Project description:Exercise is a fundamental component of human health that is associated with greater life expectancy and reduced risk of chronic diseases. While the beneficial effects of endurance exercise on human health are well established, the molecular mechanisms responsible for these observations remain unclear. Endurance exercise reduces the accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, alleviates multisystem pathology, and increases the lifespan of the mtDNA mutator mouse model of aging, in which the proof-reading capacity of mitochondrial polymerase gamma (POLG1) is deficient. Clearly, exercise recruited a POLG1-independent mtDNA repair pathway to induce these adaptations, a novel finding as POLG1 is canonically considered to be the sole mtDNA repair enzyme. Here we investigate the identity of this pathway, and show that endurance exercise prevents mitochondrial oxidative damage, attenuates telomere erosion, and mitigates cellular senescence and apoptosis in mtDNA mutator mice. Unexpectedly, we observe translocation of tumour suppressor protein p53 to mitochondria in response to endurance exercise that facilitates mtDNA mutation repair. Indeed, endurance exercise failed to prevent mtDNA mutations, induce mitochondrial biogenesis, preserve mitochondrial morphology, reverse sarcopenia, and mitigate premature mortality in mtDNA mutator mice with muscle-specific deletion of p53. Our data establish an exciting new role for p53 in exercise-mediated maintenance of the mtDNA genome, and presents mitochondrially-targeted p53 as a novel therapeutic modality for aging-associated diseases of mitochondrial etiology.
Project description:Exercise is a fundamental component of human health that is associated with greater life expectancy and reduced risk of chronic diseases. While the beneficial effects of endurance exercise on human health are well established, the molecular mechanisms responsible for these observations remain unclear. Endurance exercise reduces the accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, alleviates multisystem pathology, and increases the lifespan of the mtDNA mutator mouse model of aging, in which the proof-reading capacity of mitochondrial polymerase gamma (POLG1) is deficient. Clearly, exercise recruited a POLG1-independent mtDNA repair pathway to induce these adaptations, a novel finding as POLG1 is canonically considered to be the sole mtDNA repair enzyme. Here we investigate the identity of this pathway, and show that endurance exercise prevents mitochondrial oxidative damage, attenuates telomere erosion, and mitigates cellular senescence and apoptosis in mtDNA mutator mice. Unexpectedly, we observe translocation of tumour suppressor protein p53 to mitochondria in response to endurance exercise that facilitates mtDNA mutation repair. Indeed, endurance exercise failed to prevent mtDNA mutations, induce mitochondrial biogenesis, preserve mitochondrial morphology, reverse sarcopenia, and mitigate premature mortality in mtDNA mutator mice with muscle-specific deletion of p53. Our data establish an exciting new role for p53 in exercise-mediated maintenance of the mtDNA genome, and presents mitochondrially-targeted p53 as a novel therapeutic modality for aging-associated diseases of mitochondrial etiology. Microarray analysis of gene expression from skeletal muscle (quadriceps femoris) from Mus musculus. N=23 samples per treatment were analysed for whole transcriptiome gene expression profile using NimbleGen Arrays. The treatment groups included wild-type C57Bl/6J mice as the control group, then two treatment groups which both contained homozygous knock-in mtDNA mutator mice (PolG; PolgAD257A/D257A). Once group of these heterozygous knock out mice received regular endurance exercise sessions while the other group remained sedentraty for 6 months. The control group specimens were wild-type litter mates to the transgenic knockout mice.
Project description:To study whether increase in mitochondrial oxidative stress (SOD2 removal) and decrease in mitochondrial DNA repair (Ogg1 dMTS) results into increase in mitochondrial DNA mutation load. Oxidative stress has been suggested to induce mutations in mtDNA. To verify this, we extracted and sequenced (Illumina) mitochondrial DNA from heart Sod2 knockout animals that were also deficient for mitochondrial base-excision repair. The repair deficiency was induced by removing the genomic region encoding for the predicted mitochondrial targeting sequence from endogenous OGG1 (L2 to W23) called Ogg1 dMTS mice, thus excluding the protein from mitochondria. OGG1 is a DNA glycosylase that recognizes and repairs 8-oxo-dG damage from DNA. Oxidative stress can induce 8-oxo-dG lesions, thus we removed the mitochondrial matrix localized superoxide dismutase (SOD2) from these mice to increase the level of oxidative stress. 8-oxo-dG lesion can be mutagenic because some DNA repair polymerases are known to erroneously incorporate adenosine opposite to 8-oxo-dG during replication leading to GC>TA transversion mutations.
Project description:To study whether increase in mitochondrial oxidative stress (SOD2 removal) and decrease in mitochondrial DNA repair (Ogg1 dMTS) results into increase in mutations in mitochondrial RNA (mtRNA). Oxidative stress has been suggested to induce mutations in mtDNA and as DNA is used as a template in transcription, mutations or 8-oxo-dG on DNA can induce GC>TA transversion accumulation in mtRNA. To verify this, we extracted and sequenced (Illumina) total RNA from heart Sod2 knockout mice alone and mice that were also deficient for mitochondrial base-excision repair. The repair deficiency was induced by removing the genomic region encoding for the predicted mitochondrial targeting sequence from endogenous OGG1 (L2 to W23) called Ogg1 dMTS mice, thus excluding the protein from mitochondria. OGG1 is a DNA glycosylase that recognizes and repairs 8-oxo-dG damage from DNA. Oxidative stress can induce 8-oxo-dG lesions, thus we removed the mitochondrial matrix localized superoxide dismutase (SOD2) from these mice to increase the level of oxidative stress. 8-oxo-dG lesion can be mutagenic because some DNA repair polymerases are known to erroneously incorporate adenosine opposite to 8-oxo-dG during replication leading to GC>TA transversion mutations.
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:Comparison of gene expression profiles from Mus musculus cerebral hemisphere after physical exercise (treadmill; endurance training over 4 weeks). The RNA-seq data comprise4 groups: 2 age groups, each w/ and w/o physical exercise. Jena Centre for Systems Biology of Ageing - JenAge (www.jenage.de)
Project description:Comparison of gene expression profiles from Mus musculus hippocampus after physical exercise (treadmill; endurance training over 4 weeks). The RNA-seq data comprise 4 groups: 2 age groups, each w/ and w/o physical exercise. Jena Centre for Systems Biology of Ageing - JenAge (www.jenage.de)
Project description:Translational research is commonly performed in the C57B6/J mouse strain, chosen for its genetic homogeneity and phenotypic uniformity. Here, we evaluate the suitability of the white-footed deer mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) as a model organism for aging research, offering a comparative analysis against C57B6/J and diversity outbred (DO) Mus musculus strains. Our study includes comparisons of body composition, skeletal muscle function, and cardiovascular parameters, shedding light on potential applications and limitations of P. leucopus in aging studies. Notably, P. leucopus exhibits distinct body composition characteristics, emphasizing reduced muscle force exertion and a unique metabolism, particularly in fat mass. Cardiovascular assessments showed changes in arterial stiffness, challenging conventional assumptions and highlighting the need for a nuanced interpretation of aging-related phenotypes. Our study also highlights inherent challenges associated with maintaining and phenotyping P. leucopus cohorts. Behavioral considerations, including anxiety-induced responses during handling and phenotyping assessment, pose obstacles in acquiring meaningful data. Moreover, the unique anatomy of P. leucopus necessitates careful adaptation of protocols designed for Mus musculus. While showcasing potential benefits, further extensive analyses across broader age ranges and larger cohorts are necessary to establish the reliability of P. leucopus as a robust and translatable model for aging studies.
Project description:Comparison of gene expression profiles from Mus musculus muscle after physical exercise (treadmill). The RNA-seq data comprise 4 groups: 2 strains, each w/ and w/o physical exercise. Jena Centre for Systems Biology of Ageing - JenAge (www.jenage.de)
Project description:BackgroundCopy number variation is an important dimension of genetic diversity and has implications in development and disease. As an important model organism, the mouse is a prime candidate for copy number variant (CNV) characterization, but this has yet to be completed for a large sample size. Here we report CNV analysis of publicly available, high-density microarray data files for 351 mouse tail samples, including 290 mice that had not been characterized for CNVs previously.ResultsWe found 9634 putative autosomal CNVs across the samples affecting 6.87% of the mouse reference genome. We find significant differences in the degree of CNV uniqueness (single sample occurrence) and the nature of CNV-gene overlap between wild-caught mice and classical laboratory strains. CNV-gene overlap was associated with lipid metabolism, pheromone response and olfaction compared to immunity, carbohydrate metabolism and amino-acid metabolism for wild-caught mice and classical laboratory strains, respectively. Using two subspecies of wild-caught Mus musculus, we identified putative CNVs unique to those subspecies and show this diversity is better captured by wild-derived laboratory strains than by the classical laboratory strains. A total of 9 genic copy number variable regions (CNVRs) were selected for experimental confirmation by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).ConclusionThe analysis we present is a comprehensive, genome-wide analysis of CNVs in Mus musculus, which increases the number of known variants in the species and will accelerate the identification of novel variants in future studies.