Tumor-released RNA may mediate intercellular communication and serve as biomarkers. Here we develop a protocol enabling quantitative, minimally biased analysis of extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) associated with microvesicles, exosomes (collectively called EVs), and ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). The exRNA complexes isolated from patient-derived glioma stem-like cultures exhibit distinct compositions, with microvesicles most closely reflecting cellular transcriptome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioinformatics tools are imperative for the in depth analysis of heterogeneous high-throughput data. Most of the software tools are developed by specific laboratories or groups or companies wherein they are designed to perform the required analysis for the group. However, such software tools may fail to capture "what the community needs in a tool".
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFetal bovine serum (FBS) has been used in eukaryotic cell cultures for decades. However, little attention has been paid to the biological effects associated with RNA content of FBS on cell cultures. Here, using RNA sequencing, we demonstrate that FBS contains a diverse repertoire of protein-coding and regulatory RNA species, including mRNA, miRNA, rRNA, and snoRNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute a major, but poorly characterized part of human transcriptome. Recent evidence indicates that many lncRNAs are involved in cancer and can be used as predictive and prognostic biomarkers. Significant fraction of lncRNAs is represented on widely used microarray platforms, however they have usually been ignored in cancer studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mammalian genomes are extensively transcribed producing thousands of long non-protein-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The biological significance and function of the vast majority of lncRNAs remain unclear. Recent studies have implicated several lncRNAs as playing important roles in embryonic development and cancer progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Small secreted membrane vesicles called exosomes have recently attracted a great interest after the discovery that they transfer mRNA that can be translated into protein in recipient cells. Surprisingly, we found that for the majority of exosomal mRNAs only a fraction of their corresponding probes is detectable on the expression microarrays. Exosomal mRNA fragmentation is characterized with a specific structural pattern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Exosomes are nanoscale membrane vesicles released by most cells. They are postulated to be involved in cell-cell communication and genetic reprogramming of their target cells. In addition to proteins and lipids, they release RNA molecules many of which are not present in the donor cells implying a highly selective mode of their packaging into these vesicles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComparative phenotypic analysis of pea (Pisum sativum) sym35 mutants and Lotus japonicus nin mutants suggested a similar function for the PsSym35 and LjNin genes in early stages of root nodule formation. Both the pea and L. japonicus mutants are non-nodulating but normal in their arbuscular mycorrhizal association.
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