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• Hunchback


  A transcription factor that regulates even-skipped stripe 2 expression in Drosophila embryos
• Mutant sna::hb


  • Hunchback is expressed all along the ventral surface of embryos
• Our results show that Hb activates eve2+7 indirectly
• Caudal


  A transcription factor that counter-represses hunchback to regulate even-skipped stripe 2 expression
• If you mutate caudal binding sites in the eve2+7 enhancer

  No expression of stripe 2 because caudal cannot prevent hunchback repression
• The main interaction between Hunchback and Caudal on eve2+7 enhancer is that Caudal counter represses hunchback, indirectly activating eve2+7
• Transcription factors involved in defining stripe 7

  • Knirps
  • Giant
  • Zelda
• Dermis makes cartilage but not muscle or Schwann cells
• Cartilage cannot produce muscle
• Muscle does not make cartilage or epidermis
• GFP


  A fluorescent protein used to study tissue origin during axolotl limb regeneration as it is a heritable gene that fluoresces green and can be easily tracked through descendants
• A hypothetical cell from the epidermis prior to amputation would theoretically become an epidermis cell after amputation in axolotl limb regeneration
• Dedifferentiation


  The process by which a specialised cell type such as muscle or cartilage reverts to a less specialised state
• More neurons were found in rostral positions compared to caudal ones along the rostrocaudal axis of the medial cortex
• Within 24 hours of 3-AP treatment


  Leopard geckos demonstrated reduced spontaneous activity and delayed response to enclosure opening
• Hippocampus

  The region of the mammalian brain considered to be the homologue of the gekkotan medial cortex
• 3-AP predominantly targeted the MC - the medial cortex when administered to Eublepharis macularis
• Neuroblasts mature to neurons in the cellular layer of the medial cortex before taking part in neuronal circuitry
• Fluoro-Jade C expression 4 days post injury served as a cell-death marker, demonstrating that the 3-AP treatment induced neuronal cell death
• sna::hb


  Refers to the combination of the snail and hunchback genes in the Drosophila embryo, which are involved in the process of segmentation.
• snp::eve2


  Refers to a specific genetic construct used in research, where a single nucleotide polymorphism has been introduced into the eve2 gene to study its function.
• Epigenetic


  Heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the DNA sequence
• DNA methylation


  The addition of a methyl group to cytosine residues, often at CpG dinucleotides
• CpG dinucleotides


  Cytosine-guanine dinucleotides
• Glucocorticoid receptor


  A nuclear receptor that binds glucocorticoid hormones
• Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)


  A technique used to investigate protein-DNA interactions
• Histone acetylation


  The addition of acetyl groups to histone proteins, associated with transcriptional activation
• Hippocampus


  A brain region involved in learning, memory, and stress response
• Trichostatin A


  A histone deacetylase inhibitor
• Mechanism by which maternal behavior influences gene expression

  1. Changes in DNA methylation patterns

  2. Alterations in histone acetylation

  3. Modifications in transcription factor binding
• Experimental manipulations used to demonstrate the causal relationship between maternal care, epigenetic changes and stress response

  1. Cross-fostering

  2. Infusion of a histone deacetylase inhibitor
• The epigenetic differences emerged during the first week of life and persisted into adulthood
• Role of histone acetylation

  Associated with transcriptional activation
• How researchers investigated the epigenetic modifications

  1. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)

  2. Using bisulfite sequencing
• Epigenetic modifications


  permanent and long lasting
• How did the researchers investigate the epigenetic modifications in the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene?

  1. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)

  2. Using bisulfite sequencing
• Embryonic stem cells


  • Their key trait is pluripotency
  • Resistant to G418
• Identifying factors important for pluripotency

  1. Take out a factor

  2. If cells can no longer form colonies, that factor is critical for G418 resistance

  3. Exhibits traits similar to ES cells
• Any cells that knocked out a factor that could not produce colonies by day 10 would be an accepted answer
• Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR)


  A technique used to measure transcription and analyse levels of gene expression