Medical Genetics Commons^™

Genomic Features Underlie The Co-Option Of Sva Transposons As Cis-Regulatory Elements In Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, Samantha M Barnada, Andrew Isopi, Daniela Tejada-Martinez, Clément Goubert, Sruti Patoori, Luca Pagliaroli, Mason Tracewell, Marco Trizzino

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Domestication of transposable elements (TEs) into functional cis-regulatory elements is a widespread phenomenon. However, the mechanisms behind why some TEs are co-opted as functional enhancers while others are not are underappreciated. SINE-VNTR-Alus (SVAs) are the youngest group of transposons in the human genome, where ~3,700 copies are annotated, nearly half of which are human-specific. Many studies indicate that SVAs are among the most frequently co-opted TEs in human gene regulation, but the mechanisms underlying such processes have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Here, we leveraged CRISPR-interference (CRISPRi), computational and functional genomics to elucidate the genomic features that underlie SVA domestication …

Rip1-Dependent And Independent Effects Of Necrostatin-1 In Necrosis And T Cell Activation., Youngsik Cho, Thomas Mcquade, Haibing Zhang, Jianke Zhang, Francis Ka-Ming Chan

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Programmed necrosis/necroptosis is an emerging form of cell death that plays important roles in mammalian development and the immune system. The pro-necrotic kinases in the receptor interacting protein (RIP) family are crucial mediators of programmed necrosis. Recent advances in necrosis research have been greatly aided by the identification of chemical inhibitors that block programmed necrosis. Necrostatin-1 (Nec-1) and its derivatives were previously shown to target the pro-necrotic kinase RIP1/RIPK1. The protective effect conferred by Nec-1 and its derivatives in many experimental model systems was often attributed to the inhibition of RIP1 function.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared the effect of …

Comparison Of Human Memory Cd8 T Cell Responses To Adenoviral Early And Late Proteins In Peripheral Blood And Lymphoid Tissue., Amita Joshi, Biwei Zhao, Cara Romanowski, David Rosen, Phyllis Flomenberg

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Treatment of invasive adenovirus (Ad) disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (SCT) recipients with capsid protein hexon-specific donor T cells is under investigation. We propose that cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) targeted to the late protein hexon may be inefficient in vivo because the early Ad protein E3-19K downregulates HLA class I antigens in infected cells. In this study, CD8+ T cells targeted to highly conserved HLA A2-restricted epitopes from the early regulatory protein DNA polymerase (P-977) and late protein hexon (H-892) were compared in peripheral blood (PB) and tonsils of naturally infected adults. In tonsils, epitope-specific pentamers detected a significantly …

A Role For The Histone Deacetylase Hdac4 In The Life-Cycle Of Hiv-1-Based Vectors., Johanna A Smith, Jennifer Yeung, Gary D Kao, René Daniel

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

HIV-1 integration is mediated by the HIV-1 integrase protein, which joins 3'-ends of viral DNA to host cell DNA. To complete the integration process, HIV-1 DNA has to be joined to host cell DNA also at the 5'-ends. This process is called post-integration repair (PIR). Integration and PIR involve a number of cellular co-factors. These proteins exhibit different degrees of involvement in integration and/or PIR. Some are required for efficient integration or PIR. On the other hand, some reduce the efficiency of integration. Finally, some are involved in integration site selection. We have studied the role of the histone deacetylase …

Development Of A Mouse Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail For Post-Exposure Rabies Prophylaxis In Humans., Thomas Müller, Bernhard Dietzschold, Hildegund Ertl, Anthony R Fooks, Conrad Freuling, Christine Fehlner-Gardiner, Jeannette Kliemt, Francois X Meslin, Charles E Rupprecht, Noël Tordo, Alexander I Wanderler, Marie Paule Kieny

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

As the demand for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatments has increased exponentially in recent years, the limited supply of human and equine rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG and ERIG) has failed to provide the required passive immune component in PEP in countries where canine rabies is endemic. Replacement of HRIG and ERIG with a potentially cheaper and efficacious alternative biological for treatment of rabies in humans, therefore, remains a high priority. In this study, we set out to assess a mouse monoclonal antibody (MoMAb) cocktail with the ultimate goal to develop a product at the lowest possible cost that can be used …

A Phorbol Ester Response Element Within The Human T-Cell Receptor Beta-Chain Enhancer., Haydn M. Prosser, David Wotton, Anne Gegonne, Jacques Ghysdael, Shuwen Wang, Nancy A. Speck, Michael J. Owen

Dartmouth Scholarship

The activity of the T-cell receptor beta-chain gene enhancer is increased by activators of the protein kinase C pathway during T-cell activation. Analysis of mutant enhancer constructs identified two elements, beta E2 and beta E3, conferring phorbol ester inducibility. Multimerized beta E2 acted in isolation as a phorbol ester-responsive element. Both beta E2 and beta E3, which contain a consensus Ets-binding site, were shown to bind directly to the product of the c-ets-1 protooncogene. Both regions also bound a second factor, core-binding factor. Mutation of the beta E2 Ets site abolished the inducibility of the beta E2 multimer. beta E2 …