gene expression tagged posts

Bacteria Behave Differently on International Space Station, ISS

Altered Extracellular Model. Biomolecular model based on the gene expression data analyses support the reduction of glucose molecules (blue gradient) and acid buildup (gold gradient) proposed to occur in the boundary layer around the cell. This altered extracellular environment has been hypothesized to result as an effect of reduced gravity-driven forces acting on the cell-fluid system and has been put forth as the biophysical mechanism governing bacterial behavior in space. Blue circles indicate overexpression of genes associated with metabolism, while gold circles represent the overexpression of acidic condition genes. Credit: Zea et al (2016)

Altered Extracellular Model. Biomolecular model based on the gene expression data analyses support the reduction of glucose molecules (blue gradient) and acid buildup (gold gradient) proposed to occur in the boundary layer around the cell. This altered extracellular environment has been hypothesized to result as an effect of reduced gravity-driven forces acting on the cell-fluid system and has been put forth as the biophysical mechanism governing bacterial behavior in space. Blue circles indicate overexpression of genes associated with metabolism, while gold circles represent the overexpression of acidic condition genes. Credit: Zea et al (2016)

Gene expression data suggest bacteria experience reduced glucose uptake and increased extracellular acidity in E. coli in space...

Read More

Powering up the Circadian Rhythm

Researchers led by the Salk Institute are the first to discover a protein that controls the strength of the body's circadian rhythms. A mouse liver with a "weak" circadian clock, caused by the targeted deletion of FBXW7 (right), has disrupted the lipid metabolism program and promoted lipid accumulation, compared to the normal liver (left). Credit: Salk Institute

Researchers led by the Salk Institute are the first to discover a protein that controls the strength of the body’s circadian rhythms. A mouse liver with a “weak” circadian clock, caused by the targeted deletion of FBXW7 (right), has disrupted the lipid metabolism program and promoted lipid accumulation, compared to the normal liver (left). Credit: Salk Institute

At noon, levels of genes and proteins throughout your body are drastically different than they are at midnight. Disruptions to this 24-hour cycle of physiological activity are why jet lag or a bad night’s sleep can alter your appetite and sleep patterns for days—and even contribute to conditions like heart disease, sleep disorders and cancers...

Read More

New RNA letter regulates Gene Expression

m1A occurs in GC-rich sequence contexts and in genes with structured 5′ UTRs.

m1A occurs in GC-rich sequence contexts and in genes with structured 5′ UTRs.

Discovery brings RNA to the fore of epigenetics. A new study finds that RNA, DNA template for protein translation, often appears with an extra letter – and this letter is the regulatory key for control of gene expression. The discovery offers insight into different RNA functions in cellular processes and contributions to the development of disease.

“Epigenetics, the regulation of gene expression beyond the primary information encoded by DNA, was thought until recently to be mediated by modifications of proteins and DNA,” said Prof. Gidi Rechavi. “The new findings bring RNA to a central position in epigenetics.”

The number of modified nucleotides (letters) in RNA is 10X larger than that of the letters found in D...

Read More

Discovered: How to Unlock Inaccessible Genes

This image shows the binding profile of chromatin remodelers on 12,000 distinct genes. The researchers used bioinformatics tools to visualize a great number of genes, here aligned by their promoters and arranged according to their nucleosome distribution. Remodelers attached to nucleosomes (dark blue verticals lines) are present on each side of the gene promoter. The researchers identified two distinct nucleosomal architectures (represented by drawings at top and bottom). Researchers demonstrated that remodeler activity depends on this nucleosome organization: some are more specifically required for expression of genes at nucleosome-dense promoters (upper part), whereas others act preferentially on promoters with a low nucleosomal density (bottom part). Credit: Matthieu Gérard, University of Paris-Sud

This image shows the binding profile of chromatin remodelers on 12,000 distinct genes. The researchers used bioinformatics tools to visualize a great number of genes, here aligned by their promoters and arranged according to their nucleosome distribution. Remodelers attached to nucleosomes (dark blue verticals lines) are present on each side of the gene promoter. The researchers identified two distinct nucleosomal architectures (represented by drawings at top and bottom). Researchers demonstrated that remodeler activity depends on this nucleosome organization: some are more specifically required for expression of genes at nucleosome-dense promoters (upper part), whereas others act preferentially on promoters with a low nucleosomal density (bottom part)...

Read More