Project description:Analysis of leaves of wild-type and rice COI mutants treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Results provide the role of rice COI on response to jasmonic acid.
Project description:Aim: To improve risk stratification in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), we aimed to identify genes in monocytes predictive of new ischemic events in patients with CAD and determine to what extent expression of these transcripts resembles expression in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Results: COX10 and ZNF484 distinguished between AMI and the whole group of stable CAD patients with an accuracy of 90%. COX10 and ZNF484 together with MT-COI and WNK1 distinguished AMI patients from stable CAD patients with and without a new event with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 98%. MT-COI and COX10 increased the accuracy for separating stable CAD patients with and without a new coronary event from 68 to 80% in addition to age, gender, BMI, diabetes, lipids, blood pressure and hs-CRP. Interestingly, expression of MT-COI, COX10 and WNK1 (but not ZNF484) in PBMCs paired with that in monocytes; COX10 in whole blood was similar to that in monocytes. Conclusions: This work showed that COX10 and ZNF484, eventually combined with MT-COI and WNK1 have the potential to accurately discriminate between AMI and stable CAD patients, and may improve the risk assessment of stable CAD patients.
Project description:Coilin is a scaffold protein essential for the structural integrity of Cajal Bodies, which are non-membranous nuclear organelles that are thought to facilitate assembly and maturation of nuclear RNPs, including spliceosomal snRNPs. To investigate further coilin’s functions in plant cells, and to identify proteins that may functionally interact with coilin, we performed a genetic suppressor screen in Arabidopsis thaliana using a coilin (coi) mutant displaying altered splicing of a GFP pre-mRNA. The modified splicing pattern results in a ‘hyper-GFP’ phenotype in young coi seedlings relative to the intermediate level of GFP in wild-type seedlings. Additionally, in newly emerging leaves of older coi seedlings, the GFP gene frequently undergoes abrupt siRNA-associated posttranscriptional gene silencing that persists during growth. In the suppressor screen, we searched for mutations that subdue one or both of these GFP phenotypes and identified several understudied factors in plants: WRAP53, a putative Cajal body protein; SMU2, a predicted splicing-related factor; and ZC3HC1, an uncharacterized zinc finger protein. All three mutations return the hyper-GFP phenotype of the coi mutant to approximately the intermediate wild-type level. The zc3hc1 mutations in particular induce premature and more extensive posttranscriptional gene silencing similar to mutations in SOP1 and DCL4, which are known modifiers of posttranscriptional gene silencing. Candidate coilin-interacting proteins identified by immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry include many splicing-related factors, nucleolar proteins, and mRNA export factors. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of the coi mutant to identify new modifiers of alternative splicing and posttranscriptional gene silencing, and suggest diverse roles for coilin in plant cells.