Biological systems display extraordinary robustness. Robustness of transcriptional enhancers results mainly from clusters of binding sites for the same transcription factor, and it is not clear how robust enhancers can evolve loss of expression through point mutations. Here, we report the high-resolution functional dissection of a robust enhancer of the shavenbaby gene that has contributed to morphological evolution. We found that robustness is encoded by many binding sites for the transcriptional activator Arrowhead and that, during evolution, some of these activator sites were lost, weakening enhancer activity. Complete silencing of enhancer function, however, required evolution of a binding site for the spatially restricted potent repressor Abrupt. These findings illustrate that recruitment of repressor binding sites can overcome enhancer robustness and may minimize pleiotropic consequences of enhancer evolution. Recruitment of repression may be a general mode of evolution to break robust regulatory linkages. Overall design: 8 samples are analyzed: background GFP- and target GFP+ cells from four independent sortings.
Evolved Repression Overcomes Enhancer Robustness.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesHere, we apply differential transcriptome analysis on microscopically isolated cell populations, to define five transcriptional programs that represent each transient embryonic zone and the progression between these zones. The five transcriptional programs contain largely uncharacterized genes in addition to transcripts necessary for stem cell maintenance, neurogenesis, migration, and differentiation. Additionally, we found intergenic transcriptionally active regions that possibly encode novel zone-specific transcripts. Finally, we present a high-resolution transcriptome map of transient zones in the embryonic mouse forebrain. Overall design: mRNAseq performed after laser microdissection of cells from transient embryonic zones in the mouse cortex
Transcriptional programs in transient embryonic zones of the cerebral cortex defined by high-resolution mRNA sequencing.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesIKKe was identified previously as a breast cancer oncogene and was associated with poor clinical outcome in ovarian cancer.
IKK-ε coordinates invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesShort sleep duration is associated with adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory effects. Co-twin study methodologies account for familial (e.g., genetics and shared environmental) confounding, allowing assessment of subtle environmental effects, such as the effect of short habitual sleep duration on gene expression. Therefore, we sought to investigate gene expression in monozygotic twins discordant for actigraphically phenotyped habitual sleep duration. Eleven healthy monozygotic twin pairs (82% female; mean age 42.7 years; SD=18.1), selected based on subjective sleep duration discordance, were objectively phenotyped for habitual sleep duration with two-weeks of wrist actigraphy. Peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) RNA from fasting blood samples was obtained on the final day of actigraphic measurement and hybridized to Illumina humanHT-12 microarrays. Differential gene expression was determined between paired samples and mapped to functional categories using Gene Ontology. Next, a more comprehensive gene set enrichment analysis was performed based on the entire PBL transcriptome. The mean 24 hour sleep duration of the total sample was 439.2 minutes (SD=46.8 minutes; range 325.4 to 521.6 minutes). Mean within-pair sleep duration difference per 24 hours was 64.4 minutes (SD=21.2; range 45.9 to 114.6 minutes). The twin cohort displayed distinctive pathway enrichment based on sleep duration differences. Short sleep was associated with up-regulation of genes involved in transcription, ribosome, translation and oxidative phosphorylation. Unexpectedly, genes down-regulated in short sleep twins were highly enriched in immuno-inflammatory pathways such interleukin signaling and leukocyte activation, as well as developmental programs, coagulation cascade, and cell adhesion. Objectively assessed habitual sleep duration in monozygotic twin pairs appears to be associated with distinct patterns of differential gene expression and pathway enrichment. By accounting for familial confounding and measuring real life sleep duration, our study shows the transcriptomic effects of short sleep on dysregulated immune response and provides a potential link between sleep deprivation and adverse metabolic, cardiovascular and inflammatory outcomes.
Transcriptional Signatures of Sleep Duration Discordance in Monozygotic Twins.
Specimen part
View SamplesRecent genetic studies of ALS patients have identified several forms of ALS that are associated with mutations in RNA binding proteins. In animals or cultured cells, such defects broadly affect RNA metabolism. This raises the question of whether all forms of ALS have general effects on RNA metabolism. We tested this hypothesis in a mouse model of ALS that is transgenic for a human disease-causing mutation in the enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). We analyzed RNA from laser-captured spinal cord motor neuron cell bodies of the mutant SOD1 strain, comparing the RNA profile with that from a corresponding wild-type SOD1 transgenic strain. We prepared the samples from animals that were presymptomatic, but which manifested abnormalities at the cellular level that are seen in ALS, including aggregation of the mutant protein in motor neuron cell bodies and defective morphology of neuromuscular junctions, the connections between neuron and muscle. We observed only minor changes in the level and splicing of RNA in the SOD1 mutant animals as compared with wild-type, suggesting that mutant SOD1 produces the toxic effects of ALS by a mechanism that does not involve global RNA disturbance. Overall design: RNA-Seq of laser microdissection of motor neuron bodies from two biological replicates each of SOD1 YFP (wildtype 592) and SOD1 G85R YFP (737) transgenic mice.
RNA-Seq profiling of spinal cord motor neurons from a presymptomatic SOD1 ALS mouse.
Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesOral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a prevalent form of cancer that develops from the epithelium of the oral cavity. OSCC is on the rise worldwide, and death rates associated with the disease are particularly high. Despite progress in understanding of the mutational and expression landscape associated with OSCC, advances in deciphering these alterations for the development of therapeutic strategies have been limited. Further insight into the molecular cues that contribute to OSCC is therefore required. Here we show that the transcriptional regulators YAP (YAP1) and TAZ (WWTR1), which are key effectors of the Hippo pathway, drive pro-tumorigenic signals in OSCC. Regions of pre-malignant oral tissues exhibit aberrant nuclear YAP accumulation, suggesting that dysregulated YAP activity contributes to the onset of OSCC. Supporting this premise, we determined that nuclear YAP and TAZ activity drives OSCC cell proliferation, survival, and migration in vitro, and is required for OSCC tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Global gene expression profiles associated with YAP and TAZ knockdown revealed changes in the control of gene expression implicated in pro-tumorigenic signaling, including those required for cell cycle progression and survival. Notably, the transcriptional signature regulated by YAP and TAZ significantly correlates with gene expression changes occurring in human OSCCs identified by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), emphasizing a central role for YAP and TAZ in OSCC biology.
A YAP/TAZ-Regulated Molecular Signature Is Associated with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesIFNs are highly pleiotropic cytokines also endowed with marked anti-angiogenic activity. In this study, the mRNA expression profiles of endothelial cells (EC) exposed in vitro to IFN-alpha, IFN-beta, or
Identification of genes selectively regulated by IFNs in endothelial cells.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesEstablishment and application of RNAseq based transcriptome analayis on an archivaed bladder cancer cohort. Overall design: Total RNA profilling 61 archived bladder cancer samples and comparison of 4 pairs of fresh frozen and FFPE bladder cancer samples.
Next-generation RNA sequencing of archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded urothelial bladder cancer.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe analyzed via microarray gene expression profiles in de-identified, clinically annotated samples from Ficoll-purified peripheral blood samples from 10 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in remission and 10 healthy donors collected under IRB-approved protocols.
Impaired B cell immunity in acute myeloid leukemia patients after chemotherapy.
Sex, Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Subject
View SamplesCharacterize the transcriptional response to INO2 and INO4 expression level (INO-level) and efficient factor
Integrated analysis, transcriptome-lipidome, reveals the effects of INO-level (INO2 and INO4) on lipid metabolism in yeast.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples