Monosaccharides improve symptoms of an animal model for type III galactosemia, through the activation of the insulin pathway.

Type III galactosemia is characterized by the inability to metabolize galactose due to deficiency of the UDP-galactose-4-epimerase (GALE) gene, which catalyzes the interconversion of UDP-Galactose and UDP-Glucose. Additionally, GALE interconverts UDP-N-Acetylgalactosamine and UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine. These four sugars are needed for glycosylation of biomolecules.

ASACO: Automatic and Serial Analysis of CO-expression to discover gene modifiers with potential use in drug repurposing.

Massive gene expression analyses are widely used to find differentially expressed genes under specific conditions. The results of these experiments are often available in public databases that are undergoing a growth similar to that of molecular sequence databases in the past. This now allows novel secondary computational tools to emerge that use such information to gain new knowledge.

Ribonucleotide reductase inhibition improves the symptoms of a Caenorhabditis elegans model of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of aging-associated dementia, for which there is no effective treatment. In this work, we reanalyze the information of a previous genome wide association study, using a new pipeline design to identify novel potential drugs. With this approach, ribonucleoside-diphosphate reductase gene (RRM2B) emerged as a candidate target and its inhibitor, 2', 2'-difluoro 2'deoxycytidine (gemcitabine), as a potential pharmaceutical drug against Alzheimer's disease.

A Functional Pipeline of Genome-Wide Association Data Leads to Midostaurin as a Repurposed Drug for Alzheimer's Disease.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) constitute a powerful tool to identify the different biochemical pathways associated with disease. This knowledge can be used to prioritize drugs targeting these routes, paving the road to clinical application. Here, we describe DAGGER (Drug Repositioning by Analysis of GWAS and Gene Expression in R), a straightforward pipeline to find currently approved drugs with repurposing potential.

Serial co-expression analysis of host factors from SARS-CoV viruses highly converges with former high-throughput screenings and proposes key regulators and co-option of cellular pathways.

Unlabelled: The current genomics era is bringing an unprecedented growth in the amount of gene expression data, only comparable to the exponential growth of sequences in databases during the last decades. This data now allows the design of secondary analyses that take advantage of this information to create new knowledge through specific computational approaches. One of these feasible analyses is the evaluation of the expression level for a gene through a series of different conditions or cell types.

Serial co-expression analysis of host factors from SARS-CoV viruses highly converges with former high-throughput screenings and proposes key regulators.

The current genomics era is bringing an unprecedented growth in the amount of gene expression data, only comparable to the exponential growth of sequences in databases during the last decades. This data allow the design of secondary analyses that take advantage of this information to create new knowledge. One of these feasible analyses is the evaluation of the expression level for a gene through a series of different conditions or cell types.

Steroid hormones sulfatase inactivation extends lifespan and ameliorates age-related diseases.

Aging and fertility are two interconnected processes. From invertebrates to mammals, absence of the germline increases longevity. Here we show that loss of function of sul-2, the Caenorhabditis elegans steroid sulfatase (STS), raises the pool of sulfated steroid hormones, increases longevity and ameliorates protein aggregation diseases.

Cytoplasmic LSM-1 protein regulates stress responses through the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Genes coding for members of the Sm-like (LSm) protein family are conserved through evolution from prokaryotes to humans. These proteins have been described as forming homo- or heterocomplexes implicated in a broad range of RNA-related functions. To date, the nuclear LSm2-8 and the cytoplasmic LSm1-7 heteroheptamers are the best characterized complexes in eukaryotes.

Developmental defects in a Caenorhabditis elegans model for type III galactosemia.

Type III galactosemia is a metabolic disorder caused by reduced activity of UDP-galactose-4-epimerase, which participates in galactose metabolism and the generation of various UDP-sugar species. We characterized gale-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans and found that a complete loss-of-function mutation is lethal, as has been hypothesized for humans, whereas a nonlethal partial loss-of-function allele causes a variety of developmental abnormalities, likely resulting from the impairment of the glycosylation process. We also observed that gale-1 mutants are hypersensitive to galactose as well as to infections.

Escherichia coli carbon source metabolism affects longevity of its predator Caenorhabditis elegans.

Nutrition is probably the most determinant factor affecting aging. Microorganisms of the intestinal flora lay in the interface between available nutrients and nutrients that are finally absorbed by multicellular organisms. They participate in the processing and transformation of these nutrients in a symbiotic or commensalistic relationship.

pkc-1 regulates daf-2 insulin/IGF signalling-dependent control of dauer formation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

In Caenorhabditis elegans, the insulin/IGF pathway participates in the decision to initiate dauer development. Dauer is a diapause stage that is triggered by environmental stresses, such as a lack of nutrients. Insulin/IGF receptor mutants arrest constitutively in dauer, an effect that can be suppressed by mutations in other elements of the insulin/IGF pathway or by a reduction in the activity of the nuclear hormone receptor daf-12.