Project description:The mechanism of mecciRNA degradation remains unknown. To investigate the degradation of mecciRNAs, we performed mitochondrial RNA sequencing and total RNA sequencing of 293T, HeLa, and N2a cells. To investigate the degradation mechanism of mecciRNAs, RIP-seq was conducted in 293T, HL-1 cells, and C. elegans. Small RNA sequencing of mitochondrial sucrose gradient fractions was performed to identify mecciRNA degradation fragments.
Project description:Alternative splicing is a predominant form of gene regulation in higher eukaryotes. The evolution of alternative splicing provides an important mechanism for the acquisition of novel gene functions. In this work, we carried out a genome-wide phylogenetic survey of lineage-specific splicing patterns in the primate brain, via high-density exon junction array profiling of brain transcriptomes of humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. We identified 509 genes showing splicing differences among these species. RT-PCR analysis of 40 exons confirmed the predicted splicing evolution of 33 exons. Of these 33 exons, outgroup analysis using rhesus macaques confirmed 13 exons with human-specific increase or decrease in transcript inclusion levels after humans diverged from chimpanzees. Some of the human-specific brain splicing patterns disrupt domains critical for protein-protein interactions, and some modulate translational efficiency of their host genes. Strikingly, for exons showing splicing differences across species, we observed a significant increase in the rate of silent substitutions within exons, coupled with accelerated sequence divergence in flanking introns. This indicates that evolution of cis-regulatory signals is a major contributor to the emergence of human-specific splicing patterns. In one gene (MAGOH), using minigene reporter assays, we demonstrated that the combination of two human-specific cis-sequence changes created its human-specific splicing pattern. Together, our data reveal widespread human-specific changes of alternative splicing in the brain and suggest an important role of splicing in the evolution of neuronal gene regulation and functions.
Project description:We present here the characterization of the replication timing program in 6 human cell lines : U2OS, RKO, 293T, HeLa, MRC5 and K562
Project description:Mitochondrial RNA-seq and total RNA-seq of 293T, HeLa, and N2a cells RIP-seq of SUPV3L1, ceSUPV3L1, ATP5B, and TRAP1 Small RNA-seq of 293T mitochondrial fractions
Project description:To investigate the function of NCOR2-013 in T. marneffei-infected THP-1 macrophages, we established NCOR2-013 overexpression THP-1 macrphages. We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of T. marneffei-infected NCOR2-013 overexpression THP-1 macrophages and T. marneffei-infected control cells.
Project description:We present a detailed reanalysis of the comparative brain data for primates, and develop a model using path analysis that seeks to present the coevolution of primate brain (neocortex) and sociality within a broader ecological and life-history framework. We show that body size, basal metabolic rate and life history act as constraints on brain evolution and through this influence the coevolution of neocortex size and group size. However, they do not determine either of these variables, which appear to be locked in a tight coevolutionary system. We show that, within primates, this relationship is specific to the neocortex. Nonetheless, there are important constraints on brain evolution; we use path analysis to show that, in order to evolve a large neocortex, a species must first evolve a large brain to support that neocortex and this in turn requires adjustments in diet (to provide the energy needed) and life history (to allow sufficient time both for brain growth and for 'software' programming). We review a wider literature demonstrating a tight coevolutionary relationship between brain size and sociality in a range of mammalian taxa, but emphasize that the social brain hypothesis is not about the relationship between brain/neocortex size and group size per se; rather, it is about social complexity and we adduce evidence to support this. Finally, we consider the wider issue of how mammalian (and primate) brains evolve in order to localize the social effects.