Publications by authors named "Christopher R Day"
The enhancer RNA, AANCR, regulates APOE expression in astrocytes and microglia.
Nucleic Acids Res
September 2024
Article Synopsis
- Enhancers are key regulatory elements in our DNA that can produce enhancer RNAs (eRNAs), and their malfunction can lead to diseases known as enhanceropathies, which need more research to understand specific mechanisms.
- This study focuses on AANCR, a noncoding RNA related to the APOE gene in Alzheimer's Disease, showing that it plays a vital role in regulating APOE expression and influencing inflammation in brain cells called astrocytes.
- By identifying how AANCR is activated and its effects, the research suggests it could be a valuable target for developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
Butterfly color patterns provide visible and biodiverse phenotypic readouts of the patterning processes. Although the secreted ligand WntA has been shown to instruct the color pattern formation in butterflies, its mode of reception remains elusive. Butterfly genomes encode four homologs of the Frizzled-family of Wnt receptors.
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- The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) influences gene transcription by interacting with numerous enhancers and binding sites in the genome, particularly in response to hormones.
- Hormone treatment leads to significant changes in the enhancer landscape of breast cancer cells, particularly affecting the DDIT4 oncogene through a cluster of four GR binding sites that act as a hormone-dependent super enhancer.
- These binding sites have varied roles, with some enhancing transcription and others suppressing it, and together they enable flexible regulation of oncogene expression, highlighting potential avenues for targeted cancer therapies.
Article Synopsis
- Lepidopteran wings, particularly their color patterns, serve as an ideal model for studying cell diversity through a phenomics approach, as their scales are produced by individual precursor cells, allowing for detailed cell-by-cell analysis.
- The study identified the role of the cytoskeleton in scale development, using Fascin immunostainings to correlate actin patterning with chitin deposition, and quantified these relationships through high-throughput imaging techniques.
- Findings indicate that butterfly wing scales demonstrate structured variations based on color types, with tight regulatory mechanisms governing their ultrastructures, linked to cytoskeletal dynamics.
Transcriptional regulation in metazoans occurs through long-range genomic contacts between enhancers and promoters, and most genes are transcribed in episodic "bursts" of RNA synthesis. To understand the relationship between these two phenomena and the dynamic regulation of genes in response to upstream signals, we describe the use of live-cell RNA imaging coupled with Hi-C measurements and dissect the endogenous regulation of the estrogen-responsive TFF1 gene. Although TFF1 is highly induced, we observe short active periods and variable inactive periods ranging from minutes to days.
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- Betaine is a compound derived from glycine that plays crucial roles in kidney function and liver metabolism, particularly as a methyl group donor and osmoprotectant.
- This review highlights the health benefits of betaine, especially its potential in treating liver diseases based on animal studies showing it can improve liver function.
- The findings suggest that further research in humans is necessary to explore the long-term effects of betaine, particularly for those with fatty liver diseases, making its use in liver health promising.
In eukaryotes, mRNA synthesis is catalyzed by RNA polymerase II and involves several distinct steps, including transcript initiation, elongation, cleavage, and transcript release. Splicing of RNA can occur during (co-transcriptional) or after (post-transcriptional) RNA synthesis. Thus, RNA synthesis and processing occurs through the concerted activity of dozens of enzymes, each of which is potentially susceptible to perturbation by small molecules.
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