This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Novel subtype-specific genes identify distinct subpopulations of callosal projection neurons.
Specimen part
View Samples3 subtypes of cortical projection neurons were purified by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) at 4 different stages of development from mouse cortex. A detailed description of the data set is described in Arlotta, P et al (2005) and Molyneaux, BJ et al (2009). The hybridization cocktails used here were originally applied to the Affymetrix mouse 430A arrays and submitted as GEO accession number GSE2039. The same hybridization cocktails were then applied to the Affymetrix mouse 430 2.0 arrays, and those data are contained in this series.
Novel subtype-specific genes identify distinct subpopulations of callosal projection neurons.
Specimen part
View SamplesMutations of the transcriptional regulator Mecp2 cause the X-linked autism spectrum disorder Rett syndrome (RTT), and Mecp2 has been implicated in several other neurodevelopmental disorders. To identify potential target genes regulated directly or indirectly by MeCP2, we performed comparative gene expression analysis via oligonucleotide microarrays on Mecp2-/y (Mecp2-null) and wild-type CPN purified via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS).
Reduction of aberrant NF-κB signalling ameliorates Rett syndrome phenotypes in Mecp2-null mice.
Specimen part
View SamplesVariant late-infantile (vLINCL) and juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL) share clinical and pathological features, including lysosomal accumulation of mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit c, but the unrelated CLN6 and CLN3 genes may initiate disease via similar or distinct cellular processes. To gain insight into the NCL pathways, we established murine wild-type and vLINCL CbCln6nclf cerebellar cells and compared them to wild-type and JNCL CbCln3ex7/8 cerebellar cells. CbCln6nclf/nclf cells and CbCln3ex7/8/ex7/8 cells both displayed abnormally elongated mitochondria and reduced cellular ATP levels and, as cells aged to confluence, exhibited accumulation of subunit c protein in Lamp 1-positive organelles. However, at sub-confluence, endoplasmic reticulum PDI immunostain was decreased only in CbCln6nclf/nclf cells, while fluid-phase endocytosis and LysoTracker labeled vesicles were decreased in both CbCln6nclf/nclf and CbCln3ex7/8/ex7/8 cells, though only the latter cells exhibited abnormal vesicle subcellular distribution. Furthermore, unbiased gene expression analyses revealed only partial overlap in the cerebellar cell genes and pathways that were altered by the Cln3ex7/8 and Cln6nclf mutations. Thus, these data support the hypothesis that vLINCL and JNCL mutations trigger distinct processes that converge on a shared pathway, which is responsible for proper subunit c protein turnover and neuronal cell survival.
Distinct early molecular responses to mutations causing vLINCL and JNCL presage ATP synthase subunit C accumulation in cerebellar cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesHuntingtons disease (HD) involves marked early neurodegeneration in the striatum whereas the cerebellum is relatively spared despite the ubiquitous expression of full-length mutant huntingtin, implying that inherent tissue-specific differences determine susceptibility to the HD CAG mutation. To understand this tissue specificity, we compared early mutant huntingtin-induced gene expression changes in striatum to those in cerebellum in young Hdh CAG knock-in mice, prior to onset of evident pathological alterations. Endogenous levels of full-length mutant huntingtin caused qualitatively similar, but quantitatively different gene expression changes in the two brain regions. Importantly, the quantitatively different responses in striatum and cerebellum in mutant mice were well accounted for by the intrinsic molecular differences in gene expression between striatum and cerebellum in wild-type animals. Tissue-specific gene expression changes in response to the HD mutation, therefore, appear to reflect the different inherent capacities of these tissues to buffer qualitatively similar effects of mutant huntingtin. These findings highlight a role for intrinsic quantitative tissue differences in contributing to HD pathogenesis, and likely to other neurodegenerative disorders exhibiting tissue-specificity, thereby guiding the search for effective therapeutic interventions.
Differential effects of the Huntington's disease CAG mutation in striatum and cerebellum are quantitative not qualitative.
Specimen part
View SamplesHuntington's disease (HD) features a unique disease-initiating mechanism hypothesized to entail an impact of the CAG repeat encoded polyglutamine region on the full-length huntingtin protein, with dominant effects that are continuous with CAG size, in a simple gain of function. To evaluate these predictions, we generated a series of heterozygous Hdh CAG knock-in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, with 18, 48, 89, 109 CAGs, and found that a continuous analytic strategy efficiently identified, from genome-wide datasets, 73 genes and 172 pathways whose expression varied continuously with CAG length. The CAG-correlated genes were distinct from the set of 754 genes that distinguished huntingtin null ES cells from wild-type controls, and CAG-correlated pathways did not display a one-to-one correspondence with the 238 pathways altered in huntingtin null ES cells. Rather, the genes that varied with CAG size were either members of the same pathways as altered genes in huntingtin null cells or were members of unique pathways related to these pathways. These findings falsified a gain of function/loss of function proposal but were consistent with the simple gain of novel function mechanism hypothesis. The dominant CAG correlated gene expression changes conformed to the genetic features of the HD initiating mechanism and were system-wide and inter-related with pathways perturbed by lack of full-length huntingtin function, urging system-wide approaches for the discovery and validation of potential modulating factors, in the search for effective HD therapeutics.
HD CAG-correlated gene expression changes support a simple dominant gain of function.
Cell line
View SamplesAnalysis of HSCs from control and c-myc N-myc deficient long-term hematopoietic stem cells. HSCs lacking both c-myc and N-myc display increased apoptosis rates. Data provide insight into the molecular changes occuring upon complete loss of Myc activity, clarifying the resulting apoptotic mechanism and the role of Myc family proteins in HSCs and commited progenitors.
Hematopoietic stem cell function and survival depend on c-Myc and N-Myc activity.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesAnalysis of HSCs from control and c-myc N-myc deficient long-term hematopoietic stem cells. HSCs lacking both c-myc and N-myc display increased apoptosis rates. Data provide insight into the molecular changes occuring upon complete loss of Myc activity, clarifying the resulting apoptotic mechanism and the role of Myc family proteins in HSCs.
Hematopoietic stem cell function and survival depend on c-Myc and N-Myc activity.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Hematopoietic stem cell function and survival depend on c-Myc and N-Myc activity.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesIn Huntingtons disease (HD), an expanded CAG repeat produces characteristic striatal neurodegeneration. Interestingly, the HD CAG repeat, whose length determines age at onset, undergoes tissue-specific somatic instability, predominant in the striatum, suggesting that tissue-specific CAG length changes could modify the disease process. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the tissue specificity of somatic instability may provide novel routes to therapies. However progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of sensitive high-throughput instability quantification methods and global approaches to identify the underlying factors.
A novel approach to investigate tissue-specific trinucleotide repeat instability.
Specimen part
View Samples