This Friday, March 5th, Ms. Annah Oigo will present her current research being conducted with Dr. Gary Walker.
"Gene Expression in Long Term Myocyte/Myoblast Cultures: RNA Analysis (Dystrophin)"
Background Reading
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4688399/
Please actively participate in this seminar presentation.
That was a good one from Annah!! Annah's presentation was based on the expression rate of dystrophin in muscle with respect to time and age. From her presentation dystrophin is a cytoskeletal protein that gives extra support to sarcolemma (membrane of muscle cell). She provided good data to show the expression levels of dystrophin muscle mass as it differentiates.
ReplyDeleteQuestion:From her presentation, can we say that dystrophin is significant in keeping the integrity of muscle as it ages? What significant conclusions were made about dystrophin?
Annah gave a very informative discussion on stem cell biology as well as an in-depth overview of muscle tissues, primarily focusing on skeletal muscle. She also discussed some of the proteins that are important for integrating the ECM with the sarcomere structure, highlighting the significance of dystrophin and how loss of function with age can lead to muscle weakness. The aim of her research was to examine the gene expression of long cultured C2C12 cells. Using cell culturing, timed sample collection, and qRT-PCR analysis, she was able to show that dystrophin expression and stem cell differentiation steadily increased as dystrophin is needed to stabilize the membrane, but decreases significantly due to aging. With the importance of dystrophin in mind, what are your thoughts on membrane integrating proteins being targets for potential gene therapies?
ReplyDelete(Apologies for the late summary. I forgot to hit send when I wrote this on Tuesday)
The presentation by Annah was very enlightening as it established how the dystrophin gene is important in skeletal muscle development. I think the expression of this gene is vital in muscle aging since the loss of dystrophin is associated with an increase in damage to the sarcolemma which eventually leads to muscle cell destruction/damage. As the muscle age there is a decrease in muscle mass and the expression of dystrophin would be important in stabilizing muscle membrane and maintaining the integrity of the muscle. Regarding Dan’s question, different studies have shown that gene therapy has been used to restore this gene in a situation where it cannot be produced due to genetic errors. So, I believe changing the protein or gene expression of a cell is possible with membrane proteins being the target interactors.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was very informative on muscles. Dystrophin seems to be very important to sarcomere stabilization. When we age the dystrophin seems to decrease and muscles will start to hypertrophy. This could also be important to bone loss. If we can find a way to stop muscle hypertrophy then the bone will need to be strong to support the tension of the muscles. I think gene therapy would be a good start to help replenish dystrophin and keep a healthy muscle mass.
ReplyDeleteThis presentation by Annah was very informative and gave us an in depth look at skeletal muscle and the proteins involved. Answering the question at hand, I do believe that Dystrophin is vital to sarcomere stabilization and as we age the lower levels of Dystrophin can be accounted for more muscle damage. I also agree with Jordan's point about targeting gene therapy as a start to help replenish this protein.
ReplyDeleteAnnah’s presentation on gene expression and muscles was informative. It offered an overview on muscle and then focused in on the importance of dystrophin and its role in muscles as they age. As we age, we see a decrease in muscle mass due to hypertrophy. This loss of muscle is paired with a decrease in Dystrophin showing a possible relationship between the two. As Dragan posed the question about gene therapies, I believe that if we can target Dystrophin specifically then it could potentially be used to slow or stop this hypertrophy. I would like to see further studies experimenting on this possible solution, but Patricia believes that studies have already been done and have been successful. I will have to look into this further.
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