliberate movements, and their status as a species relatively unchanged for over 26 million years. However, despite all the effort aimed at understanding these unique characteristics, the sloth genome remains largely unexplored. Due to the link between genetics and observed traits, such an investigation could potentially lead to insights regarding the genetic basis of sloth behaviors and characteristics. In this exploratory investigation, we performed genomic and transcriptomic analysis of a female Choloepus didactylus (Linnaeus’s Two-Toed Sloth). Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) showed gene expression levels in two-toed sloths, which are conjectured to be responsible for many of the unique features of two-toed sloths and opens a path towards future exploratory research into specific gene and protein functions tied to the unique characteristics of the sloth species.