BALB/c mice are susceptible to proteoglycan (PG) aggrecan-induced arthritis (PGIA), a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis (Glant,T.T. and Mikecz,K., Proteoglycan aggrecan-induced arthritis. A murine autoimmune model of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods Mol.Med. 2004. 102: 313-338.). However, there are marked differences among BALB/c colonies (maintained by different vendors at different locations) in PGIA onset and severity, which could be the result of subtle variations in their genetic background.
BALB/c mice genetically susceptible to proteoglycan-induced arthritis and spondylitis show colony-dependent differences in disease penetrance.
Sex
View SamplesSpinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is a neurodegenerative disorder, which is caused by an unstable CAG-repeat expansion in the SCA2 gene, that encodes a polyglutamine tract (polyQ-tract) expansion in ataxin-2 protein (ATXN2). The RNA-binding protein ATXN2 interacts with the poly(A)-binding protein PABPC1, localizing to ribosomes at the rough endoplasmic reticulum or to polysomes. Under cell stress ATXN2 and PABPC1 show redistribution to stress granules where mRNAs are kept away from translation and from degradation. It is unknown whether ATXN2 associates preferentially with specific mRNAs or how it modulates their processing. Here, we investigated Atxn2 knock-out (Atxn2-/-) mouse liver, cerebellum and midbrain regarding their RNA profile, employing oligonucleotide microarrays for screening and RNA deep sequencing for validation. Modest ~1.4-fold upregulations were observed for the level of many mRNAs encoding ribosomal proteins and other translation pathway factors. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR and immunoblots in liver tissue confirmed these effects and demonstrated an inverse correlation also with PABPC1 mRNA and protein. ATXN2 deficiency also enhanced phosphorylation of the ribosomal protein S6, while impairing the global protein synthesis rate, suggesting a block between the enhanced translation drive and the impaired execution. Furthermore, ATXN2 overexpression and deficiency retarded cell cycle progression. ATXN2 mRNA levels showed a delayed phasic twofold increase under amino acid and serum starvation, similar to ATXN3, but different from motor neuron disease genes MAPT and SQSTM1. ATXN2 mRNA levels depended particularly on mTOR signalling. Altogether the data implicate ATXN2 in the adaptation of mRNA translation and cell growth to nutrient availability and stress.
Genetic ablation of ataxin-2 increases several global translation factors in their transcript abundance but decreases translation rate.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Transcription factor ID2 prevents E proteins from enforcing a naïve T lymphocyte gene program during NK cell development.
Specimen part
View SamplesMethylazoxymethanol (MAM), the genotoxic metabolite of the cycad azoxyglucoside cycasin, induces genetic alterations in bacteria, yeast, plants, insects and mammalian cells, but adult nerve cells are thought to be unaffected. We show that the brains of young adult mice treated with a single systemic dose of MAM display DNA damage (O6-methylguanine lesions) that peaks at 48 hours and decline to near-normal levels at 7 days post-treatment. By contrast, at this time, MAM-treated mice lacking the gene encoding the DNA repair enzyme O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), showed persistent O6-methylguanine DNA damage. The DNA damage was linked to cell-signaling pathways that are perturbed in cancer and neurodegenerative disease. These data are consistent with the established carcinogenic and developmental neurotoxic properties of MAM in rodents, and they support the proposal that cancer and neurodegeneration share common signal transduction pathways. They also strengthen the hypothesis that early life exposure to the MAM glucoside cycasin has an etiological association with a declining, prototypical neurodegenerative disease seen in Guam, Japan, and New Guinea populations that formerly used the neurotoxic cycad plant for medicine and/or food. Exposure to environmental genotoxins may have relevance to the etiology of related tauopathies, notably, Alzheimers disease, as well as cancer.
The cycad genotoxin MAM modulates brain cellular pathways involved in neurodegenerative disease and cancer in a DNA damage-linked manner.
Sex, Specimen part, Time
View Samples