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PubMed2004

Schistosoma mansoni genome project: an update.

A schistosome genome project was initiated by the World Health Organization in 1994 with the notion that the best prospects for identifying new targets for drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic development lie in schistosome gene discovery, development of chromosome maps, whole genome sequencing and genome analysis. Schistosoma mansoni has a haploid genome of 270 Mb contained on 8 pairs of chromosomes. It is estimated that the S. mansoni genome contains between 15000 and 25000 genes. There are approximately 16689 ESTs obtained from diverse libraries representing different developmental stages of S. mansoni, deposited in the NCBI EST database. More than half of the deposited sequences correspond to genes of unknown function. Approximately 40-50% of the sequences form unique clusters, suggesting that approximately 20-25% of the total schistosome genes have been discovered. Efforts to develop low resolution chromosome maps are in progress. There is a genome sequencing program underway that will provide 3X sequence coverage of the S. mansoni genome that will result in approximately 95% gene discovery. The genomics era has provided the resources to usher in the era of functional genomics that will involve microarrays to focus on specific metabolic pathways, proteomics to identify relevant proteins and protein-protein interactions to understand critical parasite pathways. Functional genomics is expected to accelerate the development of control and treatment strategies for schistosomiasis.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Negative regulation of Egfr/Ras pathway by Ultrabithorax during haltere development in Drosophila.

In Drosophila, wings and halteres are the dorsal appendages of the second and third thoracic segments, respectively. In the third thoracic segment, homeotic selector gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) suppresses wing development to mediate haltere development (E.B. Lewis, 1978. A gene complex controlling segmentation in Drosophila. Nature 276, 565-570). Halteres lack stout sensory bristles of the wing margin and veins that reticulate the wing blade. Furthermore, wing and haltere epithelia differ in the size, shape, spacing and number of cuticular hairs. The differential development of wing and haltere, thus, constitutes a good genetic system to study cell fate determination. Here, we report that down-regulation of Egfr/Ras pathway is critical for haltere fate specification: over-expression of positive components of this pathway causes significant haltere-to-wing transformations. RNA in situ, immunohistochemistry, and epistasis genetic experiments suggest that Ubx negatively regulates the expression of the ligand vein as well as the receptor Egf-r to down-regulate the signaling pathway. Electromobility shift assays further suggest that Egf-r is a potential direct target of Ubx. These results and other recent findings suggest that homeotic genes may regulate cell fate determination by directly regulating few steps at the top of the hierarchy of selected signal transduction pathways.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Selective utilization of nonhomologous end-joining and homologous recombination DNA repair pathways during nervous system development.

The repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) occurs via nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR). These mechanistically distinct pathways are critical for maintenance of genomic integrity and organismal survival. Although inactivation of either pathway leads to embryonic lethality, here we show selective requirements for each DNA DSB repair pathway at different stages of mammalian nervous system development. DNA damage-induced apoptosis resulting from inactivation of HR (Xrcc2 deficiency) only occurred in proliferating neural precursor cells, whereas disruption of NHEJ (DNA ligase IV deficiency) mainly affected differentiating cells at later developmental stages. Therefore, these data suggest that NHEJ is dispensable for a substantial portion of early development because DSB repair during this period utilizes HR. Moreover, DNA damage-induced apoptosis required the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (Atm) kinase after disruption of NHEJ, but not HR, during neurogenesis. However, embryonic lethality arising from disruption of either repair pathway was rescued by loss of p53 and resulted in specific tumor types reflective of the particular DSB repair pathway inactivated. Thus, these data reveal distinct tissue- and cell-type requirements for each DNA DSB repair pathway during neural development and provide insights for understanding the contributions of DNA DSB responses to disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2007

Oxysterols are novel activators of the hedgehog signaling pathway in pluripotent mesenchymal cells.

Pluripotent mesenchymal cells form a population of precursors to a variety of cell types, including osteoblasts and adipocytes. Aging tilts the balance in favor of adipocyte differentiation at the expense of osteoblast differentiation, resulting in reduced bone formation and osteopenic disorders, including osteoporosis, in humans and animals. Understanding the mechanisms involved in causing this apparent shift in differentiation and identifying factors that stimulate osteoblast formation while inhibiting adipogenesis are of great therapeutic interest. In this study we report that specific, naturally occurring oxysterols, previously shown to direct pluripotent mesenchymal cells toward an osteoblast lineage, exert their osteoinductive effects through activation of Hedgehog signaling pathway. This was demonstrated by 1) oxysterol-induced expression of the Hh target genes Gli-1 and Patched, 2) oxysterol-induced activation of a luciferase reporter driven by a multimerized Gli-responsive element, 3) inhibition of oxysterol effects by the hedgehog pathway inhibitor, cyclopamine, and 4) unresponsiveness of Smoothened-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts to oxysterols. Using Patched-/- cells that possess high baseline Gli activity, we found that oxysterols did not dramatically shift the IC50 concentration of cyclopamine needed to inhibit Gli activity in these cells. Furthermore, binding studies showed that oxysterols did not compete with fluorescently labeled cyclopamine, BODIPY-cyclopamine, for direct binding to Smoothened. These findings demonstrate that oxysterols stimulate hedgehog pathway activity by indirectly activating the seven-transmembrane pathway component Smoothened. Osteoinductive oxysterols are, therefore, novel activators of the hedgehog pathway in pluripotent mesenchymal cells, and they may be important modulators of this critical signaling pathway that regulates numerous developmental and post-developmental processes.

Adipocytes↗
PubMed2006

Molecular changes in brain tumors: prognostic and therapeutic impact.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review focuses on recent advances in the molecular biology of the main primary brain tumors (gliomas, medulloblastomas, and ependymomas), with particular emphasis on prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets. RECENT FINDINGS: Current biologic markers are useful for predicting prognosis (e.g. 1p/19q codeletion in grade 2 and 3 gliomas, nuclear beta-catenin expression in medulloblastoma) or response to the treatment (e.g. the methyl guanyl methyl transferase promoter methylation status). Recent gene profiling studies have identified specific molecular signatures that permit a molecular classification and that also provide new, potentially useful prognostic markers. The studies have also shown a striking parallel between central nervous system ontogenesis and the oncogenesis of brain tumors. By elucidating the underlying activated molecular pathways, these approaches provide the basis for a biologic therapy to target the critically activated pathways. SUMMARY: Important advances have been made in the biologic understanding, molecular subclassification, and identification of prognostic markers in brain tumors, thereby improving the current classifications. Such data provide a rational basis for current and future targeted biologically based strategies.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed2005

New insights into NHEJ repair processes in prokaryotes.

In eukaryotic cells, the repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) by the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway is critical for genome stability. Until recently it was assumed that this DSB repair pathway was restricted to the eukarya. However, a functionally homologous prokaryotic NHEJ repair apparatus has now been identified and characterised. In contrast to the complex eukaryotic system, bacterial NHEJ appears to require only two proteins, Ku and a multifunctional DNA ligase, which form a two-component repair complex at the termini of DSBs. Together, these DNA repair factors possess all of the break-recognition, end-processing and ligation activities required to facilitate the complex task of DSB repair, both in vitro and in vivo. Our recent findings lay the foundation for understanding the molecular mechanisms that co-ordinate the processing and joining of DSBs by NHEJ in bacteria and also provides a conceptual framework for delineating the end-processing reactions in eukaryotes.

Animals↗