Search results for "Model organisms"
showing 10 items of 131 documents
Role of the cellular prion protein in oligodendrocyte precursor cell proliferation and differentiation in the developing and adult mouse CNS
2012
There are numerous studies describing the signaling mechanisms that mediate oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) proliferation and differentiation, although the contribution of the cellular prion protein (PrP c) to this process remains unclear. PrP c is a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored glycoprotein involved in diverse cellular processes during the development and maturation of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Here we describe how PrP c influences oligodendrocyte proliferation in the developing and adult CNS. OPCs that lack PrP c proliferate more vigorously at the expense of a delay in differentiation, which correlates with changes in the expression of oligodendrocyt…
Two Enhancers Control Transcription of Drosophila muscleblind in the Embryonic Somatic Musculature and in the Central Nervous System
2014
The phylogenetically conserved family of Muscleblind proteins are RNA-binding factors involved in a variety of gene expression processes including alternative splicing regulation, RNA stability and subcellular localization, and miRNA biogenesis, which typically contribute to cell-type specific differentiation. In humans, sequestration of Muscleblind-like proteins MBNL1 and MBNL2 has been implicated in degenerative disorders, particularly expansion diseases such as myotonic dystrophy type 1 and 2. Drosophila muscleblind was previously shown to be expressed in embryonic somatic and visceral muscle subtypes, and in the central nervous system, and to depend on Mef2 for transcriptional activatio…
Response to long-term NaHCO3-derived alkalinity in model Lotus japonicus Ecotypes Gifu B-129 and Miyakojima MG-20: transcriptomic profiling and physi…
2014
The current knowledge regarding transcriptomic changes induced by alkalinity on plants is scarce and limited to studieswhere plants were subjected to the alkaline salt for periods not longer than 48 h, so there is no information availableregarding the regulation of genes involved in the generation of a new homeostatic cellular condition after long-termalkaline stress.Lotus japonicusis a model legume broadly used to study many important physiological processes includingbiotic interactions and biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, we characterized phenotipically the response toalkaline stress of the most widely usedL. japonicusecotypes, Gifu B-129 and MG-20, and analyzed global t…
Anti-Hypotensive Treatment and Endothelin Blockade Synergistically Antagonize Exercise Fatigue in Rats under Simulated High Altitude
2013
Rapid ascent to high altitude causes illness and fatigue, and there is a demand for effective acute treatments to alleviate such effects. We hypothesized that increased oxygen delivery to the tissue using a combination of a hypertensive agent and an endothelin receptor A antagonist drugs would limit exercise-induced fatigue at simulated high altitude. Our data showed that the combination of 0.1 mg/kg ambrisentan with either 20 mg/kg ephedrine or 10 mg/kg methylphenidate significantly improved exercise duration in rats at simulated altitude of 4,267 m, whereas the individual compounds did not. In normoxic, anesthetized rats, ephedrine alone and in combination with ambrisentan increased heart…
Manipulating mtDNA in vivo reprograms metabolism via novel response mechanisms.
2019
Mitochondria have been increasingly recognized as a central regulatory nexus for multiple metabolic pathways, in addition to ATP production via oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Here we show that inducing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) stress in Drosophila using a mitochondrially-targeted Type I restriction endonuclease (mtEcoBI) results in unexpected metabolic reprogramming in adult flies, distinct from effects on OXPHOS. Carbohydrate utilization was repressed, with catabolism shifted towards lipid oxidation, accompanied by elevated serine synthesis. Cleavage and translocation, the two modes of mtEcoBI action, repressed carbohydrate rmetabolism via two different mechanisms. DNA cleavage activ…
Assessment of regional ventilation distribution: comparison of vibration response imaging (VRI) with electrical impedance tomography (EIT)
2013
BACKGROUND: Vibration response imaging (VRI) is a bedside technology to monitor ventilation by detecting lung sound vibrations. It is currently unknown whether VRI is able to accurately monitor the local distribution of ventilation within the lungs. We therefore compared VRI to electrical impedance tomography (EIT), an established technique used for the assessment of regional ventilation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Simultaneous EIT and VRI measurements were performed in the healthy and injured lungs (ALI; induced by saline lavage) at different PEEP levels (0, 5, 10, 15 mbar) in nine piglets. Vibration energy amplitude (VEA) by VRI, and amplitudes of relative impedance changes (rel.ΔZ) …
Identification of the essential protein domains for Mib2 function during the development of the Drosophila larval musculature and adult flight muscles
2016
The proper differentiation and maintenance of myofibers is fundamental to a functional musculature. Disruption of numerous mostly structural factors leads to perturbations of these processes. Among the limited number of known regulatory factors for these processes is Mind bomb2 (Mib2), a muscle-associated E3 ubiquitin ligase, which was previously established to be required for maintaining the integrity of larval muscles. In this study, we have examined the mechanistic aspects of Mib2 function by performing a detailed functional dissection of the Mib2 protein. We show that the ankyrin repeats, in its entirety, and the hitherto uncharacterized Mib-specific domains (MIB), are important for the…
Reconstruction of the evolutionary history of Saccharomyces cerevisiae x S. kudriavzevii hybrids based on multilocus sequence analysis.
2012
In recent years, interspecific hybridization and introgression are increasingly recognized as significant events in the evolution of Saccharomyces yeasts. These mechanisms have probably been involved in the origin of novel yeast genotypes and phenotypes, which in due course were to colonize and predominate in the new fermentative environments created by human manipulation. The particular conditions in which hybrids arose are still unknown, as well as the number of possible hybridization events that generated the whole set of natural hybrids described in the literature during recent years. In this study, we could infer at least six different hybridization events that originated a set of 26 S…
Spatial Distribution of Fungal Communities in an Arable Soil.
2015
Fungi are prominent drivers of ecological processes in soils, so that fungal communities across different soil ecosystems have been well investigated. However, for arable soils taxonomically resolved fine-scale studies including vertical itemization of fungal communities are still missing. Here, we combined a cloning/Sanger sequencing approach of the ITS/LSU region as marker for general fungi and of the partial SSU region for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to characterize the microbiome in different maize soil habitats. Four compartments were analyzed over two annual cycles 2009 and 2010: a) ploughed soil in 0-10 cm, b) rooted soil in 40-50 cm, c) root-free soil in 60-70 cm soil depth a…
Overexpression of TGF-ß1 in macrophages reduces and stabilizes atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE-deficient mice.
2011
Although macrophages represent the hallmark of both human and murine atherosclerotic lesions and have been shown to express TGF-ß1 (transforming growth factor β1) and its receptors, it has so far not been experimentally addressed whether the pleiotropic cytokine TGF-ß1 may influence atherogenesis by a macrophage specific mechanism. We developed transgenic mice with macrophage specific TGF-ß1 overexpression, crossed the transgenics to the atherosclerotic ApoE (apolipoprotein E) knock-out strain and quantitatively analyzed both atherosclerotic lesion development and composition of the resulting double mutants. Compared with control ApoE(-/-) mice, animals with macrophage specific TGF-ß1 overe…