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Genome Biol 2021 Apr 16;22(1):110. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Otto Warburg Laboratories, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany.

Background: X-chromosomal genes contribute to sex differences, in particular during early development, when both X chromosomes are active in females. Double X-dosage shifts female pluripotent cells towards the naive stem cell state by increasing pluripotency factor expression, inhibiting the differentiation-promoting MAP kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and delaying differentiation.

Results: To identify the genetic basis of these sex differences, we use a two-step CRISPR screening approach to comprehensively identify X-linked genes that cause the female pluripotency phenotype in murine embryonic stem cells. Read More

Mucosal Immunol 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Université de Paris, Imagine Institute, Laboratory of Intestinal Immunity, INSERM UMR 1163, Paris, France.

The mechanisms that maintain intestinal homeostasis despite constant exposure of the gut surface to multiple environmental antigens and to billions of microbes have been scrutinized over the past 20 years with the goals to gain basic knowledge, but also to elucidate the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and to identify therapeutic targets for these severe diseases. Considerable insight has been obtained from studies based on gene inactivation in mice as well as from genome wide screens for genetic variants predisposing to human IBD. These studies are, however, not sufficient to delineate which pathways play key nonredundant role in the human intestinal barrier and to hierarchize their respective contribution. Read More

Sci Technol Adv Mater 2021 Mar 31;22(1):26-36. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Department of Organic Materials and Fibers Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Nowadays, much of user interface is based on touch and the touch sensors have been common for displays, Internet of things (IoT) projects, or robotics. They can be found in lamps, touch screens of smartphones, or other wide arrays of applications as well. However, the conventional touch sensors, fabricated from rigid materials, are bulky, inflexible, hard, and hard-to-wear devices. Read More

Nat Genet 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan KetterAbsolute numbers of live mature hematopoietic cellsing Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.

Most eukaryotes harbor two distinct pre-mRNA splicing machineries: the major spliceosome, which removes >99% of introns, and the minor spliceosome, which removes rare, evolutionarily conserved introns. Although hypothesized to serve important regulatory functions, physiologic roles of the minor spliceosome are not well understood. For example, the minor spliceosome component ZRSR2 is subject to recurrent, leukemia-associated mutations, yet functional connections among minor introns, hematopoiesis and cancers are unclear. Read More

Nat Chem Biol 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans bind extracellular proteins that participate in cell signaling, attachment and endocytosis. These interactions depend on the arrangement of sulfated sugars in the HS chains generated by well-characterized biosynthetic enzymes; however, the regulation of these enzymes is largely unknown. We conducted genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screens with a small-molecule ligand that binds to HS. Read More