Project description:Genetic variations in drug metabolising enzymes play a role in how individuals respond to drugs. Pharmacogene variation data in the Ghanaian population is limited and this study looks at exploring common variations that exist in our population for commonly used drugs. Samples were validated with PCR-RFLP for accuracy
Project description:Genetic variations in drug metabolising enzymes play a role in how individuals respond to drugs. Pharmacogene variation data in the Ghanaian population is limited and this study looks at exploring common variations that exist in our population for commonly used drugs. In addition, the study also looks at the how variations in cytokines and HLA play a role in HBV pathogenesis. Samples were validated with PCR-RFLP for accuracy
Project description:Genetically identical inbred mice exhibit substantial stable individual variability in exploratory behavior. We used microarrays to look at gene expression differences in the hippocampus in female mice separated by stable differences in exploratory behavior
Project description:Plants display remarkable developmental and phenotypic plasticity in order to adapt to their environment. It has long been postulated that epigenetics plays a key role in these processes, but with one or two exceptions, solid evidence for the role of epigenetic variation in these processes is lacking. A key impediment to understanding these processes is the lack of information on the extent of epigenetic variation and how it relates to genetic and phenotypic variation in natural population, both over the lifecycle of an individual, and over evolutionary time. Here we show that genetic variants under selection in the north of Sweden appear to drive variation in DNA methylation, which in turn is highly correlated with local climate. Selective sweeps and genetic variants associated with adaptation to the local environment have previously been identified within the Swedish Arabidopsis population. Our finding that they harbour variants responsible for climate associated epigenetic variation strongly supports the role of epigenetic processes in local adaptation. These findings provide a basis for further dissecting the role of epigenetics in local adaptation at the molecular level Bisulfite sequencing of 113 F2 crosses between T550 and Brosarp-11-135.
Project description:Analysis of human population methylome variation in adipose tissue and whole blood at single-site resolution by whole genome bisulfite sequencing.
Project description:During locomotion, trajectory changes necessitate precise tuning of descending commands to scale turning movements according to specific tasks or objectives, resulting in either rapid steering turns during prey pursuit or routine shallow turns associated with exploration. We show that these two types of turning are controlled by separate brainstem circuits that encode rapid steering turning versus slow exploratory turns. The circuit for rapid steering is widely distributed across different brainstem nuclei, involving specific excitatory V2a and inhibitory commissural V0d neurons. The steering V2a and V0d neurons are furthermore coupled via gap junctions and simultaneously recruited to ensure rapid steering through an asymmetrical recruitment of spinal motor neurons. The recruitment of these steering neurons is primarily associated with the degree of the direction change, rather than the locomotor frequency. The brainstem steering neurons are, in turn, controlled by a subset of V2a neurons in the pretectum activated by salient visual input. Conversely, the circuit controlling swim-related slow exploratory turns comprises a different set of V2a neurons localized in fewer brainstem nuclei. These findings demonstrate a modular organization of the brainstem circuits that control rapid steering and slow exploratory turning during locomotion.
Project description:To investigate the effect of sex on within- and between-population variation in gene expression, we performed a microarray analysis of adult females from 16 strains of Drosophila melanogaster, including eight strains from the putative ancestral range in sub-Saharan Africa and eight strains from a European population. The results were compared to those of a previous study of adult male gene expression variation among the same strains (GSE8843).
Project description:Genetically identical inbred mice exhibit substantial stable individual variability in exploratory behavior. We used microarrays to look at gene expression differences in the hippocampus in female mice separated by stable differences in exploratory behavior Experiment Overall Design: Balb c/J offspring were briefly separated from mothers for 15 minutes each morning on postnatal days 1-14 (handled group) or left undisturbed. At 8 weeks of age mice were tested in the open-field and light-dark behavioral paradigms to verify a handling-induced behavioral phenotype. 2 weeks after behavioral testing, animals were sacrificed and the CA1 region was microdissected. CA1 regions were stored at -20C in RNA later. RNA was extracted from 8 samples (4 handled and 4 non-handled) using Trizol. RNA was extracted from second group of animals (7 handled and 10 non-handled) using Qiagen RNA/DNA columns. All total RNA samples were double round amplied and labeled using standard Affymetrix protocols and hybridized to Mouse 430_2.0 arrays in parallel.