Project description:The aim of this study was to determine the effect of transgenic Aire expression on the transcriptional profile of a tissue that normally does not express Aire: pancreatic islets. The transcriptional profile of transgenic RIP-Aire27 islets was compared to non-transgenic littermate islets as well as to archival NOD thymic medullary epithelial cells (MEC) data. All data were from non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice Keywords: RIP-Aire transgenic vs non-transgenic comparison
Project description:The aim of this study was to determine the effect of transgenic Aire expression on the transcriptional profile of a tissue that normally does not express Aire: pancreatic islets. The transcriptional profile of transgenic RIP-Aire27 islets was compared to non-transgenic littermate islets as well as to archival NOD thymic medullary epithelial cells (MEC) data. All data were from non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice Experiment Overall Design: 3-wk-old individual male RIP-Aire27 or non-transgenic littermates islets were isolated by gradient purification followed by hanpicking under a microscope for subsequent RNA purification, labeling and hybridization to Affymetrix arrays.
Project description:Autophagy plays an important role in preserving cellular homeostasis in pancreatic beta cells. However, the extent of autophagic flux induced in various physiological settings in vivo is unclear. In this study, we generated transgenic mice expressing pHluorin-LC3-mCherry reporter for monitoring systemic autophagic flux. Our findings revealed that autophagic flux in pancreatic islets enhanced after starvation, although suppression of the flux after short-term refeeding needs more prolonged restarvation in islets than in liver and skeletal muscle. Furthermore, heterogeneity of autophagic flux in beta cells manifested after increasing insulin resistance and intracellular calcium influx by glucose stimulation increased more in high- than low-flux beta cells, with differential gene expression based on the flux. Thus, our monitor mouse enables us to reveal physiological response and biological insight of heterogeneity in autophagic flux in pancreatic beta cells.
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility.
Project description:We found that BAP1 (BRCA1 Associated Protein-1) shows loss of heterozygosity in over 25% of pancreatic cancer patients and functions as tumor suppressor. Conditional deletion of Bap1 in murine pancreas led to genomic instability, accumulation of DNA damage, and an inflammatory response that evolved to pancreatitis with full penetrance. Concomitant expression of oncogenic KrasG12D led to malignant transformation and development of invasive and metastatic pancreatic cancer. At the molecular level, BAP1 maintains the integrity of the exocrine pancreas by regulating genomic stability and its loss confers sensitivity to radio- and platinum-based therapies.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.