ALBERT

Description: Complementary sets of genes are epigenetically silenced in male and female gametes in a process termed genomic imprinting. The Dnmt3L gene is expressed during gametogenesis at stages where genomic imprints are established. Targeted disruption of Dnmt3L caused azoospermia in homozygous males, and heterozygous progeny of homozygous females died before midgestation. Bisulfite genomic sequencing of DNA from oocytes and embryos showed that removal of Dnmt3L prevented methylation of sequences that are normally maternally methylated. The defect was specific to imprinted regions, and global genome methylation levels were not affected. Lack of maternal methylation imprints in heterozygous embryos derived from homozygous mutant oocytes caused biallelic expression of genes that are normally expressed only from the allele of paternal origin. The key catalytic motifs characteristic of DNA cytosine methyltransferases have been lost from Dnmt3L, and the protein is more likely to act as a regulator of imprint establishment than as a DNA methyltransferase.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bourc'his, D -- Xu, G L -- Lin, C S -- Bollman, B -- Bestor, T H -- GM59377/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HD37687/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Dec 21;294(5551):2536-9. Epub 2001 Nov 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics and Development, Transgenic Animal Facility, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11719692" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Mice deficient in the Polycomb repressor Bmi1 develop numerous abnormalities including a severe defect in stem cell self-renewal, alterations in thymocyte maturation and a shortened lifespan. Previous work has implicated de-repression of the Ink4a/Arf (also known as Cdkn2a) locus as mediating many of the aspects of the Bmi1(-/-) phenotype. Here we demonstrate that cells derived from Bmi1(-/-) mice also have impaired mitochondrial function, a marked increase in the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species and subsequent engagement of the DNA damage response pathway. Furthermore, many of the deficiencies normally observed in Bmi1(-/-) mice improve after either pharmacological treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine or genetic disruption of the DNA damage response pathway by Chk2 (also known as Chek2) deletion. These results demonstrate that Bmi1 has an unexpected role in maintaining mitochondrial function and redox homeostasis and indicate that the Polycomb family of proteins can coordinately regulate cellular metabolism with stem and progenitor cell function.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4721521/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4721521/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Liu, Jie -- Cao, Liu -- Chen, Jichun -- Song, Shiwei -- Lee, In Hye -- Quijano, Celia -- Liu, Hongjun -- Keyvanfar, Keyvan -- Chen, Haoqian -- Cao, Long-Yue -- Ahn, Bong-Hyun -- Kumar, Neil G -- Rovira, Ilsa I -- Xu, Xiao-Ling -- van Lohuizen, Maarten -- Motoyama, Noboru -- Deng, Chu-Xia -- Finkel, Toren -- R00 AG032356/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- Z01 HL005012-11/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2009 May 21;459(7245):387-92. doi: 10.1038/nature08040. Epub 2009 Apr 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Translational Medicine Branch, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19404261" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The rapid dissemination of the 2009 pandemic influenza virus underscores the need for universal influenza vaccines that elicit protective immunity to diverse viral strains. Here, we show that vaccination with plasmid DNA encoding H1N1 influenza hemagglutinin (HA) and boosting with seasonal vaccine or replication-defective adenovirus 5 vector encoding HA stimulated the production of broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies. This prime/boost combination increased the neutralization of diverse H1N1 strains dating from 1934 to 2007 as compared to either component alone and conferred protection against divergent H1N1 viruses in mice and ferrets. These antibodies were directed to the conserved stem region of HA and were also elicited in nonhuman primates. Cross-neutralization of H1N1 subtypes elicited by this approach provides a basis for the development of a universal influenza vaccine for humans.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wei, Chih-Jen -- Boyington, Jeffrey C -- McTamney, Patrick M -- Kong, Wing-Pui -- Pearce, Melissa B -- Xu, Ling -- Andersen, Hanne -- Rao, Srinivas -- Tumpey, Terrence M -- Yang, Zhi-Yong -- Nabel, Gary J -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Aug 27;329(5995):1060-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1192517. Epub 2010 Jul 15.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892-3005, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20647428" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Meiotic recombination creates genetic diversity and ensures segregation of homologous chromosomes. Previous population analyses yielded results averaged among individuals and affected by evolutionary pressures. We sequenced 99 sperm from an Asian male by using the newly developed amplification method-multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycles-to phase the personal genome and map recombination events at high resolution, which are nonuniformly distributed across the genome in the absence of selection pressure. The paucity of recombination near transcription start sites observed in individual sperm indicates that such a phenomenon is intrinsic to the molecular mechanism of meiosis. Interestingly, a decreased crossover frequency combined with an increase of autosomal aneuploidy is observable on a global per-sperm basis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3590491/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3590491/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lu, Sijia -- Zong, Chenghang -- Fan, Wei -- Yang, Mingyu -- Li, Jinsen -- Chapman, Alec R -- Zhu, Ping -- Hu, Xuesong -- Xu, Liya -- Yan, Liying -- Bai, Fan -- Qiao, Jie -- Tang, Fuchou -- Li, Ruiqiang -- Xie, X Sunney -- HG005097-1/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- HG005613-01/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG005097/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- RC2 HG005613/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2012 Dec 21;338(6114):1627-30. doi: 10.1126/science.1229112.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23258895" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Birds are the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates and have wide relevance across many research fields. We explored bird macroevolution using full genomes from 48 avian species representing all major extant clades. The avian genome is principally characterized by its constrained size, which predominantly arose because of lineage-specific erosion of repetitive elements, large segmental deletions, and gene loss. Avian genomes furthermore show a remarkably high degree of evolutionary stasis at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene synteny, and chromosomal structure. Despite this pattern of conservation, we detected many non-neutral evolutionary changes in protein-coding genes and noncoding regions. These analyses reveal that pan-avian genomic diversity covaries with adaptations to different lifestyles and convergent evolution of traits.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4390078/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4390078/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhang, Guojie -- Li, Cai -- Li, Qiye -- Li, Bo -- Larkin, Denis M -- Lee, Chul -- Storz, Jay F -- Antunes, Agostinho -- Greenwold, Matthew J -- Meredith, Robert W -- Odeen, Anders -- Cui, Jie -- Zhou, Qi -- Xu, Luohao -- Pan, Hailin -- Wang, Zongji -- Jin, Lijun -- Zhang, Pei -- Hu, Haofu -- Yang, Wei -- Hu, Jiang -- Xiao, Jin -- Yang, Zhikai -- Liu, Yang -- Xie, Qiaolin -- Yu, Hao -- Lian, Jinmin -- Wen, Ping -- Zhang, Fang -- Li, Hui -- Zeng, Yongli -- Xiong, Zijun -- Liu, Shiping -- Zhou, Long -- Huang, Zhiyong -- An, Na -- Wang, Jie -- Zheng, Qiumei -- Xiong, Yingqi -- Wang, Guangbiao -- Wang, Bo -- Wang, Jingjing -- Fan, Yu -- da Fonseca, Rute R -- Alfaro-Nunez, Alonzo -- Schubert, Mikkel -- Orlando, Ludovic -- Mourier, Tobias -- Howard, Jason T -- Ganapathy, Ganeshkumar -- Pfenning, Andreas -- Whitney, Osceola -- Rivas, Miriam V -- Hara, Erina -- Smith, Julia -- Farre, Marta -- Narayan, Jitendra -- Slavov, Gancho -- Romanov, Michael N -- Borges, Rui -- Machado, Joao Paulo -- Khan, Imran -- Springer, Mark S -- Gatesy, John -- Hoffmann, Federico G -- Opazo, Juan C -- Hastad, Olle -- Sawyer, Roger H -- Kim, Heebal -- Kim, Kyu-Won -- Kim, Hyeon Jeong -- Cho, Seoae -- Li, Ning -- Huang, Yinhua -- Bruford, Michael W -- Zhan, Xiangjiang -- Dixon, Andrew -- Bertelsen, Mads F -- Derryberry, Elizabeth -- Warren, Wesley -- Wilson, Richard K -- Li, Shengbin -- Ray, David A -- Green, Richard E -- O'Brien, Stephen J -- Griffin, Darren -- Johnson, Warren E -- Haussler, David -- Ryder, Oliver A -- Willerslev, Eske -- Graves, Gary R -- Alstrom, Per -- Fjeldsa, Jon -- Mindell, David P -- Edwards, Scott V -- Braun, Edward L -- Rahbek, Carsten -- Burt, David W -- Houde, Peter -- Zhang, Yong -- Yang, Huanming -- Wang, Jian -- Avian Genome Consortium -- Jarvis, Erich D -- Gilbert, M Thomas P -- Wang, Jun -- DP1 OD000448/OD/NIH HHS/ -- DP1OD000448/OD/NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087216/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1311-20. doi: 10.1126/science.1251385. Epub 2014 Dec 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. zhanggj@genomics.cn jarvis@neuro.duke.edu mtpgilbert@gmail.com wangj@genomics.cn. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. ; Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, UK. ; Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea. Cho and Kim Genomics, Seoul National University Research Park, Seoul 151-919, Republic of Korea. ; School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA. ; Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia (CIMAR)/Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR), Universidade do Porto, Rua dos Bragas, 177, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. ; Department of Biology and Molecular Biology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA. ; Department of Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Biological Sciences and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore. ; Department of Integrative Biology University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. BGI Education Center,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shenzhen, 518083, China. ; Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. ; Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK. ; School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK. ; Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia (CIMAR)/Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR), Universidade do Porto, Rua dos Bragas, 177, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal. Instituto de Ciencias Biomedicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Portugal. ; Department of Biology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile. ; Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Post Office Box 7011, S-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea. Cho and Kim Genomics, Seoul National University Research Park, Seoul 151-919, Republic of Korea. Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea. ; Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea. ; Cho and Kim Genomics, Seoul National University Research Park, Seoul 151-919, Republic of Korea. ; State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China. ; State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China. College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China. ; Organisms and Environment Division, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales, UK. ; Organisms and Environment Division, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales, UK. Key Lab of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 China. ; International Wildlife Consultants, Carmarthen SA33 5YL, Wales, UK. ; Centre for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Roskildevej 38, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA. Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. ; The Genome Institute at Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA. ; College of Medicine and Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China. ; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center 8000 N Ocean Drive, Dania, FL 33004, USA. ; Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA. ; Genetics Division, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92027, USA. ; Department of Vertebrate Zoology, MRC-116, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Post Office Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA. Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark. ; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China. Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark. ; Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. ; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Department of Biology and Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark. Imperial College London, Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. ; Division of Genetics and Genomics, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The Roslin Institute Building, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK. ; Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Box 30001 MSC 3AF, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai long, Taipa, Macau 999078, China. ; Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. zhanggj@genomics.cn jarvis@neuro.duke.edu mtpgilbert@gmail.com wangj@genomics.cn. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, 6102, Australia. zhanggj@genomics.cn jarvis@neuro.duke.edu mtpgilbert@gmail.com wangj@genomics.cn. ; China National GeneBank, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China. Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai long, Taipa, Macau 999078, China. Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. Princess Al Jawhara Center of Excellence in the Research of Hereditary Disorders, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. zhanggj@genomics.cn jarvis@neuro.duke.edu mtpgilbert@gmail.com wangj@genomics.cn.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25504712" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Active dendrites provide neurons with powerful processing capabilities. However, little is known about the role of neuronal dendrites in behaviourally related circuit computations. Here we report that a novel global dendritic nonlinearity is involved in the integration of sensory and motor information within layer 5 pyramidal neurons during an active sensing behaviour. Layer 5 pyramidal neurons possess elaborate dendritic arborizations that receive functionally distinct inputs, each targeted to spatially separate regions. At the cellular level, coincident input from these segregated pathways initiates regenerative dendritic electrical events that produce bursts of action potential output and circuits featuring this powerful dendritic nonlinearity can implement computations based on input correlation. To examine this in vivo we recorded dendritic activity in layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the barrel cortex using two-photon calcium imaging in mice performing an object-localization task. Large-amplitude, global calcium signals were observed throughout the apical tuft dendrites when active touch occurred at particular object locations or whisker angles. Such global calcium signals are produced by dendritic plateau potentials that require both vibrissal sensory input and primary motor cortex activity. These data provide direct evidence of nonlinear dendritic processing of correlated sensory and motor information in the mammalian neocortex during active sensation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Xu, Ning-long -- Harnett, Mark T -- Williams, Stephen R -- Huber, Daniel -- O'Connor, Daniel H -- Svoboda, Karel -- Magee, Jeffrey C -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2012 Dec 13;492(7428):247-51. doi: 10.1038/nature11601. Epub 2012 Nov 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, Virginia 20147, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23143335" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Oesophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers and is the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Approximately 70% of global oesophageal cancer cases occur in China, with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) being the histopathological form in the vast majority of cases (〉90%). Currently, there are limited clinical approaches for the early diagnosis and treatment of ESCC, resulting in a 10% five-year survival rate for patients. However, the full repertoire of genomic events leading to the pathogenesis of ESCC remains unclear. Here we describe a comprehensive genomic analysis of 158 ESCC cases, as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium research project. We conducted whole-genome sequencing in 17 ESCC cases and whole-exome sequencing in 71 cases, of which 53 cases, plus an additional 70 ESCC cases not used in the whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing, were subjected to array comparative genomic hybridization analysis. We identified eight significantly mutated genes, of which six are well known tumour-associated genes (TP53, RB1, CDKN2A, PIK3CA, NOTCH1, NFE2L2), and two have not previously been described in ESCC (ADAM29 and FAM135B). Notably, FAM135B is identified as a novel cancer-implicated gene as assayed for its ability to promote malignancy of ESCC cells. Additionally, MIR548K, a microRNA encoded in the amplified 11q13.3-13.4 region, is characterized as a novel oncogene, and functional assays demonstrate that MIR548K enhances malignant phenotypes of ESCC cells. Moreover, we have found that several important histone regulator genes (MLL2 (also called KMT2D), ASH1L, MLL3 (KMT2C), SETD1B, CREBBP and EP300) are frequently altered in ESCC. Pathway assessment reveals that somatic aberrations are mainly involved in the Wnt, cell cycle and Notch pathways. Genomic analyses suggest that ESCC and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma share some common pathogenic mechanisms, and ESCC development is associated with alcohol drinking. This study has explored novel biological markers and tumorigenic pathways that would greatly improve therapeutic strategies for ESCC.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Song, Yongmei -- Li, Lin -- Ou, Yunwei -- Gao, Zhibo -- Li, Enmin -- Li, Xiangchun -- Zhang, Weimin -- Wang, Jiaqian -- Xu, Liyan -- Zhou, Yong -- Ma, Xiaojuan -- Liu, Lingyan -- Zhao, Zitong -- Huang, Xuanlin -- Fan, Jing -- Dong, Lijia -- Chen, Gang -- Ma, Liying -- Yang, Jie -- Chen, Longyun -- He, Minghui -- Li, Miao -- Zhuang, Xuehan -- Huang, Kai -- Qiu, Kunlong -- Yin, Guangliang -- Guo, Guangwu -- Feng, Qiang -- Chen, Peishan -- Wu, Zhiyong -- Wu, Jianyi -- Ma, Ling -- Zhao, Jinyang -- Luo, Longhai -- Fu, Ming -- Xu, Bainan -- Chen, Bo -- Li, Yingrui -- Tong, Tong -- Wang, Mingrong -- Liu, Zhihua -- Lin, Dongxin -- Zhang, Xiuqing -- Yang, Huanming -- Wang, Jun -- Zhan, Qimin -- England -- Nature. 2014 May 1;509(7498):91-5. doi: 10.1038/nature13176. Epub 2014 Mar 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute and Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China [2]. ; 1] BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, Guangdong 518083, China [2]. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute and Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China [2] Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China [3]. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for High Cancer Incidence Coastal Chaoshan Area, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong, China [2]. ; State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute and Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China. ; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, Guangdong 518083, China. ; Institute of Oncologic Pathology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong, China. ; Department of Tumor Surgery, Shantou Central Hospital, Affiliated Shantou Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shantou 515041, Guangdong, China. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for High Cancer Incidence Coastal Chaoshan Area, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong, China. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24670651" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sperm and eggs carry distinctive epigenetic modifications that are adjusted by reprogramming after fertilization. The paternal genome in a zygote undergoes active DNA demethylation before the first mitosis. The biological significance and mechanisms of this paternal epigenome remodelling have remained unclear. Here we report that, within mouse zygotes, oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) occurs on the paternal genome, changing 5mC into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the dioxygenase Tet3 (ref. 5) is enriched specifically in the male pronucleus. In Tet3-deficient zygotes from conditional knockout mice, paternal-genome conversion of 5mC into 5hmC fails to occur and the level of 5mC remains constant. Deficiency of Tet3 also impedes the demethylation process of the paternal Oct4 and Nanog genes and delays the subsequent activation of a paternally derived Oct4 transgene in early embryos. Female mice depleted of Tet3 in the germ line show severely reduced fecundity and their heterozygous mutant offspring lacking maternal Tet3 suffer an increased incidence of developmental failure. Oocytes lacking Tet3 also seem to have a reduced ability to reprogram the injected nuclei from somatic cells. Therefore, Tet3-mediated DNA hydroxylation is involved in epigenetic reprogramming of the zygotic paternal DNA following natural fertilization and may also contribute to somatic cell nuclear reprogramming during animal cloning.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gu, Tian-Peng -- Guo, Fan -- Yang, Hui -- Wu, Hai-Ping -- Xu, Gui-Fang -- Liu, Wei -- Xie, Zhi-Guo -- Shi, Linyu -- He, Xinyi -- Jin, Seung-gi -- Iqbal, Khursheed -- Shi, Yujiang Geno -- Deng, Zixin -- Szabo, Piroska E -- Pfeifer, Gerd P -- Li, Jinsong -- Xu, Guo-Liang -- GM078458/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2011 Sep 4;477(7366):606-10. doi: 10.1038/nature10443.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Group of DNA Metabolism, The State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21892189" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cortical-feedback projections to primary sensory areas terminate most heavily in layer 1 (L1) of the neocortex, where they make synapses with tuft dendrites of pyramidal neurons. L1 input is thought to provide 'contextual' information, but the signals transmitted by L1 feedback remain uncharacterized. In the rodent somatosensory system, the spatially diffuse feedback projection from vibrissal motor cortex (vM1) to vibrissal somatosensory cortex (vS1, also known as the barrel cortex) may allow whisker touch to be interpreted in the context of whisker position to compute object location. When mice palpate objects with their whiskers to localize object features, whisker touch excites vS1 and later vM1 in a somatotopic manner. Here we use axonal calcium imaging to track activity in vM1--〉vS1 afferents in L1 of the barrel cortex while mice performed whisker-dependent object localization. Spatially intermingled individual axons represent whisker movements, touch and other behavioural features. In a subpopulation of axons, activity depends on object location and persists for seconds after touch. Neurons in the barrel cortex thus have information to integrate movements and touches of multiple whiskers over time, key components of object identification and navigation by active touch.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3443316/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3443316/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Petreanu, Leopoldo -- Gutnisky, Diego A -- Huber, Daniel -- Xu, Ning-long -- O'Connor, Dan H -- Tian, Lin -- Looger, Loren -- Svoboda, Karel -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2012 Sep 13;489(7415):299-303. doi: 10.1038/nature11321.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia 20147, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22922646" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉