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Sample records for splicing enhancers ises

  1. Method of predicting Splice Sites based on signal interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deogun Jitender S

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Predicting and proper ranking of canonical splice sites (SSs is a challenging problem in bioinformatics and machine learning communities. Any progress in SSs recognition will lead to better understanding of splicing mechanism. We introduce several new approaches of combining a priori knowledge for improved SS detection. First, we design our new Bayesian SS sensor based on oligonucleotide counting. To further enhance prediction quality, we applied our new de novo motif detection tool MHMMotif to intronic ends and exons. We combine elements found with sensor information using Naive Bayesian Network, as implemented in our new tool SpliceScan. Results According to our tests, the Bayesian sensor outperforms the contemporary Maximum Entropy sensor for 5' SS detection. We report a number of putative Exonic (ESE and Intronic (ISE Splicing Enhancers found by MHMMotif tool. T-test statistics on mouse/rat intronic alignments indicates, that detected elements are on average more conserved as compared to other oligos, which supports our assumption of their functional importance. The tool has been shown to outperform the SpliceView, GeneSplicer, NNSplice, Genio and NetUTR tools for the test set of human genes. SpliceScan outperforms all contemporary ab initio gene structural prediction tools on the set of 5' UTR gene fragments. Conclusion Designed methods have many attractive properties, compared to existing approaches. Bayesian sensor, MHMMotif program and SpliceScan tools are freely available on our web site. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Manyuan Long, Arcady Mushegian and Mikhail Gelfand.

  2. A 5' splice site enhances the recruitment of basal transcription initiation factors in vivo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgaard, Christian Kroun; Kahns, Søren; Lykke-Andersen, Søren

    2008-01-01

    RNAs, harboring wild-type or various 5′ splice site mutations, we demonstrate a strong positive correlation between splicing efficiency and transcription activity. Interestingly, a 5′ splice site can stimulate transcription even in the absence of splicing. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show enhanced...... a promoter-proximal 5′ splice site via its U1 snRNA interaction can feed back to stimulate transcription initiation by enhancing preinitiation complex assembly....

  3. Thermodynamic behavior and enhanced magnetocaloric effect in a frustrated spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg triangular tube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alécio, Raphael Cavalcante; Strečka, Jozef; Lyra, Marcelo L.

    2018-04-01

    The thermodynamic behavior of an Ising-Heisenberg triangular tube with Heisenberg intra-rung and Ising inter-rung interactions is exactly obtained in an external magnetic field within the framework of the transfer-matrix method. We report rigorous results for the temperature dependence of the magnetization, entropy, pair correlations and specific heat, as well as typical iso-entropic curves. The discontinuous field-driven ground-state phase transitions are reflected in some anomalous thermodynamic behavior as for instance a striking low-temperature peak of the specific heat and an enhanced magnetocaloric effect. It is demonstrated that the intermediate magnetization plateaus shrink in and the relevant sharp edges associated with the magnetization jump round off upon increasing temperature.

  4. 50/50 Expressional Odds of Retention Signifies the Distinction between Retained Introns and Constitutively Spliced Introns in Arabidopsis thaliana

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    Rui Mao

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Intron retention, one of the most prevalent alternative splicing events in plants, can lead to introns retained in mature mRNAs. However, in comparison with constitutively spliced introns (CSIs, the relevantly distinguishable features for retained introns (RIs are still poorly understood. This work proposes a computational pipeline to discover novel RIs from multiple next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq datasets of Arabidopsis thaliana. Using this pipeline, we detected 3,472 novel RIs from 18 RNA-Seq datasets and re-confirmed 1,384 RIs which are currently annotated in the TAIR10 database. We also use the expression of intron-containing isoforms as a new feature in addition to the conventional features. Based on these features, RIs are highly distinguishable from CSIs by machine learning methods, especially when the expressional odds of retention (i.e., the expression ratio of the RI-containing isoforms relative to the isoforms without RIs for the same gene reaches to or larger than 50/50. In this case, the RIs and CSIs can be clearly separated by the Random Forest with an outstanding performance of 0.95 on AUC (the area under a receiver operating characteristics curve. The closely related characteristics to the RIs include the low strength of splice sites, high similarity with the flanking exon sequences, low occurrence percentage of YTRAY near the acceptor site, existence of putative intronic splicing silencers (ISSs, i.e., AG/GA-rich motifs and intronic splicing enhancers (ISEs, i.e., TTTT-containing motifs, and enrichment of Serine/Arginine-Rich (SR proteins and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticle proteins (hnRNPs.

  5. Homologous SV40 RNA trans-splicing: Special case or prime example of viral RNA trans-splicing?

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    Sushmita Poddar

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available To date the Simian Virus 40 (SV40 is the only proven example of a virus that recruits the mechanism of RNA trans-splicing to diversify its sequences and gene products. Thereby, two identical viral transcripts are efficiently joined by homologous trans-splicing triggering the formation of a highly transforming 100 kDa super T antigen. Sequences of other viruses including HIV-1 and the human adenovirus type 5 were reported to be involved in heterologous trans-splicing towards cellular or viral sequences but the meaning of these events remains unclear. We computationally and experimentally investigated molecular features associated with viral RNA trans-splicing and identified a common pattern: Viral RNA trans-splicing occurs between strong cryptic or regular viral splice sites and strong regular or cryptic splice sites of the trans-splice partner sequences. The majority of these splice sites are supported by exonic splice enhancers. Splice sites that could compete with the trans-splicing sites for cis-splice reactions are weaker or inexistent. Finally, all but one of the trans-splice reactions seem to be facilitated by one or more complementary binding domains of 11 to 16 nucleotides in length which, however occur with a statistical probability close to one for the given length of the involved sequences. The chimeric RNAs generated via heterologous viral RNA trans-splicing either did not lead to fusion proteins or led to proteins of unknown function. Our data suggest that distinct viral RNAs are highly susceptible to trans-splicing and that heterologous viral trans-splicing, unlike homologous SV40 trans-splicing, represents a chance event.

  6. Enhanced splicing correction effect by an oligo-aspartic acid-PNA conjugate and cationic carrier complexes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bae, Yun Mi; Kim, Myung Hee; Yu, Gwang Sig; Um, Bong Ho; Park, Hee Kyung; Lee, Hyun-il; Lee, Kang Taek; Suh, Yung Doug; Choi, Joon Sig

    2014-02-10

    Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are synthetic structural analogues of DNA and RNA. They recognize specific cellular nucleic acid sequences and form stable complexes with complementary DNA or RNA. Here, we designed an oligo-aspartic acid-PNA conjugate and showed its enhanced delivery into cells with high gene correction efficiency using conventional cationic carriers, such as polyethylenimine (PEI) and Lipofectamine 2000. The negatively charged oligo-aspartic acid-PNA (Asp(n)-PNA) formed complexes with PEI and Lipofectamine, and the resulting Asp(n)-PNA/PEI and Asp(n)-PNA/Lipofectamine complexes were introduced into cells. We observed significantly enhanced cellular uptake of Asp(n)-PNA by cationic carriers and detected an active splicing correction effect even at nanomolar concentrations. We found that the splicing correction efficiency of the complex depended on the kind of the cationic carriers and on the number of repeating aspartic acid units. By enhancing the cellular uptake efficiency of PNAs, these results may provide a novel platform technology of PNAs as bioactive substances for their biological and therapeutic applications. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Multiple splicing defects in an intronic false exon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, H; Chasin, L A

    2000-09-01

    Splice site consensus sequences alone are insufficient to dictate the recognition of real constitutive splice sites within the typically large transcripts of higher eukaryotes, and large numbers of pseudoexons flanked by pseudosplice sites with good matches to the consensus sequences can be easily designated. In an attempt to identify elements that prevent pseudoexon splicing, we have systematically altered known splicing signals, as well as immediately adjacent flanking sequences, of an arbitrarily chosen pseudoexon from intron 1 of the human hprt gene. The substitution of a 5' splice site that perfectly matches the 5' consensus combined with mutation to match the CAG/G sequence of the 3' consensus failed to get this model pseudoexon included as the central exon in a dhfr minigene context. Provision of a real 3' splice site and a consensus 5' splice site and removal of an upstream inhibitory sequence were necessary and sufficient to confer splicing on the pseudoexon. This activated context also supported the splicing of a second pseudoexon sequence containing no apparent enhancer. Thus, both the 5' splice site sequence and the polypyrimidine tract of the pseudoexon are defective despite their good agreement with the consensus. On the other hand, the pseudoexon body did not exert a negative influence on splicing. The introduction into the pseudoexon of a sequence selected for binding to ASF/SF2 or its replacement with beta-globin exon 2 only partially reversed the effect of the upstream negative element and the defective polypyrimidine tract. These results support the idea that exon-bridging enhancers are not a prerequisite for constitutive exon definition and suggest that intrinsically defective splice sites and negative elements play important roles in distinguishing the real splicing signal from the vast number of false splicing signals.

  8. Conformal invariance in the long-range Ising model

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    Miguel F. Paulos

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  9. Conformal Invariance in the Long-Range Ising Model

    CERN Document Server

    Paulos, Miguel F; van Rees, Balt C; Zan, Bernardo

    2016-01-01

    We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  10. Conformal invariance in the long-range Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paulos, Miguel F. [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Rychkov, Slava, E-mail: slava.rychkov@lpt.ens.fr [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de l' École Normale Supérieure (LPTENS), Paris (France); Faculté de Physique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris (France); Rees, Balt C. van [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Zan, Bernardo [Institute of Physics, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2016-01-15

    We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  11. Effect of BRCA2 sequence variants predicted to disrupt exonic splice enhancers on BRCA2 transcripts

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    Brewster Brooke L

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genetic screening of breast cancer patients and their families have identified a number of variants of unknown clinical significance in the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Evaluation of such unclassified variants may be assisted by web-based bioinformatic prediction tools, although accurate prediction of aberrant splicing by unclassified variants affecting exonic splice enhancers (ESEs remains a challenge. Methods This study used a combination of RT-PCR analysis and splicing reporter minigene assays to assess five unclassified variants in the BRCA2 gene that we had previously predicted to disrupt an ESE using bioinformatic approaches. Results Analysis of BRCA2 c.8308 G > A (p.Ala2770Thr by mRNA analysis, and BRCA2 c.8962A > G (p.Ser2988Gly, BRCA2 c.8972G > A (p.Arg2991His, BRCA2 c.9172A > G (p.Ser3058Gly, and BRCA2 c.9213G > T (p.Glu3071Asp by a minigene assay, revealed no evidence for aberrant splicing. Conclusions These results illustrate the need for improved methods for predicting functional ESEs and the potential consequences of sequence variants contained therein.

  12. HOLLYWOOD: a comparative relational database of alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holste, Dirk; Huo, George; Tung, Vivian; Burge, Christopher B

    2006-01-01

    RNA splicing is an essential step in gene expression, and is often variable, giving rise to multiple alternatively spliced mRNA and protein isoforms from a single gene locus. The design of effective databases to support experimental and computational investigations of alternative splicing (AS) is a significant challenge. In an effort to integrate accurate exon and splice site annotation with current knowledge about splicing regulatory elements and predicted AS events, and to link information about the splicing of orthologous genes in different species, we have developed the Hollywood system. This database was built upon genomic annotation of splicing patterns of known genes derived from spliced alignment of complementary DNAs (cDNAs) and expressed sequence tags, and links features such as splice site sequence and strength, exonic splicing enhancers and silencers, conserved and non-conserved patterns of splicing, and cDNA library information for inferred alternative exons. Hollywood was implemented as a relational database and currently contains comprehensive information for human and mouse. It is accompanied by a web query tool that allows searches for sets of exons with specific splicing characteristics or splicing regulatory element composition, or gives a graphical or sequence-level summary of splicing patterns for a specific gene. A streamlined graphical representation of gene splicing patterns is provided, and these patterns can alternatively be layered onto existing information in the UCSC Genome Browser. The database is accessible at http://hollywood.mit.edu.

  13. Diverse alternative back-splicing and alternative splicing landscape of circular RNAs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Ou; Dong, Rui; Zhang, Yang; Zhang, Jia-Lin; Luo, Zheng; Zhang, Jun; Chen, Ling-Ling; Yang, Li

    2016-01-01

    Circular RNAs (circRNAs) derived from back-spliced exons have been widely identified as being co-expressed with their linear counterparts. A single gene locus can produce multiple circRNAs through alternative back-splice site selection and/or alternative splice site selection; however, a detailed map of alternative back-splicing/splicing in circRNAs is lacking. Here, with the upgraded CIRCexplorer2 pipeline, we systematically annotated different types of alternative back-splicing and alternative splicing events in circRNAs from various cell lines. Compared with their linear cognate RNAs, circRNAs exhibited distinct patterns of alternative back-splicing and alternative splicing. Alternative back-splice site selection was correlated with the competition of putative RNA pairs across introns that bracket alternative back-splice sites. In addition, all four basic types of alternative splicing that have been identified in the (linear) mRNA process were found within circRNAs, and many exons were predominantly spliced in circRNAs. Unexpectedly, thousands of previously unannotated exons were detected in circRNAs from the examined cell lines. Although these novel exons had similar splice site strength, they were much less conserved than known exons in sequences. Finally, both alternative back-splicing and circRNA-predominant alternative splicing were highly diverse among the examined cell lines. All of the identified alternative back-splicing and alternative splicing in circRNAs are available in the CIRCpedia database (http://www.picb.ac.cn/rnomics/circpedia). Collectively, the annotation of alternative back-splicing and alternative splicing in circRNAs provides a valuable resource for depicting the complexity of circRNA biogenesis and for studying the potential functions of circRNAs in different cells. PMID:27365365

  14. ISE System Development Methodology Manual

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hayhoe, G.F.

    1992-02-17

    The Information Systems Engineering (ISE) System Development Methodology Manual (SDM) is a framework of life cycle management guidelines that provide ISE personnel with direction, organization, consistency, and improved communication when developing and maintaining systems. These guide-lines were designed to allow ISE to build and deliver Total Quality products, and to meet the goals and requirements of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Westinghouse Savannah River Company, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

  15. From tricritical Ising to critical Ising by thermodynamic Bethe ansatz

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamolodchikov, A.B.

    1991-01-01

    A simple factorized scattering theory is suggested for the massless Goldstone fermions of the trajectory flowing from the tricritical Ising fixed point to the critical Ising one. The thermodynamic Bethe ansatz approach is applied to this scattering theory to support its interpretation both analytically and numerically. As a generalization a sequence of massless TBA systems is proposed which seems relevant for the trajectories interpolating between two successive minimal CFT models M p and M p-1 . (orig.)

  16. SplicePlot: a utility for visualizing splicing quantitative trait loci.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Eric; Nance, Tracy; Montgomery, Stephen B

    2014-04-01

    RNA sequencing has provided unprecedented resolution of alternative splicing and splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTL). However, there are few tools available for visualizing the genotype-dependent effects of splicing at a population level. SplicePlot is a simple command line utility that produces intuitive visualization of sQTLs and their effects. SplicePlot takes mapped RNA sequencing reads in BAM format and genotype data in VCF format as input and outputs publication-quality Sashimi plots, hive plots and structure plots, enabling better investigation and understanding of the role of genetics on alternative splicing and transcript structure. Source code and detailed documentation are available at http://montgomerylab.stanford.edu/spliceplot/index.html under Resources and at Github. SplicePlot is implemented in Python and is supported on Linux and Mac OS. A VirtualBox virtual machine running Ubuntu with SplicePlot already installed is also available.

  17. Features generated for computational splice-site prediction correspond to functional elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilbur W John

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate selection of splice sites during the splicing of precursors to messenger RNA requires both relatively well-characterized signals at the splice sites and auxiliary signals in the adjacent exons and introns. We previously described a feature generation algorithm (FGA that is capable of achieving high classification accuracy on human 3' splice sites. In this paper, we extend the splice-site prediction to 5' splice sites and explore the generated features for biologically meaningful splicing signals. Results We present examples from the observed features that correspond to known signals, both core signals (including the branch site and pyrimidine tract and auxiliary signals (including GGG triplets and exon splicing enhancers. We present evidence that features identified by FGA include splicing signals not found by other methods. Conclusion Our generated features capture known biological signals in the expected sequence interval flanking splice sites. The method can be easily applied to other species and to similar classification problems, such as tissue-specific regulatory elements, polyadenylation sites, promoters, etc.

  18. Genome-wide survey of allele-specific splicing in humans

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    Scheffler Konrad

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate mRNA splicing depends on multiple regulatory signals encoded in the transcribed RNA sequence. Many examples of mutations within human splice regulatory regions that alter splicing qualitatively or quantitatively have been reported and allelic differences in mRNA splicing are likely to be a common and important source of phenotypic diversity at the molecular level, in addition to their contribution to genetic disease susceptibility. However, because the effect of a mutation on the efficiency of mRNA splicing is often difficult to predict, many mutations that cause disease through an effect on splicing are likely to remain undiscovered. Results We have combined a genome-wide scan for sequence polymorphisms likely to affect mRNA splicing with analysis of publicly available Expressed Sequence Tag (EST and exon array data. The genome-wide scan uses published tools and identified 30,977 SNPs located within donor and acceptor splice sites, branch points and exonic splicing enhancer elements. For 1,185 candidate splicing polymorphisms the difference in splicing between alternative alleles was corroborated by publicly available exon array data from 166 lymphoblastoid cell lines. We developed a novel probabilistic method to infer allele-specific splicing from EST data. The method uses SNPs and alternative mRNA isoforms mapped to EST sequences and models both regulated alternative splicing as well as allele-specific splicing. We have also estimated heritability of splicing and report that a greater proportion of genes show evidence of splicing heritability than show heritability of overall gene expression level. Our results provide an extensive resource that can be used to assess the possible effect on splicing of human polymorphisms in putative splice-regulatory sites. Conclusion We report a set of genes showing evidence of allele-specific splicing from an integrated analysis of genomic polymorphisms, EST data and exon array

  19. RNA Binding Protein RBM38 Regulates Expression of the 11-Kilodalton Protein of Parvovirus B19, Which Facilitates Viral DNA Replication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganaie, Safder S; Chen, Aaron Yun; Huang, Chun; Xu, Peng; Kleiboeker, Steve; Du, Aifang; Qiu, Jianming

    2018-04-15

    Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) expresses a single precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA), which undergoes alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation to generate 12 viral mRNA transcripts that encode two structural proteins (VP1 and VP2) and three nonstructural proteins (NS1, 7.5-kDa protein, and 11-kDa protein). Splicing at the second 5' donor site (D2 site) of the B19V pre-mRNA is essential for the expression of VP2 and the 11-kDa protein. We previously identified that cis -acting intronic splicing enhancer 2 (ISE2) that lies immediately after the D2 site facilitates the recognition of the D2 donor for its efficient splicing. In this study, we report that ISE2 is critical for the expression of the 11-kDa viral nonstructural protein. We found that ISE2 harbors a consensus RNA binding motif protein 38 (RBM38) binding sequence, 5'-UGUGUG-3'. RBM38 is expressed during the middle stage of erythropoiesis. We first confirmed that RBM38 binds specifically with the ISE2 element in vitro The knockdown of RBM38 significantly decreases the level of spliced mRNA at D2 that encodes the 11-kDa protein but not that of the D2-spliced mRNA that encodes VP2. Importantly, we found that the 11-kDa protein enhances viral DNA replication and virion release. Accordingly, the knockdown of RBM38 decreases virus replication via downregulating 11-kDa protein expression. Taken together, these results suggest that the 11-kDa protein facilitates B19V DNA replication and that RBM38 is an essential host factor for B19V pre-mRNA splicing and for the expression of the 11-kDa protein. IMPORTANCE B19V is a human pathogen that can cause fifth disease, arthropathy, anemia in immunocompromised patients and sickle cell disease patients, myocarditis, and hydrops fetalis in pregnant women. Human erythroid progenitor cells (EPCs) are most susceptible to B19V infection and fully support viral DNA replication. The exclusive tropism of B19V for erythroid-lineage cells is dependent not only on the expression of viral

  20. Antitumorigenic potential of STAT3 alternative splicing modulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zammarchi, Francesca; de Stanchina, Elisa; Bournazou, Eirini; Supakorndej, Teerawit; Martires, Kathryn; Riedel, Elyn; Corben, Adriana D; Bromberg, Jacqueline F; Cartegni, Luca

    2011-10-25

    Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) plays a central role in the activation of multiple oncogenic pathways. Splicing variant STAT3β uses an alternative acceptor site within exon 23 that leads to a truncated isoform lacking the C-terminal transactivation domain. Depending on the context, STAT3β can act as a dominant-negative regulator of transcription and promote apoptosis. We show that modified antisense oligonucleotides targeted to a splicing enhancer that regulates STAT3 exon 23 alternative splicing specifically promote a shift of expression from STAT3α to STAT3β. Induction of endogenous STAT3β leads to apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest in cell lines with persistent STAT3 tyrosine phosphorylation compared with total STAT3 knockdown obtained by forced splicing-dependent nonsense-mediated decay (FSD-NMD). Comparison of the molecular effects of splicing redirection to STAT3 knockdown reveals a unique STAT3β signature, with a down-regulation of specific targets (including lens epithelium-derived growth factor, p300/CBP-associated factor, CyclinC, peroxisomal biogenesis factor 1, and STAT1β) distinct from canonical STAT3 targets typically associated with total STAT3 knockdown. Furthermore, similar in vivo redirection of STAT3 alternative splicing leads to tumor regression in a xenograft cancer model, demonstrating how pharmacological manipulation of a single key splicing event can manifest powerful antitumorigenic properties and validating endogenous splicing reprogramming as an effective cancer therapeutic approach.

  1. GC content around splice sites affects splicing through pre-mRNA secondary structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Liang

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Alternative splicing increases protein diversity by generating multiple transcript isoforms from a single gene through different combinations of exons or through different selections of splice sites. It has been reported that RNA secondary structures are involved in alternative splicing. Here we perform a genomic study of RNA secondary structures around splice sites in humans (Homo sapiens, mice (Mus musculus, fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster, and nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans to further investigate this phenomenon. Results We observe that GC content around splice sites is closely associated with the splice site usage in multiple species. RNA secondary structure is the possible explanation, because the structural stability difference among alternative splice sites, constitutive splice sites, and skipped splice sites can be explained by the GC content difference. Alternative splice sites tend to be GC-enriched and exhibit more stable RNA secondary structures in all of the considered species. In humans and mice, splice sites of first exons and long exons tend to be GC-enriched and hence form more stable structures, indicating the special role of RNA secondary structures in promoter proximal splicing events and the splicing of long exons. In addition, GC-enriched exon-intron junctions tend to be overrepresented in tissue-specific alternative splice sites, indicating the functional consequence of the GC effect. Compared with regions far from splice sites and decoy splice sites, real splice sites are GC-enriched. We also found that the GC-content effect is much stronger than the nucleotide-order effect to form stable secondary structures. Conclusion All of these results indicate that GC content is related to splice site usage and it may mediate the splicing process through RNA secondary structures.

  2. Human Splicing Finder: an online bioinformatics tool to predict splicing signals

    OpenAIRE

    Desmet, Francois-Olivier; Hamroun, Dalil; Lalande, Marine; Collod-Beroud, Gwenaelle; Claustres, Mireille; Beroud, Christophe

    2009-01-01

    International audience; Thousands of mutations are identified yearly. Although many directly affect protein expression, an increasing proportion of mutations is now believed to influence mRNA splicing. They mostly affect existing splice sites, but synonymous, non-synonymous or nonsense mutations can also create or disrupt splice sites or auxiliary cis-splicing sequences. To facilitate the analysis of the different mutations, we designed Human Splicing Finder (HSF), a tool to predict the effec...

  3. The square Ising model with second-neighbor interactions and the Ising chain in a transverse field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grynberg, M.D.; Tanatar, B.

    1991-06-01

    We consider the thermal and critical behaviour of the square Ising lattice with frustrated first - and second-neighbor interactions. A low-temperature domain wall analysis including kinks and dislocations shows that there is a close relation between this classical model and the Hamiltonian of an Ising chain in a transverse field provided that the ratio of the next-nearest to nearest-neighbor coupling, is close to 1/2. Due to the field inversion symmetry of the Ising chain Hamiltonian, the thermal properties of the classical system are symmetrical with respect to this coupling ratio. In the neighborhood of this regime critical exponents of the model turn out to belong to the Ising universality class. Our results are compared with previous Monte Carlo simulations. (author). 23 refs, 6 figs

  4. Factors controlling degree of correlation between ISEE 1 and ISEE 3 interplanetary magnetic field measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crooker, N.U.; Siscoe, G.L.; Russell, C.T.; Smith, E.J.

    1982-01-01

    The degree of correlation between ISEE 1 and ISEE 3 IMF measurements is highly variable. Approximately 200 two-hour periods when the correlation was good and 200 more when the correlation was poor are used to determine the relative control of several factors over the degree of correlation. Both IMF variance and spacecraft separation distance in the plane perpendicular to the earth-sun line exert substantial control. Good correlations are associated with high variance and distances less than 90 R/sub E/. During periods of highest variance, good correlations occur at distances beyond 90 R/sub E/ up to 120 R/sub E/, the maximum range of ISEE 1-ISEE 3 separation. Thus it appears that the scale size of magnetic features is larger when the variance is high. Abrupt changes in the correlation coefficient from poor to good or good to poor in adjacent two-hour intervals appear to be governed by the sense of change of IMF variance: changes in correlation from poor to good correspond to increasing variance and vice versa. The IMF orientation also exerts control over the degree of correlation. During periods of low variance, good correlations are most likely to occur when the distance between ISEE 1 and ISEE 3 perpendicular to the IMF is less than 20 R/sub E/. This scale size expands to approx.50 R/sub E/ during periods of high variance. Solar wind speed shows little control over the degree of correlation in the speed range 300--500 km/s

  5. Mechanical rebar splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milosavljević Branko

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Different mechanical rebar splicing systems are presented, and design situations where mechanical splicing has advantage over reinforcement splicing by overlapping and welding are defined in this paper. New international standards for testing and proof of systems for mechanical rebar splicing quality are considered. Mechanical splicing system for rebar and bolt connection, usable in steel and reinforced concrete structural elements connections, is presented in this paper. There are only few examples of mechanical rebar splicing in our country. The most significant one - the pylon and beam connection at Ada Bridge in Belgrade is presented in the paper. Intensive development of production and use of mechanical rebar splicing systems, research in this area, as well as the publication of international standards prescribing requirements for quality and procedures for proof of quality, represent very good base for development of the corresponding technical norms in Serbia. The legislation in this area would quicken proof of quality procedures, attest and approval issuing for individual products, leading to wider use of this system in all situations where it is in advantage over the classical reinforcement splicing.

  6. Review of progresses on clinical applications of ion selective electrodes for electrolytic ion tests: from conventional ISEs to graphene-based ISEs

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    Rongguo Yan

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available There exist several positively and negatively charged electrolytes or ions in human blood, urine, and other body fluids. Tests that measure the concentration of these ions in clinics are performed using a more affordable, portable, and disposable potentiometric sensing method with few sample volumes, which requires the use of ion-selective electrodes (ISEs and reference electrodes. This review summarily descriptively presents progressive developments and applications of ion selective electrodes in medical laboratory electrolytic ion tests, from conventional ISEs, solid-contact ISEs, carbon nanotube based ISEs, to graphene-based ISEs.

  7. The 20S proteasome splicing activity discovered by SpliceMet.

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    Juliane Liepe

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The identification of proteasome-generated spliced peptides (PSP revealed a new unpredicted activity of the major cellular protease. However, so far characterization of PSP was entirely dependent on the availability of patient-derived cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTL thus preventing a systematic investigation of proteasome-catalyzed peptide splicing (PCPS. For an unrestricted PSP identification we here developed SpliceMet, combining the computer-based algorithm ProteaJ with in vitro proteasomal degradation assays and mass spectrometry. By applying SpliceMet for the analysis of proteasomal processing products of four different substrate polypeptides, derived from human tumor as well as viral antigens, we identified fifteen new spliced peptides generated by PCPS either by cis or from two separate substrate molecules, i.e., by trans splicing. Our data suggest that 20S proteasomes represent a molecular machine that, due to its catalytic and structural properties, facilitates the generation of spliced peptides, thereby providing a pool of qualitatively new peptides from which functionally relevant products may be selected.

  8. SplicingTypesAnno: annotating and quantifying alternative splicing events for RNA-Seq data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiaoyong; Zuo, Fenghua; Ru, Yuanbin; Guo, Jiqiang; Yan, Xiaoyan; Sablok, Gaurav

    2015-04-01

    Alternative splicing plays a key role in the regulation of the central dogma. Four major types of alternative splicing have been classified as intron retention, exon skipping, alternative 5 splice sites or alternative donor sites, and alternative 3 splice sites or alternative acceptor sites. A few algorithms have been developed to detect splice junctions from RNA-Seq reads. However, there are few tools targeting at the major alternative splicing types at the exon/intron level. This type of analysis may reveal subtle, yet important events of alternative splicing, and thus help gain deeper understanding of the mechanism of alternative splicing. This paper describes a user-friendly R package, extracting, annotating and analyzing alternative splicing types for sequence alignment files from RNA-Seq. SplicingTypesAnno can: (1) provide annotation for major alternative splicing at exon/intron level. By comparing the annotation from GTF/GFF file, it identifies the novel alternative splicing sites; (2) offer a convenient two-level analysis: genome-scale annotation for users with high performance computing environment, and gene-scale annotation for users with personal computers; (3) generate a user-friendly web report and additional BED files for IGV visualization. SplicingTypesAnno is a user-friendly R package for extracting, annotating and analyzing alternative splicing types at exon/intron level for sequence alignment files from RNA-Seq. It is publically available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/splicingtypes/files/ or http://genome.sdau.edu.cn/research/software/SplicingTypesAnno.html. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Human Splicing Finder: an online bioinformatics tool to predict splicing signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desmet, François-Olivier; Hamroun, Dalil; Lalande, Marine; Collod-Béroud, Gwenaëlle; Claustres, Mireille; Béroud, Christophe

    2009-05-01

    Thousands of mutations are identified yearly. Although many directly affect protein expression, an increasing proportion of mutations is now believed to influence mRNA splicing. They mostly affect existing splice sites, but synonymous, non-synonymous or nonsense mutations can also create or disrupt splice sites or auxiliary cis-splicing sequences. To facilitate the analysis of the different mutations, we designed Human Splicing Finder (HSF), a tool to predict the effects of mutations on splicing signals or to identify splicing motifs in any human sequence. It contains all available matrices for auxiliary sequence prediction as well as new ones for binding sites of the 9G8 and Tra2-beta Serine-Arginine proteins and the hnRNP A1 ribonucleoprotein. We also developed new Position Weight Matrices to assess the strength of 5' and 3' splice sites and branch points. We evaluated HSF efficiency using a set of 83 intronic and 35 exonic mutations known to result in splicing defects. We showed that the mutation effect was correctly predicted in almost all cases. HSF could thus represent a valuable resource for research, diagnostic and therapeutic (e.g. therapeutic exon skipping) purposes as well as for global studies, such as the GEN2PHEN European Project or the Human Variome Project.

  10. Testing Efficiency of Derivative Markets: ISE30, ISE100, USD and EURO

    OpenAIRE

    Akal, Mustafa; Birgili, Erhan; Durmuskaya, Sedat

    2012-01-01

    This study attempts to develop new market efficiency tests depending on the spot and future prices, or the differences of them alternative to traditional unit root test build on univariate time series. As a result of the autocorrelation, normality and run tests applied to spot and futures prices or differences of them, and Adopted Purchasing Power Parity test based on a regression the future markets of ISE30, ISE100 index indicators, USD and Euro currencies, all of which have been traded dail...

  11. Applications of ISES for the atmospheric sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoell, James M., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    The proposed Information Sciences Experiment System (ISES) will offer the opportunity for real-time access to measurements acquired aboard the Earth Observation System (Eos) satellite. These measurements can then be transmitted to remotely located ground based stations. The application of such measurements to issues related to atmospheric science which was presented to a workshop convened to review possible application of the ISES in earth sciences is summarized. The proposed protocol for Eos instruments requires that measurement results be available in a central data archive within 72 hours of acquiring data. Such a turnaround of raw satellite data to the final product will clearly enhance the timeliness of the results. Compared to the time that results from many current satellite programs, the 72 hour turnaround may be considered real time. Examples are discussed showing how real-time measurements from one or more of the proposed Eos instruments could have been applied to the study of certain issues important to global atmospheric chemistry. Each of the examples discussed is based upon a field mission conducted during the past five years. Each of these examples will emphasize how real-time data could have been used to alter the course of a field experiment, thereby enhancing the scientific output. For the examples, brief overviews of the scientific rationale and objectives, the region of operation, the measurements aboard the aircraft, and finally how one or more of the proposed Eos instruments could have provided data to enhance the productivity of the mission are discussed.

  12. Electroporation Enhanced Effect of Dystrophin Splice Switching PNA Oligomers in Normal and Dystrophic Muscle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camilla Brolin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Peptide nucleic acid (PNA is a synthetic DNA mimic that has shown potential for discovery of novel splice switching antisense drugs. However, in vivo cellular delivery has been a limiting factor for development, and only few successful studies have been reported. As a possible modality for improvement of in vivo cellular availability, we have investigated the effect of electrotransfer upon intramuscular (i.m. PNA administration in vivo. Antisense PNA targeting exon 23 of the murine dystrophin gene was administered by i.m. injection to the tibialis anterior (TA muscle of normal NMRI and dystrophic mdx mice with or without electroporation. At low, single PNA doses (1.5, 3, or 10 µg/TA, electroporation augmented the antisense exon skipping induced by an unmodified PNA by twofold to fourfold in healthy mouse muscle with optimized electric parameters, measured after 7 days. The PNA splice switching was detected at the RNA level up to 4 weeks after a single-dose treatment. In dystrophic muscles of the MDX mouse, electroporation increased the number of dystrophin-positive fibers about 2.5-fold at 2 weeks after a single PNA administration compared to injection only. In conclusion, we find that electroporation can enhance PNA antisense effects in muscle tissue.

  13. Targeting Splicing in Prostate Cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Effrosyni Antonopoulou; Michael Ladomery

    2018-01-01

    Over 95% of human genes are alternatively spliced, expressing splice isoforms that often exhibit antagonistic functions. We describe genes whose alternative splicing has been linked to prostate cancer; namely VEGFA, KLF6, BCL2L2, ERG, and AR. We discuss opportunities to develop novel therapies that target specific splice isoforms, or that target the machinery of splicing. Therapeutic approaches include the development of small molecule inhibitors of splice factor kinases, splice isoform speci...

  14. CRISTAL-ISE your project

    CERN Document Server

    Rosaria Marraffino

    2014-01-01

    CRISTAL-ISE, a new version of the CRISTAL data tracking software developed at CERN in the late 90s, has recently been launched under an open source license. The potential for applications of this free software outside particle physics covers several areas, including medicine, where CRISTAL-ISE helps to monitor the progress of Alzheimer’s Disease.   CMS lead tungstate crystals produced in Russia. CRISTAL began as a collaboration between CERN, the University of the West of England (UWE) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).“At the time of CMS’s construction, there was a need for software able to track the production of the almost 80,000 lead tungstate crystals for the Electromagnetic Calorimeter,” explains Andrew Branson, member of the CMS collaboration and Technical Coordinator of the CRISTAL-ISE project. “We started to develop the software when we didn’t yet know the detector testing procedures to go through,...

  15. Landscape of the spliced leader trans-splicing mechanism in Schistosoma mansoni.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boroni, Mariana; Sammeth, Michael; Gava, Sandra Grossi; Jorge, Natasha Andressa Nogueira; Macedo, Andréa Mara; Machado, Carlos Renato; Mourão, Marina Moraes; Franco, Glória Regina

    2018-03-01

    Spliced leader dependent trans-splicing (SLTS) has been described as an important RNA regulatory process that occurs in different organisms, including the trematode Schistosoma mansoni. We identified more than seven thousand putative SLTS sites in the parasite, comprising genes with a wide spectrum of functional classes, which underlines the SLTS as a ubiquitous mechanism in the parasite. Also, SLTS gene expression levels span several orders of magnitude, showing that SLTS frequency is not determined by the expression level of the target gene, but by the presence of particular gene features facilitating or hindering the trans-splicing mechanism. Our in-depth investigation of SLTS events demonstrates widespread alternative trans-splicing (ATS) acceptor sites occurring in different regions along the entire gene body, highlighting another important role of SLTS generating alternative RNA isoforms in the parasite, besides the polycistron resolution. Particularly for introns where SLTS directly competes for the same acceptor substrate with cis-splicing, we identified for the first time additional and important features that might determine the type of splicing. Our study substantially extends the current knowledge of RNA processing by SLTS in S. mansoni, and provide basis for future studies on the trans-splicing mechanism in other eukaryotes.

  16. Modulation of 5' splice site selection using tailed oligonucleotides carrying splicing signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elela Sherif

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We previously described the use of tailed oligonucleotides as a means of reprogramming alternative pre-mRNA splicing in vitro and in vivo. The tailed oligonucleotides that were used interfere with splicing because they contain a portion complementary to sequences immediately upstream of the target 5' splice site combined with a non-hybridizing 5' tail carrying binding sites for the hnRNP A1/A2 proteins. In the present study, we have tested the inhibitory activity of RNA oligonucleotides carrying different tail structures. Results We show that an oligonucleotide with a 5' tail containing the human β-globin branch site sequence inhibits the use of the 5' splice site of Bcl-xL, albeit less efficiently than a tail containing binding sites for the hnRNP A1/A2 proteins. A branch site-containing tail positioned at the 3' end of the oligonucleotide also elicited splicing inhibition but not as efficiently as a 5' tail. The interfering activity of a 3' tail was improved by adding a 5' splice site sequence next to the branch site sequence. A 3' tail carrying a Y-shaped branch structure promoted similar splicing interference. The inclusion of branch site or 5' splice site sequences in the Y-shaped 3' tail further improved splicing inhibition. Conclusion Our in vitro results indicate that a variety of tail architectures can be used to elicit splicing interference at low nanomolar concentrations, thereby broadening the scope and the potential impact of this antisense technology.

  17. Detection and quantification of alternative splice sites in Arabidopsis genes AtDCL2 and AtPTB2 with highly sensitive surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and gold nanoprobes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadam, Ulhas S; Schulz, Burkhard; Irudayaraj, Joseph

    2014-05-02

    Alternative splicing (AS) increases the size of the transcriptome and proteome to enhance the physiological capacity of cells. We demonstrate surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in combination with a DNA hybridization analytical platform to identify and quantify AS genes in plants. AS in AtDCL2 and AtPTB2 were investigated using non-fluorescent Raman probes using a 'sandwich assay'. Utilizing Raman probes conjugated to gold nanoparticles we demonstrate the recognition of RNA sequences specific to AtDCL2 and AtPTB2 splice junction variants with detection sensitivity of up to 0.1 fM. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  18. Statistically interacting quasiparticles in Ising chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu Ping; Vanasse, Jared; Piecuch, Christopher; Karbach, Michael; Mueller, Gerhard

    2008-01-01

    The exclusion statistics of two complementary sets of quasiparticles, generated from opposite ends of the spectrum, are identified for Ising chains with spin s = 1/2, 1. In the s = 1/2 case the two sets are antiferromagnetic domain walls (solitons) and ferromagnetic domains (strings). In the s = 1 case they are soliton pairs and nested strings, respectively. The Ising model is equivalent to a system of two species of solitons for s = 1/2 and to a system of six species of soliton pairs for s = 1. Solitons exist on single bonds but soliton pairs may be spread across many bonds. The thermodynamics of a system of domains spanning up to M lattice sites is amenable to exact analysis and shown to become equivalent, in the limit M → ∞, to the thermodynamics of the s = 1/2 Ising chain. A relation is presented between the solitons in the Ising limit and the spinons in the XX limit of the s = 1/2 XXZ chain

  19. Statistical mechanics of the cluster Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smacchia, Pietro; Amico, Luigi; Facchi, Paolo; Fazio, Rosario; Florio, Giuseppe; Pascazio, Saverio; Vedral, Vlatko

    2011-01-01

    We study a Hamiltonian system describing a three-spin-1/2 clusterlike interaction competing with an Ising-like antiferromagnetic interaction. We compute free energy, spin-correlation functions, and entanglement both in the ground and in thermal states. The model undergoes a quantum phase transition between an Ising phase with a nonvanishing magnetization and a cluster phase characterized by a string order. Any two-spin entanglement is found to vanish in both quantum phases because of a nontrivial correlation pattern. Nevertheless, the residual multipartite entanglement is maximal in the cluster phase and dependent on the magnetization in the Ising phase. We study the block entropy at the critical point and calculate the central charge of the system, showing that the criticality of the system is beyond the Ising universality class.

  20. Statistical mechanics of the cluster Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smacchia, Pietro [SISSA - via Bonomea 265, I-34136, Trieste (Italy); Amico, Luigi [CNR-MATIS-IMM and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia Universita di Catania, C/O ed. 10, viale Andrea Doria 6, I-95125 Catania (Italy); Facchi, Paolo [Dipartimento di Matematica and MECENAS, Universita di Bari, I-70125 Bari (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Fazio, Rosario [NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR, 56126 Pisa (Italy); Center for Quantum Technology, National University of Singapore, 117542 Singapore (Singapore); Florio, Giuseppe; Pascazio, Saverio [Dipartimento di Fisica and MECENAS, Universita di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Vedral, Vlatko [Center for Quantum Technology, National University of Singapore, 117542 Singapore (Singapore); Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542 (Singapore); Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, OX1 3PU (United Kingdom)

    2011-08-15

    We study a Hamiltonian system describing a three-spin-1/2 clusterlike interaction competing with an Ising-like antiferromagnetic interaction. We compute free energy, spin-correlation functions, and entanglement both in the ground and in thermal states. The model undergoes a quantum phase transition between an Ising phase with a nonvanishing magnetization and a cluster phase characterized by a string order. Any two-spin entanglement is found to vanish in both quantum phases because of a nontrivial correlation pattern. Nevertheless, the residual multipartite entanglement is maximal in the cluster phase and dependent on the magnetization in the Ising phase. We study the block entropy at the critical point and calculate the central charge of the system, showing that the criticality of the system is beyond the Ising universality class.

  1. Generic Ising trees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Durhuus, Bergfinnur Jøgvan; Napolitano, George Maria

    2012-01-01

    The Ising model on a class of infinite random trees is defined as a thermodynamiclimit of finite systems. A detailed description of the corresponding distribution of infinite spin configurations is given. As an application, we study the magnetization properties of such systems and prove that they......The Ising model on a class of infinite random trees is defined as a thermodynamiclimit of finite systems. A detailed description of the corresponding distribution of infinite spin configurations is given. As an application, we study the magnetization properties of such systems and prove...... that they exhibit no spontaneous magnetization. Furthermore, the values of the Hausdorff and spectral dimensions of the underlying trees are calculated and found to be, respectively,¯dh =2 and¯ds = 4/3....

  2. spliceR

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vitting-Seerup, Kristoffer; Porse, Bo Torben; Sandelin, Albin

    2014-01-01

    RNA-seq data is currently underutilized, in part because it is difficult to predict the functional impact of alternate transcription events. Recent software improvements in full-length transcript deconvolution prompted us to develop spliceR, an R package for classification of alternative splicing...

  3. Both sides of the same coin: Rac1 splicing regulating by EGF signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Xiang-Dong

    2017-04-01

    EGF, a well-studied mitogen for cancer cells, is revealed to induce an E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor SPSB1, which recruits the Elongin B/C-Collin complex to trigger ubiquitylation of the negative splicing regulator hnRNP A1. This event is synergized with EGF-activated SR proteins to alter alternative splicing of a key small GTPase Rac1 to enhance cell migration, highlighting converging EGF signals on both negative and positive splicing regulators to jointly promote a key cancer pathway.

  4. ISEE (InformationsSystem Erneuerbare Energie): Renewable Energy Information System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grebe, R.; Koch, H.

    1991-01-01

    Since the end of 1989 ISET has been operating the title database ISEE. Access to this on-line database may be obtained by any interested party posessing a computer, which is connected to the network of the 'Deutsche TeleCom' by telephone or Datex-P. The command language of ISEE is German. ISET will establish an English version in 1991/1992. In brief attention is paid to the components of the ISEE database, its user groups, the possibilities to access ISEE, and further developments. 3 figs

  5. Transverse Ising spin-glass model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Raimundo R. dos; Santos, R.M.Z. dos.

    1984-01-01

    The zero temperature behavior of the Transverse Ising spin-glass (+-J 0 ) model is discussed. The d-dimensional quantum model is shown to be equivalent to a classical (d + 1)- dimensional Ising spin-glass with correlated disorder. An exact Renormalization Group treatment of the one-dimensional quantum model indicates the existence of a spin-glass phase. The Migdal-Kadanoff approximation is used to obtain the phase diagram of the quantum spin-glass in two-dimensions. (Author) [pt

  6. An Ising model for metal-organic frameworks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Höft, Nicolas; Horbach, Jürgen; Martín-Mayor, Victor; Seoane, Beatriz

    2017-08-01

    We present a three-dimensional Ising model where lines of equal spins are frozen such that they form an ordered framework structure. The frame spins impose an external field on the rest of the spins (active spins). We demonstrate that this "porous Ising model" can be seen as a minimal model for condensation transitions of gas molecules in metal-organic frameworks. Using Monte Carlo simulation techniques, we compare the phase behavior of a porous Ising model with that of a particle-based model for the condensation of methane (CH4) in the isoreticular metal-organic framework IRMOF-16. For both models, we find a line of first-order phase transitions that end in a critical point. We show that the critical behavior in both cases belongs to the 3D Ising universality class, in contrast to other phase transitions in confinement such as capillary condensation.

  7. Effective Hamiltonian for 2-dimensional arbitrary spin Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sznajd, J.; Polska Akademia Nauk, Wroclaw. Inst. Niskich Temperatur i Badan Strukturalnych)

    1983-08-01

    The method of the reduction of the generalized arbitrary-spin 2-dimensional Ising model to spin-half Ising model is presented. The method is demonstrated in detail by calculating the effective interaction constants to the third order in cumulant expansion for the triangular spin-1 Ising model (the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model). (author)

  8. Large exon size does not limit splicing in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, I T; Chasin, L A

    1994-03-01

    Exon sizes in vertebrate genes are, with a few exceptions, limited to less than 300 bases. It has been proposed that this limitation may derive from the exon definition model of splice site recognition. In this model, a downstream donor site enhances splicing at the upstream acceptor site of the same exon. This enhancement may require contact between factors bound to each end of the exon; an exon size limitation would promote such contact. To test the idea that proximity was required for exon definition, we inserted random DNA fragments from Escherichia coli into a central exon in a three-exon dihydrofolate reductase minigene and tested whether the expanded exons were efficiently spliced. DNA from a plasmid library of expanded minigenes was used to transfect a CHO cell deletion mutant lacking the dhfr locus. PCR analysis of DNA isolated from the pooled stable cotransfectant populations displayed a range of DNA insert sizes from 50 to 1,500 nucleotides. A parallel analysis of the RNA from this population by reverse transcription followed by PCR showed a similar size distribution. Central exons as large as 1,400 bases could be spliced into mRNA. We also tested individual plasmid clones containing exon inserts of defined sizes. The largest exon included in mRNA was 1,200 bases in length, well above the 300-base limit implied by the survey of naturally occurring exons. We conclude that a limitation in exon size is not part of the exon definition mechanism.

  9. Ising formulations of many NP problems

    OpenAIRE

    Lucas, Andrew

    2013-01-01

    We provide Ising formulations for many NP-complete and NP-hard problems, including all of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems. This collects and extends mappings to the Ising model from partitioning, covering and satisfiability. In each case, the required number of spins is at most cubic in the size of the problem. This work may be useful in designing adiabatic quantum optimization algorithms.

  10. Spliced RNA of woodchuck hepatitis virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogston, C W; Razman, D G

    1992-07-01

    Polymerase chain reaction was used to investigate RNA splicing in liver of woodchucks infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV). Two spliced species were detected, and the splice junctions were sequenced. The larger spliced RNA has an intron of 1300 nucleotides, and the smaller spliced sequence shows an additional downstream intron of 1104 nucleotides. We did not detect singly spliced sequences from which the smaller intron alone was removed. Control experiments showed that spliced sequences are present in both RNA and DNA in infected liver, showing that the viral reverse transcriptase can use spliced RNA as template. Spliced sequences were detected also in virion DNA prepared from serum. The upstream intron produces a reading frame that fuses the core to the polymerase polypeptide, while the downstream intron causes an inframe deletion in the polymerase open reading frame. Whereas the splicing patterns in WHV are superficially similar to those reported recently in hepatitis B virus, we detected no obvious homology in the coding capacity of spliced RNAs from these two viruses.

  11. HIV-1 splicing is controlled by local RNA structure and binding of splicing regulatory proteins at the major 5' splice site

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mueller, Nancy; Berkhout, Ben; Das, Atze T.

    2015-01-01

    The 5' leader region of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) RNA genome contains the major 5' splice site (ss) that is used in the production of the many spliced viral RNAs. This splice-donor (SD) region can fold into a stable stem-loop structure and the thermodynamic stability of this RNA

  12. Ising formulations of many NP problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew eLucas

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available We provide Ising formulations for many NP-complete and NP-hard problems, including all of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems. This collects and extends mappings to the Ising model from partitioning, covering and satisfiability. In each case, the required number of spins is at most cubic in the size of the problem. This work may be useful in designing adiabatic quantum optimization algorithms.

  13. Ising model for packet routing control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horiguchi, Tsuyoshi; Takahashi, Hideyuki; Hayashi, Keisuke; Yamaguchi, Chiaki

    2004-01-01

    For packet routing control in computer networks, we propose an Ising model which is defined in order to express competition among a queue length and a distance from a node with a packet to its destination node. By introducing a dynamics for a mean-field value of an Ising spin, we show by computer simulations that effective control of packet routing through priority links is possible

  14. Fermions as generalized Ising models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Wetterich

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available We establish a general map between Grassmann functionals for fermions and probability or weight distributions for Ising spins. The equivalence between the two formulations is based on identical transfer matrices and expectation values of products of observables. The map preserves locality properties and can be realized for arbitrary dimensions. We present a simple example where a quantum field theory for free massless Dirac fermions in two-dimensional Minkowski space is represented by an asymmetric Ising model on a euclidean square lattice.

  15. Reprogramming the Dynamin 2 mRNA by Spliceosome-mediated RNA Trans-splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Delphine Trochet

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Dynamin 2 (DNM2 is a large GTPase, ubiquitously expressed, involved in membrane trafficking and regulation of actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. DNM2 mutations cause autosomal dominant centronuclear myopathy which is a rare congenital myopathy characterized by skeletal muscle weakness and histopathological features including nuclear centralization in absence of regeneration. No curative treatment is currently available for the DNM2-related autosomal dominant centronuclear myopathy. In order to develop therapeutic strategy, we evaluated here the potential of Spliceosome-Mediated RNA Trans-splicing technology to reprogram the Dnm2-mRNA in vitro and in vivo in mice. We show that classical 3′-trans-splicing strategy cannot be considered as accurate therapeutic strategy regarding toxicity of the pre-trans-splicing molecules leading to low rate of trans-splicing in vivo. Thus, we tested alternative strategies devoted to prevent this toxicity and enhance frequency of trans-splicing events. We succeeded to overcome the toxicity through a 5′-trans-splicing strategy which also allows detection of trans-splicing events at mRNA and protein levels in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that the Spliceosome-Mediated RNA Trans-splicing strategy may be used to reprogram mutated Dnm2-mRNA but highlight the potential toxicity linked to the molecular tools which have to be carefully investigated during preclinical development.

  16. Splicing Analysis of Exonic OCRL Mutations Causing Lowe Syndrome or Dent-2 Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorena Suarez-Artiles

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Mutations in the OCRL gene are associated with both Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease. Patients with Lowe syndrome present congenital cataracts, mental disabilities and a renal proximal tubulopathy, whereas patients with Dent-2 disease exhibit similar proximal tubule dysfunction but only mild, or no additional clinical defects. It is not yet understood why some OCRL mutations cause the phenotype of Lowe syndrome, while others develop the milder phenotype of Dent-2 disease. Our goal was to gain new insights into the consequences of OCRL exonic mutations on pre-mRNA splicing. Using predictive bioinformatics tools, we selected thirteen missense mutations and one synonymous mutation based on their potential effects on splicing regulatory elements or splice sites. These mutations were analyzed in a minigene splicing assay. Results of the RNA analysis showed that three presumed missense mutations caused alterations in pre-mRNA splicing. Mutation c.741G>T; p.(Trp247Cys generated splicing silencer sequences and disrupted splicing enhancer motifs that resulted in skipping of exon 9, while mutations c.2581G>A; p.(Ala861Thr and c.2581G>C; p.(Ala861Pro abolished a 5′ splice site leading to skipping of exon 23. Mutation c.741G>T represents the first OCRL exonic variant outside the conserved splice site dinucleotides that results in alteration of pre-mRNA splicing. Our results highlight the importance of evaluating the effects of OCRL exonic mutations at the mRNA level.

  17. Functions for fission yeast splicing factors SpSlu7 and SpPrp18 in alternative splice-site choice and stress-specific regulated splicing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geetha Melangath

    Full Text Available Budding yeast spliceosomal factors ScSlu7 and ScPrp18 interact and mediate intron 3'ss choice during second step pre-mRNA splicing. The fission yeast genome with abundant multi-intronic transcripts, degenerate splice signals and SR proteins is an apt unicellular fungal model to deduce roles for core spliceosomal factors in alternative splice-site choice, intron retention and to study the cellular implications of regulated splicing. From our custom microarray data we deduce a stringent reproducible subset of S. pombe alternative events. We examined the role of factors SpSlu7 or SpPrp18 for these splice events and investigated the relationship to growth phase and stress. Wild-type log and stationary phase cells showed ats1+ exon 3 skipped and intron 3 retained transcripts. Interestingly the non-consensus 5'ss in ats1+ intron 3 caused SpSlu7 and SpPrp18 dependent intron retention. We validated the use of an alternative 5'ss in dtd1+ intron 1 and of an upstream alternative 3'ss in DUF3074 intron 1. The dtd1+ intron 1 non-canonical 5'ss yielded an alternative mRNA whose levels increased in stationary phase. Utilization of dtd1+ intron 1 sub-optimal 5' ss required functional SpPrp18 and SpSlu7 while compromise in SpSlu7 function alone hampered the selection of the DUF3074 intron 1 non canonical 3'ss. We analysed the relative abundance of these splice isoforms during mild thermal, oxidative and heavy metal stress and found stress-specific splice patterns for ats1+ and DUF3074 intron 1 some of which were SpSlu7 and SpPrp18 dependent. By studying ats1+ splice isoforms during compromised transcription elongation rates in wild-type, spslu7-2 and spprp18-5 mutant cells we found dynamic and intron context-specific effects in splice-site choice. Our work thus shows the combinatorial effects of splice site strength, core splicing factor functions and transcription elongation kinetics to dictate alternative splice patterns which in turn serve as an additional

  18. An in vivo genetic screen for genes involved in spliced leader trans-splicing indicates a crucial role for continuous de novo spliced leader RNP assembly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philippe, Lucas; Pandarakalam, George C; Fasimoye, Rotimi; Harrison, Neale; Connolly, Bernadette; Pettitt, Jonathan; Müller, Berndt

    2017-08-21

    Spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing is a critical element of gene expression in a number of eukaryotic groups. This process is arguably best understood in nematodes, where biochemical and molecular studies in Caenorhabditis elegans and Ascaris suum have identified key steps and factors involved. Despite this, the precise details of SL trans-splicing have yet to be elucidated. In part, this is because the systematic identification of the molecules involved has not previously been possible due to the lack of a specific phenotype associated with defects in this process. We present here a novel GFP-based reporter assay that can monitor SL1 trans-splicing in living C. elegans. Using this assay, we have identified mutants in sna-1 that are defective in SL trans-splicing, and demonstrate that reducing function of SNA-1, SNA-2 and SUT-1, proteins that associate with SL1 RNA and related SmY RNAs, impairs SL trans-splicing. We further demonstrate that the Sm proteins and pICln, SMN and Gemin5, which are involved in small nuclear ribonucleoprotein assembly, have an important role in SL trans-splicing. Taken together these results provide the first in vivo evidence for proteins involved in SL trans-splicing, and indicate that continuous replacement of SL ribonucleoproteins consumed during trans-splicing reactions is essential for effective trans-splicing. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  19. Thue-Morse quantum Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doria, M.M.; Nori, F.; Satija, I.I.

    1989-01-01

    We study the one-dimensional quantum Ising model in a transverse magnetic field where the exchange couplings are ordered according to the Thue-Morse (TM) sequence. At zero temperature, this model is equivalent to a two-dimensional classical Ising model in a magnetic field with TM aperiodicity along one direction. We compute the order parameter (magnetization) of the chain and the scaling behavior of the energy spectrum when the system undergoes a phase transition. Analogous to the quasiperiodic (QP) quantum Ising chain, the onset of long-range order is signaled by a nonanaliticity in the exponent δ which describes the scaling of the total bandwidth with the size of the chain. The critical spin-coupling can be computed analytically and it is found to be lower than the QP case. Furthermore, the energy bands are found to be narrower than the corresponding QP chain. The former and latter results are consistent with the fact that the present structure has a degree of ordering intermediate between QP and random

  20. On Ising - Onsager problem in external magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kochmanski, M.S.

    1997-01-01

    In this paper a new approach to solving the Ising - Onsager problem in external magnetic field is investigated. The expression for free energy on one Ising spin in external field both for the two dimensional and three dimensional Ising model with interaction of the nearest neighbors are derived. The representations of free energy being expressed by multidimensional integrals of Gauss type with the appropriate dimensionality are shown. Possibility of calculating the integrals and the critical indices on the base of the derived representations for free energy is investigated

  1. The role of polypyrimidine tract-binding proteins and other hnRNP proteins in plant splicing regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas eWachter

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Alternative precursor mRNA splicing is a widespread phenomenon in multicellular eukaryotes and represents a major means for functional expansion of the transcriptome. While several recent studies have revealed an important link between splicing regulation and fundamental biological processes in plants, many important aspects, such as the underlying splicing regulatory mechanisms, are so far not well understood. Splicing decisions are in general based on a splicing code that is determined by the dynamic interplay of splicing-controlling factors and cis-regulatory elements. Several members of the group of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP proteins are well-known regulators of splicing in animals and the comparatively few reports on some of their plant homologues revealed similar functions. This also applies to polypyrimidine tract-binding proteins (PTBs, a thoroughly investigated class of hnRNP proteins with splicing regulatory functions in both animals and plants. Further examples from plants are auto- and cross-regulatory splicing circuits of glycine-rich RNA-binding proteins (GRPs and splicing enhancement by oligouridylatebinding proteins. Besides their role in defining splice site choice, hnRNP proteins are also involved in multiple other steps of nucleic acid metabolism, highlighting the functional versatility of this group of proteins in higher eukaryotes.

  2. High-throughput proteomics detection of novel splice isoforms in human platelets.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Power, Karen A

    2009-01-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) is an intrinsic regulatory mechanism of all metazoans. Recent findings suggest that 100% of multiexonic human genes give rise to splice isoforms. AS can be specific to tissue type, environment or developmentally regulated. Splice variants have also been implicated in various diseases including cancer. Detection of these variants will enhance our understanding of the complexity of the human genome and provide disease-specific and prognostic biomarkers. We adopted a proteomics approach to identify exon skip events - the most common form of AS. We constructed a database harboring the peptide sequences derived from all hypothetical exon skip junctions in the human genome. Searching tandem mass spectrometry (MS\\/MS) data against the database allows the detection of exon skip events, directly at the protein level. Here we describe the application of this approach to human platelets, including the mRNA-based verification of novel splice isoforms of ITGA2, NPEPPS and FH. This methodology is applicable to all new or existing MS\\/MS datasets.

  3. Hyperscaling breakdown and Ising spin glasses: The Binder cumulant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundow, P. H.; Campbell, I. A.

    2018-02-01

    Among the Renormalization Group Theory scaling rules relating critical exponents, there are hyperscaling rules involving the dimension of the system. It is well known that in Ising models hyperscaling breaks down above the upper critical dimension. It was shown by Schwartz (1991) that the standard Josephson hyperscaling rule can also break down in Ising systems with quenched random interactions. A related Renormalization Group Theory hyperscaling rule links the critical exponents for the normalized Binder cumulant and the correlation length in the thermodynamic limit. An appropriate scaling approach for analyzing measurements from criticality to infinite temperature is first outlined. Numerical data on the scaling of the normalized correlation length and the normalized Binder cumulant are shown for the canonical Ising ferromagnet model in dimension three where hyperscaling holds, for the Ising ferromagnet in dimension five (so above the upper critical dimension) where hyperscaling breaks down, and then for Ising spin glass models in dimension three where the quenched interactions are random. For the Ising spin glasses there is a breakdown of the normalized Binder cumulant hyperscaling relation in the thermodynamic limit regime, with a return to size independent Binder cumulant values in the finite-size scaling regime around the critical region.

  4. The Ising model coupled to 2d orders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaser, Lisa

    2018-04-01

    In this article we make first steps in coupling matter to causal set theory in the path integral. We explore the case of the Ising model coupled to the 2d discrete Einstein Hilbert action, restricted to the 2d orders. We probe the phase diagram in terms of the Wick rotation parameter β and the Ising coupling j and find that the matter and the causal sets together give rise to an interesting phase structure. The couplings give rise to five different phases. The causal sets take on random or crystalline characteristics as described in Surya (2012 Class. Quantum Grav. 29 132001) and the Ising model can be correlated or uncorrelated on the random orders and correlated, uncorrelated or anti-correlated on the crystalline orders. We find that at least one new phase transition arises, in which the Ising spins push the causal set into the crystalline phase.

  5. Position dependence of the rous sarcoma virus negative regulator of splicing element reflects proximity to a 5' splice site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yuedi; McNally, Mark T.

    2003-01-01

    Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) requires incomplete splicing of its viral transcripts to maintain efficient replication. A splicing inhibitor element, the negative regulator of splicing (NRS), is located near the 5' end of the RNA but the significance of this positioning is not known. In a heterologous intron the NRS functions optimally when positioned close to the authentic 5' splice site. This observation led us to investigate the basis of the position dependence. Four explanations were put forth and stressed the role of three major elements involved in splicing, the 3' splice site, the 5' splice site, and the 5' end cap structure. NRS function was unrelated to its position relative to the 3' splice site or the cap structure and appeared to depend on its position relative to the authentic 5' splice site. We conclude that position dependence may reflect distance constraints necessary for competition of the NRS with the authentic 5' splice site for pairing with the 3' splice sites

  6. The Human Splicing Factor ASF/SF2 can Specifically Recognize Pre-mRNA 5' Splice Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Ping; Manley, James L.

    1994-04-01

    ASF/SF2 is a human protein previously shown to function in in vitro pre-mRNA splicing as an essential factor necessary for all splices and also as an alternative splicing factor, capable of switching selection of 5' splice sites. To begin to study the protein's mechanism of action, we have investigated the RNA binding properties of purified recombinant ASF/SF2. Using UV crosslinking and gel shift assays, we demonstrate that the RNA binding region of ASF/SF2 can interact with RNA in a sequence-specific manner, recognizing the 5' splice site in each of two different pre-mRNAs. Point mutations in the 5' splice site consensus can reduce binding by as much as a factor of 100, with the largest effects observed in competition assays. These findings support a model in which ASF/SF2 aids in the recognition of pre-mRNA 5' splice sites.

  7. Pengembangan Indentation Size Effect (ISE Dalam Penentuan Koefisien Pengerasan Regang Baja

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Nyoman Budiarsa

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstrak: Hubungan antara sifat material konstitutif dengan indentasi kekerasan (Hardness Indentation termasuk ISE (Indentation Size Effect telah dikembangkan dan dievaluasi dengan indentasi Vickers, hal Ini akan menjadi alat yang berguna dalam mengevaluasi kelayakan penggunaan nilai kekerasan dalam memprediksi parameter bahan konstitutif dengan mengacu pada syarat akurasi pada rentang semua potensi bahan. ISE dapat konsisten diukur dan dapat berpotensi dihubungkan dengan H/E rasio. Skala ISE dari sampel yang diuji menunjukkan pengulangan yang konsisten dan berhubungan kuat dengan sifat material secara signifikan. Hal Ini berpotensi memberikan set data eksperimen yang mencerminkan sifat material yang terkait dengan ketegangan gradien dan kerapatan dislokasi selama proses indentasi Konsep untuk menggunakan data ukuran indentasi Vickers telah dikembangkan untuk meningkatkan akurasi sifat invers pemodelan berdasarkan kekerasan menggunakan baja sebagai sistem bahan. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada ISE signifikan dalam tes kekerasan Vickers dimana skala dan reliabilitas ISE dianalisis dengan fitting data mengikuti Power law and proportional resistance model Sebuah konsep baru menggunakan data ISE untuk memperkirakan Koefisien Pengerasan Regang (n nilai-nilai dari baja telah dievaluasi dan menunjukkan hasil yang baik untuk mempersempit kisaran sifat material yang diprediksi berdasarkan nilai-nilai kekerasan. . Kata kunci: ISE, H/E rasio, Koefisien Pengerasan Regang (n Abstract: The relationship between the constitutive material properties with Hardness indentation including ISE (indentation Size Effect has been developed and evaluated by Vickers indentation. This provided a useful tool in evaluating the feasibility of using of hardness value in predicting the constitutive material parameters with reference to the terms of accuracy in the all the potential materials range. ISE can be consistently measured and may potentially be associated with H

  8. The Role of Alternative Splicing in the Control of Immune Homeostasis and Cellular Differentiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yabas, Mehmet; Elliott, Hannah; Hoyne, Gerard F

    2015-12-22

    Alternative splicing of pre-mRNA helps to enhance the genetic diversity within mammalian cells by increasing the number of protein isoforms that can be generated from one gene product. This provides a great deal of flexibility to the host cell to alter protein function, but when dysregulation in splicing occurs this can have important impact on health and disease. Alternative splicing is widely used in the mammalian immune system to control the development and function of antigen specific lymphocytes. In this review we will examine the splicing of pre-mRNAs yielding key proteins in the immune system that regulate apoptosis, lymphocyte differentiation, activation and homeostasis, and discuss how defects in splicing can contribute to diseases. We will describe how disruption to trans-acting factors, such as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), can impact on cell survival and differentiation in the immune system.

  9. Optical Fiber Fusion Splicing

    CERN Document Server

    Yablon, Andrew D

    2005-01-01

    This book is an up-to-date treatment of optical fiber fusion splicing incorporating all the recent innovations in the field. It provides a toolbox of general strategies and specific techniques that the reader can apply when optimizing fusion splices between novel fibers. It specifically addresses considerations important for fusion splicing of contemporary specialty fibers including dispersion compensating fiber, erbium-doped gain fiber, polarization maintaining fiber, and microstructured fiber. Finally, it discusses the future of optical fiber fusion splicing including silica and non-silica based optical fibers as well as the trend toward increasing automation. Whilst serving as a self-contained reference work, abundant citations from the technical literature will enable readers to readily locate primary sources.

  10. Magnetoanisotropic spin-triplet Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-Ising superconductor junctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Peng; Zhou, Yan-Feng; Yang, Ning-Xuan; Sun, Qing-Feng

    2018-04-01

    We theoretically study the electronic transport through a ferromagnet-Ising superconductor junction. A tight-binding Hamiltonian describing the Ising superconductor is presented. Then by combining the nonequilibrium Green's function method, the expressions of Andreev reflection coefficient and conductance are obtained. A strong magnetoanisotropic spin-triplet Andreev reflection is shown, and the magnetoanisotropic period is π instead of 2 π as in the conventional magnetoanisotropic system. We demonstrate a significant increase of the spin-triplet Andreev reflection for the single-band Ising superconductor. Furthermore, the dependence of the Andreev reflection on the incident energy and incident angle are also investigated. A complete Andreev reflection can occur when the incident energy is equal to the superconducting gap, regardless of the Fermi energy (spin polarization) of the ferromagnet. For the suitable oblique incidence, the spin-triplet Andreev reflection can be strongly enhanced. In addition, the conductance spectroscopies of both zero bias and finite bias are studied, and the influence of gate voltage, exchange energy, and spin-orbit coupling on the conductance spectroscopy are discussed in detail. The conductance exhibits a strong magnetoanisotropy with period π as the Andreev reflection coefficient. When the magnetization direction is parallel to the junction plane, a large conductance peak always emerges at the superconducting gap. This work offers a comprehensive and systematic study of the spin-triplet Andreev reflection and has an underlying application of π -periodic spin valve in spintronics.

  11. The neurogenetics of alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vuong, Celine K; Black, Douglas L; Zheng, Sika

    2016-05-01

    Alternative precursor-mRNA splicing is a key mechanism for regulating gene expression in mammals and is controlled by specialized RNA-binding proteins. The misregulation of splicing is implicated in multiple neurological disorders. We describe recent mouse genetic studies of alternative splicing that reveal its critical role in both neuronal development and the function of mature neurons. We discuss the challenges in understanding the extensive genetic programmes controlled by proteins that regulate splicing, both during development and in the adult brain.

  12. Functional and evolutionary analysis of alternatively spliced genes is consistent with an early eukaryotic origin of alternative splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Penny David

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Alternative splicing has been reported in various eukaryotic groups including plants, apicomplexans, diatoms, amoebae, animals and fungi. However, whether widespread alternative splicing has evolved independently in the different eukaryotic groups or was inherited from their last common ancestor, and may therefore predate multicellularity, is still unknown. To better understand the origin and evolution of alternative splicing and its usage in diverse organisms, we studied alternative splicing in 12 eukaryotic species, comparing rates of alternative splicing across genes of different functional classes, cellular locations, intron/exon structures and evolutionary origins. Results For each species, we find that genes from most functional categories are alternatively spliced. Ancient genes (shared between animals, fungi and plants show high levels of alternative splicing. Genes with products expressed in the nucleus or plasma membrane are generally more alternatively spliced while those expressed in extracellular location show less alternative splicing. We find a clear correspondence between incidence of alternative splicing and intron number per gene both within and between genomes. In general, we find several similarities in patterns of alternative splicing across these diverse eukaryotes. Conclusion Along with previous studies indicating intron-rich genes with weak intron boundary consensus and complex spliceosomes in ancestral organisms, our results suggest that at least a simple form of alternative splicing may already have been present in the unicellular ancestor of plants, fungi and animals. A role for alternative splicing in the evolution of multicellularity then would largely have arisen by co-opting the preexisting process.

  13. Quantum Ising model on hierarchical structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin Zhifang; Tao Ruibao.

    1989-11-01

    A quantum Ising chain with both the exchange couplings and the transverse fields arranged in a hierarchical way is considered. Exact analytical results for the critical line and energy gap are obtained. It is shown that when R 1 not= R 2 , where R 1 and R 2 are the hierarchical parameters for the exchange couplings and the transverse fields, respectively, the system undergoes a phase transition in a different universality class from the pure quantum Ising chain with R 1 =R 2 =1. On the other hand, when R 1 =R 2 =R, there exists a critical value R c dependent on the furcating number of the hierarchy. In case of R > R c , the system is shown to exhibit as Ising-like critical point with the critical behaviour the same as in the pure case, while for R c the system belongs to another universality class. (author). 19 refs, 2 figs

  14. The fitness cost of mis-splicing is the main determinant of alternative splicing patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saudemont, Baptiste; Popa, Alexandra; Parmley, Joanna L; Rocher, Vincent; Blugeon, Corinne; Necsulea, Anamaria; Meyer, Eric; Duret, Laurent

    2017-10-30

    Most eukaryotic genes are subject to alternative splicing (AS), which may contribute to the production of protein variants or to the regulation of gene expression via nonsense-mediated messenger RNA (mRNA) decay (NMD). However, a fraction of splice variants might correspond to spurious transcripts and the question of the relative proportion of splicing errors to functional splice variants remains highly debated. We propose a test to quantify the fraction of AS events corresponding to errors. This test is based on the fact that the fitness cost of splicing errors increases with the number of introns in a gene and with expression level. We analyzed the transcriptome of the intron-rich eukaryote Paramecium tetraurelia. We show that in both normal and in NMD-deficient cells, AS rates strongly decrease with increasing expression level and with increasing number of introns. This relationship is observed for AS events that are detectable by NMD as well as for those that are not, which invalidates the hypothesis of a link with the regulation of gene expression. Our results show that in genes with a median expression level, 92-98% of observed splice variants correspond to errors. We observed the same patterns in human transcriptomes and we further show that AS rates correlate with the fitness cost of splicing errors. These observations indicate that genes under weaker selective pressure accumulate more maladaptive substitutions and are more prone to splicing errors. Thus, to a large extent, patterns of gene expression variants simply reflect the balance between selection, mutation, and drift.

  15. The susceptibilities in the spin-S Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ainane, A.; Saber, M.

    1995-08-01

    The susceptibilities of the spin-S Ising model are evaluated using the effective field theory introduced by Tucker et al. for studying general spin-S Ising model. The susceptibilities are studied for all spin values from S = 1/2 to S = 5/2. (author). 12 refs, 4 figs

  16. SpliceSeq: a resource for analysis and visualization of RNA-Seq data on alternative splicing and its functional impacts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Michael C; Cleland, James; Kim, RyangGuk; Wong, Wing Chung; Weinstein, John N

    2012-09-15

    SpliceSeq is a resource for RNA-Seq data that provides a clear view of alternative splicing and identifies potential functional changes that result from splice variation. It displays intuitive visualizations and prioritized lists of results that highlight splicing events and their biological consequences. SpliceSeq unambiguously aligns reads to gene splice graphs, facilitating accurate analysis of large, complex transcript variants that cannot be adequately represented in other formats. SpliceSeq is freely available at http://bioinformatics.mdanderson.org/main/SpliceSeq:Overview. The application is a Java program that can be launched via a browser or installed locally. Local installation requires MySQL and Bowtie. mryan@insilico.us.com Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  17. Alternative RNA splicing and cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Sali; Cheng, Chonghui

    2015-01-01

    Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) is a fundamental mechanism by which a gene can give rise to multiple distinct mRNA transcripts, yielding protein isoforms with different, even opposing, functions. With the recognition that alternative splicing occurs in nearly all human genes, its relationship with cancer-associated pathways has emerged as a rapidly growing field. In this review, we summarize recent findings that have implicated the critical role of alternative splicing in cancer and discuss current understandings of the mechanisms underlying dysregulated alternative splicing in cancer cells. PMID:23765697

  18. Control of HIV-1 env RNA splicing and transport: investigating the role of hnRNP A1 in exon splicing silencer (ESS3a) function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asai, Kengo; Platt, Craig; Cochrane, Alan

    2003-01-01

    The control of HIV-1 viral RNA splicing and transport plays an important role in the successful replication of the virus. Previous studies have identified both an exon splicing enhancer (ESE) and a bipartite exon splicing silencer (ESS3a and ESS3b) within the terminal exon of HIV-1 that are involved in modulating both splicing and Rev-mediated export of viral RNA. To define the mechanism of ESS3a function, experiments were carried out to better define the cis and trans components required for ESS3a activity. Mutations throughout the 30-nt element resulted in partial loss of ESS function. Combining mutations was found to have an additive effect, suggesting the presence of multiple binding sites. Analysis of interacting factors identified hnRNP A1 as one component of the complex that modulates ESS3a activity. However, subsequent binding analyses determined that hnRNP A1 interacts with only one portion of ESS3a, suggesting the involvement of another host factor. Parallel analysis of the effect of the mutations on Rev-mediated export determined that there is not a direct correlation between the effect of the mutations on splicing and RNA transport. Consistent with this hypothesis, replacement of ESS3a with consensus hnRNP A1 binding sites was found to be insufficient to block Rev-mediated RNA export

  19. Mutual interdependence of splicing and transcription elongation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brzyżek, Grzegorz; Świeżewski, Szymon

    2015-01-01

    Transcription and splicing are intrinsically linked, as splicing needs a pre-mRNA substrate to commence. The more nuanced view is that the rate of transcription contributes to splicing regulation. On the other hand there is accumulating evidence that splicing has an active role in controlling transcription elongation by DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II (RNAP II). We briefly review those mechanisms and propose a unifying model where splicing controls transcription elongation to provide an optimal timing for successive rounds of splicing.

  20. cis-Acting and trans-acting modulation of equine infectious anemia virus alternative RNA splicing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liao, Huey-Jane; Baker, Carl C.; Princler, Gerald L.; Derse, David

    2004-01-01

    Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), a lentivirus distantly related to HIV-1, encodes regulatory proteins, EIAV Tat (ETat) and Rev (ERev), from a four-exon mRNA. Exon 3 of the tat/rev mRNA contains a 30-nucleotide purine-rich element (PRE) which binds both ERev and SF2/ASF, a member of the SR family of RNA splicing factors. To better understand the role of this element in the regulation of EIAV pre-mRNA splicing, we quantified the effects of mutation or deletion of the PRE on exon 3 splicing in vitro and on alternative splicing in vivo. We also determined the branch point elements upstream of exons 3 and 4. In vitro splicing of exon 3 to exon 4 was not affected by mutation of the PRE, and addition of purified SR proteins enhanced splicing independently of the PRE. In vitro splicing of exon 2 to exon 3 was dependent on the PRE; under conditions of excess SR proteins, either the PRE or the 5' splice site of exon 3 was sufficient to activate splicing. We applied isoform-specific primers in real-time RT-PCR reactions to quantitatively analyze alternative splicing in cells transfected with rev-minus EIAV provirus constructs. In the context of provirus with wild-type exon 3, greater than 80% of the viral mRNAs were multiply spliced, and of these, less than 1% excluded exon 3. Deletion of the PRE resulted in a decrease in the relative amount of multiply spliced mRNA to about 40% of the total and approximately 39% of the viral mRNA excluded exon 3. Ectopic expression of ERev caused a decrease in the relative amount of multiply spliced mRNA to approximately 50% of the total and increased mRNAs that excluded exon 3 to about 4%. Over-expression of SF2/ASF in cells transfected with wild-type provirus constructs inhibited splicing but did not significantly alter exon 3 skipping

  1. Modelling reveals kinetic advantages of co-transcriptional splicing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stuart Aitken

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Messenger RNA splicing is an essential and complex process for the removal of intron sequences. Whereas the composition of the splicing machinery is mostly known, the kinetics of splicing, the catalytic activity of splicing factors and the interdependency of transcription, splicing and mRNA 3' end formation are less well understood. We propose a stochastic model of splicing kinetics that explains data obtained from high-resolution kinetic analyses of transcription, splicing and 3' end formation during induction of an intron-containing reporter gene in budding yeast. Modelling reveals co-transcriptional splicing to be the most probable and most efficient splicing pathway for the reporter transcripts, due in part to a positive feedback mechanism for co-transcriptional second step splicing. Model comparison is used to assess the alternative representations of reactions. Modelling also indicates the functional coupling of transcription and splicing, because both the rate of initiation of transcription and the probability that step one of splicing occurs co-transcriptionally are reduced, when the second step of splicing is abolished in a mutant reporter.

  2. Modelling reveals kinetic advantages of co-transcriptional splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aitken, Stuart; Alexander, Ross D; Beggs, Jean D

    2011-10-01

    Messenger RNA splicing is an essential and complex process for the removal of intron sequences. Whereas the composition of the splicing machinery is mostly known, the kinetics of splicing, the catalytic activity of splicing factors and the interdependency of transcription, splicing and mRNA 3' end formation are less well understood. We propose a stochastic model of splicing kinetics that explains data obtained from high-resolution kinetic analyses of transcription, splicing and 3' end formation during induction of an intron-containing reporter gene in budding yeast. Modelling reveals co-transcriptional splicing to be the most probable and most efficient splicing pathway for the reporter transcripts, due in part to a positive feedback mechanism for co-transcriptional second step splicing. Model comparison is used to assess the alternative representations of reactions. Modelling also indicates the functional coupling of transcription and splicing, because both the rate of initiation of transcription and the probability that step one of splicing occurs co-transcriptionally are reduced, when the second step of splicing is abolished in a mutant reporter.

  3. Aberrant alternative splicing is another hallmark of cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladomery, Michael

    2013-01-01

    The vast majority of human genes are alternatively spliced. Not surprisingly, aberrant alternative splicing is increasingly linked to cancer. Splice isoforms often encode proteins that have distinct and even antagonistic properties. The abnormal expression of splice factors and splice factor kinases in cancer changes the alternative splicing of critically important pre-mRNAs. Aberrant alternative splicing should be added to the growing list of cancer hallmarks.

  4. Aberrant Alternative Splicing Is Another Hallmark of Cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Ladomery, Michael

    2013-01-01

    The vast majority of human genes are alternatively spliced. Not surprisingly, aberrant alternative splicing is increasingly linked to cancer. Splice isoforms often encode proteins that have distinct and even antagonistic properties. The abnormal expression of splice factors and splice factor kinases in cancer changes the alternative splicing of critically important pre-mRNAs. Aberrant alternative splicing should be added to the growing list of cancer hallmarks.

  5. Quantum simulation of transverse Ising models with Rydberg atoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schauss, Peter

    2018-04-01

    Quantum Ising models are canonical models for the study of quantum phase transitions (Sachdev 1999 Quantum Phase Transitions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)) and are the underlying concept for many analogue quantum computing and quantum annealing ideas (Tanaka et al Quantum Spin Glasses, Annealing and Computation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)). Here we focus on the implementation of finite-range interacting Ising spin models, which are barely tractable numerically. Recent experiments with cold atoms have reached the interaction-dominated regime in quantum Ising magnets via optical coupling of trapped neutral atoms to Rydberg states. This approach allows for the tunability of all relevant terms in an Ising spin Hamiltonian with 1/{r}6 interactions in transverse and longitudinal fields. This review summarizes the recent progress of these implementations in Rydberg lattices with site-resolved detection. Strong correlations in quantum Ising models have been observed in several experiments, starting from a single excitation in the superatom regime up to the point of crystallization. The rapid progress in this field makes spin systems based on Rydberg atoms a promising platform for quantum simulation because of the unmatched flexibility and strength of interactions combined with high control and good isolation from the environment.

  6. Integrated Support Environment (ISE) Laboratory

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — Purpose:The Integrated Support Environment (ISE) Laboratory serves the fleet, in-service engineers, logisticians and program management offices by automatically and...

  7. Fine-scale variation and genetic determinants of alternative splicing across individuals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmin Coulombe-Huntington

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently, thanks to the increasing throughput of new technologies, we have begun to explore the full extent of alternative pre-mRNA splicing (AS in the human transcriptome. This is unveiling a vast layer of complexity in isoform-level expression differences between individuals. We used previously published splicing sensitive microarray data from lymphoblastoid cell lines to conduct an in-depth analysis on splicing efficiency of known and predicted exons. By combining publicly available AS annotation with a novel algorithm designed to search for AS, we show that many real AS events can be detected within the usually unexploited, speculative majority of the array and at significance levels much below standard multiple-testing thresholds, demonstrating that the extent of cis-regulated differential splicing between individuals is potentially far greater than previously reported. Specifically, many genes show subtle but significant genetically controlled differences in splice-site usage. PCR validation shows that 42 out of 58 (72% candidate gene regions undergo detectable AS, amounting to the largest scale validation of isoform eQTLs to date. Targeted sequencing revealed a likely causative SNP in most validated cases. In all 17 incidences where a SNP affected a splice-site region, in silico splice-site strength modeling correctly predicted the direction of the micro-array and PCR results. In 13 other cases, we identified likely causative SNPs disrupting predicted splicing enhancers. Using Fst and REHH analysis, we uncovered significant evidence that 2 putative causative SNPs have undergone recent positive selection. We verified the effect of five SNPs using in vivo minigene assays. This study shows that splicing differences between individuals, including quantitative differences in isoform ratios, are frequent in human populations and that causative SNPs can be identified using in silico predictions. Several cases affected disease-relevant genes and

  8. Alternative Splicing in Neurogenesis and Brain Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Chun-Hao; D, Dhananjaya; Tarn, Woan-Yuh

    2018-01-01

    Alternative splicing of precursor mRNA is an important mechanism that increases transcriptomic and proteomic diversity and also post-transcriptionally regulates mRNA levels. Alternative splicing occurs at high frequency in brain tissues and contributes to every step of nervous system development, including cell-fate decisions, neuronal migration, axon guidance, and synaptogenesis. Genetic manipulation and RNA sequencing have provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of alternative splicing in stem cell self-renewal and neuronal fate specification. Timely expression and perhaps post-translational modification of neuron-specific splicing regulators play important roles in neuronal development. Alternative splicing of many key transcription regulators or epigenetic factors reprograms the transcriptome and hence contributes to stem cell fate determination. During neuronal differentiation, alternative splicing also modulates signaling activity, centriolar dynamics, and metabolic pathways. Moreover, alternative splicing impacts cortical lamination and neuronal development and function. In this review, we focus on recent progress toward understanding the contributions of alternative splicing to neurogenesis and brain development, which has shed light on how splicing defects may cause brain disorders and diseases.

  9. Alternative Splicing in Neurogenesis and Brain Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-Hao Su

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Alternative splicing of precursor mRNA is an important mechanism that increases transcriptomic and proteomic diversity and also post-transcriptionally regulates mRNA levels. Alternative splicing occurs at high frequency in brain tissues and contributes to every step of nervous system development, including cell-fate decisions, neuronal migration, axon guidance, and synaptogenesis. Genetic manipulation and RNA sequencing have provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of alternative splicing in stem cell self-renewal and neuronal fate specification. Timely expression and perhaps post-translational modification of neuron-specific splicing regulators play important roles in neuronal development. Alternative splicing of many key transcription regulators or epigenetic factors reprograms the transcriptome and hence contributes to stem cell fate determination. During neuronal differentiation, alternative splicing also modulates signaling activity, centriolar dynamics, and metabolic pathways. Moreover, alternative splicing impacts cortical lamination and neuronal development and function. In this review, we focus on recent progress toward understanding the contributions of alternative splicing to neurogenesis and brain development, which has shed light on how splicing defects may cause brain disorders and diseases.

  10. Network of time-multiplexed optical parametric oscillators as a coherent Ising machine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marandi, Alireza; Wang, Zhe; Takata, Kenta; Byer, Robert L.; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

    2014-12-01

    Finding the ground states of the Ising Hamiltonian maps to various combinatorial optimization problems in biology, medicine, wireless communications, artificial intelligence and social network. So far, no efficient classical and quantum algorithm is known for these problems and intensive research is focused on creating physical systems—Ising machines—capable of finding the absolute or approximate ground states of the Ising Hamiltonian. Here, we report an Ising machine using a network of degenerate optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). Spins are represented with above-threshold binary phases of the OPOs and the Ising couplings are realized by mutual injections. The network is implemented in a single OPO ring cavity with multiple trains of femtosecond pulses and configurable mutual couplings, and operates at room temperature. We programmed a small non-deterministic polynomial time-hard problem on a 4-OPO Ising machine and in 1,000 runs no computational error was detected.

  11. Regulatory mechanisms for 3'-end alternative splicing and polyadenylation of the Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, GFAP, transcript

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blechingberg, Jenny; Lykke-Andersen, Søren; Jensen, Torben Heick

    2007-01-01

    (PTB) protein enhanced both exon 7a polyadenylation and exon 7a splicing. Finally, increasing transcription by the VP16 trans-activator did not affect the frequency of use of the exon 7a polyadenylation signal whereas the exon 7a splicing frequency was decreased. Our data suggest a model...

  12. An extended chain Ising model and its Glauber dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao Xing-Yu; Fan Xiao-Hui; Huang Yi-Neng; Huang Xin-Ru

    2012-01-01

    It was first proposed that an extended chain Ising (ECI) model contains the Ising chain model, single spin double-well potentials and a pure phonon heat bath of a specific energy exchange with the spins. The extension method is easy to apply to high dimensional cases. Then the single spin-flip probability (rate) of the ECI model is deduced based on the Boltzmann principle and general statistical principles of independent events and the model is simplified to an extended chain Glauber—Ising (ECGI) model. Moreover, the relaxation dynamics of the ECGI model were simulated by the Monte Carlo method and a comparison with the predictions of the special chain Glauber—Ising (SCGI) model was presented. It was found that the results of the two models are consistent with each other when the Ising chain length is large enough and temperature is relative low, which is the most valuable case of the model applications. These show that the ECI model will provide a firm physical base for the widely used single spin-flip rate proposed by Glauber and a possible route to obtain the single spin-flip rate of other form and even the multi-spin-flip rate. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)

  13. One-dimensional Ising model with multispin interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turban, Loïc

    2016-09-01

    We study the spin-1/2 Ising chain with multispin interactions K involving the product of m successive spins, for general values of m. Using a change of spin variables the zero-field partition function of a finite chain is obtained for free and periodic boundary conditions and we calculate the two-spin correlation function. When placed in an external field H the system is shown to be self-dual. Using another change of spin variables the one-dimensional Ising model with multispin interactions in a field is mapped onto a zero-field rectangular Ising model with first-neighbour interactions K and H. The 2D system, with size m × N/m, has the topology of a cylinder with helical BC. In the thermodynamic limit N/m\\to ∞ , m\\to ∞ , a 2D critical singularity develops on the self-duality line, \\sinh 2K\\sinh 2H=1.

  14. Retinitis Pigmentosa Mutations of SNRNP200 Enhance Cryptic Splice-Site Recognition

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Cvačková, Zuzana; Matějů, Daniel; Staněk, David

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 35, č. 3 (2014), s. 308-317 ISSN 1059-7794 R&D Projects: GA ČR GPP301/12/P425; GA ČR GAP302/11/1910; GA AV ČR KAN200520801 Institutional support: RVO:68378050 Keywords : Retinitis pigmentosa * pre-mRNA splicing * fidelity Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 5.144, year: 2014

  15. Genetics of alternative splicing evolution during sunflower domestication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Chris C R; Tittes, Silas; Mendieta, J Paul; Collier-Zans, Erin; Rowe, Heather C; Rieseberg, Loren H; Kane, Nolan C

    2018-06-11

    Alternative splicing enables organisms to produce the diversity of proteins necessary for multicellular life by using relatively few protein-coding genes. Although differences in splicing have been identified among divergent taxa, the shorter-term evolution of splicing is understudied. The origins of novel splice forms, and the contributions of alternative splicing to major evolutionary transitions, are largely unknown. This study used transcriptomes of wild and domesticated sunflowers to examine splice differentiation and regulation during domestication. We identified substantial splicing divergence between wild and domesticated sunflowers, mainly in the form of intron retention. Transcripts with divergent splicing were enriched for seed-development functions, suggesting that artificial selection impacted splicing patterns. Mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with 144 differential splicing cases revealed primarily trans -acting variation affecting splicing patterns. A large proportion of identified QTLs contain known spliceosome proteins and are associated with splicing variation in multiple genes. Examining a broader set of wild and domesticated sunflower genotypes revealed that most differential splicing patterns in domesticated sunflowers likely arose from standing variation in wild Helianthus annuus and gained frequency during the domestication process. However, several domesticate-associated splicing patterns appear to be introgressed from other Helianthus species. These results suggest that sunflower domestication involved selection on pleiotropic regulatory alleles. More generally, our findings indicate that substantial differences in isoform abundances arose rapidly during a recent evolutionary transition and appear to contribute to adaptation and population divergence.

  16. Alternative Splicing of G9a Regulates Neuronal Differentiation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Fiszbein

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Chromatin modifications are critical for the establishment and maintenance of differentiation programs. G9a, the enzyme responsible for histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation in mammalian euchromatin, exists as two isoforms with differential inclusion of exon 10 (E10 through alternative splicing. We find that the G9a methyltransferase is required for differentiation of the mouse neuronal cell line N2a and that E10 inclusion increases during neuronal differentiation of cultured cells, as well as in the developing mouse brain. Although E10 inclusion greatly stimulates overall H3K9me2 levels, it does not affect G9a catalytic activity. Instead, E10 increases G9a nuclear localization. We show that the G9a E10+ isoform is necessary for neuron differentiation and regulates the alternative splicing pattern of its own pre-mRNA, enhancing E10 inclusion. Overall, our findings indicate that by regulating its own alternative splicing, G9a promotes neuron differentiation and creates a positive feedback loop that reinforces cellular commitment to differentiation.

  17. Frustrated lattices of Ising chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudasov, Yurii B; Korshunov, Aleksei S; Pavlov, V N; Maslov, Dmitrii A

    2012-01-01

    The magnetic structure and magnetization dynamics of systems of plane frustrated Ising chain lattices are reviewed for three groups of compounds: Ca 3 Co 2 O 6 , CsCoCl 3 , and Sr 5 Rh 4 O 12 . The available experimental data are analyzed and compared in detail. It is shown that a high-temperature magnetic phase on a triangle lattice is normally and universally a partially disordered antiferromagnetic (PDA) structure. The diversity of low-temperature phases results from weak interactions that lift the degeneracy of a 2D antiferromagnetic Ising model on the triangle lattice. Mean-field models, Monte Carlo simulation results on the static magnetization curve, and results on slow magnetization dynamics obtained with Glauber's theory are discussed in detail. (reviews of topical problems)

  18. Functional and evolutionary analysis of alternatively spliced genes is consistent with an early eukaryotic origin of alternative splicing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Irimia, Manuel; Rukov, Jakob Lewin; Penny, David

    2007-01-01

    , and may therefore predate multicellularity, is still unknown. To better understand the origin and evolution of alternative splicing and its usage in diverse organisms, we studied alternative splicing in 12 eukaryotic species, comparing rates of alternative splicing across genes of different functional......, we find several similarities in patterns of alternative splicing across these diverse eukaryotes. CONCLUSION: Along with previous studies indicating intron-rich genes with weak intron boundary consensus and complex spliceosomes in ancestral organisms, our results suggest that at least a simple form...... of alternative splicing may already have been present in the unicellular ancestor of plants, fungi and animals. A role for alternative splicing in the evolution of multicellularity then would largely have arisen by co-opting the preexisting process....

  19. Intravitreal Injection of Splice-switching Oligonucleotides to Manipulate Splicing in Retinal Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xavier Gérard

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Leber congenital amaurosis is a severe hereditary retinal dystrophy responsible for neonatal blindness. The most common disease-causing mutation (c.2991+1655A>G; 10–15% creates a strong splice donor site that leads to insertion of a cryptic exon encoding a premature stop codon. Recently, we reported that splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSO allow skipping of the mutant cryptic exon and the restoration of ciliation in fibroblasts of affected patients, supporting the feasibility of a SSO-mediated exon skipping strategy to correct the aberrant splicing. Here, we present data in the wild-type mouse, which demonstrate that intravitreal administration of 2’-OMePS-SSO allows selective alteration of Cep290 splicing in retinal cells, including photoreceptors as shown by successful alteration of Abca4 splicing using the same approach. We show that both SSOs and Cep290 skipped mRNA were detectable for at least 1 month and that intravitreal administration of oligonucleotides did not provoke any serious adverse event. These data suggest that intravitreal injections of SSO should be considered to bypass protein truncation resulting from the c.2991+1655A>G mutation as well as other truncating mutations in genes which like CEP290 or ABCA4 have a mRNA size that exceed cargo capacities of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA-approved adeno-associated virus (AAV-vectors, thus hampering gene augmentation therapy.

  20. Pre-mRNA splicing repression triggers abiotic stress signaling in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Ling, Yu

    2016-09-24

    Alternative splicing (AS) of precursor RNAs enhances transcriptome plasticity and proteome diversity in response to diverse growth and stress cues. Recent work has shown that AS is pervasive across plant species, with more than 60% of intron-containing genes producing different isoforms. Mammalian cell-based assays have discovered various inhibitors of AS. Here, we show that the macrolide pladienolide B (PB) inhibits constitutive splicing and AS in plants. Also, our RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data revealed that PB mimics abiotic stress signals including salt, drought and abscisic acid (ABA). PB activates the abiotic stress- and ABA-responsive reporters RD29A

  1. Pre-mRNA splicing repression triggers abiotic stress signaling in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Ling, Yu; Alshareef, Sahar; Butt, Haroon; Lozano-Juste, Jorge; Li, Lixin; Galal, Aya A.; Moustafa, Ahmed; Momin, Afaque Ahmad Imtiyaz; Tashkandi, Manal; Richardson, Dale N.; Fujii, Hiroaki; Arold, Stefan T.; Rodriguez, Pedro L.; Duque, Paula; Mahfouz, Magdy M.

    2016-01-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) of precursor RNAs enhances transcriptome plasticity and proteome diversity in response to diverse growth and stress cues. Recent work has shown that AS is pervasive across plant species, with more than 60% of intron-containing genes producing different isoforms. Mammalian cell-based assays have discovered various inhibitors of AS. Here, we show that the macrolide pladienolide B (PB) inhibits constitutive splicing and AS in plants. Also, our RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data revealed that PB mimics abiotic stress signals including salt, drought and abscisic acid (ABA). PB activates the abiotic stress- and ABA-responsive reporters RD29A

  2. New relation for critical exponents in the Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pishtshev, A.

    2007-01-01

    The Ising model in a transverse field is considered at T=0. From the analysis of the power low behaviors of the energy gap and the order parameter as functions of the field a new relation between the respective critical exponents, β>=1/(8s 2 ), is derived. By using the Suzuki equivalence from this inequality a new relation for critical exponents in the Ising model, β>=1/(8ν 2 ), is obtained. A number of numerical examples for different cases illustrates the generality and validity of the relation. By applying this relation the estimation ν=(1/4) 1/3 ∼0.62996 for the 3D-Ising model is proposed

  3. Quantum Ising chains with boundary fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campostrini, Massimo; Vicari, Ettore; Pelissetto, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    We present a detailed study of the finite one-dimensional quantum Ising chain in a transverse field in the presence of boundary magnetic fields coupled with the order-parameter spin operator. We consider two magnetic fields located at the boundaries of the chain that have the same strength and that are aligned in the same or in the opposite direction. We derive analytic expressions for the gap in all phases for large values of the chain length L, as a function of the boundary field strength. We also investigate the behaviour of the chain in the quantum ferromagnetic phase for oppositely aligned fields, focusing on the magnet-to-kink transition that occurs at a finite value of the magnetic field strength. At this transition we compute analytically the finite-size crossover functions for the gap, the magnetisation profile, the two-point correlation function, and the density of fermionic modes. As the magnet-to-kink transition is equivalent to the wetting transition in two-dimensional classical Ising models, our results provide new analytic predictions for the finite-size behaviour of Ising systems in a strip geometry at this transition. (paper)

  4. The Peierls argument for higher dimensional Ising models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonati, Claudio

    2014-01-01

    The Peierls argument is a mathematically rigorous and intuitive method to show the presence of a non-vanishing spontaneous magnetization in some lattice models. This argument is typically explained for the D = 2 Ising model in a way which cannot be easily generalized to higher dimensions. The aim of this paper is to present an elementary discussion of the Peierls argument for the general D-dimensional Ising model. (paper)

  5. Alternative RNA splicing and gastric cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ying; Yuan, Yuan

    2017-07-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) linked to diseases, especially to tumors. Recently, more and more studies focused on the relationship between AS and gastric cancer (GC). This review surveyed the hot topic from four aspects: First, the common types of AS in cancer, including exon skipping, intron retention, mutually exclusive exon, alternative 5 ' or 3' splice site, alternative first or last exon and alternative 3' untranslated regions. Second, basic mechanisms of AS and its relationship with cancer. RNA splicing in eukaryotes follows the GT-AG rule by both cis-elements and trans-acting factors regulatory. Through RNA splicing, different proteins with different forms and functions can be produced and may be associated with carcinogenesis. Third, AS types of GC-related genes and their splicing variants. In this paper, we listed 10 common genes with AS and illustrated its possible molecular mechanisms owing to genetic variation (mutation and /or polymorphism). Fourth, the splicing variants of GC-associated genes and gastric carcinogenesis, invasion and metastasis. Many studies have found that the different splicing variants of the same gene are differentially expressed in GC and its precancerous diseases, suggesting AS has important implications in GC development. Taking together, this review highlighted the role of AS and splicing variants in the process of GC. We hope that this is not only beneficial to advances in the study field of GC, but also can provide valuable information to other similar tumor research.Although we already know some gene splicing and splicing variants play an important role in the development of GC, but many phenomena and mechanisms are still unknown. For example, how the tumor microenvironment and signal transduction pathway effect the forming and function of AS? Unfortunately, this review did not cover the contents because the current study is limited. It is no doubt that clarifying the phenomena and mechanisms of these unknown may help to reveal

  6. Ising game: Nonequilibrium steady states of resource-allocation systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, C.; Yang, G.; Huang, J. P.

    2017-04-01

    Resource-allocation systems are ubiquitous in the human society. But how external fields affect the state of such systems remains poorly explored due to the lack of a suitable model. Because the behavior of spins pursuing energy minimization required by physical laws is similar to that of humans chasing payoff maximization studied in game theory, here we combine the Ising model with the market-directed resource-allocation game, yielding an Ising game. Based on the Ising game, we show theoretical, simulative and experimental evidences for a formula, which offers a clear expression of nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs). Interestingly, the formula also reveals a convertible relationship between the external field (exogenous factor) and resource ratio (endogenous factor), and a class of saturation as the external field exceeds certain limits. This work suggests that the Ising game could be a suitable model for studying external-field effects on resource-allocation systems, and it could provide guidance both for seeking more relations between NESSs and equilibrium states and for regulating human systems by choosing NESSs appropriately.

  7. The Relationship between Macroeconomic Variables and ISE Industry Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Ozcan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the relationship between macroeconomic variables and Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE industry index is examined. Over the past years, numerous studies have analyzed these relationships and the different results obtained from these studies have motivated further research. The relationship between stock exchange index and macroeconomic variables has been well documented for the developed markets. However, there are few studies regarding the relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock exchange index for the developing markets. Thus, this paper seeks to address the question of whether macroeconomic variables have a significant relationship with ISE industry index using monthly data for the period from 2003 to 2010. The selected macroeconomic variables for the study include interest rates, consumer price index, money supply, exchange rate, gold prices, oil prices, current account deficit and export volume. The Johansen’s cointegration test is utilized to determine the impact of selected macroeconomic variables on ISE industry index. The result of the Johansen’s cointegration shows that macroeconomic variables exhibit a long run equilibrium relationship with the ISE industry index.

  8. Commuting quantum circuits and complexity of Ising partition functions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujii, Keisuke; Morimae, Tomoyuki

    2017-01-01

    Instantaneous quantum polynomial-time (IQP) computation is a class of quantum computation consisting only of commuting two-qubit gates and is not universal. Nevertheless, it has been shown that if there is a classical algorithm that can simulate IQP efficiently, the polynomial hierarchy collapses to the third level, which is highly implausible. However, the origin of the classical intractability is still less understood. Here we establish a relationship between IQP and computational complexity of calculating the imaginary-valued partition functions of Ising models. We apply the established relationship in two opposite directions. One direction is to find subclasses of IQP that are classically efficiently simulatable by using exact solvability of certain types of Ising models. Another direction is applying quantum computational complexity of IQP to investigate (im)possibility of efficient classical approximations of Ising partition functions with imaginary coupling constants. Specifically, we show that a multiplicative approximation of Ising partition functions is #P-hard for almost all imaginary coupling constants even on planar lattices of a bounded degree. (paper)

  9. Evolution of alternative splicing regulation: changes in predicted exonic splicing regulators are not associated with changes in alternative splicing levels in primates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Irimia, Manuel; Rukov, Jakob Lewin; Roy, Scott William

    2009-01-01

    and changes in alternative splicing levels. This observation holds across different ESR exon positions, exon lengths, and 5' splice site strengths. We suggest that this lack of association is mainly due to the great importance of context for ESR functionality: many ESR-like motifs in primates may have little...

  10. Giant magnetocaloric effect, magnetization plateaux and jumps of the regular Ising polyhedra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strečka, Jozef; Karľová, Katarína; Madaras, Tomáš

    2015-01-01

    Magnetization process and adiabatic demagnetization of the antiferromagnetic Ising spin clusters with the shape of regular polyhedra (Platonic solids) are exactly examined within the framework of a simple graph-theoretical approach. While the Ising cube as the only unfrustrated (bipartite) spin cluster shows just one trivial plateau at zero magnetization, the other regular Ising polyhedra (tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and dodecahedron) additionally display either one or two intermediate plateaux at fractional values of the saturation magnetization. The nature of highly degenerate ground states emergent at intermediate plateaux owing to a geometric frustration is clarified. It is evidenced that the regular Ising polyhedra exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect in a vicinity of magnetization jumps, whereas the Ising octahedron and dodecahedron belong to the most prominent geometrically frustrated spin clusters that enable an efficient low-temperature refrigeration by the process of adiabatic demagnetization

  11. Plasma electron signature of magnetic connection to the earth's bow shock: ISEE 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldman, W.C.; Anderson, R.C.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.; Gosling, J.T.; Zwickl, R.D.

    1982-01-01

    Enhanced fluxes of low-energy electrons backstreaming from the earth's bow shock have been identified at ISEE 3. When present, these fluxes modify ambient solar wind electron velocity distributions f(v) in characteristic ways that depends on whether ISEE 3 is near the edge, or within the interior of the earth's electron foreshock. Near the edge, energy peaks in f(v) are observed. Such distributions should be locally unstable to electron plasma oscillations. Well within the interior of the foreshock, enhanced fluxes of electrons with energies up to the maximum detected by the Los Alamos electron analyzer (approx.1 keV) are observed over the full backward hemisphere. These electrons can be modelled with an asymptotic power law distribution having index in the range 4< or approx. =p/sub b/s< or approx. =6. At intermediate energies (approx.20--50 eV), twin angular peaks are observed centered on the magnetic field direction B. Also observed at these times are depressions in f(v) at energies less than approx.20 eV that are centered on B. Such distributions having a perpendicular temperature greater than their parallel temperature may be locally unstable to the generation of whistler waves. Analysis of a particularly clean example of connection to the bow shock is consistent with the possiblility that the observed electron fluxes emerge from the forward foot of the electron heating region within bow shock where the electron density and temperature are larger than that of the uperturbed upstream solar wind by a factor of approx.1.2. This analysis also indicates that the electrostatic potential within the forward foot of the shock is between approx.5 and 50 V more positive than that within plasma far upstream at ISEE 3. However, these interpretations depend on the assumption of nearly scatter-free propagation, which may not hold

  12. Alternative Splicing as a Target for Cancer Treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Montiel, Nancy; Rosas-Murrieta, Nora Hilda; Anaya Ruiz, Maricruz; Monjaraz-Guzman, Eduardo; Martinez-Contreras, Rebeca

    2018-02-11

    Alternative splicing is a key mechanism determinant for gene expression in metazoan. During alternative splicing, non-coding sequences are removed to generate different mature messenger RNAs due to a combination of sequence elements and cellular factors that contribute to splicing regulation. A different combination of splicing sites, exonic or intronic sequences, mutually exclusive exons or retained introns could be selected during alternative splicing to generate different mature mRNAs that could in turn produce distinct protein products. Alternative splicing is the main source of protein diversity responsible for 90% of human gene expression, and it has recently become a hallmark for cancer with a full potential as a prognostic and therapeutic tool. Currently, more than 15,000 alternative splicing events have been associated to different aspects of cancer biology, including cell proliferation and invasion, apoptosis resistance and susceptibility to different chemotherapeutic drugs. Here, we present well established and newly discovered splicing events that occur in different cancer-related genes, their modification by several approaches and the current status of key tools developed to target alternative splicing with diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

  13. A study of alternative splicing in the pig

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jørgensen Claus B

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Since at least half of the genes in mammalian genomes are subjected to alternative splicing, alternative pre-mRNA splicing plays an important contribution to the complexity of the mammalian proteome. Expressed sequence tags (ESTs provide evidence of a great number of possible alternative isoforms. With the EST resource for the domestic pig now containing more than one million porcine ESTs, it is possible to identify alternative splice forms of the individual transcripts in this species from the EST data with some confidence. Results The pig EST data generated by the Sino-Danish Pig Genome project has been assembled with publicly available ESTs and made available in the PigEST database. Using the Distiller package 2,515 EST clusters with candidate alternative isoforms were identified in the EST data with high confidence. In agreement with general observations in human and mouse, we find putative splice variants in about 30% of the contigs with more than 50 ESTs. Based on the criteria that a minimum of two EST sequences confirmed each splice event, a list of 100 genes with the most distinct tissue-specific alternative splice events was generated from the list of candidates. To confirm the tissue specificity of the splice events, 10 genes with functional annotation were randomly selected from which 16 individual splice events were chosen for experimental verification by quantitative PCR (qPCR. Six genes were shown to have tissue specific alternatively spliced transcripts with expression patterns matching those of the EST data. The remaining four genes had tissue-restricted expression of alternative spliced transcripts. Five out of the 16 splice events that were experimentally verified were found to be putative pig specific. Conclusions In accordance with human and rodent studies we estimate that approximately 30% of the porcine genes undergo alternative splicing. We found a good correlation between EST predicted tissue

  14. Footprints of a trypanosomatid RNA world: pre-small subunit rRNA processing by spliced leader addition trans-splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Gustavo Mayer

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The addition of a capped mini-exon [spliced leader (SL] through trans-splicing is essential for the maturation of RNA polymerase (pol II-transcribed polycistronic pre-mRNAs in all members of the Trypanosomatidae family. This process is an inter-molecular splicing reaction that follows the same basic rules of cis-splicing reactions. In this study, we demonstrated that mini-exons were added to precursor ribosomal RNA (pre-rRNA are transcribed by RNA pol I, including the 5' external transcribed spacer (ETS region. Additionally, we detected the SL-5'ETS molecule using three distinct methods and located the acceptor site between two known 5'ETS rRNA processing sites (A' and A1 in four different trypanosomatids. Moreover, we detected a polyadenylated 5'ETS upstream of the trans-splicing acceptor site, which also occurs in pre-mRNA trans-splicing. After treatment with an indirect trans-splicing inhibitor (sinefungin, we observed SL-5'ETS decay. However, treatment with 5-fluorouracil (a precursor of RNA synthesis that inhibits the degradation of pre-rRNA led to the accumulation of SL-5'ETS, suggesting that the molecule may play a role in rRNA degradation. The detection of trans-splicing in these molecules may indicate broad RNA-joining properties, regardless of the polymerase used for transcription.

  15. Depolarization-mediated regulation of alternative splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alok eSharma

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Alternative splicing in eukaryotes plays an important role in regulating gene expression by selectively including alternative exons. A wealth of information has been accumulated that explains how alternative exons are selected in a developmental stage- or tissue-specific fashion. However, our knowledge of how cells respond to environmental changes to alter alternative splicing is very limited. For example, although a number of alternative exons have been shown to be regulated by calcium level alterations, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. As calcium signaling in neurons plays a crucial role in essential neuronal functions such as learning and memory formation, it is important to understand how this process is regulated at every level in gene expression. The significance of the dynamic control of alternative splicing in response to changes of calcium levels has been largely unappreciated. In this communication, we will summarize the recent advances in calcium signaling-mediated alternative splicing that have provided some insights into the important regulatory mechanisms. In addition to describing the cis-acting RNA elements on the pre-mRNA molecules that respond to changes of intracellular calcium levels, we will summarize how splicing regulators change and affect alternative splicing in this process. We will also discuss a novel mode of calcium-mediated splicing regulation at the level of chromatin structure and transcription.

  16. Semiconductor of spinons: from Ising band insulator to orthogonal band insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farajollahpour, T; Jafari, S A

    2018-01-10

    We use the ionic Hubbard model to study the effects of strong correlations on a two-dimensional semiconductor. The spectral gap in the limit where on-site interactions are zero is set by the staggered ionic potential, while in the strong interaction limit it is set by the Hubbard U. Combining mean field solutions of the slave spin and slave rotor methods, we propose two interesting gapped phases in between: (i) the insulating phase before the Mott phase can be viewed as gapping a non-Fermi liquid state of spinons by the staggered ionic potential. The quasi-particles of underlying spinons are orthogonal to physical electrons, giving rise to the 'ARPES-dark' state where the ARPES gap will be larger than the optical and thermal gap. (ii) The Ising insulator corresponding to ordered phase of the Ising variable is characterized by single-particle excitations whose dispersion is controlled by Ising-like temperature and field dependences. The temperature can be conveniently employed to drive a phase transition between these two insulating phases where Ising exponents become measurable by ARPES and cyclotron resonance. The rare earth monochalcogenide semiconductors where the magneto-resistance is anomalously large can be a candidate system for the Ising band insulator. We argue that the Ising and orthogonal insulating phases require strong enough ionic potential to survive the downward renormalization of the ionic potential caused by Hubbard U.

  17. Semiconductor of spinons: from Ising band insulator to orthogonal band insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farajollahpour, T.; Jafari, S. A.

    2018-01-01

    We use the ionic Hubbard model to study the effects of strong correlations on a two-dimensional semiconductor. The spectral gap in the limit where on-site interactions are zero is set by the staggered ionic potential, while in the strong interaction limit it is set by the Hubbard U. Combining mean field solutions of the slave spin and slave rotor methods, we propose two interesting gapped phases in between: (i) the insulating phase before the Mott phase can be viewed as gapping a non-Fermi liquid state of spinons by the staggered ionic potential. The quasi-particles of underlying spinons are orthogonal to physical electrons, giving rise to the ‘ARPES-dark’ state where the ARPES gap will be larger than the optical and thermal gap. (ii) The Ising insulator corresponding to ordered phase of the Ising variable is characterized by single-particle excitations whose dispersion is controlled by Ising-like temperature and field dependences. The temperature can be conveniently employed to drive a phase transition between these two insulating phases where Ising exponents become measurable by ARPES and cyclotron resonance. The rare earth monochalcogenide semiconductors where the magneto-resistance is anomalously large can be a candidate system for the Ising band insulator. We argue that the Ising and orthogonal insulating phases require strong enough ionic potential to survive the downward renormalization of the ionic potential caused by Hubbard U.

  18. Language study on Spliced Semigraph using Folding techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiagarajan, K.; Padmashree, J.

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, we proposed algorithm to identify cut vertices and cut edges for n-Cut Spliced Semigraph and splicing the n-Cut Spliced Semigraph using cut vertices else cut edges or combination of cut vertex and cut edge and applying sequence of folding to the spliced semigraph to obtain the semigraph quadruple η(S)=(2, 1, 1, 1). We observed that the splicing and folding using both cut vertices and cut edges is applicable only for n-Cut Spliced Semigraph where n > 2. Also, we transformed the spliced semigraph into tree structure and studied the language for the semigraph with n+2 vertices and n+1 semivertices using Depth First Edge Sequence algorithm and obtain the language structure with sequence of alphabet ‘a’ and ‘b’.

  19. An Ising spin state explanation for financial asset allocation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horvath, Philip A.; Roos, Kelly R.; Sinha, Amit

    2016-03-01

    We build on the developments in the application of statistical mechanics, notably the identity of the spin degree of freedom in the Ising model, to explain asset price dynamics in financial markets with a representative agent. Specifically, we consider the value of an individual spin to represent the proportional holdings in various assets. We use partial moment arguments to identify asymmetric reactions to information and develop an extension of a plunging and dumping model. This unique identification of the spin is a relaxation of the conventional discrete state limitation on an Ising spin to accommodate a new archetype in Ising model-finance applications wherein spin states may take on continuous values, and may evolve in time continuously, or discretely, depending on the values of the partial moments.

  20. Defective splicing, disease and therapy: searching for master checkpoints in exon definition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buratti, Emanuele; Baralle, Marco; Baralle, Francisco E

    2006-01-01

    The number of aberrant splicing processes causing human disease is growing exponentially and many recent studies have uncovered some aspects of the unexpectedly complex network of interactions involved in these dysfunctions. As a consequence, our knowledge of the various cis- and trans-acting factors playing a role on both normal and aberrant splicing pathways has been enhanced greatly. However, the resulting information explosion has also uncovered the fact that many splicing systems are not easy to model. In fact we are still unable, with certainty, to predict the outcome of a given genomic variation. Nonetheless, in the midst of all this complexity some hard won lessons have been learned and in this survey we will focus on the importance of the wide sequence context when trying to understand why apparently similar mutations can give rise to different effects. The examples discussed in this summary will highlight the fine 'balance of power' that is often present between all the various regulatory elements that define exon boundaries. In the final part, we shall then discuss possible therapeutic targets and strategies to rescue genetic defects of complex splicing systems.

  1. Control of fibroblast fibronectin expression and alternative splicing via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, Eric S.; Sagana, Rommel L.; Booth, Adam J.; Yan, Mei; Cornett, Ashley M.; Bloomheart, Christopher A.; Tsui, Jessica L.; Wilke, Carol A.; Moore, Bethany B.; Ritzenthaler, Jeffrey D.; Roman, Jesse; Muro, Andres F.

    2010-01-01

    Fibronectin (FN), a ubiquitous glycoprotein that plays critical roles in physiologic and pathologic conditions, undergoes alternative splicing which distinguishes plasma FN (pFN) from cellular FN (cFN). Although both pFN and cFN can be incorporated into the extracellular matrix, a distinguishing feature of cFN is the inclusion of an alternatively spliced exon termed EDA (for extra type III domain A). The molecular steps involved in EDA splicing are well-characterized, but pathways influencing EDA splicing are less clear. We have previously found an obligate role for inhibition of the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homologue on chromosome 10 (PTEN), the primary regulator of the PI3K/Akt pathway, in fibroblast activation. Here we show TGF-β, a potent inducer of both EDA splicing and fibroblast activation, inhibits PTEN expression and activity in mesenchymal cells, corresponding with enhanced PI3K/Akt signaling. In pten -/- fibroblasts, which resemble activated fibroblasts, inhibition of Akt attenuated FN production and decreased EDA alternative splicing. Moreover, inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in pten -/- cells also blocked FN production and EDA splicing. This effect was due to inhibition of Akt-mediated phosphorylation of the primary EDA splicing regulatory protein SF2/ASF. Importantly, FN silencing in pten -/- cells resulted in attenuated proliferation and migration. Thus, our results demonstrate that the PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis is instrumental in FN transcription and alternative splicing, which regulates cell behavior.

  2. Analysis of Maxi-K alpha subunit splice variants in human myometrium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morrison John J

    2004-09-01

    labour onset, coupled to an increased proportion of Maxi-K channels expressing the 132 bp spliced exon, may be linked to decreased Maxi-K channel calcium and voltage sensitivity, thereby promoting enhanced uterine activity at the time of labour.

  3. The connection between splicing and cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Srebrow, Anabella; Kornblihtt, Alberto Rodolfo

    2017-01-01

    Alternative splicing is a crucial mechanism for generating protein diversity. Different splice variants of a given protein can display different and even antagonistic biological functions. Therefore, appropriate control of their synthesis is required to assure the complex orchestration of cellular processes within multicellular organisms. Mutations in cisacting splicing elements or changes in the activity of regulatory proteins that compromise the accuracy of either constitutive or alternativ...

  4. Localized endomorphisms of the chiral Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boeckenhauer, J.

    1994-07-01

    In the frame of the treatment of the chiral Ising model by Mack and Schomerus, examples of localized endomorphisms ρ 1 loc and ρ 1/2 loc are presented. It is shown that they lead to the same superselection sectors as the global ones in the sense that π 0 oρ 1 log ≅π 1 and π 0 pρ 1/2 loc ≅π 1/2 holds. For proving the latter unitary equivalence, Arakis formalism of the selfdual CAR algebra is used. Further it is shown that the localized endomorphisms obey the Ising fusion rules. (orig.)

  5. Pre-mRNA Splicing in Plants: In Vivo Functions of RNA-Binding Proteins Implicated in the Splicing Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katja Meyer

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Alternative pre-messenger RNA splicing in higher plants emerges as an important layer of regulation upon exposure to exogenous and endogenous cues. Accordingly, mutants defective in RNA-binding proteins predicted to function in the splicing process show severe phenotypic alterations. Among those are developmental defects, impaired responses to pathogen threat or abiotic stress factors, and misregulation of the circadian timing system. A suite of splicing factors has been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we summarize recent insights on how defects in these splicing factors impair plant performance.

  6. Microcanonical simulation of Ising systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhanot, G.; Neuberger, H.

    1984-01-01

    Numerical simulations of the microcanonical ensemble for Ising systems are described. We explain how to write very fast algorithms for such simulations, relate correlations measured in the microcanonical ensemble to those in the canonical ensemble and discuss criteria for convergence and ergodicity. (orig.)

  7. Hereditary cancer genes are highly susceptible to splicing mutations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soemedi, Rachel; Maguire, Samantha; Murray, Michael F.; Monaghan, Sean F.

    2018-01-01

    Substitutions that disrupt pre-mRNA splicing are a common cause of genetic disease. On average, 13.4% of all hereditary disease alleles are classified as splicing mutations mapping to the canonical 5′ and 3′ splice sites. However, splicing mutations present in exons and deeper intronic positions are vastly underreported. A recent re-analysis of coding mutations in exon 10 of the Lynch Syndrome gene, MLH1, revealed an extremely high rate (77%) of mutations that lead to defective splicing. This finding is confirmed by extending the sampling to five other exons in the MLH1 gene. Further analysis suggests a more general phenomenon of defective splicing driving Lynch Syndrome. Of the 36 mutations tested, 11 disrupted splicing. Furthermore, analyzing past reports suggest that MLH1 mutations in canonical splice sites also occupy a much higher fraction (36%) of total mutations than expected. When performing a comprehensive analysis of splicing mutations in human disease genes, we found that three main causal genes of Lynch Syndrome, MLH1, MSH2, and PMS2, belonged to a class of 86 disease genes which are enriched for splicing mutations. Other cancer genes were also enriched in the 86 susceptible genes. The enrichment of splicing mutations in hereditary cancers strongly argues for additional priority in interpreting clinical sequencing data in relation to cancer and splicing. PMID:29505604

  8. Hereditary cancer genes are highly susceptible to splicing mutations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christy L Rhine

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Substitutions that disrupt pre-mRNA splicing are a common cause of genetic disease. On average, 13.4% of all hereditary disease alleles are classified as splicing mutations mapping to the canonical 5' and 3' splice sites. However, splicing mutations present in exons and deeper intronic positions are vastly underreported. A recent re-analysis of coding mutations in exon 10 of the Lynch Syndrome gene, MLH1, revealed an extremely high rate (77% of mutations that lead to defective splicing. This finding is confirmed by extending the sampling to five other exons in the MLH1 gene. Further analysis suggests a more general phenomenon of defective splicing driving Lynch Syndrome. Of the 36 mutations tested, 11 disrupted splicing. Furthermore, analyzing past reports suggest that MLH1 mutations in canonical splice sites also occupy a much higher fraction (36% of total mutations than expected. When performing a comprehensive analysis of splicing mutations in human disease genes, we found that three main causal genes of Lynch Syndrome, MLH1, MSH2, and PMS2, belonged to a class of 86 disease genes which are enriched for splicing mutations. Other cancer genes were also enriched in the 86 susceptible genes. The enrichment of splicing mutations in hereditary cancers strongly argues for additional priority in interpreting clinical sequencing data in relation to cancer and splicing.

  9. OpenCL Implementation of NeuroIsing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapart, C. A.

    Recent advances in graphics card hardware combined with anintroduction of the OpenCL standard promise to accelerate numerical simulations across diverse scientific disciplines. One such field benefiting from new hardware/software paradigms is econophysics. The paper describes an OpenCL implementation of a selected econophysics model: NeuroIsing, which has been designed to execute in parallel on a vendor-independent graphics card. Originally introduced in the paper [C.~A.~Zapart, ``Econophysics in Financial Time Series Prediction'', PhD thesis, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan (2009)], at first it was implemented on a CELL processor running inside a SONY PS3 games console. The NeuroIsing framework can be applied to predicting and trading foreign exchange as well as stock market index futures.

  10. Contingency plans for the ISEE-3 libration-point mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunham, D. W.

    1979-01-01

    During the planning stage of the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) mission, a recovery strategy was developed in case the Delta rocket underperformed during the launch phase. If a large underburn had occurred, the ISEE-3 spacecraft would have been allowed to complete one revolution of its highly elliptical earth orbit. The recovery plan called for a maneuver near perigee to increase the energy of the off-nominal orbit; a relatively small second maneuver would then insert the spacecraft into a new transfer trajectory toward the desired halo orbit target, and a third maneuver would place the spacecraft in the halo orbit. Results of the study showed that a large range of underburns could be corrected for a total nominal velocity deviation cost within the ISEE-3 fuel budget.

  11. A coherent Ising machine for 2000-node optimization problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inagaki, Takahiro; Haribara, Yoshitaka; Igarashi, Koji; Sonobe, Tomohiro; Tamate, Shuhei; Honjo, Toshimori; Marandi, Alireza; McMahon, Peter L.; Umeki, Takeshi; Enbutsu, Koji; Tadanaga, Osamu; Takenouchi, Hirokazu; Aihara, Kazuyuki; Kawarabayashi, Ken-ichi; Inoue, Kyo; Utsunomiya, Shoko; Takesue, Hiroki

    2016-11-01

    The analysis and optimization of complex systems can be reduced to mathematical problems collectively known as combinatorial optimization. Many such problems can be mapped onto ground-state search problems of the Ising model, and various artificial spin systems are now emerging as promising approaches. However, physical Ising machines have suffered from limited numbers of spin-spin couplings because of implementations based on localized spins, resulting in severe scalability problems. We report a 2000-spin network with all-to-all spin-spin couplings. Using a measurement and feedback scheme, we coupled time-multiplexed degenerate optical parametric oscillators to implement maximum cut problems on arbitrary graph topologies with up to 2000 nodes. Our coherent Ising machine outperformed simulated annealing in terms of accuracy and computation time for a 2000-node complete graph.

  12. Widespread alternative and aberrant splicing revealed by lariat sequencing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stepankiw, Nicholas; Raghavan, Madhura; Fogarty, Elizabeth A.; Grimson, Andrew; Pleiss, Jeffrey A.

    2015-01-01

    Alternative splicing is an important and ancient feature of eukaryotic gene structure, the existence of which has likely facilitated eukaryotic proteome expansions. Here, we have used intron lariat sequencing to generate a comprehensive profile of splicing events in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, amongst the simplest organisms that possess mammalian-like splice site degeneracy. We reveal an unprecedented level of alternative splicing, including alternative splice site selection for over half of all annotated introns, hundreds of novel exon-skipping events, and thousands of novel introns. Moreover, the frequency of these events is far higher than previous estimates, with alternative splice sites on average activated at ∼3% the rate of canonical sites. Although a subset of alternative sites are conserved in related species, implying functional potential, the majority are not detectably conserved. Interestingly, the rate of aberrant splicing is inversely related to expression level, with lowly expressed genes more prone to erroneous splicing. Although we validate many events with RNAseq, the proportion of alternative splicing discovered with lariat sequencing is far greater, a difference we attribute to preferential decay of aberrantly spliced transcripts. Together, these data suggest the spliceosome possesses far lower fidelity than previously appreciated, highlighting the potential contributions of alternative splicing in generating novel gene structures. PMID:26261211

  13. Thermopriming Triggers Splicing Memory in Arabidopsis

    KAUST Repository

    Ling, Yu

    2018-02-20

    Abiotic and biotic stresses limit crop productivity. Exposure to a non-lethal stress, referred to as priming, can allow plants to survive subsequent and otherwise lethal conditions; the priming effect persists even after a prolonged stress-free period. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying priming are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the molecular basis of heat shock memory and the role of priming in Arabidopsisthaliana. Comprehensive analysis of transcriptome-wide changes in gene expression and alternative splicing in primed and non-primed plants revealed that alternative splicing functions as a novel component of heat shock memory. We show that priming of plants with a non-lethal heat stress results in de-repression of splicing after a second exposure to heat stress. By contrast, non-primed plants showed significant repression of splicing. These observations link ‘splicing memory’ to the ability of plants to survive subsequent and otherwise lethal heat stress. This newly discovered priming-induced splicing memory may represent a general feature of heat stress responses in plants and other organisms as many of the key components of heat shock responses are conserved among eukaryotes. Furthermore, this finding could facilitate the development of novel approaches to improve plant survival under extreme heat stress.

  14. Seemingly neutral polymorphic variants may confer immunity to splicing-inactivating mutations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Karsten Bork; Sørensen, Suzette; Cartegni, Luca

    2007-01-01

    assays to show that a missense mutation in exon 5 of the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) gene primarily causes exon skipping by inactivating a crucial exonic splicing enhancer (ESE), thus leading to loss of a functional protein and to MCAD deficiency. This ESE functions by antagonizing...

  15. The hnRNP 2H9 gene, which is involved in the splicing reaction, is a multiply spliced gene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Honoré, B

    2000-01-01

    The hnRNP 2H9 gene products are involved in the splicing process and participate in early heat shock-induced splicing arrest. By combining low/high stringency hybridisation, database search, Northern and Western blotting it is shown that the gene is alternatively spliced into at least six...

  16. Ferromagnetic transitions of a spin-one Ising film in a surface and bulk transverse fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saber, A.; Lo Russo, S.; Mattei, G.; Mattoni, A.

    2002-01-01

    Using the effective field theory method, we have calculated the Curie temperature of a spin-one Ising ferromagnetic film in a surface and bulk transverse fields. Numerical calculations give phase diagrams under various parameters. Surface exchange enhancement is considered. The dependence of the critical transverse field on film thickness, and phase diagrams in the fields, critical surface transverse field versus the bulk one are presented

  17. Alternative Splicing Control of Abiotic Stress Responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laloum, Tom; Martín, Guiomar; Duque, Paula

    2018-02-01

    Alternative splicing, which generates multiple transcripts from the same gene, is an important modulator of gene expression that can increase proteome diversity and regulate mRNA levels. In plants, this post-transcriptional mechanism is markedly induced in response to environmental stress, and recent studies have identified alternative splicing events that allow rapid adjustment of the abundance and function of key stress-response components. In agreement, plant mutants defective in splicing factors are severely impaired in their response to abiotic stress. Notably, mounting evidence indicates that alternative splicing regulates stress responses largely by targeting the abscisic acid (ABA) pathway. We review here current understanding of post-transcriptional control of plant stress tolerance via alternative splicing and discuss research challenges for the near future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Capacity of columns with splice imperfections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Popov, E.P.; Stephen, R.M.

    1977-01-01

    To study the behavior of spliced columns subjected to tensile forces simulating situations which may develop in an earthquake, all of the spliced specimens were tested to failure in tension after first having been subjected to large compressive loads. The results of these tests indicate that the lack of perfect contact at compression splices of columns may not be important, provided that the gaps are shimmed and welding is used to maintain the sections in alignment

  19. Identification of genome-wide non-canonical spliced regions and analysis of biological functions for spliced sequences using Read-Split-Fly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Yongsheng; Kinne, Jeff; Ding, Lizhong; Rath, Ethan C; Cox, Aaron; Naidu, Siva Dharman

    2017-10-03

    It is generally thought that most canonical or non-canonical splicing events involving U2- and U12 spliceosomes occur within nuclear pre-mRNAs. However, the question of whether at least some U12-type splicing occurs in the cytoplasm is still unclear. In recent years next-generation sequencing technologies have revolutionized the field. The "Read-Split-Walk" (RSW) and "Read-Split-Run" (RSR) methods were developed to identify genome-wide non-canonical spliced regions including special events occurring in cytoplasm. As the significant amount of genome/transcriptome data such as, Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, have been generated, we have advanced a newer more memory-efficient version of the algorithm, "Read-Split-Fly" (RSF), which can detect non-canonical spliced regions with higher sensitivity and improved speed. The RSF algorithm also outputs the spliced sequences for further downstream biological function analysis. We used open access ENCODE project RNA-Seq data to search spliced intron sequences against the U12-type spliced intron sequence database to examine whether some events could occur as potential signatures of U12-type splicing. The check was performed by searching spliced sequences against 5'ss and 3'ss sequences from the well-known orthologous U12-type spliceosomal intron database U12DB. Preliminary results of searching 70 ENCODE samples indicated that the presence of 5'ss with U12-type signature is more frequent than U2-type and prevalent in non-canonical junctions reported by RSF. The selected spliced sequences have also been further studied using miRBase to elucidate their functionality. Preliminary results from 70 samples of ENCODE datasets show that several miRNAs are prevalent in studied ENCODE samples. Two of these are associated with many diseases as suggested in the literature. Specifically, hsa-miR-1273 and hsa-miR-548 are associated with many diseases and cancers. Our RSF pipeline is able to detect many possible junctions

  20. Splicing pattern - ASTRA | LSDB Archive [Life Science Database Archive metadata

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available List Contact us ASTRA Splicing pattern Data detail Data name Splicing pattern DOI 10.18908/lsdba.nbdc00371-0...04 Description of data contents The patterns of alternative splicing/transcriptional initiation Data file Fi...le name: astra_splicing_pattern.zip File URL: ftp://ftp.biosciencedbc.jp/archive/astra/LATEST/astra_splicing_patt...ogodb/view/astra_splicing_pattern#en Data acquisition method For the five organisms (H. sapiens, M. musculus...apping data into bit arrays, detection of splicing patterns and distribution to t

  1. Effective-field renormalization-group method for Ising systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fittipaldi, I. P.; De Albuquerque, D. F.

    1992-02-01

    A new applicable effective-field renormalization-group (ERFG) scheme for computing critical properties of Ising spins systems is proposed and used to study the phase diagrams of a quenched bond-mixed spin Ising model on square and Kagomé lattices. The present EFRG approach yields results which improves substantially on those obtained from standard mean-field renormalization-group (MFRG) method. In particular, it is shown that the EFRG scheme correctly distinguishes the geometry of the lattice structure even when working with the smallest possible clusters, namely N'=1 and N=2.

  2. Dynamic regulation of genome-wide pre-mRNA splicing and stress tolerance by the Sm-like protein LSm5 in Arabidopsis

    KAUST Repository

    Cui, Peng

    2014-01-07

    Background: Sm-like proteins are highly conserved proteins that form the core of the U6 ribonucleoprotein and function in several mRNA metabolism processes, including pre-mRNA splicing. Despite their wide occurrence in all eukaryotes, little is known about the roles of Sm-like proteins in the regulation of splicing.Results: Here, through comprehensive transcriptome analyses, we demonstrate that depletion of the Arabidopsis supersensitive to abscisic acid and drought 1 gene (SAD1), which encodes Sm-like protein 5 (LSm5), promotes an inaccurate selection of splice sites that leads to a genome-wide increase in alternative splicing. In contrast, overexpression of SAD1 strengthens the precision of splice-site recognition and globally inhibits alternative splicing. Further, SAD1 modulates the splicing of stress-responsive genes, particularly under salt-stress conditions. Finally, we find that overexpression of SAD1 in Arabidopsis improves salt tolerance in transgenic plants, which correlates with an increase in splicing accuracy and efficiency for stress-responsive genes.Conclusions: We conclude that SAD1 dynamically controls splicing efficiency and splice-site recognition in Arabidopsis, and propose that this may contribute to SAD1-mediated stress tolerance through the metabolism of transcripts expressed from stress-responsive genes. Our study not only provides novel insights into the function of Sm-like proteins in splicing, but also uncovers new means to improve splicing efficiency and to enhance stress tolerance in a higher eukaryote. 2014 Cui et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

  3. Aberrant and alternative splicing in skeletal system disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Xin; Tang, Liling

    2013-10-01

    The main function of skeletal system is to support the body and help movement. A variety of factors can lead to skeletal system disease, including age, exercise, and of course genetic makeup and expression. Pre-mRNA splicing plays a crucial role in gene expression, by creating multiple protein variants with different biological functions. The recent studies show that several skeletal system diseases are related to pre-mRNA splicing. This review focuses on the relationship between pre-mRNA splicing and skeletal system disease. On the one hand, splice site mutation that leads to aberrant splicing often causes genetic skeletal system disease, like COL1A1, SEDL and LRP5. On the other hand, alternative splicing without genomic mutation may generate some marker protein isoforms, for example, FN, VEGF and CD44. Therefore, understanding the relationship between pre-mRNA splicing and skeletal system disease will aid in uncovering the mechanism of disease and contribute to the future development of gene therapy. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Bona Fide Thermodynamic Temperature in Nonequilibrium Kinetic Ising Models

    OpenAIRE

    Sastre, Francisco; Dornic, Ivan; Chaté, Hugues

    2003-01-01

    We show that a nominal temperature can be consistently and uniquely defined everywhere in the phase diagram of large classes of nonequilibrium kinetic Ising spin models. In addition, we confirm the recent proposal that, at critical points, the large-time ``fluctuation-dissipation ratio'' $X_\\infty$ is a universal amplitude ratio and find in particular $X_\\infty \\approx 0.33(2)$ and $X_\\infty = 1/2$ for the magnetization in, respectively, the two-dimensional Ising and voter universality classes.

  5. Restoration of dimensional reduction in the random-field Ising model at five dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fytas, Nikolaos G.; Martín-Mayor, Víctor; Picco, Marco; Sourlas, Nicolas

    2017-04-01

    The random-field Ising model is one of the few disordered systems where the perturbative renormalization group can be carried out to all orders of perturbation theory. This analysis predicts dimensional reduction, i.e., that the critical properties of the random-field Ising model in D dimensions are identical to those of the pure Ising ferromagnet in D -2 dimensions. It is well known that dimensional reduction is not true in three dimensions, thus invalidating the perturbative renormalization group prediction. Here, we report high-precision numerical simulations of the 5D random-field Ising model at zero temperature. We illustrate universality by comparing different probability distributions for the random fields. We compute all the relevant critical exponents (including the critical slowing down exponent for the ground-state finding algorithm), as well as several other renormalization-group invariants. The estimated values of the critical exponents of the 5D random-field Ising model are statistically compatible to those of the pure 3D Ising ferromagnet. These results support the restoration of dimensional reduction at D =5 . We thus conclude that the failure of the perturbative renormalization group is a low-dimensional phenomenon. We close our contribution by comparing universal quantities for the random-field problem at dimensions 3 ≤D equality at all studied dimensions.

  6. Accumulation of GC donor splice signals in mammals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koonin Eugene V

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The GT dinucleotide in the first two intron positions is the most conserved element of the U2 donor splice signals. However, in a small fraction of donor sites, GT is replaced by GC. A substantial enrichment of GC in donor sites of alternatively spliced genes has been observed previously in human, nematode and Arabidopsis, suggesting that GC signals are important for regulation of alternative splicing. We used parsimony analysis to reconstruct evolution of donor splice sites and inferred 298 GT > GC conversion events compared to 40 GC > GT conversion events in primate and rodent genomes. Thus, there was substantive accumulation of GC donor splice sites during the evolution of mammals. Accumulation of GC sites might have been driven by selection for alternative splicing. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Jerzy Jurka and Anton Nekrutenko. For the full reviews, please go to the Reviewers' Reports section.

  7. Inverse Ising problem in continuous time: A latent variable approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donner, Christian; Opper, Manfred

    2017-12-01

    We consider the inverse Ising problem: the inference of network couplings from observed spin trajectories for a model with continuous time Glauber dynamics. By introducing two sets of auxiliary latent random variables we render the likelihood into a form which allows for simple iterative inference algorithms with analytical updates. The variables are (1) Poisson variables to linearize an exponential term which is typical for point process likelihoods and (2) Pólya-Gamma variables, which make the likelihood quadratic in the coupling parameters. Using the augmented likelihood, we derive an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain the maximum likelihood estimate of network parameters. Using a third set of latent variables we extend the EM algorithm to sparse couplings via L1 regularization. Finally, we develop an efficient approximate Bayesian inference algorithm using a variational approach. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithms on data simulated from an Ising model. For data which are simulated from a more biologically plausible network with spiking neurons, we show that the Ising model captures well the low order statistics of the data and how the Ising couplings are related to the underlying synaptic structure of the simulated network.

  8. Splicing of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) exon 11 is vulnerable - Molecular pathology of mutations in PAH exon 11

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heintz, Caroline; Dobrowolski, Steven F.; Andersen, Henriette Skovgaard

    2012-01-01

    as a vulnerable exon and used patient derived lymphoblast cell lines and PAH minigenes to study the molecular defect that impacted pre-mRNA processing. We showed that the c.1144T>C and c.1066-3C>T mutations cause exon 11 skipping, while the c.1139C>T mutation is neutral or slightly beneficial. The c.1144T......In about 20-30% of phenylketonuria (PKU) patients, phenylalanine (Phe) levels can be controlled by cofactor 6R-tetrahydrobiopterin (BH(4)) administration. The phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) genotype has a predictive value concerning BH(4)-response and therefore a correct assessment of the mutation...... molecular pathology is important. Mutations that disturb the splicing of exons (e.g. interplay between splice site strength and regulatory sequences like exon splicing enhancers (ESEs)/exon splicing silencers (ESSs)) may cause different severity of PKU. In this study, we identified PAH exon 11...

  9. Diversification of the muscle proteome through alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakka, Kiran; Ghigna, Claudia; Gabellini, Davide; Dilworth, F Jeffrey

    2018-03-06

    Skeletal muscles express a highly specialized proteome that allows the metabolism of energy sources to mediate myofiber contraction. This muscle-specific proteome is partially derived through the muscle-specific transcription of a subset of genes. Surprisingly, RNA sequencing technologies have also revealed a significant role for muscle-specific alternative splicing in generating protein isoforms that give specialized function to the muscle proteome. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge with respect to the mechanisms that allow pre-mRNA transcripts to undergo muscle-specific alternative splicing while identifying some of the key trans-acting splicing factors essential to the process. The importance of specific splicing events to specialized muscle function is presented along with examples in which dysregulated splicing contributes to myopathies. Though there is now an appreciation that alternative splicing is a major contributor to proteome diversification, the emergence of improved "targeted" proteomic methodologies for detection of specific protein isoforms will soon allow us to better appreciate the extent to which alternative splicing modifies the activity of proteins (and their ability to interact with other proteins) in the skeletal muscle. In addition, we highlight a continued need to better explore the signaling pathways that contribute to the temporal control of trans-acting splicing factor activity to ensure specific protein isoforms are expressed in the proper cellular context. An understanding of the signal-dependent and signal-independent events driving muscle-specific alternative splicing has the potential to provide us with novel therapeutic strategies to treat different myopathies.

  10. Antisense Oligonucleotides Promote Exon Inclusion and Correct the Common c.-32-13T>G GAA Splicing Variant in Pompe Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik van der Wal

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The most common variant causing Pompe disease is c.-32-13T>G (IVS1 in the acid α-glucosidase (GAA gene, which weakens the splice acceptor of GAA exon 2 and induces partial and complete exon 2 skipping. It also allows a low level of leaky wild-type splicing, leading to a childhood/adult phenotype. We hypothesized that cis-acting splicing motifs may exist that could be blocked using antisense oligonucleotides (AONs to promote exon inclusion. To test this, a screen was performed in patient-derived primary fibroblasts using a tiling array of U7 small nuclear RNA (snRNA-based AONs. This resulted in the identification of a splicing regulatory element in GAA intron 1. We designed phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer-based AONs to this element, and these promoted exon 2 inclusion and enhanced GAA enzyme activity to levels above the disease threshold. These results indicate that the common IVS1 GAA splicing variant in Pompe disease is subject to negative regulation, and inhibition of a splicing regulatory element using AONs is able to restore canonical GAA splicing and endogenous GAA enzyme activity.

  11. Alternative splicing in cancers: From aberrant regulation to new therapeutics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Xiaowei; Zeng, Zhenyu; Wei, Huanhuan; Wang, Zefeng

    2018-03-01

    Alternative splicing is one of the most common mechanisms for gene regulation in humans, and plays a vital role to increase the complexity of functional proteins. In this article, we seek to provide a general review on the relationships between alternative splicing and tumorigenesis. We briefly introduce the basic rules for regulation of alternative splicing, and discuss recent advances on dynamic regulation of alternative splicing in cancers by highlighting the roles of a variety of RNA splicing factors in tumorigenesis. We further discuss several important questions regarding the splicing of long noncoding RNAs and back-splicing of circular RNAs in cancers. Finally, we discuss the current technologies that can be used to manipulate alternative splicing and serve as potential cancer treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Opioid inhibition of N-type Ca2+ channels and spinal analgesia couple to alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrade, Arturo; Denome, Sylvia; Jiang, Yu-Qiu; Marangoudakis, Spiro; Lipscombe, Diane

    2010-10-01

    Alternative pre-mRNA splicing occurs extensively in the nervous systems of complex organisms, including humans, considerably expanding the potential size of the proteome. Cell-specific alternative pre-mRNA splicing is thought to optimize protein function for specialized cellular tasks, but direct evidence for this is limited. Transmission of noxious thermal stimuli relies on the activity of N-type Ca(V)2.2 calcium channels in nociceptors. Using an exon-replacement strategy in mice, we show that mutually exclusive splicing patterns in the Ca(V)2.2 gene modulate N-type channel function in nociceptors, leading to a change in morphine analgesia. Exon 37a (e37a) enhances μ-opioid receptor-mediated inhibition of N-type calcium channels by promoting activity-independent inhibition. In the absence of e37a, spinal morphine analgesia is weakened in vivo but the basal response to noxious thermal stimuli is not altered. Our data suggest that highly specialized, discrete cellular responsiveness in vivo can be attributed to alternative splicing events regulated at the level of individual neurons.

  13. Characterization of an apparently synonymous F5 mutation causing aberrant splicing and factor V deficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuzzo, F; Bulato, C; Nielsen, B I; Lee, K; Wielders, S J; Simioni, P; Key, N S; Castoldi, E

    2015-03-01

    Coagulation factor V (FV) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive bleeding disorder. We investigated a patient with severe FV deficiency (FV:C mutation in exon 4 (c.578G>C, p.Cys193Ser), predicting the abolition of a conserved disulphide bridge, and an apparently synonymous variant in exon 8 (c.1281C>G). The observation that half of the patient's F5 mRNA lacked the last 18 nucleotides of exon 8 prompted us to re-evaluate the c.1281C>G variant for its possible effects on splicing. Bioinformatics sequence analysis predicted that this transversion would activate a cryptic donor splice site and abolish an exonic splicing enhancer. Characterization in a F5 minigene model confirmed that the c.1281C>G variant was responsible for the patient's splicing defect, which could be partially corrected by a mutation-specific morpholino antisense oligonucleotide. The aberrantly spliced F5 mRNA, whose stability was similar to that of the normal mRNA, encoded a putative FV mutant lacking amino acids 427-432. Expression in COS-1 cells indicated that the mutant protein is poorly secreted and not functional. In conclusion, the c.1281C>G mutation, which was predicted to be translationally silent and hence neutral, causes FV deficiency by impairing pre-mRNA splicing. This finding underscores the importance of cDNA analysis for the correct assessment of exonic mutations. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. The Functional Impact of Alternative Splicing in Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Climente-González, Héctor; Porta-Pardo, Eduard; Godzik, Adam; Eyras, Eduardo

    2017-08-29

    Alternative splicing changes are frequently observed in cancer and are starting to be recognized as important signatures for tumor progression and therapy. However, their functional impact and relevance to tumorigenesis remain mostly unknown. We carried out a systematic analysis to characterize the potential functional consequences of alternative splicing changes in thousands of tumor samples. This analysis revealed that a subset of alternative splicing changes affect protein domain families that are frequently mutated in tumors and potentially disrupt protein-protein interactions in cancer-related pathways. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between the number of these alternative splicing changes in a sample and the number of somatic mutations in drivers. We propose that a subset of the alternative splicing changes observed in tumors may represent independent oncogenic processes that could be relevant to explain the functional transformations in cancer, and some of them could potentially be considered alternative splicing drivers (AS drivers). Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Splicing regulatory factors, ageing and age-related disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latorre, Eva; Harries, Lorna W

    2017-07-01

    Alternative splicing is a co-transcriptional process, which allows for the production of multiple transcripts from a single gene and is emerging as an important control point for gene expression. Alternatively expressed isoforms often have antagonistic function and differential temporal or spatial expression patterns, yielding enormous plasticity and adaptability to cells and increasing their ability to respond to environmental challenge. The regulation of alternative splicing is critical for numerous cellular functions in both pathological and physiological conditions, and deregulated alternative splicing is a key feature of common chronic diseases. Isoform choice is controlled by a battery of splicing regulatory proteins, which include the serine arginine rich (SRSF) proteins and the heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) classes of genes. These important splicing regulators have been implicated in age-related disease, and in the ageing process itself. This review will outline the important contribution of splicing regulator proteins to ageing and age-related disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Integrals of the Ising class

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bailey, D H; Borwein, J M; Crandall, R E

    2006-01-01

    From an experimental-mathematical perspective we analyse 'Ising-class' integrals. These are structurally related n-dimensional integrals we call C n , D n , E n , where D n is a magnetic susceptibility integral central to the Ising theory of solid-state physics. We first analyse C n := 4/(n factorial) ∫ 0 ∞ ... ∫ 0 ∞ 1/(Σ j=1 n (u j + 1/u j )) 2 du 1 /u 1 ... du n /u n . We had conjectured-on the basis of extreme-precision numerical quadrature-that C n has a finite large-n limit, namely C ∞ = 2 e -2γ , with γ being the Euler constant. On such a numerological clue we are able to prove the conjecture. We then show that integrals D n and E n both decay exponentially with n, in a certain rigorous sense. While C n , D n remain unresolved for n ≥ 5, we were able to conjecture a closed form for E 5 . Our experimental results involved extreme-precision, multidimensional quadrature on intricate integrands; thus, a highly parallel computation was required

  17. Ising critical behaviour in the one-dimensional frustrated quantum XY model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Granato, E.

    1993-06-01

    A generalization of the one-dimensional frustrated quantum XY model is considered in which the inter and intra-chain coupling constants of the two infinite XY (planar rotor) chains have different strengths. The model can describe the superconductor-insulator transition due to charging effects in a ladder of Josephson junctions in a magnetic field with half a flux quantum per plaquette. From a fluctuation-effective action, this transition is expected to be in the universality class of the two-dimensional classical XY-Ising model. The critical behaviour is studied using a Monte Carlo transfer matrix applied to the path-integral representation of the model and a finite-size-scaling analysis of data on small system sizes. It is found that, unlike the previous studied case of equal inter and intra-chain coupling constants, the XY and Ising-like excitations of the quantum model decouple for large interchain coupling, giving rise to pure Ising model critical behaviour for the chirality order parameter in good agreement with the results for the XY-Ising model. (author). 18 refs, 4 figs

  18. Connecting the dots: chromatin and alternative splicing in EMT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warns, Jessica A; Davie, James R; Dhasarathy, Archana

    2016-02-01

    Nature has devised sophisticated cellular machinery to process mRNA transcripts produced by RNA Polymerase II, removing intronic regions and connecting exons together, to produce mature RNAs. This process, known as splicing, is very closely linked to transcription. Alternative splicing, or the ability to produce different combinations of exons that are spliced together from the same genomic template, is a fundamental means of regulating protein complexity. Similar to transcription, both constitutive and alternative splicing can be regulated by chromatin and its associated factors in response to various signal transduction pathways activated by external stimuli. This regulation can vary between different cell types, and interference with these pathways can lead to changes in splicing, often resulting in aberrant cellular states and disease. The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), which leads to cancer metastasis, is influenced by alternative splicing events of chromatin remodelers and epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation and non-coding RNAs. In this review, we will discuss the role of epigenetic factors including chromatin, chromatin remodelers, DNA methyltransferases, and microRNAs in the context of alternative splicing, and discuss their potential involvement in alternative splicing during the EMT process.

  19. DEDB: a database of Drosophila melanogaster exons in splicing graph form

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Tin

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A wealth of quality genomic and mRNA/EST sequences in recent years has provided the data required for large-scale genome-wide analysis of alternative splicing. We have capitalized on this by constructing a database that contains alternative splicing information organized as splicing graphs, where all transcripts arising from a single gene are collected, organized and classified. The splicing graph then serves as the basis for the classification of the various types of alternative splicing events. Description DEDB http://proline.bic.nus.edu.sg/dedb/index.html is a database of Drosophila melanogaster exons obtained from FlyBase arranged in a splicing graph form that permits the creation of simple rules allowing for the classification of alternative splicing events. Pfam domains were also mapped onto the protein sequences allowing users to access the impact of alternative splicing events on domain organization. Conclusions DEDB's catalogue of splicing graphs facilitates genome-wide classification of alternative splicing events for genome analysis. The splicing graph viewer brings together genome, transcript, protein and domain information to facilitate biologists in understanding the implications of alternative splicing.

  20. Interplay between DMD point mutations and splicing signals in Dystrophinopathy phenotypes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonàs Juan-Mateu

    Full Text Available DMD nonsense and frameshift mutations lead to severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy while in-frame mutations lead to milder Becker muscular dystrophy. Exceptions are found in 10% of cases and the production of alternatively spliced transcripts is considered a key modifier of disease severity. Several exonic mutations have been shown to induce exon-skipping, while splice site mutations result in exon-skipping or activation of cryptic splice sites. However, factors determining the splicing pathway are still unclear. Point mutations provide valuable information regarding the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing and elements defining exon identity in the DMD gene. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of 98 point mutations related to clinical phenotype and their effect on muscle mRNA and dystrophin expression. Aberrant splicing was found in 27 mutations due to alteration of splice sites or splicing regulatory elements. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to test the ability of the available algorithms to predict consequences on mRNA and to investigate the major factors that determine the splicing pathway in mutations affecting splicing signals. Our findings suggest that the splicing pathway is highly dependent on the interplay between splice site strength and density of regulatory elements.

  1. ISEE : An Intuitive Sound Editing Environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vertegaal, R.P.H.; Bonis, E.

    1994-01-01

    This article presents ISEE, an intuitive sound editing environment, as a general sound synthesis model based on expert auditory perception and cognition of musical instruments. It discusses the backgrounds of current synthesizer user interface design and related timbre space research. Of the three

  2. Testing Lorentz Invariance Emergence in the Ising Model using Monte Carlo simulations

    CERN Document Server

    Dias Astros, Maria Isabel

    2017-01-01

    In the context of the Lorentz invariance as an emergent phenomenon at low energy scales to study quantum gravity a system composed by two 3D interacting Ising models (one with an anisotropy in one direction) was proposed. Two Monte Carlo simulations were run: one for the 2D Ising model and one for the target model. In both cases the observables (energy, magnetization, heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility) were computed for different lattice sizes and a Binder cumulant introduced in order to estimate the critical temperature of the systems. Moreover, the correlation function was calculated for the 2D Ising model.

  3. Low resistance splices for HTS devices and applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lalitha, S. L.

    2017-09-01

    This paper discusses the preparation methodology and performance evaluation of low resistance splices made of the second generation (2G) high-temperature superconductor (HTS). These splices are required in a broad spectrum of HTS devices including a large aperture, high-field solenoid built in the laboratory to demonstrate a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) device. Several pancake coils are assembled in the form of a nested solenoid, and each coil requires a hundred meters or more of 2G (RE)BCO tape. However, commercial availability of this superconductor with a very uniform physical properties is currently limited to shorter piece lengths. This necessitates us having splices to inter-connect the tape pieces within a pancake coil, between adjacent pancake coils, and to attach HTS current leads to the magnet assembly. As a part of the optimization and qualification of splicing process, a systematic study was undertaken to analyze the electrical performance of splices in two different configurations suitable for this magnet assembly: lap joint and spiral joint. The electrical performance is quantified in terms of the resistance of splices estimated from the current-voltage characteristics. It has been demonstrated that a careful application of this splicing technique can generate lap joints with resistance less than 1 nΩ at 77 K.

  4. Emergent Ising degrees of freedom above a double-stripe magnetic ground state

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Guanghua; Flint, Rebecca

    2017-12-01

    Double-stripe magnetism [Q =(π /2 ,π /2 )] has been proposed as the magnetic ground state for both the iron-telluride and BaTi2Sb2O families of superconductors. Double-stripe order is captured within a J1-J2-J3 Heisenberg model in the regime J3≫J2≫J1 . Intriguingly, besides breaking spin-rotational symmetry, the ground-state manifold has three additional Ising degrees of freedom associated with bond ordering. Via their coupling to the lattice, they give rise to an orthorhombic distortion and to two nonuniform lattice distortions with wave vector (π ,π ) . Because the ground state is fourfold degenerate, modulo rotations in spin space, only two of these Ising bond order parameters are independent. Here, we introduce an effective field theory to treat all Ising order parameters, as well as magnetic order, and solve it within a large-N limit. All three transitions, corresponding to the condensations of two Ising bond order parameters and one magnetic order parameter are simultaneous and first order in three dimensions, but lower dimensionality, or equivalently weaker interlayer coupling, and weaker magnetoelastic coupling can split the three transitions, and in some cases allows for two separate Ising phase transitions above the magnetic one.

  5. RRM domain of Arabidopsis splicing factor SF1 is important for pre-mRNA splicing of a specific set of genes

    KAUST Repository

    Lee, Keh Chien

    2017-04-11

    The RNA recognition motif of Arabidopsis splicing factor SF1 affects the alternative splicing of FLOWERING LOCUS M pre-mRNA and a heat shock transcription factor HsfA2 pre-mRNA. Splicing factor 1 (SF1) plays a crucial role in 3\\' splice site recognition by binding directly to the intron branch point. Although plant SF1 proteins possess an RNA recognition motif (RRM) domain that is absent in its fungal and metazoan counterparts, the role of the RRM domain in SF1 function has not been characterized. Here, we show that the RRM domain differentially affects the full function of the Arabidopsis thaliana AtSF1 protein under different experimental conditions. For example, the deletion of RRM domain influences AtSF1-mediated control of flowering time, but not the abscisic acid sensitivity response during seed germination. The alternative splicing of FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) pre-mRNA is involved in flowering time control. We found that the RRM domain of AtSF1 protein alters the production of alternatively spliced FLM-β transcripts. We also found that the RRM domain affects the alternative splicing of a heat shock transcription factor HsfA2 pre-mRNA, thereby mediating the heat stress response. Taken together, our results suggest the importance of RRM domain for AtSF1-mediated alternative splicing of a subset of genes involved in the regulation of flowering and adaptation to heat stress.

  6. Alternative splicing of mutually exclusive exons--a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pohl, Martin; Bortfeldt, Ralf H; Grützmann, Konrad; Schuster, Stefan

    2013-10-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNAs in higher eukaryotes and several viruses is one major source of protein diversity. Usually, the following major subtypes of AS are distinguished: exon skipping, intron retention, and alternative 3' and 5' splice sites. Moreover, mutually exclusive exons (MXEs) represent a rare subtype. In the splicing of MXEs, two (or more) splicing events are not independent anymore, but are executed or disabled in a coordinated manner. In this review, several bioinformatics approaches for analyzing MXEs are presented and discussed. In particular, we revisit suitable definitions and nomenclatures, and bioinformatics tools for finding MXEs, adjacent and non-adjacent MXEs, clustered and grouped MXEs. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms for splicing MXEs proposed in the literature are reviewed and discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Ladder Ising spin configurations. Pt. 1. Heat capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.; Lambros, A.

    1996-01-01

    We consider a ladder Ising spin model (with two coupled Ising spin chains), characterized by two couplings (interchain and intrachain couplings), to study in detail, in an analytical way, its thermal behaviour and particularly the variation of the specific heat versus temperature, the ratio of interaction constants, and the magnetic field. It is interesting that when the competition between interchain and intrachain interactions is strong the specific heat exhibits a double peak and when the competition is not so strong the specific heat has a single peak. Further, without entering into details, we give, in a numerical way, some similar results for more complicated ladder configurations (with more than two linear Ising chains). The spin-1/2 ladders or systems of spin chains may be realized in nature by vanadyl pyrophosphate ((VO) 2 P 2 O 7 ) or similar materials. All these intermediate systems are today important to gain further insight into the physics of one-dimensional spin chains and two-dimensional high-T c spin systems, both of which have shown interesting and unusual magnetic and superconducting properties. It is plausible that experimental and theoretical studies of ladders may lead to other interesting physical phenomena. (orig.)

  8. Compiling gate networks on an Ising quantum computer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowdrey, M.D.; Jones, J.A.; Knill, E.; Laflamme, R.

    2005-01-01

    Here we describe a simple mechanical procedure for compiling a quantum gate network into the natural gates (pulses and delays) for an Ising quantum computer. The aim is not necessarily to generate the most efficient pulse sequence, but rather to develop an efficient compilation algorithm that can be easily implemented in large spin systems. The key observation is that it is not always necessary to refocus all the undesired couplings in a spin system. Instead, the coupling evolution can simply be tracked and then corrected at some later time. Although described within the language of NMR, the algorithm is applicable to any design of quantum computer based on Ising couplings

  9. Revealing the Determinants of Widespread Alternative Splicing Perturbation in Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongsheng Li

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available It is increasingly appreciated that alternative splicing plays a key role in generating functional specificity and diversity in cancer. However, the mechanisms by which cancer mutations perturb splicing remain unknown. Here, we developed a network-based strategy, DrAS-Net, to investigate more than 2.5 million variants across cancer types and link somatic mutations with cancer-specific splicing events. We identified more than 40,000 driver variant candidates and their 80,000 putative splicing targets deregulated in 33 cancer types and inferred their functional impact. Strikingly, tumors with splicing perturbations show reduced expression of immune system-related genes and increased expression of cell proliferation markers. Tumors harboring different mutations in the same gene often exhibit distinct splicing perturbations. Further stratification of 10,000 patients based on their mutation-splicing relationships identifies subtypes with distinct clinical features, including survival rates. Our work reveals how single-nucleotide changes can alter the repertoires of splicing isoforms, providing insights into oncogenic mechanisms for precision medicine.

  10. Dynamics of the two-dimensional directed Ising model in the paramagnetic phase

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godrèche, C.; Pleimling, M.

    2014-05-01

    We consider the nonconserved dynamics of the Ising model on the two-dimensional square lattice, where each spin is influenced preferentially by its east and north neighbours. The single-spin flip rates are such that the stationary state is Gibbsian with respect to the usual ferromagnetic Ising Hamiltonian. We show the existence, in the paramagnetic phase, of a dynamical transition between two regimes of violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in the nonequilibrium stationary state: a regime of weak violation where the stationary fluctuation-dissipation ratio is finite, when the asymmetry parameter is less than a threshold value, and a regime of strong violation where this ratio vanishes asymptotically above the threshold. This study suggests that this novel kind of dynamical transition in nonequilibrium stationary states, already found for the directed Ising chain and the spherical model with asymmetric dynamics, might be quite general. In contrast with the latter models, the equal-time correlation function for the two-dimensional directed Ising model depends on the asymmetry.

  11. Quantum quench in an atomic one-dimensional Ising chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meinert, F; Mark, M J; Kirilov, E; Lauber, K; Weinmann, P; Daley, A J; Nägerl, H-C

    2013-08-02

    We study nonequilibrium dynamics for an ensemble of tilted one-dimensional atomic Bose-Hubbard chains after a sudden quench to the vicinity of the transition point of the Ising paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic quantum phase transition. The quench results in coherent oscillations for the orientation of effective Ising spins, detected via oscillations in the number of doubly occupied lattice sites. We characterize the quench by varying the system parameters. We report significant modification of the tunneling rate induced by interactions and show clear evidence for collective effects in the oscillatory response.

  12. The peculiarities of large intron splicing in animals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel Shepard

    Full Text Available In mammals a considerable 92% of genes contain introns, with hundreds and hundreds of these introns reaching the incredible size of over 50,000 nucleotides. These "large introns" must be spliced out of the pre-mRNA in a timely fashion, which involves bringing together distant 5' and 3' acceptor and donor splice sites. In invertebrates, especially Drosophila, it has been shown that larger introns can be spliced efficiently through a process known as recursive splicing-a consecutive splicing from the 5'-end at a series of combined donor-acceptor splice sites called RP-sites. Using a computational analysis of the genomic sequences, we show that vertebrates lack the proper enrichment of RP-sites in their large introns, and, therefore, require some other method to aid splicing. We analyzed over 15,000 non-redundant, large introns from six mammals, 1,600 from chicken and zebrafish, and 560 non-redundant large introns from five invertebrates. Our bioinformatic investigation demonstrates that, unlike the studied invertebrates, the studied vertebrate genomes contain consistently abundant amounts of direct and complementary strand interspersed repetitive elements (mainly SINEs and LINEs that may form stems with each other in large introns. This examination showed that predicted stems are indeed abundant and stable in the large introns of mammals. We hypothesize that such stems with long loops within large introns allow intron splice sites to find each other more quickly by folding the intronic RNA upon itself at smaller intervals and, thus, reducing the distance between donor and acceptor sites.

  13. Systematic Analysis of Splice-Site-Creating Mutations in Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reyka G. Jayasinghe

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: For the past decade, cancer genomic studies have focused on mutations leading to splice-site disruption, overlooking those having splice-creating potential. Here, we applied a bioinformatic tool, MiSplice, for the large-scale discovery of splice-site-creating mutations (SCMs across 8,656 TCGA tumors. We report 1,964 originally mis-annotated mutations having clear evidence of creating alternative splice junctions. TP53 and GATA3 have 26 and 18 SCMs, respectively, and ATRX has 5 from lower-grade gliomas. Mutations in 11 genes, including PARP1, BRCA1, and BAP1, were experimentally validated for splice-site-creating function. Notably, we found that neoantigens induced by SCMs are likely several folds more immunogenic compared to missense mutations, exemplified by the recurrent GATA3 SCM. Further, high expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 was observed in tumors with SCMs, suggesting candidates for immune blockade therapy. Our work highlights the importance of integrating DNA and RNA data for understanding the functional and the clinical implications of mutations in human diseases. : Jayasinghe et al. identify nearly 2,000 splice-site-creating mutations (SCMs from over 8,000 tumor samples across 33 cancer types. They provide a more accurate interpretation of previously mis-annotated mutations, highlighting the importance of integrating data types to understand the functional and the clinical implications of splicing mutations in human disease. Keywords: splicing, RNA, mutations of clinical relevance

  14. PathwaySplice: An R package for unbiased pathway analysis of alternative splicing in RNA-Seq data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Aimin; Ban, Yuguang; Gao, Zhen; Chen, Xi; Wang, Lily

    2018-04-24

    Pathway analysis of alternative splicing would be biased without accounting for the different number of exons or junctions associated with each gene, because genes with higher number of exons or junctions are more likely to be included in the "significant" gene list in alternative splicing. We present PathwaySplice, an R package that (1) Performs pathway analysis that explicitly adjusts for the number of exons or junctions associated with each gene; (2) Visualizes selection bias due to different number of exons or junctions for each gene and formally tests for presence of bias using logistic regression; (3) Supports gene sets based on the Gene Ontology terms, as well as more broadly defined gene sets (e.g. MSigDB) or user defined gene sets; (4) Identifies the significant genes driving pathway significance and (5) Organizes significant pathways with an enrichment map, where pathways with large number of overlapping genes are grouped together in a network graph. https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/PathwaySplice.html. lily.wangg@gmail.com, xi.steven.chen@gmail.com.

  15. Approaches to link RNA secondary structures with splicing regulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Plass, Mireya; Eyras, Eduardo

    2014-01-01

    In higher eukaryotes, alternative splicing is usually regulated by protein factors, which bind to the pre-mRNA and affect the recognition of splicing signals. There is recent evidence that the secondary structure of the pre-mRNA may also play an important role in this process, either by facilitat...... describes the steps in the analysis of the secondary structure of the pre-mRNA and its possible relation to splicing. As a working example, we use the case of yeast and the problem of the recognition of the 3' splice site (3'ss).......In higher eukaryotes, alternative splicing is usually regulated by protein factors, which bind to the pre-mRNA and affect the recognition of splicing signals. There is recent evidence that the secondary structure of the pre-mRNA may also play an important role in this process, either...

  16. Interplay between estrogen receptor and AKT in estradiol-induced alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhat-Nakshatri, Poornima; Song, Eun-Kyung; Collins, Nikail R; Uversky, Vladimir N; Dunker, A Keith; O'Malley, Bert W; Geistlinger, Tim R; Carroll, Jason S; Brown, Myles; Nakshatri, Harikrishna

    2013-06-11

    Alternative splicing is critical for generating complex proteomes in response to extracellular signals. Nuclear receptors including estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and their ligands promote alternative splicing. The endogenous targets of ERα:estradiol (E2)-mediated alternative splicing and the influence of extracellular kinases that phosphorylate ERα on E2-induced splicing are unknown. MCF-7 and its anti-estrogen derivatives were used for the majority of the assays. CD44 mini gene was used to measure the effect of E2 and AKT on alternative splicing. ExonHit array analysis was performed to identify E2 and AKT-regulated endogenous alternatively spliced apoptosis-related genes. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed to verify alternative splicing. ERα binding to alternatively spliced genes was verified by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Bromodeoxyuridine incorporation-ELISA and Annexin V labeling assays were done to measure cell proliferation and apoptosis, respectively. We identified the targets of E2-induced alternative splicing and deconstructed some of the mechanisms surrounding E2-induced splicing by combining splice array with ERα cistrome and gene expression array. E2-induced alternatively spliced genes fall into at least two subgroups: coupled to E2-regulated transcription and ERα binding to the gene without an effect on rate of transcription. Further, AKT, which phosphorylates both ERα and splicing factors, influenced ERα:E2 dependent splicing in a gene-specific manner. Genes that are alternatively spliced include FAS/CD95, FGFR2, and AXIN-1. E2 increased the expression of FGFR2 C1 isoform but reduced C3 isoform at mRNA level. E2-induced alternative splicing of FAS and FGFR2 in MCF-7 cells correlated with resistance to FAS activation-induced apoptosis and response to keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), respectively. Resistance of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to the anti-estrogen tamoxifen was associated with ER

  17. Statistical Mechanics of Coherent Ising Machine — The Case of Ferromagnetic and Finite-Loading Hopfield Models —

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aonishi, Toru; Mimura, Kazushi; Utsunomiya, Shoko; Okada, Masato; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

    2017-10-01

    The coherent Ising machine (CIM) has attracted attention as one of the most effective Ising computing architectures for solving large scale optimization problems because of its scalability and high-speed computational ability. However, it is difficult to implement the Ising computation in the CIM because the theories and techniques of classical thermodynamic equilibrium Ising spin systems cannot be directly applied to the CIM. This means we have to adapt these theories and techniques to the CIM. Here we focus on a ferromagnetic model and a finite loading Hopfield model, which are canonical models sharing a common mathematical structure with almost all other Ising models. We derive macroscopic equations to capture nonequilibrium phase transitions in these models. The statistical mechanical methods developed here constitute a basis for constructing evaluation methods for other Ising computation models.

  18. Blocking of an intronic splicing silencer completely rescues IKBKAP exon 20 splicing in familial dysautonomia patient cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Gitte H; Bang, Jeanne Mv; Christensen, Lise L

    2018-01-01

    designed splice switching oligonucleotides (SSO) that blocks the intronic hnRNP A1 binding site, and demonstrate that this completely rescues splicing of IKBKAP exon 20 in FD patient fibroblasts and increases the amounts of IKAP protein. We propose that this may be developed into a potential new specific...

  19. Triangular and honeycomb lattices bond-diluted Ising ferromagnet: critical frontier

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magalhaes, A.C.N. de; Schwaccheim, G.; Tsallis, C.

    1982-01-01

    Within a real space renormalization group framework (12 different procedures, all of them using star-triangle and duality-type transformations) accurate approximations for the critical frontiers associated with the quenched bond-diluted first-neighbour spin- 1 / 2 Ising ferromagnet on triangular and honeycomb lattices are calculated. All of them provide, in both pure bond percolation and pure Ising limits, the exact critical points and exact or almost exact derivatives in the p-t space (p is the bond independent occupancy probability and t tanh J/k(sub B)T). The best numerical proposals lead to the exact derivative in the pure percolation limit (p = p(sub c)) and, in what concerns the pure Ising limit (p = 1) derivative, to a 0.15% error for the triangular lattice and to a 0.96% error for the honeycomb one; in the intermediate region (p(sub c) [pt

  20. Pre-mRNA mis-splicing of sarcomeric genes in heart failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Chaoqun; Chen, Zhilong; Guo, Wei

    2017-08-01

    Pre-mRNA splicing is an important biological process that allows production of multiple proteins from a single gene in the genome, and mainly contributes to protein diversity in eukaryotic organisms. Alternative splicing is commonly governed by RNA binding proteins to meet the ever-changing demands of the cell. However, the mis-splicing may lead to human diseases. In the heart of human, mis-regulation of alternative splicing has been associated with heart failure. In this short review, we focus on alternative splicing of sarcomeric genes and review mis-splicing related heart failure with relatively well studied Sarcomeric genes and splicing mechanisms with identified regulatory factors. The perspective of alternative splicing based therapeutic strategies in heart failure has also been discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Analysis of 30 putative BRCA1 splicing mutations in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families identifies exonic splice site mutations that escape in silico prediction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Wappenschmidt

    Full Text Available Screening for pathogenic mutations in breast and ovarian cancer genes such as BRCA1/2, CHEK2 and RAD51C is common practice for individuals from high-risk families. However, test results may be ambiguous due to the presence of unclassified variants (UCV in the concurrent absence of clearly cancer-predisposing mutations. Especially the presence of intronic or exonic variants within these genes that possibly affect proper pre-mRNA processing poses a challenge as their functional implications are not immediately apparent. Therefore, it appears necessary to characterize potential splicing UCV and to develop appropriate classification tools. We investigated 30 distinct BRCA1 variants, both intronic and exonic, regarding their spliceogenic potential by commonly used in silico prediction algorithms (HSF, MaxEntScan along with in vitro transcript analyses. A total of 25 variants were identified spliceogenic, either causing/enhancing exon skipping or activation of cryptic splice sites, or both. Except from a single intronic variant causing minor effects on BRCA1 pre-mRNA processing in our analyses, 23 out of 24 intronic variants were correctly predicted by MaxEntScan, while HSF was less accurate in this cohort. Among the 6 exonic variants analyzed, 4 severely impair correct pre-mRNA processing, while the remaining two have partial effects. In contrast to the intronic alterations investigated, only half of the spliceogenic exonic variants were correctly predicted by HSF and/or MaxEntScan. These data support the idea that exonic splicing mutations are commonly disease-causing and concurrently prone to escape in silico prediction, hence necessitating experimental in vitro splicing analysis.

  2. Small-molecule inhibition of HIV pre-mRNA splicing as a novel antiretroviral therapy to overcome drug resistance.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Bakkour

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available The development of multidrug-resistant viruses compromises antiretroviral therapy efficacy and limits therapeutic options. Therefore, it is an ongoing task to identify new targets for antiretroviral therapy and to develop new drugs. Here, we show that an indole derivative (IDC16 that interferes with exonic splicing enhancer activity of the SR protein splicing factor SF2/ASF suppresses the production of key viral proteins, thereby compromising subsequent synthesis of full-length HIV-1 pre-mRNA and assembly of infectious particles. IDC16 inhibits replication of macrophage- and T cell-tropic laboratory strains, clinical isolates, and strains with high-level resistance to inhibitors of viral protease and reverse transcriptase. Importantly, drug treatment of primary blood cells did not alter splicing profiles of endogenous genes involved in cell cycle transition and apoptosis. Thus, human splicing factors represent novel and promising drug targets for the development of antiretroviral therapies, particularly for the inhibition of multidrug-resistant viruses.

  3. Vitamin D and alternative splicing of RNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Rui; Chun, Rene F; Lisse, Thomas S; Garcia, Alejandro J; Xu, Jianzhong; Adams, John S; Hewison, Martin

    2015-04-01

    The active form of vitamin D (1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D) exerts its genomic effects via binding to a nuclear high-affinity vitamin D receptor (VDR). Recent deep sequencing analysis of VDR binding locations across the complete genome has significantly expanded our understanding of the actions of vitamin D and VDR on gene transcription. However, these studies have also promoted appreciation of the extra-transcriptional impact of vitamin D on gene expression. It is now clear that vitamin D interacts with the epigenome via effects on DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and microRNA generation to maintain normal biological functions. There is also increasing evidence that vitamin D can influence pre-mRNA constitutive splicing and alternative splicing, although the mechanism for this remains unclear. Pre-mRNA splicing has long been thought to be a post-transcription RNA processing event, but current data indicate that this occurs co-transcriptionally. Several steroid hormones have been recognized to coordinately control gene transcription and pre-mRNA splicing through the recruitment of nuclear receptor co-regulators that can both control gene transcription and splicing. The current review will discuss this concept with specific reference to vitamin D, and the potential role of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (hnRNPC), a nuclear factor with an established function in RNA splicing. hnRNPC, has been shown to be involved in the VDR transcriptional complex as a vitamin D-response element-binding protein (VDRE-BP), and may act as a coupling factor linking VDR-directed gene transcription with RNA splicing. In this way hnRNPC may provide an additional mechanism for the fine-tuning of vitamin D-regulated target gene expression. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled '17th Vitamin D Workshop'. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Effects of secondary structure on pre-mRNA splicing: hairpins sequestering the 5' but not the 3' splice site inhibit intron processing in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, H X; Goodall, G J; Kole, R; Filipowicz, W

    1995-01-16

    We have performed a systematic study of the effect of artificial hairpins on pre-mRNA splicing in protoplasts of a dicot plant, Nicotiana plumbaginifolia. Hairpins with a potential to form 18 or 24 bp stems strongly inhibit splicing when they sequester the 5' splice site or are placed in the middle of short introns. However, similar 24 bp hairpins sequestering the 3' splice site do not prevent this site from being used as an acceptor. Utilization of the stem-located 3' site requires that the base of the stem is separated from the upstream 5' splice site by a minimum of approximately 45 nucleotides and that another 'helper' 3' splice site is present downstream of the stem. The results indicate that the spliceosome or factors associated with it may have a potential to unfold secondary structure present in the downstream portion of the intron, prior to or at the step of the 3' splice site selection. The finding that the helper 3' site is required for utilization of the stem-located acceptor confirms and extends previous observations, obtained with HeLa cell in vitro splicing systems, indicating that the 3' splice site may be recognized at least twice during spliceosome assembly.

  5. Splicing modulation therapy in the treatment of genetic diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arechavala-Gomeza V

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza,1 Bernard Khoo,2 Annemieke Aartsma-Rus3 1Neuromuscular Disorders Group, BioCruces Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain; 2Endocrinology, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK; 3Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands All authors contributed equally to this manuscript Abstract: Antisense-mediated splicing modulation is a tool that can be exploited in several ways to provide a potential therapy for rare genetic diseases. This approach is currently being tested in clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. The present review outlines the versatility of the approach to correct cryptic splicing, modulate alternative splicing, restore the open reading frame, and induce protein knockdown, providing examples of each. Finally, we outline a possible path forward toward the clinical application of this approach for a wide variety of inherited rare diseases. Keywords: splicing, therapy, antisense oligonucleotides, cryptic splicing, alternative splicing

  6. Protein splicing and its evolution in eukaryotes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Starokadomskyy P. L.

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Inteins, or protein introns, are parts of protein sequences that are post-translationally excised, their flanking regions (exteins being spliced together. This process was called protein splicing. Originally inteins were found in prokaryotic or unicellular eukaryotic organisms. But the general principles of post-translation protein rearrangement are evolving yielding different post-translation modification of proteins in multicellular organisms. For clarity, these non-intein mediated events call either protein rearrangements or protein editing. The most intriguing example of protein editing is proteasome-mediated splicing of antigens in vertebrates that may play important role in antigen presentation. Other examples of protein rearrangements are maturation of Hg-proteins (critical receptors in embryogenesis as well as maturation of several metabolic enzymes. Despite a lack of experimental data we try to analyze some intriguing examples of protein splicing evolution.

  7. Transient time of an Ising machine based on injection-locked laser network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takata, Kenta; Utsunomiya, Shoko; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

    2012-01-01

    We numerically study the dynamics and frequency response of the recently proposed Ising machine based on the polarization degrees of freedom of an injection-locked laser network (Utsunomiya et al 2011 Opt. Express 19 18091). We simulate various anti-ferromagnetic Ising problems, including the ones with symmetric Ising and Zeeman coefficients, which enable us to study the problem size up to M = 1000. Transient time, to reach a steady-state polarization configuration after a given Ising problem is mapped onto the system, is inversely proportional to the locking bandwidth and does not scale exponentially with the problem size. In the Fourier analysis with first-order linearization approximation, we find that the cut-off frequency of a system's response is almost identical to the locking bandwidth, which supports the time-domain analysis. It is also shown that the Zeeman term, which is created by the horizontally polarized injection signal from the master laser, serves as an initial driving force on the system and contributes to the transient time in addition to the inverse locking bandwidth. (paper)

  8. Phase diagrams of diluted transverse Ising nanowire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouhou, S.; Essaoudi, I.; Ainane, A.; Saber, M.; Ahuja, R.; Dujardin, F.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, the phase diagrams of diluted Ising nanowire consisting of core and surface shell coupling by J cs exchange interaction are studied using the effective field theory with a probability distribution technique, in the presence of transverse fields in the core and in the surface shell. We find a number of characteristic phenomena. In particular, the effect of concentration c of magnetic atoms, the exchange interaction core/shell, the exchange in surface and the transverse fields in core and in surface shell of phase diagrams are investigated. - Highlights: ► We use the EFT to investigate the phase diagrams of Ising transverse nanowire. ► Ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic cases are investigated. ► The effects of the dilution and the transverse fields in core and shell are studied. ► Behavior of the transition temperature with the exchange interaction is given

  9. SPA: a probabilistic algorithm for spliced alignment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Recent large-scale cDNA sequencing efforts show that elaborate patterns of splice variation are responsible for much of the proteome diversity in higher eukaryotes. To obtain an accurate account of the repertoire of splice variants, and to gain insight into the mechanisms of alternative splicing, it is essential that cDNAs are very accurately mapped to their respective genomes. Currently available algorithms for cDNA-to-genome alignment do not reach the necessary level of accuracy because they use ad hoc scoring models that cannot correctly trade off the likelihoods of various sequencing errors against the probabilities of different gene structures. Here we develop a Bayesian probabilistic approach to cDNA-to-genome alignment. Gene structures are assigned prior probabilities based on the lengths of their introns and exons, and based on the sequences at their splice boundaries. A likelihood model for sequencing errors takes into account the rates at which misincorporation, as well as insertions and deletions of different lengths, occurs during sequencing. The parameters of both the prior and likelihood model can be automatically estimated from a set of cDNAs, thus enabling our method to adapt itself to different organisms and experimental procedures. We implemented our method in a fast cDNA-to-genome alignment program, SPA, and applied it to the FANTOM3 dataset of over 100,000 full-length mouse cDNAs and a dataset of over 20,000 full-length human cDNAs. Comparison with the results of four other mapping programs shows that SPA produces alignments of significantly higher quality. In particular, the quality of the SPA alignments near splice boundaries and SPA's mapping of the 5' and 3' ends of the cDNAs are highly improved, allowing for more accurate identification of transcript starts and ends, and accurate identification of subtle splice variations. Finally, our splice boundary analysis on the human dataset suggests the existence of a novel non

  10. The emerging role of alternative splicing in senescence and aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deschênes, Mathieu; Chabot, Benoit

    2017-10-01

    Deregulation of precursor mRNA splicing is associated with many illnesses and has been linked to age-related chronic diseases. Here we review recent progress documenting how defects in the machinery that performs intron removal and controls splice site selection contribute to cellular senescence and organismal aging. We discuss the functional association linking p53, IGF-1, SIRT1, and ING-1 splice variants with senescence and aging, and review a selection of splicing defects occurring in accelerated aging (progeria), vascular aging, and Alzheimer's disease. Overall, it is becoming increasingly clear that changes in the activity of splicing factors and in the production of key splice variants can impact cellular senescence and the aging phenotype. © 2017 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Systematic profiling of alternative splicing signature reveals prognostic predictor for ovarian cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Junyong; Chen, Zuhua; Yong, Lei

    2018-02-01

    The majority of genes are alternatively spliced and growing evidence suggests that alternative splicing is modified in cancer and is associated with cancer progression. Systematic analysis of alternative splicing signature in ovarian cancer is lacking and greatly needed. We profiled genome-wide alternative splicing events in 408 ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (OV) patients in TCGA. Seven types of alternative splicing events were curated and prognostic analyses were performed with predictive models and splicing network built for OV patients. Among 48,049 mRNA splicing events in 10,582 genes, we detected 2,611 alternative splicing events in 2,036 genes which were significant associated with overall survival of OV patients. Exon skip events were the most powerful prognostic factors among the seven types. The area under the curve of the receiver-operator characteristic curve for prognostic predictor, which was built with top significant alternative splicing events, was 0.937 at 2,000 days of overall survival, indicating powerful efficiency in distinguishing patient outcome. Interestingly, splicing correlation network suggested obvious trends in the role of splicing factors in OV. In summary, we built powerful prognostic predictors for OV patients and uncovered interesting splicing networks which could be underlying mechanisms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Zeros of the partition function for some generalized Ising models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunlop, F.

    1981-01-01

    The author considers generalized Ising Models with two and four body interactions in a complex external field h such that Re h>=mod(Im h) + C, where C is an explicit function of the interaction parameters. The partition function Z(h) is then shown to satisfy mod(Z(h))>=Z(c), so that the pressure is analytic in h inside the given region. The method is applied to specific examples: the gauge invariant Ising Model, and the Widom Rowlinson model on the lattice. (Auth.)

  13. The In Situ Enzymatic Screening (ISES) Approach to Reaction Discovery and Catalyst Identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swyka, Robert A; Berkowitz, David B

    2017-12-14

    The importance of discovering new chemical transformations and/or optimizing catalytic combinations has led to a flurry of activity in reaction screening. The in situ enzymatic screening (ISES) approach described here utilizes biological tools (enzymes/cofactors) to advance chemistry. The protocol interfaces an organic reaction layer with an adjacent aqueous layer containing reporting enzymes that act upon the organic reaction product, giving rise to a spectroscopic signal. ISES allows the experimentalist to rapidly glean information on the relative rates of a set of parallel organic/organometallic reactions under investigation, without the need to quench the reactions or draw aliquots. In certain cases, the real-time enzymatic readout also provides information on sense and magnitude of enantioselectivity and substrate specificity. This article contains protocols for single-well (relative rate) and double-well (relative rate/enantiomeric excess) ISES, in addition to a colorimetric ISES protocol and a miniaturized double-well procedure. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  14. Exact solutions to plaquette Ising models with free and periodic boundaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller, Marco; Johnston, Desmond A.; Janke, Wolfhard

    2017-01-01

    An anisotropic limit of the 3d plaquette Ising model, in which the plaquette couplings in one direction were set to zero, was solved for free boundary conditions by Suzuki (1972) , who later dubbed it the fuki-nuke, or “no-ceiling”, model. Defining new spin variables as the product of nearest-neighbour spins transforms the Hamiltonian into that of a stack of (standard) 2d Ising models and reveals the planar nature of the magnetic order, which is also present in the fully isotropic 3d plaquette model. More recently, the solution of the fuki-nuke model was discussed for periodic boundary conditions, which require a different approach to defining the product spin transformation, by Castelnovo et al. (2010) . We clarify the exact relation between partition functions with free and periodic boundary conditions expressed in terms of original and product spin variables for the 2d plaquette and 3d fuki-nuke models, noting that the differences are already present in the 1d Ising model. In addition, we solve the 2d plaquette Ising model with helical boundary conditions. The various exactly solved examples illustrate how correlations can be induced in finite systems as a consequence of the choice of boundary conditions.

  15. Antisense Oligonucleotide-based Splice Correction for USH2A-associated Retinal Degeneration Caused by a Frequent Deep-intronic Mutation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radulfus WN Slijkerman

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Usher syndrome (USH is the most common cause of combined deaf-blindness in man. The hearing loss can be partly compensated by providing patients with hearing aids or cochlear implants, but the loss of vision is currently untreatable. In general, mutations in the USH2A gene are the most frequent cause of USH explaining up to 50% of all patients worldwide. The first deep-intronic mutation in the USH2A gene (c.7595-2144A>G was reported in 2012, leading to the insertion of a pseudoexon (PE40 into the mature USH2A transcript. When translated, this PE40-containing transcript is predicted to result in a truncated non-functional USH2A protein. In this study, we explored the potential of antisense oligonucleotides (AONs to prevent aberrant splicing of USH2A pre-mRNA as a consequence of the c.7595-2144A>G mutation. Engineered 2'-O-methylphosphorothioate AONs targeting the PE40 splice acceptor site and/or exonic splice enhancer regions displayed significant splice correction potential in both patient derived fibroblasts and a minigene splice assay for USH2A c.7595-2144A>G, whereas a non-binding sense oligonucleotide had no effect on splicing. Altogether, AON-based splice correction could be a promising approach for the development of a future treatment for USH2A-associated retinitis pigmentosa caused by the deep-intronic c.7595-2144A>G mutation.

  16. Fox-2 Splicing Factor Binds to a Conserved Intron Motif to PromoteInclusion of Protein 4.1R Alternative Exon 16

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponthier, Julie L.; Schluepen, Christina; Chen, Weiguo; Lersch,Robert A.; Gee, Sherry L.; Hou, Victor C.; Lo, Annie J.; Short, Sarah A.; Chasis, Joel A.; Winkelmann, John C.; Conboy, John G.

    2006-03-01

    Activation of protein 4.1R exon 16 (E16) inclusion during erythropoiesis represents a physiologically important splicing switch that increases 4.1R affinity for spectrin and actin. Previous studies showed that negative regulation of E16 splicing is mediated by the binding of hnRNP A/B proteins to silencer elements in the exon and that downregulation of hnRNP A/B proteins in erythroblasts leads to activation of E16 inclusion. This paper demonstrates that positive regulation of E16 splicing can be mediated by Fox-2 or Fox-1, two closely related splicing factors that possess identical RNA recognition motifs. SELEX experiments with human Fox-1 revealed highly selective binding to the hexamer UGCAUG. Both Fox-1 and Fox-2 were able to bind the conserved UGCAUG elements in the proximal intron downstream of E16, and both could activate E16 splicing in HeLa cell co-transfection assays in a UGCAUG-dependent manner. Conversely, knockdown of Fox-2 expression, achieved with two different siRNA sequences resulted in decreased E16 splicing. Moreover, immunoblot experiments demonstrate mouse erythroblasts express Fox-2, but not Fox-1. These findings suggest that Fox-2 is a physiological activator of E16 splicing in differentiating erythroid cells in vivo. Recent experiments show that UGCAUG is present in the proximal intron sequence of many tissue-specific alternative exons, and we propose that the Fox family of splicing enhancers plays an important role in alternative splicing switches during differentiation in metazoan organisms.

  17. Effective field treatment of the annealed bond-dilute transverse Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, P.R.; Sa Barreto, F.C. de

    1983-01-01

    The dilution of the spin-1/2 transverse Ising Model is studied by means of an effective field type treatment based on an extension of Callen's relation to the present model. The thermodynamics of the diluted model is obtained and the results are shown to be an improvement over the standard mean field treatment. The results are also compared with the Monte Carlo calculation for the spin-infinite transverse Ising Model. (Author) [pt

  18. Mechanism of protein splicing of the Pyrococcus abyssi lon protease intein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Brien, Kevin M.; Schufreider, Ann K.; McGill, Melissa A.; O'Brien, Kathryn M.; Reitter, Julie N.; Mills, Kenneth V.

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → The Pyrococcus abyssi lon protease intein promotes efficient protein splicing. → Inteins with mutations that interfere with individual steps of splicing do not promote unproductive side reactions. → The intein splices with Lys in place of the highly conserved penultimate His. → The intein is flanked by a Gly-rich region at its C terminus that may increase the efficiency of the third step of splicing, Asn cyclization coupled to peptide bond cleavage. -- Abstract: Protein splicing is a post-translational process by which an intervening polypeptide, the intein, excises itself from the flanking polypeptides, the exteins, coupled to ligation of the exteins. The lon protease of Pyrococcus abyssi (Pab) is interrupted by an intein. When over-expressed as a fusion protein in Escherichia coli, the Pab lon protease intein can promote efficient protein splicing. Mutations that block individual steps of splicing generally do not lead to unproductive side reactions, suggesting that the intein tightly coordinates the splicing process. The intein can splice, although it has Lys in place of the highly conserved penultimate His, and mutants of the intein in the C-terminal region lead to the accumulation of stable branched-ester intermediate.

  19. Cell-Type-Specific Splicing of Piezo2 Regulates Mechanotransduction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcin Szczot

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Piezo2 is a mechanically activated ion channel required for touch discrimination, vibration detection, and proprioception. Here, we discovered that Piezo2 is extensively spliced, producing different Piezo2 isoforms with distinct properties. Sensory neurons from both mice and humans express a large repertoire of Piezo2 variants, whereas non-neuronal tissues express predominantly a single isoform. Notably, even within sensory ganglia, we demonstrate the splicing of Piezo2 to be cell type specific. Biophysical characterization revealed substantial differences in ion permeability, sensitivity to calcium modulation, and inactivation kinetics among Piezo2 splice variants. Together, our results describe, at the molecular level, a potential mechanism by which transduction is tuned, permitting the detection of a variety of mechanosensory stimuli. : Szczot et al. find that the mechanoreceptor Piezo2 is extensively alternatively spliced, generating multiple distinct isoforms. Their findings indicate that these splice products have specific tissue and cell type expression patterns and exhibit differences in receptor properties. Keywords: Piezo, touch, sensation, ion-channel, splicing

  20. Proceedings of the ISES Millennium Solar Forum 2000. 1. ed.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Estrada, Claudio A. [ed.

    2000-07-01

    The ISES Millennium Solar Forum 2000 was organized by the Association Nacional de Energia Solar (ANES) of Mexico, and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), in collaboration with other national and international organizations from 17 to 22 of September, 2000 in Mexico City. The Scientific-Technical Conference forms the core of this forum. This comprises of 167 papers, which were presented orally and form part of the proceedings. The papers represent the results of research and technological development effort in Renewable Energy reported by professionals and students of 22 countries. Of course, a major component is from Mexico and Latin America. Here you will find useful information on the advances in different fields of Renewable Energy. [Spanish] La Asociacion Nacional de Energia Solar A.C. (ANES) y la International Solar Society (ISES), apoyadas por organizaciones nacionales e internacionales, comprometidas con la promocion de las energias renovables organizaron el ISES Millennium Solar Forum 2000, los dias 17 a 22 de septiembre del 2000 en la Ciudad de Mexico. Como parte medular de este foro se organizo la reunion cientifico-tecnica, en donde se presentaron 167 trabajos, la mayoria de los cuales se incluyen en esta memoria. Estos trabajos representan el esfuerzo en investigacion y desarrollo tecnologico de estudiantes y profesionales de mas de 22 paises, la mayoria de Mexico y America Latina. En esta memoria se encuentran los avances mas relevantes en las distintas areas de especializacion de las energias renovables.

  1. The Influence of Participation in Sustainability Index (ISE in the Financial Performance of Business

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Tatiane Vital

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to compare the performance, through certain financial indicators, including companies in the guide of the 500 biggest and best companies of Exame Magazine, forming part of the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE and companies who do not. The primary purpose of ISE is to see the return of a portfolio composed of shares of companies committed to social responsibility and corporate sustainability. This research is classified as being descriptive and largely qualitative. The financial indicators examined in this study were: sales (value and growth, Net Income, Profitability, Net Working Capital, Liquidity, General Debt, Long Term Debt, EBITA and Indicators of export. After the analysis we can conclude that the companies participating in the ISE have greater potential for sales and exports. Companies that are not part of the ISE have better financial performance.

  2. WEAK EFFICIENCY ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE MARKET: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON ISE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SİBEL DUMAN ATAN

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Markets which returns of share certificate are reflected completely whole information, describe as effective. In a weak-form efficiency market, all past price activity were reflected with current price and it isn’t obtaining an above the normal return to use with past price activity in markets. In this paper, we aim to provide the efficiency level of ISE market using fifteen minutes and session frequency data for the 03 January 2003 – 30 December 2005 period. In order to test the efficiency of ISE we use firstly ADF and KPSS unit root tests and secondly ELW fractionally integrated estimator developed by Shimotsu and Philips (2005. According to application we found that ISE is weakly efficient market.

  3. Universal amplitude ratios in the 3D Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caselle, M.; Hasenbusch, M.

    1998-01-01

    We present a high precision Monte Carlo study of various universal amplitude ratios of the three dimensional Ising spin model. Using state of the art simulation techniques we studied the model close to criticality in both phases. Great care was taken to control systematic errors due to finite size effects and correction to scaling terms. We obtain C + /C - =4.75(3), f +,2nd /f -,2nd =1.95(2) and u * =14.3(1). Our results are compatible with those obtained by field theoretic methods applied to the φ 4 theory and high and low temperature series expansions of the Ising model. (orig.)

  4. Ising Processing Units: Potential and Challenges for Discrete Optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coffrin, Carleton James [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Nagarajan, Harsha [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bent, Russell Whitford [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-07-05

    The recent emergence of novel computational devices, such as adiabatic quantum computers, CMOS annealers, and optical parametric oscillators, presents new opportunities for hybrid-optimization algorithms that leverage these kinds of specialized hardware. In this work, we propose the idea of an Ising processing unit as a computational abstraction for these emerging tools. Challenges involved in using and bench- marking these devices are presented, and open-source software tools are proposed to address some of these challenges. The proposed benchmarking tools and methodology are demonstrated by conducting a baseline study of established solution methods to a D-Wave 2X adiabatic quantum computer, one example of a commercially available Ising processing unit.

  5. Effective-field treatment of an anisotropic Ising ferromagnet: thermodynamical properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarmento, E.F.; Honmura, R.; Tsallis, C.

    1982-01-01

    The anisotropic square lattice spin -1/2 Ising ferromagnet is discussed. Through this system it is illustrated how all relevant thermodynamical quantities (phase diagram, magnetization, short range order parameter, specific heat and susceptibility) can be approximatively calculated within an effective-field unified procedure (which substantially improves the Mean Field Approximation). Two slightly different approximations for the susceptibility (whose exact computation is still lacking) are presented. The (square lattice) - (linear chain) crossover is exhibited. The present (mathematically simple) procedures could be useful in the study of complex Ising problems. (Author) [pt

  6. Phase diagrams of diluted transverse Ising nanowire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bouhou, S.; Essaoudi, I. [Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux et Modélisation, des Systèmes, (LP2MS), Unité Associée au CNRST-URAC 08, University of Moulay Ismail, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, B.P. 11201 Meknes (Morocco); Ainane, A., E-mail: ainane@pks.mpg.de [Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux et Modélisation, des Systèmes, (LP2MS), Unité Associée au CNRST-URAC 08, University of Moulay Ismail, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, B.P. 11201 Meknes (Morocco); Max-Planck-Institut für Physik Complexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38 D-01187 Dresden (Germany); Saber, M. [Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux et Modélisation, des Systèmes, (LP2MS), Unité Associée au CNRST-URAC 08, University of Moulay Ismail, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, B.P. 11201 Meknes (Morocco); Max-Planck-Institut für Physik Complexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38 D-01187 Dresden (Germany); Ahuja, R. [Condensed Matter Theory Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120 Uppsala (Sweden); Dujardin, F. [Laboratoire de Chimie et Physique des Milieux Complexes (LCPMC), Institut de Chimie, Physique et Matériaux (ICPM), 1 Bd. Arago, 57070 Metz (France)

    2013-06-15

    In this paper, the phase diagrams of diluted Ising nanowire consisting of core and surface shell coupling by J{sub cs} exchange interaction are studied using the effective field theory with a probability distribution technique, in the presence of transverse fields in the core and in the surface shell. We find a number of characteristic phenomena. In particular, the effect of concentration c of magnetic atoms, the exchange interaction core/shell, the exchange in surface and the transverse fields in core and in surface shell of phase diagrams are investigated. - Highlights: ► We use the EFT to investigate the phase diagrams of Ising transverse nanowire. ► Ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic cases are investigated. ► The effects of the dilution and the transverse fields in core and shell are studied. ► Behavior of the transition temperature with the exchange interaction is given.

  7. Long-range transverse Ising model built with dipolar condensates in two-well arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Yongyao; Pang, Wei; Xu, Jun; Lee, Chaohong; Malomed, Boris A; Santos, Luis

    2017-01-01

    Dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates in an array of double-well potentials realize an effective transverse Ising model with peculiar inter-layer interactions, that may result under proper conditions in an anomalous first-order ferromagnetic–antiferromagnetic phase transition, and non-trivial phases due to frustration. The considered setup allows as well for the study of Kibble–Zurek defect formation, whose kink statistics follows that expected from the universality class of the mean-field one-dimensional transverse Ising model. Furthermore, random occupation of each layer of the stack leads to random effective Ising interactions and local transverse fields, that may lead to the Anderson-like localization of imbalance perturbations. (paper)

  8. A Challenging Pie to Splice: Drugging the Spliceosome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    León, Brian; Kashyap, Manoj K; Chan, Warren C; Krug, Kelsey A; Castro, Januario E; La Clair, James J; Burkart, Michael D

    2017-09-25

    Since its discovery in 1977, the study of alternative RNA splicing has revealed a plethora of mechanisms that had never before been documented in nature. Understanding these transitions and their outcome at the level of the cell and organism has become one of the great frontiers of modern chemical biology. Until 2007, this field remained in the hands of RNA biologists. However, the recent identification of natural product and synthetic modulators of RNA splicing has opened new access to this field, allowing for the first time a chemical-based interrogation of RNA splicing processes. Simultaneously, we have begun to understand the vital importance of splicing in disease, which offers a new platform for molecular discovery and therapy. As with many natural systems, gaining clear mechanistic detail at the molecular level is key towards understanding the operation of any biological machine. This minireview presents recent lessons learned in this emerging field of RNA splicing chemistry and chemical biology. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. Splice Site Mutations in the ATP7A Gene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skjørringe, Tina; Tümer, Zeynep; Møller, Lisbeth Birk

    2011-01-01

    Menkes disease (MD) is caused by mutations in the ATP7A gene. We describe 33 novel splice site mutations detected in patients with MD or the milder phenotypic form, Occipital Horn Syndrome. We review these 33 mutations together with 28 previously published splice site mutations. We investigate 12...... mutations for their effect on the mRNA transcript in vivo. Transcriptional data from another 16 mutations were collected from the literature. The theoretical consequences of splice site mutations, predicted with the bioinformatics tool Human Splice Finder, were investigated and evaluated in relation...... to in vivo results. Ninety-six percent of the mutations identified in 45 patients with classical MD were predicted to have a significant effect on splicing, which concurs with the absence of any detectable wild-type transcript in all 19 patients investigated in vivo. Sixty-seven percent of the mutations...

  10. ISEE/IMP Observations of simultaneous upstream ion events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchel, D.G.; Roelof, E.C.; Sanderson, T.R.; Reinhard, R.; Wenzel, K.

    1983-01-01

    Propagation of upstream energetic (50--200 keV) ions is analyzed in sixteen events observed simulataneously by solid state detectors on ISEE 3 at approx.200 R/sub E/ and on IMP 8 at approx.35 R/sub E/ from the earth. Conclusions are based on comparisons of the pitch angle distributions observed at the two spacecraft and transformed into the solar wind frame. They are beamlike at ISEE 3 and are confined to the outward hemisphere. When IMP 8 is furtherest from the bow shock, they are also usually beamlike, or hemispheric. However, when IMP 8 is closer to the bow shock, pancakelike distributions are observed. This systematic variation in the IMP 8 pitch angle distributions delimits a scattering region l< or approx. =14 R/sub E/ upstream of the earth's bow shock (l measured along the interplanetary magnetic field) that dominates ion propagation, influences the global distribution of fluxes in the foreshock, and may play a role in acceleration of the ions. When IMP 8 is beyond lapprox.15 R/sub E/, the propagation appears to be essentially scatter-free between IMP 8 and ISEE 3; this is deduced from the absence of earthward fluxes at IMP 8 as well as the tendency for the spin-averaged fluxes to be comparable at the two spacecraft

  11. Exact sampling hardness of Ising spin models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fefferman, B.; Foss-Feig, M.; Gorshkov, A. V.

    2017-09-01

    We study the complexity of classically sampling from the output distribution of an Ising spin model, which can be implemented naturally in a variety of atomic, molecular, and optical systems. In particular, we construct a specific example of an Ising Hamiltonian that, after time evolution starting from a trivial initial state, produces a particular output configuration with probability very nearly proportional to the square of the permanent of a matrix with arbitrary integer entries. In a similar spirit to boson sampling, the ability to sample classically from the probability distribution induced by time evolution under this Hamiltonian would imply unlikely complexity theoretic consequences, suggesting that the dynamics of such a spin model cannot be efficiently simulated with a classical computer. Physical Ising spin systems capable of achieving problem-size instances (i.e., qubit numbers) large enough so that classical sampling of the output distribution is classically difficult in practice may be achievable in the near future. Unlike boson sampling, our current results only imply hardness of exact classical sampling, leaving open the important question of whether a much stronger approximate-sampling hardness result holds in this context. The latter is most likely necessary to enable a convincing experimental demonstration of quantum supremacy. As referenced in a recent paper [A. Bouland, L. Mancinska, and X. Zhang, in Proceedings of the 31st Conference on Computational Complexity (CCC 2016), Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, Dagstuhl, 2016)], our result completes the sampling hardness classification of two-qubit commuting Hamiltonians.

  12. Reflections on protein splicing: structures, functions and mechanisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anraku, Yasuhiro; Satow, Yoshinori

    2009-01-01

    Twenty years ago, evidence that one gene produces two enzymes via protein splicing emerged from structural and expression studies of the VMA1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. VMA1 consists of a single open reading frame and contains two independent genetic information for Vma1p (a catalytic 70-kDa subunit of the vacuolar H+-ATPase) and VDE (a 50-kDa DNA endonuclease) as an in-frame spliced insert in the gene. Protein splicing is a posttranslational cellular process, in which an intervening polypeptide termed as the VMA1 intein is self-catalytically excised out from a nascent 120-kDa VMA1 precursor and two flanking polypeptides of the N- and C-exteins are ligated to produce the mature Vma1p. Subsequent studies have demonstrated that protein splicing is not unique to the VMA1 precursor and there are many operons in nature, which implement genetic information editing at protein level. To elucidate its structure-directed chemical mechanisms, a series of biochemical and crystal structural studies has been carried out with the use of various VMA1 recombinants. This article summarizes a VDE-mediated self-catalytic mechanism for protein splicing that is triggered and terminated solely via thiazolidine intermediates with tetrahedral configurations formed within the splicing sites where proton ingress and egress are driven by balanced protonation and deprotonation. PMID:19907126

  13. Quantum kinetic Ising models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augusiak, R; Cucchietti, F M; Lewenstein, M; Haake, F

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a quantum generalization of classical kinetic Ising models (KIM), described by a certain class of quantum many-body master equations. Similarly to KIMs with detailed balance that are equivalent to certain Hamiltonian systems, our models reduce to a set of Hamiltonian systems determining the dynamics of the elements of the many-body density matrix. The ground states of these Hamiltonians are well described by the matrix product, or pair entangled projected states. We discuss critical properties of such Hamiltonians, as well as entanglement properties of their low-energy states.

  14. ISEE observations of radiation at twice the solar wind plasma frequency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lacombe, C.; Harvey, C.C.; Hoang, S.

    1988-01-01

    Radiation produced in the vicinity of the Earth's bow shock at twice the solar wind electron plasma frequency f p is seen by both ISEE-1 and ISEE-3, respectively at about 20 and about 200 R E from the Earth. This electromagnetic radiation is due to the presence, in the electron foreshock, of electrons reflected and accelerated at the Earth's bow shock. We show that the source is near the upstream boundary of the foreshock, the surface where the magnetic field lines are tangent to the bow shock. A typical diameter of the source is 120-150 R E . Emissivity is given. The angular size of the source, seen by ISEE-3, is increased by scattering of the 2f p radio waves on the solar wind density fluctuations. We examine whether the bandwidth and directivity predicted by current source models are consistent with our observations

  15. ISE and Chemfet sensors in greenhouse cultivation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gieling, T.H.; Straten, van G.; Janssen, H.J.J.; Wouters, H.

    2005-01-01

    The development and market introduction of ion-specific sensors, like the ion selective electrode (ISE) and ion selective field effect transistor (ISFET) sensor, has paved the way for completely new systems for application of fertilisers to crops in greenhouses. This paper illustrates the usefulness

  16. Muscle-Specific Mis-Splicing and Heart Disease Exemplified by RBM20.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rexiati, Maimaiti; Sun, Mingming; Guo, Wei

    2018-01-05

    Alternative splicing is an essential post-transcriptional process to generate multiple functional RNAs or proteins from a single transcript. Progress in RNA biology has led to a better understanding of muscle-specific RNA splicing in heart disease. The recent discovery of the muscle-specific splicing factor RNA-binding motif 20 (RBM20) not only provided great insights into the general alternative splicing mechanism but also demonstrated molecular mechanism of how this splicing factor is associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. Here, we review our current knowledge of muscle-specific splicing factors and heart disease, with an emphasis on RBM20 and its targets, RBM20-dependent alternative splicing mechanism, RBM20 disease origin in induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), and RBM20 mutations in dilated cardiomyopathy. In the end, we will discuss the multifunctional role of RBM20 and manipulation of RBM20 as a potential therapeutic target for heart disease.

  17. ISEE-magnetopause observations - workshop results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paschmann, G.

    1982-01-01

    A brief history of ISEE magnetopause workshops held during 1977-1981 is presented, and an assessment of the activity of these workshops is made. Workshop results are surveyed, with attention given to magnetopause thickness and speed, large-scale reconnection, small-scale reconnection, magnetic field topology, plasma waves, boundary layer structure, surface waves, plasma origin, and the relationship between magnetopause and particle boundaries. Finally, a few topics that require particular attention in the future are mentioned

  18. Effective field renormalization group approach for Ising lattice spin systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fittipaldi, Ivon P.

    1994-03-01

    A new applicable real-space renormalization group framework (EFRG) for computing the critical properties of Ising lattice spin systems is presented. The method, which follows up the same strategy of the mean-field renormalization group scheme (MFRG), is based on rigorous Ising spin identities and utilizes a convenient differential operator expansion technique. Within this scheme, in contrast with the usual mean-field type of equation of state, all the relevant self-spin correlations are taken exactly into account. The results for the critical coupling and the critical exponent v, for the correlation length, are very satisfactory and it is shown that this technique leads to rather accurate results which represent a remarkable improvement on those obtained from the standard MFRG method. In particular, it is shown that the present EFRG approach correctly distinguishes the geometry of the lattice structure even when employing its simplest size-cluster version. Owing to its simplicity we also comment on the wide applicability of the present method to problems in crystalline and disordered Ising spin systems.

  19. Systematic Analysis of Splice-Site-Creating Mutations in Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayasinghe, Reyka G; Cao, Song; Gao, Qingsong; Wendl, Michael C; Vo, Nam Sy; Reynolds, Sheila M; Zhao, Yanyan; Climente-González, Héctor; Chai, Shengjie; Wang, Fang; Varghese, Rajees; Huang, Mo; Liang, Wen-Wei; Wyczalkowski, Matthew A; Sengupta, Sohini; Li, Zhi; Payne, Samuel H; Fenyö, David; Miner, Jeffrey H; Walter, Matthew J; Vincent, Benjamin; Eyras, Eduardo; Chen, Ken; Shmulevich, Ilya; Chen, Feng; Ding, Li

    2018-04-03

    For the past decade, cancer genomic studies have focused on mutations leading to splice-site disruption, overlooking those having splice-creating potential. Here, we applied a bioinformatic tool, MiSplice, for the large-scale discovery of splice-site-creating mutations (SCMs) across 8,656 TCGA tumors. We report 1,964 originally mis-annotated mutations having clear evidence of creating alternative splice junctions. TP53 and GATA3 have 26 and 18 SCMs, respectively, and ATRX has 5 from lower-grade gliomas. Mutations in 11 genes, including PARP1, BRCA1, and BAP1, were experimentally validated for splice-site-creating function. Notably, we found that neoantigens induced by SCMs are likely several folds more immunogenic compared to missense mutations, exemplified by the recurrent GATA3 SCM. Further, high expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 was observed in tumors with SCMs, suggesting candidates for immune blockade therapy. Our work highlights the importance of integrating DNA and RNA data for understanding the functional and the clinical implications of mutations in human diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Ecological risk assessment of TBT in Ise Bay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Joji; Yonezawa, Yoshitaka; Nakata, Kisaburo; Horiguchi, Fumio

    2009-02-01

    An ecological risk assessment of tributyltin (TBT) in Ise Bay was conducted using the margin of exposure (MOE) method. The assessment endpoint was defined to protect the survival, growth and reproduction of marine organisms. Sources of TBT in this study were assumed to be commercial vessels in harbors and navigation routes. Concentrations of TBT in Ise Bay were estimated using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, an ecosystem model and a chemical fate model. Estimated MOEs for marine organisms for 1990 and 2008 were approximately 0.1-2.0 and over 100 respectively, indicating a declining temporal trend in the probability of adverse effects. The chemical fate model predicts a much longer persistence of TBT in sediments than in the water column. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the harmful effects of TBT on benthic organisms.

  1. Herboxidiene triggers splicing repression and abiotic stress responses in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Alshareef, Sahar

    2017-03-27

    Background Constitutive and alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs from multiexonic genes controls the diversity of the proteome; these precisely regulated processes also fine-tune responses to cues related to growth, development, and stresses. Small-molecule inhibitors that perturb splicing provide invaluable tools for use as chemical probes to uncover the molecular underpinnings of splicing regulation and as potential anticancer compounds. Results Here, we show that herboxidiene (GEX1A) inhibits both constitutive and alternative splicing. Moreover, GEX1A activates genome-wide transcriptional patterns involved in abiotic stress responses in plants. GEX1A treatment -activated ABA-inducible promoters, and led to stomatal closure. Interestingly, GEX1A and pladienolide B (PB) elicited similar cellular changes, including alterations in the patterns of transcription and splicing, suggesting that these compounds might target the same spliceosome complex in plant cells. Conclusions Our study establishes GEX1A as a potent splicing inhibitor in plants that can be used to probe the assembly, dynamics, and molecular functions of the spliceosome and to study the interplay between splicing stress and abiotic stresses, as well as having potential biotechnological applications.

  2. The Splicing Efficiency of Activating HRAS Mutations Can Determine Costello Syndrome Phenotype and Frequency in Cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne-Mette Hartung

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Costello syndrome (CS may be caused by activating mutations in codon 12/13 of the HRAS proto-oncogene. HRAS p.Gly12Val mutations have the highest transforming activity, are very frequent in cancers, but very rare in CS, where they are reported to cause a severe, early lethal, phenotype. We identified an unusual, new germline p.Gly12Val mutation, c.35_36GC>TG, in a 12-year-old boy with attenuated CS. Analysis of his HRAS cDNA showed high levels of exon 2 skipping. Using wild type and mutant HRAS minigenes, we confirmed that c.35_36GC>TG results in exon 2 skipping by simultaneously disrupting the function of a critical Exonic Splicing Enhancer (ESE and creation of an Exonic Splicing Silencer (ESS. We show that this vulnerability of HRAS exon 2 is caused by a weak 3' splice site, which makes exon 2 inclusion dependent on binding of splicing stimulatory proteins, like SRSF2, to the critical ESE. Because the majority of cancer- and CS- causing mutations are located here, they affect splicing differently. Therefore, our results also demonstrate that the phenotype in CS and somatic cancers is not only determined by the different transforming potentials of mutant HRAS proteins, but also by the efficiency of exon 2 inclusion resulting from the different HRAS mutations. Finally, we show that a splice switching oligonucleotide (SSO that blocks access to the critical ESE causes exon 2 skipping and halts proliferation of cancer cells. This unravels a potential for development of new anti-cancer therapies based on SSO-mediated HRAS exon 2 skipping.

  3. Magnetic properties and thermodynamics of decorated Ising chain with pendants of arbitrary spin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li Wei, E-mail: liwei-b09@mails.gucas.ac.c [College of Physical Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 4588, Beijing 100049 (China); Department of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Gong Shoushu [College of Physical Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 4588, Beijing 100049 (China); Chen Ziyu [Department of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Zhao Yang [College of Physical Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 4588, Beijing 100049 (China); Su Gang, E-mail: gsu@gucas.ac.c [College of Physical Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 4588, Beijing 100049 (China)

    2010-05-31

    The decorated Ising chain with pendants of arbitrary spin and the single-ion anisotropy is exactly solved by the transfer matrix method. The solutions reveal abundant novel properties than the conventional one-dimensional Ising model. It is compared with the experimental data of a necklace-like molecule-based magnet, that gives a qualitative consistency.

  4. Magnetic properties and thermodynamics of decorated Ising chain with pendants of arbitrary spin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Wei; Gong Shoushu; Chen Ziyu; Zhao Yang; Su Gang

    2010-01-01

    The decorated Ising chain with pendants of arbitrary spin and the single-ion anisotropy is exactly solved by the transfer matrix method. The solutions reveal abundant novel properties than the conventional one-dimensional Ising model. It is compared with the experimental data of a necklace-like molecule-based magnet, that gives a qualitative consistency.

  5. Phi4 lattice field theory as an asymptotic expansion about the Ising limit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caginalp, G.

    1980-01-01

    For a d-dimensional phi 4 lattice field theory consisting of N spins, an asymptotic expansion of expectations about the Ising limit is established in inverse powers of the bare coupling constant lambda. In the thermodynamic limit (N→infinity), the expansion is expected to be valid in the noncritical region of the Ising system

  6. Differential splicing and glycosylation of Apoer2 alters synaptic plasticity and fear learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wasser, Catherine R; Masiulis, Irene; Durakoglugil, Murat S; Lane-Donovan, Courtney; Xian, Xunde; Beffert, Uwe; Agarwala, Anandita; Hammer, Robert E; Herz, Joachim

    2014-11-25

    Apoer2 is an essential receptor in the central nervous system that binds to the apolipoprotein ApoE. Various splice variants of Apoer2 are produced. We showed that Apoer2 lacking exon 16, which encodes the O-linked sugar (OLS) domain, altered the proteolytic processing and abundance of Apoer2 in cells and synapse number and function in mice. In cultured cells expressing this splice variant, extracellular cleavage of OLS-deficient Apoer2 was reduced, consequently preventing γ-secretase-dependent release of the intracellular domain of Apoer2. Mice expressing Apoer2 lacking the OLS domain had increased Apoer2 abundance in the brain, hippocampal spine density, and glutamate receptor abundance, but decreased synaptic efficacy. Mice expressing a form of Apoer2 lacking the OLS domain and containing an alternatively spliced cytoplasmic tail region that promotes glutamate receptor signaling showed enhanced hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a phenomenon associated with learning and memory. However, these mice did not display enhanced spatial learning in the Morris water maze, and cued fear conditioning was reduced. Reducing the expression of the mutant Apoer2 allele so that the abundance of the protein was similar to that of Apoer2 in wild-type mice normalized spine density, hippocampal LTP, and cued fear learning. These findings demonstrated a role for ApoE receptors as regulators of synaptic glutamate receptor activity and established differential receptor glycosylation as a potential regulator of synaptic function and memory. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  7. The evolutionary landscape of intergenic trans-splicing events in insects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Yimeng; Zhou, Hongxia; Yu, Yao; Chen, Longxian; Hao, Pei; Li, Xuan

    2015-01-01

    To explore the landscape of intergenic trans-splicing events and characterize their functions and evolutionary dynamics, we conduct a mega-data study of a phylogeny containing eight species across five orders of class Insecta, a model system spanning 400 million years of evolution. A total of 1,627 trans-splicing events involving 2,199 genes are identified, accounting for 1.58% of the total genes. Homology analysis reveals that mod(mdg4)-like trans-splicing is the only conserved event that is consistently observed in multiple species across two orders, which represents a unique case of functional diversification involving trans-splicing. Thus, evolutionarily its potential for generating proteins with novel function is not broadly utilized by insects. Furthermore, 146 non-mod trans-spliced transcripts are found to resemble canonical genes from different species. Trans-splicing preserving the function of ‘breakup' genes may serve as a general mechanism for relaxing the constraints on gene structure, with profound implications for the evolution of genes and genomes. PMID:26521696

  8. Non-Abelian anyons: when Ising meets Fibonacci

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grosfeld, E.; Schoutens, K.

    2009-01-01

    We consider an interface between two non-Abelian quantum Hall states: the Moore-Read state, supporting Ising anyons, and the k=2 non-Abelian spin-singlet state, supporting Fibonacci anyons. It is shown that the interface supports neutral excitations described by a (1+1)-dimensional conformal field

  9. Dynamics of the Random Field Ising Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jian

    The Random Field Ising Model (RFIM) is a general tool to study disordered systems. Crackling noise is generated when disordered systems are driven by external forces, spanning a broad range of sizes. Systems with different microscopic structures such as disordered mag- nets and Earth's crust have been studied under the RFIM. In this thesis, we investigated the domain dynamics and critical behavior in two dipole-coupled Ising ferromagnets Nd2Fe14B and LiHoxY 1-xF4. With Tc well above room temperature, Nd2Fe14B has shown reversible disorder when exposed to an external transverse field and crosses between two universality classes in the strong and weak disorder limits. Besides tunable disorder, LiHoxY1-xF4 has shown quantum tunneling effects arising from quantum fluctuations, providing another mechanism for domain reversal. Universality within and beyond power law dependence on avalanche size and energy were studied in LiHo0.65Y0.35 F4.

  10. Precision islands in the Ising and O(N) models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kos, Filip [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); Poland, David [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States); Simmons-Duffin, David [School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States); Vichi, Alessandro [Theory Division, CERN, Geneva (Switzerland)

    2016-08-04

    We make precise determinations of the leading scaling dimensions and operator product expansion (OPE) coefficients in the 3d Ising, O(2), and O(3) models from the conformal bootstrap with mixed correlators. We improve on previous studies by scanning over possible relative values of the leading OPE coefficients, which incorporates the physical information that there is only a single operator at a given scaling dimension. The scaling dimensions and OPE coefficients obtained for the 3d Ising model, (Δ{sub σ},Δ{sub ϵ},λ{sub σσϵ},λ{sub ϵϵϵ})=(0.5181489(10),1.412625(10),1.0518537(41),1.532435(19)), give the most precise determinations of these quantities to date.

  11. Precision Islands in the Ising and $O(N)$ Models

    CERN Document Server

    Kos, Filip; Simmons-Duffin, David; Vichi, Alessandro

    2016-01-01

    We make precise determinations of the leading scaling dimensions and operator product expansion (OPE) coefficients in the 3d Ising, $O(2)$, and $O(3)$ models from the conformal bootstrap with mixed correlators. We improve on previous studies by scanning over possible relative values of the leading OPE coefficients, which incorporates the physical information that there is only a single operator at a given scaling dimension. The scaling dimensions and OPE coefficients obtained for the 3d Ising model, $(\\Delta_{\\sigma}, \\Delta_{\\epsilon},\\lambda_{\\sigma\\sigma\\epsilon}, \\lambda_{\\epsilon\\epsilon\\epsilon}) = (0.5181489(10), 1.412625(10), 1.0518537(41), 1.532435(19))$, give the most precise determinations of these quantities to date.

  12. Splicing Regulatory Elements and mRNA-abundance of dlg1 and capt, Genetically Interacting with dFMRP in Drosophila Brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Petrova

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available To further understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the disease, we used the Drososphila FraX model and investigated a not well studied role of Drosophila Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (dFMRP in alternative splicing of neuronal mRNAs to which it binds via a G-quartet sequence. By means of qRT-PCR we established the relative abundance of some isoforms of the gene dlg1, resulting from alternative exon skipping nearby a G-quartet and an exonic ESE-sequence, both acting as exonic splicing enhancers. We also investigated the relative mRNA-abundance of all capt-isoforms and the pre-mRNAs of both genes. We proposed a possible involvement of dFMRP in alternative splicing of genes, interacting with dfmr1. In the absence of dFMRP in larval and pupal brains, we found a change in the mRNA-level of one of the studied isoforms of dlg1 and of its pre-mRNA.We also established previously reported splicing regulatory elements and predicted computationally novel hexamere sequences in the exonic/intronic ends of both genes with p upative regulatory roles in alternative splicing.

  13. Alternative splicing: the pledge, the turn, and the prestige : The key role of alternative splicing in human biological systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallego-Paez, L M; Bordone, M C; Leote, A C; Saraiva-Agostinho, N; Ascensão-Ferreira, M; Barbosa-Morais, N L

    2017-09-01

    Alternative pre-mRNA splicing is a tightly controlled process conducted by the spliceosome, with the assistance of several regulators, resulting in the expression of different transcript isoforms from the same gene and increasing both transcriptome and proteome complexity. The differences between alternative isoforms may be subtle but enough to change the function or localization of the translated proteins. A fine control of the isoform balance is, therefore, needed throughout developmental stages and adult tissues or physiological conditions and it does not come as a surprise that several diseases are caused by its deregulation. In this review, we aim to bring the splicing machinery on stage and raise the curtain on its mechanisms and regulation throughout several systems and tissues of the human body, from neurodevelopment to the interactions with the human microbiome. We discuss, on one hand, the essential role of alternative splicing in assuring tissue function, diversity, and swiftness of response in these systems or tissues, and on the other hand, what goes wrong when its regulatory mechanisms fail. We also focus on the possibilities that splicing modulation therapies open for the future of personalized medicine, along with the leading techniques in this field. The final act of the spliceosome, however, is yet to be fully revealed, as more knowledge is needed regarding the complex regulatory network that coordinates alternative splicing and how its dysfunction leads to disease.

  14. Ground-state candidate for the classical dipolar kagome Ising antiferromagnet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chioar, I. A.; Rougemaille, N.; Canals, B.

    2016-06-01

    We have investigated the low-temperature thermodynamic properties of the classical dipolar kagome Ising antiferromagnet using Monte Carlo simulations, in the quest for the ground-state manifold. In spite of the limitations of a single-spin-flip approach, we managed to identify certain ordering patterns in the low-temperature regime and we propose a candidate for this unknown state. This configuration presents some intriguing features and is fully compatible with the extrapolations of the at-equilibrium thermodynamic behavior sampled so far, making it a very likely choice for the dipolar long-range ordered state of the classical kagome Ising antiferromagnet.

  15. Conditional Toxin Splicing Using a Split Intein System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alford, Spencer C; O'Sullivan, Connor; Howard, Perry L

    2017-01-01

    Protein toxin splicing mediated by split inteins can be used as a strategy for conditional cell ablation. The approach requires artificial fragmentation of a potent protein toxin and tethering each toxin fragment to a split intein fragment. The toxin-intein fragments are, in turn, fused to dimerization domains, such that addition of a dimerizing agent reconstitutes the split intein. These chimeric toxin-intein fusions remain nontoxic until the dimerizer is added, resulting in activation of intein splicing and ligation of toxin fragments to form an active toxin. Considerations for the engineering and implementation of conditional toxin splicing (CTS) systems include: choice of toxin split site, split site (extein) chemistry, and temperature sensitivity. The following method outlines design criteria and implementation notes for CTS using a previously engineered system for splicing a toxin called sarcin, as well as for developing alternative CTS systems.

  16. Widespread Inhibition of Posttranscriptional Splicing Shapes the Cellular Transcriptome following Heat Shock

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reut Shalgi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available During heat shock and other proteotoxic stresses, cells regulate multiple steps in gene expression in order to globally repress protein synthesis and selectively upregulate stress response proteins. Splicing of several mRNAs is known to be inhibited during heat stress, often meditated by SRp38, but the extent and specificity of this effect have remained unclear. Here, we examined splicing regulation genome-wide during heat shock in mouse fibroblasts. We observed widespread retention of introns in transcripts from ∼1,700 genes, which were enriched for tRNA synthetase, nuclear pore, and spliceosome functions. Transcripts with retained introns were largely nuclear and untranslated. However, a group of 580+ genes biased for oxidation reduction and protein folding functions continued to be efficiently spliced. Interestingly, these unaffected transcripts are mostly cotranscriptionally spliced under both normal and stress conditions, whereas splicing-inhibited transcripts are mostly spliced posttranscriptionally. Altogether, our data demonstrate widespread repression of splicing in the mammalian heat stress response, disproportionately affecting posttranscriptionally spliced genes.

  17. The splicing factor SRSF6 is amplified and is an oncoprotein in lung and colon cancers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cohen-Eliav, Michal; Golan-Gerstl, Regina; Siegfried, Zahava

    2013-01-01

    and lung tumors and found that the gene encoding for the splicing factor SRSF6 is amplified and overexpressed in these cancers. Moreover, overexpression of SRSF6 in immortal lung epithelial cells enhanced proliferation, protected them from chemotherapy-induced cell death and converted them...

  18. A directed approach for the identification of transcripts harbouring the spliced leader sequence and the effect of trans-splicing knockdown in Schistosoma mansoni

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina de Moraes Mourao

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Schistosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by trematodes from the genus Schistosoma. Because schistosomes exhibit a complex life cycle and numerous mechanisms for regulating gene expression, it is believed that spliced leader (SL trans-splicing could play an important role in the biology of these parasites. The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of trans-splicing in Schistosoma mansoni through analysis of genes that may be regulated by this mechanism and via silencing SL-containing transcripts through RNA interference. Here, we report our analysis of SL transcript-enriched cDNA libraries from different S. mansoni life stages. Our results show that the trans-splicing mechanism is apparently not associated with specific genes, subcellular localisations or life stages. In cross-species comparisons, even though the sets of genes that are subject to SL trans-splicing regulation appear to differ between organisms, several commonly shared orthologues were observed. Knockdown of trans-spliced transcripts in sporocysts resulted in a systemic reduction of the expression levels of all tested trans-spliced transcripts; however, the only phenotypic effect observed was diminished larval size. Further studies involving the findings from this work will provide new insights into the role of trans-splicing in the biology of S. mansoni and other organisms. All Expressed Sequence Tags generated in this study were submitted to dbEST as five different libraries. The accessions for each library and for the individual sequences are as follows: (i adult worms of mixed sexes (LIBEST_027999: JZ139310 - JZ139779, (ii female adult worms (LIBEST_028000: JZ139780 - JZ140379, (iii male adult worms (LIBEST_028001: JZ140380 - JZ141002, (iv eggs (LIBEST_028002: JZ141003 - JZ141497 and (v schistosomula (LIBEST_028003: JZ141498 - JZ141974.

  19. Flexural behavior of concrete beam with mechanical splices of reinforcement subjected to cyclic loading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nab, H. S.; Kim, W. B.

    2008-01-01

    In nuclear power plant structures, the mechanical rebar splices are designated and constructed on the basis of ACI and ASME code. Regardless of good performance on mechanical rebar splices, these splicing methods that did not be registered on ASME code have not restricted to apply to construction site. In this study, the main candidate splice is cold roll formed parallel threaded splice. This was registered newly in ASME Section III division 2 CC 4333 'Mechanical Splices' in 2004. To compare the traditional rebar splice with mechanical rebar splices, concrete beams were made to evaluate the ductility of spliced reinforcing bars. Based on Experimental results, it was identified that the mechanical rebar splices by parallel threaded coupler had better accumulated dissipation energy capacity to resist seismic behavior than the traditional lapping splices. It showed that concrete specimens with D36 reinforcing bar coupler are 1.8 times better performance and that concrete specimens with D22 reinforcing bar coupler are 2.8 times better performance. (authors)

  20. U2AF1 mutations alter splice site recognition in hematological malignancies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilagan, Janine O; Ramakrishnan, Aravind; Hayes, Brian; Murphy, Michele E; Zebari, Ahmad S; Bradley, Philip; Bradley, Robert K

    2015-01-01

    Whole-exome sequencing studies have identified common mutations affecting genes encoding components of the RNA splicing machinery in hematological malignancies. Here, we sought to determine how mutations affecting the 3' splice site recognition factor U2AF1 alter its normal role in RNA splicing. We find that U2AF1 mutations influence the similarity of splicing programs in leukemias, but do not give rise to widespread splicing failure. U2AF1 mutations cause differential splicing of hundreds of genes, affecting biological pathways such as DNA methylation (DNMT3B), X chromosome inactivation (H2AFY), the DNA damage response (ATR, FANCA), and apoptosis (CASP8). We show that U2AF1 mutations alter the preferred 3' splice site motif in patients, in cell culture, and in vitro. Mutations affecting the first and second zinc fingers give rise to different alterations in splice site preference and largely distinct downstream splicing programs. These allele-specific effects are consistent with a computationally predicted model of U2AF1 in complex with RNA. Our findings suggest that U2AF1 mutations contribute to pathogenesis by causing quantitative changes in splicing that affect diverse cellular pathways, and give insight into the normal function of U2AF1's zinc finger domains. © 2015 Ilagan et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  1. Quantifying alternative splicing from paired-end RNA-sequencing data

    OpenAIRE

    Rossell, David; Stephan-Otto Attolini, Camille; Kroiss, Manuel; Stöcker, Almond

    2014-01-01

    RNA-sequencing has revolutionized biomedical research and, in particular, our ability to study gene alternative splicing. The problem has important implications for human health, as alternative splicing may be involved in malfunctions at the cellular level and multiple diseases. However, the high-dimensional nature of the data and the existence of experimental biases pose serious data analysis challenges. We find that the standard data summaries used to study alternative splicing are severely...

  2. High temperature limit of the order parameter correlation functions in the quantum Ising model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes, S. A.; Tsvelik, A. M.

    2006-06-01

    In this paper we use the exact results for the anisotropic two-dimensional Ising model obtained by Bugrii and Lisovyy [A.I. Bugrii, O.O. Lisovyy, Theor. Math. Phys. 140 (2004) 987] to derive the expressions for dynamical correlation functions for the quantum Ising model in one dimension at high temperatures.

  3. High temperature limit of the order parameter correlation functions in the quantum Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reyes, S.A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3840 (United States); Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000 (United States); Tsvelik, A.M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3840 (United States) and Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000 (United States)]. E-mail tsvelik@bnl.gov

    2006-06-12

    In this paper we use the exact results for the anisotropic two-dimensional Ising model obtained by Bugrii and Lisovyy [A.I. Bugrii, O.O. Lisovyy, Theor. Math. Phys. 140 (2004) 987] to derive the expressions for dynamical correlation functions for the quantum Ising model in one dimension at high temperatures.

  4. Free energy distribution function of a random Ising ferromagnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dotsenko, Victor; Klumov, Boris

    2012-01-01

    We study the free energy distribution function of a weakly disordered Ising ferromagnet in terms of the D-dimensional random temperature Ginzburg–Landau Hamiltonian. It is shown that besides the usual Gaussian 'body' this distribution function exhibits non-Gaussian tails both in the paramagnetic and in the ferromagnetic phases. Explicit asymptotic expressions for these tails are derived. It is demonstrated that the tails are strongly asymmetric: the left tail (for large negative values of the free energy) is much slower than the right one (for large positive values of the free energy). It is argued that at the critical point the free energy of the random Ising ferromagnet in dimensions D < 4 is described by a non-trivial universal distribution function which is non-self-averaging

  5. Monte Carlo Simulations of Compressible Ising Models: Do We Understand Them?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landau, D. P.; Dünweg, B.; Laradji, M.; Tavazza, F.; Adler, J.; Cannavaccioulo, L.; Zhu, X.

    Extensive Monte Carlo simulations have begun to shed light on our understanding of phase transitions and universality classes for compressible Ising models. A comprehensive analysis of a Landau-Ginsburg-Wilson hamiltonian for systems with elastic degrees of freedom resulted in the prediction that there should be four distinct cases that would have different behavior, depending upon symmetries and thermodynamic constraints. We shall provide an account of the results of careful Monte Carlo simulations for a simple compressible Ising model that can be suitably modified so as to replicate all four cases.

  6. Ising models and soliton equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perk, J.H.H.; Au-Yang, H.

    1985-01-01

    Several new results for the critical point of correlation functions of the Hirota equation are derived within the two-dimensional Ising model. The recent success of the conformal-invariance approach in the determination of a critical two-spin correration function is analyzed. The two-spin correlation function is predicted to be rotationally invariant and to decay with a power law in this approach. In the approach suggested here systematic corrections due to the underlying lattice breaking the rotational invariance are obtained

  7. ISVASE: identification of sequence variant associated with splicing event using RNA-seq data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aljohi, Hasan Awad; Liu, Wanfei; Lin, Qiang; Yu, Jun; Hu, Songnian

    2017-06-28

    Exon recognition and splicing precisely and efficiently by spliceosome is the key to generate mature mRNAs. About one third or a half of disease-related mutations affect RNA splicing. Software PVAAS has been developed to identify variants associated with aberrant splicing by directly using RNA-seq data. However, it bases on the assumption that annotated splicing site is normal splicing, which is not true in fact. We develop the ISVASE, a tool for specifically identifying sequence variants associated with splicing events (SVASE) by using RNA-seq data. Comparing with PVAAS, our tool has several advantages, such as multi-pass stringent rule-dependent filters and statistical filters, only using split-reads, independent sequence variant identification in each part of splicing (junction), sequence variant detection for both of known and novel splicing event, additional exon-exon junction shift event detection if known splicing events provided, splicing signal evaluation, known DNA mutation and/or RNA editing data supported, higher precision and consistency, and short running time. Using a realistic RNA-seq dataset, we performed a case study to illustrate the functionality and effectiveness of our method. Moreover, the output of SVASEs can be used for downstream analysis such as splicing regulatory element study and sequence variant functional analysis. ISVASE is useful for researchers interested in sequence variants (DNA mutation and/or RNA editing) associated with splicing events. The package is freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/isvase/ .

  8. Phosphoproteomics reveals that glycogen synthase kinase-3 phosphorylates multiple splicing factors and is associated with alternative splicing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinde, Mansi Y.; Sidoli, Simone; Kulej, Katarzyna; Mallory, Michael J.; Radens, Caleb M.; Reicherter, Amanda L.; Myers, Rebecca L.; Barash, Yoseph; Lynch, Kristen W.; Garcia, Benjamin A.; Klein, Peter S.

    2017-01-01

    Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a constitutively active, ubiquitously expressed protein kinase that regulates multiple signaling pathways. In vitro kinase assays and genetic and pharmacological manipulations of GSK-3 have identified more than 100 putative GSK-3 substrates in diverse cell types. Many more have been predicted on the basis of a recurrent GSK-3 consensus motif ((pS/pT)XXX(S/T)), but this prediction has not been tested by analyzing the GSK-3 phosphoproteome. Using stable isotope labeling of amino acids in culture (SILAC) and MS techniques to analyze the repertoire of GSK-3–dependent phosphorylation in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), we found that ∼2.4% of (pS/pT)XXX(S/T) sites are phosphorylated in a GSK-3–dependent manner. A comparison of WT and Gsk3a;Gsk3b knock-out (Gsk3 DKO) ESCs revealed prominent GSK-3–dependent phosphorylation of multiple splicing factors and regulators of RNA biosynthesis as well as proteins that regulate transcription, translation, and cell division. Gsk3 DKO reduced phosphorylation of the splicing factors RBM8A, SRSF9, and PSF as well as the nucleolar proteins NPM1 and PHF6, and recombinant GSK-3β phosphorylated these proteins in vitro. RNA-Seq of WT and Gsk3 DKO ESCs identified ∼190 genes that are alternatively spliced in a GSK-3–dependent manner, supporting a broad role for GSK-3 in regulating alternative splicing. The MS data also identified posttranscriptional regulation of protein abundance by GSK-3, with ∼47 proteins (1.4%) whose levels increased and ∼78 (2.4%) whose levels decreased in the absence of GSK-3. This study provides the first unbiased analysis of the GSK-3 phosphoproteome and strong evidence that GSK-3 broadly regulates alternative splicing. PMID:28916722

  9. Regulation of alternative VEGF-A mRNA splicing is a therapeutic target for analgesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulse, R P; Beazley-Long, N; Hua, J; Kennedy, H; Prager, J; Bevan, H; Qiu, Y; Fernandes, E S; Gammons, M V; Ballmer-Hofer, K; Gittenberger de Groot, A C; Churchill, A J; Harper, S J; Brain, S D; Bates, D O; Donaldson, L F

    2014-11-01

    Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is best known as a key regulator of the formation of new blood vessels. Neutralization of VEGF-A with anti-VEGF therapy e.g. bevacizumab, can be painful, and this is hypothesized to result from a loss of VEGF-A-mediated neuroprotection. The multiple vegf-a gene products consist of two alternatively spliced families, typified by VEGF-A165a and VEGF-A165b (both contain 165 amino acids), both of which are neuroprotective. Under pathological conditions, such as in inflammation and cancer, the pro-angiogenic VEGF-A165a is upregulated and predominates over the VEGF-A165b isoform. We show here that in rats and mice VEGF-A165a and VEGF-A165b have opposing effects on pain, and that blocking the proximal splicing event - leading to the preferential expression of VEGF-A165b over VEGF165a - prevents pain in vivo. VEGF-A165a sensitizes peripheral nociceptive neurons through actions on VEGFR2 and a TRPV1-dependent mechanism, thus enhancing nociceptive signaling. VEGF-A165b blocks the effect of VEGF-A165a. After nerve injury, the endogenous balance of VEGF-A isoforms switches to greater expression of VEGF-Axxxa compared to VEGF-Axxxb, through an SRPK1-dependent pre-mRNA splicing mechanism. Pharmacological inhibition of SRPK1 after traumatic nerve injury selectively reduced VEGF-Axxxa expression and reversed associated neuropathic pain. Exogenous VEGF-A165b also ameliorated neuropathic pain. We conclude that the relative levels of alternatively spliced VEGF-A isoforms are critical for pain modulation under both normal conditions and in sensory neuropathy. Altering VEGF-Axxxa/VEGF-Axxxb balance by targeting alternative RNA splicing may be a new analgesic strategy. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. RRM domain of Arabidopsis splicing factor SF1 is important for pre-mRNA splicing of a specific set of genes

    KAUST Repository

    Lee, Keh Chien; Jang, Yun Hee; Kim, SoonKap; Park, Hyo-Young; Thu, May Phyo; Lee, Jeong Hwan; Kim, Jeong-Kook

    2017-01-01

    , but not the abscisic acid sensitivity response during seed germination. The alternative splicing of FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) pre-mRNA is involved in flowering time control. We found that the RRM domain of AtSF1 protein alters the production of alternatively spliced FLM

  11. Volatility behavior of visibility graph EMD financial time series from Ising interacting system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bo; Wang, Jun; Fang, Wen

    2015-08-01

    A financial market dynamics model is developed and investigated by stochastic Ising system, where the Ising model is the most popular ferromagnetic model in statistical physics systems. Applying two graph based analysis and multiscale entropy method, we investigate and compare the statistical volatility behavior of return time series and the corresponding IMF series derived from the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method. And the real stock market indices are considered to be comparatively studied with the simulation data of the proposed model. Further, we find that the degree distribution of visibility graph for the simulation series has the power law tails, and the assortative network exhibits the mixing pattern property. All these features are in agreement with the real market data, the research confirms that the financial model established by the Ising system is reasonable.

  12. Verification of predicted alternatively spliced Wnt genes reveals two new splice variants (CTNNB1 and LRP5 and altered Axin-1 expression during tumour progression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reich Jens G

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Splicing processes might play a major role in carcinogenesis and tumour progression. The Wnt pathway is of crucial relevance for cancer progression. Therefore we focussed on the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway in order to validate the expression of sequences predicted as alternatively spliced by bioinformatic methods. Splice variants of its key molecules were selected, which may be critical components for the understanding of colorectal tumour progression and may have the potential to act as biological markers. For some of the Wnt pathway genes the existence of splice variants was either proposed (e.g. β-Catenin and CTNNB1 or described only in non-colon tissues (e.g. GSK3β or hitherto not published (e.g. LRP5. Results Both splice variants – normal and alternative form – of all selected Wnt pathway components were found to be expressed in cell lines as well as in samples derived from tumour, normal and healthy tissues. All splice positions corresponded totally with the bioinformatical prediction as shown by sequencing. Two hitherto not described alternative splice forms (CTNNB1 and LRP5 were detected. Although the underlying EST data used for the bioinformatic analysis suggested a tumour-specific expression neither a qualitative nor a significant quantitative difference between the expression in tumour and healthy tissues was detected. Axin-1 expression was reduced in later stages and in samples from carcinomas forming distant metastases. Conclusion We were first to describe that splice forms of crucial genes of the Wnt-pathway are expressed in human colorectal tissue. Newly described splicefoms were found for β-Catenin, LRP5, GSK3β, Axin-1 and CtBP1. However, the predicted cancer specificity suggested by the origin of the underlying ESTs was neither qualitatively nor significant quantitatively confirmed. That let us to conclude that EST sequence data can give adequate hints for the existence of alternative splicing

  13. Physics and financial economics (1776-2014): puzzles, Ising and agent-based models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sornette, Didier

    2014-06-01

    This short review presents a selected history of the mutual fertilization between physics and economics—from Isaac Newton and Adam Smith to the present. The fundamentally different perspectives embraced in theories developed in financial economics compared with physics are dissected with the examples of the volatility smile and of the excess volatility puzzle. The role of the Ising model of phase transitions to model social and financial systems is reviewed, with the concepts of random utilities and the logit model as the analog of the Boltzmann factor in statistical physics. Recent extensions in terms of quantum decision theory are also covered. A wealth of models are discussed briefly that build on the Ising model and generalize it to account for the many stylized facts of financial markets. A summary of the relevance of the Ising model and its extensions is provided to account for financial bubbles and crashes. The review would be incomplete if it did not cover the dynamical field of agent-based models (ABMs), also known as computational economic models, of which the Ising-type models are just special ABM implementations. We formulate the ‘Emerging Intelligence Market Hypothesis’ to reconcile the pervasive presence of ‘noise traders’ with the near efficiency of financial markets. Finally, we note that evolutionary biology, more than physics, is now playing a growing role to inspire models of financial markets.

  14. Physics and financial economics (1776-2014): puzzles, Ising and agent-based models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sornette, Didier

    2014-06-01

    This short review presents a selected history of the mutual fertilization between physics and economics--from Isaac Newton and Adam Smith to the present. The fundamentally different perspectives embraced in theories developed in financial economics compared with physics are dissected with the examples of the volatility smile and of the excess volatility puzzle. The role of the Ising model of phase transitions to model social and financial systems is reviewed, with the concepts of random utilities and the logit model as the analog of the Boltzmann factor in statistical physics. Recent extensions in terms of quantum decision theory are also covered. A wealth of models are discussed briefly that build on the Ising model and generalize it to account for the many stylized facts of financial markets. A summary of the relevance of the Ising model and its extensions is provided to account for financial bubbles and crashes. The review would be incomplete if it did not cover the dynamical field of agent-based models (ABMs), also known as computational economic models, of which the Ising-type models are just special ABM implementations. We formulate the 'Emerging Intelligence Market Hypothesis' to reconcile the pervasive presence of 'noise traders' with the near efficiency of financial markets. Finally, we note that evolutionary biology, more than physics, is now playing a growing role to inspire models of financial markets.

  15. Abnormalities in Alternative Splicing of Apoptotic Genes and Cardiovascular Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zodwa Dlamini

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Apoptosis is required for normal heart development in the embryo, but has also been shown to be an important factor in the occurrence of heart disease. Alternative splicing of apoptotic genes is currently emerging as a diagnostic and therapeutic target for heart disease. This review addresses the involvement of abnormalities in alternative splicing of apoptotic genes in cardiac disorders including cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia and heart failure. Many pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family have alternatively spliced isoforms that lack important active domains. These isoforms can play a negative regulatory role by binding to and inhibiting the pro-apoptotic forms. Alternative splicing is observed to be increased in various cardiovascular diseases with the level of alternate transcripts increasing elevated in diseased hearts compared to healthy subjects. In many cases these isoforms appear to be the underlying cause of the disease, while in others they may be induced in response to cardiovascular pathologies. Regardless of this, the detection of alternate splicing events in the heart can serve as useful diagnostic or prognostic tools, while those splicing events that seem to play a causative role in cardiovascular disease make attractive future drug targets.

  16. Statistical analysis of LHC main interconnection splices room temperature resistance (R-8) results

    CERN Document Server

    Heck, S

    2012-01-01

    During the 2008/2009 shutdown the so-called R-8/R-16 room temperature resistance test has been introduced for the quality control of the LHC main interconnection splices. It has been found that at present two groups of LHC main interconnection splices can be distinguished, so-called “old” splices produced during LHC installation, and so-called “new” splices produced during 2009. 2009 production splices are considered as the state-of-the art, which is reflected by a much smaller R-8 distribution as compared to that of splices produced during first LHC installation.

  17. Large Deviations for the Annealed Ising Model on Inhomogeneous Random Graphs: Spins and Degrees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dommers, Sander; Giardinà, Cristian; Giberti, Claudio; Hofstad, Remco van der

    2018-04-01

    We prove a large deviations principle for the total spin and the number of edges under the annealed Ising measure on generalized random graphs. We also give detailed results on how the annealing over the Ising model changes the degrees of the vertices in the graph and show how it gives rise to interesting correlated random graphs.

  18. The transverse spin-1 Ising model with random interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bouziane, Touria [Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Moulay Ismail, B.P. 11201 Meknes (Morocco)], E-mail: touria582004@yahoo.fr; Saber, Mohammed [Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Moulay Ismail, B.P. 11201 Meknes (Morocco); Dpto. Fisica Aplicada I, EUPDS (EUPDS), Plaza Europa, 1, San Sebastian 20018 (Spain)

    2009-01-15

    The phase diagrams of the transverse spin-1 Ising model with random interactions are investigated using a new technique in the effective field theory that employs a probability distribution within the framework of the single-site cluster theory based on the use of exact Ising spin identities. A model is adopted in which the nearest-neighbor exchange couplings are independent random variables distributed according to the law P(J{sub ij})=p{delta}(J{sub ij}-J)+(1-p){delta}(J{sub ij}-{alpha}J). General formulae, applicable to lattices with coordination number N, are given. Numerical results are presented for a simple cubic lattice. The possible reentrant phenomenon displayed by the system due to the competitive effects between exchange interactions occurs for the appropriate range of the parameter {alpha}.

  19. Human Splice-Site Prediction with Deep Neural Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naito, Tatsuhiko

    2018-04-18

    Accurate splice-site prediction is essential to delineate gene structures from sequence data. Several computational techniques have been applied to create a system to predict canonical splice sites. For classification tasks, deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved record-breaking results and often outperformed other supervised learning techniques. In this study, a new method of splice-site prediction using DNNs was proposed. The proposed system receives an input sequence data and returns an answer as to whether it is splice site. The length of input is 140 nucleotides, with the consensus sequence (i.e., "GT" and "AG" for the donor and acceptor sites, respectively) in the middle. Each input sequence model is applied to the pretrained DNN model that determines the probability that an input is a splice site. The model consists of convolutional layers and bidirectional long short-term memory network layers. The pretraining and validation were conducted using the data set tested in previously reported methods. The performance evaluation results showed that the proposed method can outperform the previous methods. In addition, the pattern learned by the DNNs was visualized as position frequency matrices (PFMs). Some of PFMs were very similar to the consensus sequence. The trained DNN model and the brief source code for the prediction system are uploaded. Further improvement will be achieved following the further development of DNNs.

  20. Quasi-realistic distribution of interaction fields leading to a variant of Ising spin glass model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanasa, Radu; Enachescu, Cristian; Stancu, Alexandru; Linares, Jorge; Varret, Francois

    2004-01-01

    The distribution of interaction fields of an Ising-like system, obtained by Monte Carlo entropic sampling is used for modeling the hysteretic behavior of patterned media made of magnetic particles with a common anisotropy axis; a variant of the canonical Edwards-Anderson Ising spin glass model is introduced

  1. Intron-mediated alternative splicing of WOOD-ASSOCIATED NAC TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR1B regulates cell wall thickening during fiber development in Populus species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yunjun; Sun, Jiayan; Xu, Peng; Zhang, Rui; Li, Laigeng

    2014-02-01

    Alternative splicing is an important mechanism involved in regulating the development of multicellular organisms. Although many genes in plants undergo alternative splicing, little is understood of its significance in regulating plant growth and development. In this study, alternative splicing of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) wood-associated NAC domain transcription factor (PtrWNDs), PtrWND1B, is shown to occur exclusively in secondary xylem fiber cells. PtrWND1B is expressed with a normal short-transcript PtrWND1B-s as well as its alternative long-transcript PtrWND1B-l. The intron 2 structure of the PtrWND1B gene was identified as a critical sequence that causes PtrWND1B alternative splicing. Suppression of PtrWND1B expression specifically inhibited fiber cell wall thickening. The two PtrWND1B isoforms play antagonistic roles in regulating cell wall thickening during fiber cell differentiation in Populus spp. PtrWND1B-s overexpression enhanced fiber cell wall thickening, while overexpression of PtrWND1B-l repressed fiber cell wall thickening. Alternative splicing may enable more specific regulation of processes such as fiber cell wall thickening during wood formation.

  2. Inverse Ising inference with correlated samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obermayer, Benedikt; Levine, Erel

    2014-01-01

    Correlations between two variables of a high-dimensional system can be indicative of an underlying interaction, but can also result from indirect effects. Inverse Ising inference is a method to distinguish one from the other. Essentially, the parameters of the least constrained statistical model are learned from the observed correlations such that direct interactions can be separated from indirect correlations. Among many other applications, this approach has been helpful for protein structure prediction, because residues which interact in the 3D structure often show correlated substitutions in a multiple sequence alignment. In this context, samples used for inference are not independent but share an evolutionary history on a phylogenetic tree. Here, we discuss the effects of correlations between samples on global inference. Such correlations could arise due to phylogeny but also via other slow dynamical processes. We present a simple analytical model to address the resulting inference biases, and develop an exact method accounting for background correlations in alignment data by combining phylogenetic modeling with an adaptive cluster expansion algorithm. We find that popular reweighting schemes are only marginally effective at removing phylogenetic bias, suggest a rescaling strategy that yields better results, and provide evidence that our conclusions carry over to the frequently used mean-field approach to the inverse Ising problem. (paper)

  3. Dynamics of the directed Ising chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Godrèche, Claude

    2011-01-01

    The study by Glauber of the time-dependent statistics of the Ising chain is extended to the case where each spin is influenced unequally by its nearest neighbours. The asymmetry of the dynamics implies the failure of the detailed balance condition. The functional form of the rate at which an individual spin changes its state is constrained by the global balance condition with respect to the equilibrium measure of the Ising chain. The local magnetization, the equal-time and two-time correlation functions and the linear response to an external magnetic field obey linear equations which are solved explicitly. The behaviour of these quantities and the relation between the correlation and response functions are analysed both in the stationary state and in the zero-temperature scaling regime. In the stationary state, a transition between two behaviours of the correlation function occurs when the amplitude of the asymmetry crosses a critical value, with the consequence that the limit fluctuation-dissipation ratio decays continuously from the value 1, for the equilibrium state in the absence of asymmetry, to 0 for this critical value. At zero temperature, under asymmetric dynamics, the system loses its critical character, yet keeping many of the characteristic features of a coarsening system

  4. Specific heat of the simple-cubic Ising model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Feng, X.; Blöte, H.W.J.

    2010-01-01

    We provide an expression quantitatively describing the specific heat of the Ising model on the simple-cubic lattice in the critical region. This expression is based on finite-size scaling of numerical results obtained by means of a Monte Carlo method. It agrees satisfactorily with series expansions

  5. HIV-1 infection induces changes in expression of cellular splicing factors that regulate alternative viral splicing and virus production in macrophages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Purcell Damian FJ

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Macrophages are important targets and long-lived reservoirs of HIV-1, which are not cleared of infection by currently available treatments. In the primary monocyte-derived macrophage model of infection, replication is initially productive followed by a decline in virion output over ensuing weeks, coincident with a decrease in the levels of the essential viral transactivator protein Tat. We investigated two possible mechanisms in macrophages for regulation of viral replication, which appears to be primarily regulated at the level of tat mRNA: 1 differential mRNA stability, used by cells and some viruses for the rapid regulation of gene expression and 2 control of HIV-1 alternative splicing, which is essential for optimal viral replication. Results Following termination of transcription at increasing times after infection in macrophages, we found that tat mRNA did indeed decay more rapidly than rev or nef mRNA, but with similar kinetics throughout infection. In addition, tat mRNA decayed at least as rapidly in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Expression of cellular splicing factors in uninfected and infected macrophage cultures from the same donor showed an inverse pattern over time between enhancing factors (members of the SR family of RNA binding proteins and inhibitory factors (members of the hnRNP family. While levels of the SR protein SC35 were greatly up-regulated in the first week or two after infection, hnRNPs of the A/B and H groups were down-regulated. Around the peak of virus production in each culture, SC35 expression declined to levels in uninfected cells or lower, while the hnRNPs increased to control levels or above. We also found evidence for increased cytoplasmic expression of SC35 following long-term infection. Conclusion While no evidence of differential regulation of tat mRNA decay was found in macrophages following HIV-1 infection, changes in the balance of cellular splicing factors which regulate alternative

  6. Upstream waves simultaneously observed by ISEE and UKS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Russell, C.T.; Luhmann, J.G.; Elphic, R.C.; Southwood, D.J.; Smith, M.F.; Johnstone, A.D.

    1987-01-01

    Measurements obtained in the solar wind by ISEE-2 and the United Kingdom Subsatellite (UKS) have been examined for observations of upstream waves. These data reveal that the waves in the foreshock region are enhanced at all frequencies from at least 0.003 Hz to 0.5 Hz. The wave spectra generally have a spectral peak, but this peak is usually broad and the peak frequency depends on the position of the spacecraft. Generally, the spectra seen at the two spacecraft are most similar at high frequencies and least similar at low frequencies. The geometry of the interaction is displayed in the plane containing the magnetic field, the solar wind velocity, and the spacecraft location. However, this coordinate system does not order all the observed wave properties. It does not clearly explain or order the handedness of the waves, or their direction of propagation. It is clear that the upstream region is inherently three-dimensional. The position-dependent nature of the upstream waves indicates that comparisons between ground-based measurements and in-situ observations must be undertaken with some caution

  7. CT-guided radioactive 125I-seed implantation for the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma: a clinical observation of 19 cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu Jian; Zheng Yunfeng; Zhang Huan; Wang Zhongmin; Chen Kemin

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To explore the dynamic changes of serum tumor markers after CT-guided radioactive 125 I-seed implantation treatment in patients with pancreatic carcinoma and to assess the therapeutic effectiveness of 125 I-seed implantation. Methods: CT-guided radioactive 125 I-seed implantation was performed in 19 patients with unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer. Treatment planning system was used to reconstruct 3-dimentional images of the tumor, and the quantity and distribution of 125 I-seeds to be implanted were thus determined. Under CT guidance 125 I-seeds were embedded into pancreatic cancer. Before and after the 125 I-seed implantation the levels of serum tumor markers, including CEA, CA19-9 and CA50, were determined by using radioimmunoassay method. The clinical effects were observed and the therapeutic results were statistically analyzed. Results: The pain stared to be relieved 2 to 5 days after implantation. The total effective rate (CR + PR) at one and three months after treatment was 68.42% (13 /19) and 63.16% (12 /19) respectively. One month after 125 I-seed implantation, the levels of serum CEA, CA19-9 and CA50 were significantly different to that determined before implantation in all cases (P 125 I-seed implantation is a safe and effective interventional treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer with reliable short-term result and remarkable pain-relieving effect. Moreover, this therapy can significantly lower the levels of many serum tumor markers, which play some suggestive roles in evaluating the clinical curativeness. (authors)

  8. A Systems-Level Analysis Reveals Circadian Regulation of Splicing in Colorectal Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Athman, Rukeia; Fuhr, Luise; Relógio, Angela

    2018-06-20

    Accumulating evidence points to a significant role of the circadian clock in the regulation of splicing in various organisms, including mammals. Both dysregulated circadian rhythms and aberrant pre-mRNA splicing are frequently implicated in human disease, in particular in cancer. To investigate the role of the circadian clock in the regulation of splicing in a cancer progression context at the systems-level, we conducted a genome-wide analysis and compared the rhythmic transcriptional profiles of colon carcinoma cell lines SW480 and SW620, derived from primary and metastatic sites of the same patient, respectively. We identified spliceosome components and splicing factors with cell-specific circadian expression patterns including SRSF1, HNRNPLL, ESRP1, and RBM 8A, as well as altered alternative splicing events and circadian alternative splicing patterns of output genes (e.g., VEGFA, NCAM1, FGFR2, CD44) in our cellular model. Our data reveals a remarkable interplay between the circadian clock and pre-mRNA splicing with putative consequences in tumor progression and metastasis. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Drosophila muscleblind is involved in troponin T alternative splicing and apoptosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Vicente-Crespo

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Muscleblind-like proteins (MBNL have been involved in a developmental switch in the use of defined cassette exons. Such transition fails in the CTG repeat expansion disease myotonic dystrophy due, in part, to sequestration of MBNL proteins by CUG repeat RNA. Four protein isoforms (MblA-D are coded by the unique Drosophila muscleblind gene.We used evolutionary, genetic and cell culture approaches to study muscleblind (mbl function in flies. The evolutionary study showed that the MblC protein isoform was readily conserved from nematods to Drosophila, which suggests that it performs the most ancestral muscleblind functions. Overexpression of MblC in the fly eye precursors led to an externally rough eye morphology. This phenotype was used in a genetic screen to identify five dominant suppressors and 13 dominant enhancers including Drosophila CUG-BP1 homolog aret, exon junction complex components tsunagi and Aly, and pro-apoptotic genes Traf1 and reaper. We further investigated Muscleblind implication in apoptosis and splicing regulation. We found missplicing of troponin T in muscleblind mutant pupae and confirmed Muscleblind ability to regulate mouse fast skeletal muscle Troponin T (TnnT3 minigene splicing in human HEK cells. MblC overexpression in the wing imaginal disc activated apoptosis in a spatially restricted manner. Bioinformatics analysis identified a conserved FKRP motif, weakly resembling a sumoylation target site, in the MblC-specific sequence. Site-directed mutagenesis of the motif revealed no change in activity of mutant MblC on TnnT3 minigene splicing or aberrant binding to CUG repeat RNA, but altered the ability of the protein to form perinuclear aggregates and enhanced cell death-inducing activity of MblC overexpression.Taken together our genetic approach identify cellular processes influenced by Muscleblind function, whereas in vivo and cell culture experiments define Drosophila troponin T as a new Muscleblind target, reveal a

  10. Genus-two characters of the Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, J.H.; Koh, I.G.

    1989-01-01

    As a first step in studying conformal theories on a higher-genus Riemann surface, we construct genus-two characters of the Ising model from their behavior in zero- and nonzero-homology pinching limits, the Goddard-Kent-Oliveco set-space construction, and the branching coefficients in the level-two A 1 /sup (1)/ Kac-Moody characters on the higher-genus Riemann surface

  11. Weak universality in inhomogeneous Ising quantum chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karevski, Dragi

    2006-01-01

    The Ising quantum chain with arbitrary coupling distribution {λ i } leading to an anisotropic scaling is considered. The smallest gap of the chain is connected to the surface magnetization by the relation Λ 1 = m s ({λ i })m s ({λ -1 i }). For some aperiodic distribution {λ i }, a weak universality of the critical behaviour is found. (letter to the editor)

  12. Quantitative regulation of alternative splicing in evolution and development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Irimia, Manuel; Rukov, Jakob L; Roy, Scott W

    2009-01-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) is a widespread mechanism with an important role in increasing transcriptome and proteome diversity by generating multiple different products from the same gene. Evolutionary studies of AS have focused primarily on the conservation of alternatively spliced sequences or o...

  13. Particles and scaling for lattice fields and Ising models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glimm, J.; Jaffe, A.

    1976-01-01

    The conjectured inequality GAMMA 6 4 -fields and the scaling limit for d-dimensional Ising models. Assuming GAMMA 6 = 6 these phi 4 fields are free fields unless the field strength renormalization Z -1 diverges. (orig./BJ) [de

  14. Dynamical quantum phase transitions in extended transverse Ising models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharjee, Sourav; Dutta, Amit

    2018-04-01

    We study the dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) manifested in the subsequent unitary dynamics of an extended Ising model with an additional three spin interactions following a sudden quench. Revisiting the equilibrium phase diagram of the model, where different quantum phases are characterized by different winding numbers, we show that in some situations the winding number may not change across a gap closing point in the energy spectrum. Although, usually there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the change in winding number and the number of critical time scales associated with DQPTs, we show that the extended nature of interactions may lead to unusual situations. Importantly, we show that in the limit of the cluster Ising model, three critical modes associated with DQPTs become degenerate, thereby leading to a single critical time scale for a given sector of Fisher zeros.

  15. Nature versus nurture: Predictability in low-temperature Ising dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, J.; Machta, J.; Newman, C. M.; Stein, D. L.

    2013-10-01

    Consider a dynamical many-body system with a random initial state subsequently evolving through stochastic dynamics. What is the relative importance of the initial state (“nature”) versus the realization of the stochastic dynamics (“nurture”) in predicting the final state? We examined this question for the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet following an initial deep quench from T=∞ to T=0. We performed Monte Carlo studies on the overlap between “identical twins” raised in independent dynamical environments, up to size L=500. Our results suggest an overlap decaying with time as t-θh with θh=0.22±0.02; the same exponent holds for a quench to low but nonzero temperature. This “heritability exponent” may equal the persistence exponent for the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet, but the two differ more generally.

  16. Multi spin-flip dynamics: a solution of the one-dimensional Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novak, I.

    1990-01-01

    The Glauber dynamics of interacting Ising spins (the single spin-flip dynamics) is generalized to p spin-flip dynamics with a simultaneous flip of up to p spins in a single configuration move. The p spin-flip dynamics is studied of the one-dimensional Ising model with uniform nearest-neighbour interaction. For this case, an exact relation is given for the time dependence of magnetization. It was found that the critical slowing down in this model could be avoided when p spin-flip dynamics with p>2 was considered. (author). 17 refs

  17. BAP1 missense mutation c.2054 A>T (p.E685V completely disrupts normal splicing through creation of a novel 5' splice site in a human mesothelioma cell line.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arianne Morrison

    Full Text Available BAP1 is a tumor suppressor gene that is lost or deleted in diverse cancers, including uveal mela¬noma, malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM, clear cell renal carcinoma, and cholangiocarcinoma. Recently, BAP1 germline mutations have been reported in families with combinations of these same cancers. A particular challenge for mutation screening is the classification of non-truncating BAP1 sequence variants because it is not known whether these subtle changes can affect the protein function sufficiently to predispose to cancer development. Here we report mRNA splicing analysis on a homozygous substitution mutation, BAP1 c. 2054 A&T (p.Glu685Val, identified in an MPM cell line derived from a mesothelioma patient. The mutation occurred at the 3rd nucleotide from the 3' end of exon 16. RT-PCR, cloning and subsequent sequencing revealed several aberrant splicing products not observed in the controls: 1 a 4 bp deletion at the end of exon 16 in all clones derived from the major splicing product. The BAP1 c. 2054 A&T mutation introduced a new 5' splice site (GU, which resulted in the deletion of 4 base pairs and presumably protein truncation; 2 a variety of alternative splicing products that led to retention of different introns: introns 14-16; introns 15-16; intron 14 and intron 16; 3 partial intron 14 and 15 retentions caused by activation of alternative 3' splice acceptor sites (AG in the introns. Taken together, we were unable to detect any correctly spliced mRNA transcripts in this cell line. These results suggest that aberrant splicing caused by this mutation is quite efficient as it completely abolishes normal splicing through creation of a novel 5' splice site and activation of cryptic splice sites. These data support the conclusion that BAP1 c.2054 A&T (p.E685V variant is a pathogenic mutation and contributes to MPM through disruption of normal splicing.

  18. A Comparison of Conditional Volatility Estimators for the ISE National 100 Index Returns

    OpenAIRE

    Köksal, Bülent

    2009-01-01

    We compare more than 1000 different volatility models in terms of their fit to the historical ISE-100 Index data and their forecasting performance of the conditional variance in an out-of-sample setting. Exponential GARCH model of Nelson (1991) with “constant mean, t-distribution, one lag moving average term” specification achieves the best overall performance for modeling the ISE-100 return volatility. The t-distribution seems to characterize the distribution of the heavy tailed returns bett...

  19. The ising model on the dynamical triangulated random surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aleinov, I.D.; Migelal, A.A.; Zmushkow, U.V.

    1990-01-01

    The critical properties of Ising model on the dynamical triangulated random surface embedded in D-dimensional Euclidean space are investigated. The strong coupling expansion method is used. The transition to thermodynamical limit is performed by means of continuous fractions

  20. [Genetic diagnostics of pathogenic splicing abnormalities in the clinical laboratory--pitfalls and screening approaches].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niimi, Hideki; Ogawa, Tomomi; Note, Rhougou; Hayashi, Shirou; Ueno, Tomohiro; Harada, Kenu; Uji, Yoshinori; Kitajima, Isao

    2010-12-01

    In recent years, genetic diagnostics of pathogenic splicing abnormalities are increasingly recognized as critically important in the clinical genetic diagnostics. It is reported that approximately 10% of pathogenic mutations causing human inherited diseases are splicing mutations. Nonetheless, it is still difficult to identify splicing abnormalities in routine genetic diagnostic settings. Here, we studied two different kinds of cases with splicing abnormalities. The first case is a protein S deficiency. Nucleotide analyses revealed that the proband had a previously reported G to C substitution in the invariant AG dinucleotide at the splicing acceptor site of intronl/exon2, which produces multiple splicing abnormalities resulting in protein S deficiency. The second case is an antithrombin (AT) deficiency. This proband had a previously reported G to A substitution, at nucleotide position 9788 in intron 4, 14 bp in front of exon 5, which created a de novo exon 5 splice site and resulted in AT deficiency. From a practical standpoint, we discussed the pitfalls, attentions, and screening approaches in genetic diagnostics of pathogenic splicing abnormalities. Due to the difficulty with full-length sequence analysis of introns, and the lack of RNA samples, splicing mutations may escape identification. Although current genetic testing remains to be improved, to screen for splicing abnormalities more efficiently, it is significant to use an appropriate combination of various approaches such as DNA and/or RNA samples, splicing mutation databases, bioinformatic tools to detect splice sites and cis-regulatory elements, and in vitro and/or in vivo experimentally methods as needed.

  1. Computational Analysis of 3D Ising Model Using Metropolis Algorithms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sonsin, A F; Cortes, M R; Nunes, D R; Gomes, J V; Costa, R S

    2015-01-01

    We simulate the Ising Model with the Monte Carlo method and use the algorithms of Metropolis to update the distribution of spins. We found that, in the specific case of the three-dimensional Ising Model, methods of Metropolis are efficient. Studying the system near the point of phase transition, we observe that the magnetization goes to zero. In our simulations we analyzed the behavior of the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility to verify the phase transition in a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic material. The behavior of the magnetization and of the magnetic susceptibility as a function of the temperature suggest a phase transition around KT/J ≈ 4.5 and was evidenced the problem of finite size of the lattice to work with large lattice. (paper)

  2. Histone and RNA-binding protein interaction creates crosstalk network for regulation of alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yong-Eun; Park, Chungoo; Kim, Kyoon Eon; Kim, Kee K

    2018-04-30

    Alternative splicing is an essential process in eukaryotes, as it increases the complexity of gene expression by generating multiple proteins from a single pre-mRNA. However, information on the regulatory mechanisms for alternative splicing is lacking, because splicing occurs over a short period via the transient interactions of proteins within functional complexes of the spliceosome. Here, we investigated in detail the molecular mechanisms connecting alternative splicing with epigenetic mechanisms. We identified interactions between histone proteins and splicing factors such as Rbfox2, Rbfox3, and splicing factor proline and glutamine rich protein (SFPQ) by in vivo crosslinking and immunoprecipitation. Furthermore, we confirmed that splicing factors were bound to specific modified residues of histone proteins. Additionally, changes in histone methylation due to histone methyltransferase inhibitor treatment notably affected alternative splicing in selected genes. Therefore, we suggested that there may be crosstalk mechanisms connecting histone modifications and RNA-binding proteins that increase the local concentration of RNA-binding proteins in alternative exon loci of nucleosomes by binding specific modified histone proteins, leading to alternative splicing. This crosstalk mechanism may play a major role in epigenetic processes such as histone modification and the regulation of alternative splicing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Variation in alternative splicing across human tissues

    OpenAIRE

    Yeo, Gene; Holste, Dirk; Kreiman, Gabriel; Burge, Christopher B

    2004-01-01

    Background: Alternative pre-mRNA splicing (AS) is widely used by higher eukaryotes to generate different protein isoforms in specific cell or tissue types. To compare AS events across human tissues, we analyzed the splicing patterns of genomically aligned expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from libraries of cDNAs from different tissues. Results: Controlling for differences in EST coverage among tissues, we found that the brain and testis had the highest levels of exon skipping. The most p...

  4. Modification of the Creator recombination system for proteomics applications--improved expression by addition of splice sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colwill, Karen; Wells, Clark D; Elder, Kelly; Goudreault, Marilyn; Hersi, Kadija; Kulkarni, Sarang; Hardy, W Rod; Pawson, Tony; Morin, Gregg B

    2006-03-06

    Recombinational systems have been developed to rapidly shuttle Open Reading Frames (ORFs) into multiple expression vectors in order to analyze the large number of cDNAs available in the post-genomic era. In the Creator system, an ORF introduced into a donor vector can be transferred with Cre recombinase to a library of acceptor vectors optimized for different applications. Usability of the Creator system is impacted by the ability to easily manipulate DNA, the number of acceptor vectors for downstream applications, and the level of protein expression from Creator vectors. To date, we have developed over 20 novel acceptor vectors that employ a variety of promoters and epitope tags commonly employed for proteomics applications and gene function analysis. We also made several enhancements to the donor vectors including addition of different multiple cloning sites to allow shuttling from pre-existing vectors and introduction of the lacZ alpha reporter gene to allow for selection. Importantly, in order to ameliorate any effects on protein expression of the loxP site between a 5' tag and ORF, we introduced a splicing event into our expression vectors. The message produced from the resulting 'Creator Splice' vector undergoes splicing in mammalian systems to remove the loxP site. Upon analysis of our Creator Splice constructs, we discovered that protein expression levels were also significantly increased. The development of new donor and acceptor vectors has increased versatility during the cloning process and made this system compatible with a wider variety of downstream applications. The modifications introduced in our Creator Splice system were designed to remove extraneous sequences due to recombination but also aided in downstream analysis by increasing protein expression levels. As a result, we can now employ epitope tags that are detected less efficiently and reduce our assay scale to allow for higher throughput. The Creator Splice system appears to be an extremely

  5. SmD1 Modulates the miRNA Pathway Independently of Its Pre-mRNA Splicing Function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-Peng Xiong

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available microRNAs (miRNAs are a class of endogenous regulatory RNAs that play a key role in myriad biological processes. Upon transcription, primary miRNA transcripts are sequentially processed by Drosha and Dicer ribonucleases into ~22-24 nt miRNAs. Subsequently, miRNAs are incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs that contain Argonaute (AGO family proteins and guide RISC to target RNAs via complementary base pairing, leading to post-transcriptional gene silencing by a combination of translation inhibition and mRNA destabilization. Select pre-mRNA splicing factors have been implicated in small RNA-mediated gene silencing pathways in fission yeast, worms, flies and mammals, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we show that SmD1, a core component of the Drosophila small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP implicated in splicing, is required for miRNA biogenesis and function. SmD1 interacts with both the microprocessor component Pasha and pri-miRNAs, and is indispensable for optimal miRNA biogenesis. Depletion of SmD1 impairs the assembly and function of the miRISC without significantly affecting the expression of major canonical miRNA pathway components. Moreover, SmD1 physically and functionally associates with components of the miRISC, including AGO1 and GW182. Notably, miRNA defects resulting from SmD1 silencing can be uncoupled from defects in pre-mRNA splicing, and the miRNA and splicing machineries are physically and functionally distinct entities. Finally, photoactivatable-ribonucleoside-enhanced crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (PAR-CLIP analysis identifies numerous SmD1-binding events across the transcriptome and reveals direct SmD1-miRNA interactions. Our study suggests that SmD1 plays a direct role in miRNA-mediated gene silencing independently of its pre-mRNA splicing activity and indicates that the dual roles of splicing factors in post-transcriptional gene regulation may be

  6. Poliovirus 2A protease triggers a selective nucleo-cytoplasmic redistribution of splicing factors to regulate alternative pre-mRNA splicing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Álvarez

    Full Text Available Poliovirus protease 2A (2A(pro obstructs host gene expression by reprogramming transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory events during infection. Here we demonstrate that expression of 2A(pro induces a selective nucleo-cytoplasm translocation of several important RNA binding proteins and splicing factors. Subcellular fractionation studies, together with immunofluorescence microscopy revealed an asymmetric distribution of HuR and TIA1/TIAR in 2A(pro expressing cells, which modulates splicing of the human Fas exon 6. Consistent with this result, knockdown of HuR or overexpression of TIA1/TIAR, leads to Fas exon 6 inclusion in 2A(pro-expressing cells. Therefore, poliovirus 2A(pro can target alternative pre-mRNA splicing by regulating protein shuttling between the nucleus and the cytoplasm.

  7. Identification of Alternative Splice Variants Using Unique Tryptic Peptide Sequences for Database Searches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Trung T; Bollineni, Ravi C; Strozynski, Margarita; Koehler, Christian J; Thiede, Bernd

    2017-07-07

    Alternative splicing is a mechanism in eukaryotes by which different forms of mRNAs are generated from the same gene. Identification of alternative splice variants requires the identification of peptides specific for alternative splice forms. For this purpose, we generated a human database that contains only unique tryptic peptides specific for alternative splice forms from Swiss-Prot entries. Using this database allows an easy access to splice variant-specific peptide sequences that match to MS data. Furthermore, we combined this database without alternative splice variant-1-specific peptides with human Swiss-Prot. This combined database can be used as a general database for searching of LC-MS data. LC-MS data derived from in-solution digests of two different cell lines (LNCaP, HeLa) and phosphoproteomics studies were analyzed using these two databases. Several nonalternative splice variant-1-specific peptides were found in both cell lines, and some of them seemed to be cell-line-specific. Control and apoptotic phosphoproteomes from Jurkat T cells revealed several nonalternative splice variant-1-specific peptides, and some of them showed clear quantitative differences between the two states.

  8. Physics and financial economics (1776–2014): puzzles, Ising and agent-based models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sornette, Didier

    2014-01-01

    This short review presents a selected history of the mutual fertilization between physics and economics—from Isaac Newton and Adam Smith to the present. The fundamentally different perspectives embraced in theories developed in financial economics compared with physics are dissected with the examples of the volatility smile and of the excess volatility puzzle. The role of the Ising model of phase transitions to model social and financial systems is reviewed, with the concepts of random utilities and the logit model as the analog of the Boltzmann factor in statistical physics. Recent extensions in terms of quantum decision theory are also covered. A wealth of models are discussed briefly that build on the Ising model and generalize it to account for the many stylized facts of financial markets. A summary of the relevance of the Ising model and its extensions is provided to account for financial bubbles and crashes. The review would be incomplete if it did not cover the dynamical field of agent-based models (ABMs), also known as computational economic models, of which the Ising-type models are just special ABM implementations. We formulate the ‘Emerging Intelligence Market Hypothesis’ to reconcile the pervasive presence of ‘noise traders’ with the near efficiency of financial markets. Finally, we note that evolutionary biology, more than physics, is now playing a growing role to inspire models of financial markets. (key issues reviews)

  9. Solving the 3d Ising Model with the Conformal Bootstrap II. c-Minimization and Precise Critical Exponents

    CERN Document Server

    El-Showk, Sheer; Poland, David; Rychkov, Slava; Simmons-Duffin, David; Vichi, Alessandro

    2014-01-01

    We use the conformal bootstrap to perform a precision study of the operator spectrum of the critical 3d Ising model. We conjecture that the 3d Ising spectrum minimizes the central charge c in the space of unitary solutions to crossing symmetry. Because extremal solutions to crossing symmetry are uniquely determined, we are able to precisely reconstruct the first several Z2-even operator dimensions and their OPE coefficients. We observe that a sharp transition in the operator spectrum occurs at the 3d Ising dimension Delta_sigma=0.518154(15), and find strong numerical evidence that operators decouple from the spectrum as one approaches the 3d Ising point. We compare this behavior to the analogous situation in 2d, where the disappearance of operators can be understood in terms of degenerate Virasoro representations.

  10. Research on Splicing Method of Digital Relic Fragment Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, X.; Hu, Y.; Hou, M.

    2018-04-01

    In the course of archaeological excavation, a large number of pieces of cultural relics were unearthed, and the restoration of these fragments was done manually by traditional arts and crafts experts. In this process, cultural relics experts often try to splice the existing cultural relics, and then use adhesive to stick together the fragments of correct location, which will cause irreversible secondary damage to cultural relics. In order to minimize such damage, the surveyors combine 3D laser scanning with computer technology, and use the method of establishing digital cultural relics fragments model to make virtual splicing of cultural relics. The 3D software on the common market can basically achieve the model translation and rotation, using this two functions can be achieved manually splicing between models, mosaic records after the completion of the specific location of each piece of fragments, so as to effectively reduce the damage to the relics had tried splicing process.

  11. Handbook of knotting and splicing

    CERN Document Server

    Hasluck, Paul N

    2005-01-01

    Clearly written and amply illustrated with 208 figures, this classic guide ranges from simple and useful knots to complex varieties. Additional topics include rope splicing, working cordage, hammock making, more.

  12. The cavity approach to parallel dynamics of Ising spins on a graph

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neri, I; Bollé, D

    2009-01-01

    We use the cavity method to study the parallel dynamics of disordered Ising models on a graph. In particular, we derive a set of recursive equations in single-site probabilities of paths propagating along the edges of the graph. These equations are analogous to the cavity equations for equilibrium models and are exact on a tree. On graphs with exclusively directed edges we find an exact expression for the stationary distribution. We present the phase diagrams for an Ising model on an asymmetric Bethe lattice and for a neural network with Hebbian interactions on an asymmetric scale-free graph. For graphs with a nonzero fraction of symmetric edges the equations can be solved for a finite number of time steps. Theoretical predictions are confirmed by simulations. Using a heuristic method the cavity equations are extended to a set of equations that determine the marginals of the stationary distribution of Ising models on graphs with a nonzero fraction of symmetric edges. The results from this method are discussed and compared with simulations

  13. Proteogenomic analysis reveals alternative splicing and translation as part of the abscisic acid response in Arabidopsis seedlings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Fu-Yuan; Chen, Mo-Xian; Ye, Neng-Hui; Shi, Lu; Ma, Kai-Long; Yang, Jing-Fang; Cao, Yun-Ying; Zhang, Youjun; Yoshida, Takuya; Fernie, Alisdair R; Fan, Guang-Yi; Wen, Bo; Zhou, Ruo; Liu, Tie-Yuan; Fan, Tao; Gao, Bei; Zhang, Di; Hao, Ge-Fei; Xiao, Shi; Liu, Ying-Gao; Zhang, Jianhua

    2017-08-01

    In eukaryotes, mechanisms such as alternative splicing (AS) and alternative translation initiation (ATI) contribute to organismal protein diversity. Specifically, splicing factors play crucial roles in responses to environment and development cues; however, the underlying mechanisms are not well investigated in plants. Here, we report the parallel employment of short-read RNA sequencing, single molecule long-read sequencing and proteomic identification to unravel AS isoforms and previously unannotated proteins in response to abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Combining the data from the two sequencing methods, approximately 83.4% of intron-containing genes were alternatively spliced. Two AS types, which are referred to as alternative first exon (AFE) and alternative last exon (ALE), were more abundant than intron retention (IR); however, by contrast to AS events detected under normal conditions, differentially expressed AS isoforms were more likely to be translated. ABA extensively affects the AS pattern, indicated by the increasing number of non-conventional splicing sites. This work also identified thousands of unannotated peptides and proteins by ATI based on mass spectrometry and a virtual peptide library deduced from both strands of coding regions within the Arabidopsis genome. The results enhance our understanding of AS and alternative translation mechanisms under normal conditions, and in response to ABA treatment. © 2017 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Mammalian tissues defective in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay display highly aberrant splicing patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weischenfeldt, Joachim Lütken; Waage, Johannes Eichler; Tian, Geng

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) affects the outcome of alternative splicing by degrading mRNA isoforms with premature termination codons. Splicing regulators constitute important NMD targets; however, the extent to which loss of NMD causes extensive deregulation...... of alternative splicing has not previously been assayed in a global, unbiased manner. Here, we combine mouse genetics and RNA-seq to provide the first in vivo analysis of the global impact of NMD on splicing patterns in two primary mouse tissues ablated for the NMD factor UPF2. RESULTS: We developed...... importance, the latter events are associated with high intronic conservation. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that NMD regulates alternative splicing outcomes through an intricate web of splicing regulators and that its loss leads to the deregulation of a panoply of splicing events, providing novel...

  15. Investigation of tissue-specific human orthologous alternative splice events in pig

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hillig, Ann-Britt Nygaard; Jørgensen, Claus Bøttcher; Salicio, Susanna Cirera

    2010-01-01

    Alternative splicing of pre-mRNA can contribute to differences between tissues or cells either by regulating gene expression or creating proteins with various functions encoded by one gene. The number of investigated alternative splice events in pig has so far been limited. In this study we have ...... in preservation of open reading frame are indicative of a functional significance of the splice variants of the gene....

  16. Androgen Receptor Splice Variants and Resistance to Taxane Chemotherapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-01

    resistant prostate cancer ; docetaxel; cabazitaxel; chemotherapy; androgen receptor splice variants; microtubule; ligand-binding domain; microtubule... receptor splice variants (AR-Vs) are associated with resistance to taxane chemotherapy in castration- resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, this...androgen receptor inhibitors in prostate cancer . Nat Rev Cancer . 2015;15:701–11.

  17. Correlating In Vitro Splice Switching Activity With Systemic In Vivo Delivery Using Novel ZEN-modified Oligonucleotides

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzan M Hammond

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Splice switching oligonucleotides (SSOs induce alternative splicing of pre-mRNA and typically employ chemical modifications to increase nuclease resistance and binding affinity to target pre-mRNA. Here we describe a new SSO non-base modifier (a naphthyl-azo group, “ZEN™” to direct exon exclusion in mutant dystrophin pre-mRNA to generate functional dystrophin protein. The ZEN modifier is placed near the ends of a 2′-O-methyl (2′OMe oligonucleotide, increasing melting temperature and potency over unmodified 2′OMe oligonucleotides. In cultured H2K cells, a ZEN-modified 2′OMe phosphorothioate (PS oligonucleotide delivered by lipid transfection greatly enhanced dystrophin exon skipping over the same 2′OMePS SSO lacking ZEN. However, when tested using free gymnotic uptake in vitro and following systemic delivery in vivo in dystrophin deficient mdx mice, the same ZEN-modified SSO failed to enhance potency. Importantly, we show for the first time that in vivo activity of anionic SSOs is modelled in vitro only when using gymnotic delivery. ZEN is thus a novel modifier that enhances activity of SSOs in vitro but will require improved delivery methods before its in vivo clinical potential can be realized.

  18. Real-time ISEE data system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsurutani, B. T.; Baker, D. N.

    1979-01-01

    A real-time ISEE data system directed toward predicting geomagnetic substorms and storms is discussed. Such a system may allow up to 60+ minutes advance warning of magnetospheric substorms and up to 30 minute warnings of geomagnetic storms (and other disturbances) induced by high-speed streams and solar flares. The proposed system utilizes existing capabilities of several agencies (NASA, NOAA, USAF), and thereby minimizes costs. This same concept may be applicable to data from other spacecraft, and other NASA centers; thus, each individual experimenter can receive quick-look data in real time at his or her base institution.

  19. Quenched random-bond ising ferromagnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarmento, E.F.; Honmura, R.; Tsallis, C.; Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rio de Janeiro)

    1984-01-01

    A effective-field framework which, without mathematical complexities, enables the calculation of the phase diagram (and magnetization) associated with a quenched bond-mixed spin - 1/2 Ising model in an anisotropic simple cubic lattice have been recently introduced. The case corresponding to anisotropic coupling constants but isotropic concentrations was discussed in detail. Herein the case corresponding to isotropic coupling constants but anisotropic concentrations is discussed. A certain amount of interesting phase diagrams are exhibited; whenever comparison with available data is possible, the present results provide a satisfactory qualitative (and to a certain extent quantitative) agreement. (Author) [pt

  20. Identification of a novel function of CX-4945 as a splicing regulator.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyeongki Kim

    Full Text Available Alternative splicing is a nearly ubiquitous versatile process that controls gene expression and creates numerous protein isoforms with different functions from a single gene. The significance of alternative splicing has been confirmed by the increasing number of human diseases that are caused by misregulation of splicing events. Very few compounds, however, have been reported to act as inhibitors of alternative splicing, and their potential clinical use needs to be evaluated. Here, we report that CX-4945, a previously well-characterized inhibitor of casein kinase 2 (CK2 and a molecule currently in clinical trials (Phase II for cancer treatment, regulates splicing in mammalian cells in a CK2-independent manner. Transcriptome-wide analysis using exon array also showed a widespread alteration in alternative splicing of numerous genes. We found that CX-4945 potently inhibits the Cdc2-like kinases (Clks in vitro and in turn, leads to suppression of the phosphorylation of serine/arginine-rich (SR proteins in mammalian cells. Surprisingly, the overall efficacy of CX-4945 on Clks (IC50 = 3-90 nM was stronger than that of TG-003, the strongest inhibitor reported to date. Of the Clks, Clk2 was most strongly inhibited by CX-4945 in an ATP-competitive manner. Our research revealed an unexpected activity of the drug candidate CX-4945 as a potent splicing modulator and also suggested a potential application for therapy of diseases caused by abnormal splicing.

  1. Misregulation of Alternative Splicing in a Mouse Model of Rett Syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronghui Li

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Mutations in the human MECP2 gene cause Rett syndrome (RTT, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that predominantly affects girls. Despite decades of work, the molecular function of MeCP2 is not fully understood. Here we report a systematic identification of MeCP2-interacting proteins in the mouse brain. In addition to transcription regulators, we found that MeCP2 physically interacts with several modulators of RNA splicing, including LEDGF and DHX9. These interactions are disrupted by RTT causing mutations, suggesting that they may play a role in RTT pathogenesis. Consistent with the idea, deep RNA sequencing revealed misregulation of hundreds of splicing events in the cortex of Mecp2 knockout mice. To reveal the functional consequence of altered RNA splicing due to the loss of MeCP2, we focused on the regulation of the splicing of the flip/flop exon of Gria2 and other AMPAR genes. We found a significant splicing shift in the flip/flop exon toward the flop inclusion, leading to a faster decay in the AMPAR gated current and altered synaptic transmission. In summary, our study identified direct physical interaction between MeCP2 and splicing factors, a novel MeCP2 target gene, and established functional connection between a specific RNA splicing change and synaptic phenotypes in RTT mice. These results not only help our understanding of the molecular function of MeCP2, but also reveal potential drug targets for future therapies.

  2. Tricriticality in the q-neighbor Ising model on a partially duplex clique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chmiel, Anna; Sienkiewicz, Julian; Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna

    2017-12-01

    We analyze a modified kinetic Ising model, a so-called q-neighbor Ising model, with Metropolis dynamics [Phys. Rev. E 92, 052105 (2015)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.92.052105] on a duplex clique and a partially duplex clique. In the q-neighbor Ising model each spin interacts only with q spins randomly chosen from its whole neighborhood. In the case of a duplex clique the change of a spin is allowed only if both levels simultaneously induce this change. Due to the mean-field-like nature of the model we are able to derive the analytic form of transition probabilities and solve the corresponding master equation. The existence of the second level changes dramatically the character of the phase transition. In the case of the monoplex clique, the q-neighbor Ising model exhibits a continuous phase transition for q=3, discontinuous phase transition for q≥4, and for q=1 and q=2 the phase transition is not observed. On the other hand, in the case of the duplex clique continuous phase transitions are observed for all values of q, even for q=1 and q=2. Subsequently we introduce a partially duplex clique, parametrized by r∈[0,1], which allows us to tune the network from monoplex (r=0) to duplex (r=1). Such a generalized topology, in which a fraction r of all nodes appear on both levels, allows us to obtain the critical value of r=r^{*}(q) at which a tricriticality (switch from continuous to discontinuous phase transition) appears.

  3. Single-file water as a one-dimensional Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koefinger, Juergen [Laboratory of Chemical Physics, Bldg 5, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 (United States); Dellago, Christoph, E-mail: koefingerj@mail.nih.go [Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna (Austria)

    2010-09-15

    We show that single-file water in nanopores can be viewed as a one-dimensional (1D) Ising model, and we investigate, on the basis of this, the static dielectric response of a chain of hydrogen-bonded water molecules to an external field. To achieve this, we use a recently developed dipole lattice model that accurately captures the free energetics of nanopore water. In this model, the total energy of the system can be expressed as the sum of the effective interactions of chain ends and orientational defects. Neglecting these interactions, we essentially obtain the 1D Ising model, which allows us to derive analytical expressions for the free energy as a function of the total dipole moment and for the dielectric susceptibility. Our expressions, which agree very well with simulation results, provide the basis for the interpretation of future dielectric spectroscopy experiments on water-filled nanopore membranes.

  4. Stimulation of plasma waves by electron guns on the ISEE-1 satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lebreton, J.-P.; Torbert, R.; Anderson, R.; Harvey, C.

    1982-01-01

    The results of the ISEE-1 satellite experiment relating to observations of the waves stimulated during electron injections, when the spacecraft is passing through the magnetosphere, the magnetosheath, and the solar wind, are discussed. It is shown that the injection of an electron beam current of the order of 10 to 60 microamperes with energies ranging from 0 to 40 eV produces enhancements in the electric wave spectrum. An attempt has been made to identify the low-frequency electrostatic wave observed below the ion plasma frequency as an ion acoustic mode, although the excitation mechanism is not clear. A coupling mechanism between the electron plasma mode and streaming electrons with energies higher than the thermal speed of the cold electron population has been proposed to explain the observations above the electron plasma frequency.

  5. Splice-Switching Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharina E. Meijboom

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA is a genetic disorder with severity ranging from premature death in infants to restricted motor function in adult life. Despite the genetic cause of this disease being known for over twenty years, only recently has a therapy been approved to treat the most severe form of this disease. Here we discuss the genetic basis of SMA and the subsequent studies that led to the utilization of splice switching oligonucleotides to enhance production of SMN protein, which is absent in patients, through a mechanism of exon inclusion into the mature mRNA. Whilst approval of oligonucleotide-based therapies for SMA should be celebrated, we also discuss some of the limitations of this approach and alternate genetic strategies that are currently underway in clinical trials.

  6. Intron-Mediated Alternative Splicing of WOOD-ASSOCIATED NAC TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR1B Regulates Cell Wall Thickening during Fiber Development in Populus Species1[W

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yunjun; Sun, Jiayan; Xu, Peng; Zhang, Rui; Li, Laigeng

    2014-01-01

    Alternative splicing is an important mechanism involved in regulating the development of multicellular organisms. Although many genes in plants undergo alternative splicing, little is understood of its significance in regulating plant growth and development. In this study, alternative splicing of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) wood-associated NAC domain transcription factor (PtrWNDs), PtrWND1B, is shown to occur exclusively in secondary xylem fiber cells. PtrWND1B is expressed with a normal short-transcript PtrWND1B-s as well as its alternative long-transcript PtrWND1B-l. The intron 2 structure of the PtrWND1B gene was identified as a critical sequence that causes PtrWND1B alternative splicing. Suppression of PtrWND1B expression specifically inhibited fiber cell wall thickening. The two PtrWND1B isoforms play antagonistic roles in regulating cell wall thickening during fiber cell differentiation in Populus spp. PtrWND1B-s overexpression enhanced fiber cell wall thickening, while overexpression of PtrWND1B-l repressed fiber cell wall thickening. Alternative splicing may enable more specific regulation of processes such as fiber cell wall thickening during wood formation. PMID:24394777

  7. Conservation and sex-specific splicing of the doublesex gene

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Genetic control of sex determination in insects has been best characterized in Drosophila melanogaster, where the master gene Sxl codes for RNA that is sex specifically spliced to produce a functional protein only in females. SXL regulates the sex-specific splicing of transformer (tra) RNA which, in turn, regulates the ...

  8. Judging the similarity of soundscapes does not require categorization: evidence from spliced stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aucouturier, Jean-Julien; Defreville, Boris

    2009-04-01

    This study uses an audio signal transformation, splicing, to create an experimental situation where human listeners judge the similarity of audio signals, which they cannot easily categorize. Splicing works by segmenting audio signals into 50-ms frames, then shuffling and concatenating these frames back in random order. Splicing a signal masks the identification of the categories that it normally elicits: For instance, human participants cannot easily identify the sound of cars in a spliced recording of a city street. This study compares human performance on both normal and spliced recordings of soundscapes and music. Splicing is found to degrade human similarity performance significantly less for soundscapes than for music: When two spliced soundscapes are judged similar to one another, the original recordings also tend to sound similar. This establishes that humans are capable of reconstructing consistent similarity relations between soundscapes without relying much on the identification of the natural categories associated with such signals, such as their constituent sound sources. This finding contradicts previous literature and points to new ways to conceptualize the different ways in which humans perceive soundscapes and music.

  9. Loss of Pnn expression attenuates expression levels of SR family splicing factors and modulates alternative pre-mRNA splicing in vivo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiu Yali; Ouyang Pin

    2006-01-01

    SR and SR-related proteins have been implicated as trans-acting factors that play an important role in splice selection and are involved at specific stages of spliceosome formation. A well-established property of SR protein splicing factors is their ability to influence selection of alternative splice sites in a concentration-dependent manner. Identification of molecules that regulate SR family protein expression is therefore of vital importance in RNA biology. Here we report that depletion of Pnn expression, a SR-related protein with functions involved in pre-mRNA splicing and mRNA export, induces reduced expression of a subset of cellular proteins, especially that of SR family proteins, including SC35, SRm300, SRp55, and SRp40, but not that of other nuclear proteins, such as p53, Mdm2, and ki67. Knocking down Pnn expression was achieved in vitro by siRNA transfection. Expression levels of SR and SR-related proteins in Pnn-depleted cells as compared to those in control cells were evaluated by immunofluorescent staining and Western blot with specific antibodies. In addition, we also demonstrate that loss of Pnn expression could modulate splice site selection of model reporter gene in vivo. Our finding is significant in terms of regulation of SR protein cellular concentration because it reveals that Pnn may play a general role in the control of the cellular amount of family SR proteins through down-regulation of its own expression, thereby providing us with a better understanding of the cellular mechanism by which Pnn fulfills its biological function

  10. Two new splice variants in porcine PPARGC1A

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peelman Luc J

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PPARGC1A is a coactivator with a vital and central role in fat and energy metabolism. It is considered to be a candidate gene for meat quality in pigs and is involved in the development of obesity and diabetes in humans. How its many functions are regulated, is however still largely unclear. Therefore a transcription profile of PPARGC1A in 32 tissues and 4 embryonic developmental stages in the pig was constructed by screening its cDNA for possible splice variants with exon-spanning primers. Findings This led to the discovery of 2 new splice variants in the pig, which were subsequently also detected in human tissues. In these variants, exon 8 was either completely or partly (the last 66 bp were conserved spliced out, potentially coding for a much shorter protein of respectively 337 and 359 amino acids (aa, of which the first 291 aa would be the same compared to the complete protein (796 aa. Conclusion Considering the functional domains of the PPARGC1A protein, it is very likely these splice variants considerably affect the function of the protein and alternative splicing could be one of the mechanisms by which the diverse functions of PPARGC1A are regulated.

  11. RNA splicing in a new rhabdovirus from Culex mosquitoes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuwata, Ryusei; Isawa, Haruhiko; Hoshino, Keita; Tsuda, Yoshio; Yanase, Tohru; Sasaki, Toshinori; Kobayashi, Mutsuo; Sawabe, Kyoko

    2011-07-01

    Among members of the order Mononegavirales, RNA splicing events have been found only in the family Bornaviridae. Here, we report that a new rhabdovirus isolated from the mosquito Culex tritaeniorhynchus replicates in the nuclei of infected cells and requires RNA splicing for viral mRNA maturation. The virus, designated Culex tritaeniorhynchus rhabdovirus (CTRV), shares a similar genome organization with other rhabdoviruses, except for the presence of a putative intron in the coding region for the L protein. Molecular phylogenetic studies indicated that CTRV belongs to the family Rhabdoviridae, but it is yet to be assigned a genus. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that the CTRV virion is extremely elongated, unlike virions of rhabdoviruses, which are generally bullet shaped. Northern hybridization confirmed that a large transcript (approximately 6,500 nucleotides [nt]) from the CTRV L gene was present in the infected cells. Strand-specific reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) analyses identified the intron-exon boundaries and the 76-nt intron sequence, which contains the typical motif for eukaryotic spliceosomal intron-splice donor/acceptor sites (GU-AG), a predicted branch point, and a polypyrimidine tract. In situ hybridization exhibited that viral RNAs are primarily localized in the nucleus of infected cells, indicating that CTRV replicates in the nucleus and is allowed to utilize the host's nuclear splicing machinery. This is the first report of RNA splicing among the members of the family Rhabdoviridae.

  12. The determinants of alternative RNA splicing in human cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramanouskaya, Tatsiana V; Grinev, Vasily V

    2017-12-01

    Alternative splicing represents an important level of the regulation of gene function in eukaryotic organisms. It plays a critical role in virtually every biological process within an organism, including regulation of cell division and cell death, differentiation of tissues in the embryo and the adult organism, as well as in cellular response to diverse environmental factors. In turn, studies of the last decade have shown that alternative splicing itself is controlled by different mechanisms. Unfortunately, there is no clear understanding of how these diverse mechanisms, or determinants, regulate and constrain the set of alternative RNA species produced from any particular gene in every cell of the human body. Here, we provide a consolidated overview of alternative splicing determinants including RNA-protein interactions, epigenetic regulation via chromatin remodeling, coupling of transcription-to-alternative splicing, effect of secondary structures in pre-RNA, and function of the RNA quality control systems. We also extensively and critically discuss some mechanistic insights on coordinated inclusion/exclusion of exons during the formation of mature RNA molecules. We conclude that the final structure of RNA is pre-determined by a complex interplay between cis- and trans-acting factors. Altogether, currently available empirical data significantly expand our understanding of the functioning of the alternative splicing machinery of cells in normal and pathological conditions. On the other hand, there are still many blind spots that require further deep investigations.

  13. Cluster-cluster aggregation of Ising dipolar particles under thermal noise

    KAUST Repository

    Suzuki, Masaru; Kun, Ferenc; Ito, Nobuyasu

    2009-01-01

    The cluster-cluster aggregation processes of Ising dipolar particles under thermal noise are investigated in the dilute condition. As the temperature increases, changes in the typical structures of clusters are observed from chainlike (D1

  14. Universal scaling for the quantum Ising chain with a classical impurity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apollaro, Tony J. G.; Francica, Gianluca; Giuliano, Domenico; Falcone, Giovanni; Palma, G. Massimo; Plastina, Francesco

    2017-10-01

    We study finite-size scaling for the magnetic observables of an impurity residing at the end point of an open quantum Ising chain with transverse magnetic field, realized by locally rescaling the field by a factor μ ≠1 . In the homogeneous chain limit at μ =1 , we find the expected finite-size scaling for the longitudinal impurity magnetization, with no specific scaling for the transverse magnetization. At variance, in the classical impurity limit μ =0 , we recover finite scaling for the longitudinal magnetization, while the transverse one basically does not scale. We provide both analytic approximate expressions for the magnetization and the susceptibility as well as numerical evidences for the scaling behavior. At intermediate values of μ , finite-size scaling is violated, and we provide a possible explanation of this result in terms of the appearance of a second, impurity-related length scale. Finally, by going along the standard quantum-to-classical mapping between statistical models, we derive the classical counterpart of the quantum Ising chain with an end-point impurity as a classical Ising model on a square lattice wrapped on a half-infinite cylinder, with the links along the first circle modified as a function of μ .

  15. Correlation functions of the Ising model and the eight-vertex model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, L.F.

    1986-01-01

    Calculations for the two-point correlation functions in the scaling limit for two statistical models are presented. In Part I, the Ising model with a linear defect is studied for T T/sub c/. The transfer matrix method of Onsager and Kaufman is used. The energy-density correlation is given by functions related to the modified Bessel functions. The dispersion expansion for the spin-spin correlation functions are derived. The dominant behavior for large separations at T not equal to T/sub c/ is extracted. It is shown that these expansions lead to systems of Fredholm integral equations. In Part II, the electric correlation function of the eight-vertex model for T < T/sub c/ is studied. The eight vertex model decouples to two independent Ising models when the four spin coupling vanishes. To first order in the four-spin coupling, the electric correlation function is related to a three-point function of the Ising model. This relation is systematically investigated and the full dispersion expansion (to first order in four-spin coupling) is obtained. The results is a new kind of structure which, unlike those of many solvable models, is apparently not expressible in terms of linear integral equations

  16. A search for upstream pressure pulses associated with flux transfer events: An AMPTE/ISEE case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elphic, R. C.; Baumjohann, W.; Cattell, C. A.; Luehr, H.; Smith, M. F.

    1994-01-01

    On September 19, 1984, the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracers Explorers (AMPTE) United Kingdom Satellite (UKS) and Ion Release Module (IRM) and International Sun Earth Explorers (ISEE) 1 and 2 spacecraft passed outbound through the dayside magnetopause at about the same time. The AMPTE spacecraft pair crossed first and were in the near-subsolar magnetosheath for more than an hour. Meanwhile the ISEE pair, about 5 R(sub E) to the south, observed flux transfer event (FTE) signatures. We use the AMPTE UKS and IRM plasma and field observations of magnetosheath conditions directly upstream of the subsolar magnetopause to check whether pressure pulses are responsible for the FTE signatures seen at ISEE. Pulses in both the ion thermal pressure and the dynamic pressure are observed in the magnetosheath early on when IRM and UKS are close to the magnetopause, but not later. These large pulses appear to be related to reconnection going on at the magnetopause nearby. AMPTE magnetosheath data far from the magnetopause do not show a pressure pulse correlation with FTEs at ISEE. Moreover, the magnetic pressure and tension effects seen in the ISEE FTEs are much larger than any pressure effects seen in the magnetosheath. A superposed epoch analysis based on small-amplitude peaks in the AMPTE magnetosheath total static pressure (nkT + B(exp 2)/2 mu(sub 0)) hint at some boundary effects, less than 5 nT peak-to-peak variations in the ISEE 1 and 2 B(sub N) signature starting about 1 min after the pressure peak epoch. However, these variations are much smaller than the standard deviations of the B(sub N) field component. Thus the evidence from this case study suggests that upstream magnetosheath pressure pulses do not give rise to FTEs, but may produce very small amplitude signatures in the magnetic field at the magnetopause.

  17. Modification of the Creator recombination system for proteomics applications – improved expression by addition of splice sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colwill, Karen; Wells, Clark D; Elder, Kelly; Goudreault, Marilyn; Hersi, Kadija; Kulkarni, Sarang; Hardy, W Rod; Pawson, Tony; Morin, Gregg B

    2006-01-01

    Background Recombinational systems have been developed to rapidly shuttle Open Reading Frames (ORFs) into multiple expression vectors in order to analyze the large number of cDNAs available in the post-genomic era. In the Creator system, an ORF introduced into a donor vector can be transferred with Cre recombinase to a library of acceptor vectors optimized for different applications. Usability of the Creator system is impacted by the ability to easily manipulate DNA, the number of acceptor vectors for downstream applications, and the level of protein expression from Creator vectors. Results To date, we have developed over 20 novel acceptor vectors that employ a variety of promoters and epitope tags commonly employed for proteomics applications and gene function analysis. We also made several enhancements to the donor vectors including addition of different multiple cloning sites to allow shuttling from pre-existing vectors and introduction of the lacZ alpha reporter gene to allow for selection. Importantly, in order to ameliorate any effects on protein expression of the loxP site between a 5' tag and ORF, we introduced a splicing event into our expression vectors. The message produced from the resulting 'Creator Splice' vector undergoes splicing in mammalian systems to remove the loxP site. Upon analysis of our Creator Splice constructs, we discovered that protein expression levels were also significantly increased. Conclusion The development of new donor and acceptor vectors has increased versatility during the cloning process and made this system compatible with a wider variety of downstream applications. The modifications introduced in our Creator Splice system were designed to remove extraneous sequences due to recombination but also aided in downstream analysis by increasing protein expression levels. As a result, we can now employ epitope tags that are detected less efficiently and reduce our assay scale to allow for higher throughput. The Creator Splice

  18. Analysis of Few-Mode Multi-Core Fiber Splice Behavior Using an Optical Vector Network Analyzer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rommel, Simon; Mendinueta, Jose Manuel Delgado; Klaus, Werner

    2017-01-01

    The behavior of splices in a 3-mode 36-core fiber is analyzed using optical vector network analysis. Time-domain response analysis confirms splices may cause significant mode-mixing, while frequency-domain analysis shows splices may affect system level mode-dependent loss both positively and negativ......The behavior of splices in a 3-mode 36-core fiber is analyzed using optical vector network analysis. Time-domain response analysis confirms splices may cause significant mode-mixing, while frequency-domain analysis shows splices may affect system level mode-dependent loss both positively...

  19. Alternative splicing and nonsense-mediated decay of circadian clock genes under environmental stress conditions in Arabidopsis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Young-Ju; Park, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Sang-Gyu; Baldwin, Ian T; Park, Chung-Mo

    2014-05-19

    The circadian clock enables living organisms to anticipate recurring daily and seasonal fluctuations in their growth habitats and synchronize their biology to the environmental cycle. The plant circadian clock consists of multiple transcription-translation feedback loops that are entrained by environmental signals, such as light and temperature. In recent years, alternative splicing emerges as an important molecular mechanism that modulates the clock function in plants. Several clock genes are known to undergo alternative splicing in response to changes in environmental conditions, suggesting that the clock function is intimately associated with environmental responses via the alternative splicing of the clock genes. However, the alternative splicing events of the clock genes have not been studied at the molecular level. We systematically examined whether major clock genes undergo alternative splicing under various environmental conditions in Arabidopsis. We also investigated the fates of the RNA splice variants of the clock genes. It was found that the clock genes, including EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) and ZEITLUPE (ZTL) that have not been studied in terms of alternative splicing, undergo extensive alternative splicing through diverse modes of splicing events, such as intron retention, exon skipping, and selection of alternative 5' splice site. Their alternative splicing patterns were differentially influenced by changes in photoperiod, temperature extremes, and salt stress. Notably, the RNA splice variants of TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1) and ELF3 were degraded through the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway, whereas those of other clock genes were insensitive to NMD. Taken together, our observations demonstrate that the major clock genes examined undergo extensive alternative splicing under various environmental conditions, suggesting that alternative splicing is a molecular scheme that underlies the linkage between the clock and environmental stress

  20. Alternative splicing and nonsense-mediated decay of circadian clock genes under environmental stress conditions in Arabidopsis

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background The circadian clock enables living organisms to anticipate recurring daily and seasonal fluctuations in their growth habitats and synchronize their biology to the environmental cycle. The plant circadian clock consists of multiple transcription-translation feedback loops that are entrained by environmental signals, such as light and temperature. In recent years, alternative splicing emerges as an important molecular mechanism that modulates the clock function in plants. Several clock genes are known to undergo alternative splicing in response to changes in environmental conditions, suggesting that the clock function is intimately associated with environmental responses via the alternative splicing of the clock genes. However, the alternative splicing events of the clock genes have not been studied at the molecular level. Results We systematically examined whether major clock genes undergo alternative splicing under various environmental conditions in Arabidopsis. We also investigated the fates of the RNA splice variants of the clock genes. It was found that the clock genes, including EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) and ZEITLUPE (ZTL) that have not been studied in terms of alternative splicing, undergo extensive alternative splicing through diverse modes of splicing events, such as intron retention, exon skipping, and selection of alternative 5′ splice site. Their alternative splicing patterns were differentially influenced by changes in photoperiod, temperature extremes, and salt stress. Notably, the RNA splice variants of TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1) and ELF3 were degraded through the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway, whereas those of other clock genes were insensitive to NMD. Conclusion Taken together, our observations demonstrate that the major clock genes examined undergo extensive alternative splicing under various environmental conditions, suggesting that alternative splicing is a molecular scheme that underlies the linkage between the clock

  1. IE Information No. 86-104: Unqualified butt splice connectors identified in qualified penetrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jordan, E.L.

    1992-01-01

    During an NRC equipment qualification (EQ) inspection at Dresden Nuclear Power Station, May 19--23, 1986, a deficiency was discovered concerning a lack of similarity between tested and installed nylon insulated butt splices in EQ qualified GE electrical penetrations. commonwealth Edison sent four sample splices removed from Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station to Wyle Laboratory to further substantiate their qualification for use in a harsh environment. These splices were identical to those installed at Dresden. During the testing performed at Wyle Laboratory December 4--5, 1986, all four samples exhibited excessive leakage currents to ground when exposed to a steam environment. Commonwealth Edison consequently declared the splices unqualified and shut down its Quad Cities Unit 1 to rework the splices by wrapping them with previously qualified tape. Dresden Unit 2 has similarly reworked the splices by wrapping them with tape. Duane Arnold Energy Center also has commenced a shutdown in order to make repairs. The short circuits that occurred appeared to start by condensation entering the splice between the wire insulation and the nylon tubing. The arcing caused insulation degradation that then allowed arcs to pass through the insulation to the enclosure

  2. Supplementary Material for: Herboxidiene triggers splicing repression and abiotic stress responses in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Alshareef, Sahar; Ling, Yu; Butt, Haroon; Mariappan, Kiruthiga; Benhamed, Moussa; Mahfouz, Magdy

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Background Constitutive and alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs from multiexonic genes controls the diversity of the proteome; these precisely regulated processes also fine-tune responses to cues related to growth, development, and stresses. Small-molecule inhibitors that perturb splicing provide invaluable tools for use as chemical probes to uncover the molecular underpinnings of splicing regulation and as potential anticancer compounds. Results Here, we show that herboxidiene (GEX1A) inhibits both constitutive and alternative splicing. Moreover, GEX1A activates genome-wide transcriptional patterns involved in abiotic stress responses in plants. GEX1A treatment -activated ABA-inducible promoters, and led to stomatal closure. Interestingly, GEX1A and pladienolide B (PB) elicited similar cellular changes, including alterations in the patterns of transcription and splicing, suggesting that these compounds might target the same spliceosome complex in plant cells. Conclusions Our study establishes GEX1A as a potent splicing inhibitor in plants that can be used to probe the assembly, dynamics, and molecular functions of the spliceosome and to study the interplay between splicing stress and abiotic stresses, as well as having potential biotechnological applications.

  3. Global analysis of aberrant pre-mRNA splicing in glioblastoma using exon expression arrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nixon Tamara J

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Tumor-predominant splice isoforms were identified during comparative in silico sequence analysis of EST clones, suggesting that global aberrant alternative pre-mRNA splicing may be an epigenetic phenomenon in cancer. We used an exon expression array to perform an objective, genome-wide survey of glioma-specific splicing in 24 GBM and 12 nontumor brain samples. Validation studies were performed using RT-PCR on glioma cell lines, patient tumor and nontumor brain samples. Results In total, we confirmed 14 genes with glioma-specific splicing; seven were novel events identified by the exon expression array (A2BP1, BCAS1, CACNA1G, CLTA, KCNC2, SNCB, and TPD52L2. Our data indicate that large changes (> 5-fold in alternative splicing are infrequent in gliomagenesis ( Conclusion While we observed some tumor-specific alternative splicing, the number of genes showing exclusive tumor-specific isoforms was on the order of tens, rather than the hundreds suggested previously by in silico mining. Given the important role of alternative splicing in neural differentiation, there may be selective pressure to maintain a majority of splicing events in order to retain glial-like characteristics of the tumor cells.

  4. Analysis for Behavior of Reinforcement Lap Splices in Deep Beams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ammar Yaser Ali

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The present study includes an experimental and theoretical investigation of reinforced concrete deep beams containing tensile reinforcement lap splices at constant moment zone under static load. The study included two stages: in the first one, an experimental work included testing of eight simply supported RC deep beams having a total length (L = 2000 mm, overall depth (h= 600 mm and width (b = 150 mm. The tested specimens were divided into three groups to study the effect of main variables: lap length, location of splice, internal confinement (stirrups and external confinement (strengthening by CFRP laminates. The experimental results showed that the use of CFRP as external strengthening in deep beam with lap spliced gives best behavior such as increase in stiffness, decrease in deflection, delaying the cracks appearance and reducing the crack width. The reduction in deflection about (14-21 % than the unstrengthened beam and about (5-14 % than the beam with continuous bars near ultimate load. Also, it was observed that the beams with unstrengthened tensile reinforcement lap splices had three types of cracks: flexural, flexural-shear and splitting cracks while the beams with strengthened tensile reinforcement lap splices or continuous bars don’t observe splitting cracks. In the second stage, a numerical analysis of three dimensional finite element analysis was utilized to explore the behavior of the RC deep beams with tensile reinforcement lap splices, in addition to parametric study of many variables. The comparison between the experimental and theoretical results showed reasonable agreement. The average difference of the deflection at service load was less than 5%.

  5. Monte Carlo simulations of an Ising-like model for photoinduced spin-state switching in nanoparticles of transition metal complexes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawamoto, Tohru; Abe, Shuji

    2005-01-01

    We investigated the switching behavior of small particles of an Ising-like model under constant excitation by means of Monte Carlo simulations to study photoinduced spinstate switching in nanoparticles of transition metal complexes. The threshold intensity required for that switching becomes drastically small in small particles with diameter of less than 10 pseudospins. This lower intensity results enhancement of the pseudospin fluctuation at the surface in the small particles. Our result might originate the increase of the photoinduced magnetization in nanoparticles of a Mo-Cu cyanide

  6. Zero-temperature renormalization of the 2D transverse Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamieniarz, G.

    1982-08-01

    A zero-temperature real-space renormalization-group method is applied to the transverse Ising model on planar hexagonal, triangular and quadratic lattices. The critical fields and the critical exponents describing low-field large-field transition are calculated. (author)

  7. Experimental Investigation for Behavior of Spliced Continuous RC Girders Strengthened with CFRP Laminates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ammar Yasir Ali

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the behavior of spliced continuous reinforced concrete girders was experimentally investigated. The main objective was to examine the contribution of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP laminates in strengthening the spliced continuous reinforced concrete girders. Eight models of continuous reinforced concrete girder were constructed and tested. The test variables were strengthening the splice joints by different schemes of CFRP laminates, presence of horizontal stirrups through the interfaces of the joints and using binder material at the interfaces of the joints. The results showed that strengthening the continuous spliced girders with 45° inclined CFRP laminates led to an increase in the ultimate load in a range of (47 to 74%. Besides, strengthening the continuous spliced girder with horizontal CFRP laminates bonded at its lateral faces could increase the ultimate load by 70%. Additionally, the ultimate load of the continuous spliced girder was increased by (30% due to presence of the horizontal steel stirrups through the interfaces of the joints

  8. Canonical vs. micro-canonical sampling methods in a 2D Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kepner, J.

    1990-12-01

    Canonical and micro-canonical Monte Carlo algorithms were implemented on a 2D Ising model. Expressions for the internal energy, U, inverse temperature, Z, and specific heat, C, are given. These quantities were calculated over a range of temperature, lattice sizes, and time steps. Both algorithms accurately simulate the Ising model. To obtain greater than three decimal accuracy from the micro-canonical method requires that the more complicated expression for Z be used. The overall difference between the algorithms is small. The physics of the problem under study should be the deciding factor in determining which algorithm to use. 13 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs

  9. Ising model on tangled chain - 1: Free energy and entropy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.

    1993-04-01

    In this paper we have considered an Ising model defined on tangled chain, in which more bonds have been added to those of pure Ising chain. to understand their competition, particularly between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic bonds, we have studied, using the transfer matrix method, some simple analytical calculations and an iterative algorithm, the behaviour of the free energy and entropy, particularly in the zero-field and zero temperature limit, for different configurations of the ferromagnetic tangled chain and different types of addition interaction (ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic). We found that the condition J=J' between the ferromagnetic interaction J along the chain and the antiferromagnetic interaction J' across the chain is somewhat as a ''transition-region'' condition for this behaviour. Our results indicate also the existence of non-zero entropy at zero temperature. (author). 17 refs, 8 figs

  10. Kinetin improves IKBKAP mRNA splicing in patients with familial dysautonomia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Axelrod, Felicia B.; Liebes, Leonard; Gold-von Simson, Gabrielle; Mendoza, Sandra; Mull, James; Leyne, Maire; Norcliffe-Kaufmann, Lucy; Kaufmann, Horacio; Slaugenhaupt, Susan A.

    2011-01-01

    Familial dysautonomia (FD) is caused by an intronic splice mutation in the IKBKAP gene that leads to partial skipping of exon 20 and tissue-specific reduction in I-κ-B kinase complex associated protein/ elongation protein 1 (IKAP/ELP-1) expression. Kinetin (6-furfurylaminopurine) has been shown to improve splicing and increase wild-type IKBKAP mRNA and IKAP protein expression in FD cell lines and carriers. To determine if oral kinetin treatment could alter mRNA splicing in FD subjects and was tolerable, we administered kinetin to eight FD individuals homozygous for the splice mutation. Subjects received 23.5 mg/Kg/day for 28 days. An increase in wild-type IKBKAP mRNA expression in leukocytes was noted after eight days in six of eight individuals; after 28 days the mean increase as compared to baseline was significant (p=0.002). We have demonstrated that kinetin is tolerable in this medically fragile population. Not only did kinetin produce the desired effect on splicing in FD patients, but also that effect appears to improve with time despite lack of dose change. This is the first report of a drug that produces in vivo mRNA splicing changes in individuals with FD and supports future long-term trials to determine if kinetin will prove therapeutic in FD patients. PMID:21775922

  11. Expanding the action of duplex RNAs into the nucleus: redirecting alternative splicing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jing; Hu, Jiaxin; Corey, David R.

    2012-01-01

    Double-stranded RNAs are powerful agents for silencing gene expression in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. The potential for duplex RNAs to control expression in the nucleus has received less attention. Here, we investigate the ability of small RNAs to redirect splicing. We identify RNAs targeting an aberrant splice site that restore splicing and production of functional protein. RNAs can target sequences within exons or introns and affect the inclusion of exons within SMN2 and dystrophin, genes responsible for spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, respectively. Duplex RNAs recruit argonaute 2 (AGO2) to pre-mRNA transcripts and altered splicing requires AGO2 expression. AGO2 promotes transcript cleavage in the cytoplasm, but recruitment of AGO2 to pre-mRNAs does not reduce transcript levels, exposing a difference between cytoplasmic and nuclear pathways. Involvement of AGO2 in splicing, a classical nuclear process, reinforces the conclusion from studies of RNA-mediated transcriptional silencing that RNAi pathways can be adapted to function in the mammalian nucleus. These data provide a new strategy for controlling splicing and expand the reach of small RNAs within the nucleus of mammalian cells. PMID:21948593

  12. Alternative Splicing in Breast Cancer and the Potential Development of Therapeutic Tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Montiel, Nancy; Anaya-Ruiz, Maricruz; Pérez-Santos, Martín; Martínez-Contreras, Rebeca D

    2017-10-05

    Alternative splicing is a key molecular mechanism now considered as a hallmark of cancer that has been associated with the expression of distinct isoforms during the onset and progression of the disease. The leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide is breast cancer, and even when the role of alternative splicing in this type of cancer has been established, the function of this mechanism in breast cancer biology is not completely decoded. In order to gain a comprehensive view of the role of alternative splicing in breast cancer biology and development, we summarize here recent findings regarding alternative splicing events that have been well documented for breast cancer evolution, considering its prognostic and therapeutic value. Moreover, we analyze how the response to endocrine and chemical therapies could be affected due to alternative splicing and differential expression of variant isoforms. With all this knowledge, it becomes clear that targeting alternative splicing represents an innovative approach for breast cancer therapeutics and the information derived from current studies could guide clinical decisions with a direct impact in the clinical advances for breast cancer patients nowadays.

  13. Investigation of phase diagrams for cylindrical Ising nanotube using cellular automata

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astaraki, M.; Ghaemi, M.; Afzali, K.

    2018-05-01

    Recent developments in the field of applied nanoscience and nanotechnology have heightened the need for categorizing various characteristics of nanostructures. In this regard, this paper establishes a novel method to investigate magnetic properties (phase diagram and spontaneous magnetization) of a cylindrical Ising nanotube. Using a two-layer Ising model and the core-shell concept, the interactions within nanotube has been modelled. In the model, both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic cases have been considered. Furthermore, the effect of nanotube's length on the critical temperature is investigated. The model has been simulated using cellular automata approach and phase diagrams were constructed for different values of inter- and intra-layer couplings. For the antiferromagnetic case, the possibility of existence of compensation point is observed.

  14. Genetic variations and alternative splicing. The Glioma associated oncogene 1, GLI1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter eZaphiropoulos

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Alternative splicing is a post-transcriptional regulatory process that is attaining stronger recognition as a modulator of gene expression. Alternative splicing occurs when the primary RNA transcript is differentially processed into more than one mature RNAs. This is the result of a variable definition/inclusion of the exons, the sequences that are excised from the primary RNA to form the mature RNAs. Consequently, RNA expression can generate a collection of differentially spliced RNAs, which may distinctly influence subsequent biological events, such as protein synthesis or other biomolecular interactions. Still the mechanisms that control exon definition and exon inclusion are not fully clarified. This mini-review highlights advances in this field as well as the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms in affecting splicing decisions. The Glioma associated oncogene 1, GLI1, is taken as an example in addressing the role of nucleotide substitutions for splicing regulation.

  15. On splice site prediction using weight array models: a comparison of smoothing techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taher, Leila; Meinicke, Peter; Morgenstern, Burkhard

    2007-01-01

    In most eukaryotic genes, protein-coding exons are separated by non-coding introns which are removed from the primary transcript by a process called 'splicing'. The positions where introns are cut and exons are spliced together are called 'splice sites'. Thus, computational prediction of splice sites is crucial for gene finding in eukaryotes. Weight array models are a powerful probabilistic approach to splice site detection. Parameters for these models are usually derived from m-tuple frequencies in trusted training data and subsequently smoothed to avoid zero probabilities. In this study we compare three different ways of parameter estimation for m-tuple frequencies, namely (a) non-smoothed probability estimation, (b) standard pseudo counts and (c) a Gaussian smoothing procedure that we recently developed

  16. A five' splice-region G → C mutation in exon 1 of the human β-globin gene inhibits pre-mRNA splicing: A mechanism for β+-thalassemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vidaud, M.; Vidaud, D.; Amselem, S.; Rosa, J.; Goossens, M.; Gattoni, R.; Stevenin, J.; Chibani, J.

    1989-01-01

    The authors have characterized a Mediterranean β-thalassemia allele containing a sequence change at codon 30 that alters both β-globin pre-mRNA splicing and the structure of the homoglobin product. Presumably, this G → C transversion at position -1 of intron 1 reduces severely the utilization of the normal 5' splice site since the level of the Arg → Thr mutant hemoglobin (designated hemoglobin Kairouan) found in the erythrocytes of the patient is very low (2% of total hemoglobin). Since no natural mutations of the guanine located at position -1 of the CAG/GTAAGT consensus sequence had been isolated previously. They investigated the role of this nucleotide in the constitution of an active 5' splice site by studying the splicing of the pre-mRNA in cell-free extracts. They demonstrate that correct splicing of the mutant pre-mRNA is 98% inhibited. Their results provide further insights into the mechanisms of pre-mRNA maturation by revealing that the last residue of the exon plays a role at least equivalent to that of the intron residue at position +5

  17. A simple approximation method for dilute Ising systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saber, M.

    1996-10-01

    We describe a simple approximate method to analyze dilute Ising systems. The method takes into consideration the fluctuations of the effective field, and is based on a probability distribution of random variables which correctly accounts for all the single site kinematic relations. It is shown that the simplest approximation gives satisfactory results when compared with other methods. (author). 12 refs, 2 tabs

  18. Susceptibility and magnetization of a random Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, D; Srivastava, V [Roorkee Univ. (India). Dept. of Physics

    1977-08-01

    The susceptibility of a bond disordered Ising model is calculated by configurationally averaging an Ornstein-Zernike type of equation for the two spin correlation function. The equation for the correlation function is derived using a diagrammatic method due to Englert. The averaging is performed using bond CPA. The magnetization is also calculated by averaging in a similar manner a linearised molecular field equation.

  19. Entropic contributions to the splicing process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osella, Matteo; Caselle, Michele

    2009-01-01

    It has been recently argued that depletion attraction may play an important role in different aspects of cellular organization, ranging from the organization of transcriptional activity in transcription factories to the formation of nuclear bodies. In this paper, we suggest a new application of these ideas in the context of the splicing process, a crucial step of messenger RNA maturation in eukaryotes. We shall show that entropy effects and the resulting depletion attraction may explain the relevance of the aspecific intron length variable in the choice of splice-site recognition modality. On top of that, some qualitative features of the genome architecture of higher eukaryotes can find evolutionary realistic motivation in the light of our model

  20. Probabilistic image processing by means of the Bethe approximation for the Q-Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Kazuyuki; Inoue, Jun-ichi; Titterington, D M

    2003-01-01

    The framework of Bayesian image restoration for multi-valued images by means of the Q-Ising model with nearest-neighbour interactions is presented. Hyperparameters in the probabilistic model are determined so as to maximize the marginal likelihood. A practical algorithm is described for multi-valued image restoration based on the Bethe approximation. The algorithm corresponds to loopy belief propagation in artificial intelligence. We conclude that, in real world grey-level images, the Q-Ising model can give us good results

  1. Assessment of orthologous splicing isoforms in human and mouse orthologous genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Horner David S

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent discoveries have highlighted the fact that alternative splicing and alternative transcripts are the rule, rather than the exception, in metazoan genes. Since multiple transcript and protein variants expressed by the same gene are, by definition, structurally distinct and need not to be functionally equivalent, the concept of gene orthology should be extended to the transcript level in order to describe evolutionary relationships between structurally similar transcript variants. In other words, the identification of true orthology relationships between gene products now should progress beyond primary sequence and "splicing orthology", consisting in ancestrally shared exon-intron structures, is required to define orthologous isoforms at transcript level. Results As a starting step in this direction, in this work we performed a large scale human- mouse gene comparison with a twofold goal: first, to assess if and to which extent traditional gene annotations such as RefSeq capture genuine splicing orthology; second, to provide a more detailed annotation and quantification of true human-mouse orthologous transcripts defined as transcripts of orthologous genes exhibiting the same splicing patterns. Conclusions We observed an identical exon/intron structure for 32% of human and mouse orthologous genes. This figure increases to 87% using less stringent criteria for gene structure similarity, thus implying that for about 13% of the human RefSeq annotated genes (and about 25% of the corresponding transcripts we could not identify any mouse transcript showing sufficient similarity to be confidently assigned as a splicing ortholog. Our data suggest that current gene and transcript data may still be rather incomplete - with several splicing variants still unknown. The observation that alternative splicing produces large numbers of alternative transcripts and proteins, some of them conserved across species and others truly species

  2. Stimulation of plasma waves by electron guns on the ISEE-1 satellite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebreton, J.P.; Torbert, R.; Anderson, R.; Harvey, C.

    1982-01-01

    The results of the ISEE-1 satellite experiment relating to observations of the waves stimulated during electron injections, when the spacecraft is passing through the magnetosphere, the magnetosheath, and the solar wind, are discussed. It is shown that the injection of an electron beam current of the order of 10 to 60 microamperes with energies ranging from 0 to 40 eV produces enhancements in the electric wave spectrum. An attempt has been made to identify the low-frequency electrostatic wave observed below the ion plasma frequency as an ion acoustic mode, although the excitation mechanism is not clear. A coupling mechanism between the electron plasma mode and streaming electrons with energies higher than the thermal speed of the cold electron population has been proposed to explain the observations above the electron plasma frequency. 9 references

  3. Stimulation of plasma waves by electron guns on the ISEE-1 satellite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebreton, J.P.; Anderson, R.; Harvey, C.; Torbert, R.

    1982-01-01

    This chapter describes typical observations of the waves stimulated during the electron injections, when the spacecraft is passing through the magnetosphere, the magnetosheath and the solar wind. Topics considered include orbits of gun electrons, an electric field antenna, gun operation in the magnetosphere, natural waves in the magnetosheath and the solar wind, gun operation magnetosheath, and gun operation in the solar wind. A coupling mechanism between the electron plasma mode and streaming electrons with energies higher than the thermal speed of the cold electron population is proposed to explain the observations above the electron plasma frequency. It is demonstrated that on board the ISEE-1 satellite, the injection of an electron beam current of the order of 10 to 60 251A with energies ranging from 0 to 40 eV produced enhancements in the electric wave spectrum

  4. Widespread evolutionary conservation of alternatively spliced exons in caenorhabditis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Irimia, Manuel; Rukov, Jakob L; Penny, David

    2007-01-01

    Alternative splicing (AS) contributes to increased transcriptome and proteome diversity in various eukaryotic lineages. Previous studies showed low levels of conservation of alternatively spliced (cassette) exons within mammals and within dipterans. We report a strikingly different pattern...... in Caenorhabditis nematodes-more than 92% of cassette exons from Caenorhabditis elegans are conserved in Caenorhabditis briggsae and/or Caenorhabditis remanei. High levels of conservation extend to minor-form exons (present in a minority of transcripts) and are particularly pronounced for exons showing complex...... patterns of splicing. The functionality of the vast majority of cassette exons is underscored by various other features. We suggest that differences in conservation between lineages reflect differences in levels of functionality and further suggest that these differences are due to differences in intron...

  5. The Landau-Lifshitz equation describes the Ising spin correlation function in the free-fermion model

    CERN Document Server

    Rutkevich, S B

    1998-01-01

    We consider time and space dependence of the Ising spin correlation function in a continuous one-dimensional free-fermion model. By the Ising spin we imply the 'sign' variable, which takes alternating +-1 values in adjacent domains bounded by domain walls (fermionic world paths). The two-point correlation function is expressed in terms of the solution of the Cauchy problem for a nonlinear partial differential equation, which is proved to be equivalent to the exactly solvable Landau-Lifshitz equation. A new zero-curvature representation for this equation is presented. In turn, the initial condition for the Cauchy problem is given by the solution of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation, which has also been derived. In the Ising limit the above-mentioned partial and ordinary differential equations reduce to the sine-Gordon and Painleve III equations, respectively. (author)

  6. FOX-2 Dependent Splicing of Ataxin-2 Transcript Is Affected by Ataxin-1 Overexpression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welzel, Franziska; Kaehler, Christian; Isau, Melanie; Hallen, Linda; Lehrach, Hans; Krobitsch, Sylvia

    2012-01-01

    Alternative splicing is a fundamental posttranscriptional mechanism for controlling gene expression, and splicing defects have been linked to various human disorders. The splicing factor FOX-2 is part of a main protein interaction hub in a network related to human inherited ataxias, however, its impact remains to be elucidated. Here, we focused on the reported interaction between FOX-2 and ataxin-1, the disease-causing protein in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. In this line, we further evaluated this interaction by yeast-2-hybrid analyses and co-immunoprecipitation experiments in mammalian cells. Interestingly, we discovered that FOX-2 localization and splicing activity is affected in the presence of nuclear ataxin-1 inclusions. Moreover, we observed that FOX-2 directly interacts with ataxin-2, a protein modulating spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 pathogenesis. Finally, we provide evidence that splicing of pre-mRNA of ataxin-2 depends on FOX-2 activity, since reduction of FOX-2 levels led to increased skipping of exon 18 in ataxin-2 transcripts. Most striking, we observed that ataxin-1 overexpression has an effect on this splicing event as well. Thus, our results demonstrate that FOX-2 is involved in splicing of ataxin-2 transcripts and that this splicing event is altered by overexpression of ataxin-1. PMID:22666429

  7. Alternative splicing, a new target to block cellular gene expression by poliovirus 2A protease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarez, Enrique; Castello, Alfredo; Carrasco, Luis; Izquierdo, Jose M.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Novel role for poliovirus 2A protease as splicing modulator. → Poliovirus 2A protease inhibits the alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs. → Poliovirus 2A protease blocks the second catalytic step of splicing. -- Abstract: Viruses have developed multiple strategies to interfere with the gene expression of host cells at different stages to ensure their own survival. Here we report a new role for poliovirus 2A pro modulating the alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs. Expression of 2A pro potently inhibits splicing of reporter genes in HeLa cells. Low amounts of 2A pro abrogate Fas exon 6 skipping, whereas higher levels of protease fully abolish Fas and FGFR2 splicing. In vitro splicing of MINX mRNA using nuclear extracts is also strongly inhibited by 2A pro , leading to accumulation of the first exon and the lariat product containing the unspliced second exon. These findings reveal that the mechanism of action of 2A pro on splicing is to selectively block the second catalytic step.

  8. Alternative splicing, a new target to block cellular gene expression by poliovirus 2A protease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarez, Enrique, E-mail: ealvarez@cbm.uam.es [Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Nicolas Cabrera, 1 Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid (Spain); Castello, Alfredo; Carrasco, Luis; Izquierdo, Jose M. [Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Nicolas Cabrera, 1 Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid (Spain)

    2011-10-14

    Highlights: {yields} Novel role for poliovirus 2A protease as splicing modulator. {yields} Poliovirus 2A protease inhibits the alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs. {yields} Poliovirus 2A protease blocks the second catalytic step of splicing. -- Abstract: Viruses have developed multiple strategies to interfere with the gene expression of host cells at different stages to ensure their own survival. Here we report a new role for poliovirus 2A{sup pro} modulating the alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs. Expression of 2A{sup pro} potently inhibits splicing of reporter genes in HeLa cells. Low amounts of 2A{sup pro} abrogate Fas exon 6 skipping, whereas higher levels of protease fully abolish Fas and FGFR2 splicing. In vitro splicing of MINX mRNA using nuclear extracts is also strongly inhibited by 2A{sup pro}, leading to accumulation of the first exon and the lariat product containing the unspliced second exon. These findings reveal that the mechanism of action of 2A{sup pro} on splicing is to selectively block the second catalytic step.

  9. TBX3 regulates splicing in vivo: a novel molecular mechanism for Ulnar-mammary syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavan Kumar P

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available TBX3 is a member of the T-box family of transcription factors with critical roles in development, oncogenesis, cell fate, and tissue homeostasis. TBX3 mutations in humans cause complex congenital malformations and Ulnar-mammary syndrome. Previous investigations into TBX3 function focused on its activity as a transcriptional repressor. We used an unbiased proteomic approach to identify TBX3 interacting proteins in vivo and discovered that TBX3 interacts with multiple mRNA splicing factors and RNA metabolic proteins. We discovered that TBX3 regulates alternative splicing in vivo and can promote or inhibit splicing depending on context and transcript. TBX3 associates with alternatively spliced mRNAs and binds RNA directly. TBX3 binds RNAs containing TBX binding motifs, and these motifs are required for regulation of splicing. Our study reveals that TBX3 mutations seen in humans with UMS disrupt its splicing regulatory function. The pleiotropic effects of TBX3 mutations in humans and mice likely result from disrupting at least two molecular functions of this protein: transcriptional regulation and pre-mRNA splicing.

  10. TBX3 regulates splicing in vivo: a novel molecular mechanism for Ulnar-mammary syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar P, Pavan; Franklin, Sarah; Emechebe, Uchenna; Hu, Hao; Moore, Barry; Lehman, Chris; Yandell, Mark; Moon, Anne M

    2014-03-01

    TBX3 is a member of the T-box family of transcription factors with critical roles in development, oncogenesis, cell fate, and tissue homeostasis. TBX3 mutations in humans cause complex congenital malformations and Ulnar-mammary syndrome. Previous investigations into TBX3 function focused on its activity as a transcriptional repressor. We used an unbiased proteomic approach to identify TBX3 interacting proteins in vivo and discovered that TBX3 interacts with multiple mRNA splicing factors and RNA metabolic proteins. We discovered that TBX3 regulates alternative splicing in vivo and can promote or inhibit splicing depending on context and transcript. TBX3 associates with alternatively spliced mRNAs and binds RNA directly. TBX3 binds RNAs containing TBX binding motifs, and these motifs are required for regulation of splicing. Our study reveals that TBX3 mutations seen in humans with UMS disrupt its splicing regulatory function. The pleiotropic effects of TBX3 mutations in humans and mice likely result from disrupting at least two molecular functions of this protein: transcriptional regulation and pre-mRNA splicing.

  11. The implications of alternative splicing in the ENCODE protein complement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tress, Michael L.; Martelli, Pier Luigi; Frankish, Adam

    2007-01-01

    suggested as one explanation for the discrepancy between the number of human genes and functional complexity. Here, we carry out a detailed study of the alternatively spliced gene products annotated in the ENCODE pilot project. We find that alternative splicing in human genes is more frequent than has...

  12. Somatic Mutational Landscape of Splicing Factor Genes and Their Functional Consequences across 33 Cancer Types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Seiler

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Hotspot mutations in splicing factor genes have been recently reported at high frequency in hematological malignancies, suggesting the importance of RNA splicing in cancer. We analyzed whole-exome sequencing data across 33 tumor types in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA, and we identified 119 splicing factor genes with significant non-silent mutation patterns, including mutation over-representation, recurrent loss of function (tumor suppressor-like, or hotspot mutation profile (oncogene-like. Furthermore, RNA sequencing analysis revealed altered splicing events associated with selected splicing factor mutations. In addition, we were able to identify common gene pathway profiles associated with the presence of these mutations. Our analysis suggests that somatic alteration of genes involved in the RNA-splicing process is common in cancer and may represent an underappreciated hallmark of tumorigenesis. : Seiler et al. report that 119 splicing factor genes carry putative driver mutations over 33 tumor types in TCGA. The most common mutations appear to be mutually exclusive and are associated with lineage-independent altered splicing. Samples with these mutations show deregulation of cell-autonomous pathways and immune infiltration. Keywords: splicing, SF3B1, U2AF1, SRSF2, RBM10, FUBP1, cancer, mutation

  13. Single Molecule Cluster Analysis Identifies Signature Dynamic Conformations along the Splicing Pathway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanco, Mario R.; Martin, Joshua S.; Kahlscheuer, Matthew L.; Krishnan, Ramya; Abelson, John; Laederach, Alain; Walter, Nils G.

    2016-01-01

    The spliceosome is the dynamic RNA-protein machine responsible for faithfully splicing introns from precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs). Many of the dynamic processes required for the proper assembly, catalytic activation, and disassembly of the spliceosome as it acts on its pre-mRNA substrate remain poorly understood, a challenge that persists for many biomolecular machines. Here, we developed a fluorescence-based Single Molecule Cluster Analysis (SiMCAn) tool to dissect the manifold conformational dynamics of a pre-mRNA through the splicing cycle. By clustering common dynamic behaviors derived from selectively blocked splicing reactions, SiMCAn was able to identify signature conformations and dynamic behaviors of multiple ATP-dependent intermediates. In addition, it identified a conformation adopted late in splicing by a 3′ splice site mutant, invoking a mechanism for substrate proofreading. SiMCAn presents a novel framework for interpreting complex single molecule behaviors that should prove widely useful for the comprehensive analysis of a plethora of dynamic cellular machines. PMID:26414013

  14. SOAPsplice: genome-wide ab initio detection of splice junctions from RNA-Seq data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Songbo eHuang

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available RNA-Seq, a method using next generation sequencing technologies to sequence the transcriptome, facilitates genome-wide analysis of splice junction sites. In this paper, we introduce SOAPsplice, a robust tool to detect splice junctions using RNA-Seq data without using any information of known splice junctions. SOAPsplice uses a novel two-step approach consisting of first identifying as many reasonable splice junction candidates as possible, and then, filtering the false positives with two effective filtering strategies. In both simulated and real datasets, SOAPsplice is able to detect many reliable splice junctions with low false positive rate. The improvement gained by SOAPsplice, when compared to other existing tools, becomes more obvious when the depth of sequencing is low. SOAPsplice is freely available at http://soap.genomics.org.cn/soapsplice.html.

  15. A novel CDX2 isoform regulates alternative splicing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew E Witek

    Full Text Available Gene expression is a dynamic and coordinated process coupling transcription with pre-mRNA processing. This regulation enables tissue-specific transcription factors to induce expression of specific transcripts that are subsequently amplified by alternative splicing allowing for increased proteome complexity and functional diversity. The intestine-specific transcription factor CDX2 regulates development and maintenance of the intestinal epithelium by inducing expression of genes characteristic of the mature enterocyte phenotype. Here, sequence analysis of CDX2 mRNA from colonic mucosa-derived tissues revealed an alternatively spliced transcript (CDX2/AS that encodes a protein with a truncated homeodomain and a novel carboxy-terminal domain enriched in serine and arginine residues (RS domain. CDX2 and CDX2/AS exhibited distinct nuclear expression patterns with minimal areas of co-localization. CDX2/AS did not activate the CDX2-dependent promoter of guanylyl cyclase C nor inhibit transcriptional activity of CDX2. Unlike CDX2, CDX2/AS co-localized with the putative splicing factors ASF/SF2 and SC35. CDX2/AS altered splicing patterns of CD44v5 and Tra2-β1 minigenes in Lovo colon cancer cells independent of CDX2 expression. These data demonstrate unique dual functions of the CDX2 gene enabling it to regulate gene expression through both transcription (CDX2 and pre-mRNA processing (CDX2/AS.

  16. Quantum-information approach to the Ising model: Entanglement in chains of qubits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stelmachovic, Peter; Buzek, Vladimir

    2004-01-01

    Simple physical interactions between spin-1/2 particles may result in quantum states that exhibit exotic correlations that are difficult to find if one simply explores state spaces of multipartite systems. In particular, we present a detailed investigation of the well-known Ising model of a chain (ring) of spin-1/2 particles (qubits) in a transverse magnetic field. We present explicit expressions for eigenstates of the model Hamiltonian for arbitrary number of spin-1/2 particles in the chain in the standard (computer) basis, and we investigate quantum entanglement between individual qubits. We analyze bipartite as well as multipartite entanglement in the ground state of the model. In particular, we show that bipartite entanglement between pairs of qubits of the Ising chain (measured in terms of a concurrence) as a function of the parameter λ has a maximum around the point λ=1, and it monotonically decreases for large values of λ. We prove that in the limit λ→∞ this state is locally unitary equivalent to an N-partite Greenberger-Horn-Zeilinger state. We also analyze a very specific eigenstate of the Ising Hamiltonian with a zero eigenenergy (we denote this eigenstate as the X-state). This X-state exhibits the 'extreme' entanglement in a sense that an arbitrary subset A of k≤n qubits in the Ising chain composed of N=2n+1 qubits is maximally entangled with the remaining qubits (set B) in the chain. In addition, we prove that by performing a local operation just on the subset B, one can transform the X-state into a direct product of k singlets shared by the parties A and B. This property of the X-state can be utilized for new secure multipartite communication protocols

  17. Computational Analysis of an Evolutionarily Conserved VertebrateMuscle Alternative Splicing Program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Das, Debopriya; Clark, Tyson A.; Schweitzer, Anthony; Marr,Henry; Yamamoto, Miki L.; Parra, Marilyn K.; Arribere, Josh; Minovitsky,Simon; Dubchak, Inna; Blume, John E.; Conboy, John G.

    2006-06-15

    A novel exon microarray format that probes gene expression with single exon resolution was employed to elucidate critical features of a vertebrate muscle alternative splicing program. A dataset of 56 microarray-defined, muscle-enriched exons and their flanking introns were examined computationally in order to investigate coordination of the muscle splicing program. Candidate intron regulatory motifs were required to meet several stringent criteria: significant over-representation near muscle-enriched exons, correlation with muscle expression, and phylogenetic conservation among genomes of several vertebrate orders. Three classes of regulatory motifs were identified in the proximal downstream intron, within 200nt of the target exons: UGCAUG, a specific binding site for Fox-1 related splicing factors; ACUAAC, a novel branchpoint-like element; and UG-/UGC-rich elements characteristic of binding sites for CELF splicing factors. UGCAUG was remarkably enriched, being present in nearly one-half of all cases. These studies suggest that Fox and CELF splicing factors play a major role in enforcing the muscle-specific alternative splicing program, facilitating expression of a set of unique isoforms of cytoskeletal proteins that are critical to muscle cell differentiation. Supplementary materials: There are four supplementary tables and one supplementary figure. The tables provide additional detailed information concerning the muscle-enriched datasets, and about over-represented oligonucleotide sequences in the flanking introns. The supplementary figure shows RT-PCR data confirming the muscle-enriched expression of exons predicted from the microarray analysis.

  18. Fast rate of evolution in alternatively spliced coding regions of mammalian genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurtdinov Ramil N

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background At least half of mammalian genes are alternatively spliced. Alternative isoforms are often genome-specific and it has been suggested that alternative splicing is one of the major mechanisms for generating protein diversity in the course of evolution. Another way of looking at alternative splicing is to consider sequence evolution of constitutive and alternative regions of protein-coding genes. Indeed, it turns out that constitutive and alternative regions evolve in different ways. Results A set of 3029 orthologous pairs of human and mouse alternatively spliced genes was considered. The rate of nonsynonymous substitutions (dN, the rate of synonymous substitutions (dS, and their ratio (ω = dN/dS appear to be significantly higher in alternatively spliced coding regions compared to constitutive regions. When N-terminal, internal and C-terminal alternatives are analysed separately, C-terminal alternatives appear to make the main contribution to the observed difference. The effects become even more pronounced in a subset of fast evolving genes. Conclusion These results provide evidence of weaker purifying selection and/or stronger positive selection in alternative regions and thus one more confirmation of accelerated evolution in alternative regions. This study corroborates the theory that alternative splicing serves as a testing ground for molecular evolution.

  19. Analysis and prediction of gene splice sites in four Aspergillus genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Kai; Ussery, David; Brunak, Søren

    2009-01-01

    Several Aspergillus fungal genomic sequences have been published, with many more in progress. Obviously, it is essential to have high-quality, consistently annotated sets of proteins from each of the genomes, in order to make meaningful comparisons. We have developed a dedicated, publicly available......, splice site prediction program called NetAspGene, for the genus Aspergillus. Gene sequences from Aspergillus fumigatus, the most common mould pathogen, were used to build and test our model. Compared to many animals and plants, Aspergillus contains smaller introns; thus we have applied a larger window...... better splice site prediction than other available tools. NetAspGene will be very helpful for the study in Aspergillus splice sites and especially in alternative splicing. A webpage for NetAspGene is publicly available at http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/NetAspGene....

  20. Critical Behavior of the Annealed Ising Model on Random Regular Graphs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Can, Van Hao

    2017-11-01

    In Giardinà et al. (ALEA Lat Am J Probab Math Stat 13(1):121-161, 2016), the authors have defined an annealed Ising model on random graphs and proved limit theorems for the magnetization of this model on some random graphs including random 2-regular graphs. Then in Can (Annealed limit theorems for the Ising model on random regular graphs, arXiv:1701.08639, 2017), we generalized their results to the class of all random regular graphs. In this paper, we study the critical behavior of this model. In particular, we determine the critical exponents and prove a non standard limit theorem stating that the magnetization scaled by n^{3/4} converges to a specific random variable, with n the number of vertices of random regular graphs.

  1. Kuum IT-trend 2007 - see oled sina ise! / Andrus Hiiepuu, Ants Sild

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Hiiepuu, Andrus, 1966-

    2007-01-01

    Ajakiri Time kuulutas aasta inimeseks tavalise arvutikasutaja, autorid arutlevad, mida see sina ise IT-vallas võiks tähendada. Infotainment - infotehnoloogia -ja kommunikatsioonivahendite ning meelelahutuse sulandumine

  2. Power laws in Ising nanostripes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drzewinski, A.; Sznajd, J.; Szota, K.

    2005-01-01

    The results of high accuracy density-matrix renormalization-group calculations for infinite Ising stripes of finite widths 100 ≤ L ≤ 400 are presented. It is shown that in the presence of the small external magnetic field the infinite system critical power laws can be observed for L of order hundreds nm. The single power law describes the field dependence of the magnetization or the longitudinal correlation length only on the infinite system critical isotherm independently of the value of L. The approximate power law which describes how the magnetization varies with a distance from the infinite system critical point for several directions in the plane (temperature, external field) is also studied. (author)

  3. Real-time ISEE data system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsurutani, B.T.; Baker, D.N.

    1979-01-01

    Prediction of geomagnetic substorms and storms would be of great scientific and commercial interest. A real-time ISEE data system directed toward this purpose is discussed in detail. Such a system may allow up to 60+ minutes advance warning of magnetospheric substorms and up to 30 minute warnings of geomagnetic storms (and other disturbances) induced by high-speed streams and solar flares. The proposed system utilizes existing capabilities of several agencies (NASA, NOAA, USAF), and thereby minimizes costs. This same concept may be applicable to data from other spacecraft, and other NASA centers; thus, each individual experimenter can receive quick-look data in real time at his or her base institution. 6 figures, 1 table

  4. Töötajad hoolitsevad ise otstarbeka ajakasutuse eest / Merike Lees

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Lees, Merike, 1976-

    2007-01-01

    Ilmunud ka: Delovõje Vedomosti 28. nov. lk. 38. Andes töötajatele vabaduse ise otsustada oma tööaja üle, paranevad nende töö efektiivsus ning ettevõtte majandustulemused. Lisa: Paindlik tööaeg toob kasu. Kommenteerib Aneta Jajkowska

  5. The dilute random field Ising model by finite cluster approximation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benyoussef, A.; Saber, M.

    1987-09-01

    Using the finite cluster approximation, phase diagrams of bond and site diluted three-dimensional simple cubic Ising models with a random field have been determined. The resulting phase diagrams have the same general features for both bond and site dilution. (author). 7 refs, 4 figs

  6. The spin S quantum Ising model at T=0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamieniarz, G.; Kowalewski, L.; Piechocki, W.

    1982-09-01

    The Ising model with a transverse field for a general spin S is investigated within the framework of the Green-function method in the paramagnetic region at T=0. The analysis of selfconsistent equations gives a description of softmode phase transition as well as extrapolated values of critical fields and critical energy gap exponents. (author)

  7. On the quantum symmetry of the chiral Ising model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vecsernyés, Peter

    1994-03-01

    We introduce the notion of rational Hopf algebras that we think are able to describe the superselection symmetries of rational quantum field theories. As an example we show that a six-dimensional rational Hopf algebra H can reproduce the fusion rules, the conformal weights, the quantum dimensions and the representation of the modular group of the chiral Ising model. H plays the role of the global symmetry algebra of the chiral Ising model in the following sense: (1) a simple field algebra F and a representation π on Hπ of it is given, which contains the c = {1}/{2} unitary representations of the Virasoro algebra as subrepresentations; (2) the embedding U: H → B( Hπ) is such that the observable algebra π( A) - is the invariant subalgebra of B( Hπ) with respect to the left adjoint action of H and U(H) is the commutant of π( A); (3) there exist H-covariant primary fields in B( Hπ), which obey generalized Cuntz algebra properties and intertwine between the inequivalent sectors of the observables.

  8. Analysis and recognition of 5 ' UTR intron splice sites in human pre-mRNA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eden, E.; Brunak, Søren

    2004-01-01

    Prediction of splice sites in non-coding regions of genes is one of the most challenging aspects of gene structure recognition. We perform a rigorous analysis of such splice sites embedded in human 5' untranslated regions (UTRs), and investigate correlations between this class of splice sites and...

  9. Resolving deconvolution ambiguity in gene alternative splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hubbell Earl

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background For many gene structures it is impossible to resolve intensity data uniquely to establish abundances of splice variants. This was empirically noted by Wang et al. in which it was called a "degeneracy problem". The ambiguity results from an ill-posed problem where additional information is needed in order to obtain an unique answer in splice variant deconvolution. Results In this paper, we analyze the situations under which the problem occurs and perform a rigorous mathematical study which gives necessary and sufficient conditions on how many and what type of constraints are needed to resolve all ambiguity. This analysis is generally applicable to matrix models of splice variants. We explore the proposal that probe sequence information may provide sufficient additional constraints to resolve real-world instances. However, probe behavior cannot be predicted with sufficient accuracy by any existing probe sequence model, and so we present a Bayesian framework for estimating variant abundances by incorporating the prediction uncertainty from the micro-model of probe responsiveness into the macro-model of probe intensities. Conclusion The matrix analysis of constraints provides a tool for detecting real-world instances in which additional constraints may be necessary to resolve splice variants. While purely mathematical constraints can be stated without error, real-world constraints may themselves be poorly resolved. Our Bayesian framework provides a generic solution to the problem of uniquely estimating transcript abundances given additional constraints that themselves may be uncertain, such as regression fit to probe sequence models. We demonstrate the efficacy of it by extensive simulations as well as various biological data.

  10. Tricritical Ising model with a boundary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Martino, A.; Moriconi, M.

    1998-03-01

    We study the integrable and supersymmetric massive φ (1,3) deformation of the tricritical Ising model in the presence of a boundary. We use constraints from supersymmetry in order to compute the exact boundary S-matrices, which turn out to depend explicitly on the topological charge of the supersymmetry algebra. We also solve the general boundary Yang-Baxter equation and show that in appropriate limits the general reflection matrices go over the supersymmetry preserving solutions. Finally, we briefly discuss the possible connection between our reflection matrices and boundary perturbations within the framework of perturbed boundary conformal field theory. (author)

  11. Sex determination in insects: a binary decision based on alternative splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salz, Helen K

    2011-08-01

    The gene regulatory networks that control sex determination vary between species. Despite these differences, comparative studies in insects have found that alternative splicing is reiteratively used in evolution to control expression of the key sex-determining genes. Sex determination is best understood in Drosophila where activation of the RNA binding protein-encoding gene Sex-lethal is the central female-determining event. Sex-lethal serves as a genetic switch because once activated it controls its own expression by a positive feedback splicing mechanism. Sex fate choice in is also maintained by self-sustaining positive feedback splicing mechanisms in other dipteran and hymenopteran insects, although different RNA binding protein-encoding genes function as the binary switch. Studies exploring the mechanisms of sex-specific splicing have revealed the extent to which sex determination is integrated with other developmental regulatory networks. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Changes in flip/flop splicing of astroglial AMPA receptors in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seifert, Gerald; Schröder, Wolfgang; Hinterkeuser, Stefan; Schumacher, Thekla; Schramm, Johannes; Steinhäuser, Christian

    2002-01-01

    Recent data suggested a role for glial cells in epilepsy. This study sought to identify and functionally characterize AMPA receptors expressed by astrocytes in human hippocampal tissue resected from patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. Patch-clamp and fast application methods were combined to investigate astrocytes in situ and after fresh isolation from the stratum radiatum of the hippocampal CA1 subfield. Relying on presurgical and histopathologic analysis, we divided human specimens into two groups, Ammon's horn sclerosis (AHS) and lesion-associated epilepsy. Fast application of glutamate and kainate evoked receptor currents in all cells studied. Reversal-potential analysis revealed an intermediate Ca2+ permeability of the receptor channels that did not vary between the two groups of patients. However, preapplication of the AMPA receptor-specific modulator, cyclothiazide, disclosed differences in flip-flop splicing. This treatment considerably enhanced the receptor conductance, with potentiation being significantly stronger in cells from AHS specimens compared with lesion-associated cells, suggesting upregulation of AMPA receptor flip splice variants in astrocytes of the sclerotic tissue. Compelling evidence has been accumulated showing direct and rapid signaling between neurons and glial cells. Our data suggest that in AHS patients, neuronally released glutamate will lead to an enhanced and prolonged depolarization of astrocytes, which might be involved in seizure generation and spread in this particular condition of human temporal lobe epilepsy.

  13. The Spliced Leader Trans-Splicing Mechanism in Different Organisms: Molecular Details and Possible Biological Roles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mainá eBitar

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The spliced leader (SL is a gene that generates a functional ncRNA that is composed of two regions: an intronic region of unknown function (SLi and an exonic region (SLe, which is transferred to the 5’ end of independent transcripts yielding mature mRNAs, in a process known as spliced leader trans-splicing (SLTS. The best described function for SLTS is to solve polycistronic transcripts into monocistronic units, specifically in Trypanosomatids. In other metazoans, it is speculated that the SLe addition could lead to increased mRNA stability, differential recruitment of the translational machinery, modification of the 5' region or a combination of these effects. Although important aspects of this mechanism have been revealed, several features remain to be elucidated. We have analyzed 157 SLe sequences from 148 species from 7 phyla and found a high degree of conservation among the sequences of species from the same phylum, although no considerable similarity seems to exist between sequences of species from different phyla. When analyzing case studies, we found evidence that a given SLe will always be related to a given set of transcripts in different species from the same phylum, and therefore, different SLe sequences from the same species would regulate different sets of transcripts. In addition, we have observed distinct transcript categories to be preferential targets for the SLe addition in different phyla. This work sheds light into crucial and controversial aspects of the SLTS mechanism. It represents a comprehensive study concerning various species and different characteristics of this important post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism.

  14. In Vitro and In Vivo Modulation of Alternative Splicing by the Biguanide Metformin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Delphine Laustriat

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Major physiological changes are governed by alternative splicing of RNA, and its misregulation may lead to specific diseases. With the use of a genome-wide approach, we show here that this splicing step can be modified by medication and demonstrate the effects of the biguanide metformin, on alternative splicing. The mechanism of action involves AMPK activation and downregulation of the RBM3 RNA-binding protein. The effects of metformin treatment were tested on myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1, a multisystemic disease considered to be a spliceopathy. We show that this drug promotes a corrective effect on several splicing defects associated with DM1 in derivatives of human embryonic stem cells carrying the causal mutation of DM1 as well as in primary myoblasts derived from patients. The biological effects of metformin were shown to be compatible with typical therapeutic dosages in a clinical investigation involving diabetic patients. The drug appears to act as a modifier of alternative splicing of a subset of genes and may therefore have novel therapeutic potential for many more diseases besides those directly linked to defective alternative splicing.

  15. Splicing aberrations caused by constitutional RB1 gene mutations in ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    in this family revealed skipping of exon 22 in three members of this family. In one proband, a ... This study reveals novel effects of RB1 mutations on splicing and suggests the utility of RNA analysis as an ... of life) and presence of multiple tumors (multifocal). The ..... spliced RNA have been linked to parent of origin as well as.

  16. Enhanced hepatocarcinogenesis in mouse models and human hepatocellular carcinoma by coordinate KLF6 depletion and increased messenger RNA splicing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vetter, Diana; Cohen-Naftaly, Michal; Villanueva, Augusto; Lee, Youngmin A.; Kocabayoglu, Peri; Hannivoort, Rebekka; Narla, Goutham; M. Llovet, Josep; Thung, Swan N.; Friedman, Scott L.

    2012-01-01

    KLF6-SV1 (SV1), the major splice variant of KLF6, antagonizes the KLF6 tumor suppressor by an unknown mechanism. Decreased KLF6 expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) correlates with increased mortality, but the contribution of increased SV1 is unknown. We sought to define the impact of

  17. An empirical study of ensemble-based semi-supervised learning approaches for imbalanced splice site datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanescu, Ana; Caragea, Doina

    2015-01-01

    Recent biochemical advances have led to inexpensive, time-efficient production of massive volumes of raw genomic data. Traditional machine learning approaches to genome annotation typically rely on large amounts of labeled data. The process of labeling data can be expensive, as it requires domain knowledge and expert involvement. Semi-supervised learning approaches that can make use of unlabeled data, in addition to small amounts of labeled data, can help reduce the costs associated with labeling. In this context, we focus on the problem of predicting splice sites in a genome using semi-supervised learning approaches. This is a challenging problem, due to the highly imbalanced distribution of the data, i.e., small number of splice sites as compared to the number of non-splice sites. To address this challenge, we propose to use ensembles of semi-supervised classifiers, specifically self-training and co-training classifiers. Our experiments on five highly imbalanced splice site datasets, with positive to negative ratios of 1-to-99, showed that the ensemble-based semi-supervised approaches represent a good choice, even when the amount of labeled data consists of less than 1% of all training data. In particular, we found that ensembles of co-training and self-training classifiers that dynamically balance the set of labeled instances during the semi-supervised iterations show improvements over the corresponding supervised ensemble baselines. In the presence of limited amounts of labeled data, ensemble-based semi-supervised approaches can successfully leverage the unlabeled data to enhance supervised ensembles learned from highly imbalanced data distributions. Given that such distributions are common for many biological sequence classification problems, our work can be seen as a stepping stone towards more sophisticated ensemble-based approaches to biological sequence annotation in a semi-supervised framework.

  18. Q-deformed Grassmann field and the two-dimensional Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bugrij, A.I.; Shadura, V.N.

    1994-01-01

    In this paper we construct the exact representation of the Ising partition function in form of the SL q (2,R)-invariant functional integral for the lattice free q-fermion field theory (q=-1). It is shown that the proposed method of q-fermionization allows one to re-express the partition function of the eight vertex model in external field through the functional integral with four-fermion interaction. For the construction of these representation we define a lattice (l,q,s)-deformed Grassmann bi spinor field and extend the Berezin integration rules for this field. At q = - 1, l = s 1 we obtain the lattice q-fermion field which allows to fermionize the two-dimensional Ising model. We show that Gaussian integral over (q,s)-Grassmann variables is expressed through the (q,s)-deformed Pfaffian which is equal to square root of the determinant of some matrix at q = ± 1, s = ±1. (author). 39 refs

  19. Effect of tension lap splice on the behavior of high strength concrete (HSC beams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed El-Azab

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In the recent years, many research efforts have been carried out on the bond strength between normal strength concrete (NSC and reinforcing bars spliced in tension zones in beams. Many codes gave a minimum splice length for tension and compression reinforcement as a factor of the bar diameter depending on many parameters such as concrete strength, steel yield stress, shape of bar end, shape of bar surface and also bar location. Also, codes gave another restriction about the percentage of total reinforcement to be spliced at the same time. Comparatively limited attention has been directed toward the bond between high strength concrete (HSC and reinforcing bars spliced in tension zones in beams. HSC has high modulus of elasticity, high density and long-term durability. This research presents an experimental study on the bond between high strength concrete (HSC and reinforcing bars spliced in tension zones in beams. It reports the influence of several parameters on bond in splices. The parameters covered are casting position, splice length as a factor of bar diameter, bar diameter and reinforcement ratio. The research involved tests on sixteen simply-supported beams of 1800 mm span, 200 mm width and 400 mm thickness made of HSC. In each beam, the total tensile steel bars were spliced in the constant moment zone. Crack pattern, crack propagation, cracking load, failure load and mi span deflection were recorded and analyzed to study the mentioned parameters effect.

  20. Alteration of introns in a hyaluronan synthase 1 (HAS1 minigene convert Pre-mRNA [corrected] splicing to the aberrant pattern in multiple myeloma (MM: MM patients harbor similar changes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jitra Kriangkum

    Full Text Available Aberrant pre-mRNA splice variants of hyaluronan synthase 1 (HAS1 have been identified in malignant cells from cancer patients. Bioinformatic analysis suggests that intronic sequence changes can underlie aberrant splicing. Deletions and mutations were introduced into HAS1 minigene constructs to identify regions that can influence aberrant intronic splicing, comparing the splicing pattern in transfectants with that in multiple myeloma (MM patients. Introduced genetic variations in introns 3 and 4 of HAS1 as shown here can promote aberrant splicing of the type detected in malignant cells from MM patients. HAS1Vd is a novel intronic splice variant first identified here. HAS1Vb, an intronic splice variant previously identified in patients, skips exon 4 and utilizes the same intron 4 alternative 3'splice site as HAS1Vd. For transfected constructs with unaltered introns 3 and 4, HAS1Vd transcripts are readily detectable, frequently to the exclusion of HAS1Vb. In contrast, in MM patients, HAS1Vb is more frequent than HAS1Vd. In the HAS1 minigene, combining deletion in intron 4 with mutations in intron 3 leads to a shift from HAS1Vd expression to HAS1Vb expression. The upregulation of aberrant splicing, exemplified here by the expression of HAS1Vb, is shown here to be influenced by multiple genetic changes in intronic sequences. For HAS1Vb, this includes enhanced exon 4 skipping and increased usage of alternative 3' splice sites. Thus, the combination of introduced mutations in HAS1 intron3 with introduced deletions in HAS1 intron 4 promoted a shift to an aberrant splicing pattern previously shown to be clinically significant. Most MM patients harbor genetic variations in intron 4, and as shown here, nearly half harbor recurrent mutations in HAS1 intron 3. Our work suggests that aberrant intronic HAS1 splicing in MM patients may rely on intronic HAS1 deletions and mutations that are frequent in MM patients but absent from healthy donors.

  1. RNA Splicing in a New Rhabdovirus from Culex Mosquitoes▿†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuwata, Ryusei; Isawa, Haruhiko; Hoshino, Keita; Tsuda, Yoshio; Yanase, Tohru; Sasaki, Toshinori; Kobayashi, Mutsuo; Sawabe, Kyoko

    2011-01-01

    Among members of the order Mononegavirales, RNA splicing events have been found only in the family Bornaviridae. Here, we report that a new rhabdovirus isolated from the mosquito Culex tritaeniorhynchus replicates in the nuclei of infected cells and requires RNA splicing for viral mRNA maturation. The virus, designated Culex tritaeniorhynchus rhabdovirus (CTRV), shares a similar genome organization with other rhabdoviruses, except for the presence of a putative intron in the coding region for the L protein. Molecular phylogenetic studies indicated that CTRV belongs to the family Rhabdoviridae, but it is yet to be assigned a genus. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that the CTRV virion is extremely elongated, unlike virions of rhabdoviruses, which are generally bullet shaped. Northern hybridization confirmed that a large transcript (approximately 6,500 nucleotides [nt]) from the CTRV L gene was present in the infected cells. Strand-specific reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) analyses identified the intron-exon boundaries and the 76-nt intron sequence, which contains the typical motif for eukaryotic spliceosomal intron-splice donor/acceptor sites (GU-AG), a predicted branch point, and a polypyrimidine tract. In situ hybridization exhibited that viral RNAs are primarily localized in the nucleus of infected cells, indicating that CTRV replicates in the nucleus and is allowed to utilize the host's nuclear splicing machinery. This is the first report of RNA splicing among the members of the family Rhabdoviridae. PMID:21507977

  2. Genome-wide association between DNA methylation and alternative splicing in an invertebrate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flores Kevin

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene bodies are the most evolutionarily conserved targets of DNA methylation in eukaryotes. However, the regulatory functions of gene body DNA methylation remain largely unknown. DNA methylation in insects appears to be primarily confined to exons. Two recent studies in Apis mellifera (honeybee and Nasonia vitripennis (jewel wasp analyzed transcription and DNA methylation data for one gene in each species to demonstrate that exon-specific DNA methylation may be associated with alternative splicing events. In this study we investigated the relationship between DNA methylation, alternative splicing, and cross-species gene conservation on a genome-wide scale using genome-wide transcription and DNA methylation data. Results We generated RNA deep sequencing data (RNA-seq to measure genome-wide mRNA expression at the exon- and gene-level. We produced a de novo transcriptome from this RNA-seq data and computationally predicted splice variants for the honeybee genome. We found that exons that are included in transcription are higher methylated than exons that are skipped during transcription. We detected enrichment for alternative splicing among methylated genes compared to unmethylated genes using fisher’s exact test. We performed a statistical analysis to reveal that the presence of DNA methylation or alternative splicing are both factors associated with a longer gene length and a greater number of exons in genes. In concordance with this observation, a conservation analysis using BLAST revealed that each of these factors is also associated with higher cross-species gene conservation. Conclusions This study constitutes the first genome-wide analysis exhibiting a positive relationship between exon-level DNA methylation and mRNA expression in the honeybee. Our finding that methylated genes are enriched for alternative splicing suggests that, in invertebrates, exon-level DNA methylation may play a role in the construction of splice

  3. Genome-wide analysis of SRSF10-regulated alternative splicing by deep sequencing of chicken transcriptome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuexia Zhou

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Splicing factor SRSF10 is known to function as a sequence-specific splicing activator that is capable of regulating alternative splicing both in vitro and in vivo. We recently used an RNA-seq approach coupled with bioinformatics analysis to identify the extensive splicing network regulated by SRSF10 in chicken cells. We found that SRSF10 promoted both exon inclusion and exclusion. Functionally, many of the SRSF10-verified alternative exons are linked to pathways of response to external stimulus. Here we describe in detail the experimental design, bioinformatics analysis and GO/pathway enrichment analysis of SRSF10-regulated genes to correspond with our data in the Gene Expression Omnibus with accession number GSE53354. Our data thus provide a resource for studying regulation of alternative splicing in vivo that underlines biological functions of splicing regulatory proteins in cells.

  4. Quantum transitions driven by one-bond defects in quantum Ising rings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campostrini, Massimo; Pelissetto, Andrea; Vicari, Ettore

    2015-04-01

    We investigate quantum scaling phenomena driven by lower-dimensional defects in quantum Ising-like models. We consider quantum Ising rings in the presence of a bond defect. In the ordered phase, the system undergoes a quantum transition driven by the bond defect between a magnet phase, in which the gap decreases exponentially with increasing size, and a kink phase, in which the gap decreases instead with a power of the size. Close to the transition, the system shows a universal scaling behavior, which we characterize by computing, either analytically or numerically, scaling functions for the low-level energy differences and the two-point correlation function. We discuss the implications of these results for the nonequilibrium dynamics in the presence of a slowly varying parallel magnetic field h, when going across the first-order quantum transition at h=0.

  5. Postnatal Expression of V2 Vasopressin Receptor Splice Variants in the Rat Cerebellum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargas, Karina J.; Sarmiento, José M.; Ehrenfeld, Pamela; Añazco, Carolina C.; Villanueva, Carolina I.; Carmona, Pamela L.; Brenet, Marianne; Navarro, Javier; Müller-Esterl, Werner; Figueroa, Carlos D.; González, Carlos B.

    2010-01-01

    The V2 vasopressin receptor gene contains an alternative splice site in exon-3, which leads to the generation of two splice variants (V2a and V2b) first identified in the kidney. The open reading frame of the alternatively spliced V2b transcripten codes a truncated receptor, showing the same amino acid sequence as the canonical V2a receptor up to the 6th transmembrane segment, but displaying a distinct sequence to the corresponding 7th transmembrane segment and C-terminal domain relative to the V2a receptor. Here, we demonstrate the postnatal expression of V2a and V2b variants in the rat cerebellum. Most importantly, we showed by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry that both V2 splice variants were preferentially expressed in Purkinje cells, from early to late postnatal development. In addition, both variants were transiently expressed in the neuroblastic external granule cells and Bergmann fibers. These results indicate that the cellular distributions of both splice variants are developmentally regulated, and suggest that the transient expression of the V2 receptor is involved in the mechanisms of cerebellar cytodifferentiation by AVP. Finally, transfected CHO-K1 .expressing similar amounts of both V2 splice variants, as that found in the cerebellum, showed a significant reduction in the surface expression of V2a receptors, suggesting that the differential expression of the V2 splice variants regulate the vasopressin signaling in the cerebellum. PMID:19281786

  6. Genome wide identification of aberrant alternative splicing events in myotonic dystrophy type 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perfetti, Alessandra; Greco, Simona; Fasanaro, Pasquale; Bugiardini, Enrico; Cardani, Rosanna; Garcia-Manteiga, Jose M; Manteiga, Jose M Garcia; Riba, Michela; Cittaro, Davide; Stupka, Elia; Meola, Giovanni; Martelli, Fabio

    2014-01-01

    Myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is a genetic, autosomal dominant disease due to expansion of tetraplet (CCTG) repetitions in the first intron of the ZNF9/CNBP gene. DM2 is a multisystemic disorder affecting the skeletal muscle, the heart, the eye and the endocrine system. According to the proposed pathological mechanism, the expanded tetraplets have an RNA toxic effect, disrupting the splicing of many mRNAs. Thus, the identification of aberrantly spliced transcripts is instrumental for our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the disease. The aim of this study was the identification of new aberrant alternative splicing events in DM2 patients. By genome wide analysis of 10 DM2 patients and 10 controls (CTR), we identified 273 alternative spliced exons in 218 genes. While many aberrant splicing events were already identified in the past, most were new. A subset of these events was validated by qPCR assays in 19 DM2 and 15 CTR subjects. To gain insight into the molecular pathways involving the identified aberrantly spliced genes, we performed a bioinformatics analysis with Ingenuity system. This analysis indicated a deregulation of development, cell survival, metabolism, calcium signaling and contractility. In conclusion, our genome wide analysis provided a database of aberrant splicing events in the skeletal muscle of DM2 patients. The affected genes are involved in numerous pathways and networks important for muscle physio-pathology, suggesting that the identified variants may contribute to DM2 pathogenesis.

  7. Vectorization of morpholino oligomers by the (R-Ahx-R)4 peptide allows efficient splicing correction in the absence of endosomolytic agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abes, Saïd; Moulton, Hong M; Clair, Philippe; Prevot, Paul; Youngblood, Derek S; Wu, Rebecca P; Iversen, Patrick L; Lebleu, Bernard

    2006-12-01

    The efficient and non-toxic nuclear delivery of steric-block oligonucleotides (ON) is a prerequisite for therapeutic strategies involving splice correction or exon skipping. Cationic cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) have given rise to much interest for the intracellular delivery of biomolecules, but their efficiency in promoting cytoplasmic or nuclear delivery of oligonucleotides has been hampered by endocytic sequestration and subsequent degradation of most internalized material in endocytic compartments. In the present study, we compared the splice correction activity of three different CPPs conjugated to PMO(705), a steric-block ON targeted against the mutated splicing site of human beta-globin pre-mRNA in the HeLa pLuc705 splice correction model. In contrast to Tat48-60 (Tat) and oligoarginine (R(9)F(2)) PMO(705) conjugates, the 6-aminohexanoic-spaced oligoarginine (R-Ahx-R)(4)-PMO(705) conjugate was able to promote an efficient splice correction in the absence of endosomolytic agents. Our mechanistic investigations about its uptake mechanisms lead to the conclusion that these three vectors are internalized using the same endocytic route involving proteoglycans, but that the (R-Ahx-R)(4)-PMO(705) conjugate has the unique ability to escape from lysosomial fate and to access to the nuclear compartment. This vector, which has displays an extremely low cytotoxicity, the ability to function without chloroquine adjunction and in the presence of serum proteins. It thus offers a promising lead for the development of vectors able to enhance the delivery of therapeutic steric-block ON in clinically relevant models.

  8. Correlation effects in the Ising model in an external field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borges, H.E.; Silva, P.R.

    1983-01-01

    The thermodynamic properties of the spin-1/2 Ising Model in an external field are evaluated through the use of the exponential differential operator method and Callen's exact relations. The correlations effects are treated in a phenomenological approach and the results are compared with other treatments. (Author) [pt

  9. Stimulated wave of polarization in a one-dimensional Ising chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jae-Seung; Khitrin, A.K.

    2005-01-01

    It is demonstrated that in a one-dimensional Ising chain with nearest-neighbor interactions, irradiated by a weak resonant transverse field, a stimulated wave of flipped spins can be triggered by a flip of a single spin. This analytically solvable model illustrates mechanisms of quantum amplification and quantum measurement

  10. Entrepreneurial Leapfrogging in the Context of ISE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Peter

    2013-01-01

    We know little regarding the underlying contexts and mechanisms for disruptive innovation initiated by the entrepreneurial firms in the emerging economies. Further, there is limited knowledge about the contexts and mechanisms for global latecomers to catch up with and leapfrog global early......-movers. The cross-fertilization between such two research streams provides a great opportunity to shed light on their link toward an interdisciplinary domain of international strategic entrepreneurship (ISE). This article will develop an integrative typology of global innovations as well as a dynamic model...

  11. Changes in exon–intron structure during vertebrate evolution affect the splicing pattern of exons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelfman, Sahar; Burstein, David; Penn, Osnat; Savchenko, Anna; Amit, Maayan; Schwartz, Schraga; Pupko, Tal; Ast, Gil

    2012-01-01

    Exon–intron architecture is one of the major features directing the splicing machinery to the short exons that are located within long flanking introns. However, the evolutionary dynamics of exon–intron architecture and its impact on splicing is largely unknown. Using a comparative genomic approach, we analyzed 17 vertebrate genomes and reconstructed the ancestral motifs of both 3′ and 5′ splice sites, as also the ancestral length of exons and introns. Our analyses suggest that vertebrate introns increased in length from the shortest ancestral introns to the longest primate introns. An evolutionary analysis of splice sites revealed that weak splice sites act as a restrictive force keeping introns short. In contrast, strong splice sites allow recognition of exons flanked by long introns. Reconstruction of the ancestral state suggests these phenomena were not prevalent in the vertebrate ancestor, but appeared during vertebrate evolution. By calculating evolutionary rate shifts in exons, we identified cis-acting regulatory sequences that became fixed during the transition from early vertebrates to mammals. Experimental validations performed on a selection of these hexamers confirmed their regulatory function. We additionally revealed many features of exons that can discriminate alternative from constitutive exons. These features were integrated into a machine-learning approach to predict whether an exon is alternative. Our algorithm obtains very high predictive power (AUC of 0.91), and using these predictions we have identified and successfully validated novel alternatively spliced exons. Overall, we provide novel insights regarding the evolutionary constraints acting upon exons and their recognition by the splicing machinery. PMID:21974994

  12. Spliceman2: a computational web server that predicts defects in pre-mRNA splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cygan, Kamil Jan; Sanford, Clayton Hendrick; Fairbrother, William Guy

    2017-09-15

    Most pre-mRNA transcripts in eukaryotic cells must undergo splicing to remove introns and join exons, and splicing elements present a large mutational target for disease-causing mutations. Splicing elements are strongly position dependent with respect to the transcript annotations. In 2012, we presented Spliceman, an online tool that used positional dependence to predict how likely distant mutations around annotated splice sites were to disrupt splicing. Here, we present an improved version of the previous tool that will be more useful for predicting the likelihood of splicing mutations. We have added industry-standard input options (i.e. Spliceman now accepts variant call format files), which allow much larger inputs than previously available. The tool also can visualize the locations-within exons and introns-of sequence variants to be analyzed and the predicted effects on splicing of the pre-mRNA transcript. In addition, Spliceman2 integrates with RNAcompete motif libraries to provide a prediction of which trans -acting factors binding sites are disrupted/created and links out to the UCSC genome browser. In summary, the new features in Spliceman2 will allow scientists and physicians to better understand the effects of single nucleotide variations on splicing. Freely available on the web at http://fairbrother.biomed.brown.edu/spliceman2 . Website implemented in PHP framework-Laravel 5, PostgreSQL, Apache, and Perl, with all major browsers supported. william_fairbrother@brown.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Body Temperature Cycles Control Rhythmic Alternative Splicing in Mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preußner, Marco; Goldammer, Gesine; Neumann, Alexander; Haltenhof, Tom; Rautenstrauch, Pia; Müller-McNicoll, Michaela; Heyd, Florian

    2017-08-03

    The core body temperature of all mammals oscillates with the time of the day. However, direct molecular consequences of small, physiological changes in body temperature remain largely elusive. Here we show that body temperature cycles drive rhythmic SR protein phosphorylation to control an alternative splicing (AS) program. A temperature change of 1°C is sufficient to induce a concerted splicing switch in a large group of functionally related genes, rendering this splicing-based thermometer much more sensitive than previously described temperature-sensing mechanisms. AS of two exons in the 5' UTR of the TATA-box binding protein (Tbp) highlights the general impact of this mechanism, as it results in rhythmic TBP protein levels with implications for global gene expression in vivo. Together our data establish body temperature-driven AS as a core clock-independent oscillator in mammalian peripheral clocks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. A Comprehensive Analysis of Alternative Splicing in Paleopolyploid Maize

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenbin Mei

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Identifying and characterizing alternative splicing (AS enables our understanding of the biological role of transcript isoform diversity. This study describes the use of publicly available RNA-Seq data to identify and characterize the global diversity of AS isoforms in maize using the inbred lines B73 and Mo17, and a related species, sorghum. Identification and characterization of AS within maize tissues revealed that genes expressed in seed exhibit the largest differential AS relative to other tissues examined. Additionally, differences in AS between the two genotypes B73 and Mo17 are greatest within genes expressed in seed. We demonstrate that changes in the level of alternatively spliced transcripts (intron retention and exon skipping do not solely reflect differences in total transcript abundance, and we present evidence that intron retention may act to fine-tune gene expression across seed development stages. Furthermore, we have identified temperature sensitive AS in maize and demonstrate that drought-induced changes in AS involve distinct sets of genes in reproductive and vegetative tissues. Examining our identified AS isoforms within B73 × Mo17 recombinant inbred lines (RILs identified splicing QTL (sQTL. The 43.3% of cis-sQTL regulated junctions are actually identified as alternatively spliced junctions in our analysis, while 10 Mb windows on each side of 48.2% of trans-sQTLs overlap with splicing related genes. Using sorghum as an out-group enabled direct examination of loss or conservation of AS between homeologous genes representing the two subgenomes of maize. We identify several instances where AS isoforms that are conserved between one maize homeolog and its sorghum ortholog are absent from the second maize homeolog, suggesting that these AS isoforms may have been lost after the maize whole genome duplication event. This comprehensive analysis provides new insights into the complexity of AS in maize.

  15. Theory on the Coupled Stochastic Dynamics of Transcription and Splice-Site Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murugan, Rajamanickam; Kreiman, Gabriel

    2012-01-01

    Eukaryotic genes are typically split into exons that need to be spliced together to form the mature mRNA. The splicing process depends on the dynamics and interactions among transcription by the RNA polymerase II complex (RNAPII) and the spliceosomal complex consisting of multiple small nuclear ribonucleo proteins (snRNPs). Here we propose a biophysically plausible initial theory of splicing that aims to explain the effects of the stochastic dynamics of snRNPs on the splicing patterns of eukaryotic genes. We consider two different ways to model the dynamics of snRNPs: pure three-dimensional diffusion and a combination of three- and one-dimensional diffusion along the emerging pre-mRNA. Our theoretical analysis shows that there exists an optimum position of the splice sites on the growing pre-mRNA at which the time required for snRNPs to find the 5′ donor site is minimized. The minimization of the overall search time is achieved mainly via the increase in non-specific interactions between the snRNPs and the growing pre-mRNA. The theory further predicts that there exists an optimum transcript length that maximizes the probabilities for exons to interact with the snRNPs. We evaluate these theoretical predictions by considering human and mouse exon microarray data as well as RNAseq data from multiple different tissues. We observe that there is a broad optimum position of splice sites on the growing pre-mRNA and an optimum transcript length, which are roughly consistent with the theoretical predictions. The theoretical and experimental analyses suggest that there is a strong interaction between the dynamics of RNAPII and the stochastic nature of snRNP search for 5′ donor splicing sites. PMID:23133354

  16. Theory on the coupled stochastic dynamics of transcription and splice-site recognition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajamanickam Murugan

    Full Text Available Eukaryotic genes are typically split into exons that need to be spliced together to form the mature mRNA. The splicing process depends on the dynamics and interactions among transcription by the RNA polymerase II complex (RNAPII and the spliceosomal complex consisting of multiple small nuclear ribonucleo proteins (snRNPs. Here we propose a biophysically plausible initial theory of splicing that aims to explain the effects of the stochastic dynamics of snRNPs on the splicing patterns of eukaryotic genes. We consider two different ways to model the dynamics of snRNPs: pure three-dimensional diffusion and a combination of three- and one-dimensional diffusion along the emerging pre-mRNA. Our theoretical analysis shows that there exists an optimum position of the splice sites on the growing pre-mRNA at which the time required for snRNPs to find the 5' donor site is minimized. The minimization of the overall search time is achieved mainly via the increase in non-specific interactions between the snRNPs and the growing pre-mRNA. The theory further predicts that there exists an optimum transcript length that maximizes the probabilities for exons to interact with the snRNPs. We evaluate these theoretical predictions by considering human and mouse exon microarray data as well as RNAseq data from multiple different tissues. We observe that there is a broad optimum position of splice sites on the growing pre-mRNA and an optimum transcript length, which are roughly consistent with the theoretical predictions. The theoretical and experimental analyses suggest that there is a strong interaction between the dynamics of RNAPII and the stochastic nature of snRNP search for 5' donor splicing sites.

  17. Aberrant Splicing Induced by Dysregulated Rbfox2 Produces Enhanced Function of CaV1.2 Calcium Channel and Vascular Myogenic Tone in Hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yingying; Fan, Jia; Zhu, Huayuan; Ji, Li; Fan, Wenyong; Kapoor, Isha; Wang, Yue; Wang, Yuan; Zhu, Guoqing; Wang, Juejin

    2017-12-01

    Calcium influx from activated voltage-gated calcium channel Ca V 1.2 in vascular smooth muscle cells is indispensable for maintaining myogenic tone and blood pressure. The function of Ca V 1.2 channel can be optimized by alternative splicing, one of post-transcriptional modification mechanisms. The splicing factor Rbfox2 is known to regulate the Ca V 1.2 pre-mRNA alternative splicing events during neuronal development. However, Rbfox2's roles in modulating the key function of vascular Ca V 1.2 channel and in the pathogenesis of hypertension remain elusive. Here, we report that the proportion of Ca V 1.2 channels with alternative exon 9* is increased by 10.3%, whereas that with alternative exon 33 is decreased by 10.5% in hypertensive arteries. Surprisingly, the expression level of Rbfox2 is increased ≈3-folds, presumably because of the upregulation of a dominant-negative isoform of Rbfox2. In vascular smooth muscle cells, we find that knockdown of Rbfox2 dynamically increases alternative exon 9*, whereas decreases exon 33 inclusion of Ca V 1.2 channels. By patch-clamp studies, we show that diminished Rbfox2-induced alternative splicing shifts the steady-state activation and inactivation curves of vascular Ca V 1.2 calcium channel to hyperpolarization, which makes the window current potential to more negative. Moreover, siRNA-mediated knockdown of Rbfox2 increases the pressure-induced vascular myogenic tone of rat mesenteric artery. Taken together, our data indicate that Rbfox2 modulates the functions of vascular Ca V 1.2 calcium channel by dynamically regulating the expressions of alternative exons 9* and 33, which in turn affects the vascular myogenic tone. Therefore, our work suggests a key role for Rbfox2 in hypertension, which provides a rational basis for designing antihypertensive therapies. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  18. Intrasplicing coordinates alternative first exons with alternative splicing in the protein 4.1R gene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Conboy, John G.; Parra, Marilyn K.; Tan, Jeff S.; Mohandas, Narla; Conboy, John G.

    2008-11-07

    In the protein 4.1R gene, alternative first exons splice differentially to alternative 3' splice sites far downstream in exon 2'/2 (E2'/2). We describe a novel intrasplicing mechanism by which exon 1A (E1A) splices exclusively to the distal E2'/2 acceptor via two nested splicing reactions regulated by novel properties of exon 1B (E1B). E1B behaves as an exon in the first step, using its consensus 5' donor to splice to the proximal E2'/2 acceptor. A long region of downstream intron is excised, juxtaposing E1B with E2'/2 to generate a new composite acceptor containing the E1B branchpoint/pyrimidine tract and E2 distal 3' AG-dinucleotide. Next, the upstream E1A splices over E1B to this distal acceptor, excising the remaining intron plus E1B and E2' to form mature E1A/E2 product. We mapped branch points for both intrasplicing reactions and demonstrated that mutation of the E1B 5' splice site or branchpoint abrogates intrasplicing. In the 4.1R gene, intrasplicing ultimately determines N-terminal protein structure and function. More generally, intrasplicing represents a new mechanism whereby alternative promoters can be coordinated with downstream alternative splicing.

  19. Fluctuation behaviors of financial time series by a stochastic Ising system on a Sierpinski carpet lattice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Wen; Wang, Jun

    2013-09-01

    We develop a financial market model using an Ising spin system on a Sierpinski carpet lattice that breaks the equal status of each spin. To study the fluctuation behavior of the financial model, we present numerical research based on Monte Carlo simulation in conjunction with the statistical analysis and multifractal analysis of the financial time series. We extract the multifractal spectra by selecting various lattice size values of the Sierpinski carpet, and the inverse temperature of the Ising dynamic system. We also investigate the statistical fluctuation behavior, the time-varying volatility clustering, and the multifractality of returns for the indices SSE, SZSE, DJIA, IXIC, S&P500, HSI, N225, and for the simulation data derived from the Ising model on the Sierpinski carpet lattice. A numerical study of the model’s dynamical properties reveals that this financial model reproduces important features of the empirical data.

  20. Characterization of a novel splicing variant in the RAPTOR gene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Chang; Southard, Catherine; Di Rienzo, Anna

    2009-01-01

    The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays an essential role in the regulation of cell growth, proliferation and apoptosis. Raptor, the regulatory associated protein of mTOR, is an important member in this signaling pathway. In the present report, we identified and characterized a novel splicing variant of this gene, RAPTOR v 2, in which exons 14-17, 474 bp in total, are omitted from the mRNA. This deletion does not change the open reading frame, but causes a nearly complete absence of HEAT repeats, which were shown to be involved in the binding of mTOR substrates. Real time PCR performed on 48 different human tissues demonstrated the ubiquitous presence of this splice variant. Quantification of mRNA levels in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) from 56 unrelated HapMap individuals revealed that the expression of this splicing form is quite variable. One synonymous SNP, rs2289759 in exon 14, was predicted by ESEfinder to cause a significant gain/loss of SRp55 and/or SF2/ASF binding sites, and thus potentially influence splicing. This prediction was confirmed by linear regression analysis between the ratio of RAPTOR v 2 to total RAPTOR mRNA levels and the SNP genotype in the above 56 individuals (r = 0.281 and P = 0.036). Moreover, the functional evaluation indicated that this splicing isoform is expected to retain the ability to bind mTOR, but is unlikely to bind mTOR substrates, hence affecting signal transduction and further cell proliferation

  1. Ising antiferromagnet on the Archimedean lattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Unjong

    2015-06-01

    Geometric frustration effects were studied systematically with the Ising antiferromagnet on the 11 Archimedean lattices using the Monte Carlo methods. The Wang-Landau algorithm for static properties (specific heat and residual entropy) and the Metropolis algorithm for a freezing order parameter were adopted. The exact residual entropy was also found. Based on the degree of frustration and dynamic properties, ground states of them were determined. The Shastry-Sutherland lattice and the trellis lattice are weakly frustrated and have two- and one-dimensional long-range-ordered ground states, respectively. The bounce, maple-leaf, and star lattices have the spin ice phase. The spin liquid phase appears in the triangular and kagome lattices.

  2. Diluted Ising spin 1/2 lattice with an arbitrary coordination number

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bach Thanh Cong; El Amraoui, Y.

    1993-01-01

    A useful representation for the Callen identity in the case of spin 1/2 is introduced by a simple technique. The phase diagrams, percolation problems of the diluted Ising lattice with arbitrary coordination number z are also discussed. (author). 12 refs, 5 figs

  3. Entanglement negativity in the critical Ising chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calabrese, Pasquale; Tagliacozzo, Luca; Tonni, Erik

    2013-01-01

    We study the scaling of the traces of the integer powers of the partially transposed reduced density matrix Tr(ρ A T 2 ) n and of the entanglement negativity for two spin blocks as a function of their length and separation in the critical Ising chain. For two adjacent blocks, we show that tensor network calculations agree with universal conformal field theory (CFT) predictions. In the case of two disjoint blocks the CFT predictions are recovered only after taking into account the finite size corrections induced by the finite length of the blocks. (paper)

  4. Splicing of goose parvovirus pre-mRNA influences cytoplasmic translation of the processed mRNA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Long; Pintel, David J., E-mail: pinteld@missouri.edu

    2012-04-25

    Translation of goose parvovirus (GPV) 72 kDa Rep 1 is initiated from unspliced P9-generated mRNAs in ORF1 from the first in-frame AUG (537 AUG); however, this AUG is bypassed in spliced P9-generated RNA: translation of the 52 kDa Rep 2 protein from spliced RNA is initiated in ORF2 at the next AUG downstream (650 AUG). Usage of the 537 AUG was restored in spliced RNA when the GPV intron was replaced with a chimeric SV40 intron, or following specific mutations of the GPV intron which did not appear in the final spliced mRNA. Additionally, 650 AUG usage was gained in unspliced RNA when the GPV intron splice sites were debilitated. Splicing-dependent regulation of translation initiation was mediated in cis by GPV RNA surrounding the target AUGs. Thus, nuclear RNA processing of GPV P9-generated pre-mRNAs has a complex, but significant, effect on alternative translation initiation of the GPV Rep proteins.

  5. Splicing of goose parvovirus pre-mRNA influences cytoplasmic translation of the processed mRNA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Long; Pintel, David J.

    2012-01-01

    Translation of goose parvovirus (GPV) 72 kDa Rep 1 is initiated from unspliced P9-generated mRNAs in ORF1 from the first in-frame AUG (537 AUG); however, this AUG is bypassed in spliced P9-generated RNA: translation of the 52 kDa Rep 2 protein from spliced RNA is initiated in ORF2 at the next AUG downstream (650 AUG). Usage of the 537 AUG was restored in spliced RNA when the GPV intron was replaced with a chimeric SV40 intron, or following specific mutations of the GPV intron which did not appear in the final spliced mRNA. Additionally, 650 AUG usage was gained in unspliced RNA when the GPV intron splice sites were debilitated. Splicing-dependent regulation of translation initiation was mediated in cis by GPV RNA surrounding the target AUGs. Thus, nuclear RNA processing of GPV P9-generated pre-mRNAs has a complex, but significant, effect on alternative translation initiation of the GPV Rep proteins.

  6. Semi-supervised Learning Predicts Approximately One Third of the Alternative Splicing Isoforms as Functional Proteins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanqi Hao

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Alternative splicing acts on transcripts from almost all human multi-exon genes. Notwithstanding its ubiquity, fundamental ramifications of splicing on protein expression remain unresolved. The number and identity of spliced transcripts that form stably folded proteins remain the sources of considerable debate, due largely to low coverage of experimental methods and the resulting absence of negative data. We circumvent this issue by developing a semi-supervised learning algorithm, positive unlabeled learning for splicing elucidation (PULSE; http://www.kimlab.org/software/pulse, which uses 48 features spanning various categories. We validated its accuracy on sets of bona fide protein isoforms and directly on mass spectrometry (MS spectra for an overall AU-ROC of 0.85. We predict that around 32% of “exon skipping” alternative splicing events produce stable proteins, suggesting that the process engenders a significant number of previously uncharacterized proteins. We also provide insights into the distribution of positive isoforms in various functional classes and into the structural effects of alternative splicing.

  7. Phase transitions in the random field Ising model in the presence of a transverse field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dutta, A.; Chakrabarti, B.K. [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Bidhannagar, Calcutta (India); Stinchcombe, R.B. [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Bidhannagar, Calcutta (India); Department of Physics, Oxford (United Kingdom)

    1996-09-07

    We have studied the phase transition behaviour of the random field Ising model in the presence of a transverse (or tunnelling) field. The mean field phase diagram has been studied in detail, and in particular the nature of the transition induced by the tunnelling (transverse) field at zero temperature. Modified hyper-scaling relation for the zero-temperature transition has been derived using the Suzuki-Trotter formalism and a modified 'Harris criterion'. Mapping of the model to a randomly diluted antiferromagnetic Ising model in uniform longitudinal and transverse field is also given. (author)

  8. Effective field study of ising model on a double perovskite structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ngantso, G. Dimitri; El Amraoui, Y. [LMPHE, (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V, Rabat (Morocco); Benyoussef, A. [LMPHE, (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V, Rabat (Morocco); Center of Materials and Nanomaterials, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Rabat (Morocco); El Kenz, A., E-mail: elkenz@fsr.ac.ma [LMPHE, (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V, Rabat (Morocco)

    2017-02-01

    By using the effective field theory (EFT), the mixed spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 Ising ferrimagnetic model adapted to a double perovskite structure has been studied. The EFT calculations have been carried out from Ising Hamiltonian by taking into account first and second nearest-neighbors interactions and the crystal and external magnetic fields. Both first- and second-order phase transitions have been found in phase diagrams of interest. Depending on crystal-field values, the thermodynamic behavior of total magnetization indicated the compensation phenomenon existence. The hysteresis behaviors are studied by investigating the reduced magnetic field dependence of total magnetization and a series of hysteresis loops are shown for different reduced temperatures around the critical one. - Highlights: • Magnetic properties of double perovskite Structure have been studied. • Compensation temperature has been observed below the critical temperature. • Hysteresis behaviors have been studied.

  9. Effective field study of ising model on a double perovskite structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ngantso, G. Dimitri; El Amraoui, Y.; Benyoussef, A.; El Kenz, A.

    2017-01-01

    By using the effective field theory (EFT), the mixed spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 Ising ferrimagnetic model adapted to a double perovskite structure has been studied. The EFT calculations have been carried out from Ising Hamiltonian by taking into account first and second nearest-neighbors interactions and the crystal and external magnetic fields. Both first- and second-order phase transitions have been found in phase diagrams of interest. Depending on crystal-field values, the thermodynamic behavior of total magnetization indicated the compensation phenomenon existence. The hysteresis behaviors are studied by investigating the reduced magnetic field dependence of total magnetization and a series of hysteresis loops are shown for different reduced temperatures around the critical one. - Highlights: • Magnetic properties of double perovskite Structure have been studied. • Compensation temperature has been observed below the critical temperature. • Hysteresis behaviors have been studied.

  10. Tightness of the Ising-Kac Model on the Two-Dimensional Torus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hairer, Martin; Iberti, Massimo

    2018-05-01

    We consider the sequence of Gibbs measures of Ising models with Kac interaction defined on a periodic two-dimensional discrete torus near criticality. Using the convergence of the Glauber dynamic proven by Mourrat and Weber (Commun Pure Appl Math 70:717-812, 2017) and a method by Tsatsoulis and Weber employed in (arXiv:1609.08447 2016), we show tightness for the sequence of Gibbs measures of the Ising-Kac model near criticality and characterise the law of the limit as the Φ ^4_2 measure on the torus. Our result is very similar to the one obtained by Cassandro et al. (J Stat Phys 78(3):1131-1138, 1995) on Z^2, but our strategy takes advantage of the dynamic, instead of correlation inequalities. In particular, our result covers the whole critical regime and does not require the large temperature/large mass/small coupling assumption present in earlier results.

  11. Fisher zeros in the Kallen-Lehmann approach to 3D Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Astorino, Marco; Canfora, Fabrizio; Giribet, Gaston

    2009-01-01

    The distribution of the Fisher zeros in the Kallen-Lehmann approach to three-dimensional Ising model is studied. It is argued that the presence of a non-trivial angle (a cusp) in the distribution of zeros in the complex temperatures plane near the physical singularity is realized through a strong breaking of the 2D Ising self-duality. Remarkably, the realization of the cusp in the Fisher distribution ultimately leads to an improvement of the results of the Kallen-Lehmann ansatz. In fact, excellent agreement with Monte Carlo predictions both at high and at low temperatures is observed. Besides, agreement between both approaches is found for the predictions of the critical exponent α and of the universal amplitude ratio Δ=A + /A - , within the 3.5% and 7% of the Monte Carlo predictions, respectively

  12. Direct comparison of quantum and simulated annealing on a fully connected Ising ferromagnet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wauters, Matteo M.; Fazio, Rosario; Nishimori, Hidetoshi; Santoro, Giuseppe E.

    2017-08-01

    We compare the performance of quantum annealing (QA, through Schrödinger dynamics) and simulated annealing (SA, through a classical master equation) on the p -spin infinite range ferromagnetic Ising model, by slowly driving the system across its equilibrium, quantum or classical, phase transition. When the phase transition is second order (p =2 , the familiar two-spin Ising interaction) SA shows a remarkable exponential speed-up over QA. For a first-order phase transition (p ≥3 , i.e., with multispin Ising interactions), in contrast, the classical annealing dynamics appears to remain stuck in the disordered phase, while we have clear evidence that QA shows a residual energy which decreases towards zero when the total annealing time τ increases, albeit in a rather slow (logarithmic) fashion. This is one of the rare examples where a limited quantum speedup, a speedup by QA over SA, has been shown to exist by direct solutions of the Schrödinger and master equations in combination with a nonequilibrium Landau-Zener analysis. We also analyze the imaginary-time QA dynamics of the model, finding a 1 /τ2 behavior for all finite values of p , as predicted by the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics. The Grover-search limit p (odd )=∞ is also discussed.

  13. Alternative Splicing of MBD2 Supports Self-Renewal in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Yu; Loh, Yuin-Han; Li, Hu; Cesana, Marcella; Ficarro, Scott B.; Parikh, Jignesh R.; Salomonis, Nathan; Toh, Cheng-Xu Delon; Andreadis, Stelios T.; Luckey, C. John; Collins, James J.; Daley, George Q.; Marto, Jarrod A.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Alternative RNA splicing (AS) regulates proteome diversity, including isoform-specific expression of several pluripotency genes. Here, we integrated global gene expression and proteomic analyses and identified a molecular signature suggesting a central role for AS in maintaining human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) self-renewal. We demonstrate the splicing factor SFRS2 is an OCT4 target gene required for pluripotency. SFRS2 regulates AS of the methyl-CpG-binding protein MBD2, whose isoforms play opposing roles in maintenance of, and reprogramming to, pluripotency. While both MDB2a and MBD2c are enriched at the OCT4 and NANOG promoters, MBD2a preferentially interacts with repressive NuRD chromatin remodeling factors and promotes hPSC differentiation, whereas overexpression of MBD2c enhances reprogramming of fibroblasts to pluripotency. The miR-301 and miR-302 families provide additional regulation by targeting SFRS2 and MDB2a. These data suggest that OCT4, SFRS2, and MBD2 participate in a positive feedback loop, regulating proteome diversity complexity in support of hPSC self-renewal and reprogramming. PMID:24813856

  14. Heat-shrinkable splicing materials for Class 1E wire and cable systems in nuclear power generating stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Handa, Katsue; Maruyama, Masahiro; Kanno, Mikio; Ohya, Shingo; Nagakawa, Seiji; Sugimori, Mikihiro

    1987-01-01

    This report describes the shapes of heat-shrinkable splicing materials (cable sleeve and breakout, and round end cap) made of polyolefine resin, their application to cable splicing, and the properties of the materials as well as of the splice using them. Particularly, the report features introduction of their properties as determined by tests under the same conditions as used in Japan in qualifying tests on wires and cables for nuclear power generating stations. The heat-shrinkable splicing materials proved to be equal in properties to flame-retardant cables for nuclear power plants when tested for oxygen index and subjected to a vertical flame test on ''insulated wire'' and a vertical tray flame test on the cable splice. It was also confirmed that Class 1E cable using these splicing materials could stand the most rigorous environmental test in Japan. Therefore they can be used for splicing Class 1E wires and cables and the splice formed with them can be regarded as Class 1E specified in IEEE Std. 383. (author)

  15. An Engineered Split Intein for Photoactivated Protein Trans-Splicing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanley Wong

    Full Text Available Protein splicing is mediated by inteins that auto-catalytically join two separated protein fragments with a peptide bond. Here we engineered a genetically encoded synthetic photoactivatable intein (named LOVInC, by using the light-sensitive LOV2 domain from Avena sativa as a switch to modulate the splicing activity of the split DnaE intein from Nostoc punctiforme. Periodic blue light illumination of LOVInC induced protein splicing activity in mammalian cells. To demonstrate the broad applicability of LOVInC, synthetic protein systems were engineered for the light-induced reassembly of several target proteins such as fluorescent protein markers, a dominant positive mutant of RhoA, caspase-7, and the genetically encoded Ca2+ indicator GCaMP2. Spatial precision of LOVInC was demonstrated by targeting activity to specific mammalian cells. Thus, LOVInC can serve as a general platform for engineering light-based control for modulating the activity of many different proteins.

  16. Methods to detect faulty splices in the superconducting magnet system of the LHC

    CERN Document Server

    Bailey, R; Catalan Lasheras, N; Dahlerup-Petersen, K; Denz, R; Robles, C; Koratzinos, M; Pojer, M; Ponce, L; Saban, R; Schmidt, R; Siemko, A; Solfaroli Camillocci, M; Thiesen, H; Vergara Fernandez, A; Flora, R H; Charifoulline, Z; Bednarek, M; Górnicki, E; Jurkiewicz, P; Kapusta, P; Strait, J

    2010-01-01

    The incident of 19 September 2008 at the LHC was caused by a faulty inter-magnet splice of about 200 nΩ resistance. Cryogenic and electrical techniques have been developed to detect other abnormal splices, either between or inside the magnets. The existing quench protection system can be used to detect internal splices with R>20 nΩ. Since this system does not cover the bus between magnets, the cryogenic system is used to measure the rate of temperature rise due to ohmic heating. Accuracy of a few mK/h, corresponding to a few Watts, has been achieved, allowing detection of excess resistance, if it is more than 40 nΩ in a cryogenic subsector (two optical cells). Follow-up electrical measurements are made in regions identified by the cryogenic system. These techniques have detected two abnormal internal magnet splices of 100 nΩ and 50 nΩ respectively. In 2009, this ad hoc system will be replaced with a permanent one to monitor all splices at the nΩ level.

  17. Methods to detect faulty splices in the superconducting magnet system of the LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bailey, R.; Bellesia, B.; Lasheras, N.Catalan; Dahlerup-Petersen, K.; Denz, R.; Robles, C.; Koratzinos, M.; Pojer, M.; Ponce, L.; Saban, R.; Schmidt, R.

    2009-01-01

    The incident of 19 September 2008 at the LHC was caused by a faulty inter-magnet splice of about 200 n(Omega) resistance. Cryogenic and electrical techniques have been developed to detect other abnormal splices, either between or inside the magnets. The existing quench protection system can be used to detect internal splices with R > 20 n(Omega). Since this system does not cover the bus between magnets, the cryogenic system is used to measure the rate of temperature rise due to ohmic heating. Accuracy of a few mK/h, corresponding to a few Watts, has been achieved, allowing detection of excess resistance, if it is more than 40 n(Omega) in a cryogenic subsector (two optical cells). Follow-up electrical measurements are made in regions identified by the cryogenic system. These techniques have detected two abnormal internal magnet splices of 100 n(Omega) and 50 n(Omega) respectively. In 2009, this ad hoc system will be replaced with a permanent one to monitor all splices at the n(Omega) level

  18. A Gene Gun-mediated Nonviral RNA trans-splicing Strategy for Col7a1 Repair

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia Peking

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available RNA trans-splicing represents an auspicious option for the correction of genetic mutations at RNA level. Mutations within COL7A1 causing strong reduction or absence of type VII collagen are associated with the severe skin blistering disease dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. The human COL7A1 mRNA constitutes a suitable target for this RNA therapy approach, as only a portion of the almost 9 kb transcript has to be delivered into the target cells. Here, we have proven the feasibility of 5′ trans-splicing into the Col7a1 mRNA in vitro and in vivo. We designed a 5′ RNA trans-splicing molecule, capable of replacing Col7a1 exons 1–15 and verified it in a fluorescence-based trans-splicing model system. Specific and efficient Col7a1 trans-splicing was confirmed in murine keratinocytes. To analyze trans-splicing in vivo, we used gene gun delivery of a minicircle expressing a FLAG-tagged 5′ RNA trans-splicing molecule into the skin of wild-type mice. Histological and immunofluorescence analysis of bombarded skin sections revealed vector delivery and expression within dermis and epidermis. Furthermore, we have detected trans-spliced type VII collagen protein using FLAG-tag antibodies. In conclusion, we describe a novel in vivo nonviral RNA therapy approach to restore type VII collagen expression for causative treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

  19. Phase transitions and Heisenberg limited metrology in an Ising chain interacting with a single-mode cavity field

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammelmark, Søren; Mølmer, Klaus

    2011-01-01

    We investigate the thermodynamics of a combined Dicke and Ising model that exhibits a rich phenomenology arising from the second-order and quantum phase transitions from the respective models. The partition function is calculated using mean-field theory, and the free energy is analyzed in detail...... to determine the complete phase diagram of the system. The analysis reveals both first- and second-order Dicke phase transitions into a super-radiant state, and the cavity mean field in this regime acts as an effective magnetic field, which restricts the Ising chain dynamics to parameter ranges away from...... the Ising phase transition. Physical systems with first-order phase transitions are natural candidates for metrology and calibration purposes, and we apply filter theory to show that the sensitivity of the physical system to temperature and external fields reaches the 1/N Heisenberg limit....

  20. Ising model for neural data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roudi, Yasser; Tyrcha, Joanna; Hertz, John

    2009-01-01

    (dansk abstrakt findes ikke) We study pairwise Ising models for describing the statistics of multi-neuron spike trains, using data from a simulated cortical network. We explore efficient ways of finding the optimal couplings in these models and examine their statistical properties. To do this, we...... extract the optimal couplings for subsets of size up to $200$ neurons, essentially exactly, using Boltzmann learning. We then study the quality of several approximate methods for finding the couplings by comparing their results with those found from Boltzmann learning. Two of these methods -- inversion...... of the Thouless-Anderson-Palmer equations and an approximation proposed by Sessak and Monasson -- are remarkably accurate. Using these approximations for larger subsets of neurons, we find that extracting couplings using data from a subset smaller than the full network tends systematically to overestimate...

  1. Rbfox-regulated alternative splicing is critical for zebrafish cardiac and skeletal muscle function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Thomas L.; Arribere, Joshua A.; Geurts, Paul A.; Exner, Cameron R. T.; McDonald, Kent L.; Dill, Kariena K.; Marr, Henry L.; Adkar, Shaunak S.; Garnett, Aaron T.; Amacher, Sharon L.; Conboy, John G.

    2012-01-01

    Rbfox RNA binding proteins are implicated as regulators of phylogenetically-conserved alternative splicing events important for muscle function. To investigate the function of rbfox genes, we used morpholino-mediated knockdown of muscle-expressed rbfox1l and rbfox2 in zebrafish embryos. Single and double morphant embryos exhibited changes in splicing of overlapping sets of bioinformatically-predicted rbfox target exons, many of which exhibit a muscle-enriched splicing pattern that is conserved in vertebrates. Thus, conservation of intronic Rbfox binding motifs is a good predictor of Rbfox-regulated alternative splicing. Morphology and development of single morphant embryos was strikingly normal; however, muscle development in double morphants was severely disrupted. Defects in cardiac muscle were marked by reduced heart rate and in skeletal muscle by complete paralysis. The predominance of wavy myofibers and abnormal thick and thin filaments in skeletal muscle revealed that myofibril assembly is defective and disorganized in double morphants. Ultra-structural analysis revealed that although sarcomeres with electron dense M- and Z-bands are present in muscle fibers of rbfox1l/rbox2 morphants, they are substantially reduced in number and alignment. Importantly, splicing changes and morphological defects were rescued by expression of morpholino-resistant rbfox cDNA. Additionally, a target-blocking MO complementary to a single UGCAUG motif adjacent to an rbfox target exon of fxr1 inhibited inclusion in a similar manner to rbfox knockdown, providing evidence that Rbfox regulates the splicing of target exons via direct binding to intronic regulatory motifs. We conclude that Rbfox proteins regulate an alternative splicing program essential for vertebrate heart and skeletal muscle function. PMID:21925157

  2. Rbfox-regulated alternative splicing is critical for zebrafish cardiac and skeletal muscle functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Thomas L; Arribere, Joshua A; Geurts, Paul A; Exner, Cameron R T; McDonald, Kent L; Dill, Kariena K; Marr, Henry L; Adkar, Shaunak S; Garnett, Aaron T; Amacher, Sharon L; Conboy, John G

    2011-11-15

    Rbfox RNA binding proteins are implicated as regulators of phylogenetically-conserved alternative splicing events important for muscle function. To investigate the function of rbfox genes, we used morpholino-mediated knockdown of muscle-expressed rbfox1l and rbfox2 in zebrafish embryos. Single and double morphant embryos exhibited changes in splicing of overlapping sets of bioinformatically-predicted rbfox target exons, many of which exhibit a muscle-enriched splicing pattern that is conserved in vertebrates. Thus, conservation of intronic Rbfox binding motifs is a good predictor of Rbfox-regulated alternative splicing. Morphology and development of single morphant embryos were strikingly normal; however, muscle development in double morphants was severely disrupted. Defects in cardiac muscle were marked by reduced heart rate and in skeletal muscle by complete paralysis. The predominance of wavy myofibers and abnormal thick and thin filaments in skeletal muscle revealed that myofibril assembly is defective and disorganized in double morphants. Ultra-structural analysis revealed that although sarcomeres with electron dense M- and Z-bands are present in muscle fibers of rbfox1l/rbox2 morphants, they are substantially reduced in number and alignment. Importantly, splicing changes and morphological defects were rescued by expression of morpholino-resistant rbfox cDNA. Additionally, a target-blocking MO complementary to a single UGCAUG motif adjacent to an rbfox target exon of fxr1 inhibited inclusion in a similar manner to rbfox knockdown, providing evidence that Rbfox regulates the splicing of target exons via direct binding to intronic regulatory motifs. We conclude that Rbfox proteins regulate an alternative splicing program essential for vertebrate heart and skeletal muscle functions. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  3. Acute Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Independent Unconventional Splicing of XBP1 mRNA in the Nucleus of Mammalian Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuanyuan Wang

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The regulation of expression of X-box-binding protein-1 (XBP1, a transcriptional factor, involves an unconventional mRNA splicing that removes the 26 nucleotides intron. In contrast to the conventional splicing that exclusively takes place in the nucleus, determining the location of unconventional splicing still remains controversial. This study was designed to examine whether the unconventional spicing of XBP1 mRNA could occur in the nucleus and its possible biological relevance. We use RT-PCR reverse transcription system and the expand high fidelity PCR system to detect spliced XBP1 mRNA, and fraction cells to determine the location of the unconventional splicing of XBP1 mRNA. We employ reporter constructs to show the presence of unconventional splicing machinery in mammal cells independently of acute endoplasmic reticulum (ER stress. Our results reveal the presence of basal unconventional splicing of XBP1 mRNA in the nucleus that also requires inositol-requiring transmembrane kinase and endonuclease 1α (IRE1α and can occur independently of acute ER stress. Furthermore, we confirm that acute ER stress induces the splicing of XBP1 mRNA predominantly occurring in the cytoplasm, but it also promotes the splicing in the nucleus. The deletion of 5′-nucleotides in XBP1 mRNA significantly increases its basal unconventional splicing, suggesting that the secondary structure of XBP1 mRNA may determine the location of unconventional splicing. These results suggest that the unconventional splicing of XBP1 mRNA can take place in the nucleus and/or cytoplasm, which possibly depends on the elaborate regulation. The acute ER stress-independent unconventional splicing in the nucleus is most likely required for the maintaining of day-to-day folding protein homeostasis.

  4. Stability and replica symmetry in the ising spin glass: a toy model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Dominicis, C.; Mottishaw, P.

    1986-01-01

    Searching for possible replica symmetric solutions in an Ising spin glass (in the tree approximation) we investigate a toy model whose bond distribution has two non vanishing cumulants (instead of one only as in a gaussian distribution)

  5. Spliced XBP1 promotes macrophage survival and autophagy by interacting with Beclin-1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tian, Ping-Ge [Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515 (China); Jiang, Zhi-Xin [Centre Laboratory, The 305th Hospital of the People' s Liberation Army, Beijing 100017 (China); Li, Jian-Hua [Department of Geriatric Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hosptial, Beijing 100853 (China); Zhou, Zhe, E-mail: zhouzhe76@126.com [Laboratory of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing 100850 (China); Zhang, Qing-Hua, E-mail: 1056055170@qq.com [Department of Cardiology, The 305th Hospital of the People' s Liberation Army, Beijing 100017 (China)

    2015-08-07

    Macrophage autophagy plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, but the precise mechanism mediating this process is unclear. The potential role of the X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1), a crucial transduction factor that is involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response, in bone marrow-derived macrophage autophagy is unknown. This study mainly explores the roles of XBP1 mRNA splicing in bone marrow-derived macrophage autophagy. The present study shows that the transient overexpression of spliced XBP1 via adenovirus-mediated gene transfer induces autophagy and promotes proliferation in bone marrow-derived macrophages via the down-regulation of Beclin-1, but that the sustained overexpression of spliced XBP1 leads to apoptosis. When XBP1 is down-regulated in bone marrow-derived macrophages using siRNA, rapamycin-induced autophagosome formation is ablated. Furthermore, we have detected the overexpression of XBP1 in areas of atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries of ApoE−/− mice. These results demonstrate that XBP1 mRNA splicing plays an important role in maintaining the function of bone marrow-derived macrophages and provide new insight into the study and treatment of atherosclerosis. - Highlights: • XBP1 was up-regulated in atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE−/− mice. • Transient spliced XBP1 overexpression induced macrophages autophagy via Beclin-1. • Sustained spliced XBP1 overexpression triggered macrophages apoptosis. • Spliced XBP1 plays a key role in maintaining the macrophages survival.

  6. Alternative splicing at the intersection of biological timing, development, and stress responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staiger, Dorothee; Brown, John W S

    2013-10-01

    High-throughput sequencing for transcript profiling in plants has revealed that alternative splicing (AS) affects a much higher proportion of the transcriptome than was previously assumed. AS is involved in most plant processes and is particularly prevalent in plants exposed to environmental stress. The identification of mutations in predicted splicing factors and spliceosomal proteins that affect cell fate, the circadian clock, plant defense, and tolerance/sensitivity to abiotic stress all point to a fundamental role of splicing/AS in plant growth, development, and responses to external cues. Splicing factors affect the AS of multiple downstream target genes, thereby transferring signals to alter gene expression via splicing factor/AS networks. The last two to three years have seen an ever-increasing number of examples of functional AS. At a time when the identification of AS in individual genes and at a global level is exploding, this review aims to bring together such examples to illustrate the extent and importance of AS, which are not always obvious from individual publications. It also aims to ensure that plant scientists are aware that AS is likely to occur in the genes that they study and that dynamic changes in AS and its consequences need to be considered routinely.

  7. Multi-level Strategy for Identifying Proteasome-Catalyzed Spliced Epitopes Targeted by CD8+ T Cells during Bacterial Infection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anouk C.M. Platteel

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Proteasome-catalyzed peptide splicing (PCPS generates peptides that are presented by MHC class I molecules, but because their identification is challenging, the immunological relevance of spliced peptides remains unclear. Here, we developed a reverse immunology-based multi-level approach to identify proteasome-generated spliced epitopes. Applying this strategy to a murine Listeria monocytogenes infection model, we identified two spliced epitopes within the secreted bacterial phospholipase PlcB that primed antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in L. monocytogenes-infected mice. While reacting to the spliced epitopes, these CD8+ T cells failed to recognize the non-spliced peptide parts in the context of their natural flanking sequences. Thus, we here show that PCPS expands the CD8+ T cell response against L. monocytogenes by exposing spliced epitopes on the cell surface. Moreover, our multi-level strategy opens up opportunities to systematically investigate proteins for spliced epitope candidates and thus strategies for immunotherapies or vaccine design.

  8. Naturally occurring BRCA2 alternative mRNA splicing events in clinically relevant samples

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fackenthal, James D; Yoshimatsu, Toshio; Zhang, Bifeng

    2016-01-01

    patterns and thereby disrupt gene function. mRNA analyses are therefore among the tests used to interpret the clinical significance of some genetic variants. However, these could be confounded by the appearance of naturally occurring alternative transcripts unrelated to germline sequence variation...... to characterise the spectrum of naturally occurring BRCA2 mRNA alternate-splicing events. METHODS: mRNA was prepared from several blood and breast tissue-derived cells and cell lines by contributing ENIGMA laboratories. cDNA representing BRCA2 alternate splice sites was amplified and visualised using capillary...... or agarose gel electrophoresis, followed by sequencing. RESULTS: We demonstrate the existence of 24 different BRCA2 mRNA alternate-splicing events in lymphoblastoid cell lines and both breast cancer and non-cancerous breast cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: These naturally occurring alternate-splicing events...

  9. The splicing of tiny introns of Paramecium is controlled by MAGO.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Contreras, Julia; Begley, Victoria; Marsella, Laura; Villalobo, Eduardo

    2018-07-15

    The exon junction complex (EJC) is a key element of the splicing machinery. The EJC core is composed of eIF4A3, MAGO, Y14 and MLN51. Few accessory proteins, such as CWC22 or UPF3, bind transiently to the EJC. The EJC has been implicated in the control of the splicing of long introns. To ascertain whether the EJC controls the splicing of short introns, we used Paramecium tetraurelia as a model organism, since it has thousands of very tiny introns. To elucidate whether EJC affects intron splicing in P. tetraurelia, we searched for EJC protein-coding genes, and silenced those genes coding for eIF4A3, MAGO and CWC22. We found that P. tetraurelia likely assembles an active EJC with only three of the core proteins, since MLN51 is lacking. Silencing of eIF4A3 or CWC22 genes, but not that of MAGO, caused lethality. Silencing of the MAGO gene caused either an increase, decrease, or no change in intron retention levels of some intron-containing mRNAs used as reporters. We suggest that a fine-tuning expression of EJC genes is required for steady intron removal in P. tetraurelia. Taking into consideration our results and those published by others, we conclude that the EJC controls splicing independently of the intron size. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Sampling algorithms for validation of supervised learning models for Ising-like systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portman, Nataliya; Tamblyn, Isaac

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, we build and explore supervised learning models of ferromagnetic system behavior, using Monte-Carlo sampling of the spin configuration space generated by the 2D Ising model. Given the enormous size of the space of all possible Ising model realizations, the question arises as to how to choose a reasonable number of samples that will form physically meaningful and non-intersecting training and testing datasets. Here, we propose a sampling technique called ;ID-MH; that uses the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm creating Markov process across energy levels within the predefined configuration subspace. We show that application of this method retains phase transitions in both training and testing datasets and serves the purpose of validation of a machine learning algorithm. For larger lattice dimensions, ID-MH is not feasible as it requires knowledge of the complete configuration space. As such, we develop a new ;block-ID; sampling strategy: it decomposes the given structure into square blocks with lattice dimension N ≤ 5 and uses ID-MH sampling of candidate blocks. Further comparison of the performance of commonly used machine learning methods such as random forests, decision trees, k nearest neighbors and artificial neural networks shows that the PCA-based Decision Tree regressor is the most accurate predictor of magnetizations of the Ising model. For energies, however, the accuracy of prediction is not satisfactory, highlighting the need to consider more algorithmically complex methods (e.g., deep learning).

  11. Frustrated ground state in the metallic Ising antiferromagnet Nd2Ni2In

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sala, G.; Mašková, S.; Stone, M. B.

    2017-10-01

    We used inelastic neutron scattering measurements to examine the intermetallic Ising antiferromagnet Nd2Ni2In . The dynamical structure factor displays a spectrum with multiple crystal field excitations. These crystal field excitations consist of a set of four transitions covering a range of energies between 4 and 80 meV. The spectrum is very sensitive to the temperature, and we observed a softening and a shift in the energies above the transition temperature of the system. The analysis of the crystalline electric field scheme confirms the Ising nature of the spins and their orientation as proposed by previous studies. We characterized Nd2Ni2In as a large moment intermetallic antiferromagnet with the potential to support a geometrically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice.

  12. An analysis of intergroup rivalry using Ising model and reinforcement learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Feng-Fei; Qin, Zheng; Shao, Zhuo

    2014-01-01

    Modeling of intergroup rivalry can help us better understand economic competitions, political elections and other similar activities. The result of intergroup rivalry depends on the co-evolution of individual behavior within one group and the impact from the rival group. In this paper, we model the rivalry behavior using Ising model. Different from other simulation studies using Ising model, the evolution rules of each individual in our model are not static, but have the ability to learn from historical experience using reinforcement learning technique, which makes the simulation more close to real human behavior. We studied the phase transition in intergroup rivalry and focused on the impact of the degree of social freedom, the personality of group members and the social experience of individuals. The results of computer simulation show that a society with a low degree of social freedom and highly educated, experienced individuals is more likely to be one-sided in intergroup rivalry.

  13. Emergent 1d Ising Behavior in AN Elementary Cellular Automaton Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassebaum, Paul G.; Iannacchione, Germano S.

    The fundamental nature of an evolving one-dimensional (1D) Ising model is investigated with an elementary cellular automaton (CA) simulation. The emergent CA simulation employs an ensemble of cells in one spatial dimension, each cell capable of two microstates interacting with simple nearest-neighbor rules and incorporating an external field. The behavior of the CA model provides insight into the dynamics of coupled two-state systems not expressible by exact analytical solutions. For instance, state progression graphs show the causal dynamics of a system through time in relation to the system's entropy. Unique graphical analysis techniques are introduced through difference patterns, diffusion patterns, and state progression graphs of the 1D ensemble visualizing the evolution. All analyses are consistent with the known behavior of the 1D Ising system. The CA simulation and new pattern recognition techniques are scalable (in both dimension, complexity, and size) and have many potential applications such as complex design of materials, control of agent systems, and evolutionary mechanism design.

  14. An effective correlated mean-field theory applied in the spin-1/2 Ising ferromagnetic model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roberto Viana, J.; Salmon, Octávio R. [Universidade Federal do Amazonas – UFAM, Manaus 69077-000, AM (Brazil); Ricardo de Sousa, J. [Universidade Federal do Amazonas – UFAM, Manaus 69077-000, AM (Brazil); National Institute of Science and Technology for Complex Systems, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, 3000, Japiim, 69077-000 Manaus, AM (Brazil); Neto, Minos A.; Padilha, Igor T. [Universidade Federal do Amazonas – UFAM, Manaus 69077-000, AM (Brazil)

    2014-11-15

    We developed a new treatment for mean-field theory applied in spins systems, denominated effective correlated mean-field (ECMF). We apply this theory to study the spin-1/2 Ising ferromagnetic model with nearest-neighbor interactions on a square lattice. We use clusters of finite sizes and study the criticality of the ferromagnetic system, where we obtain a convergence of critical temperature for the value k{sub B}T{sub c}/J≃2.27905±0.00141. Also the behavior of magnetic and thermodynamic properties, using the condition of minimum energy of the physical system is obtained. - Highlights: • We developed spin models to study real magnetic systems. • We study the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of the ferromagnetism. • We enhanced a mean-field theory applied in spins models.

  15. LRRTM3 Regulates Excitatory Synapse Development through Alternative Splicing and Neurexin Binding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji Won Um

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The four members of the LRRTM family (LRRTM1-4 are postsynaptic adhesion molecules essential for excitatory synapse development. They have also been implicated in neuropsychiatric diseases. Here, we focus on LRRTM3, showing that two distinct LRRTM3 variants generated by alternative splicing regulate LRRTM3 interaction with PSD-95, but not its excitatory synapse-promoting activity. Overexpression of either LRRTM3 variant increased excitatory synapse density in dentate gyrus (DG granule neurons, whereas LRRTM3 knockdown decreased it. LRRTM3 also controlled activity-regulated AMPA receptor surface expression in an alternative splicing-dependent manner. Furthermore, Lrrtm3-knockout mice displayed specific alterations in excitatory synapse density, excitatory synaptic transmission and excitability in DG granule neurons but not in CA1 pyramidal neurons. Lastly, LRRTM3 required only specific splice variants of presynaptic neurexins for their synaptogenic activity. Collectively, our data highlight alternative splicing and differential presynaptic ligand utilization in the regulation of LRRTMs, revealing key regulatory mechanisms for excitatory synapse development.

  16. BCS wave function, matrix product states, and the Ising conformal field theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montes, Sebastián; Rodríguez-Laguna, Javier; Sierra, Germán

    2017-11-01

    We present a characterization of the many-body lattice wave functions obtained from the conformal blocks (CBs) of the Ising conformal field theory (CFT). The formalism is interpreted as a matrix product state using continuous ancillary degrees of freedom. We provide analytic and numerical evidence that the resulting states can be written as BCS states. We give a complete proof that the translationally invariant 1D configurations have a BCS form and we find suitable parent Hamiltonians. In particular, we prove that the ground state of the finite-size critical Ising transverse field (ITF) Hamiltonian can be obtained with this construction. Finally, we study 2D configurations using an operator product expansion (OPE) approximation. We associate these states to the weak pairing phase of the p +i p superconductor via the scaling of the pairing function and the entanglement spectrum.

  17. Clinical Expression and New SPINK5 Splicing Defects in Netherton Syndrome: Unmasking a Frequent Founder Synonymous Mutation and Unconventional Intronic Mutations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lacroix, Matthieu; Lacaze-Buzy, Laetitia; Furio, Laetitia

    2012-01-01

    a clinical triad suggestive of NS with variations in inter- and intra-familial disease expression. We identified a new and frequent synonymous mutation c.891C>T (p.Cys297Cys) in exon 11 of the 12 NS patients. This mutation disrupts an exonic splicing enhancer sequence and causes out-of-frame skipping of exon...

  18. Identification and characterization of NAGNAG alternative splicing in the moss Physcomitrella patens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bolte Kathrin

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Alternative splicing (AS involving tandem acceptors that are separated by three nucleotides (NAGNAG is an evolutionarily widespread class of AS, which is well studied in Homo sapiens (human and Mus musculus (mouse. It has also been shown to be common in the model seed plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa (rice. In one of the first studies involving sequence-based prediction of AS in plants, we performed a genome-wide identification and characterization of NAGNAG AS in the model plant Physcomitrella patens, a moss. Results Using Sanger data, we found 295 alternatively used NAGNAG acceptors in P. patens. Using 31 features and training and test datasets of constitutive and alternative NAGNAGs, we trained a classifier to predict the splicing outcome at NAGNAG tandem splice sites (alternative splicing, constitutive at the first acceptor, or constitutive at the second acceptor. Our classifier achieved a balanced specificity and sensitivity of ≥ 89%. Subsequently, a classifier trained exclusively on data well supported by transcript evidence was used to make genome-wide predictions of NAGNAG splicing outcomes. By generation of more transcript evidence from a next-generation sequencing platform (Roche 454, we found additional evidence for NAGNAG AS, with altogether 664 alternative NAGNAGs being detected in P. patens using all currently available transcript evidence. The 454 data also enabled us to validate the predictions of the classifier, with 64% (80/125 of the well-supported cases of AS being predicted correctly. Conclusion NAGNAG AS is just as common in the moss P. patens as it is in the seed plants A. thaliana and O. sativa (but not conserved on the level of orthologous introns, and can be predicted with high accuracy. The most informative features are the nucleotides in the NAGNAG and in its immediate vicinity, along with the splice sites scores, as found earlier for NAGNAG AS in animals. Our results suggest that the

  19. Conditional CAPM and an Application on the ISE

    OpenAIRE

    Yalcin Karatepe; Elif Karaaslan; Fazil Gokgoz

    2002-01-01

    In the empirical studies carried out on standard CAPM, widely used in finance literature, it has been argued that static CAPM could not entirely explain the portfolio returns. One of the assumptions for one period application is that the beta coefficients of assets are assumed to be constant over time. However, in a dynamic world the expected returns and betas deviate over time. In this study, returns of ISE-30 securities have been estimated by employing conditional CAPM; it has been found th...

  20. Initial ISEE magnetometer results: shock observation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Russell, C.T.

    1979-01-01

    ISEE-1 and -2 magnetic field profiles across 6 terrestrial bow shock and one interplanetary shock are examined. The inteplanetary shock illustrates the behavior of a low Mach number shock. Three examples of low or moderate β, high Mach number, quasi-perpendicular shocks are examined. These did not have upstream waves, but rather had waves growing in the field gradient. Two examples of high β shocks showed little coherence in field variation even though the two vehicles were only a few hundred kilometers apart. The authors present the joint behavior of wave, particle and field data across some of these shocks to show some of the myriad of shock features whose behavior they are now beginning to investigate. (Auth.)

  1. Investigating Investment Preferences of Institutional Investors toward ISE Companies

    OpenAIRE

    Serkan Yilmaz Kandir

    2010-01-01

    Institutional investors may be defined as specialized financial institutions that manage savings collectively on behalf of small investors toward specific objectives. Aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect investment preferences of institutional investors toward ISE companies. Empirical analysis is performed by employing cross-sectional regression model. In the regression model, estimated for the years, 2005, 2006 and 2007, institutional ownership in each company is used ...

  2. Annealed central limit theorems for the ising model on random graphs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Giardinà, C.; Giberti, C.; van der Hofstad, R.W.; Prioriello, M.L.

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to prove central limit theorems with respect to the annealed measure for the magnetization rescaled by √N of Ising models on random graphs. More precisely, we consider the general rank-1 inhomogeneous random graph (or generalized random graph), the 2-regular configuration

  3. Study on non-universal critical behaviour in Ising model with defects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guimaraes, L.G.

    1986-01-01

    One-dimensional quantum analogous of two-dimensional Ising models with line and step type linear defects are studied. The phenomenological renormalization group was approached using conformal invariance for relating critical exponent N sup(*) sub(H). Aiming to obtain the Hamiltonian diagonal, Lanczos tridiagonal method was used. (H.C.K.)

  4. Inverse Ising Inference Using All the Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aurell, Erik; Ekeberg, Magnus

    2012-03-01

    We show that a method based on logistic regression, using all the data, solves the inverse Ising problem far better than mean-field calculations relying only on sample pairwise correlation functions, while still computationally feasible for hundreds of nodes. The largest improvement in reconstruction occurs for strong interactions. Using two examples, a diluted Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model and a two-dimensional lattice, we also show that interaction topologies can be recovered from few samples with good accuracy and that the use of l1 regularization is beneficial in this process, pushing inference abilities further into low-temperature regimes.

  5. Protein trans-splicing of multiple atypical split inteins engineered from natural inteins.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Lin

    Full Text Available Protein trans-splicing by split inteins has many uses in protein production and research. Splicing proteins with synthetic peptides, which employs atypical split inteins, is particularly useful for site-specific protein modifications and labeling, because the synthetic peptide can be made to contain a variety of unnatural amino acids and chemical modifications. For this purpose, atypical split inteins need to be engineered to have a small N-intein or C-intein fragment that can be more easily included in a synthetic peptide that also contains a small extein to be trans-spliced onto target proteins. Here we have successfully engineered multiple atypical split inteins capable of protein trans-splicing, by modifying and testing more than a dozen natural inteins. These included both S1 split inteins having a very small (11-12 aa N-intein fragment and S11 split inteins having a very small (6 aa C-intein fragment. Four of the new S1 and S11 split inteins showed high efficiencies (85-100% of protein trans-splicing both in E. coli cells and in vitro. Under in vitro conditions, they exhibited reaction rate constants ranging from ~1.7 × 10(-4 s(-1 to ~3.8 × 10(-4 s(-1, which are comparable to or higher than those of previously reported atypical split inteins. These findings should facilitate a more general use of trans-splicing between proteins and synthetic peptides, by expanding the availability of different atypical split inteins. They also have implications on understanding the structure-function relationship of atypical split inteins, particularly in terms of intein fragment complementation.

  6. Detection of alternative splice variants at the proteome level in Aspergillus flavus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Kung-Yen; Georgianna, D Ryan; Heber, Steffen; Payne, Gary A; Muddiman, David C

    2010-03-05

    Identification of proteins from proteolytic peptides or intact proteins plays an essential role in proteomics. Researchers use search engines to match the acquired peptide sequences to the target proteins. However, search engines depend on protein databases to provide candidates for consideration. Alternative splicing (AS), the mechanism where the exon of pre-mRNAs can be spliced and rearranged to generate distinct mRNA and therefore protein variants, enable higher eukaryotic organisms, with only a limited number of genes, to have the requisite complexity and diversity at the proteome level. Multiple alternative isoforms from one gene often share common segments of sequences. However, many protein databases only include a limited number of isoforms to keep minimal redundancy. As a result, the database search might not identify a target protein even with high quality tandem MS data and accurate intact precursor ion mass. We computationally predicted an exhaustive list of putative isoforms of Aspergillus flavus proteins from 20 371 expressed sequence tags to investigate whether an alternative splicing protein database can assign a greater proportion of mass spectrometry data. The newly constructed AS database provided 9807 new alternatively spliced variants in addition to 12 832 previously annotated proteins. The searches of the existing tandem MS spectra data set using the AS database identified 29 new proteins encoded by 26 genes. Nine fungal genes appeared to have multiple protein isoforms. In addition to the discovery of splice variants, AS database also showed potential to improve genome annotation. In summary, the introduction of an alternative splicing database helps identify more proteins and unveils more information about a proteome.

  7. Modulation of splicing of the preceding intron by antisense oligonucleotide complementary to intra-exon sequence deleted in dystrophin Kobe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takeshima, Y.; Matuso, M.; Sakamoto, H.; Nishio, H. [Kobe Univ. School of Medicine and Science (Japan)

    1994-09-01

    Molecular analysis of dystrophin Kobe showed that exon 19 of the dystrophin gene bearing a 52 bp deletion was skipped during splicing, although the known consensus sequences at the 5{prime} and 3{prime} splice site of exon 19 were maintained. These data suggest that the deleted sequence of exon 19 may function as a cis-acting factor for exact splicing for the upstream intron. To investigate this potential role, an in vitro splicing system using dystrophin precursors was established. A two-exon precursor containing exon 18, truncated intron 18, and exon 19 was accurately spliced. However, splicing of intron 18 was dramatically inhibited when wild exon 19 was replaced with mutated exon 19. Even though the length of exon 19 was restored to normal by replacing the deleted sequence with other sequence, splicing of intron 18 was not fully reactivated. Characteristically, splicing of intron 18 was inactivated more markedly when the replaced sequence contained less polypurine stretches. These data suggested that modification of the exon sequence would result in a splicing abnormality. Antisense 31 mer 2`-O-methyl ribonucleotide was targeted against 5{prime} end of deleted region of exon 19 to modulate splicing of the mRNA precursor. Splicing of intron 18 was inhibited in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This is the first in vitro evidence to show splicing of dystrophin pre-mRNA can be managed by antisense oligonucleotides. These experiments represent an approach in which antisense oligonucleotides are used to restore the function of a defective dystrophin gene in Duchenne muscular dystrophy by inducing skipping of certain exons during splicing.

  8. Rhythmic Behavior Is Controlled by the SRm160 Splicing Factor in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckwith, Esteban J; Hernando, Carlos E; Polcowñuk, Sofía; Bertolin, Agustina P; Mancini, Estefania; Ceriani, M Fernanda; Yanovsky, Marcelo J

    2017-10-01

    Circadian clocks organize the metabolism, physiology, and behavior of organisms throughout the day-night cycle by controlling daily rhythms in gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. While many transcription factors underlying circadian oscillations are known, the splicing factors that modulate these rhythms remain largely unexplored. A genome-wide assessment of the alterations of gene expression in a null mutant of the alternative splicing regulator SR-related matrix protein of 160 kDa (SRm160) revealed the extent to which alternative splicing impacts on behavior-related genes. We show that SRm160 affects gene expression in pacemaker neurons of the Drosophila brain to ensure proper oscillations of the molecular clock. A reduced level of SRm160 in adult pacemaker neurons impairs circadian rhythms in locomotor behavior, and this phenotype is caused, at least in part, by a marked reduction in period ( per ) levels. Moreover, rhythmic accumulation of the neuropeptide PIGMENT DISPERSING FACTOR in the dorsal projections of these neurons is abolished after SRm160 depletion. The lack of rhythmicity in SRm160-downregulated flies is reversed by a fully spliced per construct, but not by an extra copy of the endogenous locus, showing that SRm160 positively regulates per levels in a splicing-dependent manner. Our findings highlight the significant effect of alternative splicing on the nervous system and particularly on brain function in an in vivo model. Copyright © 2017 by the Genetics Society of America.

  9. Electrical Resistance of Nb$_{3}$Sn/Cu Splices Produced by Electromagnetic Pulse Technology and Soft Soldering

    CERN Document Server

    Schoerling, D; Scheuerlein, C; Atieh, S; Schaefer, R

    2011-01-01

    The electrical interconnection of Nb$_{3}$Sn/Cu strands is a key issue for the construction of Nb$_{3}$Sn based damping ring wigglers and insertion devices for third generation light sources. We compare the electrical resistance of Nb$_{3}$Sn/Cu splices manufactured by solid state welding using Electromagnetic Pulse Technology (EMPT) with that of splices produced by soft soldering with two different solders. The resistance of splices produced by soft soldering depends strongly on the resistivity of the solder alloy at the operating temperature. By solid state welding splice resistances below 10 nOhm can be achieved with 1 cm strand overlap length only, which is about 4 times lower than the resistance of Sn96Ag4 soldered splices with the same overlap length. The comparison of experimental results with Finite Element simulations shows that the electrical resistance of EMPT welded splices is determined by the resistance of the stabilizing copper between the superconducting filaments and confirms that welding of ...

  10. A method of predicting changes in human gene splicing induced by genetic variants in context of cis-acting elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hicks Chindo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Polymorphic variants and mutations disrupting canonical splicing isoforms are among the leading causes of human hereditary disorders. While there is a substantial evidence of aberrant splicing causing Mendelian diseases, the implication of such events in multi-genic disorders is yet to be well understood. We have developed a new tool (SpliceScan II for predicting the effects of genetic variants on splicing and cis-regulatory elements. The novel Bayesian non-canonical 5'GC splice site (SS sensor used in our tool allows inference on non-canonical exons. Results Our tool performed favorably when compared with the existing methods in the context of genes linked to the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD. SpliceScan II was able to predict more aberrant splicing isoforms triggered by the mutations, as documented in DBASS5 and DBASS3 aberrant splicing databases, than other existing methods. Detrimental effects behind some of the polymorphic variations previously associated with Alzheimer's and breast cancer could be explained by changes in predicted splicing patterns. Conclusions We have developed SpliceScan II, an effective and sensitive tool for predicting the detrimental effects of genomic variants on splicing leading to Mendelian and complex hereditary disorders. The method could potentially be used to screen resequenced patient DNA to identify de novo mutations and polymorphic variants that could contribute to a genetic disorder.

  11. The conserved splicing factor SUA controls alternative splicing of the developmental regulator ABI3 in Arabidopsis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sugliani, M.; Brambilla, V.; Clerkx, E.J.M.; Koornneef, M.; Soppe, W.J.J.

    2010-01-01

    ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3) is a major regulator of seed maturation in Arabidopsis thaliana. We detected two ABI3 transcripts, ABI3- and ABI3-ß, which encode full-length and truncated proteins, respectively. Alternative splicing of ABI3 is developmentally regulated, and the ABI3-ß transcript

  12. Electroporation Enhanced Effect of Dystrophin Splice Switching PNA Oligomers in Normal and Dystrophic Muscle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjortkjær, Camilla Brolin; Shiraishi, Takehiko; Hojman, Pernille

    2015-01-01

    for improvement of in vivo cellular availability, we have investigated the effect of electrotransfer upon intramuscular (i.m.) PNA administration in vivo. Antisense PNA targeting exon 23 of the murine dystrophin gene was administered by i.m. injection to the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of normal NMRI......Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a synthetic DNA mimic that has shown potential for discovery of novel splice switching antisense drugs. However, in vivo cellular delivery has been a limiting factor for development, and only few successful studies have been reported. As a possible modality...... switching was detected at the RNA level up to 4 weeks after a single-dose treatment. In dystrophic muscles of the MDX mouse, electroporation increased the number of dystrophin-positive fibers about 2.5-fold at 2 weeks after a single PNA administration compared to injection only. In conclusion, we find...

  13. Alternative REST Splicing Underappreciated

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Guo-Lin; Miller, Gregory

    2017-01-01

    As a major orchestrator of the cellular epigenome, the repressor element-1 silencing transcription factor (REST) can either repress or activate thousands of genes depending on cellular context, suggesting a highly context-dependent REST function tuned by environmental cues. While REST shows cell-type non-selective active transcription, an N-terminal REST4 isoform caused by alternative splicing - inclusion of an extra exon (N3c) which introduces a pre-mature stop codon - has been implicated in...

  14. Characterization of TTN Novex Splicing Variants across Species and the Role of RBM20 in Novex-Specific Exon Splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhilong Chen

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Titin (TTN is a major disease-causing gene in cardiac muscle. Titin (TTN contains 363 exons in human encoding various sizes of TTN protein due to alternative splicing regulated mainly by RNA binding motif 20 (RBM20. Three isoforms of TTN protein are produced by mutually exclusive exons 45 (Novex 1, 46 (Novex 2, and 48 (Novex 3. Alternatively splicing in Novex isoforms across species and whether Novex isoforms are associated with heart disease remains completely unknown. Cross-species exon comparison with the mVISTA online tool revealed that exon 45 is more highly conserved across all species than exons 46 and 48. Importantly, a conserved region between exons 47 and 48 across species was revealed for the first time. Reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR and DNA sequencing confirmed a new exon named as 48′ in Novex 3. In addition, with primer pairs for Novex 1, a new truncated form preserving introns 44 and 45 was discovered. We discovered that Novex 2 is not expressed in the pig, mouse, and rat with Novex 2 primer pairs. Unexpectedly, three truncated forms were identified. One TTN variant with intron 46 retention is mainly expressed in the human and frog heart, another variant with co-expression of exons 45 and 46 exists predominantly in chicken and frog heart, and a third with retention of introns 45 and 46 is mainly expressed in pig, mouse, rat, and chicken. Using Rbm20 knockout rat heart, we revealed that RBM20 is not a splicing regulator of Novex variants. Furthermore, the expression levels of Novex variants in human hearts with cardiomyopathies suggested that Novexes 2 and 3 could be associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM and/or arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC. Taken together, our study reveals that splicing diversity of Novex exons across species and Novex variants might play a role in cardiomyopathy.

  15. Chinmo prevents transformer alternative splicing to maintain male sex identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grmai, Lydia; Hudry, Bruno; Miguel-Aliaga, Irene; Bach, Erika A

    2018-02-01

    Reproduction in sexually dimorphic animals relies on successful gamete production, executed by the germline and aided by somatic support cells. Somatic sex identity in Drosophila is instructed by sex-specific isoforms of the DMRT1 ortholog Doublesex (Dsx). Female-specific expression of Sex-lethal (Sxl) causes alternative splicing of transformer (tra) to the female isoform traF. In turn, TraF alternatively splices dsx to the female isoform dsxF. Loss of the transcriptional repressor Chinmo in male somatic stem cells (CySCs) of the testis causes them to "feminize", resembling female somatic stem cells in the ovary. This somatic sex transformation causes a collapse of germline differentiation and male infertility. We demonstrate this feminization occurs by transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of traF. We find that chinmo-deficient CySCs upregulate tra mRNA as well as transcripts encoding tra-splice factors Virilizer (Vir) and Female lethal (2)d (Fl(2)d). traF splicing in chinmo-deficient CySCs leads to the production of DsxF at the expense of the male isoform DsxM, and both TraF and DsxF are required for CySC sex transformation. Surprisingly, CySC feminization upon loss of chinmo does not require Sxl but does require Vir and Fl(2)d. Consistent with this, we show that both Vir and Fl(2)d are required for tra alternative splicing in the female somatic gonad. Our work reveals the need for transcriptional regulation of tra in adult male stem cells and highlights a previously unobserved Sxl-independent mechanism of traF production in vivo. In sum, transcriptional control of the sex determination hierarchy by Chinmo is critical for sex maintenance in sexually dimorphic tissues and is vital in the preservation of fertility.

  16. Chinmo prevents transformer alternative splicing to maintain male sex identity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lydia Grmai

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Reproduction in sexually dimorphic animals relies on successful gamete production, executed by the germline and aided by somatic support cells. Somatic sex identity in Drosophila is instructed by sex-specific isoforms of the DMRT1 ortholog Doublesex (Dsx. Female-specific expression of Sex-lethal (Sxl causes alternative splicing of transformer (tra to the female isoform traF. In turn, TraF alternatively splices dsx to the female isoform dsxF. Loss of the transcriptional repressor Chinmo in male somatic stem cells (CySCs of the testis causes them to "feminize", resembling female somatic stem cells in the ovary. This somatic sex transformation causes a collapse of germline differentiation and male infertility. We demonstrate this feminization occurs by transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of traF. We find that chinmo-deficient CySCs upregulate tra mRNA as well as transcripts encoding tra-splice factors Virilizer (Vir and Female lethal (2d (Fl(2d. traF splicing in chinmo-deficient CySCs leads to the production of DsxF at the expense of the male isoform DsxM, and both TraF and DsxF are required for CySC sex transformation. Surprisingly, CySC feminization upon loss of chinmo does not require Sxl but does require Vir and Fl(2d. Consistent with this, we show that both Vir and Fl(2d are required for tra alternative splicing in the female somatic gonad. Our work reveals the need for transcriptional regulation of tra in adult male stem cells and highlights a previously unobserved Sxl-independent mechanism of traF production in vivo. In sum, transcriptional control of the sex determination hierarchy by Chinmo is critical for sex maintenance in sexually dimorphic tissues and is vital in the preservation of fertility.

  17. NMR studies of two spliced leader RNAs using isotope labeling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lapham, J.; Crothers, D.M. [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

    1994-12-01

    Spliced leader RNAs are a class of RNA molecules (<200 nts) involved in the trans splicing of messenger RNA found in trypanosomes, nematodes, and other lower eukaryotes. The spliced leader RNA from the trypanosome Leptomonas Collosoma exists in two alternate structural forms with similar thermal stabilities. The 54 nucleotides on the 5{prime} end of the SL molecule is structurally independent from the 3{prime} half of the RNA, and displays the two structural forms. Furthermore, the favored of the two structures was shown to contain anomalous nuclease sensitivity and thermal stability features, which suggests that there may be tertiary interactions between the splice site and other nucleotides in the 5{prime} end. Multidimensional NMR studies are underway to elucidate the structural elements present in the SL RNAs that give rise to their physical properties. Two spliced leader sequences have been studied. The first, the 54 nucleotides on the 5{prime} end of the L. Collosoma sequence, was selected because of earlier studies in our laboratory. The second sequence is the 5{prime} end of the trypanosome Crithidia Fasciculata, which was chosen because of its greater sequence homology to other SL sequences. Given the complexity of the NMR spectra for RNA molecules of this size, we have incorporated {sup 15}N/{sup 13}C-labeled nucleotides into the RNA. One of the techniques we have developed to simplify the spectra of these RNA molecules is isotope labeling of specific regions of the RNA. This has been especially helpful in assigning the secondary structure of molecules that may be able to adopt multiple conformations. Using this technique one can examine a part of the molecule without spectral interference from the unlabeled portion. We hope this approach will promote an avenue for studying the structure of larger RNAs in their native surroundings.

  18. Specific heat of the Ising linear chain in a Random field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, P.R.; Sa Barreto, F.C. de

    1984-01-01

    Starting from correlation identities for the Ising model the effect of a random field on the one dimension version of the model is studied. Explicit results for the magnetization, the two-particle correlation function and the specific heat are obtained for an uncorrelated distribution of the random fields. (Author) [pt

  19. Building a Science Software Institute: Synthesizing the Lessons Learned from the ISEES and WSSI Software Institute Conceptualization Efforts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Idaszak, R.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Jones, M. B.; Ahalt, S.; Schildhauer, M.; Hampton, S. E.

    2014-12-01

    The NSF, in an effort to support the creation of sustainable science software, funded 16 science software institute conceptualization efforts. The goal of these conceptualization efforts is to explore approaches to creating the institutional, sociological, and physical infrastructures to support sustainable science software. This paper will present the lessons learned from two of these conceptualization efforts, the Institute for Sustainable Earth and Environmental Software (ISEES - http://isees.nceas.ucsb.edu) and the Water Science Software Institute (WSSI - http://waters2i2.org). ISEES is a multi-partner effort led by National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). WSSI, also a multi-partner effort, is led by the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). The two conceptualization efforts have been collaborating due to the complementarity of their approaches and given the potential synergies of their science focus. ISEES and WSSI have engaged in a number of activities to address the challenges of science software such as workshops, hackathons, and coding efforts. More recently, the two institutes have also collaborated on joint activities including training, proposals, and papers. In addition to presenting lessons learned, this paper will synthesize across the two efforts to project a unified vision for a science software institute.

  20. Algorithmic modeling of the irrelevant sound effect (ISE) by the hearing sensation fluctuation strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlittmeier, Sabine J; Weissgerber, Tobias; Kerber, Stefan; Fastl, Hugo; Hellbrück, Jürgen

    2012-01-01

    Background sounds, such as narration, music with prominent staccato passages, and office noise impair verbal short-term memory even when these sounds are irrelevant. This irrelevant sound effect (ISE) is evoked by so-called changing-state sounds that are characterized by a distinct temporal structure with varying successive auditory-perceptive tokens. However, because of the absence of an appropriate psychoacoustically based instrumental measure, the disturbing impact of a given speech or nonspeech sound could not be predicted until now, but necessitated behavioral testing. Our database for parametric modeling of the ISE included approximately 40 background sounds (e.g., speech, music, tone sequences, office noise, traffic noise) and corresponding performance data that was collected from 70 behavioral measurements of verbal short-term memory. The hearing sensation fluctuation strength was chosen to model the ISE and describes the percept of fluctuations when listening to slowly modulated sounds (f(mod) background sounds, the algorithm estimated behavioral performance data in 63 of 70 cases within the interquartile ranges. In particular, all real-world sounds were modeled adequately, whereas the algorithm overestimated the (non-)disturbance impact of synthetic steady-state sounds that were constituted by a repeated vowel or tone. Implications of the algorithm's strengths and prediction errors are discussed.

  1. Intergenic mRNA molecules resulting from trans-splicing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finta, Csaba; Zaphiropoulos, Peter G

    2002-02-22

    Accumulated recent evidence is indicating that alternative splicing represents a generalized process that increases the complexity of human gene expression. Here we show that mRNA production may not necessarily be limited to single genes, as human liver also has the potential to produce a variety of hybrid cytochrome P450 3A mRNA molecules. The four known cytochrome P450 3A genes in humans, CYP3A4, CYP3A5, CYP3A7, and CYP3A43, share a high degree of similarity, consist of 13 exons with conserved exon-intron boundaries, and form a cluster on chromosome 7. The chimeric CYP3A mRNA molecules described herein are characterized by CYP3A43 exon 1 joined at canonical splice sites to distinct sets of CYP3A4 or CYP3A5 exons. Because the CYP3A43 gene is in a head-to-head orientation with the CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 genes, bypassing transcriptional termination can not account for the formation of hybrid CYP3A mRNAs. Thus, the mechanism generating these molecules has to be an RNA processing event that joins exons of independent pre-mRNA molecules, i.e. trans-splicing. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, the ratio of one CYP3A43/3A4 intergenic combination was estimated to be approximately 0.15% that of the CYP3A43 mRNAs. Moreover, trans-splicing has been found not to interfere with polyadenylation. Heterologous expression of the chimeric species composed of CYP3A43 exon 1 joined to exons 2-13 of CYP3A4 revealed catalytic activity toward testosterone.

  2. Critical percolation in the slow cooling of the bi-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ricateau, Hugo; Cugliandolo, Leticia F.; Picco, Marco

    2018-01-01

    We study, with numerical methods, the fractal properties of the domain walls found in slow quenches of the kinetic Ising model to its critical temperature. We show that the equilibrium interfaces in the disordered phase have critical percolation fractal dimension over a wide range of length scales. We confirm that the system falls out of equilibrium at a temperature that depends on the cooling rate as predicted by the Kibble-Zurek argument and we prove that the dynamic growing length once the cooling reaches the critical point satisfies the same scaling. We determine the dynamic scaling properties of the interface winding angle variance and we show that the crossover between critical Ising and critical percolation properties is determined by the growing length reached when the system fell out of equilibrium.

  3. Influência dos investimentos ambientais e dos indicadores econômico-financeiros na seleção de empresas para compor o Índice De Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE = Influence of environmental investments and financial performance indicators to compose the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Beirão Tonolli

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available O objetivo geral do trabalho é verificar a influência dos investimentos ambientais e de indicadores econômico-financeiros na seleção das empresas para compor o Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE no ano de 2014. Com relação à metodologia, esta pesquisa é classificada como descritiva, e, explicativa quanto aos objetivos, com abordagem metodológica quantitativa e qualitativa. A coleta foi realizada por meio de dados secundários e, quanto aos procedimentos, é uma pesquisa documental. A amostra da pesquisa compreende 178 empresas elegíveis ao ISE do período de 2015, ano base 2014. Foram coletados os relatórios de sustentabilidade do ano de 2014 para identificar os investimentos ambientais. Do total de empresas, 95 apresentaram relatórios, sendo que 93 delas divulgaram investimentos ambientais de forma qualitativa e 49, quantitativa. A média dos investimentos ambientais totalizou R$ 158.028.447,36. A técnica estatística utilizada para verificar que variáveis influenciam na seleção de empresas para compor o ISE foi a regressão logística, tendo como variáveis explicativas: ativo total, rentabilidade do ativo, liquidez corrente, grau de endividamento, Novo Mercado, investimentos ambientais de forma qualitativa e quantitativa. Pela análise dos resultados, concluiu-se que tamanho, rentabilidade do ativo, grau de endividamento e investimento ambiental quantitativo influenciam as companhias a serem selecionadas para compor o ISE. A variável tamanho foi significativa ao nível de 1%, grau de endividamento e investimentos ambientais quantitativos ao nível de 5% e rentabilidade ao nível de 10%. This study aims to investigate the influence of environmental investments and financial performance indicators in 2014’s Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE. This research is classified as descriptive, with a quantitative and qualitative approach. It is a documentary research, based on procedures and sourced by secondary data. The

  4. Alanine repeats influence protein localization in splicing speckles and paraspeckles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shuo-Hsiu; Chang, Wei-Lun; Lu, Chia-Chen; Tarn, Woan-Yuh

    2014-12-16

    Mammalian splicing regulatory protein RNA-binding motif protein 4 (RBM4) has an alanine repeat-containing C-terminal domain (CAD) that confers both nuclear- and splicing speckle-targeting activities. Alanine-repeat expansion has pathological potential. Here we show that the alanine-repeat tracts influence the subnuclear targeting properties of the RBM4 CAD in cultured human cells. Notably, truncation of the alanine tracts redistributed a portion of RBM4 to paraspeckles. The alanine-deficient CAD was sufficient for paraspeckle targeting. On the other hand, alanine-repeat expansion reduced the mobility of RBM4 and impaired its splicing activity. We further took advantage of the putative coactivator activator (CoAA)-RBM4 conjoined splicing factor, CoAZ, to investigate the function of the CAD in subnuclear targeting. Transiently expressed CoAZ formed discrete nuclear foci that emerged and subsequently separated-fully or partially-from paraspeckles. Alanine-repeat expansion appeared to prevent CoAZ separation from paraspeckles, resulting in their complete colocalization. CoAZ foci were dynamic but, unlike paraspeckles, were resistant to RNase treatment. Our results indicate that the alanine-rich CAD, in conjunction with its conjoined RNA-binding domain(s), differentially influences the subnuclear localization and biogenesis of RBM4 and CoAZ. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  5. Splicing of a C. elegans myosin pre-mRNA in a human nuclear extract

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ogg, S C; Anderson, P; Wickens, M P [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison (USA)

    1990-01-11

    Splicing of mammalian introns requires that the intron possess at least 80 nucleotides. This length requirement presumably reflects the constraints of accommodating multiple snRNPs simultaneously in the same intro. In the free-living nematode, C. elegans, introns typically are 45 to 55 nucleotides in length. In this report, the authors determine whether C. elegans introns can obviate the mammalian length requirement by virtue of their structure or sequence. They demonstrate that a 53 nucleotide intron from the unc-54 gene of C. elegans does not undergo splicing in a mammalian (HeLa) nuclear extract. However, insertion of 31 nucleotides of foreign, prokaryotic sequence into the same intron results in efficient splicing. The observed splicing proceeds by the same two-step mechanism observed with mammalian introns, and exploits the same 3{prime} and 5{prime} sites as are used in C. elegans. The branch point used lies in the inserted sequences. They conclude that C. elegans splicing components are either fewer in number or smaller than their mammalian counterparts.

  6. Multiple Time Series Ising Model for Financial Market Simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takaishi, Tetsuya

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we propose an Ising model which simulates multiple financial time series. Our model introduces the interaction which couples to spins of other systems. Simulations from our model show that time series exhibit the volatility clustering that is often observed in the real financial markets. Furthermore we also find non-zero cross correlations between the volatilities from our model. Thus our model can simulate stock markets where volatilities of stocks are mutually correlated

  7. Phase transitions of a spin-one Ising ferromagnetic superlattice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saber, A.

    2001-09-01

    Using the effective field theory with a probability distribution technique, the magnetic properties in an infinite superlattice consisting of two different ferromagnets are studied in a spin-one Ising model. The dependence of the Curie temperatures are calculated as a function of two slabs in one period and as a function of the intra- and interlayer exchange interactions. A critical value of the exchange reduced interaction above which the interface magnetism appears is found. (author)

  8. Phase transitions of ferromagnetic Ising films with amorphous surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saber, M.; Ainane, A.; Dujardin, F.; Stebe, B.

    1997-08-01

    The critical behavior of a ferromagnetic Ising film with amorphous surfaces is studied within the framework of the effective field theory. The dependence of the critical temperature on exchange interaction strength ratio, film thickness, and structural fluctuation parameter is presented. It is found that an order-disorder magnetic transition occurs by varying the thickness of the film. Such a result is in agreement with experiments performed recently on Fe-films. (author). 39 refs, 4 figs

  9. Magnetic properties of Fe–Al for quenched diluted spin-1 Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Freitas, A.S. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 49100-000, São Cristovão, SE (Brazil); Coordenadoria de Física, Instituto Federal de Sergipe, 49400-000 Lagarto, SE (Brazil); Albuquerque, Douglas F. de, E-mail: douglas@ufs.br [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 49100-000, São Cristovão, SE (Brazil); Departamento de Matemática, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 49100-000, São Cristovão, SE (Brazil); Fittipaldi, I.P. [Representação Regional do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação no Nordeste - ReNE, 50740-540 Recife, PE (Brazil); Moreno, N.O. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 49100-000, São Cristovão, SE (Brazil)

    2014-08-01

    We study the phase diagram of Fe{sub 1−q}Al{sub q} alloys via the quenched site diluted spin-1 ferromagnetic Ising model by employing effective field theory. One suggests a new approach to exchange interaction between nearest neighbors of Fe that depends on the powers of the Al (q) instead of the linear dependence proposed in other papers. In such model we propose the same kind of the exchange interaction in which the iron–nickel alloys obtain an excellent theoretical description of the experimental data of the T–q phase diagram for all Al concentration q. - Highlights: • We apply the quenched Ising model spin-1 to study the properties of Fe–Al. • We employ the EFT and suggest a new approach to ferromagnetic coupling. • The new probability distribution is considered. • The phase diagram is obtained for all values of q in T–q plane.

  10. Magnetic properties of Fe–Al for quenched diluted spin-1 Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freitas, A.S.; Albuquerque, Douglas F. de; Fittipaldi, I.P.; Moreno, N.O.

    2014-01-01

    We study the phase diagram of Fe 1−q Al q alloys via the quenched site diluted spin-1 ferromagnetic Ising model by employing effective field theory. One suggests a new approach to exchange interaction between nearest neighbors of Fe that depends on the powers of the Al (q) instead of the linear dependence proposed in other papers. In such model we propose the same kind of the exchange interaction in which the iron–nickel alloys obtain an excellent theoretical description of the experimental data of the T–q phase diagram for all Al concentration q. - Highlights: • We apply the quenched Ising model spin-1 to study the properties of Fe–Al. • We employ the EFT and suggest a new approach to ferromagnetic coupling. • The new probability distribution is considered. • The phase diagram is obtained for all values of q in T–q plane

  11. Splicing analysis of 14 BRCA1 missense variants classifies nine variants as pathogenic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahlborn, Lise B; Dandanell, Mette; Steffensen, Ane Y

    2015-01-01

    by functional analysis at the protein level. Results from a validated mini-gene splicing assay indicated that nine BRCA1 variants resulted in splicing aberrations leading to truncated transcripts and thus can be considered pathogenic (c.4987A>T/p.Met1663Leu, c.4988T>A/p.Met1663Lys, c.5072C>T/p.Thr1691Ile, c......Pathogenic germline mutations in the BRCA1 gene predispose carriers to early onset breast and ovarian cancer. Clinical genetic screening of BRCA1 often reveals variants with uncertain clinical significance, complicating patient and family management. Therefore, functional examinations are urgently...... needed to classify whether these uncertain variants are pathogenic or benign. In this study, we investigated 14 BRCA1 variants by in silico splicing analysis and mini-gene splicing assay. All 14 alterations were missense variants located within the BRCT domain of BRCA1 and had previously been examined...

  12. Benzo[a]pyrene treatment leads to changes in nuclear protein expression and alternative splicing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan Chunlan; Wu Wei [Department of Toxicology, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, 388 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058 (China); Li Haiyan [Department of Toxicology, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, 388 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058 (China); Huzhou Maternity and Child Care Hospital, Huzhou, Zhejiang 313000 (China); Zhang Guanglin [Department of Toxicology, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, 388 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058 (China); Duerksen-Hughes, Penelope J. [Department of Basic Sciences, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA 92354 (United States); Zhu Xinqiang, E-mail: zhuxq@zju.edu.cn [Department of Toxicology, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, 388 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058 (China); Yang Jun, E-mail: gastate@zju.edu.cn [Department of Toxicology, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, 388 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058 (China); Zhejiang-California International Nanosystems Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310029 (China)

    2010-04-01

    Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a potent pro-carcinogen generated from the combustion of fossil fuel and cigarette smoke. Previously, using a proteomic approach, we have shown that BaP can induce changes in the expression of many cellular proteins, including transcription regulators. In the present study, using a similar approach, we examined the nuclear protein response to BaP in HeLa cells and found that BaP treatment caused expression changes in many nuclear proteins. Twenty-four of these proteins were successfully identified, several of which are involved in the alternative splicing of mRNA, DNA replication, recombination, and repair. The changed expression levels were further confirmed by immunoblot analysis using specific antibodies for two proteins, Lamin A and mitotic checkpoint protein Bub3. The nuclear localization of these two proteins was also confirmed by confocal microscopy. To determine whether alternative splicing was activated following BaP treatment, we examined Fas and CD44, two genes previously shown to be targets of alternative splicing in respond to DNA damage. While no significant activation of alternative splicing was observed for Fas, CD44 splicing variants were found after BaP treatment. Together, these data show that DNA damage induces dramatic changes in nuclear protein expression, and that alternative splicing might be involved in the cellular response to DNA damage.

  13. Hepatitis B spliced protein (HBSP) promotes the carcinogenic effects of benzo [alpha] pyrene by interacting with microsomal epoxide hydrolase and enhancing its hydrolysis activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Jin-Yan; Chen, Wan-Nan; Jiao, Bo-Yan; Lin, Wan-Song; Wu, Yun-Li; Liu, Ling-Ling; Lin, Xu

    2014-01-01

    The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) increases in chronic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers who often have concomitant increase in the levels of benzo[alpha]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide(±) (BPDE)-DNA adduct in liver tissues, suggesting a possible co-carcinogenesis of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and benzo[alpha]pyrene in HCC; however the exact mechanisms involved are unclear. The interaction between hepatitis B spliced protein (HBSP) and microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEH) was confirmed using GST pull-down, co-immunoprecipitation and mammalian two-hybrid assay; the effects of HBSP on mEH-mediated B[alpha]P metabolism was examined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); and the influences of HBSP on B[alpha]P carcinogenicity were evaluated by bromodeoxyuridine cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth and tumor xenograft. HBSP could interact with mEH in vitro and in vivo, and this interaction was mediated by the N terminal 47 amino acid residues of HBSP. HBSP could greatly enhance the hydrolysis activity of mEH in cell-free mouse liver microsomes, thus accelerating the metabolism of benzo[alpha]pyrene to produce more ultimate carcinnogen, BPDE, and this effect of HBSP requires the intact HBSP molecule. Expression of HBSP significantly increased the formation of BPDE-DNA adduct in benzo[alpha]pyrene-treated Huh-7 hepatoma cells, and this enhancement was blocked by knockdown of mEH. HBSP could enhance the cell proliferation, accelerate the G1/S transition, and promote cell transformation and tumorigenesis of B[alpha]P-treated Huh-7 hepatoma cells. Our results demonstrated that HBSP could promote carcinogenic effects of B[alpha]P by interacting with mEH and enhancing its hydrolysis activity

  14. Strengths and weaknesses of EST-based prediction of tissue-specific alternative splicing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vingron Martin

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Alternative splicing contributes significantly to the complexity of the human transcriptome and proteome. Computational prediction of alternative splice isoforms are usually based on EST sequences that also allow to approximate the expression pattern of the related transcripts. However, the limited number of tissues represented in the EST data as well as the different cDNA construction protocols may influence the predictive capacity of ESTs to unravel tissue-specifically expressed transcripts. Methods We predict tissue and tumor specific splice isoforms based on the genomic mapping (SpliceNest of the EST consensus sequences and library annotation provided in the GeneNest database. We further ascertain the potentially rare tissue specific transcripts as the ones represented only by ESTs derived from normalized libraries. A subset of the predicted tissue and tumor specific isoforms are then validated via RT-PCR experiments over a spectrum of 40 tissue types. Results Our strategy revealed 427 genes with at least one tissue specific transcript as well as 1120 genes showing tumor specific isoforms. While our experimental evaluation of computationally predicted tissue-specific isoforms revealed a high success rate in confirming the expression of these isoforms in the respective tissue, the strategy frequently failed to detect the expected restricted expression pattern. The analysis of putative lowly expressed transcripts using normalized cDNA libraries suggests that our ability to detect tissue-specific isoforms strongly depends on the expression level of the respective transcript as well as on the sensitivity of the experimental methods. Especially splice isoforms predicted to be disease-specific tend to represent transcripts that are expressed in a set of healthy tissues rather than novel isoforms. Conclusions We propose to combine the computational prediction of alternative splice isoforms with experimental validation for

  15. CIR, a corepressor of CBF1, binds to PAP-1 and effects alternative splicing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maita, Hiroshi; Kitaura, Hirotake; Ariga, Hiroyoshi; Iguchi-Ariga, Sanae M.M.

    2005-01-01

    We have reported that PAP-1, a product of a causative gene for autosomal retinitis pigmentosa, plays a role in splicing. In this study, CIR, a protein originally identified as a CBF1-interacting protein and reported to act as a transcriptional corepressor, was identified as a PAP-1 binding protein and its function as a splicing factor was investigated. In addition to a basic lysine and acidic serine-rich (BA) domain and a zinc knuckle-like motif, CIR has an arginine/serine dipeptide repeat (RS) domain in its C terminal region. The RS domain has been reported to be present in the superfamily of SR proteins, which are involved in splicing reactions. We generated CIR mutants with deletions of each BA and RS domain and studied their subcellular localizations and interactions with PAP-1 and other SR proteins, including SC35, SF2/ASF, and U2AF 35 . CIR was found to interact with U2AF 35 through the BA domain, with SC35 and SF2/ASF through the RS domain, and with PAP-1 outside the BA domain in vivo and in vitro. CIR was found to be colocalized with SC35 and PAP-1 in nuclear speckles. Then the effect of CIR on splicing was investigated using the E1a minigene as a reporter in HeLa cells. Ectopic expression of CIR with the E1a minigene changed the ratio of spliced isoforms of E1a that were produced by alternative selection of 5'-splice sites. These results indicate that CIR is a member of the family of SR-related proteins and that CIR plays a role in splicing regulation

  16. Role of an SNP in Alternative Splicing of Bovine NCF4 and Mastitis Susceptibility.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhihua Ju

    Full Text Available Neutrophil cytosolic factor 4 (NCF4 is component of the nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate oxidase complex, a key factor in biochemical pathways and innate immune responses. In this study, splice variants and functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP of NCF4 were identified to determine the variability and association of the gene with susceptibility to bovine mastitis characterized by inflammation. A novel splice variant, designated as NCF4-TV and characterized by the retention of a 48 bp sequence in intron 9, was detected in the mammary gland tissues of infected cows. The expression of the NCF4-reference main transcript in the mastitic mammary tissues was higher than that in normal tissues. A novel SNP, g.18174 A>G, was also found in the retained 48 bp region of intron 9. To determine whether NCF4-TV could be due to the g.18174 A>G mutation, we constructed two mini-gene expression vectors with the wild-type or mutant NCF4 g.18174 A>G fragment. The vectors were then transiently transfected into 293T cells, and alternative splicing of NCF4 was analyzed by reverse transcription-PCR and sequencing. Mini-gene splicing assay demonstrated that the aberrantly spliced NCF4-TV with 48 bp retained fragment in intron 9 could be due to g.18174 A>G, which was associated with milk somatic count score and increased risk of mastitis infection in cows. NCF4 expression was also regulated by alternative splicing. This study proposes that NCF4 splice variants generated by functional SNP are important risk factors for mastitis susceptibility in dairy cows.

  17. Nd:YAG-laser-based time-domain reflectometry measurements of the intrinsic reflection signature from PMMA fiber splices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawson, Christopher M.; Michael, Robert R., Jr.; Dressel, Earl M.; Harmony, David W.

    1991-12-01

    Optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) measurements have been performed on polished polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plastic fiber splices. After the dominant splice reflection sources due to surface roughness, inexact index matching, and fiber core misalignment were eliminated, an intrinsic OTDR signature 3 - 8 dB above the Rayleigh backscatter floor remained with all tested fibers. This minimum splice reflectivity exhibits characteristics that are consistent with sub-surface polymer damage and can be used for detection of PMMA fiber splices.

  18. Chemotherapy induces alternative transcription and splicing: Facts and hopes for cancer treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Charles A; Garbacki, Nancy; Colige, Alain C

    2017-10-01

    Alternative promoter usage, alternative splicing and alternative cleavage/polyadenylation (referred here as to alternative transcription and splicing) are main instruments to diversify the transcriptome from a limited set of genes. There is a good deal of evidence that chemotherapeutic drugs affect these processes, but the therapeutic incidence of these effects is poorly documented. The scope of this study is to review the impact of chemotherapy on alternative transcription and splicing and to discuss potential implications in cancer therapy. A literature survey identified >2200 events induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. The molecular pathways involved in these regulations are briefly discussed. The GO terms associated with the alternative transcripts are mainly related to cell cycle/division, mRNA processing, DNA repair, macromolecules catabolism and chromatin. A large fraction (43%) of transcripts are also related to the new hallmarks of cancer, mostly genetic instability and replicative immortality. Finally, we ask the question of the impact of alternative transcription and splicing on drug efficacy and of the possible curative benefit of combining chemotherapy and pharmaceutical regulation of this process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Lariat sequencing in a unicellular yeast identifies regulated alternative splicing of exons that are evolutionarily conserved with humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awan, Ali R; Manfredo, Amanda; Pleiss, Jeffrey A

    2013-07-30

    Alternative splicing is a potent regulator of gene expression that vastly increases proteomic diversity in multicellular eukaryotes and is associated with organismal complexity. Although alternative splicing is widespread in vertebrates, little is known about the evolutionary origins of this process, in part because of the absence of phylogenetically conserved events that cross major eukaryotic clades. Here we describe a lariat-sequencing approach, which offers high sensitivity for detecting splicing events, and its application to the unicellular fungus, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an organism that shares many of the hallmarks of alternative splicing in mammalian systems but for which no previous examples of exon-skipping had been demonstrated. Over 200 previously unannotated splicing events were identified, including examples of regulated alternative splicing. Remarkably, an evolutionary analysis of four of the exons identified here as subject to skipping in S. pombe reveals high sequence conservation and perfect length conservation with their homologs in scores of plants, animals, and fungi. Moreover, alternative splicing of two of these exons have been documented in multiple vertebrate organisms, making these the first demonstrations of identical alternative-splicing patterns in species that are separated by over 1 billion y of evolution.

  20. Diffusion MR imaging with PSIF and SPLICE. Experiences in phantom studies and the central nervous system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uchikoshi, Masato; Ueda, Takashi; Kaji, Yasushi

    2001-01-01

    Studies have shown that diffusion MR imaging is a reliable method for the diagnosis of central nervous system diseases, especially acute cerebral infarction. Although echo planar imaging (EPI) is a promising tool for that purpose, it is vulnerable to susceptibility artifacts that are responsible for image distortion or signal loss. Our purpose in this study was to evaluate the usefulness of diffusion MR imaging with PSIF (reversed fast imaging SSFP) and split acquisition of fast-spin-echo signals for diffusion imaging (SPLICE) in the central nervous system (CNS). First, PSIF and SPLICE were applied to the phantoms. Each phantom, including acetone, acetic acid, and water, was analyzed for apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) based on SPLICE and for diffusion-related coefficient (DRC) based on PSIF. The ADCs based on SPLICE were 4.36±0.89 x 10 -3 mm 2 /sec, 1.25±0.04 x 10 -3 mm 2 /sec, and 2.35±0.04 x 10 -3 mm 2 /sec, and the DRCs based on PSIF were 0.353±0.25, 0.178±0.07, and 0.273±0.018 for acetone, acetic acid, and water, respectively. These calculated ADCs based on SPLICE were well correlated with known diffusion coefficients, showing a correlation coefficient of 0.995. Second, PSIF and SPLICE were applied to the CNS. The advantage of PSIF and SPLICE was that susceptibility artifacts were reduced in the images of spinal cord and brain stem. PSIF was especially useful for diffusion MR imaging in the spinal cord. The disadvantage of SPLICE was the decreased SN ratio. We conclude that PSIF or SPLICE may be helpful when EPI diffusion MR imaging is insufficient. (author)

  1. TGFβ1-mediated expression and alternative splicing of Fibronectin Extra Domain A in human podocyte culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madne, Tarunkumar Hemraj; Dockrell, Mark Edward Carl

    2018-02-28

    Alternative splicing is a fundamental phenomenon to build protein diversity in health and diseases. Extra Domain A+ Fibronectin (EDA+Fn) is an alternatively spliced form of fibronectin protein present in the extra cellular matrix (ECM) in renal fibrosis. Podocytes are spectacular cell type and play a key role in filtration and synthesise ECM proteins in renal physiology and pathology. TGFβ1 is a strong stimulator of ECM proteins in renal injury. In this study, we have investigated alternative splicing of EDA+ Fn in human podocytes in response to TGFβ1. We have performed western blotting and immunofluorescence to characterise the expression of the EDA+Fn protein, real-time PCR for RNA expression and RT-PCR to look for alternative splicing of EDA+Fn in conditionally immortalised human podocytes culture.We used TGFβ1 as a stimulator and SB431542 and SRPIN340 for inhibitory studies. In this work, for the first time we have demonstrated in human podocytes culture EDA+Fn is expressed in the basal condition and TGFβ1 2.5ng/ml induced the Fn mRNA and EDA+Fn protein expression demonstrated by real-time PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence. TGFβ1 2.5ng/ml induced the alternative splicing of EDA+Fn shown by conventional RT-PCR. Studies with ALK5 inhibitor SB431542 and SRPIN340 show that TGFβ1 induced alternative splicing of EDA+Fn was by the ALK5 receptor and the SR proteins.  In human podocytes culture, alternative splicing of EDA+Fn occurs at basal conditions and TGFβ1 further induced the alternative splicing of EDA+Fn via ALK5 receptor activation and SR proteins. This is the first evidence of basal and TGFβ1 mediated alternative splicing of EDA+Fn in human podocytes culture.

  2. Aberrant Splicing of Estrogen Receptor, HER2, and CD44 Genes in Breast Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazushi Inoue

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Breast cancer (BC is the most common cause of cancer-related death among women under the age of 50 years. Established biomarkers, such as hormone receptors (estrogen receptor [ER]/progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2, play significant roles in the selection of patients for endocrine and trastuzumab therapies. However, the initial treatment response is often followed by tumor relapse with intrinsic resistance to the first-line therapy, so it has been expected to identify novel molecular markers to improve the survival and quality of life of patients. Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNAs is a ubiquitous and flexible mechanism for the control of gene expression in mammalian cells. It provides cells with the opportunity to create protein isoforms with different, even opposing, functions from a single genomic locus. Aberrant alternative splicing is very common in cancer where emerging tumor cells take advantage of this flexibility to produce proteins that promote cell growth and survival. While a number of splicing alterations have been reported in human cancers, we focus on aberrant splicing of ER , HER2 , and CD44 genes from the viewpoint of BC development. ERα36 , a splice variant from the ER1 locus, governs nongenomic membrane signaling pathways triggered by estrogen and confers 4-hydroxytamoxifen resistance in BC therapy. The alternative spliced isoform of HER2 lacking exon 20 (Δ16HER2 has been reported in human BC; this isoform is associated with transforming ability than the wild-type HER2 and recapitulates the phenotypes of endocrine therapy-resistant BC. Although both CD44 splice isoforms ( CD44s , CD44v play essential roles in BC development, CD44v is more associated with those with favorable prognosis, such as luminal A subtype, while CD44s is linked to those with poor prognosis, such as HER2 or basal cell subtypes that are often metastatic. Hence, the detection of splice variants from these loci

  3. Flocking with discrete symmetry: The two-dimensional active Ising model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solon, A P; Tailleur, J

    2015-10-01

    We study in detail the active Ising model, a stochastic lattice gas where collective motion emerges from the spontaneous breaking of a discrete symmetry. On a two-dimensional lattice, active particles undergo a diffusion biased in one of two possible directions (left and right) and align ferromagnetically their direction of motion, hence yielding a minimal flocking model with discrete rotational symmetry. We show that the transition to collective motion amounts in this model to a bona fide liquid-gas phase transition in the canonical ensemble. The phase diagram in the density-velocity parameter plane has a critical point at zero velocity which belongs to the Ising universality class. In the density-temperature "canonical" ensemble, the usual critical point of the equilibrium liquid-gas transition is sent to infinite density because the different symmetries between liquid and gas phases preclude a supercritical region. We build a continuum theory which reproduces qualitatively the behavior of the microscopic model. In particular, we predict analytically the shapes of the phase diagrams in the vicinity of the critical points, the binodal and spinodal densities at coexistence, and the speeds and shapes of the phase-separated profiles.

  4. Ising tricriticality in the extended Hubbard model with bond dimerization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fehske, Holger; Ejima, Satoshi; Lange, Florian; Essler, Fabian H. L.

    We explore the quantum phase transition between Peierls and charge-density-wave insulating states in the one-dimensional, half-filled, extended Hubbard model with explicit bond dimerization. We show that the critical line of the continuous Ising transition terminates at a tricritical point, belonging to the universality class of the tricritical Ising model with central charge c=7/10. Above this point, the quantum phase transition becomes first order. Employing a numerical matrix-product-state based (infinite) density-matrix renormalization group method we determine the ground-state phase diagram, the spin and two-particle charge excitations gaps, and the entanglement properties of the model with high precision. Performing a bosonization analysis we can derive a field description of the transition region in terms of a triple sine-Gordon model. This allows us to derive field theory predictions for the power-law (exponential) decay of the density-density (spin-spin) and bond-order-wave correlation functions, which are found to be in excellent agreement with our numerical results. This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), SFB 652, project B5, and by the EPSRC under Grant No. EP/N01930X/1 (FHLE).

  5. Osteopontin splice variants are differential predictors of breast cancer treatment responses

    OpenAIRE

    Zduniak, Krzysztof; Agrawal, Anil; Agrawal, Siddarth; Hossain, Md Monir; Ziolkowski, Piotr; Weber, Georg F.

    2016-01-01

    Background Osteopontin is a marker for breast cancer progression, which in previous studies has also been associated with resistance to certain anti-cancer therapies. It is not known which splice variants may mediate treatment resistance. Methods Here we analyze the association of osteopontin variant expression before treatment, differentiated according to immunohistochemistry with antibodies to exon 4 and to the osteopontin-c splice junction respectively, with the ensuing therapy responses i...

  6. Functional characterization of the spf/ash splicing variation in OTC deficiency of mice and man.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Rivera-Barahona

    Full Text Available The spf/ash mouse model of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC deficiency, a severe urea cycle disorder, is caused by a mutation (c.386G>A; p.R129H in the last nucleotide of exon 4 of the Otc gene, affecting the 5' splice site and resulting in partial use of a cryptic splice site 48 bp into the adjacent intron. The equivalent nucleotide change and predicted amino acid change is found in OTC deficient patients. Here we have used liver tissue and minigene assays to dissect the transcriptional profile resulting from the "spf/ash" mutation in mice and man. For the mutant mouse, we confirmed liver transcripts corresponding to partial intron 4 retention by the use of the c.386+48 cryptic site and to normally spliced transcripts, with exon 4 always containing the c.386G>A (p.R129H variant. In contrast, the OTC patient exhibited exon 4 skipping or c.386G>A (p.R129H-variant exon 4 retention by using the natural or a cryptic splice site at nucleotide position c.386+4. The corresponding OTC tissue enzyme activities were between 3-6% of normal control in mouse and human liver. The use of the cryptic splice sites was reproduced in minigenes carrying murine or human mutant sequences. Some normally spliced transcripts could be detected in minigenes in both cases. Antisense oligonucleotides designed to block the murine cryptic +48 site were used in minigenes in an attempt to redirect splicing to the natural site. The results highlight the relevance of in depth investigations of the molecular mechanisms of splicing mutations and potential therapeutic approaches. Notably, they emphasize the fact that findings in animal models may not be applicable for human patients due to the different genomic context of the mutations.

  7. Monte Carlo technique for very large ising models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalle, C.; Winkelmann, V.

    1982-08-01

    Rebbi's multispin coding technique is improved and applied to the kinetic Ising model with size 600*600*600. We give the central part of our computer program (for a CDC Cyber 76), which will be helpful also in a simulation of smaller systems, and describe the other tricks necessary to go to large lattices. The magnetization M at T=1.4* T c is found to decay asymptotically as exp(-t/2.90) if t is measured in Monte Carlo steps per spin, and M( t = 0) = 1 initially.

  8. Wind power: Italian auto-production legislation (ISES convention)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mari, G.

    1991-01-01

    With reference to what was discussed at the Bologna (Italy) June 1991 ISES (International Solar Energy Society) convention on wind energy, this paper summarizes the Italian legislative framework relative to on-site power generation and outlines the National Energy Plan objectives regarding the promotion of the use, by industry, of renewable energy sources. Brief notes are also provided on wind energy promotional activities being carried out by ENEL (the Italian National Energy Board), ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment), and EWEA (the European Wind Energy Association)

  9. Ising model of financial markets with many assets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckrot, A.; Jurczyk, J.; Morgenstern, I.

    2016-11-01

    Many models of financial markets exist, but most of them simulate single asset markets. We study a multi asset Ising model of a financial market. Each agent has two possible actions (buy/sell) for every asset. The agents dynamically adjust their coupling coefficients according to past market returns and external news. This leads to fat tails and volatility clustering independent of the number of assets. We find that a separation of news into different channels leads to sector structures in the cross correlations, similar to those found in real markets.

  10. Quenched bond-dilute Ising ferromagnet in square lattice: thermodynamical properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honmura, R.; Sarmento, E.F.; Tsallis, C.

    1982-01-01

    Within an effective field framework which improves the Molecular Field Approximation, the phase diagram, magnetization, specific heat and susceptibility associated with the quenched bond-dilute Ising ferromagnet in square lattice is calculated. The results are qualitatively (and within certain extent quantitatively) satisfactory; in particular the effects, on the specific heat and susceptibility, of the (eventually) coexisting finite and infinite clusters are exhibited. (Author) [pt

  11. Performance evaluation of coherent Ising machines against classical neural networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haribara, Yoshitaka; Ishikawa, Hitoshi; Utsunomiya, Shoko; Aihara, Kazuyuki; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

    2017-12-01

    The coherent Ising machine is expected to find a near-optimal solution in various combinatorial optimization problems, which has been experimentally confirmed with optical parametric oscillators and a field programmable gate array circuit. The similar mathematical models were proposed three decades ago by Hopfield et al in the context of classical neural networks. In this article, we compare the computational performance of both models.

  12. Regulation of Neurexin 1[beta] Tertiary Structure and Ligand Binding through Alternative Splicing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen, Kaiser C.; Kuczynska, Dorota A.; Wu, Irene J.; Murray, Beverly H.; Sheckler, Lauren R.; Rudenko, Gabby (Michigan)

    2008-08-04

    Neurexins and neuroligins play an essential role in synapse function, and their alterations are linked to autistic spectrum disorder. Interactions between neurexins and neuroligins regulate inhibitory and excitatory synaptogenesis in vitro through a splice-insert signaling code. In particular, neurexin 1{beta} carrying an alternative splice insert at site SS{number_sign}4 interacts with neuroligin 2 (found predominantly at inhibitory synapses) but much less so with other neuroligins (those carrying an insert at site B and prevalent at excitatory synapses). The structure of neurexin 1{beta}+SS{number_sign}4 reveals dramatic rearrangements to the 'hypervariable surface', the binding site for neuroligins. The splice insert protrudes as a long helix into space, triggers conversion of loop {beta}10-{beta}11 into a helix rearranging the binding site for neuroligins, and rearranges the Ca{sup 2+}-binding site required for ligand binding, increasing its affinity. Our structures reveal the mechanism by which neurexin 1{beta} isoforms acquire neuroligin splice isoform selectivity.

  13. A high quality Arabidopsis transcriptome for accurate transcript-level analysis of alternative splicing

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Runxuan

    2017-04-05

    Alternative splicing generates multiple transcript and protein isoforms from the same gene and thus is important in gene expression regulation. To date, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is the standard method for quantifying changes in alternative splicing on a genome-wide scale. Understanding the current limitations of RNA-seq is crucial for reliable analysis and the lack of high quality, comprehensive transcriptomes for most species, including model organisms such as Arabidopsis, is a major constraint in accurate quantification of transcript isoforms. To address this, we designed a novel pipeline with stringent filters and assembled a comprehensive Reference Transcript Dataset for Arabidopsis (AtRTD2) containing 82,190 non-redundant transcripts from 34 212 genes. Extensive experimental validation showed that AtRTD2 and its modified version, AtRTD2-QUASI, for use in Quantification of Alternatively Spliced Isoforms, outperform other available transcriptomes in RNA-seq analysis. This strategy can be implemented in other species to build a pipeline for transcript-level expression and alternative splicing analyses.

  14. Dynamic ASXL1 Exon Skipping and Alternative Circular Splicing in Single Human Cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Winston Koh

    Full Text Available Circular RNAs comprise a poorly understood new class of noncoding RNA. In this study, we used a combination of targeted deletion, high-resolution splicing detection, and single-cell sequencing to deeply probe ASXL1 circular splicing. We found that efficient circular splicing required the canonical transcriptional start site and inverted AluSx elements. Sequencing-based interrogation of isoforms after ASXL1 overexpression identified promiscuous linear splicing between all exons, with the two most abundant non-canonical linear products skipping the exons that produced the circular isoforms. Single-cell sequencing revealed a strong preference for either the linear or circular ASXL1 isoforms in each cell, and found the predominant exon skipping product is frequently co-expressed with its reciprocal circular isoform. Finally, absolute quantification of ASXL1 isoforms confirmed our findings and suggests that standard methods overestimate circRNA abundance. Taken together, these data reveal a dynamic new view of circRNA genesis, providing additional framework for studying their roles in cellular biology.

  15. DORT and TORT workshop -- Outline for presentation for splicing with TORSED and TORSET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnett, A.

    1998-04-01

    This paper addresses the problem of solving a problem which is larger than can be accommodated by the computer system at your disposal. This can result from two constrains: (1) The available memory of the machine is too small to contain the problem. (2) Individual files may be too large to store on-line. It also addresses the problem of what to do when you want to alter only a subset of a solution space of a larger problem and don't want to rerun the entire problem. These problems can be solved by splicing with TORSED AND TORSET. If the basic shape of your problem is cylindrical and azimuthally uniform, with only a small region of three-dimensionality, then the best splicing method is the TORSED -- DORT to TORT splice. However, if there is no part of the problem which is azimuthally constant, then one might want to consider a TORT to TORT splice. Both methods are discussed here

  16. A high quality Arabidopsis transcriptome for accurate transcript-level analysis of alternative splicing

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Runxuan; Calixto, Cristiane  P.  G.; Marquez, Yamile; Venhuizen, Peter; Tzioutziou, Nikoleta A.; Guo, Wenbin; Spensley, Mark; Entizne, Juan Carlos; Lewandowska, Dominika; ten  Have, Sara; Frei  dit  Frey, Nicolas; Hirt, Heribert; James, Allan B.; Nimmo, Hugh G.; Barta, Andrea; Kalyna, Maria; Brown, John  W.  S.

    2017-01-01

    Alternative splicing generates multiple transcript and protein isoforms from the same gene and thus is important in gene expression regulation. To date, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is the standard method for quantifying changes in alternative splicing on a genome-wide scale. Understanding the current limitations of RNA-seq is crucial for reliable analysis and the lack of high quality, comprehensive transcriptomes for most species, including model organisms such as Arabidopsis, is a major constraint in accurate quantification of transcript isoforms. To address this, we designed a novel pipeline with stringent filters and assembled a comprehensive Reference Transcript Dataset for Arabidopsis (AtRTD2) containing 82,190 non-redundant transcripts from 34 212 genes. Extensive experimental validation showed that AtRTD2 and its modified version, AtRTD2-QUASI, for use in Quantification of Alternatively Spliced Isoforms, outperform other available transcriptomes in RNA-seq analysis. This strategy can be implemented in other species to build a pipeline for transcript-level expression and alternative splicing analyses.

  17. Alternative splicing and extensive RNA editing of human TPH2 transcripts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maik Grohmann

    Full Text Available Brain serotonin (5-HT neurotransmission plays a key role in the regulation of mood and has been implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions. Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of 5-HT. Recently, we discovered a second TPH isoform (TPH2 in vertebrates, including man, which is predominantly expressed in brain, while the previously known TPH isoform (TPH1 is primarly a non-neuronal enzyme. Overwhelming evidence now points to TPH2 as a candidate gene for 5-HT-related psychiatric disorders. To assess the role of TPH2 gene variability in the etiology of psychiatric diseases we performed cDNA sequence analysis of TPH2 transcripts from human post mortem amygdala samples obtained from individuals with psychiatric disorders (drug abuse, schizophrenia, suicide and controls. Here we show that TPH2 exists in two alternatively spliced variants in the coding region, denoted TPH2a and TPH2b. Moreover, we found evidence that the pre-mRNAs of both splice variants are dynamically RNA-edited in a mutually exclusive manner. Kinetic studies with cell lines expressing recombinant TPH2 variants revealed a higher activity of the novel TPH2B protein compared with the previously known TPH2A, whereas RNA editing was shown to inhibit the enzymatic activity of both TPH2 splice variants. Therefore, our results strongly suggest a complex fine-tuning of central nervous system 5-HT biosynthesis by TPH2 alternative splicing and RNA editing. Finally, we present molecular and large-scale linkage data evidencing that deregulated alternative splicing and RNA editing is involved in the etiology of psychiatric diseases, such as suicidal behaviour.

  18. Examining the intersection between splicing, nuclear export and small RNA pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nabih, Amena; Sobotka, Julia A; Wu, Monica Z; Wedeles, Christopher J; Claycomb, Julie M

    2017-11-01

    Nuclear Argonaute/small RNA pathways in a variety of eukaryotic species are generally known to regulate gene expression via chromatin modulation and transcription attenuation in a process known as transcriptional gene silencing (TGS). However, recent data, including genetic screens, phylogenetic profiling, and molecular mechanistic studies, also point to a novel and emerging intersection between the splicing and nuclear export machinery with nuclear Argonaute/small RNA pathways in many organisms. In this review, we summarize the field's current understanding regarding the relationship between splicing, export and small RNA pathways, and consider the biological implications for coordinated regulation of transcripts by these pathways. We also address the importance and available approaches for understanding the RNA regulatory logic generated by the intersection of these particular pathways in the context of synthetic biology. The interactions between various eukaryotic RNA regulatory pathways, particularly splicing, nuclear export and small RNA pathways provide a type of combinatorial code that informs the identity ("self" versus "non-self") and dictates the fate of each transcript in a cell. Although the molecular mechanisms for how splicing and nuclear export impact small RNA pathways are not entirely clear at this early stage, the links between these pathways are widespread across eukaryotic phyla. The link between splicing, nuclear export, and small RNA pathways is emerging and establishes a new frontier for understanding the combinatorial logic of gene regulation across species that could someday be harnessed for therapeutic, biotechnology and agricultural applications. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Biochemistry of Synthetic Biology - Recent Developments" Guest Editor: Dr. Ilka Heinemann and Dr. Patrick O'Donoghue. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Alternative splicing originates different domain structure organization of Lutzomyia longipalpis chitinases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortigão-Farias, João Ramalho; Di-Blasi, Tatiana; Telleria, Erich Loza; Andorinho, Ana Carolina; Lemos-Silva, Thais; Ramalho-Ortigão, Marcelo; Tempone, Antônio Jorge; Traub-Csekö, Yara Maria

    2018-02-01

    BACKGROUND The insect chitinase gene family is composed by more than 10 paralogs, which can codify proteins with different domain structures. In Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil, a chitinase cDNA from adult female insects was previously characterized. The predicted protein contains one catalytic domain and one chitin-binding domain (CBD). The expression of this gene coincided with the end of blood digestion indicating a putative role in peritrophic matrix degradation. OBJECTIVES To determine the occurrence of alternative splicing in chitinases of L. longipalpis. METHODS We sequenced the LlChit1 gene from a genomic clone and the three spliced forms obtained by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using larvae cDNA. FINDINGS We showed that LlChit1 from L. longipalpis immature forms undergoes alternative splicing. The spliced form corresponding to the adult cDNA was named LlChit1A and the two larvae specific transcripts were named LlChit1B and LlChit1C. The B and C forms possess stop codons interrupting the translation of the CBD. The A form is present in adult females post blood meal, L4 larvae and pre-pupae, while the other two forms are present only in L4 larvae and disappear just before pupation. Two bands of the expected size were identified by Western blot only in L4 larvae. MAIN CONCLUSIONS We show for the first time alternative splicing generating chitinases with different domain structures increasing our understanding on the finely regulated digestion physiology and shedding light on a potential target for controlling L. longipalpis larval development.

  20. regSNPs-splicing: a tool for prioritizing synonymous single-nucleotide substitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xinjun; Li, Meng; Lin, Hai; Rao, Xi; Feng, Weixing; Yang, Yuedong; Mort, Matthew; Cooper, David N; Wang, Yue; Wang, Yadong; Wells, Clark; Zhou, Yaoqi; Liu, Yunlong

    2017-09-01

    While synonymous single-nucleotide variants (sSNVs) have largely been unstudied, since they do not alter protein sequence, mounting evidence suggests that they may affect RNA conformation, splicing, and the stability of nascent-mRNAs to promote various diseases. Accurately prioritizing deleterious sSNVs from a pool of neutral ones can significantly improve our ability of selecting functional genetic variants identified from various genome-sequencing projects, and, therefore, advance our understanding of disease etiology. In this study, we develop a computational algorithm to prioritize sSNVs based on their impact on mRNA splicing and protein function. In addition to genomic features that potentially affect splicing regulation, our proposed algorithm also includes dozens structural features that characterize the functions of alternatively spliced exons on protein function. Our systematical evaluation on thousands of sSNVs suggests that several structural features, including intrinsic disorder protein scores, solvent accessible surface areas, protein secondary structures, and known and predicted protein family domains, show significant differences between disease-causing and neutral sSNVs. Our result suggests that the protein structure features offer an added dimension of information while distinguishing disease-causing and neutral synonymous variants. The inclusion of structural features increases the predictive accuracy for functional sSNV prioritization.