相关实验视频

Updated: Mar 18, 2026

Author Spotlight: RNAi Inheritance and ChIP in C. elegans

Author Spotlight: RNAi Inheritance and ChIP in C. elegans

Published on: May 5, 2023

一种丰富的非编码DNA可以防止C. elegans生殖系中的随机基因沉默

Christian Frøkjær-Jensen¹, Nimit Jain², Loren Hansen³

¹Department of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Biomedical Sciences and Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Cardiac Arrhythmia, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.

|July 5, 2016

概括

称为PATC的周期性DNA序列有助于细胞区分外来DNA与基本基因,防止重要遗传元素的沉默. 这一发现揭示了Caenorhabditis elegans一种基于DNA的新型免疫系统.

科学领域:

遗传学
分子生物学
表观遗传学

背景情况:

细胞必须在保护重要基因的同时,
染色体修饰和RNA保持沉默状态,但DNA序列/结构是建立的关键.
非编码DNA特征在基因调节和基因组防御中起着至关重要的作用.

研究的目的:

调查周期性An/Tn集群 (PATC) 在授权转基因生殖表达中的作用.
了解PATC如何影响染色体的可访问性并防止沉默.
探索PATC与染色体状态有关的进化动态.

主要方法:

对不同PATC含量的Caenorhabditis elegans转基因表达的分析.
位置效应变化和随机静音的评估.
对内源基因及其PATC特征进行比较的基因组分析.

主要成果:

具有天然或合成PATC的转基因在生殖系中抵抗位置效应变化和随机沉默.
在压制性染色体域内授权转基因表达.
在进化过程中,当基因在活性色素和抑制色素之间过渡时,内部长度和PATC特征会动态变化.

结论:

PATC作为一个基于DNA的细胞免疫系统, 识别特权的内源基因.
这种系统可以在没有先前暴露或细胞记忆的情况下抑制外来DNA.
周期性DNA结构是基因组防御和基因调节的基础.

更多相关视频

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Published on: November 14, 2016

Application of RNAi and Heat-shock-induced Transcription Factor Expression to Reprogram Germ Cells to Neurons in C. elegans

Application of RNAi and Heat-shock-induced Transcription Factor Expression to Reprogram Germ Cells to Neurons in C. elegans

Published on: January 1, 2018

相关概念视频

Dosage Compensation

Dosage Compensation

In animals, gender is determined by the number and type of sex chromosome. For example, human females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y chromosome, whereas C.elegans with one X chromosome is a male, and the one with two X chromosomes is a hermaphrodite.
In addition to sexual development, the X chromosome has genes involved in autosomal functions such as brain development and the immune system. Therefore, males and females with distinct numbers of X chromosomes will...

Epigenetic Regulation

Epigenetic Regulation

Epigenetic changes alter the physical structure of the DNA without changing the genetic sequence and often regulate whether genes are turned on or off. This regulation ensures that each cell produces only proteins necessary for its function. For example, proteins that promote bone growth are not produced in muscle cells. Epigenetic mechanisms play an essential role in healthy development. Conversely, precisely regulated epigenetic mechanisms are disrupted in diseases like cancer.
X-chromosome...

Epigenetic Regulation

Epigenetic Regulation

Epigenetic mechanisms play an essential role in healthy development. Conversely, precisely regulated epigenetic mechanisms are disrupted in diseases like cancer.

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...

Position-effect Variegation

Position-effect Variegation

In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.

piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs

piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs

PIWI-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs, are the most abundant short non-coding RNAs. More than 20,000 genes have been found in humans that code for piRNAs while only 2000 genes have been found for miRNAs. piRNAs can act at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and have a vital role in silencing transposable elements present in germ cells. They are also involved in epigenetic silencing and activation. Previously, they were thought to function only in germ cells but new evidence suggests...