Public information is widely available at low cost to animals living in social groups. For instance, bystanders may eavesdrop on signaling interactions between conspecifics and use it to adapt their subsequent behavior towards the observed individuals. This social eavesdropping ability is expected to require specialized mechanisms such as social attention, which selects social information available for learning. To begin exploring the genetic basis of social eavesdropping, we used a previously established attention paradigm in the lab to study the brain gene expression profile of male zebrafish in relation to the attention they have paid towards conspecifics involved or not involved in agonistic interactions. Microarray gene chips were used to characterize their brain transcriptomes based on differential expression of single genes and gene sets. These analyses were complemented by promoter region-based techniques. Using data from both approaches, we further drafted protein interaction networks. Our results suggest that attentiveness towards conspecifics, whether interacting or not, activates pathways linked to neuronal plasticity and memory formation. The network analyses suggested that fos and jun are key players on this response, and that npas4a, nr4a1 and egr4 may also play an important role.
Brain Transcriptomic Response to Social Eavesdropping in Zebrafish (Danio rerio).
Sex, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesNotch signaling is widely implicated in mouse mammary gland development and tumorigenesis. To investigate the effects of acute activation of Notch signaling in the mammary epithelial compartment, we generated bi-transgenic MMTV-rtTA; TetO-NICD1 (MTB/TICNX) mice that conditionally express a constitutively active NOTCH1 intracellular domain (NICD1) construct in the mammary epithelium upon doxycycline administration.
Notch promotes recurrence of dormant tumor cells following HER2/neu-targeted therapy.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Treatment, Time
View SamplesLoss of muscle mass occurs in a variety of diseases including cancer, chronic heart failure, AIDS, diabetes and renal failure, often aggravating pathological progression. Preventing muscle wasting by promoting muscle growth has been proposed as a possible therapeutic approach. Myostatin is an important negative modulator of muscle growth during myogenesis and myostatin inhibitors are attractive drug targets. However, the role of the myostatin pathway in adulthood and the transcription factors involved in the signaling are unclear. Moreover recent results confirm that other TGF members control muscle mass. Using genetic tools we perturbed this pathway in adult myofibers, in vivo, to characterize the downstream targets and their ability to control muscle mass. Smad2 and Smad3 are the transcription factors downstream of myostatin/TGF and induce an atrophy program which is MuRF1 independent and requires FoxO activity. Furthermore Smad2/3 inhibition promotes muscle hypertrophy independent of satellite cells but partially dependent of mTOR signalling. Thus myostatin and Akt pathways cross-talk at different levels. These findings point to myostatin inhibitors as good drugs to promote muscle growth during rehabilitation especially when they are combined with IGF1-Akt activators.
Smad2 and 3 transcription factors control muscle mass in adulthood.
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesFrom preliminary experiments, HSP70 deficient MEF cells display moderate thermotolerance to a severe heatshock of 45.5 degrees after a mild preshock at 43 degrees, even in the absence of hsp70 protein. We would like to determine which genes in these cells are being activated to account for this thermotolerance.
Microarray analysis of cellular thermotolerance.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe transcription co-factor FOG1 interacts with the chromatin remodeling complex NuRD to mediate gene activation and gene repression during hematopoiesis. We have generated mice with a targeted mutation in the endogenous Fog1 locus that results in an N-ternimal mutation in FOG1 that disrupts the interaction with NuRD.
Pleiotropic platelet defects in mice with disrupted FOG1-NuRD interaction.
Specimen part
View SamplesWe used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying cardiac development by HDAC2 and identified distinct classes of up-regulated and down-regulated genes during this process.
Hdac2 regulates the cardiac hypertrophic response by modulating Gsk3 beta activity.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesEndothelin-1 (ET-1) plays a critical role in connective tissue remodeling by fibroblasts during tissue repair and fibrosis. We investigated the molecular pathways in the transmission of ET-1 signals that lead to features of connective tissue remodeling, in particular the role of FAK (focal adhesion kinase).
Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase prevents experimental lung fibrosis and myofibroblast formation.
Specimen part, Treatment
View Samples