Publications by authors named "Rebecca Yunker"
Article Synopsis
- Developmental gene regulation relies on long-range communication between enhancers and promoters, which is not fully understood without considering the surrounding chromatin.
- Researchers studied the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) regulatory region in mouse brains to understand its structural configurations, discovering that it often maintains a compact form that can adopt various layouts regardless of Shh expression.
- They found that long-range enhancer-promoter interactions occur through both dependent and independent mechanisms of Shh expression, involving specific binding sites and active enhancers, leading to a proposed model that coordinates gene expression patterns.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how a common fungus in the human gut microbiome interacts with the host's immune response, specifically focusing on tissue expression in germ-free mice colonized with the fungus.
- It finds that certain genes related to NADPH oxidase activity are activated during the fungus's transition from yeast to hyphal form, which is influenced by a toxin called candidalysin and the IL-17 receptor.
- The loss of a specific enzyme (DUOX2) results in reduced fungal colonization and changes in fungal structure, highlighting a complex relationship between the fungus, host immune responses, and the role of IL-17A in regulating gut colonization.
The human genome functions as a three-dimensional chromatin polymer, driven by a complex collection of chromosome interactions. Although the molecular rules governing these interactions are being quickly elucidated, relatively few proteins regulating this process have been identified. Here, to address this gap, we developed high-throughput DNA or RNA labelling with optimized Oligopaints (HiDRO)-an automated imaging pipeline that enables the quantitative measurement of chromatin interactions in single cells across thousands of samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationship between cohesin-mediated chromatin looping and gene expression remains unclear. NIPBL and WAPL are two opposing regulators of cohesin activity; depletion of either is associated with changes in both chromatin folding and transcription across a wide range of cell types. However, a direct comparison of their individual and combined effects on gene expression in the same cell type is lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGut-residing bacteria are known to regulate the physiologies of distal organs. However, the mechanism behind the long-distance communication between gut microbes and distal organs remains unknown. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, two studies show that β cell expansion in the pancreas depends on bacterially induced antimicrobials produced in the gut.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human genome can be segmented into topologically associating domains (TADs), which have been proposed to spatially sequester genes and regulatory elements through chromatin looping. Interactions between TADs have also been suggested, presumably because of variable boundary positions across individual cells. However, the nature, extent and consequence of these dynamic boundaries remain unclear.
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