ABSTRACT
It is hereby certified that there is no shared co-first authorship in this paper. Dr. Nan HUANG is the only first author of this article.
ABSTRACT
Transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), encoded by the TFRC gene, is the gatekeeper of cellular iron uptake for cells. A variety of molecular mechanisms are at work to tightly regulate TfR1 expression, and abnormal TfR1 expression has been associated with various diseases. In the current study, to determine the regulation pattern of TfR1, we cloned and overexpressed the human TFRC gene in HeLa cells. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was used to analyze the global transcript levels in overexpressed (OE) and normal control (NC) samples. A total of 1669 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between OE and NC. Gene ontology (GO) analysis was carried out to explore the functions of the DEGs. It was found that multiple DEGs were associated with ion transport and immunity. Moreover, the regulatory network was constructed on basis of DEGs associated with ion transport and immunity, highlighting that TFRC was the node gene of the network. These results together suggested that precisely controlled TfR1 expression might be not only essential for iron homeostasis, but also globally important for cell physiology, including ion transport and immunity.
Subject(s)
Gene Regulatory Networks/genetics , Immunity/genetics , Ion Transport/genetics , Ion Transport/immunology , Iron/immunology , Receptors, Transferrin/genetics , Receptors, Transferrin/immunology , Cell Line, Tumor , Gene Regulatory Networks/immunology , HeLa Cells , Homeostasis/genetics , Homeostasis/immunology , Humans , Immunity/immunologyABSTRACT
Previous study revealed that the MRP1 gene ortholog DMRP1/CG6214 of Drosophila melanogaster contains 12 exons in the coding region. In the current study, the genes of DMRP1/CG6214 from D. melanogaster and Drosophila virilis were compared, and the result indicated that D. virilis had an extra intron located in exon 2, implying that intron loss or gain might have occurred at this locus. To track the evolution of the extra intron (Intron Z), orthologous nucleotide sequences of 37 arthropod species were cloned or annotated. Based on phylogenetic analysis, we found that Intron Z should present in the common ancestor of arthropod species, more than 420 Ma. In addition, we found that Sophophora subgenus species and mosquito (Culex pipiens) lost Intron Z independently, showing evolutionary convergence.
Subject(s)
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/genetics , Culex/genetics , Drosophila Proteins/genetics , Drosophila/genetics , Evolution, Molecular , Introns , Animals , Molecular Sequence Annotation , Phylogeny , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Sequence DeletionABSTRACT
Drosophila focal adhesion kinase (Dfak) gene is a single-copy nuclear gene. Previous study revealed that Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans had lost an intron precisely within the tyrosine kinase (TyK) domain of this gene. However, this did not happen in several other Drosophila species, including Drosophila elegans, Drosophila ficusphila, Drosophila biarmipes, Drosophila jambulina, Drosophila prostipennis, Drosophila takahashii, and Drosophila pseudoobscura. In the current study, homologous sequences of Drosophila sechellia, Drosophila mauritiana, Drosophila yakuba, Drosophila teissieri, Drosophila santomea, and Drosophila erecta were amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and further sequencing analysis indicated that these species were missing a TyK domain intron, indicating they were closely related. The relationship of the D. melanogaster species group was reconstructed using TyK domain nucleotide sequences. The resulting phylogenetic tree revealed that these 8 species were the most related species in the melanogaster group. These results strongly support previously proposed classifications based on morphological and molecular data.
