Search results for "Transgene"
showing 10 items of 259 documents
A metaphysical approach to holobiont individuality: Holobionts as emergent individuals
2019
Holobionts are symbiotic assemblages composed by a host plus its microbiome. The status of holobionts as individuals has recently been a subject of continuous controversy, which has given rise to two main positions: on the one hand, holobiont advocates argue that holobionts are biological individuals; on the other, holobiont detractors argue that they are just mere chimeras or ecological communities, but not individuals. Both parties in the dispute develop their argu-ments from the framework of the philosophy of biology, in terms of what it takes for a ?conglomerate? to be considered an interesting individual from a biological point of view. However, the debates about holobiont individualit…
The Dorsocross T-box transcription factors promote tissue morphogenesis in the Drosophila wing imaginal disc.
2012
The Drosophila wing imaginal disc is subdivided into notum, hinge and blade territories during the third larval instar by formation of several deep apical folds. The molecular mechanisms of these subdivisions and the subsequent initiation of morphogenic processes during metamorphosis are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the Dorsocross (Doc) T-box genes promote the progression of epithelial folds that not only separate the hinge and blade regions of the wing disc but also contribute to metamorphic development by changing cell shapes and bending the wing disc. We found that Doc expression was restricted by two inhibitors, Vestigial and Homothorax, leading to two narrow Doc stripes…
Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Delays Aging in Cancer-Resistant Mice
2008
Summary Telomerase confers limitless proliferative potential to most human cells through its ability to elongate telomeres, the natural ends of chromosomes, which otherwise would undergo progressive attrition and eventually compromise cell viability. However, the role of telomerase in organismal aging has remained unaddressed, in part because of the cancer-promoting activity of telomerase. To circumvent this problem, we have constitutively expressed telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), one of the components of telomerase, in mice engineered to be cancer resistant by means of enhanced expression of the tumor suppressors p53, p16, and p19ARF. In this context, TERT overexpression improves …
Enhanced levels of S-linalool by metabolic engineering of the terpenoid pathway in spike lavender leaves
2013
Transgenic Lavandula latifolia plants overexpressing the linalool synthase (LIS) gene from Clarkia breweri, encoding the LIS enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of linalool were generated. Most of these plants increased significantly their linalool content as compared to controls, especially in the youngest leaves, where a linalool increase up to a 1000% was observed. The phenotype of increased linalool content observed in young leaves was maintained in those T1 progenies that inherit the LIS transgene, although this phenotype was less evident in the flower essential oil. Cross-pollination of transgenic spike lavender plants allowed the generation of double transgenic plants containing the …
Expression of spearmint limonene synthase in transgenic spike lavender results in an altered monoterpene composition in developing leaves.
2008
We generated transgenic spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia) plants constitutively expressing the limonene synthase (LS) gene from spearmint (Mentha spicata), encoding the LS enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of limonene from geranyl diphosphate. Overexpression of the LS transgene did not consistently affect monoterpene profile in pooled leaves or flowers from transgenic T(0) plants. Analyses from cohorts of leaves sampled at different developmental stages showed that essential oil accumulation in transgenic and control plants was higher in developing than in mature leaves. Furthermore, developing leaves of transgenic plants contained increased limonene contents (more than 450% increase c…
A stage-specific functional role of the leucine zipper transcription factor c-Maf in lung Th2 cell differentiation.
2004
The transcription factor c-Maf controls IL-4 gene expression in CD4(+) T cells, and its expression is up-regulated in human asthmatic airways after allergen challenge. In the present study, we addressed the role of c-Maf in asthma by studying transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing c-Maf in CD4(+) T cells under the control of the CD2 promoter. As shown, lung CD4(+) T cells of c-maf-Tg mice produced more IL-5 at the early stage (day 2) of culture in the presence of IL-4 than wild-type control cells. Consistently, c-maf-Tg mice spontaneously showed increased IL-5 expression and eosinophils in the bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and activated IL-5 signal transduction via Raf-1 and Ras in lu…
NFATc1 Induction in Peripheral T and B Lymphocytes
2013
Abstract NFAT transcription factors control the proliferation and survival of peripheral lymphocytes. We have reported previously that the short isoform NFATc1/αA whose generation is induced by immune receptor stimulation supports the proliferation and inhibits the activation-induced cell death of peripheral T and B cells. We will show in this study that in novel bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic mice that express EGFP under the control of entire Nfatc1 locus the Nfatc1/Egfp transgene is expressed as early as in double-negative thymocytes and in nonstimulated peripheral T and B cells. Upon immune receptor stimulation, Nfatc1/Egfp expression is elevated in B, Th1, and Th2 cells, but…
Highly efficient liposome-mediated gene transfer of inducible nitric oxide synthase in vivo and in vitro in vascular smooth muscle cells.
2000
Objective: The efficient introduction of regulatory genes into vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is one of the most promising options for gene therapy of cardiovascular diseases. Cationic liposome-mediated gene transfer may become a favorable transfection technique with regard to patient’s safety for in vivo administration. However, this method until now has its limitation in a low transfection efficiency. Therefore, the present study was designed to improve cationic liposome-mediated transfection of rabbit vascular SMCs in vitro and in vivo, in order to enhance transfection efficiency and present an optimized system which may offer a potential therapeutic benefit for in vivo application.…
Protection by nitric oxide against liver inflammatory injury in animals carrying a nitric oxide synthase-2 transgene
2001
22 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.
Mice Expressing Only Covalent Dimeric Heparin Binding-deficient Lipoprotein Lipase
2004
Lipoprotein lipase (LpL) hydrolyzes triglycerides of circulating lipoproteins while bound as homodimers to endothelial cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans. This primarily occurs in the capillary beds of muscle and adipose tissue. By creating a mouse line that expresses covalent dimers of heparin-binding deficient LpL (hLpLHBM-Dimer) in muscle, we confirmed in vivo that linking two LpL monomers in a head to tail configuration creates a functional LpL. The hLpLHBM-Dimer transgene produced abundant activity and protein in muscle, and the LpL was the expected size of a dimer (approximately 110 kDa). Unlike the heparin-binding mutant monomer, hLpLHBM-Dimer had the same stability as nonmut…