Publications by authors named "Monica Martinez-Pacheco"

Fifty years ago, researchers discovered a link between ambient temperature and the sex of turtle embryos. More recently, significant progress has been made in understanding the influence of temperature on freshwater turtles. However, our understanding of the key genetic factors in other turtle groups, such as sea turtles, remains limited.

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Neuroblastoma represents a neoplastic expansion of neural crest cells in the developing sympathetic nervous system and is childhood's most common extracranial solid tumor. The heterogeneity of gene expression in different types of cancer is well-documented, and genetic features of neuroblastoma have been described by classification, development stage, malignancy, and progression of tumors. Here, we aim to analyze RNA sequencing datasets, publicly available in the GDC data portal, of neuroblastoma tumor samples from various patients and compare them with normal adrenal gland tissue from the GTEx data portal to elucidate the gene expression profile and regulation networks they share.

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Article Synopsis
  • The research analyzed the phytochemical composition and metabolomics of two edible plants, CA and PR, which are traditional food sources in Mexico, to evaluate their antiproliferative effects on cancer cells.
  • Using advanced techniques, 38 polyphenols and certain organic acids were identified and linked to metabolic activities such as indolizidines and pyridines.
  • CA showed a stronger reduction in cancer cell activity compared to PR, while both extracts caused increased cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, indicating potential for cancer treatment, but more studies on different cell lines are needed.
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Females and males often exhibit different survival in nature, and it has been hypothesized that sex chromosomes may play a role in driving differential survival rates. For instance, the Y chromosome in mammals and the W chromosome in birds are often degenerated, with reduced numbers of genes, and loss of the Y chromosome in old men is associated with shorter life expectancy. However, mosaic loss of sex chromosomes has not been investigated in any non-human species.

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  • The study is about how certain cancer-fighting medicines called Casiopeínas cause cancer cells to die by affecting different proteins and the mitochondria in the cells.
  • Researchers used a tool called CRISPR-Cas9 to turn off two proteins, BAX and BCL2, to see if they are needed for this cell death process.
  • The results showed that BAX is really important for the cancer cells to die when treated with Casiopeína, but BCL2 doesn't seem to play a big role.
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  • Mosaic loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) is common in aging men and linked to higher mortality and disease, but its origins remain unclear—whether it's a natural process of aging or influenced by human-specific stressors.
  • Researchers investigated LOY in rats using a specialized PCR technique on samples from both young and old rats, finding LOY in four different tissues of older rats.
  • Further genome analysis confirmed that the Y chromosome had significantly lower copy numbers, suggesting that LOY might also be connected to other chromosomal changes and may occur naturally in placental mammals, not just humans.
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Placental mammals present 180 million-year-old Y chromosomes that have retained a handful of dosage-sensitive genes. However, the expression evolution of Y-linked genes across placental groups has remained largely unexplored. Here, we expanded the number of Y gametolog sequences by analyzing ten additional species from previously unexplored groups.

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The water skinks Eulamprus tympanum and Eulamprus heatwolei show thermally induced sex determination where elevated temperatures give rise to male offspring. Paradoxically, Eulamprus species reproduce in temperatures of 12-15 °C making them outliers when compared with reptiles that use temperature as a cue for sex determination. Moreover, these two species are among the very few viviparous reptiles reported to have thermally induced sex determination.

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DNA repair inhibition has been described as an essential event leading to the initiation of carcinogenesis. In a previous study, we observed that the exposure to metal mixture induces changes in the miR-nome of the cells that was correlated with the sub-expression of mRNA involved in processes and diseases associated with metal exposure. From this analysis, one of the miRNAs that shows changes in its expression is miR-222, which is overexpressed in various cancers associated with exposure to metals.

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Background/aims: Exposure to heavy metals is today a threat to society. The understanding of the molecular processes related to diseases related to exposure to metals mixture involve changes in the expression of microRNAs. Changes on microRNAs expression may alter several cellular processes, among them, DNA repair inhibition has been described as an essential event leading to the initiation of metal-induced carcinogenesis.

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The age of sex chromosomes is commonly obtained by comparing the substitution rates of XY gametologs. Coupled with phylogenetic reconstructions, one can refine the origin of a sex chromosome system relative to specific speciation events. However, these approaches are insufficient to determine the presence and duration of ancestral sex chromosome systems that were lost in some species.

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