Author: Chad Whilding

1.

Differential CpG methylation at Nnat in the early establishment of beta cell heterogeneity

Yu V, Yong F, Marta A, Khadayate S, Osakwe A, Bhattacharya S, et al.

Diabetologia . 2024 Mar; 67(6):1079-1094. PMID: 38512414

Aims/hypothesis: Beta cells within the pancreatic islet represent a heterogenous population wherein individual sub-groups of cells make distinct contributions to the overall control of insulin secretion. These include a subpopulation...

2.

Determining the potency of primordial germ cells by injection into early mouse embryos

Sepulveda-Rincon L, Wang Y, Whilding C, Moyon B, Ojarikre O, Maciulyte V, et al.

Dev Cell . 2024 Feb; 59(6):695-704.e5. PMID: 38359835

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the earliest precursors of the gametes. During normal development, PGCs only give rise to oocytes or spermatozoa. However, PGCs can acquire pluripotency in vitro by...

3.

AMP-activated protein kinase activation suppresses leptin expression independently of adipogenesis in primary murine adipocytes

Bustraan S, Bennett J, Whilding C, Pennycook B, Smith D, Barr A, et al.

Biochem J . 2024 Feb; 481(5):345-362. PMID: 38314646

Adipogenesis, defined as the development of mature adipocytes from stem cell precursors, is vital for the expansion, turnover and health of adipose tissue. Loss of adipogenic potential in adipose stem...

4.

Differential CpG methylation at in the early establishment of beta cell heterogeneity

Yu V, Yong F, Marta A, Khadayate S, Osakwe A, Bhattacharya S, et al.

bioRxiv . 2023 Dec; PMID: 38076935

Aims/hypothesis: Beta cells within the pancreatic islet represent a heterogenous population wherein individual sub-groups of cells make distinct contributions to the overall control of insulin secretion. These include a subpopulation...

5.

AMPK activation protects against prostate cancer by inducing a catabolic cellular state

Penfold L, Woods A, Pollard A, Arizanova J, Pascual-Navarro E, Muckett P, et al.

Cell Rep . 2023 Apr; 42(4):112396. PMID: 37061917

Emerging evidence indicates that metabolic dysregulation drives prostate cancer (PCa) progression and metastasis. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a master regulator of metabolism, although its role in PCa remains unclear....

6.

Drug-induced loss of imprinting revealed using bioluminescent reporters of Cdkn1c

Dimond A, Van de Pette M, Taylor-Bateman V, Brown K, Sardini A, Whilding C, et al.

Sci Rep . 2023 Apr; 13(1):5626. PMID: 37024615

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetically mediated mechanism that regulates allelic expression of genes based upon parent-of-origin and provides a paradigm for studying epigenetic silencing and release. Here, bioluminescent reporters for...

7.

Loss of H3K9 trimethylation alters chromosome compaction and transcription factor retention during mitosis

Djeghloul D, Dimond A, Cheriyamkunnel S, Kramer H, Patel B, Brown K, et al.

Nat Struct Mol Biol . 2023 Mar; 30(4):489-501. PMID: 36941433

Recent studies have shown that repressive chromatin machinery, including DNA methyltransferases and polycomb repressor complexes, binds to chromosomes throughout mitosis and their depletion results in increased chromosome size. In the...

8.

Cohesin couples transcriptional bursting probabilities of inducible enhancers and promoters

Robles-Rebollo I, Cuartero S, Canellas-Socias A, Wells S, Karimi M, Mereu E, et al.

Nat Commun . 2022 Jul; 13(1):4342. PMID: 35896525

Innate immune responses rely on inducible gene expression programmes which, in contrast to steady-state transcription, are highly dependent on cohesin. Here we address transcriptional parameters underlying this cohesin-dependence by single-molecule...

9.

Cohesin-dependence of neuronal gene expression relates to chromatin loop length

Calderon L, Weiss F, Beagan J, Oliveira M, Georgieva R, Wang Y, et al.

Elife . 2022 Apr; 11. PMID: 35471149

Cohesin and CTCF are major drivers of 3D genome organization, but their role in neurons is still emerging. Here, we show a prominent role for cohesin in the expression of...

10.

Nucleolar-based repression is essential for embryonic two-cell stage exit

Xie S, Leeke B, Whilding C, Wagner R, Garcia-Llagostera F, Low Y, et al.

Genes Dev . 2022 Mar; 36(5-6):331-347. PMID: 35273077

Upon fertilization, the mammalian embryo must switch from dependence on maternal transcripts to transcribing its own genome, and in mice this involves the transient up-regulation of MERVL transposons and MERVL-driven...