Publications

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) located in the olfactory epithelium (OE) detect thousands of volatile environmental odors to form the sense of smell. OSNs are generated from basal cells, which show the characteristics of progenitor/stem cells. In the mammalian OE, persistent neurogenesis occurs during lifetime, providing a unique model to study the tissue turnover and fate determination of stem cells.

The germinal center (GC) plays a central role in the generation of antigen-specific B cells and antibodies. Tight regulation of the GC is essential due to the inherent risks of tumorigenesis and autoimmunity posed by inappropriate GC B cell processes. Gammaherpesviruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68) utilize numerous armaments to drive infected naïve B cells, independent of antigen, through GC reactions to expand the latently infected B cell population and establish a stable latency reservoir.

Rett syndrome is a neurological disease due to loss-of-function mutations in the transcription factor, Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2). Because overexpression of endogenous MECP2 also causes disease, we have exploited a targeted RNA-editing approach to repair patient mutations where levels of MECP2 protein will never exceed endogenous levels. Here, we have constructed adeno-associated viruses coexpressing a bioengineered wild-type ADAR2 catalytic domain (Editasewt) and either Mecp2-targeting or nontargeting gfp RNA guides.

Pain and itch are distinct sensations arousing evasion and compulsive desire for scratching, respectively. It's unclear whether they could invoke different neural networks in the brain. Here, we use the type 1 herpes simplex virus H129 strain to trace the neural networks derived from two types of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons: one kind of polymodal nociceptors containing galanin (Gal) and one type of pruriceptors expressing neurotensin (Nts).

Human prefrontal cortex (hPFC) is a complex brain region involved in cognitive and emotional processes and several psychiatric disorders. Here, we present an overview of the distribution of the peptidergic systems in 17 subregions of hPFC and three reference cortices obtained by microdissection and based on RNA sequencing and RNAscope methods integrated with published single-cell transcriptomics data. We detected expression of 60 neuropeptides and 60 neuropeptide receptors in at least one of the hPFC subregions.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling plays a critical role in regulating cerebellum development by maintaining the physiological proliferation of granule neuron precursors (GNPs), and its dysregulation leads to the oncogenesis of medulloblastoma. O-GlcNAcylation (O-GlcNAc) of proteins is an emerging regulator of brain function that maintains normal development and neuronal circuitry. Here, we demonstrate that O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) in GNPs mediate the cerebellum development, and the progression of the Shh subgroup of medulloblastoma.

Heading is one of the most important agronomic traits for Chinese cabbage crops. During the heading stage, leaf axial growth is an essential process. In the past, most genes predicted to be involved in the heading process have been based on leaf development studies in Arabidopsis. No genes that control leaf axial growth have been mapped and cloned via forward genetics in Chinese cabbage. In this study, we characterize the inward curling mutant ic1 in Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis and identify a mutation in the OCTOPUS (BrOPS) gene by map-based cloning.

Although glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is not an invariably cold tumor, checkpoint inhibition has largely failed in GBM. In order to investigate T cell-intrinsic properties that contribute to the resistance of GBM to endogenous or therapeutically enhanced adaptive immune responses, we sorted CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from the peripheral blood, normal-appearing brain tissue, and tumor bed of nine treatment-naive patients with GBM. Bulk RNA sequencing of highly pure T cell populations from these different compartments was used to obtain deep transcriptomes of tumor-infiltrating T cells (TILs).

Background Over the course of chronic drug use, brain transcriptional neuroadaptation are thought to contribute to a change in drug use behavior over time. The function of the transcription factor CREB within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been well documented in opposing the rewarding properties of many classes of drugs, yet the gene targets through which CREB causally manifests these lasting neuroadaptations remain unknown. Here, we identify zinc finger protein 189 (Zfp189) as a CREB target gene that is transcriptionally responsive to acute and chronic cocaine use within mouse NAc.

Background GABAergic interneurons (INs) are highly heterogeneous, and 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) receptor 3A (Htr3a) labels a subpopulation of cortical INs originating from the embryonic caudal ganglionic eminence (GE). SETDB1 is one of the histone H3K9 methyltransferases and plays an essential role in the excitatory neurons, but its role in regulating cortical inhibitory INs remains largely unknown. Methods In the current study, we generated transgenic mice with conditional knockout of Setdb1 in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) (Setdb1-NS-cKO) and GABAergic neurons (Setdb1-Gad2-cKO).