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2614 Janelia Publications

Showing 2401-2410 of 2614 results
04/22/11 | Real-time observation of transcription initiation and elongation on an endogenous yeast gene.
Larson DR, Zenklusen D, Wu B, Chao JA, Singer RH
Science. 2011 Apr 22;332(6028):475-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1202142

Cellular messenger RNA levels are achieved by the combinatorial complexity of factors controlling transcription, yet the small number of molecules involved in these pathways fluctuates stochastically. It has not yet been experimentally possible to observe the activity of single polymerases on an endogenous gene to elucidate how these events occur in vivo. Here, we describe a method of fluctuation analysis of fluorescently labeled RNA to measure dynamics of nascent RNA–including initiation, elongation, and termination–at an active yeast locus. We find no transcriptional memory between initiation events, and elongation speed can vary by threefold throughout the cell cycle. By measuring the abundance and intranuclear mobility of an upstream transcription factor, we observe that the gene firing rate is directly determined by trans-activating factor search times.

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04/14/11 | Intracellular determinants of hippocampal CA1 place and silent cell activity in a novel environment.
Epsztein J, Brecht M, Lee AK
Neuron. 2011 Apr 14;70(1):109-20. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.03.006

For each environment a rodent has explored, its hippocampus contains a map consisting of a unique subset of neurons, called place cells, that have spatially tuned spiking there, with the remaining neurons being essentially silent. Using whole-cell recording in freely moving rats exploring a novel maze, we observed differences in intrinsic cellular properties and input-based subthreshold membrane potential levels underlying this division into place and silent cells. Compared to silent cells, place cells had lower spike thresholds and peaked versus flat subthreshold membrane potentials as a function of animal location. Both differences were evident from the beginning of exploration. Additionally, future place cells exhibited higher burst propensity before exploration. Thus, internal settings appear to predetermine which cells will represent the next novel environment encountered. Furthermore, place cells fired spatially tuned bursts with large, putatively calcium-mediated depolarizations that could trigger plasticity and stabilize the new map for long-term storage. Our results provide new insight into hippocampal memory formation.

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Menon Lab
04/01/11 | Hallmarks of molecular action of microtubule stabilizing agents: effects of epothilone B, ixabepilone, peloruside A, and laulimalide on microtubule conformation.
Khrapunovich-Baine M, Menon V, Yang CH, Northcote PT, Miller JH, Angeletti RH, Fiser A, Horwitz SB, Xiao H
The Journal of biological chemistry. 2011 Apr 1;286(13):11765-78. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.162214

Microtubule stabilizing agents (MSAs) comprise a class of drugs that bind to microtubule (MT) polymers and stabilize them against disassembly. Several of these agents are currently in clinical use as anticancer drugs, whereas others are in various stages of development. Nonetheless, there is insufficient knowledge about the molecular modes of their action. Recent studies from our laboratory utilizing hydrogen-deuterium exchange in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) provide new information on the conformational effects of Taxol and discodermolide on microtubules isolated from chicken erythrocytes (CET). We report here a comprehensive analysis of the effects of epothilone B, ixabepilone (IXEMPRA(TM)), laulimalide, and peloruside A on CET conformation. The results of our comparative hydrogen-deuterium exchange MS studies indicate that all MSAs have significant conformational effects on the C-terminal H12 helix of α-tubulin, which is a likely molecular mechanism for the previously observed modulations of MT interactions with microtubule-associated and motor proteins. More importantly, the major mode of MT stabilization by MSAs is the tightening of the longitudinal interactions between two adjacent αβ-tubulin heterodimers at the interdimer interface. In contrast to previous observations reported with bovine brain tubulin, the lateral interactions between the adjacent protofilaments in CET are particularly strongly stabilized by peloruside A and laulimalide, drugs that bind outside the taxane site. This not only highlights the significance of tubulin isotype composition in modulating drug effects on MT conformation and stability but also provides a potential explanation for the synergy observed when combinations of taxane and alternative site binding drugs are used.

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04/01/11 | Wireless neural/EMG telemetry systems for small freely moving animals.
Harrison RR, Fotowat H, Chan R, Kier RJ, Olberg R, Leonardo A, Gabbiani F
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems. 2011 Apr;5(2):103-11. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2011.2131140

We have developed miniature telemetry systems that capture neural, EMG, and acceleration signals from a freely moving insect or other small animal and transmit the data wirelessly to a remote digital receiver. The systems are based on custom low-power integrated circuits (ICs) that amplify, filter, and digitize four biopotential signals using low-noise circuits. One of the chips also digitizes three acceleration signals from an off-chip microelectromechanical-system accelerometer. All information is transmitted over a wireless ~ 900-MHz telemetry link. The first unit, using a custom chip fabricated in a 0.6- μm BiCMOS process, weighs 0.79 g and runs for two hours on two small batteries. We have used this system to monitor neural and EMG signals in jumping and flying locusts as well as transdermal potentials in weakly swimming electric fish. The second unit, using a custom chip fabricated in a 0.35-μ m complementary metal-oxide semiconductor CMOS process, weighs 0.17 g and runs for five hours on a single 1.5-V battery. This system has been used to monitor neural potentials in untethered perching dragonflies.

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03/30/11 | Automated high speed stitching of large 3D microscopic images.
Yu Y, Peng H
2011 8TH IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro. 2011 Mar 30:238-41. doi: 10.1109/isbi.2011.5872396

High-resolution microscopic imaging of biological samples often produces multiple 3D image tiles to cover a large field of view of specimen. Usually each tile has a large size, in the range of hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes. For many of our image data sets, existing software tools are often unable to stitch those 3D tiles into a panoramic view, thus impede further data analysis. We propose a simple, but accurate, robust, and automatic method to stitch a group of image tiles without a priori adjacency information of them. We first use a multiscale strategy to register a pair of 3D image tiles rapidly, achieving about 8~10 times faster speed and 10 times less memory requirement compared to previous methods. Then we design a minimum-spanning-tree based method to determine the optimal adjacency of tiles. We have successfully stitched large image stacks of model animals including C. elegans, fruit fly, dragonfly, and mouse, which could not be stitched by several existing methods.

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Cui Lab
03/15/11 | Parallel wavefront optimization method for focusing light through random scattering media.
Cui M
Optics Letters. 2011 Mar 15;36(6):870-2. doi: 10.1364/OL.36.000870

A parallel wavefront optimization method is demonstrated experimentally to focus light through random scattering media. The simultaneous modulation of multiple phase elements, each at a unique frequency, enables a parallel determination of the optimal wavefront. Compared to a pixel-by-pixel measurement, the reported parallel method uses the target signal in a highly efficient way. With 441 phase elements, a high-quality focus was formed through a glass diffuser with a peak-to-background ratio of \~{}270. The accuracy and repeatability of the system were tested through experiments.

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03/15/11 | Subnuclear segregation of genes and core promoter factors in myogenesis. (With commentary)
Yao J, Fetter RD, Hu P, Betzig E, Tjian R
Genes & Development. 2011 Mar 15;25(6):569-80. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1100640108

Recent findings implicate alternate core promoter recognition complexes in regulating cellular differentiation. Here we report a spatial segregation of the alternative core factor TAF3, but not canonical TFIID subunits, away from the nuclear periphery, where the key myogenic gene MyoD is preferentially localized in myoblasts. This segregation is correlated with the differential occupancy of TAF3 versus TFIID at the MyoD promoter. Loss of this segregation by modulating either the intranuclear location of the MyoD gene or TAF3 protein leads to altered TAF3 occupancy at the MyoD promoter. Intriguingly, in differentiated myotubes, the MyoD gene is repositioned to the nuclear interior, where TAF3 resides. The specific high-affinity recognition of H3K4Me3 by the TAF3 PHD (plant homeodomain) finger appears to be required for the sequestration of TAF3 to the nuclear interior. We suggest that intranuclear sequestration of core transcription components and their target genes provides an additional mechanism for promoter selectivity during differentiation.

Commentary: Jie Yao in Bob Tijan’s lab used a combination of confocal microscopy and dual label PALM in thin sections cut from resin-embedded cells to show that certain core transcription components and their target genes are spatially segregated in myoblasts, but not in differentiated myotubes, suggesting that such spatial segregation may play a role in guiding cellular differentiation.

 

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Sternson Lab
03/01/11 | AGRP neurons are sufficient to orchestrate feeding behavior rapidly and without training.
Aponte Y, Atasoy D, Sternson SM
Nature Neuroscience. 2011 Mar;14(3):351-5. doi: 10.1038/nn.2739

Two intermingled hypothalamic neuron populations specified by expression of agouti-related peptide (AGRP) or pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) positively and negatively influence feeding behavior, respectively, possibly by reciprocally regulating downstream melanocortin receptors. However, the sufficiency of these neurons to control behavior and the relationship of their activity to the magnitude and dynamics of feeding are unknown. To measure this, we used channelrhodopsin-2 for cell type-specific photostimulation. Activation of only 800 AGRP neurons in mice evoked voracious feeding within minutes. The behavioral response increased with photoexcitable neuron number, photostimulation frequency and stimulus duration. Conversely, POMC neuron stimulation reduced food intake and body weight, which required melanocortin receptor signaling. However, AGRP neuron-mediated feeding was not dependent on suppressing this melanocortin pathway, indicating that AGRP neurons directly engage feeding circuits. Furthermore, feeding was evoked selectively over drinking without training or prior photostimulus exposure, which suggests that AGRP neurons serve a dedicated role coordinating this complex behavior.

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Looger LabSimpson Lab
03/01/11 | Drosophila brainbow: a recombinase-based fluorescence labeling technique to subdivide neural expression patterns.
Hampel S, Chung P, McKellar CE, Hall D, Looger LL, Simpson JH
Nature Methods. 2011 Mar;8:253-9. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.1566

We developed a multicolor neuron labeling technique in Drosophila melanogaster that combines the power to specifically target different neural populations with the label diversity provided by stochastic color choice. This adaptation of vertebrate Brainbow uses recombination to select one of three epitope-tagged proteins detectable by immunofluorescence. Two copies of this construct yield six bright, separable colors. We used Drosophila Brainbow to study the innervation patterns of multiple antennal lobe projection neuron lineages in the same preparation and to observe the relative trajectories of individual aminergic neurons. Nerve bundles, and even individual neurites hundreds of micrometers long, can be followed with definitive color labeling. We traced motor neurons in the subesophageal ganglion and correlated them to neuromuscular junctions to identify their specific proboscis muscle targets. The ability to independently visualize multiple lineage or neuron projections in the same preparation greatly advances the goal of mapping how neurons connect into circuits.

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03/01/11 | Lineage-based analysis of the development of the central complex of the Drosophila brain.
Pereanu W, Younossi-Hartenstein A, Lovick J, Spindler S, Hartenstein V
J Comp Neurol. 2011 Mar 01;519(4):661-89. doi: 10.1002/cne.22542

Most neurons of the central complex belong to 10 secondary (larvally produced) lineages. In the late larva, undifferentiated axon tracts of these lineages form a primordium in which all of the compartments of the central complex can be recognized as discrete entities. Four posterior lineages (DPMm1, DPMpm1, DPMpm2, and CM4) generate the classes of small-field neurons that interconnect the protocerebral bridge, fan-shaped body, noduli, and ellipsoid body. Three lineages located in the anterior brain, DALv2, BAmv1, and DALcl2, form the large-field neurons of the ellipsoid body and fan-shaped body, respectively. These lineages provide an input channel from the optic tubercle and connect the central complex with adjacent anterior brain compartments. Three lineages in the posterior cortex, CM3, CP2, and DPMpl2, connect the posterior brain neuropil with specific layers of the fan-shaped body. Even though all of the compartments of the central complex are prefigured in the late larval brain by the axon tracts of the above-mentioned lineages, the neuropil differentiates during the first 2 days of the pupal period when terminal branches and synapses of secondary neurons are formed. During this phase the initially straight horizontal layers of the central complex bend in the frontal plane, which produces the characteristic shape of the fan-shaped and ellipsoid body. Our analysis provides a comprehensive picture of the lineages that form the central complex, and will facilitate future studies that address the structure or function of the central complex at the single cell level.

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