Gene Expression Pattern after Insertion of Dexamethasone-Eluting Electrode into the Guinea Pig Cochlea

A cochlear implant is an indispensable apparatus for a profound hearing loss patient. But insertion of the electrode entails a great deal of stress to the cochlea, and may cause irreversible damage to hair cells and related nerve structure. Although damage prevention effects of dexamethasone have been reported, long-term administration is difficult. In this study, we used a dexamethasone-eluting electrode in the guinea pig cochlea, and compared the gene expression after 7 days insertion with that of a normal electrode and non-surgically treated control by microarray. 40 genes were up-regulated 2-fold or more in the normal electrode group compared to the non-surgically treated group. Most of the up-regulated genes were associated with immune response and inflammation. In the dexamethasone-eluting group, compared to the normal electrode group, 7 of the 40 genes were further up-regulated, while 12 of them were down-regulated and there was a tendency to return to the non-surgical condition. 9 genes were down-regulated 2-fold or less with normal electrode insertion, and 4 of the 9 tended to return to the non-surgical condition in the dexamethasone-eluting group. These genes are certainly involved in the maintenance of the physiological functions of the cochlea. Our results indicate that the dexamethasone-eluting electrode will have an effect on the normalization of homeostasis in the cochlea.     

Cross-Platform Prediction of Gene Expression Signatures

Gene expression signatures can predict the activation of oncogenic pathways and other phenotypes of interest via quantitative models that combine the expression levels of multiple genes. However, as the number of platforms to measure genome-wide gene expression proliferates, there is an increasing need to develop models that can be ported across diverse platforms. Because of the range of technologies that measure gene expression, the resulting signal values can vary greatly. To understand how this variation can affect the prediction of gene expression signatures, we have investigated the ability of gene expression signatures to predict pathway activation across Affymetrix and Illumina microarrays. We hybridized the same RNA samples to both platforms and compared the resultant gene expression readings, as well as the signature predictions. Using a new approach to map probes across platforms, we found that the genes in the signatures from the two platforms were highly similar, and that the predictions they generated were also strongly correlated. This demonstrates that our method can map probes from Affymetrix and Illumina microarrays, and that this mapping can be used to predict gene expression signatures across platforms.     

分析基因表达图式的新方法

随着基因组研究的深入进行,基因的分子生物学除了要寻找在生物学上重要的个别基因并研究其结构与功能外,更重要的应是了解整个基因组的功能活动,即细胞全部基因的表达图式.要解决如此复杂的问题就必须在研究方法上有所创新,基因表达系列分析法、cDNA微阵列分析法、DNA微芯片分析法等正是近几年发展起来的分析基因表达图式的新方法.     

Pattern of Nucleotide Substitutions in Growth Hormone-Prolactin Gene Family: A Paradigm for Evolution by Gene Duplication

The growth hormone-prolactin gene family in mammals is an interesting example of evolution by gene duplication. Divergence among members of duplicated gene families and among species was examined by using reported gene sequences of growth hormone, prolactin and their receptors. Sequence divergence among species was found to show a general tendency in which a generation-time effect is pronounced for synonymous substitutions but not so for nonsynonymous substitutions. Divergence among duplicated genes is characterized by the relatively high rate of nonsynonymous substitutions, i.e., the rate is close to that of synonymous ones. In view of the stage- and tissue-specific expression of duplicated genes, some of the amino acid substitutions among duplicated genes is likely to be caused by positive Darwinian selection.     

应用GeneSifter软件分析范可尼贫血基因表达谱的报告

目的:探讨范可尼贫血(Fanconi anemia,FA)发病的分子机制。方法:用GeneSifter软件对FA转录子协会公布的FA基因芯片表达数据进行统计学分析,结合Gene Ontologe和KEGG通路分析。结果:从FA细胞中筛选出690个差异表达基因,涉及DNA损伤与修复等多种生物过程及多条通路,发现了TOP2A、MCM2、PCNA等多个与FA发病相关基因。结论:FA发病的分子机制主要与DNA损伤和修复过程中的解螺旋相关,RAD-6通路可能是其损伤后的重要修复通路,其次亦与钙离子信号通路等密切联系。     

基因重复研究进展

基因复制是基因通过不等交换,反转录转座或由全基因组复制等途径产生一个与原基因相似的基因或碱基序列,它与生物体基因组大小的进化、新基因的起源、物种的分化以及基因抗突变的能力大小等都密切相关。本文综述了复制基因的产生和保留机制、选择作用、分化的途径以及复制基因进化速率等方面的相关研究,揭示了基因复制对于生物进化的重要性,以引起大家对该领域的了解与关注。关键词：基因复制;复制基因;不等交换;反转录转座;全基因组复制     

多倍体植物中基因表达模式的变化

植物杂交和多倍化能导致基因组结构发生变化,并显著影响了基因表达,因此认为杂交和多倍化是促进植物进化的一个重要力量。近些年大量的研究表明植物多倍化后基因表达模式发生了复杂的改变,包括基因沉默、基因表达的基因组偏向性及组织特异性、基因激活等现象,本文对这些现象及其特点和机制进行了综述。     

Orthologs of the Arabidopsis CLAVATA1 Gene in the Cultivated Brassicaceae Plants

In Arabidopsis thaliana, the CLAVATA1 (CLV1) gene is involved in maintaining the balance between the stem cells in the central zone of the stem apical meristem and the determined cells at its periphery. However, CLV1 has not been previously characterized in other Brassicaceae. Using the direct amplification of genomic DNA, we obtained a full-length CLV1 ortholog from canola plants (Brassica napus), and also three CLV1 fragments from rape (B. rapa), canola (B. napus), and false flax (Camelina sativa), which corresponded to the transmembrane domain and a part of the kinase domain of the CLAVATA1 protein. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the full-size CLV1 ortholog from B. napus were similar by 81 and 87% to the prototype gene from arabidopsis; in the case of shorter gene fragments, the similarity was as high as 91–93 and 98%, respectively. By their primary structure, the CLV1 genes in the Brassicaceae considerably differ from their putative structural homologs beyond this family.     

Unique Pattern of Gene Expression in the Erythroid Precursor Cells

Erythroid cells were fractionated by preformed Percoll density gradient from livers of 12.5 day old mouse fetuses. With combination of lysing of mature erythroid cells, the CFU-E (colony forming unit of erythroid) was enriched as high as 30% pure. The mRNA levels of the rt-genes previously cloned as genes expressed in the reticulocytes are estimated in the fractionated erythroid cells. These rt-genes show a drastic change in expression during erythroid differentiation; Their expression was not detectable at the CFU-E cell stage. But it reached to maximum at the polychromatic erythroblast (stage I) and then decreases with maturation. The result suggests that mRNA synthesis of these rt-genes may be induced after the stimulation of erythropoietin.     

Identification of Common Prognostic Gene Expression Signatures with Biological Meanings from Microarray Gene Expression Datasets

Numerous prognostic gene expression signatures for breast cancer were generated previously with few overlap and limited insight into the biology of the disease. Here we introduce a novel algorithm named SCoR (Survival analysis using Cox proportional hazard regression and Random resampling) to apply random resampling and clustering methods in identifying gene features correlated with time to event data. This is shown to reduce overfitting noises involved in microarray data analysis and discover functional gene sets linked to patient survival. SCoR independently identified a common poor prognostic signature composed of cell proliferation genes from six out of eight breast cancer datasets. Furthermore, a sequential SCoR analysis on highly proliferative breast cancers repeatedly identified T/B cell markers as favorable prognosis factors. In glioblastoma, SCoR identified a common good prognostic signature of chromosome 10 genes from two gene expression datasets (TCGA and REMBRANDT), recapitulating the fact that loss of one copy of chromosome 10 (which harbors the tumor suppressor PTEN) is linked to poor survival in glioblastoma patients. SCoR also identified prognostic genes on sex chromosomes in lung adenocarcinomas, suggesting patient gender might be used to predict outcome in this disease. These results demonstrate the power of SCoR to identify common and biologically meaningful prognostic gene expression signatures.     

Duplication of the IGFBP-2 Gene in Teleost Fish: Protein Structure and Functionality Conservation and Gene Expression Divergence

Background

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) is a secreted protein that binds and regulates IGF actions in controlling growth, development, reproduction, and aging. Elevated expression of IGFBP-2 is often associated with progression of many types of cancers.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We report the identification and characterization of two IGFBP-2 genes in zebrafish and four other teleost fish. Comparative genomics and structural analyses suggest that they are co-orthologs of the human IGFBP-2 gene. Biochemical assays show that both zebrafish igfbp-2a and -2b encode secreted proteins that bind IGFs. These two genes exhibit distinct spatiotemporal expression patterns. During embryogenesis, IGFBP-2a mRNA is initially detected in the lens, then in the brain boundary vasculature, and subsequently becomes highly expressed in the liver. In the adult stage, liver has the highest levels of IGFBP-2a mRNA, followed by the brain. Low levels of IGFBP-2a mRNA were detected in muscle and in the gonad in male adults only. IGFBP-2b mRNA is detected initially in all tissues at low levels, but later becomes abundant in the liver. In adult males, IGFBP-2b mRNA is only detected in the liver. In adult females, it is also found in the gut, kidney, ovary, and muscle. To gain insights into how the IGFBP-2 genes may have evolved through partitioning of ancestral functions, functional and mechanistic studies were carried out. Expression of zebrafish IGFBP-2a and -2b caused significant decreases in the growth and developmental rates and their effects are comparable to that of human IGFBP-2. IGFBP-2 mutants with altered IGF binding-, RGD-, and heparin-binding sites were generated and their actions examined. While mutating the RGD and heparin binding sites had little effect, altering the IGF binding site abolished its biological activity.

Conclusions/Significance

These results suggest that IGFBP-2 is a conserved regulatory protein and it inhibits growth and development primarily by binding to and inhibiting IGF actions in vivo. The duplicated IGFBP-2 genes may provide additional flexibility in the regulation of IGF activities.     

Identification of Glyoxalase I Sequences in Brassica oleracea and Sporobolus stapfianus: Evidence for Gene Duplication Events

Glyoxalase I (GlxI) is the first of two enzymes involved in the cellular detoxification of methylglyoxal. A recent search of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases with the protein sequence of Salmonella typhimurium GlxI identified two new hypothetical proteins with unassigned function. These two sequences, from Brassica oleracea and Sporobolus stapfianus, have significant sequence similarity to known GlxI sequences, suggesting that these two open reading frames encode for GlxI in these plants. Interestingly, analysis of these two new sequences indicates that they code for a protein composed of two fused monomers, a situation previously found solely in the yeast GlxI enzymes. Received: 10 May 1997 / Accepted: 15 October 1997     

肺组织钩虫感染的基因表达谱分析

目的:从基因水平研究蠕虫感染和自身免疫性疾病之间的关系,发展治疗自身免疫病的新策略.方法:使用Gene Ontology和two-way ANOVA的方法,通过GeneSiRer VizX Labs LLC,Seattle,WA,USA软件对肺组织钩虫感染的基因表达谱进行分析.结果:得到具有种系效应的517个差异基因,对这些基因聚类,可以划分为在WT小鼠高表达和低表达两类,其中参与黄体酮代谢的基因Afp在WT小鼠肺组织呈过表达状态.结论:Th2细胞活化对自身免疫性疾病多发性硬化(Ms)具有抑制作用,并筛选出了Th2反应中的9个特异基因.     

Phosphoglucose Isomerase Expression in Species of Clarkia with and without a Duplication of the Coding Gene

The duplication of the nuclear gene specifying the cytosolic isozyme of phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI; EC 5.3.1.9) arose within Clarkia, a genus of annual plants native to California, and now characterizes about half of the diploid species of this genus. Evidence obtained by immunological inhibition and titration of crude leaf extracts demonstrated that species with and without the duplication have the same levels of cytosolic to total PGI (the sum of the cytosolic and plastid PGI activities). The immunological studies were carried out with a specific anticytosolic PGI antiserum and were fully supported by a densitometric analysis of the electrophoretically separated isozymes. Densitometric examination of electrophoretically separated PGIs in 11 vegetable species revealed only two levels of cytosolic to total PGI activities, one of which was the same as in Clarkia. This suggests that only certain levels of the cytosolic isozyme are compatible with proper operation of the cytosolic PGI reaction and make it likely that some form of genic or metabolic regulation has evolved that compensates for the PGI duplication.     

Gene Duplication and the Properties of Biological Networks

Patterns of network connection of members of multigene families were examined for two biological networks: a genetic network from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a protein–protein interaction network from Caenorhabditis elegans. In both networks, genes belonging to gene families represented by a single member in the genome (“singletons”) were disproportionately represented among the nodes having large numbers of connections. Of 68 single-member yeast families with 25 or more network connections, 28 (44.4%) were located in duplicated genomic segments believed to have originated from an ancient polyploidization event; thus, each of these 28 loci was thus presumably duplicated along with the genomic segment to which it belongs, but one of the two duplicates has subsequently been deleted. Nodes connected to major “hubs” with a large number of connections, tended to be relatively sparsely interconnected among themselves. Furthermore, duplicated genes, even those arising from recent duplication, rarely shared many network connections, suggesting that network connections are remarkably labile over evolutionary time. These factors serve to explain well-known general properties of biological networks, including their scale-free and modular nature. [Reviewing Editor : Dr. Manyuan Long]     

拟南芥非特异性磷脂酶C4基因表达模式的研究

拟南芥非特异性磷脂酶C4（AtNPC4）具有降解磷脂酰胆碱（PC）,产生二酰甘油（DAG）和磷酸胆碱的活性。本研究从拟南芥基因组中分离了NPC4基因起始密码子上游1 379bp的启动子序列,与GUS报告基因融合后转化拟南芥,获得转基因植株。GUS组织化学染色表明,AtNPC4基因主要在处于衰老过程中的叶片中高水平表达,在根、茎、种荚和花中也有一定程度的表达,这种表达模式与RT-PCR结果相一致。另外,通过RT-PCR发现,AtNPC4基因在转录水平上受脱落酸的诱导,但不受水杨酸和茉莉素诱导。