Improving quantitative writing one sentence at a time.

Scientific writing, particularly quantitative writing, is difficult to master. To help undergraduate students write more clearly about data, we sought to deconstruct writing into discrete, specific elements. We focused on statements typically used to describe data found in the results sections of research articles (quantitative comparative statements, QC).

A glucocorticoid- and diet-responsive pathway toggles adipocyte precursor cell activity in vivo.

Obesity is driven by excess caloric intake, which leads to the expansion of adipose tissue by hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Adipose tissue hyperplasia results from the differentiation of adipocyte precursor cells (APCs) that reside in adipose depots. Investigation into this process has elucidated a network of mostly transcription factors that drive APCs through the differentiation process.

Characterization of Cre recombinase activity for in vivo targeting of adipocyte precursor cells.

The increased incidence of obesity and metabolic disease underscores the importance of elucidating the biology of adipose tissue development. The recent discovery of cell surface markers for prospective identification of adipose precursor cells (APCs) in vivo will greatly facilitate these studies, yet tools for specifically targeting these cells in vivo have not been identified. Here, we survey three transgenic mouse lines, Fabp4-Cre, PdgfRα-Cre, and Prx1-Cre, precisely assessing Cre-mediated recombination in adipose stromal populations and mature tissues.

Adipose circadian clocks: coordination of metabolic rhythms by clock genes, steroid hormones, and PPARs.

A central clock consisting of interconnected positive and negative feedback gene loops operates in the brain, tying rhythmic activity to the 24-h day. The central clock entrains similar feedback loops present in most peripheral tissues to coordinate metabolic gene expression among organs and with feeding activity for more efficient utilization of resources. Recent studies are beginning to elucidate the intricate feedback mechanisms among central and peripheral clocks and their roles in activity and metabolic homeostasis.

Circadian rhythm gene period 3 is an inhibitor of the adipocyte cell fate.

Glucocorticoids rapidly and robustly induce cell fate decisions in various multipotent cells, although the precise mechanisms of these important cellular events are not understood. Here we showed that glucocorticoids repressed Per3 expression and that this repression was critical for advancing mesenchymal stem cells to the adipocyte fate. Exogenous expression of Per3 inhibited adipogenesis, whereas knocking out Per3 enhanced that fate.

Hyaluronan-CD44 interaction promotes c-Src-mediated twist signaling, microRNA-10b expression, and RhoA/RhoC up-regulation, leading to Rho-kinase-associated cytoskeleton activation and breast tumor cell invasion.

Dysregulation of microRNAs is observed in many cancers, including breast cancer. In particular, miR-10b appears to play an important role in tumor cell invasion and breast cancer progression. In this study, we investigated hyaluronan (HA)-induced CD44 (a primary HA receptor) interaction with c-Src kinase and the transcriptional factor, Twist, in breast tumor cells (MDA-MB-231 cells).

SNP haplotype mapping in a small ALS family.

The identification of genes for monogenic disorders has proven to be highly effective for understanding disease mechanisms, pathways and gene function in humans. Nevertheless, while thousands of Mendelian disorders have not yet been mapped there has been a trend away from studying single-gene disorders. In part, this is due to the fact that many of the remaining single-gene families are not large enough to map the disease locus to a single site in the genome.

Serotonergic transcription of human FEV reveals direct GATA factor interactions and fate of Pet-1-deficient serotonin neuron precursors.

Altered expression of the human FEV (fifth Ewing variant) ETS transcription factor gene impacts the level of CNS serotonin (5-HT) neuron gene expression and maternal nurturing. However, the regulatory mechanisms that determine FEV expression are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the cis-regulatory control of FEV to begin to identify the upstream transcription factors that restrict FEV expression to 5-HT neurons.

Improvement of student understanding of how kinetic data facilitates the determination of amino acid catalytic function through an alkaline phosphatase structure/mechanism bioinformatics exercise.

Laboratory exercises, which utilize alkaline phosphatase as a model enzyme, have been developed and used extensively in undergraduate biochemistry courses to illustrate enzyme steady-state kinetics. A bioinformatics laboratory exercise for the biochemistry laboratory, which complements the traditional alkaline phosphatase kinetics exercise, was developed and implemented. In this exercise, students examine the structure of alkaline phosphatase using the free, on-line bioinformatics protein-modeling program Protein Explorer.

A differentially autoregulated Pet-1 enhancer region is a critical target of the transcriptional cascade that governs serotonin neuron development.

The Pet-1 [pheochromocytoma 12 ETS (E26 transformation-specific)] gene plays a critical role in the development of serotonin (5-HT)-modulated behaviors via its control of embryonic 5-HT neuron differentiation. Pet-1 transcription is induced exclusively in 5-HT neuron postmitotic precursors before the appearance of transmitter, and its restricted expression is maintained in the adult. However, the mechanisms that direct Pet-1 expression to this single CNS neuronal cell type are unknown.