662 resultados para GAPDH knockdown
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Gene duplication is thought to provide raw material for functional divergence and innovation. Fish-specific dmrt2b has been identified as a duplicated gene of the dmrt2a/terra in fish genomes, but its function has remained unclear. Here we reveal that Dmrt2b knockdown zebrafish embryos display a downward tail curvature and have U-shaped somites. Then, we demonstrate that Dmrt2b contributes to a divergent function in somitogenesis through Hedgehog pathway, because Dmrt2b knockdown reduces target gene expression of Hedgehog signaling, and also impairs slow muscle development and neural tube patterning through Hedgehog signaling. Moreover, the Dmrt2b morphants display defects in heart and visceral organ asymmetry, and, some lateral-plate mesoderm (LPM) markers expressed in left side are randomized. Together, these data indicate that fish-specific duplicated dmrt2b contributes to a divergent function in somitogenesis through Hedgehog pathway and maintains the common function for left-right asymmetry establishment.
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Large tumor suppressor (Lats) is a Ser/Thr kinase, and it presents an important function in tumor suppression. lats was originally identified in Drosophila and recently in mammals. In mammals, it contains two homologues, lats1 and lats2. In the present study, lats1 and lats2 were characterized from zebrafish (Danio rerio), which is the first report of lats in a nonmammalian vertebrate. The primary structure, genomic organization, and phylogenesis of lats from different species were studied, and the results suggest that lats1 is the direct descendant of invertebrate lats, whereas lats2 is formed by genome duplication. In zebrafish, both lats genes are maternally expressed, while they show distinctly different expression profiles during gastrulation. lats1 is almost ubiquitously expressed through development, and lats2 is more prominently expressed in the non-neural ectoderm region of zebrafish gastrula. Most intriguingly, as revealed by cell tracing and gene expression analysis, morpholino-mediated knockdown of either lats1 or lats2 led to obvious defects of cell migration in gastrulation, indicating the functional significance of lats in gastrulation movements. Developmental Dynamics 238:28502859, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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An essential for respiration and viability (ERV1) homologue, 88R, was cloned and characterized from Rana grylio virus (RGV). Database searches found its homologues in all sequenced iridoviruses, and sequence alignment revealed a highly conserved motif shared by all ERV1 family proteins: Cys-X-X-Cys. RT-PCR and western blot analysis revealed that 88R begins to transcribe and translate at 6 h postinfection (p.i.) and remains detectable at 48 h p.i. during RGV infection course. Furthermore, using drug inhibition analysis by a de novo protein synthesis inhibitor and a viral DNA replication inhibitor, RGV 88R was classified as a late (L) viral gene during the in vitro infection. 88R-EGFP fusion protein was observed in both the cytoplasm and nucleus of pEGFP-N3-88R transfected EPC cells. Although result of immunofluorescence is similar, 88R protein was not detected in viromatrix. Moreover, function of RGV 88R on virus replication were evaluated by RNAi assay. Nevertheless, effect of knockdown of RGV 88R expression on virus replication was not detected in cultured fish cell lines. Collectively, current data indicate that RGV 88R was a late gene of iridovirus encoding protein that distributed both the cytoplasm and nucleus.
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Vasa is essential for germline development. However, the precise processes in which vasa involves vary considerably in diverse animal phyla. Here we show that vasa is required for primordial germ cell (PGC) migration in the medakafish. vasa knockdown by two morpholinos led to the PGC migration defect that was rescued by coinjection of Vasa RNA. Interestingly, Vasa knockdown did not alter the PGC number, identity, proliferation and motility even at ectopic locations. We established a cell culture system for tracing PGCs at the single cell level in vitro. In this culture system, control and morpholino-injected gastrulae produced the same PGC number and the same time course of PGC survival. importantly, vasa-depleted PGCs in culture had similar motility and locomotion to normal PGCs. Expression patterns of wt1a, sdf1b and cxcT4b in migratory tissues remained unchanged by Vasa knockdown. By chimera formation we show that PGCs from vasa-depleted blastulae failed to migrate properly in the normal environment, whereas control PGCs migrated normally in vasa-disrupted embryos. Furthermore, ectopic PGCs in vasa-depleted embryos also retained all the PGC properties examined. Taken together, medaka vasa is cell-autonomously required for PGC migration, but dispensable to PGC proliferation, motility, identity and survival. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Studies have attributed several functions to the Eaf family, including tumor suppression and eye development. Given the potential association between cancer and development, we set forth to explore Eaf1 and Eaf2/U19 activity in vertebrate embryogenesis, using zebrafish. In situ hybridization revealed similar eaf1 and eaf2/u19 expression patterns. Morpholino-mediated knockdown of either eaf1 or eaf2/u19 expression produced similar morphological changes that could be reversed by ectopic expression of target or reciprocal-target mRNA. However, combination of Eaf1 and Eaf2/U19 (Eafs)-morpholinos increased the severity of defects, suggesting that Eaf1 and Eaf2/U19 only share some functional redundancy. The Eafs knockdown phenotype resembled that of embryos with defects in convergence and extension movements. Indeed, knockdown caused expression pattern changes for convergence and extension movement markers, whereas cell tracing experiments using kaeda mRNA showed a correlation between Eafs knockdown and cell migration defects. Cardiac and pancreatic differentiation markers revealed that Eafs knockdown also disrupted midline convergence of heart and pancreatic organ precursors. Noncanonical Wnt signaling plays a key role in both convergence and extension movements and midline convergence of organ precursors. We found that Eaf1 and Eaf2/U19 maintained expression levels of wnt11 and wnt5. Moreover, wnt11 or wnt5 mRNA partially rescued the convergence and extension movement defects occurring in eafs morphants. Wnt11 and Wnt5 converge on rhoA, so not surprisingly, rhoA mRNA more effectively rescued defects than either wnt11 or wnt5 mRNA alone. However, the ectopic expression of wnt11 and wnt5 did not affect eaf1 and eaf2/u19 expression. These data indicate that eaf1 and eaf2/u19 act upstream of noncanonical Wnt signaling to mediate convergence and extension movements.
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Apo-14 is a fish-specific apolipoprotein and its biological function remains unknown. In this study, CagApo-14 was cloned from gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) and its expression pattern was investigated during embryogenesis and early larval development. The CagApo-14 transcript and its protein product were firstly localized in the yolk syncytial layer at a high level during embryogenesis, and then found to be restricted to the digestive system including liver and intestine in later embryos and early larvae. Immunofluorescence staining in larvae and adults indicated that CagApo-14 protein was predominantly synthesized in and excreted from sinusoidal endothelial cells of liver tissue. Morpholino knockdown of CagApo-14 resulted in severe disruption of digestive organs including liver, intestine, pancreas and swim bladder. Moreover, yolk lipid transportation and utilization were severely affected in the CagApo-14 morphants. Overall, this data indicates that CagApo-14 is required for digestive system organogenesis during fish embryogenesis and larval development.
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The crosstalk between naive nucleus and maternal factors deposited in egg cytoplasm before zygotic genome activation is crucial for early development. In this study, we utilized two laboratory fishes, zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Chinese rare minnow and Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus), to obtain mutual crossbred embroys and examine the interaction between nucleus and egg cytoplasm from different species. Although these two types of crossbred embryos originated from common nuclei, various developmental capacities were gained due to different origins of the egg cytoplasm. Using cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP), We Compared transcript profiles between the mutual crossbred embryos at two developmental stages (50%- and 90%-epiholy). Three thousand cDNA fragments were generated in four cDNA pools with 64 primer combinations. All differently displayed transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were screened by (lot blot hybridization, and the selected sequences were further analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Compared with ZR embryos, 12 genes were up-regulated and 12 were down-regulated in RZ embryos. The gene fragments were sequenced and subjected to BLASTN analysis. The sequences encoded various proteins which functioned at various levels of proliferation, growth, and development. One gene (ZR6), dramatically down-regulated in RZ embryos, was chosen for loss-of-function study; the knockdown of ZR6 gave rise to the phenotype resembling that of RZ embryos. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Resumo:
Except for the complement C1q, the immunological functions of other C1q family members have remained unclear. Here we describe zebrafish C1q-like, whose transcription and translation display a uniform distribution in early embryos, and are restricted to mid-hind brain and eye in later embryos. In vitro studies showed that C1q-like could inhibit the apoptosis induced by ActD and CHX in EPC cells, through repressing caspase 3/9 activities. Moreover, its physiological roles were studied by morpholino-mediated knockdown in zebrafish embryogenesis. In comparison with control embryos, the C1q-like knockdown embryos display obvious defects in the head and cramofacial development mediated through p53-induced apoptosis, which was confirmed by the in vitro transcribed C1q-like mRNA or p53 MO co-injection. TUNEL assays revealed extensive cell death, and caspase 3/9 activity measurement also revealed about two folds increase in C1q-like morphant embryos, which was inhibited by p53 MO co-injection. Real-time quantitative PCR showed the up-regulation expression of several apoptosis regulators such as p53, mdm2, p21, Box and caspase 3, and down-regulation expression of hbae1 in the C1q-like morphant embryos. Knockdown of C1q-like in zebrafish embryos decreased hemoglobin production and impaired the organization of mesencephalic vein and other brain blood vessels. Interestingly, exposure of zebrafish embryos to UV resulted in an increase in mRNA expression of C1q-like, whereas over-expression of C1q-like was not enough resist to the damage. Furthermore, C1q-like transcription was up-regulated in response to pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila, and embryo survival significantly decreased in the C1q-like morphants after exposure to the bacteria. The data suggested that C1q-like might play an antiapoptotic and protective role in inhibiting p53-dependent and caspase 3/9-mediated apoptosis during embryogenesis, especially in the brain development, and C1q-like should be a novel regulator of cell survival during zebrafish embryogenesis. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Resumo:
C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) from blue-green algae has been reported to have various pharmacological characteristics, including antiinflammatory and anti-tumor activities. In this study, we expressed the beta-subunit of C-PC (ref to as C-POP) in Escherichia coli. We found that the recombinant C-PC/beta has anti-cancer properties. Under the treatment of 5 mu M of the recombinant C-PC/beta, four different cancer cell lines accrued high proliferation inhibition and apoptotic induction. Substantially, a lower response occurred in non-cancer cells. We investigated the mechanism by which C-PC/beta inhibits cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis. We found that the C-PC/beta interacts with membrane-associated beta-tubulin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Under the treatment of the C-PC/beta, depolymerization of microtubules and actin-filaments were observed. The cells underwent apoptosis with an increase in caspase-3, and caspase-8 activities. The cell cycle was arrested at the G0/G1 phase under the treatment of C-PC/beta. In addition, the nuclear level of GAPDH decreased significantly. Decrease in the nuclear level of GAPDH prevents the cell cycle from entering into the S phase. Inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis may potentate the C-POP as a promising cancer prevention or therapy agent. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Resumo:
Identifcation of the earliest forebrain-specific markers should facilitate the elucidation of molecular events underlying vertebrate forebrain determination and specification. Here we report the sequence and characterization of fez (forebrain embryonic zinc finger), a gene that is specifically expressed in the embryonic forebrain of zebrafish. Fez encodes a putative nuclear zinc finger protein that is highly conserved in Drosophila, zebrafish, Xenopus, mouse, and human. In zebrafish, the expression of fez becomes detectable at the anterior edge of the presumptive neuroectoderm by 70% epiboly. During the segmentation period, its expression is completely restricted to the rostral region of the prospective forebrain. At approximately 24 h postfertilization, fez expression is mostly confined to the telencephalon and the anterior-ventral region of the diencephalon. Although fez expression is present in one-eyed pinhead (oep) and cyclops (cyc) zebrfish mutants, the pattern is altered. Forced expression of fez induces ectopic expression of dlx2 and dlx6, two genes involved in brain development. Knockdown of fez function using a morpholino-based antisense oligo inhibited dlx2 expression in the ventral forebrain. Our studies indicate that fez is one of the earliest markers specific for the anterior neuroectoderm and it may play a role in forebrain development by regulating Dlx gene expression. (C) 2001 Academic Press.
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糖酵解作为细胞的基本能量代谢途径广泛存在于各类生物中。真核生物的糖 酵解一般都在细胞质中进行。然而,有报道发现少数物种如原生生物的动基体类、 少数藻类(如硅藻)中糖酵解途径却并非发生在胞质中,而是分别发生在糖酵解 体和线粒体中。在处于关键进化地位的单细胞绿藻—衣藻中,其糖酵解途径的亚 细胞定位一直存在争议。本文针对衣藻糖酵解途径的亚细胞定位问题开展了如下 两方面的研究工作,获得了一些重要结果: 1 衣藻糖酵解途径亚细胞定位的实验研究 本实验室曾利用生物信息学方法 对衣藻糖酵解途径的酶进行了鉴定和定位预测的理论分析,结果发现该途径的前 7 步主要发生在叶绿体,后3 步则主要发生在胞质。据此,本文选取了糖酵解途 径中具有代表性的几个酶(PFKa、PFKb、NAD+-GAPDH 和TIM)进行了GFP 定 位实验,以期通过实验验证该结论。结果表明,参与糖酵解途径第3、5、6 步反 应的酶(分别为PFK、TIM 和NAD+-GAPDH)确实定位到叶绿体。本文的研究 结果在一定程度上证实了以往的生物信息学理论分析结果--衣藻糖酵解途径的 前七步发生在叶绿体中。 2 衣藻叶绿体内糖酵解与卡尔文循环二者之间协调机制的研究 既然衣藻糖 酵解途径发生在叶绿体中,这势必与同样发生在叶绿体中的卡尔文循环途径发生 冲突。因为这两个途径有五步反应是逆向重叠的,它们之间是如何协调的呢?为 了探讨这一问题,本文开展了如下研究:首先,我们利用生物信息学方法对衣藻 全基因组中参与上述五步逆向重叠反应的酶进行了鉴定,并对它们的定位进行了 预测。结果发现,第一步有两个定位到叶绿体的PFK 催化糖酵解途径的反应, 其逆向反应则是由FBP 来催化;第四步在叶绿体中有两个利用不同辅酶(NAD+ 和NADP+)的GAPDH;第二步有两个拷贝的FBA(FBAa 和FBAb)定位到叶 绿体;而参与第三步与第五步的TIM 和PGK 仅有一个拷贝且是叶绿体定位。其 次,我们对这些参与五步逆向重叠反应且定位到叶绿体的酶进行了real time RT-PCR 实验,得到了它们的转录表达谱。PFK、FBAb 和NAD+-GAPDH 在整个 光照和黑暗中均表达恒定波动不大,但相对于PFK 和NAD+-GAPDH,FBAb 的 表达量却极低;而FBP、FBAa 和NADP+-GAPDH 在黑暗条件下表达量低且恒定, 而进入光照后表达量急剧增长,1 小时之后即能达到最高,表明这些酶的表达是 受光调节的;PGK 的转录表达情况则与FBP、FBAa 和NADP+-GAPDH 类似,也 是光照条件下表达量剧增,说明它也是受光调节的;TIM 在光照条件下也是有上 调趋势的,只是幅度较小,推测可能与其作为异构酶催化效率高有关。因此我们 认为PFK、FBAb 和NAD+-GAPDH 是专职参与糖酵解途径的,而FBP、FBAa 和 NADP+-GAPDH 是专职催化卡尔文循环反应的,通过光对它们表达的调节而 来协调它们各自参与的反应;而TIM 和PGK 则是两个代谢途径所共有的,它们 是通过光照、底物浓度等综合因素来调节它们所参与的反应方向进而达到两个途 径之间的协调。 该研究工作不仅对衣藻糖酵解途径的亚细胞定位进行了实验验证,还首次揭 示了衣藻同处叶绿体中的糖酵解与卡尔文循环两个途径之间的协调机制。
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抗菌肽是一类具有强大杀菌能力的肽类分子,同时还具有离子调节、免疫调节、蛋白酶抑制剂和自由基清除等其他生物活性。现已鉴定的抗菌肽超过1,200 种,几乎存在于所有生物种类中。在抗生素耐受严重的今天,抗菌肽极有潜力成为新型的有效抗菌药物,许多抗菌肽已进入临床前研究或临床研究。在本论文中,我们选择了无指盘臭蛙(Odorrana grahami)来源的三种抗菌肽(Brevinin 2E-OG1、Nigrocin-OG4 和Palustrin-OG1),单独或组合使用,以藤黄微球菌(Micrococcus luteus)、枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)和白假丝酵母菌(Candida albicans)为研究对象,进行微生物对抗菌肽耐受性的实验诱导;并通过检测胞外蛋白酶活性、蛋白质组学等方法对微生物耐受抗菌肽机制进行初步的研究。将微生物培养于含有低浓度抗菌肽(单独使用或组合使用)培养基中,每日转接一次,每十次酌情提高抗菌肽浓度。80 次转接后,除藤黄微球菌未对 Palustrin-OG1 产生耐受外,其余所有的实验菌株均表现出对所用三种抗菌肽的耐受。但是Palustrin-OG1 与Brevinin 2E-OG1 或Nigrocin-OG4 联合使用能在一定程度上降低耐受性。将诱导后细菌于不含抗菌肽条件下培养,转接5 次后,对耐受现象无影响,说明这种耐受是可以稳定遗传的。抗菌肽耐受机制之一是分泌蛋白酶水解胞外抗菌肽,我们通过两种方式检测胞外蛋白酶活性,一种是检测发酵液的酪蛋白水解活性,另一种是检测发酵液处理抗菌肽后对抗菌活性的影响。结果发现枯草芽孢杆菌和藤黄微球菌发酵液存在着蛋白酶活性,推测胞外蛋白酶可能与二者对抗菌肽的耐受有关;而白假丝酵母菌发酵液中未检测到蛋白酶活性。另外,我们还通过蛋白质组学的手段对枯草芽孢杆菌耐受机制进行了初步的研究,鉴定了5 个差异表达的蛋白,表达上调的蛋白有yraA(功能未知)、Tpx (巯基过氧化物酶,Thiol peroxidase)、pdhD(二氢硫辛酰胺脱氢酶,dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase),表达下调的有cotN/TasA(芽孢膜相关蛋白,spore coat-associated protein)和gapA(三磷酸甘油醛脱氢酶,Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 ,GAPDH)。yraA 和Tpx 都由Spx 调控,yraA 可以水解小肽增加自由氨基酸,而自由氨基酸增多时gapA、tasA 表达水平会下降,Spx 是由sigma-M 因子调控的,所以我们推测sigma-M 因子在B. subtiis 对抗菌肽耐受中起到了重要的作用。总之,本研究发现抗菌肽的联合作用会减缓微生物对其耐受的程度,为抗菌肽类药物研发提供了一种新思路;同时对抗菌肽耐受机制的初步研究也为今后的深入研究打下了基础。另外,我们还设计了一种新型的抗菌肽系统命名方法,并构建了昆明动物研究所抗菌肽数据库。
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Artemia has evolved a unique developmental pattern of encysted embryos to cope with various environmental threats. Cell divisions totally cease during the preemergence developmental stage from gastrula to prenauplius. The molecular mechanism of this, however, remains unknown. Our study focuses on the involvement of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK), a family of serine/threonine kinase-mediating signal transduction downstream of mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades, in the termination of cell cycle arrest during the post-embryonic development of Artemia-encysted gastrula. With immunochemistry, morphology, and cell cycle analysis, the identified Artemia RSK was established to be specifically activated during the post-embryonic and early larval developmental stages when arrested cells of encysted embryos resumed mitoses. In vivo knockdown of RSK activity by RNA interference, kinase inhibition, and antibody neutralization consistently induced defective larvae with distinct gaps between the exoskeleton and internal tissues. In these abnormal individuals, mitoses were detected to be largely inhibited in the affected regions. These results display the requirement of RSK activity during Artemia development and suggest its role in termination of cell cycle (G(2)/M phase) arrest and promotion of mitogenesis. Our findings may, thus, provide insights into the regulation of cell division during Artemia post-embryonic development and reveal further aspects of RSK functions.
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Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 is the major insulin-like growth factor (IGF) carrier protein in the bloodstream. IGFBP-3 prolongs the half-life of circulating IGFs and prevents their potential hypo-glycemic effect. IGFBP-3 is also expressed in many peripheral tissues in fetal and adult stages. In vitro, IGFBP-3 can inhibit or potentiate IGF actions and even possesses IGF-independent activities, suggesting that local IGFBP-3 may also have paracrine/autocrine function(s). The in vivo function of IGFBP-3, however, is unclear. In this study, we elucidate the developmental role of IGFBP-3 using the zebrafish model. IGFBP-3 mRNA expression is first detected in the migrating cranial neural crest cells and subsequently in pharyngeal arches in zebrafish embryos. IGFBP-3 mRNA is also persistently expressed in the developing inner ears. To determine the role of IGFBP-3 in these tissues, we ablated the IGFBP-3 gene product using morpholino-modified antisense oligonucleotides (MOs). The IGFBP-3 knocked down embryos had delayed pharyngeal skeleton morphogenesis and greatly reduced pharyngeal cartilage differentiation. Knockdown of IGFBP-3 also significantly decreased inner ear size and disrupted hair cell differentiation and semicircular canal formation. Furthermore, reintroduction of a MO-resistant form of IGFBP-3 "rescued" the MO-induced defects. These findings suggest that IGFBP-3 plays an important role in regulating pharyngeal cartilage and inner car development and growth in zebrafish.
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The usage of RNA interference for gene knockdown in zebrafish through expression of the small interfering RNA mediators from DNA vectors has created a lot of excitement in the research community. In this work, the ability of human cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter (CMV promoter)-driven short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression vector to induce shRNA against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene in zebrafish was tested, and its effects on VEGF-mediated vasculogenesis and angiogenesis were evaluated. Altogether four vectors targeting various locations of VEGF gene were constructed, and pSI-V4 was proven to be the most effective one. Microinjection of pSI-V4 into the zebrafish embryos resulted in defective vascular formation and down regulation of VEGF expression. In situ hybridization analysis indicated that silencing VEGF gene expression by pSI-V4 resulted in down regulation of neuropilin-1 (NRP1), a potent VEGF receptor. Knockdown of VEGF expression by morpholino gave the same result. This provided evidence that the VEGF-mediated angiogenesis in zebrafish was in part dependent on NRP1 expression. The results contributed to a better understanding of molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular development and provided a potential promoter for making inducible knockdown in zebrafish.