The diversity of the mammalian cerebral cortex demands technical approaches to map the spatial distribution of neurons with different biochemical identities. This issue is magnified in the case of the primate cortex, characterized by a large number of areas with distinctive cytoarchitectures. To date, no full map of the distribution of cells expressing a specific protein has been reported for the cortex of any primate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscribed Ultra-Conserved Regions (TUCRs) represent a severely understudied class of putative non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are 100% conserved across multiple species. We performed the first-ever analysis of TUCRs in glioblastoma (GBM) and low-grade gliomas (LGG). We leveraged large human datasets to identify the genomic locations, chromatin accessibility, transcription, differential expression, correlation with survival, and predicted functions of all 481 TUCRs, and identified TUCRs that are relevant to glioma biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscribed Ultra-Conserved Regions (TUCRs) represent a severely understudied class of putative non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are 100% conserved across multiple species. We performed the first-ever analysis of TUCRs in glioblastoma (GBM) and low-grade gliomas (LGG). We leveraged large human datasets to identify the genomic locations, chromatin accessibility, transcription, differential expression, correlation with survival, and predicted functions of all 481 TUCRs, and identified TUCRs that are relevant to glioma biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany fundamental questions on alcohol use disorder (AUD) are frequently difficult to address by examining a single brain structure, but should be viewed from the whole brain perspective. c-Fos is a marker of neuronal activation. Global brain c-Fos profiling in rodents represents a promising platform to study brain functional networks rearrangements in AUD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscribed ultraconserved regions are putative lncRNA molecules that are transcribed from DNA that is 100% conserved in human, mouse, and rat genomes. This is notable, as lncRNAs are typically poorly conserved. TUCRs remain very understudied in many diseases, including cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCortical projections to the caudomedial frontal cortex were studied using retrograde tracers in marmosets. We tested the hypothesis that cytoarchitectural area 6M includes homologues of the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas (SMA and pre-SMA) of other primates. We found that, irrespective of the injection sites' location within 6M, over half of the labeled neurons were located in motor and premotor areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rapid adoption of marmosets in neuroscience has created a demand for three dimensional (3D) atlases of the brain of this species to facilitate data integration in a common reference space. We report on a new open access template of the marmoset cortex (the Nencki-Monash, or NM template), representing a morphological average of 20 brains of young adult individuals, obtained by 3D reconstructions generated from Nissl-stained serial sections. The method used to generate the template takes into account morphological features of the individual brains, as well as the borders of clearly defined cytoarchitectural areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the principles of neuronal connectivity requires tools for efficient quantification and visualization of large datasets. The primate cortex is particularly challenging due to its complex mosaic of areas, which in many cases lack clear boundaries. Here, we introduce a resource that allows exploration of results of 143 retrograde tracer injections in the marmoset neocortex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
November 2018
The 5'-terminus of eukaryotic mRNAs comprises a 7-methylguanosine cap linked to the first transcribed nucleotide via a 5'-5' triphosphate bond. This cap structure facilitates numerous interactions with molecules participating in mRNA processing, turnover and RNA translation. Here, we report the synthesis and biochemical properties of a set of biotin-labelled cap analogues modified within the triphosphate bridge and increasing mRNA stability while retaining biological activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSynthetic nucleotide and nucleic acid analogues are useful research tools and modern therapeutics. Hence, methods for the rapid and unambiguous identification of mononucleotides derived from organic syntheses or biological materials are of broad interest. Here, we analysed over 150 mononucleotides (mostly nucleoside 5'-mono-, 5'-di-, and 5'-triphosphates) and their structurally related nucleobase-, phosphate-, and ribose-modified analogues by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ESI/MS/MS), identifying characteristic fragmentation ions that may be helpful in structure determination.
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