Search results for "Gene expression"
showing 10 items of 4085 documents
Evolution and functional differentiation of recently diverged phytochelatin synthase genes from Arundo donax L.
2019
Plant phytochelatin synthases undergo evolutionarily rapid functional differentiation after duplication, allowing fast and precise adjustment of metal detoxification capacity by modulation of both transcription and enzymatic activity.
Are control of extracellular acid-base balance and regulation of skeleton genes linked to resistance to ocean acidification in adult sea urchins?
2020
SCOPUS: ar.j
Screening of Ovarian steroidogenic pathway in Ciona intestinalis and its modulation after Tributyltin exposure
2010
In this study, we have identified several ovarian steroids in Ciona with high similarity to vertebrate steroids and showed that cholesterol, corticosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, estrone, estradiol-17beta, testosterone, pregnenolone, progesterone, have identical molecular spectra with vertebrate steroids. In addition, we have studied the effects of an endocrine disruptor (tributyltin: TBT) on these sex hormones and their precursors, ovarian morphology, and gene expression of some key enzymes in steroidogenic pathway in the ovary of Ciona. Ovarian specimens were cultured in vitro using different concentrations of TBT (10{sup -5}, 10{sup -4} and 10{sup -3} M). Ethanol was used as solvent co…
Functional antagonism between histone H3K4 demethylases in vivo
2011
Dynamic regulation of histone modifications is critical during development, and aberrant activity of chromatin-modifying enzymes has been associated with diseases such as cancer. Histone demethylases have been shown to play a key role in eukaryotic gene transcription; however, little is known about how their activities are coordinated in vivo to regulate specific biological processes. In Drosophila, two enzymes, dLsd1 (Drosophila ortholog of lysine-specific demethylase 1) and Lid (little imaginal discs), demethylate histone H3 at Lys 4 (H3K4), a residue whose methylation is associated with actively transcribed genes. Our studies show that compound mutation of Lid and dLsd1 results in increa…
Metallothionein genes in sea urchin embryos and their induction by cadmium
2012
Metallothioneins (MTs) are proteins that play a major role in metal homeostasis and as a reservoir. The MT gene/protein systems of sea urchins are an invaluable model for the study of gene expression regulation and MT isoform-specific functionality of these proteins. We isolated five paralogous MT isogenes and we studied their expression in the sea urchin embryo Paracentrotus lividus. The Cadmium-dependent transcriptional activation of the five isogenes was assessed using quantitative Real Time PCR. Two of the five P. lividus MT (MT-7 and MT-8) isogenes appeared to be constitutively expressed and upregulated upon cadmium treatment. Three isogenes (MT-4/MT-6) are not transcribed in control e…
The sea urchin histone H2A enhancer-binding protein MBF-1 is needed for maximal expression also for the H3 gene, while is buffered by the sns5 insula…
2009
Enhancers are DNA elements which increase the transcription of associated gene in a position and distance independent manner relative to the transcription initiation site. Molecular mechanisms must operate to direct enhancers to specific promoters in complex genetic loci. The sea urchin a-histone genes are organized in several hundred tandem repeated units, each containing one copy of the five histone genes in the order 5’-H4-H2B-H3-H2A-H1-3’. Transcription is limited to the early cleavage and reaches its maximum at morula stage. After hatching these genes are repressed and maintained in the silenced state for whole life cycle of the animal. In Paracentrotus lividus, the MBF-1 activator bin…
Combined effect of cadmium and sulfonamides on sea urchin development
2013
Echinoderms play a key role in the maintenance of the integrity of the ecosystem where they live. They are constantly exposed to pollutants, particularly in their early planktonic life stages. Sulfamethoxazole with trimethoprim (TMP/SMX) is a fixed antibiotic combination whose concentration is significantly increasing in the coastal waters due to human medicine and also intensive husbandry and aquaculture activities. Previously, we studied the defense strategies activated by P. lividus embryos in response to sublethal doses of CdCl2. Although toxic effects of cadmium on embryo development are not morphologically detectable before 24 hours of exposure, we found upregulation in mRNAs related …
Downregulation of myogenic microRNAs in sub-chronic but not in sub-acute model of daunorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy
2016
Cardiac muscle-related microRNAs play important roles in cardiac development and disease by translational silencing of mRNAs, the dominant mechanism of microRNA action. To test whether they could be involved in daunorubicin-associated cardiomyopathy (DACM), we determined expression patterns of myomiRs in two distinct models of DACM. We used 10â12 weeks old male Wistar rats. In the sub-acute model, rats were administered with six doses of daunorubicin (DAU-A, 3Â mg/kg, i.p., every 48Â h). Rats were sacrificed two days after the last dose. In the sub-chronic model, anaesthetized rats were administered a single dose of daunorubicin (15Â mg/kg, i.v., DAU-C). Age-matched controls (CON) receive…
Matrix metalloproteinase-2 matrix metalloproteinase-9 and inducible nitric oxide synthase in oral leukoplakia: Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR analys…
2008
Oral leukoplakia is the most common and potentially malignant disorder of the oral mucosa. The definition of leukoplakia given by the World Health Organization is "a white plaque that cannot be characterized either from a clinical or from a histopathological point of view", thus the diagnosis of leukoplakia is based on the exclusion of other lesions of the oral mucosa. We believe it is necessary to identify molecular and immunohistochemical parameters that can contribute to discriminating between the different leukoplakia clinical subtypes coded by the epidemiology. In the present work we show the preliminary results of this research project. We investigated the expression of matrix metallo…
Human umbilical cord expresses several vasoactive peptides involved in the local regulation of vascular tone: protein and gene expression of Orphanin…
2011
Full-term human umbilical cord contains three blood vessels: two arteries coiled around a vein and surrounded by Wharton’s jelly, a mucous tissue with few mesenchymal stromal cells and abundant extracellular matrix. Umbilical vessels lack innervations, thus endothelial cells must play a role in the control of blood flow. The aim of this study was to investigate in human umbilical cord the expression of five peptides that could be involved in the regulation of vascular tone: Orphanin FQ, Oxytocin, Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP), endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) and inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS). The expression of these molecules in full-term human umbilical cord …