Project description:The ‘small perturbation’ approach is critical in studying the ‘steady state’ of a biological system. In our experiments, small perturbations were generated by applying a series of repeating intermittent small doses of ultraviolet radiation to a human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. The biological response was assessed by monitoring the gene expression profiles using a high reliability and high resolution cDNA microarray system. Following intermittent 10 J/m2 UVB small perturbations, two opposite classes of genes, down-regulated and up-regulated, exhibited an immediate response followed by relaxation between each small perturbation, but were prolonged down- or up-regulated without relaxation while larger doses (233 or 582.5 J/m2) of UVB were applied. A repeated cycle pattern of gene expression following small perturbations is an indication of the existence of steady states. This cycle pattern is suppressed when large perturbations are applied. We believe that this is a universal phenomenon. In our experiments, the functions of up-regulated genes were mainly associated with anti-proliferation, anti-mitogenesis, and apoptosis. On the other hand, down-regulated genes were mainly related to proliferation, mitogenesis, and anti-apoptosis. In conclusion, this study experimentally proves the concept of steady state at the transcription level and demonstrates the feasibility of using small perturbation approaches for investigating steady states. This study could also set a foundation of computational systems biology, which has implicitly used the concept of steady state. Keywords: time course
Project description:The â??small perturbationâ?? approach is critical in studying the â??steady stateâ?? of a biological system. In our experiments, small perturbations were generated by applying a series of repeating intermittent small doses of ultraviolet radiation to a human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. The biological response was assessed by monitoring the gene expression profiles using a high reliability and high resolution cDNA microarray system. Following intermittent 10 J/m2 UVB small perturbations, two opposite classes of genes, down-regulated and up-regulated, exhibited an immediate response followed by relaxation between each small perturbation, but were prolonged down- or up-regulated without relaxation while larger doses (233 or 582.5 J/m2) of UVB were applied. A repeated cycle pattern of gene expression following small perturbations is an indication of the existence of steady states. This cycle pattern is suppressed when large perturbations are applied. We believe that this is a universal phenomenon. In our experiments, the functions of up-regulated genes were mainly associated with anti-proliferation, anti-mitogenesis, and apoptosis. On the other hand, down-regulated genes were mainly related to proliferation, mitogenesis, and anti-apoptosis. In conclusion, this study experimentally proves the concept of steady state at the transcription level and demonstrates the feasibility of using small perturbation approaches for investigating steady states. This study could also set a foundation of computational systems biology, which has implicitly used the concept of steady state. Keywords: time course Three UVB exposures are indicated by UV at time points of 0, 8 and 16 hours. T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6 denote the sampling time points. T1, T3 and T5 are allocated 30 minutes after the corresponding UVB irradiation. T2, T4 and T6 are allocated 8 hours after each UVB irradiation. At each sampling time point, two samples (control and UV-irradiated) are collected. See supplementary file Loop_design.pdf for further explanation.
Project description:We have sequenced miRNA libraries from human embryonic, neural and foetal mesenchymal stem cells. We report that the majority of miRNA genes encode mature isomers that vary in size by one or more bases at the 3’ and/or 5’ end of the miRNA. Northern blotting for individual miRNAs showed that the proportions of isomiRs expressed by a single miRNA gene often differ between cell and tissue types. IsomiRs were readily co-immunoprecipitated with Argonaute proteins in vivo and were active in luciferase assays, indicating that they are functional. Bioinformatics analysis predicts substantial differences in targeting between miRNAs with minor 5’ differences and in support of this we report that a 5’ isomiR-9-1 gained the ability to inhibit the expression of DNMT3B and NCAM2 but lost the ability to inhibit CDH1 in vitro. This result was confirmed by the use of isomiR-specific sponges. Our analysis of the miRGator database indicates that a small percentage of human miRNA genes express isomiRs as the dominant transcript in certain cell types and analysis of miRBase shows that 5’ isomiRs have replaced canonical miRNAs many times during evolution. This strongly indicates that isomiRs are of functional importance and have contributed to the evolution of miRNA genes
Project description:Analysis of ex vivo isolated lymphatic endothelial cells from the dermis of patients to define type 2 diabetes-induced changes. Results preveal aberrant dermal lymphangiogenesis and provide insight into its role in the pathogenesis of persistent skin inflammation in type 2 diabetes. The ex vivo dLEC transcriptome reveals a dramatic influence of the T2D environment on multiple molecular and cellular processes, mirroring the phenotypic changes seen in T2D affected skin. The positively and negatively correlated dLEC transcripts directly cohere to prolonged inflammatory periods and reduced infectious resistance of patients´ skin. Further, lymphatic vessels might be involved in tissue remodeling processes during T2D induced skin alterations associated with impaired wound healing and altered dermal architecture. Hence, dermal lymphatic vessels might be directly associated with T2D disease promotion. Global gene expression profile of normal dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (ndLECs) compared to dermal lymphatic endothelial cells derived from type 2 diabetic patients (dLECs).Quadruplicate biological samples were analyzed from human lymphatic endothelial cells (4 x diabetic; 4 x non-diabetic). subsets: 1 disease state set (dLECs), 1 control set (ndLECs)
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.