The FT gene integrates several external and endogenous cues controlling flowering, including information on day length. A complex of the mobile FT protein and the bZIP transcription factor FD in turn has a central role in activating genes that execute the switch from vegetative to reproductive development. Here we reveal that microRNA156-targeted SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) gen...

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is the key transcription factor that controls animal development and various adaptive processes. The AHR's target genes are involved in biodegradation of endogenous and exogenous toxins, regulation of immune response, organogenesis, and neurogenesis. Ligand binding is important for the activation of the AHR signaling pathway. Invertebrate AHR homologs are activat...

BACKGROUND Endogenous internal controls ('reference' or 'housekeeping' genes) are widely used in real-time PCR (RT-PCR) analyses. Their use relies on the premise of consistently stable expression across studied experimental conditions. Unfortunately, none of these controls fulfills this premise across a wide range of experimental conditions; consequently, none of them can be recommended for uni...

We report here a robust, tunable, and reversible transcription control system for endogenous genes. The REMOTE-control system (Reversible Manipulation of Transcription at Endogenous loci) employs enhanced lac repression and tet activation systems. With this approach, we show in mouse embryonic stem cells that endogenous Dnmt1 gene transcription could be up- or downregulated in a tunable, induci...

Leptin is the primary hormone in mammals that regulates adipose stores. Arctic adapted cetaceans maintain enormous adipose depots, suggesting possible modifications of leptin or receptor function. Determining expression of these genes is the first step to understanding the extreme physiology of these animals, and the uniqueness of these animals presents special challenges in estimating and comp...

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is an important transcriptional regulator of drug metabolizing enzymes that dominantly controls the expression of cytochrome P450 CYP1 family genes and some phase II enzymes. AhR also has many endogenous functions including cell cycle control, immune response, and cell differentiation. In addition, AhR is well-known to be involved in chemically-induced carcinogen...

PURPOSE To evaluate a panel of ten known endogenous control genes (ECG) with quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qPCR), for identification of stably expressed endogenous control genes in the ocular surface (OS) epithelial regions including cornea, limbus, limbal epithelial crypt and conjunctiva to normalise the quantitative reverse transcription PCR data of genes of interest expressed in ab...

Reporter genes, such as luciferase, are important tools for studying gene expression. The use of reporter genes allows the in vitro and in vivo measurement of gene expression from virtually any endogenous genetic control element. Luciferase enzyme and its subsequent luminescent reaction is often the gene reporter of choice for many experimental conditions. Here we describe the measurement of lu...