Project description:The aim of this study is to identify alterations induced in gastric mucosa of mice exposed to Pteridium aquilinum and/or infected with Helicobacter pylori, in order to identify genes that are induced by bracken fern exerts exacerbating effects on gastric lesions associated to the infection. Six groups of C57Bl/6 mice were be used: 1) control, 2) infected Helicobacter pylori, 3) treated with Bracken fern extract orogastrically, 4) treated with Bracken fern extract in drinking water, 5) infected Helicobacter pylori + treated with Bracken fern extract orogastrically, 6) infected Helicobacter pylori + treated with Bracken fern extract in drinking water. The infection procedure was performed using an orogastric inoculation of H.pylori (strain SS1) twice in the first week. The RNA isolation was done in triplicate (3 mice per each condition). Further evaluation of morphological alterations on gastric mucosa, proliferative index and induction of DNA strand breaks will be performed in the mice stomach exposed to Pteridium aquilinum infected or not with Helicobacter pylori. Alterations of glycosylation in gastric tissues will also evaluated.
Project description:Here we investigate the function of CUC1(CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON1) in the diversification of leaf forms between simple-leaved Arabidopsis thaliana and compound-leaved Cardamine hirsuta. CUC transcription factors are conserved regulators in leaf margin dissection and leaflet formation. ChCUC1, ChCUC2 and ChCUC3 function redundantly and are required for the leaflet formation in C. hirsuta. Recently we discovered that ChCUC1 has species species-specific expression in young leaves of C.hirsuta. Moreover, interspecies gene transfer of ChCUC1 allele into A.thaliana is sufficient to increase leaf complexity. On this basis, we hypothesize that redeployment of ChCUC1 in leaves contributes to the formation of leaflets instead of serrations. However, the mechanism underlying ChCUC1 regulating cell division, cell polarity, cytoskeleton and thus leaf marginal patterning remains elusive. To this end, we make use of chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing(ChIP-seq), transcriptomic, comparative genetics and advanced imaging approaches to identify the downstream regulating genes of ChCUC1.