Project description:Alpha-parvin (PARVA) is known to involve in the linkage of integrins, regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics, and cell survival. However, the role of PARVA in cancer progress is still unclear. Here, we identify PARVA as a potential oncogene from a lung cancer invasion cell line model by expression microarrays. Overexpression of PARVA enhances cell invasion, colony formation ability, and endothelial cell tube formation but knockdown of PARVA inhibits invasion and tube formation in vitro. PARVA also promotes tumorigenicity, angiogenesis, metastasis and mortality by in vivo tumorigenesis and metastasis mouse models. To explore the underlying mechanism, the PARVA-regulated signaling pathways were analyzed in PARVA-overexpressing cells compare with mock controls by expression microarrays. We used microarrays to profile the global gene expression of PARVA-overexpressing cells compared with mock control cells and identified the pathways involved in PARVA-induced biofunctional alterations.
Project description:Podocyte specific knockout mice for Parva (Parva-fl/fl*hNPHS2Cre) were generated. Transcriptome profiling (RNA-Seq) and differential gene expression analysis of isolated renal glomeruli from KO and WT mice was performed. Parva KO mice showed transcriptional changes associated with podocyte and glomerular disease.
Project description:Gigantopithecus blacki was a giant hominid that inhabited Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene. Its evolutionary relationship to other great ape species, and their divergence during the Middle and Late Miocene (16-5.3 Mya), remains disputed. In part, this is due to the absence of cranial and postcranial remains and size-induced allometry. Proposed hypothesis on the phylogenetic positions of Gigantopithecus have therefore been wide-ranging among hominoids, but none has received independent validation based on molecular evidence. To clarify the phylogenetic placement of Gigantopithecus blacki, we retrieved enamel proteome sequences from a 1.9 million years (Mya) old molar found in Chuifeng Cave, China. We demonstrate that Gigantopithecus is most closely related to orangutans (genus Pongo). We also estimate the Gigantopithecus-Pongo divergence to about 10-12 Mya, implying its speciation is part of the Miocene radiation of great apes. These sequences are approximately 6 times older, in a normalized thermal context, than any previously published mammalian proteome or genome. The survival of an Early Pleistocene dental enamel proteome in the subtropics further expands the scope of palaeoproteomic analysis into geographic areas and time periods previously considered incompatible with biomolecular preservation.
Project description:Administration of attenuated autologous Theileria parva infected cells can be used as an alternative to the infection-and-treatment method for inducing immunological protection against East Coast Fever. The mechanism of attenuation however has not been described. Using RNA sequencing, the transcriptomes of both host and parasite in uninfected (control), pathogenic (day 7 post-infection) and attenuated (day 69 post-infection) T. parva infected bovine CD4+ T-cells were characterized and compared. Our findings suggest that three major mechanisms are associated with attenuation of T. parva-infected cells – a decrease in proliferation, a partial restoration of the inflammatory profile, and a shift in metabolism. Several host genes (TRAIL, PD-1, TGF-β and granzymes) were identified as candidates for further exploration. Evaluation of the parasite transcriptomes in these cells also provided first insights into potential candidate T. parva genes involved in attenuation, but subsequent studies are required to further examine these.