Search results for " Biologia molecolare"
showing 10 items of 267 documents
Arti decorative tra scienza e restauro
2010
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The Paracentrotus lividus metallothionein gene family: structure and expression.
2014
Metallothioneins are metal binding proteins that play a pivotal role in metal homeostasis and detoxification. Since their initial discovery, they have been extensively studied in a variety of organisms ranging from microbes to plants and animals. Organisms often possess multiple genes encoding metallothionein homologs with distinct properties, such as varying affinities for different metals, and in many cases different functions. Despite the plethora of available studies, very little information is known about sea urchin P. lividus MT (1, 2). We previously identified five Pl-MT embryonic cDNAs and we studied their induction after cadmium treatment (3). Now we studied their expression during…
cis-Regulation and chromatin dynamics of the hbox12 gene during the embryogenesis of Paracentrotus lividus.
2014
The GRN specifying the dorsal-ventral (D-V) axis of the sea urchin embryo is currently under investigation. An early input for D-V polarity is given by a redox gradient probably generated by an asymmetrical distribution of maternal mitochondria (1). Only on the future ventral side, the oxidizing environment induces the expression of the nodal gene, an essential regulator of D-V polarization (2). By contrast, on the future dorsal side, a reducing environment activates the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α) (3). The hbox12 transcription repressor is an early marker of the dorsal side of the embryo, in which it negatively regulates the expression of nodal (4, 5). Interestingly, by in silico ana…
Genome wide mapping of the MBF-1 binding sites during embryogenesis of the sea urchin reveals it is a chromatin organizer.
2015
The Zinc-finger MBF1 factor is a transcription activator involved in the expression of the early histone genes during development of the sea urchin embryo (1). The DNA-binding domain of MBF1 shares high sequence similarity with that of the CTCF chromatin organizer but, unexpectedly, extensive in silico analysis failed to identify the sea urchin CTCF ortholog (2, 3). This led us to speculate that MBF1 could have co-opted the function of CTCF during evolution of the echinoderms. To support this hypothesis, we performed the genome-wide MBF1-binding sites mapping in the P. lividus genome, by chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to next generation sequencing (ChIP-Seq). We observed that MBF1 bi…
The echinoid hbox12 multigene family: copy number variation and spatiotemporal expression
2016
Chromatin dynamics during sea urchin embryogenesis: effects on the neural alpha tubulin PlTa2 gene expression
2011
Expression of PlTa2 gene during sea urchin P. lividus development, is spatially confined to the neural territory and temporally activated from the blastula stage. To evaluate a possible involvement of chromatin modifications in regulation of PlTa2 gene expression we first searched for DNaseI hypersentive sites. We found four sites localized in the introns of the gene, when we used chromatin extracted from embryos at gastrula stage but not from morula stage. This result suggests a possible functional role of the introns in the activation of the expression of PlTa2 gene. Moreover, we used specific antibodies for RNA polymerase II and for different modified form of lysine 9, lysine 27 and lysi…
Isolation and characterization of sea urchin P. lividus microbiota from coelomic fluid
2015
Serum Vitamin D as a Biomarker in Autoimmune, Psychiatric and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
2022
Vitamin D is a steroid hormone regulating calcium-phosphorus homeostasis, immune response and brain function. In the past thirty years, an increasing number of cohort studies, meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials (RTCs) evaluated the serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], which is considered the Vitamin D status biomarker, in patients affected by neurological, psychiatric and autoimmune diseases. Although an association between low 25(OH)D serum levels and the prevalence of these diseases has been found, it is still unclear whether the serum 25(OH)D measurement can be clinically useful as a biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and predicting treatment response in neurodegene…
Analysis of the effects of co-exposure to antibiotics and cadmium on sea urchin embryos
2014
In order to understand the mechanisms of responses to changes in the physical and chemical environment, as well as the mechanisms of developmental pathways, we investigated by RT-qPCR assays and light microscopy observations the impact of antibiotics and cadmium in P. lividus sea urchin embryos. In particular we inspected development and biomarkers for free radical damage and apoptosis. During development embryos were exposed to an antibiotic mix (Ab mix, usually added to sea urchin cultures) or to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim mix (TMP/SMX, usually added to aquacultures) and/or levels of 10-5, 10-4, 10-3 M CdCl2. Even though treatment with TMP/SMX apparently did not affect development, it …
Metallothionein genes in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus
2014
Metallothioneins (MTs) constitute a heterogeneous superfamily of cysteine rich proteins, which coordinate divalent (Zn2+, Cd2+) or monovalent (Cu+) metal ions. Several functions have been proposed for these peptides, ranging from toxic metal protection to physiological metal homeostasis, free radical scavenging, oxidative stress protection, antiapoptotic defense, control of the redox status of the cell and also a role during development. Regarding the MT system in vertebrates’ nearest kin, little information is available at present. Recently MTs were also characterized in cephalochordates. Hence in order to shed some light on MT origin and functional differentiation through evolution, we st…