MicroRNA对胚胎干细胞的多能性网络调控

胚胎干细胞(Embryonic stem cells, ESCs)是一类能够无限增殖和诱导分化为多种类型细胞的干细胞。MicroRNA(miRNA)是一类内源性具有调控基因表达功能的非编码RNA, 在ESCs增殖和分化过程中起重要作用。MiRNA可以通过对ESCs多能性网络中的转录因子、细胞周期、表观遗传学、信号转导等方面调控, 促使ESCs维持多能性状态。文章重点综述了miRNA的生成过程、调控ESCs多能性的主要miRNA家族以及miRNA对ESCs多能性网络调控作用等内容。     

Dynamical Modeling of the Cell Cycle and Cell Fate Emergence in Caulobacter crescentus

The division of Caulobacter crescentus, a model organism for studying cell cycle and differentiation in bacteria, generates two cell types: swarmer and stalked. To complete its cycle, C. crescentus must first differentiate from the swarmer to the stalked phenotype. An important regulator involved in this process is CtrA, which operates in a gene regulatory network and coordinates many of the interactions associated to the generation of cellular asymmetry. Gaining insight into how such a differentiation phenomenon arises and how network components interact to bring about cellular behavior and function demands mathematical models and simulations. In this work, we present a dynamical model based on a generalization of the Boolean abstraction of gene expression for a minimal network controlling the cell cycle and asymmetric cell division in C. crescentus. This network was constructed from data obtained from an exhaustive search in the literature. The results of the simulations based on our model show a cyclic attractor whose configurations can be made to correspond with the current knowledge of the activity of the regulators participating in the gene network during the cell cycle. Additionally, we found two point attractors that can be interpreted in terms of the network configurations directing the two cell types. The entire network is shown to be operating close to the critical regime, which means that it is robust enough to perturbations on dynamics of the network, but adaptable to environmental changes.