Project description:We created mice, which are deficient for Myc specifically in cardiac myocytes by crossing crossed Myc-floxed mice (Mycfl/fl) and MLC-2VCre/+ mice. Serial analysis of earlier stages of gestation revealed that Myc-deficient mice died prematurely at E13.5-14.5. Morphological analyses of E13.5 Myc-null embryos showed normal ventricular size and structure; however, decreased cardiac myocyte proliferation and increased apoptosis was observed. BrdU incorporation rates were also decreased significantly in Myc-null myocardium. Myc-null mice displayed a 3.67-fold increase in apoptotic cardiomyocytes by TUNEL assay. We examined global gene expression using oligonucleotide microarrays. Numerous genes involved in mitochondrial death pathways were dysregulated including Bnip3L and Birc2. Keywords: wildtype vs Myc-null
Project description:We created mice, which are deficient for Myc specifically in cardiac myocytes by crossing crossed Myc-floxed mice (Mycfl/fl) and MLC-2VCre/+ mice. Serial analysis of earlier stages of gestation revealed that Myc-deficient mice died prematurely at E13.5-14.5. Morphological analyses of E13.5 Myc-null embryos showed normal ventricular size and structure; however, decreased cardiac myocyte proliferation and increased apoptosis was observed. BrdU incorporation rates were also decreased significantly in Myc-null myocardium. Myc-null mice displayed a 3.67-fold increase in apoptotic cardiomyocytes by TUNEL assay. We examined global gene expression using oligonucleotide microarrays. Numerous genes involved in mitochondrial death pathways were dysregulated including Bnip3L and Birc2. Hearts were taken from wide type and Myc-null Mouse embryos at E13.5 under the dissecting scope. Cardiac myocyte RNA was isolated using TRIZOL®Reagent Total RNA (100 ng) was hybridized to the Sentrix® MouseRef-8 Expression BeadChip that contains probes for ~24,000 transcripts. GeneChips were scanned using the Hewlett-Packard GeneArray Scanner G2500A. The data were analyzed with Illumina Inc. BeadStudio version 1.5.0.34 and normalized by rank invariant method.
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:Pregnancy-associated hypertensive (PAH) mice were maintained by mating females carrying the human angiotensinogen (hAGT) gene with males expressing the human renin (hRN) gene, as previously described (Takimoto E., et al., Science, 1996). Angiotensin II (AngII) has critical roles in regulation of blood pressure. In late pregnancy of PAH mice, increased AngII causes acute and severe hypertension with proteinuria. Furthermore, PAH mice show cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis and apoptosis. It is known that AngII downregulates mRNA of alpha 1a-adrenergic receptor (Adra1a) in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (Li H.T., et al., Circ. Res., 1997). Interestingly, we found that Adra1a knock out PAH (PAH/aKO) mice display more severe phenotype of cardiac hypertrophy in comparison to PAH mice. In this study, to understand the molecular basis of cardiac hypertrophy via regulation of Adra1a expression with AngII in PAH mice, we performed a comprehensive analysis of gene expression changes in cardiac remodeling of PAH and PAH/aKO mice using the next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq).
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.
Project description:The goals of this study is to identify the differential expressed genes in cardiac tissue of C57BL/6 mice with or without Angiotensin II (AngII) treatment, and compare the differential expressed genes in the cardiac tissue of Ang II infused C57BL/6 mice after Ethoxysanguinarine (ETH), Baicalin (BAI), Gastrodin (GAS) or valsartan (VAL) treatment. Briefly, the mice (n=30) were randomly divided into 6 groups: control, AngII, AngII + ETH, AngII + BAI, AngII + GAS and AngII + VAL groups (n=5 for each group). Mice in Control and AngII groups were infused with saline and 500 ng/kg/min of AngII respectively, and orally administrated with saline; the mice in AngII + ETH, AngII + BAI and AngII + GAS groups were infused with AngII (500 ng/kg/min) and orally administrated with 5 mg/kg /day of ETH, BAI or GAS daily for total 4 weeks. The mice in AngII + VAL group were infused with AngII (500 ng/kg/min) and orally administrated with 10.4mg/kg /day of VAL. Then the cardiac tissues were used to identify differentially expressed genes among different groups.
Project description:We characterized the metabolic and cardiac mitochondrial function in a mouse model of non-ischemic HF. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis and hypertension, which often present together, are two important risk factors in human non-ischemic HF. Compared with L-NAME L-NG-Nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis or Angiotensin II (AngII), a hypertensive agent treatment alone, L-NAME+AngII induced the most severe HF phenotype characterized by edema, hypertrophy, fibrosis, increased blood pressure and reduced ejection fractions. L-NAME+AngII treated mice had robust deterioration of cardiac mitochondrial function we observed. Microarray analyses revealed majority of the gene changes attributed to the combination of L-NAME+AngII. Pathway analyses indicated significant changes in metabolic pathways such as mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism and tricarboxylic acid pathways etc.in L-NAME+AngII hearts. We conclude that combination of L-NAME+AngII exacerbates cardiac contractile and mitochondrial functional de-regulation compared with L-NAME and AngII alone, resulting in non-ischemic HF. This model of heart failure may be highly valuable in studying mechanisms and treatments for non-ischemic heart failure. Twelve week-old C57BL6 male mice were randomly assigned to 4 groups: 1. Control, 2. L-NAME treatment, 3. AngII treatment, 4. L-NAME+AngII treatment.L-NAME (0.3 mg/ml with 1% NaCl) was administered in drinking water. AngII (0.7 mg/kg/day) was administered via subcutaneous micro-osmotic pumps. L-NAME and AngII were administered to mice for 5 weeks and 4 weeks in combination to induce HF or alone to study the effects of the individual agents.