scholarly journals Using the DCC Lifecycle Model to Curate a Gene Expression Database: A Case Study

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-70
Author(s):  
Jean O’Donoghue ◽  
Jano I. Van Hemert
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Developmental Gene ◽  
Design Study ◽  
Developmental Gene Expression ◽  
Digital Curation ◽  
Early Human Development ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Early Human

Developmental Gene Expression Map (DGEMap) is an EU-funded Design Study, which will accelerate an integrated European approach to gene expression in early human development. As part of this design study, we have had to address the challenges and issues raised by the long-term curation of such a resource. As this project is primarily one of data creators, learning about curation, we have been looking at some of the models and tools that are already available in the digital curation field in order to inform our thinking on how we should proceed with curating DGEMap. This has led us to uncover a wide range of resources for data creators and curators alike. Here we will discuss the future curation of DGEMap as a case study. We believe our experience could be instructive to other projects looking to improve the curation and management of their data.

scholarly journals Maternal Style Selectively Shapes Amygdalar Development and Social Behavior in Rats Genetically Prone to High Anxiety

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua L. Cohen ◽  
Matthew E. Glover ◽  
Phyllis C. Pugh ◽  
Andrew D. Fant ◽  
Rebecca K. Simmons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Emotional Behavior ◽  
Developmental Gene ◽  
Developmental Gene Expression ◽  
Maternal Style ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
Cross Fostering

The early-life environment critically influences neurodevelopment and later psychological health. To elucidate neural and environmental elements that shape emotional behavior, we developed a rat model of individual differences in temperament and environmental reactivity. We selectively bred rats for high versus low behavioral response to novelty and found that high-reactive (bred high-responder, bHR) rats displayed greater risk-taking, impulsivity and aggression relative to low-reactive (bred low-responder, bLR) rats, which showed high levels of anxiety/depression-like behavior and certain stress vulnerability. The bHR/bLR traits are heritable, but prior work revealed bHR/bLR maternal style differences, with bLR dams showing more maternal attention than bHRs. The present study implemented a cross-fostering paradigm to examine the contribution of maternal behavior to the brain development and emotional behavior of bLR offspring. bLR offspring were reared by biological bLR mothers or fostered to a bLR or bHR mother and then evaluated to determine the effects on the following: (1) developmental gene expression in the hippocampus and amygdala and (2) adult anxiety/depression-like behavior. Genome-wide expression profiling showed that cross-fostering bLR rats to bHR mothers shifted developmental gene expression in the amygdala (but not hippocampus), reduced adult anxiety and enhanced social interaction. Our findings illustrate how an early-life manipulation such as cross-fostering changes the brain's developmental trajectory and ultimately impacts adult behavior. Moreover, while earlier studies highlighted hippocampal differences contributing to the bHR/bLR phenotypes, our results point to a role of the amygdala as well. Future work will pursue genetic and cellular mechanisms within the amygdala that contribute to bHR/bLR behavior either at baseline or following environmental manipulations.

scholarly journals Digital curation: the development of a discipline within information science

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 1318-1338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Information Science ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Curation ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Ecology

Purpose Digital curation addresses the technical, administrative and financial ecology required to ensure that digital information remains accessible and usable over the long term. The purpose of this paper is to trace digital curation’s disciplinary emergence and examine its position within the information sciences domain in terms of theoretical principles, using a case study of developments in the UK and the USA. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical principles regarding disciplinary development and the identity of information science as a discipline are applied to a case study of the development of digital curation in the UK and the USA to identify the maturity of digital curation and its position in the information science gamut. Findings Digital curation is identified as a mature discipline which is a sub-meta-discipline of information science. As such digital curation has reach across all disciplines and sub-disciplines of information science and has the potential to become the overarching paradigm. Practical implications These findings could influence digital curation’s development from applied discipline to profession within both its educational and professional domains. Originality/value The disciplinary development of digital curation within dominant theoretical models has not hitherto been articulated.

scholarly journals Clock genes in calendar cells as the basis of annual timekeeping in mammals--a unifying hypothesis

2003 ◽  
Vol 179 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
GA Lincoln ◽  
H Andersson ◽  
A Loudon
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Molecular Mechanism ◽  
Clock Genes ◽  
Prolactin Secretion ◽  
Secretory Cells ◽  
Dark Phase ◽  
Pars Tuberalis ◽  
Cry Protein ◽  
Wide Range

Melatonin-based photoperiod time-measurement and circannual rhythm generation are long-term time-keeping systems used to regulate seasonal cycles in physiology and behaviour in a wide range of mammals including man. We summarise recent evidence that temporal, melatonin-controlled expression of clock genes in specific calendar cells may provide a molecular mechanism for long-term timing. The agranular secretory cells of the pars tuberalis (PT) of the pituitary gland provide a model cell-type because they express a high density of melatonin (mt1) receptors and are implicated in photoperiod/circannual regulation of prolactin secretion and the associated seasonal biological responses. Studies of seasonal breeding hamsters and sheep indicate that circadian clock gene expression in the PT is modulated by photoperiod via the melatonin signal. In the Syrian and Siberian hamster PT, the high amplitude Per1 rhythm associated with dawn is suppressed under short photoperiods, an effect that is mimicked by melatonin treatment. More extensive studies in sheep show that many clock genes (e.g. Bmal1, Clock, Per1, Per2, Cry1 and Cry2) are expressed in the PT, and their expression oscillates through the 24-h light/darkness cycle in a temporal sequence distinct from that in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (central circadian pacemaker). Activation of Per1 occurs in the early light phase (dawn), while activation of Cry1 occurs in the dark phase (dusk), thus photoperiod-induced changes in the relative phase of Per and Cry gene expression acting through PER/CRY protein/protein interaction provide a potential mechanism for decoding the melatonin signal and generating a long-term photoperiodic response. The current challenge is to identify other calendar cells in the central nervous system regulating long-term cycles in reproduction, body weight and other seasonal characteristics and to establish whether clock genes provide a conserved molecular mechanism for long-term timekeeping.

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