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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Characterization Of The Celf6 Rna Binding Protein: Effects On Mouse Vocal Behavior And Biochemical Function, Michael A. Rieger Aug 2018

Characterization Of The Celf6 Rna Binding Protein: Effects On Mouse Vocal Behavior And Biochemical Function, Michael A. Rieger

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Behavior in higher eukaryotes is a complex process which integrates signals in the environment, the genetic makeup of the organism, and connectivity in the nervous system to produce extremely diverse adaptations to the phenomenon of existence. Unraveling the subcellular components that contribute to behavioral output is important for both understanding how behavior occurs in an unperturbed state, as well as understanding how behavior changes when the underlying systems that generate it are altered. Of the numerous molecular species that make up a cell, the regulation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs), the coding template of all proteins, is of key importance to …


The Role Of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells And Classical Dendritic Cells In The Maintenance And Regulation Of The Bone Marrow Niche, Jingzhu Zhang Aug 2018

The Role Of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells And Classical Dendritic Cells In The Maintenance And Regulation Of The Bone Marrow Niche, Jingzhu Zhang

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The bone marrow niche is an important microenvironment for the regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis. The first discovered niche component is mesenchymal stromal cells, which are the major source for the production and secretion of multiple niche factors. Mesenchymal stromal cells are heterogeneous and various transgenes have been used to target non-identical but overlapping subpopulations. To further characterize the heterogeneity of mesenchymal stromal cells, we tested the targeting specificity of three tissue-specific Cre-recombinase transgenes. We show that in addition to osteoblasts, Ocn-Cre targets a majority of Cxcl12-abundant reticular (CAR) cells and arteriolar pericytes. Surprisingly, Dmp1-Cre also targets a subset …


Integration Of Local And Regional Regulatory Information In The Human Genome, Hemangi Govind Chaudhari May 2018

Integration Of Local And Regional Regulatory Information In The Human Genome, Hemangi Govind Chaudhari

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gene regulation involves the integration of different sources of information at multiple levels. The action of transcription factors is integrated at cis-regulatory sequences (CRSs). Information from many CRSs is combined to drive spatiotemporally regulated gene expression. Prediction of CRS activity from DNA sequence is challenging because most occurrences of transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) are not functional. I assayed the activity of thousands of genomic sequences with Activator Protein 1 (AP-1) binding sites in K562 cells to identify features in flanking sequences that distinguish functional from non-functional TFBS. I find that sequence features directly adjacent to the AP-1 core motif, …


Novel Approaches To Studying The Effects Of Cis-Regulatory Variants In The Central Nervous System, Susan Shen May 2018

Novel Approaches To Studying The Effects Of Cis-Regulatory Variants In The Central Nervous System, Susan Shen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, studies of the genetic basis of disease have focused on rare coding mutations that disrupt protein function, leading to the identification of hundreds of genes underlying Mendelian diseases. However, many complex diseases are non-Mendelian, and less than 2% of the genome is coding. It is now clear that non-coding variants contribute to disease susceptibility, but the precise underlying mechanisms are generally unknown. Cis-regulatory elements (CREs) are transcription factor (TF)-bound genomic regions that regulate gene expression, and variants within CREs can therefore modify gene expression. The putative locations of CREs in a variety of cell types have been identified …