Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 31, 2026
Conversion of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells iPSCs into Functional Spinal and Cranial Motor Neurons Using PiggyBac Vectors
Published on: May 1, 2019
Progerin expression induces a significant downregulation of transcription from human repetitive sequences in
1Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STeBiCeF), Viale delle Scienze, University of Palermo, Ed. 16, 90128, Palermo, PA, Italy. walter.arancio@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Repetitive DNA sequences represent about half of the human genome. They have a central role in human biology, especially neurobiology, but are notoriously difficult to study. The purpose of this study was to quantify the transcription from repetitive sequences in a progerin-expressing cellular model of neuronal aging. Progerin is a nuclear protein causative of the Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome that is also incrementally expressed during the normal aging process. A dedicated pipeline of analysis allowed to quantify transcripts containing repetitive sequences from RNAseq datasets oblivious of their genomic localization, tolerating a sufficient degree of mutational noise, all with low computational requirements. The pipeline has been applied to a published panel of RNAseq datasets derived from a well-established and well-described cellular model of aging of dopaminergic neurons. Progerin expression strongly downregulated the transcription from all the classes of repetitive sequences: satellites, long and short interspersed nuclear elements, human endogenous retroviruses, and DNA transposon. The Alu element represented by far the principal source of transcript originating either from repetitive sequences or from canonical coding genes; it was expressed on average at 192,493.5 reads per kilobase million (RPKM) (SE = 21,081.3) in the control neurons and dropped to 43,760.1 RPKM (SE = 5315.0) in the progerin-expressing neurons, being significant downregulated (p = 0.0005). The results highlighted a global perturbation of transcripts derived from repetitive sequences in a cellular model of aging and provided a direct link between progerin expression and alteration of transcription from human repetitive elements.
More Related Videos
10:54Reliable Identification of Living Dopaminergic Neurons in Midbrain Cultures Using RNA Sequencing and TH-promoter-driven eGFP Expression
Published on: February 10, 2017
09:21Author Spotlight: Generating Neuronal Phenotypic Profiles - A Protocol to Culture and Image Human Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons
Published on: July 7, 2023
Related Concept Videos
02:16Transcription Factors
02:23Master Transcription Regulators
01:42What is Gene Expression?
Gene expression is the process in which DNA directs the synthesis of functional products, that is, proteins. Cells can regulate gene expression at various stages. It allows organisms to generate different cell types and enables cells to adapt to internal and external factors.
Genetic Information Flows from DNA to RNA to Protein
A gene is a stretch of DNA that serves as the blueprint for functional RNAs and proteins. Since DNA is made up of nucleotides and proteins consist of amino...
01:10Transcription
Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA sequence by RNA polymerase. It is the first step in producing a protein from a gene sequence. Additionally, many other proteins and regulatory sequences are involved in the proper synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA). Regulation of transcription is responsible for the differentiation of all the different types of cells and often for the proper cellular response to environmental signals.
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds...
01:15Receptor Downregulation in MVBs
The EGFR can initiate signaling pathways that lead to cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Overexpression of EGFR stimulates cells to proliferate. Excessive EGFR...
02:02Cis-regulatory Sequences