Publications by authors named "A Pekowska"
Astrocytes contribute to the development and regulation of the higher-level functions of the brain, the critical targets of evolution. However, how astrocytes evolve in primates is unsettled. Here, we obtain human, chimpanzee, and macaque induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived astrocytes (iAstrocytes).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe type 2 cytokines, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-13 and IL-5 reside within a multigene cluster. Both innate (ILC2) and adaptive T helper 2 (T2) lymphocytes secrete type 2 cytokines with diverse production spectra. Using transcription factor footprint and chromatin accessibility, we systemically cataloged regulatory elements (REs) denoted as SHS-I/II, KHS-I/II, +6.
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- Discontinuous transcription is a key aspect of gene regulation, but the detailed mechanisms behind transcriptional bursting remain unclear.
- By using mathematical modeling on single-cell RNA sequencing data, researchers investigated the dynamics of transcriptional bursting and identified specific regulators like MED26, MYC, cohesin, and BRD4.
- MED26 notably affects the frequency of bursting and has the most significant impact on the gene regulatory network, showing that stages beyond the initial transcription start are crucial for integrating gene networks in individual cells.
Cytokine expression during T cell differentiation is a highly regulated process that involves long-range promoter-enhancer and CTCF-CTCF contacts at cytokine loci. Here, we investigated the impact of dynamic chromatin loop formation within the topologically associating domain (TAD) in regulating the expression of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-22 (IL-22); these cytokine loci are closely located in the genome and are associated with complex enhancer landscapes, which are selectively active in type 1 and type 3 lymphocytes. In situ Hi-C analyses revealed inducible TADs that insulated Ifng and Il22 enhancers during Th1 cell differentiation.
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- The human brain's unique traits are the result of a complex evolutionary process that modifies existing genetic elements and can lead to new functions in genes.
- Evolution can cause beneficial changes in certain traits while simultaneously resulting in detrimental effects, known as evolutionary trade-offs, where one gene may improve one trait but worsen another (antagonistic pleiotropy).
- The discussion includes how these genetic changes might relate to increased risks of psychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia, focusing on genes and their regulatory landscapes that contribute to human-specific traits.