The maternal tract plays a critical role in the success of early embryonic development providing an optimal environment for establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Preparation of this environment requires an intimate dialogue between the embryo and her mother. To advance our understanding of the process by which a foreign blastocyst is accepted by the maternal endometrium and better address the clinical challenges of infertility and pregnancy failure, it is imperative to decipher this complex molecular dialogue. The objective of the present work is to define the local response(s) of the maternal tract towards the embryo during the earliest stages of pregnancy.
Early developing pig embryos mediate their own environment in the maternal tract.
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesThe objective of the present study is to investigate if females have the ability to recognise X or Y chromosome bearing spermatozoa and present a different response to different spermatozoa.
The battle of the sexes starts in the oviduct: modulation of oviductal transcriptome by X and Y-bearing spermatozoa.
Specimen part
View SamplesBackground: Moderate weight loss can ameliorate adverse health effects associated with obesity, reflected by an improved adipose tissue (AT) gene expression profile. However, the effect of rate of weight loss on the AT transcriptome is unknown.
Adipose tissue gene expression is differentially regulated with different rates of weight loss in overweight and obese humans.
Sex, Specimen part, Treatment, Subject, Time
View SamplesCytokine signaling is transmitted by cell surface receptors which function as natural biological switches to control among others mainly immune related processes. Recently, we have designed synthetic cytokine receptors (SyCyRs) consisting of GFP- and mCherry-nanobodies fused to trans-membrane and intracellular domains of cytokine receptors, which phenocopied cytokine signaling induced by non-physiological homo- and heterodimeric GFP-mCherry ligands. Interleukin 22 signals via IL-22Rα1 and the common IL-10R2, belongs to the IL-10 cytokine family and is critically involved in tissue regeneration. IL-22 SyCyRs phenocopied native IL-22 signal transduction as shown by induction of cytokine-dependent cellular proliferation, signal transduction and transcriptome analysis. Whereas homodimeric IL-22Rα1 SyCyRs failed to activate signaling, homodimerization of the second IL-22 signaling chain, SyCyR(IL-10R2), which was considered to not induce signal transduction, lead to induction of signal transduction. Interestingly, the SyCyR(IL-10R2) and SyCyR(IL-22Rα1) were able to form functional heterodimeric receptor signaling complexes with the synthetic IL-6 receptor chain SyCyR(gp130). In summary, we demonstrated that IL-22 signaling can be phenocopied by synthetic cytokine receptors. Further we identified a novel IL-10R2 homodimeric receptor complex and receptor cross-talk with gp130.
Synthetic interleukin 22 (IL-22) signaling reveals biological activity of homodimeric IL-10 receptor 2 and functional cross-talk with the IL-6 receptor gp130.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesThe skeletal muscle system plays an important role in the independence of older adults. In this study we examine differences in the skeletal muscle transcriptome between healthy young and older subjects and (pre)frail older adults. Additionally, we examine the effect of resistancetype exercise training on the muscle transcriptome in healthy older subjects and (pre)frail older adults. Baseline transcriptome profiles were measured in muscle biopsies collected from 53 young, 73 healthy older subjects, and 61 frail older subjects. Followup samples from these frail older subjects (31 samples) and healthy older subjects (41 samples) were collected after 6 months of progressive resistancetype exercise training. Frail older subjects trained twice per week and the healthy older subjects trained three times per week. At baseline genes related to mitochondrial function and energy metabolism were differentially expressed between older and young subjects, as well as between healthy and frail older subjects. Three hundred seven genes were differentially expressed after training in both groups. Training affected expression levels of genes related to extracellular matrix, glucose metabolism, and vascularization. Expression of genes that were modulated by exercise training was indicative of muscle strength at baseline. Genes that strongly correlated with strength belonged to the protocadherin gamma gene cluster (r=0.73). Our data suggest significant remaining plasticity of ageing skeletal muscle to adapt to resistancetype exercise training. Some agerelated changes in skeletal muscle gene expression appear to be partially reversed by prolonged resistancetype exercise training. The protocadherin gamma gene cluster may be related to muscle denervation and reinnervation in ageing muscle.
Expression of protocadherin gamma in skeletal muscle tissue is associated with age and muscle weakness.
Sex, Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesBackground: Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical for regulating CD4 and CD8 T cell immunity, controlling Th1, Th2, and Th17 bias, generating inducible Tregs, and inducing tolerance. Multiple DC subsets have been identified in the mouse that are thought to have evolved to control these different immune outcomes. However, how these subsets differentially respond to inflammatory and/or tolerogenic signals in order to accomplish their divergent functionality remains unclear. Results: We analysed the responses of murine, splenic CD8 and CD11b DC subsets to in-vivo stimulation with lipopolysaccharide using RNA-Seq and systems biology approaches and observed responses are highly subset-specific. We reanalysed multiple datasets from the literature and show that these subset responses are obscured when analysing signaling at the population level. We show that the subset-specificity is due to the unique regulation of distinct TLR4 pathway modulators that ‘fine-tune’ a common TLR4 cascade rather and not due to major differences in signaling pathways or transcription factors. Conclusions: We propose the Pathway Modulation Model wherein common signaling pathways are regulated by unique sets of modulators allowing for distinct immune responses in closely related DC subsets. We extend these observations using analagous datasets from the literature and show that our model provides a global mechanism for generating cell subset-specific signaling in multiple subpopulations in mouse and man. Overall design: Splenic CD8 and CD11b DC subsets from LPS stimulated (10 pooled animals) and Control (5 pooled animals) mice were analysed by RNA-Seq.
A systems biology approach to the analysis of subset-specific responses to lipopolysaccharide in dendritic cells.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject, Time
View SamplesNumerous chromatin-remodelling factors are regulated by interactions with RNA. However, the contexts in which chromatin-remodelling factors encounter various RNA species, as well as the molecular functions of RNA binding, are poorly understood. Here we show that R-loops, RNA:DNA hybrids consisting of nascent transcripts hybridized to template DNA strands, facilitate embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation by modulating the binding of two key chromatin-remodelling enzymes near gene promoters. As previously shown for polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2)1-5, we find that the Tip60-p400 histone acetyltransferase and nucleosome-remodelling complex binds in cis to nascent transcripts. However, whereas chromatin binding by PRC2 is broadly inhibited by transcription6, transcription is necessary for maximal Tip60-p400 binding at most target loci. Given that nascent transcripts expressed from GC-rich promoters frequently form R-loops7, we mapped the genomic locations of R-loops in mouse ESCs, observing higher average Tip60-p400 levels and lower average PRC2 levels at genes with R-loops near their transcription start sites (TSSs). Disruption of R-loops by overexpression of RNaseH1 broadly reduced Tip60-p400 and increased PRC2 enrichment, demonstrating R-loops exert both positive and negative effects on chromatin association by regulatory factors. Consistent with these findings, RNaseH1 overexpression results in widespread changes in gene expression and inhibits ESC differentiation, allowing undifferentiated cells to persist for at least two weeks after differentiation is induced. These results define a novel mechanism by which promoter-proximal R-loops modulate chromatin structure to facilitate changes in cellular identity. Overall design: We examined the transcriptional profile in control and RNaseH1 overexpression mouse ES cells during differentiation.
R loops regulate promoter-proximal chromatin architecture and cellular differentiation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesMouse pancreas from wild type and MistKO animals were induced either with caerulein or saline as control and processed for RNA. Targets from three biological replicates of each were generated and the expression profiles were determined using Affymetrix Mouse Expression chips 430. Comparisons between the sample groups allow the identification of genes with differential expression patterns of genes which might contribute to pancreatitis.
Mice lacking the transcription factor Mist1 exhibit an altered stress response and increased sensitivity to caerulein-induced pancreatitis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesApproximately 75% of the human genome is transcribed, the majority of which does not encode protein. However, most noncoding RNA (ncRNA) is rapidly degraded after transcription, and relatively few have established functions, questioning the significance of this observation. Here we show that esBAF, a SWI/SNF family nucleosome remodeling factor, suppresses transcription of ncRNAs from approximately 57,000 nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs) throughout the genome of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We show that esBAF functions both to keep NDRs nucleosome-free and to promote elevated nucleosome occupancy adjacent to NDRs. Reduction of adjacent nucleosome occupancy upon esBAF depletion is strongly correlated with ncRNA expression, suggesting that flanking nucleosomes form a barrier to pervasive transcription. Upon forcing nucleosome occupancy near an NDR using a nucleosome-positioning sequence, we find that esBAF is no longer required to silence transcription. These data reveal a novel role for esBAF in suppressing pervasive transcription from open chromatin regions in ESCs. Overall design: Examine nucleosome occupancy (MNase-Seq) and transcript production (CapSeq and RNA-Seq) in EGFP KD and Smarca4 KD ESCs
Suppression of pervasive noncoding transcription in embryonic stem cells by esBAF.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesDecidualization is a critical process for embryo implatation during which uterine stromal fibroblasts are transformed into large, epithelioid-like decidual cell. NOTCH1 is recepotor of Notch signaling that plays important roles for cell-cell communication, which involves gene regulatory mechanisms that control multiple cellular differentiation processes during embryonic and adult life.
Decreased Notch pathway signaling in the endometrium of women with endometriosis impairs decidualization.
Cell line
View Samples