Evaluating the mouse neural precursor line, SN4741, as a suitable proxy for midbrain dopaminergic neurons.

To overcome the ethical and technical limitations of in vivo human disease models, the broader scientific community frequently employs model organism-derived cell lines to investigate disease mechanisms, pathways, and therapeutic strategies. Despite the widespread use of certain in vitro models, many still lack contemporary genomic analysis supporting their use as a proxy for the affected human cells and tissues. Consequently, it is imperative to determine how accurately and effectively any proposed biological surrogate may reflect the biological processes it is assumed to model.

Evaluating the mouse neural precursor line, SN4741, as a suitable proxy for midbrain dopaminergic neurons.

To overcome the ethical and technical limitations of human disease models, the broader scientific community frequently employs model organism-derived cell lines to investigate of disease mechanisms, pathways, and therapeutic strategies. Despite the widespread use of certain models, many still lack contemporary genomic analysis supporting their use as a proxy for the affected human cells and tissues. Consequently, it is imperative to determine how accurately and effectively any proposed biological surrogate may reflect the biological processes it is assumed to model.

Evaluating the mouse neural precursor line, SN4741, as a suitable proxy for midbrain dopaminergic neurons.

To overcome the ethical and technical limitations of human disease models, the broader scientific community frequently employs model organism-derived cell lines to investigate of disease mechanisms, pathways, and therapeutic strategies. Despite the widespread use of certain models, many still lack contemporary genomic analysis supporting their use as a proxy for the affected human cells and tissues. Consequently, it is imperative to determine how accurately and effectively any proposed biological surrogate may reflect the biological processes it is assumed to model.

Collapse of the hepatic gene regulatory network in the absence of FoxA factors.

The FoxA transcription factors are critical for liver development through their pioneering activity, which initiates a highly complex regulatory network thought to become progressively resistant to the loss of any individual hepatic transcription factor via mutual redundancy. To investigate the dispensability of FoxA factors for maintaining this regulatory network, we ablated all FoxA genes in the adult mouse liver. Remarkably, loss of FoxA caused rapid and massive reduction in the expression of critical liver genes.

Parkinson-Associated SNCA Enhancer Variants Revealed by Open Chromatin in Mouse Dopamine Neurons.

The progressive loss of midbrain (MB) dopaminergic (DA) neurons defines the motor features of Parkinson disease (PD), and modulation of risk by common variants in PD has been well established through genome-wide association studies (GWASs). We acquired open chromatin signatures of purified embryonic mouse MB DA neurons because we anticipated that a fraction of PD-associated genetic variation might mediate the variants' effects within this neuronal population. Correlation with >2,300 putative enhancers assayed in mice revealed enrichment for MB cis-regulatory elements (CREs), and these data were reinforced by transgenic analyses of six additional sequences in zebrafish and mice.