RNA in situ hybridization is a powerful method to investigate post-transcriptional regulation, but analysis of intracellular mRNA distributions in thick, complex tissues like the brain poses significant challenges. Here, we describe the application of single-molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization (smFISH) to quantitate primary nascent transcription and post-transcriptional regulation in who...

Cyclin D1 is a key regulator of cell proliferation and its expression is subject to both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. In different cellular contexts, different pathways assume a dominant role in regulating its expression, whereas their disregulation can contribute to overexpression of cyclin D1 in tumorigenesis. Here, we discuss the ability of the NF-kappaB (nuclear fact...

Long-lived post-mitotic cells, such as the majority of human neurons, must respond effectively to ongoing changes in neuronal stimulation or microenvironmental cues through transcriptional and epigenomic regulation of gene expression. The role of epigenomic regulation in neuronal function is of fundamental interest to the neuroscience community, as these types of studies have transformed our un...

Background: Mammalian preimplantation development is a complex process involving dramatic changes in the transcriptional architecture. However, it is still unclear about the crucial transcriptional network and key hub genes that regulate the proceeding of preimplantation embryos. Materials and Methods: Through single-cell RNAsequencing (RNA-seq) of both human and mouse preimplantation embryos, ...

Following fertilization, activation of a complex developmental program requires the differential expression of key genes. In most metazoa, the prevailing view is that early differential gene expression occurs primarily through post-transcriptional regulation of maternally deposited products in the oocyte. Two novel studies published from the Rajewsky laboratory in this issue of The EMBO Journal...

Defensin is the predominant inducible immune peptide in Aedes aegypti. In spite of its activity against Gram-positive bacteria in vitro, defensin expression is detected in mosquitoes inoculated with Gram-positive or negative bacteria, or with filarial worms. Defensin transcription and expression are dependent upon bacterial dose; however, translation is inconsistent with transcription because p...