Large interstitial duplication in the LARGE-gene in a patient with Walker-Warburg-syndrome.

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Riess ◽  
U Grasshoff ◽  
U Hehr ◽  
M Bonin
2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyeong-Im Shin ◽  
Sun Young Moon ◽  
Song Yi Jeong ◽  
Myung Geun Ji ◽  
Joon-Yung Cha ◽  
...  

AbstractTARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR), a member of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related family of protein kinases, is encoded by a single, large gene and is evolutionarily conserved in all eukaryotes. TOR plays a role as a master regulator that integrates nutrient, energy, and stress signaling to orchestrate development. TOR was first identified in yeast mutant screens, as its mutants conferred resistance to rapamycin, an antibiotic with immunosuppressive and anticancer activities. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the loss-of-function tor mutant displays embryo lethality, but the precise mechanisms of TOR function are still unknown. Moreover, a lack of reliable molecular and biochemical assay tools limits our ability to explore TOR functions in plants. Here, we produced a polyclonal α-TOR antibody using two truncated variants of TOR (1–200 and 1113–1304 amino acids) as antigens because recombinant full-length TOR is challenging to express in Escherichia coli. Recombinant His-TOR1−200 and His-TOR1113−1304 proteins were individually expressed in E. coli, and a mixture of proteins (at a 1:1 ratio) was used for immunizing rabbits. Antiserum was purified by an antigen-specific purification method, and the purified polyclonal α-TOR antibody successfully detected endogenous TOR proteins in wild-type Arabidopsis and TOR orthologous in major crop plants, including tomato, maize, and alfalfa. Moreover, our α-TOR antibody is useful for coimmunoprecipitation assays. In summary, we generated a polyclonal α-TOR antibody that detects endogenous TOR in various plant species. Our antibody could be used in future studies to determine the precise molecular mechanisms of TOR, which has largely unknown multifunctional roles in plants.


1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 624-631
Author(s):  
E T Wilson ◽  
D P Condliffe ◽  
K U Sprague

We analyzed the transcriptional properties of a repetitive sequence element, BmX, that belongs to a large gene family (approximately 2 x 10(4) copies) in the genome of the Bombyx mori silkworm. We discovered BmX elements because of their ability to direct transcription by polymerase III in vitro and used them to test the generality of the properties of previously identified silkworm polymerase III control elements. We found that the signals that act in cis to control BmX transcription strongly resemble those that direct transcription of other silkworm polymerase III templates. As with silkworm tRNA and 5S RNA genes, transcription of BmX requires sequence signals located both upstream and downstream from the site of transcription initiation. The critical upstream sequences are structurally as well as functionally similar in the three kinds of templates. The downstream control region of BmX resembles the corresponding part of a silkworm alanine tRNA gene in that it provides a large (greater than 100 base pairs) region that influences transcription factor binding. Moreover, the factor-binding regions of both tRNA(Ala) and BmX genes are remarkable in that under certain conditions, key elements within them (the B boxes, for example) appear dispensable. This behavior can be understood if, in both of these templates, the downstream control region acts as a large target for interaction with a multifactor complex.


Life ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Schiffer ◽  
Jan Gravemeyer ◽  
Martina Rauscher ◽  
Thomas Wiehe
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas O. Auer ◽  
Raquel Álvarez-Ocaña ◽  
Steeve Cruchet ◽  
Richard Benton ◽  
J. Roman Arguello

Animals sample their chemical environment using sensory neurons that express diverse chemosensory receptors, which trigger responses when they bind environmental molecules. In addition to modifications in the ligand binding properties of receptors, chemosensory receptor evolution is characterized by copy number changes, often resulting in large gene family size differences between species. Though chemosensory receptor expansions and contractions are frequently described, it is unknown how this is accompanied by changes in the neural circuitry in which they are expressed. Among Drosophila's chemosensory receptor families, the Odorant receptors (Ors) are ideal for addressing this question because, other than an essential co-receptor (Orco), a large majority of Ors are uniquely expressed in single olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) populations. Between-species changes in Or copy number, therefore, may indicate diversification or reduction of peripheral sensory neuron populations. To test this possibility, we focused on a rapidly duplicated/deleted Or subfamily - named Or67a - within Drosophila melanogaster and its most closely-related sister species (D. simulans, D. sechellia, and D. mauritiana). Evolutionary genetic analyses and in vivo physiological assays demonstrate that the common ancestor of these four species possessed three Or67a paralogs that had already diverged adaptively in their odor-evoked responses. Following the group's speciation events, two Or67a paralogs were independently lost in D. melanogaster and D. sechellia, with positive selection continuing to act on the intact genes. Instead of the expected singular expression of each of the functionally diverged Ors in different neurons, we found that the three D. simulans Or67a paralogs are co-expressed in the same cells. Thus, while neuroanatomy is conserved between these species, independent selection on co-expressed receptors has contributed to species-specific peripheral coding of olfactory information. This work reveals a model of adaptive change previously not considered for olfactory evolution and raises the possibility that similar processes may be operating among the largely uninvestigated cases of Or co-expression.


eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Hu ◽  
Zhao-Di Jiang ◽  
Fang Suo ◽  
Jin-Xin Zheng ◽  
Wan-Zhong He ◽  
...  

Spore killers in fungi are selfish genetic elements that distort Mendelian segregation in their favor. It remains unclear how many species harbor them and how diverse their mechanisms are. Here, we discover two spore killers from a natural isolate of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Both killers belong to the previously uncharacterized wtf gene family with 25 members in the reference genome. These two killers act in strain-background-independent and genome-location-independent manners to perturb the maturation of spores not inheriting them. Spores carrying one killer are protected from its killing effect but not that of the other killer. The killing and protecting activities can be uncoupled by mutation. The numbers and sequences of wtf genes vary considerably between S. pombe isolates, indicating rapid divergence. We propose that wtf genes contribute to the extensive intraspecific reproductive isolation in S. pombe, and represent ideal models for understanding how segregation-distorting elements act and evolve.


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1388-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Ngo ◽  
Neale D. Ridgway

Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) and OSBP-related proteins (ORPs) constitute a large gene family that differentially localize to organellar membranes, reflecting a functional role in sterol signaling and/or transport. OSBP partitions between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus where it imparts sterol-dependent regulation of ceramide transport and sphingomyelin synthesis. ORP9L also is localized to the ER–Golgi, but its role in secretion and lipid transport is unknown. Here we demonstrate that ORP9L partitioning between the trans-Golgi/trans-Golgi network (TGN), and the ER is mediated by a phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI-4P)-specific PH domain and VAMP-associated protein (VAP), respectively. In vitro, both OSBP and ORP9L mediated PI-4P–dependent cholesterol transport between liposomes, suggesting their primary in vivo function is sterol transfer between the Golgi and ER. Depletion of ORP9L by RNAi caused Golgi fragmentation, inhibition of vesicular somatitus virus glycoprotein transport from the ER and accumulation of cholesterol in endosomes/lysosomes. Complete cessation of protein transport and cell growth inhibition was achieved by inducible overexpression of ORP9S, a dominant negative variant lacking the PH domain. We conclude that ORP9 maintains the integrity of the early secretory pathway by mediating transport of sterols between the ER and trans-Golgi/TGN.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1796) ◽  
pp. 20140240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen M. Browning ◽  
Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse ◽  
Frances M. D. Gulland ◽  
Ailsa J. Hall ◽  
Jeanie Finlayson ◽  
...  

Although neoplasia is a major cause of mortality in humans and domestic animals, it has rarely been described in wildlife species. One of the few examples is a highly prevalent urogenital carcinoma in California sea lions (CSLs). Although the aetiology of this carcinoma is clearly multifactorial, inbreeding depression, as estimated using levels of microsatellite multilocus heterozygosity, is identified as predictive for this neoplasia. On further analysis, this relationship appears to be largely driven by one marker, suggesting that a single locus might be associated with the occurrence of this disease in CSLs. In a case–control study, carcinoma was significantly associated with homozygosity at the Pv11 microsatellite locus. Pv11 was mapped to intron 9 of the heparanase 2 gene ( HPSE2 ) locus, a very large gene encoding heparanase 2, which in humans is associated with multiple carcinomas. Correspondingly, immunohistochemical labelling in tissues was present in carcinoma cases within a single homozygous Pv11 genotype. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an individual locus being associated with cancer in any wildlife species. This adds emphasis to the study of HPSE2 in other species, including humans and will guide future studies on this sentinel species that shares much of its diet and environment with humans


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Getiria Onsongo ◽  
Ham Ching Lam ◽  
Matthew Bower ◽  
Bharat Thyagarajan

Abstract Objective : Detection of small copy number variations (CNVs) in clinically relevant genes is routinely being used to aid diagnosis. We recently developed a tool, CNV-RF , capable of detecting small clinically relevant CNVs. CNV-RF was designed for small gene panels and did not scale well to large gene panels. On large gene panels, CNV-RF routinely failed due to memory limitations. When successful, it took about 2 days to complete a single analysis, making it impractical for routinely analyzing large gene panels. We need a reliable tool capable of detecting CNVs in the clinic that scales well to large gene panels. Results : We have developed Hadoop-CNV-RF, a scalable implementation of CNV-RF . Hadoop-CNV-RF is a freely available tool capable of rapidly analyzing large gene panels. It takes advantage of Hadoop, a big data framework developed to analyze large amounts of data. Preliminary results show it reduces analysis time from about 2 days to less than 4 hours and can seamlessly scale to large gene panels. Hadoop-CNV-RF has been clinically validated for targeted capture data and is currently being used in a CLIA molecular diagnostics laboratory. Its availability and usage instructions are publicly available at: https://github.com/getiria-onsongo/hadoop-cnvrf-public .


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