The eukaryotic chromatin structure is essential in correctly defining transcription units. Impairing this structure can activate cryptic promoters, and lead to the accumulation of aberrant RNA transcripts. Here we discuss critical pathways that are responsible for the repression of cryptic transcription and the maintenance of genome integrity.

An inability to reliably predict quantitative behaviors for novel combinations of genetic elements limits the rational engineering of biological systems. We developed an expression cassette architecture for genetic elements controlling transcription and translation initiation in Escherichia coli: transcription elements encode a common mRNA start, and translation elements use an overlapping ...

RNA processing is an essential gene expression step and plays a crucial role to achieve diversity of gene products in eukaryotes. Various aberrant mRNAs transiently produced during RNA processing reactions are recognized and eliminated by specific quality control systems. It has been demonstrated that these mRNA quality control systems stimulate ...

RNA-Seq promises to be used in clinical settings as a gene-expression profiling tool; however, questions about its variability and biases remain and need to be addressed. Thus, RNA controls with known concentrations and sequence identities originally developed by the External RNA Control Consortium (ERCC) for microarray and qPCR platforms have ...

Often experimentalists require a quantitative assessment of the levels of heterologously expressed proteins to best interpret changed Ca signaling patterns. Here, we detail a rapid and convenient western blotting method for individual Xenopus oocytes. The method exploits recently introduced rapid blotting systems, commercially available from Invitrogen (iBlot) or Bio-Rad (Trans-Blot ...

Emotional faces are motivationally salient stimuli that automatically capture attention and rapidly potentiate neural processing. Because of their superior temporal resolution, scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) are ideal for examining rapid changes in neural activity. Some reports have found larger ERPs for fearful and angry faces compared to both neutral and ...

Differential analysis of gene and transcript expression using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is complicated by several sources of measurement variability and poses numerous statistical challenges. We present Cuffdiff 2, an algorithm that estimates expression at transcript-level resolution and controls for variability evident across replicate libraries. Cuffdiff 2 robustly identifies differentially ...

Polymorphism of variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in the promoter region of X-ray repair cross-complementing 5 (MIM: 194364, XRCC5; rs6147172) was reported. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the influence of this polymorphism on XRCC5 mRNA levels. Genotypes of XRCC5 VNTR were determined by high resolution ...

Whether the brain represents facial expressions as perceptual continua or as emotion categories remains controversial. Here, we measured the neural response to morphed images to directly address how facial expressions of emotion are represented in the brain. We found that face-selective regions in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and the ...

Objective. Aberrant splicing is one of the most significant components generating functional diversity in many pathological conditions. The objective of this study was to analyse the mutations or aberrant splicing of A20 transcript, the region encompassing the ovarian tumour (OTU) domain [which is functionally important as an inhibitor of nuclear ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that act as post-transcriptional gene regulators and have been shown to regulate many biological processes including embryonal development, cell differentiation, apoptosis, and proliferation. Variations in the expression of certain miRNAs have been linked to a wide range of human diseases - especially cancer - ...

Polyadenylation is a 3' mRNA processing event that contributes to gene expression by affecting stability, export and translation of mRNA. Human polyadenylation signals (PAS) have core and auxiliary elements that bind polyadenylation factors upstream and downstream of the cleavage site. The majority of mRNAs do not have optimal upstream and ...

Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that play roles in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Since the seminal discovery that aberrant miRNA expression has a causative role in leukemogenesis, the involvement of miRNAs in cancer initiation, propagation, and metastasis has been widely studied. In this review, we provide a ...

A convenient synthesis of natural and synthetic pterocarpans was achieved in three steps. Optical resolution of the respective enantiomers was accomplished by analytical and semi-preparative HPLC on a chiral stationary phase. For medicarpin and its synthetic derivative 9-demethoxymedicarpin, the absolute configuration was confirmed by a combination of experimental LC-ECD coupling ...

As more information is gathered on the mechanisms of transcription and translation, it is becoming apparent that these processes are highly regulated. The formation of mRNA secondary and tertiary structures is one such regulatory process that until recently it has not been analysed in depth. Formation of these mRNA structures ...

Expression of cytokine-regulated signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins was histochemically assessed in patients diagnosed as having Hashimoto's disease or focal lymphocytic thyroiditis (n = 10). All surgical specimens showed histological features of lymphocytic thyroiditis, including a diffuse infiltration with mononuclear cells and an incomplete loss of thyroid ...

AbstractWe delivered adenovirus vector (Ad) via intravitreous injection and monitored transgene (luciferase) expression in living mice (BALB/c) at multiple time points. In vivo live imaging technology was able to assess dynamically intraocular luciferase expression in a single animal population throughout the entire experiment period. Using this information, we were able ...

Secondary structure matters: We have constructed artificial intragenic riboswitches to probe ribosome accessibility to the 5' mRNA coding region at three-base resolution in Escherichia coli. We show that only mRNA folding stability in the +1 to +15 nt region affects the translation process.

When applied to complex transcript datasets, current tools for automated assembly of mRNA sequences require long run times and produce exponentially increasing numbers of splice variants. Here, we describe RCDA, a genome-based transcript assembly tool comprising RCluster, that recursively clusters transcripts, and DAssemble, that generates composite transcript sequences through path-finding ...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs), the innate immunity components, have been demonstrated to participate in multiple autoimmune diseases. However, our knowledge of the roles of TLRs in myasthenia gravis (MG) is still scarce. In this study, we detected the mRNA expression of TLR1 to TLR10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of ...

Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is an endocrine hormone that is secreted by bone and acts on the kidney and parathyroid glands to regulate phosphate homeostasis. The effects of FGF23 on phosphate homeostasis are mediated by binding to FGF receptors and their coreceptor, αklotho, which are abundantly expressed in the ...

TSH is the most important biomarker in the interpretation of thyroid function in man. Its levels are determined by circulating thyroid hormone (TH) levels that feed back centrally to regulate the expression of the subunits that comprise TSH from the pituitary. The nuclear corepressor 1 (NCoR1), is a critical coregulator ...

Thyroglobulin (Tg) is a macromolecular precursor in thyroid hormone synthesis to which iodine is stably bound. Tg, which is stored in the follicular space, is also a potent negative feedback regulator of follicular function, and this is achieved by suppressing mRNA levels of thyroid-specific genes such as the sodium/iodide symporter ...

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a broad range of biological roles, including regulation of expression of genes and chromosomes. Here, we present evidence that lncRNAs are involved in vertebrate circadian biology. Differential night/day expression of 112 lncRNAs (0.3 to >50 kb) occurs in the rat pineal gland, which is the ...

Propylthiouracil (PTU) and methimazole (MMI) are drugs that are widely used to treat Graves' disease. Although both exert an antithyroid effect primarily by blocking thyroid peroxidase activity, their molecular structure and other actions are different. We hypothesized that PTU and MMI may have differential effects on thyroid-specific gene expression and ...

Abstract Mammary gland development is a multi-stage process requiring tightly regulated spatial and temporal signaling pathways. Many of these pathways have been shown to be sensitive to oxidative stress. Understanding that the loss of manganese superoxide dismutase (Sod2) leads to increased cellular oxidative stress, and that the loss or silencing ...

Thymomas of the same histological subtype sometimes manifest different biological behaviors. Metastasis Tumor Antigen-2 (MTA2) is targeted by the transcriptional repressor Kaiso, the distribution which is thought to be modulated by p120catenin (p120ctn). It is currently unclear if expression of p120ctn, Kaiso, and MTA2 relates to the biological behavior of ...

Thyroid hormones play crucial roles in regulating development, morphogenesis, growth, and behavior in fishes. Some environmental pollutants have adverse effects on either development or function of the thyroid gland in fish. However, there are few reports on the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on fish thyroid. In the present ...

Thyroid hormone receptor-β (trβ) cDNA was identified in the adult of Pelophylax esculentus (previously: Rana esculenta), a seasonally breeding species, in order to detect spatial brain trβ expression, its levels through the seasons and in response to 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil, T(4) and T(3) administrations as well as to thermal manipulations. The deduced ...

α-Class GST (Gsta) represents an essential component of cellular antioxidant defense mechanisms in both the liver and the kidney. Estrogens and thyroid hormones (TH) play central roles in animal development, physiology, and behavior. Evidence of the overlapping functions of thyroid hormones and estrogens has been shown, although the molecular mechanisms ...

Background: Thyroid hormone regulates a wide range of cellular activities, including the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation. The thyroid-hormone-inactivating type 3 deiodinase (DIO3, D3) has been shown to be reactivated in human neoplasias. Here, we evaluated DIO3 expression in human papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods: Tumor and surrounding normal ...

The aim of the study was to elucidate aquaporin (AQP) family member mRNA expression and protein expression/localization in the rat lacrimal functional unit. The mRNA expression of all rat AQPs (AQP0-9, 11-12) in palpebral, fornical, and bulbar conjunctiva, cornea, lacrimal gland, and Meibomian gland was measured by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain ...

Autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTN) are known to receive an increased blood influx necessary to sustain their high rate of growth and hormone production. Here, we investigated the expression of hematic and lymphatic vases in a series of 20 AFTN compared with the contralateral non-tumor tissues of the same patients, ...

The symbiosis receptor kinase (SymRK) is required for morphological changes of legume root hairs triggered by rhizobial infection. How protein turnover of SymRK is regulated and how the nodulation factor signals are transduced downstream of SymRK are not known. In this report, a SymRK-interacting E3 ubiquitin ligase (SIE3) was shown ...

CD97, a member of the adhesion family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), complexes with and potentiates lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor signaling to the downstream effector RHOA. We show here that CD97 was expressed in a majority of thyroid cancers but not normal thyroid epithelium and that the level of CD97 expression ...

The miR-200 family was recently identified as a suppressor of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The loss or gain of miR-200 family members is associated with cancer invasion. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in the majority of anaplastic thyroid cancers (ATCs). The activation of EGFR by its ligand, epidermal ...

In a recent egg injection study, we showed that in ovo exposure to perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) affects the pipping success of developing chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) embryos. We also found evidence of thyroid hormone (TH) pathway interference at multiple levels of biological organization (i.e. somatic growth, mRNA expression and circulating ...

Fibroblasts (FIBs) within the retro-orbital space of patients with Graves' disease (GOFs) express thyrotropin receptors (TSHRs) and are thought to be an orbital target of TSHR-stimulating autoantibodies in Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). Recently, we developed a low molecular weight, drug-like TSHR antagonist (NCGC00229600) that inhibited TSHR activation in a model cell ...

This study investigated the distribution of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin receptor (NGALR) in human embryonic, fetal and normal adult tissues. Tissue microarray technology was used to perform immunohistochemical examination on human embryos, fetuses at 4-22 weeks of gestation and adult tissue specimens. Results demonstrated that during the ...

A subset of over-expressed microRNAs identified in parathyroid carcinomas (Ca) compared to normal glands, belong to C19MC, a cluster on chromosome 19q13.4 involved in stem cell biology and tumorigenesis. In the present study, the expression of C19MC-MIR371-3 clusters and the molecular mechanisms presiding their modulation were investigated in a series ...

Literature has consistently shown associations of BRAFV600E mutation with papillary thyroid cancer clinical features. However, the clinical utility of BRAF expression has not been clinically explored so far. We studied 67 thyroid nodules (32 benign nodules and 35 PTC cases). BRAF mRNA expression levels measured by a quantitative real-time PCR ...

Maternal thyroid hormones (THs) are important in early brain development long before the onset of embryonic TH secretion, but information about the regulation of TH availability in the brain at these early stages is still limited. We therefore investigated in detail the mRNA distribution pattern of the TH activating type ...

Thyrotropin (TSH) is a protein that plays a key role in the control of thyroid function. TSH consists of a common α-subunit and a unique β-subunit; the latter is responsible for hormone specificity. A novel splice variant of human TSHβ was identified in 2009. To date, only the tissue distribution ...

AIMS: To investigate the role of TH (thyroid hormones) in 5'-nucleotidase activity and expression in cardiac soluble fraction (SF). MAIN METHODS: Male Wistar rats received daily injections of T4 (10, 25 or 50μgT4/ 100g body weight) for 14days to develop a hyperthyroidism condition. Thyroidectomy was performed in other animals to ...

Thyroid hormone (TH) signaling plays an important role in development and adult life. Many organisms may have evolved under selective pressure of exogenous TH, suggesting that thyroid hormone signaling is phylogenetically older than the systems that regulate their synthesis. Therefore, the negative feedback system by TH itself was probably the ...

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is an extremely aggressive and rapidly fatal neoplasm. The aim of this study was to identify a limited cell cycle associated protein expression pattern unique to ATC and to correlate that pattern with clinical outcome. This represents one of the largest tissue micro-array projects comparing the ...

The THO complex is a nuclear structure whose architecture is conserved among all kingdoms and plays an important role in mRNP biogenesis connecting transcription elongation with mRNA maturation and export. Recent data indicates that the THO complex is necessary for the proper expression of some genes, assurance of genetic stability ...

The enhancement of glucose metabolism in neoplastic cells is mediated by the overexpression of key glycolytic enzymes and glucose transporters (GLUTs). In particular, an increased expression of hypoxia-related GLUT1 and GLUT3 has been found in a variety of malignancies. The aim of this study was to examine the expression levels ...

Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and TNFα are known to affect thyroid function. They stimulate IL-6 secretion and modify epithelium integrity by altering junction proteins. To study the role of cytokines on thyroid epithelia tightness in autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD), we analyzed the expression profiles of junction proteins (ZO-1, Claudin, ...

It is very important to develop an effective, specific, and robust expression cassette that ensures a high level of expression in the mammary glands. In this study, we designed and constructed a series of mammary gland-specific vectors containing a complex hybrid promoter/enhancer by utilizing promoter sequences from milk proteins (i.e., ...