The DNA Methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) Controls the Shape and Dynamics of Migrating POA-Derived Interneurons Fated for the Murine Cerebral Cortex.

The proliferative niches in the subpallium generate a rich cellular variety fated for diverse telencephalic regions. The embryonic preoptic area (POA) represents one of these domains giving rise to the pool of cortical GABAergic interneurons and glial cells, in addition to striatal and residual POA cells. The migration from sites of origin within the subpallium to the distant targets like the cerebral cortex, accomplished by the adoption and maintenance of a particular migratory morphology, is a critical step during interneuron development.

Insights into Sex Chromosome Evolution and Aging from the Genome of a Short-Lived Fish.

The killifish Nothobranchius furzeri is the shortest-lived vertebrate that can be bred in the laboratory. Its rapid growth, early sexual maturation, fast aging, and arrested embryonic development (diapause) make it an attractive model organism in biomedical research. Here, we report a draft sequence of its genome that allowed us to uncover an intra-species Y chromosome polymorphism representing-in real time-different stages of sex chromosome formation that display features of early mammalian XY evolution "in action.

Sensing Cardiac Electrical Activity With a Cardiac Myocyte--Targeted Optogenetic Voltage Indicator.

Rationale: Monitoring and controlling cardiac myocyte activity with optogenetic tools offer exciting possibilities for fundamental and translational cardiovascular research. Genetically encoded voltage indicators may be particularly attractive for minimal invasive and repeated assessments of cardiac excitation from the cellular to the whole heart level.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that cardiac myocyte-targeted voltage-sensitive fluorescence protein 2.

RepARK--de novo creation of repeat libraries from whole-genome NGS reads.

Generation of repeat libraries is a critical step for analysis of complex genomes. In the era of next-generation sequencing (NGS), such libraries are usually produced using a whole-genome shotgun (WGS) derived reference sequence whose completeness greatly influences the quality of derived repeat libraries. We describe here a de novo repeat assembly method--RepARK (Repetitive motif detection by Assembly of Repetitive K-mers)--which avoids potential biases by using abundant k-mers of NGS WGS reads without requiring a reference genome.

Eag1 expression interferes with hypoxia homeostasis and induces angiogenesis in tumors.

Ether-á-go-go-1 (Eag1) is a CNS-localized voltage-gated potassium channel that is found ectopically expressed in a majority of extracranial solid tumors. While circumstantial evidence linking Eag1 to tumor biology has been well established, the mechanisms by which the channel contributes to tumor progression remain elusive. In this study, we have used in vivo and in vitro techniques to identify a candidate mechanism.

Silencing the activity and proliferative properties of the human EagI Potassium Channel by RNA Interference.

EagI potassium channels are natively expressed in the mammalian brain as well as in many cancer cell lines and tumor tissues. The role of EagI in malignant transformation has been suggested by several experiments, but the lack of specific EagI inhibitors has made it difficult to examine the influence of the channel on oncogenesis and its potential as a therapeutic target. We have used short interfering RNA to test the effects of EagI reduction on the behavior of tumor cells in vitro.