Project description:To gain a better understanding of the diurnal variation in gene expression, we analyzed the changes in gene expression in the eye of zebrafish. Dual color oligonucleotide microarrays were used to compare total RNA harvested from eyes of adult zebrafish at midday and midnight. Statistical analyses identified 44 genes which showed significant, 2-fold or more change; 26 genes showed decreased expression at midnight (D/L ≤ 0.5) and 18 genes showed increased expression at midnight (D/L ≥ 2). Seven genes were further analyzed using qPCR. The results of qPCR identified AANAT, Mel1a1, Mel1a3, Mel1b1, Mel1b2 and Melc as genes that showed significant change in expression at dawn, dusk, midday and midnight. These results suggest that expression of melatonin receptors is subject to diurnal regulation.
Project description:Epigenetic variation has the potential to control environmentally dependent development and contribute to phenotypic responses to local environments. Environmental epigenetic studies of sexual organisms confirm the responsiveness of epigenetic variation, which should be even more important when genetic variation is lacking. A previous study of an asexual snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, demonstrated that different populations derived from a single clonal lineage differed in both shell phenotype and methylation signature when comparing lake versus river populations. Here, we examine methylation variation among lakes that differ in environmental disturbance and pollution histories. The differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs) identified among the different lake comparisons suggested a higher number of DMRs and variation between rural Lake 1 and one urban Lake 2 and between the two urban Lakes 2 and 3, but limited variation between the rural Lake 1 and urban Lake 3. DMR genomic characteristics and gene associations were investigated. Observations suggest there is no effect of geographic distance or any consistent pattern of DMRs between urban and rural lakes. Environmental factors may influence epigenetic response.
Project description:Endogenous peptides mediate many biological events in multicellular organisms, but such function peptides have been rarely identified and characterized in plants. Here we developed an optimized quantitative peptidomics approach based on mass spectrometry, which is highly reproducible and efficient, as evidenced by the improved quality and quantity. Furthermore, this developed approach was used to characterize diurnal variation of maize peptides. Overall, 4676 peptides were identified and showed a time-dependent pattern. Of which, 14.16% (662) of endogenous peptides showed daily rhythms in abundance, largely in a phase-specific manner. The peak phases of rhythmic peptides were clustered around the time point 6 h after lights off, which was inconsistent with the peaks at dawn and dusk identified at the transcript level. Surprisingly, 40% of hub peptides identified by co-expressed analysis are diurnal rhythmic, highlighting the prominent roles of endogenous peptides in plant daily rhythm. Notably, further analysis showed that majority of the identified peptides in this study are initiated at non-AUG codons, indicating that non-AUG translation events are more widespread in plants than previously thought. Summarily, this study provides an optimized peptiodomics workflow for large-scale identification and quantification of endogenous peptide. In addition, it is the first report of plant peptides with diurnal variation, which indicating the potential function of plant endogenous peptides in circadian control.
Project description:The purpose of this study was to explore diurnal gene expression changes that occur in the RPE/Choroid/Sclera. Mice C57BL/6J were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and raised to approximately 2 months of age and entrained to a 12hr/12hr light/dark cycle for two weeks. Eye cups from male mice were rapidly dissected and RPE/ choroid/sclera tissues were collected over three consecutive diurnal cycles at Zeitgeber time (ZT) 0.5, 1, 1.5, 4, 11, 13, 16, and 23 hrs, for a total of 24 time points. Three mice were used for each time point and dissections for dark time points were done under dim-red light. To generate a reference RNA for microarray hybridization, whole eyes from equal numbers of male and female mice were collected at ZT6 and ZT7. Time: Samples were collected at the indicated Zeitgeber time points
Project description:The purpose of this study was to explore diurnal gene expression changes that occur in the RPE/Choroid/Sclera. Mice C57BL/6J were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and raised to approximately 2 months of age and entrained to a 12hr/12hr light/dark cycle for two weeks. Eye cups from male mice were rapidly dissected and RPE/ choroid/sclera tissues were collected over three consecutive diurnal cycles at Zeitgeber time (ZT) 0.5, 1, 1.5, 4, 11, 13, 16, and 23 hrs, for a total of 24 time points. Three mice were used for each time point and dissections for dark time points were done under dim-red light. To generate a reference RNA for microarray hybridization, whole eyes from equal numbers of male and female mice were collected at ZT6 and ZT7. Time: Samples were collected at the indicated Zeitgeber time points time series design
Project description:To gain a better understanding of the diurnal variation in gene expression, we analyzed the changes in gene expression in the eye of zebrafish. Dual color oligonucleotide microarrays were used to compare total RNA harvested from eyes of adult zebrafish at midday and midnight. Statistical analyses identified 44 genes which showed significant, 2-fold or more change; 26 genes showed decreased expression at midnight (D/L ≤ 0.5) and 18 genes showed increased expression at midnight (D/L ≥ 2). Seven genes were further analyzed using qPCR. The results of qPCR identified AANAT, Mel1a1, Mel1a3, Mel1b1, Mel1b2 and Melc as genes that showed significant change in expression at dawn, dusk, midday and midnight. These results suggest that expression of melatonin receptors is subject to diurnal regulation. Wild-type ZDR zebrafish (Danio rerio) were obtained from Animal Wonders, San Marcos, TX, and Aquatica Tropicals, Plant City, FL. Fish were conditioned on a 12 hour light/dark cycle for a minimum of 14 days before use. The design of this analysis compared the experimental to the control: midnight samples were used as experimental and midday as control. Samples were collected in triplicate per time point with each replicate representing total RNA pooled from 9 fish. Dual-color microarray was used to compare the midnight and midday samples. A statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) and 2-fold or more change in an experimental sample as compared to a control indicated an up- or down-regulation in gene expression. Supplementary files: In Complete processed data file, "x" marked spots show intensities of less than 1000. In Intensity trimmed data file, all genes with signal intensities of less than 1000 in all triplicate time points were removed from the analysis.