Project description:MafA and MafB transcription factors have been shown to be key regulators of insulin and glucagon transcription. MafB is essential for alpha and beta cell differentiation, as MafB deficient mice produced fewer insulin+ and glucagon+ cells during development, with MafA expressed in remaining insulin+ cells. In contrast, beta cell development was reported to be normal in a total MafA knock out, although the animals developed beta cell dysfunction and diabetes as adults. However, we have found that MafB expression is elevated during development and retained in adult insulin+ cells after conditional removal of MafA in the pancreas. These studies will evaluate the broader significance of these insulin and glucagon regulators in alpha and beta cell development and function. Our efforts will focus on determining if the concerted actions of MafA and MafB factors are significant to beta cell formation, and we specifically plan to: Determine how alpha and beta cell differentiation is affected in MafA/MafB compound mutant mice during pancreas development. cDNA microarray studies (pancchip 6.0) with wild type, MafAKO, MafB-/-, and MafAKOMafB-/- mutant E18.5 pancreata will be performed to comprehensively identify genes controlled by MafA and MafB in developing alpha and beta cells.
Project description:αβ T cell receptor (TCR) V(D)J genes code for billions of TCR combinations. However only some appear on peripheral T cells in any individual because, to mature, thymocytes must react with low affinity but not high affinity with thymus expressed MHC/peptides. MHC proteins are very polymorphic. Different alleles bind different peptides. Therefore any individual might express many different MHC alleles to ensure that some peptides from an invader are bound to MHC and activate T cells. However, most individuals express limited numbers of MHC alleles. To explore this we compared the TCR repertoires of naïve, CD4 T cells in mice expressing one or two MHC II alleles. Surprisingly, the TCRs in heterozygotes were less diverse that those in the sum of their MHC II homozygous relatives. Our results suggest that thymus negative selection cancels out the advantages of increased thymic positive selection in the MHC heterozygotes.
Project description:Transformation of Chicken Embryo fibroblast by MafA is dependent on its phosphorylation status. Using microarray analysis, we identify a gene expression subprogram regulated by MafA phosphorylation. Keywords: phosphorylation mediated transcriptional regulation
Project description:Rapid advances in biochemical technologies have enabled several strategies for typing candidate HLA alleles, but linking them into a single MHC haplotype structure remains challenging. Here we have developed a multi-loci haplotype phasing technique and demonstrate its utility towards phasing of MHC and KIR loci in human samples. We accurately (~99%) reconstruct the complete haplotypes for over 90% of sequence variants spanning the 4-megabase region of these two loci. By haplotyping a majority of coding and non-coding alleles at the MHC and KIR loci in a single assay, this method has the potential to assist transplantation matching and facilitate investigation of the genetic basis of human immunity and disease. Complete haplotype phasing of 2 loci (MHC and KIR) in 1 human cell line.
Project description:In vitro studies have implicated orphan receptor GPRC5B in β-cell survival, proliferation and insulin secretion, but its relevance for glucose homeostasis in vivo is largely unknown. Using tamoxifen-inducible, β-cell-specific GPRC5B knockout mice (Ins-G5b-KOs) we show here that loss of GPRC5B does not affect β-cell function in the lean state, but results in strongly reduced insulin secretion and disturbed glucose tolerance in mice subjected to high fat diet for 16 weeks. Flow cytometry and single-cell expression analyses in islets from obese mice show a reduced β-cell abundance and a less mature β-cell phenotype in Ins-G5b-KOs. Expression of β-cell-specific transcription factor MafA is reduced both on the RNA and protein level, as are transcripts of MafA target genes. Mechanistically, we show that phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), a major regulator of MafA expression, is reduced in islets of obese Ins-G5b-KOs, and that this phenotype precedes the downregulation of MafA and MafA target genes. Taken together, GPRC5B helps to maintain mature β-cell function in obesity through cAMP/CREB-dependent regulation of MafA expression.
Project description:In vitro studies have implicated orphan receptor GPRC5B in β-cell survival, proliferation and insulin secretion, but its relevance for glucose homeostasis in vivo is largely unknown. Using tamoxifen-inducible, β-cell-specific GPRC5B knockout mice (Ins-G5b-KOs) we show here that loss of GPRC5B does not affect β-cell function in the lean state, but results in strongly reduced insulin secretion and disturbed glucose tolerance in mice subjected to high fat diet for 16 weeks. Flow cytometry and single-cell expression analyses in islets from obese mice show a reduced β-cell abundance and a less mature β-cell phenotype in Ins-G5b-KOs. Expression of β-cell-specific transcription factor MafA is reduced both on the RNA and protein level, as are transcripts of MafA target genes. Mechanistically, we show that phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), a major regulator of MafA expression, is reduced in islets of obese Ins-G5b-KOs, and that this phenotype precedes the downregulation of MafA and MafA target genes. Taken together, GPRC5B helps to maintain mature β-cell function in obesity through cAMP/CREB-dependent regulation of MafA expression.