Human and murine studies showed that granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) exerts beneficial effects in intestinal inflammation. To explore whether GM-CSF mediates its effects via monocytes, we analyzed effects of GM-CSF on monocytes in vitro and assessed the immunomodulatory potential of GM-CSF-activated monocytes (GMaM). We used microarray technology and functional assays to characterize GMaM in vitro and used a mouse model of colitis to study GMaM functions in vivo.
Reprogramming of monocytes by GM-CSF contributes to regulatory immune functions during intestinal inflammation.
Specimen part
View SamplesZinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified
Physiological and transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to zinc limitation in chemostat cultures.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesZinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified.
Physiological and transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to zinc limitation in chemostat cultures.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesZinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified
Physiological and transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to zinc limitation in chemostat cultures.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesHuman epidermal keratinocytes were treated with 25 ng.ml EphB2 or EFNA4, both as-Fc conjugates (Sigma).
Eph-2B, acting as an extracellular ligand, induces differentiation markers in epidermal keratinocytes.
Time
View SamplesBackground: Skeletal muscle constitutes a significant portion of total body mass and is a major regulator of systemic metabolism as it serves as the major site for glucose disposal and the main reservoir for amino acids. With aging, cachexia, starvation, and myositis, there is a preferential loss of fast glycolytic muscle fibers. We previously reported a mouse model in which a constitutively-active Akt transgene is induced to express in a subset of muscle groups leading to the hypertrophy of type IIb myofibers with an accompanying increase in strength. This muscle growth protects mice in various cardio-metabolic disease models, but little is known about the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms by which fast-twitch muscle impacts disease processes and regulates distant tissues. Purpose: In the present study, poly(A)+ tail mRNA-seq was performed to characterize the transcriptome of the hypertrophic gastrocnemius muscle from Akt1-transgenic mice. Results: Pathway analysis for the 3,481 differentially expressed genes in muscle identified enriched signaling pathways involving growth, cell cycle regulation, and inflammation. Combined metabolomics and transcriptomic analyses revealed that Akt1-induced muscle growth mediated a metabolic shift involving reductions in glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, but enhanced pentose phosphate pathway activation and increased branch chain amino acid accumulation. Signal peptide prediction analysis revealed 241 differentially expressed in muscle transcripts that potentially encode secreted proteins. A number of these secreted factors have signaling properties that are consistent with the myogenic, metabolic and cardiovascular-protective properties that have previously been associated with type IIb muscle growth. Conclusions: These data reveal that enhanced Akt signaling promotes the activation of the pentose phosphate and the accumulation of branched amino acids that are important for the production of nucleic acids and proteins. Numerous known and novel transcripts potentially encoding muscle secreted proteins were identified, indicating the importance of fast-twitch muscle in inter-tissue communication. Overall design: mRNA profiles of adult muscle growth from four muscle-specific conditional Akt transgenic (DTG) and four littermate control mice (1256[3Emut]Mck-rtTA) were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina HiSeq.
RNA-seq and metabolomic analyses of Akt1-mediated muscle growth reveals regulation of regenerative pathways and changes in the muscle secretome.
Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesBoth ephrins and their receptors are membrane bound, restricting their interactions to the sites of direct cell-to-cell interfaces. They are widely expressed, often co-expressed and regulate developmental processes, cell adhesion, motility, survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Both tumor suppressor and oncogene activities are ascribed to EFNs and Ephs in various contexts. A major conundrum regarding the EFN/Eph system concerns their large number and functional redundancy, given the promiscuous cross-activation of ligands and receptors and the overlapping intracellular signaling pathways. To address this issue, we treated human epidermal keratinocytes with 5 EFNAs individually and defined the transcriptional responses in the cells. We found that a large set of genes is coregulated by all EFNAs. However, while the responses to EFNA3, EFNA 4 and EFNA 5 are identical, the responses to EFNA1 and EFNA2 are characteristic and distinctive. All EFNAs induce epidermal differentiation markers and suppress cell adhesion genes, especially integrins. Ontological analysis shows that all EFNAs induce cornification and keratin genes, while suppressing wound-healing associated, signaling, receptor and ECM associated genes. Transcriptional targets of AP1 are selectively suppressed by EFNAs. EFNA1 and EFNA2, but not the EFNA3, EFNA4, EFNA5 cluster, regulate the members of the ubiquitin-associated proteolysis genes. EFNA1 specifically induces collagen production. Our results demonstrate that the EFN-Eph interactions in the epidermis, while promiscuous, are not redundant but specific. This suggests that different members of the EFN/Eph system have specific, clearly demarcated functions.
Specific and shared targets of ephrin A signaling in epidermal keratinocytes.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesIschaemic preconditioning is a method of protecting tissue against ischaemia-reperfusion injury. It is an innate protective mechanism that increases a tissue's tolerance to prolonged ischaemia when it is first subjected to short burst of ischaemia and reperfusion. It is thought to provide this protection by increasing the tissue's tolerance to ischaemia, therby reducing oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis in the preconditioned tissue.
Transcriptional responses in the adaptation to ischaemia-reperfusion injury: a study of the effect of ischaemic preconditioning in total knee arthroplasty patients.
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesEpidermal keratinocytes respond to extracellular influences by activating cytoplasmic signal transduction pathways that change the transcriptional profiles of affected cells. To define responses to two such pathways, p38 and ERK, we used SB203580 and PD98059 as specific inhibitors, and identified the regulated genes after 1, 4, 24 and 48 hrs, using Affymetrix Hu133Av2 microarrays. Additionally, we compared genes specifically regulated by p38 and ERKs with those regulated by JNK and by all three pathways simultaneously. We find that the p38 pathway induces the expression of extracellular matrix and proliferation-associated genes, while suppressing microtubule-associated genes; the ERK pathway induces the expression of nuclear envelope and mRNA splicing proteins, while suppressing steroid synthesis and mitochondrial energy production enzymes. Both pathways promote epidermal differentiation and induce feedback inactivation of MAPK signaling. c-FOS, SRY and N-Myc appear to be the principal targets of the p38 pathway, Elk-1 SAP1 and HLH2 of ERK, while FREAC-4, ARNT and USF are common to both. The results for the first time comprehensively define the genes regulated by the p38 and ERK pathways in epidermal keratinocytes and suggest a list of targets potentially useful in therapeutic interventions.
Transcriptional profiling defines the roles of ERK and p38 kinases in epidermal keratinocytes.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesInterleukin-1 is a proinflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in inflammatory diseases of the skin, including bacterial infections, bullous diseases, UV damage and especially psoriasis. To characterize the molecular effects of IL-1 in epidermis, we defined the transcriptional changes in human epidermal keratinocytes 1, 4, 24, and 48 h after treatment with IL-1a. IL-1 significantly regulated 388 genes, including genes associated with proteolysis, adhesion, signal transduction, proliferation, and epidermal differentiation. IL-1 induces many genes that have antimicrobial function. Secreted cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and their receptors are the prominent targets of IL-1 regulation, including IL-8, IL-19, elafin, C3, and S100A proteins, which implicates IL-1 in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. IL-1 induced not only proliferation-associated genes but also differentiation marker genes such as transglutaminase-1 and involucrin, which suggests that IL-1 plays an important role in the aberrant proliferation and differentiation seen in psoriasis. Correlation of IL-1 regulated genes with the TNFa and IFNg regulated ones showed more similarities between IL-1 and TNFa than IL-1 and IFNg, whereas Oncostatin-M affected a largely unrelated set of genes. IL-1 regulates many genes previously shown to be specifically over-expressed in psoriasis. In summary, IL-1 regulates a characteristic set of genes that define its specific contribution to inflammation and aberrant differentiation in skin diseases.
Transcriptional responses of human epidermal keratinocytes to cytokine interleukin-1.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples