Transcriptional Dynamics (transcriptional + dynamics)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Transcriptional dynamics of endodermal organ formation

DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 1 2009
Richard I. Sherwood
Abstract Although endodermal organs including the liver, pancreas, and intestine are of significant therapeutic interest, the mechanism by which the endoderm is divided into organ domains during embryogenesis is not well understood. To better understand this process, global gene expression profiling was performed on early endodermal organ domains. This global analysis was followed up by dynamic immunofluorescence analysis of key transcription factors, uncovering novel expression patterns as well as cell surface proteins that allow prospective isolation of specific endodermal organ domains. Additionally, a repressive interaction between Cdx2 and Sox2 was found to occur at the prospective stomach,intestine border, with the hepatic and pancreatic domains forming at this boundary, and Hlxb9 was revealed to have graded expression along the dorsal,ventral axis. These results contribute to understanding the mechanism of endodermal organogenesis and should assist efforts to replicate this process using pluripotent stem cells. Developmental Dynamics 238:29,42, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Links between methane flux and transcriptional activities of methanogens and methane oxidizers in a blanket peat bog

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
Thomas E. Freitag
Abstract The relationship between biogeochemical process rates and microbial functional activity was investigated by analysis of the transcriptional dynamics of the key functional genes for methanogenesis (methyl coenzyme M reductase; mcrA) and methane oxidation (particulate methane monooxygenase; pmoA) and in situ methane flux at two peat soil field sites with contrasting net methane-emitting and -oxidizing characteristics. qPCR was used to quantify the abundances of mcrA and pmoA genes and transcripts at two soil depths. Total methanogen and methanotroph transcriptional dynamics, calculated from mcrA and pmoA gene : transcript abundance ratios, were similar at both sites and depths. However, a linear relationship was demonstrated between surface mcrA and pmoA transcript dynamics and surface flux rates at the methane-emitting and methane-oxidizing sites, respectively. Results indicate that methanotroph activity was at least partially substrate-limited at the methane-emitting site and by other factors at the methane-oxidizing site. Soil depth also contributed to the control of surface methane fluxes, but to a lesser extent. Small differences in the soil water content may have contributed to differences in methanogen and methanotroph activities. This study therefore provides a first insight into the regulation of in situ, field-level surface CH4 flux at the molecular level by an accurate reflection of gene : transcript abundance ratios for the key genes in methane generation and consumption. [source]


Type III effectors orchestrate a complex interplay between transcriptional networks to modify basal defence responses during pathogenesis and resistance

THE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
William Truman
Summary To successfully infect a plant, bacterial pathogens inject a collection of Type III effector proteins (TTEs) directly into the plant cell that function to overcome basal defences and redirect host metabolism for nutrition and growth. We examined (i) the transcriptional dynamics of basal defence responses between Arabidopsis thaliana and Pseudomonas syringae and (ii) how basal defence is subsequently modulated by virulence factors during compatible interactions. A set of 96 genes displaying an early, sustained induction during basal defence was identified. These were also universally co-regulated following other bacterial basal resistance and non-host responses or following elicitor challenges. Eight hundred and eighty genes were conservatively identified as being modulated by TTEs within 12 h post-inoculation (hpi), 20% of which represented transcripts previously induced by the bacteria at 2 hpi. Significant over-representation of co-regulated transcripts encoding leucine rich repeat receptor proteins and protein phosphatases were, respectively, suppressed and induced 12 hpi. These data support a model in which the pathogen avoids detection through diminution of extracellular receptors and attenuation of kinase signalling pathways. Transcripts associated with several metabolic pathways, particularly plastid based primary carbon metabolism, pigment biosynthesis and aromatic amino acid metabolism, were significantly modified by the bacterial challenge at 12 hpi. Superimposed upon this basal response, virulence factors (most likely TTEs) targeted genes involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, consistent with the abrogation of lignin deposition and other wall modifications likely to restrict the passage of nutrients and water to the invading bacteria. In contrast, some pathways associated with stress tolerance are transcriptionally induced at 12 hpi by TTEs. [source]


Development of an in vitro cell culture model of hepatic steatosis using hepatocyte-derived reporter cells,

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 5 2009
Amol V. Janorkar
Abstract Fatty liver disease is a problem of growing clinical importance due to its association with the increasingly prevalent conditions of obesity and diabetes. While steatosis represents a reversible state of excess intrahepatic lipid, it is also associated with increased susceptibility to oxidative and cytokine stresses and progression to irreversible hepatic injury characterized by steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and malignancy. Currently, the molecular mechanisms underlying progression of this dynamic disease remain poorly understood, particularly at the level of transcriptional regulation. We recently constructed a library of stable monoclonal green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter cells that enable transcriptional regulation to be studied dynamically in living cells. Here, we adapt the reporter cells to create a model of steatosis that will allow investigation of transcriptional dynamics associated with the development of steatosis and the response to subsequent "second hit" stresses. The reporter model recapitulates many cellular features of the human disease, including fatty acid uptake, intracellular triglyceride accumulation, increased reactive oxygen species accumulation, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased susceptibility to apoptotic cytokine stresses, and decreased proliferation. Finally, to demonstrate the utility of the reporter cells for studying transcriptional regulation, we compared the transcriptional dynamics of nuclear factor ,B (NF,B), heat shock response element (HSE), and glucocorticoid response element (GRE) in response to their classical inducers under lean and fatty conditions and found that intracellular lipid accumulation was associated with dose-dependent impairment of NF,B and HSE but not GRE activation. Thus, steatotic reporter cells represent an efficient model for studying transcriptional responses and have the potential to provide important insights into the progression of fatty liver disease. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;102: 1466,1474. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]