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The importance and role of reverse transcriptases in gene expression analysis
Žucha, Daniel ; Valihrach, Lukáš (advisor) ; Španielová, Hana (referee)
The continuously advancing field of gene expression analysis enables the evaluation of even the slightest changes that occur in the cell transcriptome. In order to ensure accuracy of the observed biological variances, it is fundamentally important to be aware of the possible biases introduced during sample processing. In gene expression research, the methods of reverse transcription−quantitative PCR (RT−qPCR) and RNA- Sequencing (RNA-Seq) are often the primary choice, mostly because of their high precision and reproducibility. Since these both methods require DNA template, they are coupled with the same initial step - reverse transcription (RT), a reaction producing DNA complementary to its RNA template. It is well known that RT introduces bias. As a result, it is therefore of importance to thoroughly evaluate the effects of these biases. One such annotated source of artifacts is the reverse transcriptase (RTase) itself. However, it has been shown that the enzyme does not account for most of the variance alone. Surprisingly, choice of primers or RNA template may influence the reaction outcome even more than the bias introduced from the enzyme. This is especially the case with recent advances in protein engineering. Production of highly efficient RTases may pronounce the variation originating from...
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Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 and its role in plant translation regulation
Raabe, Karel ; Michailidis, Christos (advisor) ; Retzer, Katarzyna (referee)
After transcription, mRNA translation is another highly regulated process in gene expression. In plants, translation regulation plays an important role during progamic phase, fertilization and seed development, where synthesized transcripts are stored and selectively translated later in development. Translation regulation is also broadly used in stress responses as a fast and flexible tool to change gene expression; therefore, it plays an essential role in the survival strategy of sessile organisms like plants. Both regulation of the global translational rate as well as selective regulation of specific transcripts modulate the final gene expression response. Most of the regulatory mechanisms are concentrated in the stage of initiation, which is facilitated by several translation initiation factors. Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 (eIF3) is the largest and most complex of these factors, consisting of 12 conserved subunits. Its key function in the initiation is to scaffold the formation of the translation initiation complex and in the scanning mechanism accuracy. In past decades, additional eIF3 functions were discovered acting upon the whole translation cycle, including its importance in global and specific translation regulation. The aim of this work is to review eIF3 functions and to...
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Study of dysregulation of DLX1 protein in myeloid leukemia cells in in vitro and in vivo models
Jelínková, Alena ; Starková, Júlia (advisor) ; Čuřík, Nikola (referee)
The heterogeneous nature of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) worsens the results of patients treated with standard therapy. Understanding the processes of leukemogenesis can contribute to identification of more appropriate treatment. Family of DLX genes (Distal-less homeobox), belonging to the homeobox genes, are associated with haematological malignancies and solid tumors. In the analysis of expression data, the low level of the DLX1 gene was associated with a worse prognosis of patients with AML. In this work we studied phenotypic changes of cell lines with different expression of the DLX1 gene. We silenced the DLX1 gene in AML cell line (sh cells) and compared it to the parental line with higher expression of DLX1 (NSC cells). By cell cycle analysis and apoptosis assays in vitro and in vivo, we have observed the arrest of sh cells in the G0 phase and a lower number of apoptotic cells. Differences were found when measuring the absolute number of cells in time. In in vitro conditions there were less sh cells, in in vivo environment there was significantly higher number of sh cells engrafted in comparison to NSC cells. Further results have shown that sh cells have lower levels of pro-apoptotic proteins and exhibit a higher level of TGF-β targeting PAI-1 gene that activates replicative senescence. We...
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Physiological basis of extended longevity in termite kings and queens - is activation of telomerase mechanism linked with extended longevity of termites?
Pangrácová, Marie ; Hanus, Robert (advisor) ; Kodrík, Dalibor (referee)
- Extended longevity and high fecundity are two phenomena typical for reproductive castes (queens, eventually kings) of eusocial insects. In my thesis, we explore the hypothesis that the longevity of reproductives in the termite Prorhinotermes simplex is linked with the activation of the telomerase enzyme complex. Telomerase is well known for its life-extension functions, due especially to its capacity to prolong the telomeric ends of chromosomes. Therefore, we studied here the gene expression of: (1) the gene TERT coding for the catalytic subunit of the telomerase and (2) the genes of the main endocrine regulatory pathways, known to be responsible for the control of reproduction and longevity in insects. Expression dynamics of these genes were measured in sterile and reproductive castes of P. simplex during their development and sexual maturation. Based on our results obtained from the TERT expression analyses and their comparison with telomerase enzyme activities, we assume that the telomerase action in the long-lived reproductive individuals is regulated at a post-transcription level. Furthermore, we observed in reproductive castes a simultaneous upregulation of some transcription variants of vitellogenin and the genes for insulin signalling pathways. We can, therefore, conclude that in...
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Epigenetic factors CTCF a SMARCA5 control expression of hematopoietic transcription factor SPI1 in cells of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.
Dluhošová, Martina ; Stopka, Tomáš (advisor) ; Machová Poláková, Kateřina (referee) ; Kozák, Tomáš (referee)
CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) can both activate as well as inhibit transcription by forming chromatin loops between regulatory regions and promoters. In this regard, Ctcf binding on the non-methylated DNA and its interaction with the Cohesin complex results in differential regulation of the H19/Igf2 locus. Similarly, a role for CTCF has been established in normal hematopoietic development; however its involvement, despite mutations in CTCF and Cohesin complex were identified in leukemia, remains elusive. CTCF regulates transcription dependently on DNA methylation status and can if bound block interactions of enhancers and promoters. Here, we show that in hematopietic cells CTCF binds to the imprinting control region of H19/Igf2 and found that chromatin remodeller Smarca5, which also associates with the Cohesin complex, facilitates Ctcf binding and regulatory effects. Furthermore, Smarca5 supports CTCF functionally and is needed for enhancer-blocking effect at imprinting control region. We identified new CTCF-recognized locus near hematopoietic regulator SPI1 (PU.1) in normally differentiating myeloid cells together with members of the Cohesin complex. Due to DNA methylation, CTCF binding to the SPI1 gene is reduced in AML blasts and this effect was reversible by DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacitidine.
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The effect of 6S-like RNAs on physiological differentiation of Streptomyces coelicolor
Burýšková, Barbora ; Bobek, Jan (advisor) ; Branny, Pavel (referee)
The variety of bacteria and their genomes sometimes causes conservation of homologue molecules to be displayed not in sequence but in secondary and tertiary structures. In the case of the regulatory 6S RNA, sequence homologues have been found in over 100 bacterial species so far. However, none were found in the genus Streptomyces. The unique genome of these soil- dwelling bacteria, known for their capacity to produce antibiotics, has a high G/C content and diverges substantially from distantly related bacteria. Yet in the non-coding 6S RNA it is the secondary structure that is crucial for its function. The 6S RNAs trap sigma factors by mimicking target promoter sequences in order to help with switching sets of expressed genes during developmental transitions. 6S-like RNA genes in Streptomyces coelicolor have been computationally predicted by comparison of in silico modelled secondary structures of known 6S RNAs. The aim of this thesis was the verification of these 6S-like RNA predictions. The experimental approach was based on RNA co-immunoprecipitation (RNA CoIP), as well as RT- PCR from RNA samples. The outcomes of this project are the detection of six novel ncRNA transcripts with possible 6S-like RNA functions, which also served as the wet-lab verification of the in silico prediction technique...
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Expression of WT1 and its splicing variants in myeloid leukemias
Macháčková Lopotová, Tereza
3 Abstract Myeloid leukemias include malignant diseases characterized by clonal expansion of the myeloid cell lineage. While in case of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the main cause of the disease has already been identified - t(9;22) and the aktivity of the fusion product of the translocation BCR-ABL, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been associated with plenty of different translocations and mutations. The aim of this work was to contribute to the improvement of monitoring of patients with myeloid leukemias via detailed study of the panleukemic marker Wilms tumor gene 1 (wt1) expression. Prognostic value of wt1 expression has been proved for AML patients, however, it has not yet been confirmed for CML patients. Expression of different wt1 variants (more then 36 protein products) is known very poorly in both, AML and CML as well as in normal hematopoiesis. Most of the study is focused on CML, only limited parts are dedicated to AML. In the first part of the work, we clearly proved prognostic value of total wt1 mRNA expression for CML patients. Statistical evaluations revealed critical wt1 values which enable to specify prognosis of patients responding non-optimally to imatinib. Bcr-abl looses much of its prognostic value in these patients. Further, we have designed and optimized PCRs for selected wt1...
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The role of histone post-translational modifications in the regulation of gene expression in plants
Chromý, Jakub ; Čermák, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Holá, Dana (referee)
Chromatin structure, gene expression and consequently many important aspects of the plant development are under control of epigenetic regulation. Within epigenetic regulation, histones and their modifications play a pivotal role. The N-terminal tails of histones are dynamically modified by covalent post-translational modifications (PTMs). These modifications are key regulators modulating chromatin structure and thus regulating gene expression. In angiosperms, one of the processes finely regulated at the epigenetic level is the flowering. Flowering represents a very complex process, that is relevant for the study of epigenetic regulation as well as for practical application. In this work, I summarize current knowledge of the role of histone PTMs in the regulation of gene expression in plants, focused predominantly on two key regulators of flowering in Arabidopsis - FLC and FT.
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Multifunctional protein CTCF and its role in regulation of gene expression
Pokorná, Linda ; Vacík, Tomáš (advisor) ; Vopálenský, Václav (referee)
CTCF is a ubiquitously expressed nuclear protein that binds to DNA through its central zinc finger domain. Thousands of CTCF binding sites have been identified throughout the human genome at gene promoters, in intergenic regions or in non-coding sequences. CTCF can function either as a positive or as a negative regulator of gene expression and is also involved in creating and maintaining long-range chromosomal interactions. Various developmentally important genes have been shown to be regulated by CTCF and its malfunction is frequently associated with developmental defects or diseases. CTCF undergoes various posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation or SUMOylation which also affect its function in the regulation of gene expression. Keywords: CTCF, three dimensional genome, cohesin, regulation of gene expression, insulation, HOX genes
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