HNF4α isoforms regulate the circadian balance between carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the liver.

Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4α (HNF4α), a master regulator of hepatocyte differentiation, is regulated by two promoters (P1 and P2) which drive the expression of different isoforms. P1-HNF4α is the major isoform in the adult liver while P2-HNF4α is thought to be expressed only in fetal liver and liver cancer. Here, we show that P2-HNF4α is indeed expressed in the normal adult liver at Zeitgeber time (ZT)9 and ZT21.

Differential Effects of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4α Isoforms on Tumor Growth and T-Cell Factor 4/AP-1 Interactions in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells.

The nuclear receptor hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) is tumor suppressive in the liver but amplified in colon cancer, suggesting that it also might be oncogenic. To investigate whether this discrepancy is due to different HNF4α isoforms derived from its two promoters (P1 and P2), we generated Tet-On-inducible human colon cancer (HCT116) cell lines that express either the P1-driven (HNF4α2) or P2-driven (HNF4α8) isoform and analyzed them for tumor growth and global changes in gene expression (transcriptome sequencing [RNA-seq] and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing [ChIP-seq]). The results show that while HNF4α2 acts as a tumor suppressor in the HCT116 tumor xenograft model, HNF4α8 does not.

Obligately phagotrophic aphelids turned out to branch with the earliest-diverging fungi.

Reconstructing the early evolution of fungi and metazoans, two of the kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes thriving on earth, is a challenging task for biologists. Among extant organisms having characters intermediate between fungi and hypothetical protistan ancestors, from which both fungi and metazoans are believed to have evolved, aphelids are unfairly neglected. The phylogenetic position of these microalgal endoparasites remained uncertain, since no nucleotide sequence data have been reported to date.

Interplay between solvent effects of different nature in interfacial bond breaking electron transfer.

Solvent dynamics effects on electroreduction of peroxodisulphate anion on mercury electrode (a typical bond breaking electron transfer reaction) are explored in the framework of the Sumi-Marcus model. The reaction three-dimensional free energy surface is constructed using the Anderson model Hamiltonian. A new interpretation of short- and long-time survival times is presented as well.