Papers by Rosanna del Gaudio
DNA, Origami e BioNumbers
Docendo Discimus: Three generations share their knowledge and passion for BIOLOGY
Docendo Discimus: How to Improve Communication Skills and Motivate Undergraduate Life-Science Students Under the Motto “Sharing Electrophoresis: Towards New Horizons”
INTED Proceedings, 2018
Docendo Discimus: How to Make a Team to Realize a Virtuous Image and a Successful Communication on the Cornerstone of Molecular Biology. The PCR and Its Modern Applications
INTED proceedings, 2017
Mixology, Cookology and Molecular Biology: A New Project in the Frame of the Italian School-Work Experience
INTED2017 Proceedings, 2017
Triggering the emergence of life on Earth: a possible role of self-assembly M4 material for the origin of living-matter
Understanding the emergence of life on Earth and beyond
Gene, May 1, 2005
DNA methylation plays a central role in the control of gene expression during development and cel... more DNA methylation plays a central role in the control of gene expression during development and cell differentiation, thus DNA methylation and demethylation processes are expected to be strictly regulated during these events. We have explored the expression levels of the genes encoding DNA methylases, methyl-CpG binding proteins and demethylases during in vitro differentiation of human carcinoma colon cells (CaCO-2) used as a model system. The results show that the global DNA methylation pattern remains constant during CaCO-2 cells differentiation indicating that required genome methylation pattern in cell differentiation was already established in the seeded cells. On the contrary, the timing of expression of several of the explored genes is tightly regulated, suggesting they are involved in the regulation of the differentiation program. In particular, the timing of expression of DNMT3b and of MBD2b and 5-MCDG shows two peaks not observed in the time courses of the expression of other genes belonging to the same families. These events, not dependent on the cell cycle synchronization, have apparently no significant impact on the overall methylation status of the genome.
Expression analysis of five zebrafish<i>rxfp3</i>homologues reveals evolutionary conservation of gene expression pattern
Journal Of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular And Developmental Evolution, Nov 10, 2014
Relaxin peptides exert different functions in reproduction and neuroendocrine processes via inter... more Relaxin peptides exert different functions in reproduction and neuroendocrine processes via interaction with two evolutionarily unrelated groups of receptors: RXFP1 and RXFP2 on one hand, RXFP3 and RXFP4 on the other hand. Evolution of receptor genes after splitting of tetrapods and teleost lineage led to a different retention rate between mammals and fish, with the latter having more gene copies compared to the former. In order to improve our knowledge on the evolution of the relaxin ligands/receptors system and have insights on their function in early stages of life, in the present paper we analyzed the expression pattern of five zebrafish RXFP3 homologue genes during embryonic development. In our analysis, we show that only two of the five genes are expressed during embryogenesis and that their transcripts are present in all the developmental stages. Spatial localization analysis of these transcripts revealed that the gene expression is restricted in specific territories starting from early pharyngula stage. Both genes are expressed in the brain but in different cell clusters and in extra-neural territories, one gene in the interrenal gland and the other in the pancreas. These two genes share expression territories with the homologue mammalian counterpart, highlighting a general conservation of gene expression regulatory processes and their putative function during evolution that are established early in vertebrate embryogenesis.
FEBS Letters, Nov 3, 1997
Hydrolysis by methylation-dependent restriction enzymes shows that the genomic DNA of the polycha... more Hydrolysis by methylation-dependent restriction enzymes shows that the genomic DNA of the polychaete annelid worm Chaetopterus variopedatus is methylated. Electrophoretic analyses of the digestion products indicate that the degree of methylation is lower in adult tissues than in sperm and embryonic DNA. 5-Methylcytosine was identified by HPLC, absorption spectroscopy and mass spectrometry analyses of free bases obtained by acid hydrolysis of the DNA. An average value of 1.6% methylated cytosines was determined in sperm DNA. Partial methylation was also found in an actively expressed HI histone gene. This is the first time that genomic DNA methylation is demonstrated to occur in a worm.
Molecular Biology Dissemination Activities: From Greens to Genes, How Diet Can Change Our Epigenome
ICERI proceedings, Nov 1, 2021
Stability and Variability, a Vital Balance Between Genome Evolution and Disease: Positive Effects of a New Docendo Discimus Team Dissemination Science Project
EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2023
PLOS ONE, Feb 23, 2010
Background: Comprehensive analyses have recently been performed on many human cancer tissues, lea... more Background: Comprehensive analyses have recently been performed on many human cancer tissues, leading to the identification of a number of mutated genes but providing no information on the variety of mutations present in each of them. This information is of interest to understand the possible origin of gene mutations that cause tumors. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have analyzed the sequence heterogeneity of the transcripts of the human HPRT and G6PD single copy genes that are not considered tumor markers. Analyses have been performed on different colon cancers and on the nearby histologically normal tissues of two male patients. Several copies of each cDNA, which were produced by cloning the RT-PCR-amplified fragments of the specific mRNA, have been sequenced. Similar analyses have been performed on blood samples of two ostensibly healthy males as reference controls. The sequence heterogeneity of the HPRT and G6PD genes was also determined on DNA from tumor tissues. The employed analytical approach revealed the presence of lowfrequency mutations not detectable by other procedures. The results show that genetic heterogeneity is detectable in HPRT and G6PD transcripts in both tumors and nearby healthy tissues of the two studied colon tumors. Similar frequencies of mutations are observed in patient genomic DNA, indicating that mutations have a somatic origin. HPRT transcripts show genetic heterogeneity also in healthy individuals, in agreement with previous results on human T-cells, while G6PD transcript heterogeneity is a characteristic of the patient tissues. Interestingly, data on TP53 show little, if any, heterogeneity in the same tissues. Conclusions/Significance: These findings show that genetic heterogeneity is a peculiarity not only of cancer cells but also of the normal tissue where a tumor arises.
Biochemistry, Feb 13, 1998
Oxygen binding and spectroscopic properties of the homodimeric myoglobin (Mb) from the prosobranc... more Oxygen binding and spectroscopic properties of the homodimeric myoglobin (Mb) from the prosobranchia sea snail Nassa mutabilis have been investigated. Oxygen equilibrium curves are pHindependent and cooperative with P 50) 5 (1 mmHg and n ≈ 1.5. Circular dichroism spectra of the oxygenated and deoxygenated form of N. mutabilis Mb are superimposable between 190 and 250 nm, suggesting a mechanism for cooperative ligand binding that does not involve changes in the R-helical content of the whole protein. The oxygen dissociation process is biphasic and pH-dependent, with different pK a values ()6.7 (0.2 and 8.5 (0.3) for the two phases. Moreover, the activation energy is essentially the same for both oxygen dissociation processes (E a) 56.4 (2.1 kJ/mol for the fast phase, and E a) 53.8 (1.9 kJ/mol for the slow phase), indicating that the rate difference for O 2 dissociation between the diliganded and the monoliganded species is mostly dependent on a variation of the activation entropy. Ferrous nitrosylated N. mutabilis Mb shows, at alkaline and neutral pH, axial and rhombic X-band EPR signals, respectively, which display below pH 6 a three-hyperfine pattern typical of five-coordination. The results presented here suggest that in N. mutabilis Mb the kinetic control of cooperativity operates through a mechanism never observed before in other hemoproteins, which requires a ligand-linked large enhancement for the value of the oxygen association process in a molecule not undergoing changes in quaternary structure. † The financial support of the Ministero dell'Universita' e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (MURST 40%) and of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is gratefully acknowledged.
Journal of Molecular Evolution, 1998
Histone genes were identified and their nucleotide sequences were determined in the polychaete ma... more Histone genes were identified and their nucleotide sequences were determined in the polychaete marine worm Chaetopterus variopedatus. The genes are organized in about 390 clusters of 7.3 kbp. Each cluster contains one copy of the five histone genes. The H1 histone gene present in the clusters is the first ever isolated in the phylum Annelida. The cluster has the unique peculiarity that all genes contain both the replicationdependent and the replication-independent 3Ј mRNA termination signals. Despite the differences in cluster organization and transcription polarity of the individual histone genes between C. variopedatus and Platynereis dumerilii, the other annelid in which histone genes have been studied, phylogenetic analysis of the encoded amino acid sequences clearly groups together those two organisms in a tree in which the other studied worms find closely related positions on the same evolutionary branch.
Le Analisi Paliogenetiche in Vesuvio 79 A.D. Vita e Morte a Ercolano
Transition from Non-living to living Matter: can integration of MuGeRo hypothesis and synthetic prebiotic biology laboratory approach shed light on the origin of Life? 
&amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;aut... more &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;Understanding the origin of life (OoL) remains one of the most challenging challenges today with many scientific questions still unanswered.&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;none&quot;&amp;gt; The complexity of the problem of the origin of life has spawned a large number of possible evolutionary scenarios. Their number, however, can be dramatically reduced by the simultaneous consideration of various bioenergetic, physical, and geological constraints. &amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;It is a widely accepted hypothesis that life originated from inanimate matter, being somehow a synthetic product of molecular organic aggregates, and as such the result of a kind of synthetic prebiotic biology [1]. In a multiverse perspective, supported by experimental data, I have already proposed the MuGeRo hypothesis in which both cosmic biotic &amp;amp;#8220;infection&amp;amp;#8221; and abiotic geochemistry contributing to trigger the emergence of life on Earth and beyond [2].&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-ccp-props=&quot;{&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;I proposed that spontaneous reactions demonstrated to occur in the environment supposed to exist in the young Earth might have provided the starting organic molecules on which peculiar component of rock (also meteorites) might have act as catalysts of molecular complexity initiating early life processes that, as has been proposed from other Authors are spontaneously and inevitable. &amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;none&quot;&amp;gt;In recent decades, the new scientific discipline of synthetic biology has set ambitious goals by pursuing the full design and manufacture of complete genetic circuits, or entire genomes, or even the whole minimal&amp;amp;#160; life in the laboratory. I hold that synthetic biology could also throw new and interesting perspectives on the topic of the origins of life and that, moreover, it could help challenge the most commonly accepted definitions of life, thus changing the way we might rethink life and its origins. Infact&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;, following the bottom-up approach I reported experimental evidence that both extraterrestrial and terrestrial minerals and rocks containing iron produces the self-organizing M4 material (Fig.1 a-h) endowed of amino sugar-driven prebiotic synthetic processes supporting abiogenesis [2,3].&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-ccp-props=&quot;{&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;This is in addition to the hypothesis that early forms of life were already present in our solar system at the time of Earth formation [4].&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-ccp-props=&quot;{&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;Following the bottom-up approach and using the self-organized M4 material [5] obtained from meteorites and terrestrial rocks and minerals as a model for the emergence and early evolution of life on Earth, this work proposes an&amp;amp;#160;evolutionary scenario that satisfies the known constraints by proposing that life on Earth emerged, fueled&amp;amp;#160;by solar radiation, from non-enzymatic, photochemical and self-sustaining reactions, surviving through some form of redox chemistry.&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-ccp-props=&quot;{&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;The&amp;amp;#160;M4 material autopoietically self-assembled on&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;none&quot;&amp;gt;hypersthenic chondrite or siderite&amp;amp;#160;and on&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;fragments of&amp;amp;#160;same&amp;amp;#160;terrestrial rocks containing iron&amp;amp;#160;could have&amp;amp;#160;contributed to the&amp;amp;#160;chemical evolution of biomolecules by own catalytic activities that modify sugars and amino acids produced in the prebiotic environments. &amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-ccp-props=&quot;{&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span data-contrast=&quot;auto&quot;&amp;gt;Here I&amp;amp;#8217;m proposing that these non-enzymatic, self-sustaining, photochemical reactions might be a primitive examples of reaction network…
Mixology, Cookology and Molecular Biology:idee e ricette per il pasto del futuro
FEBS Letters, Oct 25, 1999
The enzyme S-adenosylmethionine-DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase has been identified, first tim... more The enzyme S-adenosylmethionine-DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase has been identified, first time for invertebrates, in embryos of the marine polychaete annelid worm Chaetopterus variopedatus. The molecule has been isolated from embryos at 15 h of development. It is a single peptide of about 200 kDa molecular weight, cross-reacting with antibodies against sea urchin DNA methyltransferase. The enzymatic properties of the molecule are similar to those of Dnmt1 methyltransferases isolated from other organisms, but with the peculiarity to be unable to make`de novo' methylation on double stranded DNA.
Journal of Molecular Evolution, Mar 1, 2002
A novel member of the innexin family (cvinx) has been isolated from the annelid polychaete worm C... more A novel member of the innexin family (cvinx) has been isolated from the annelid polychaete worm Chaetopterus variopedatus using a PCR approach on genomic DNA and sequence analysis on genomic DNA clones. The gene is present in a HindIII-HindIII segment of 2250 bp containing an uninterrupted open reading frame of 1196 bp encoding a protein of 399 amino acids. The predicted protein shows the typical structural features of innexins and consensus sites for phosphorylation. Analyses on genomic DNA demonstrate that cv-inx is a single copy gene with no introns in the coding region, exactly corresponding to the cDNA sequence. The gene expression is regulated during development as shown by Northern blots analyses of the RNA and by immunoreaction with antibodies against the protein at several embryonic stages. The finding of an innexin in the phylum Annelida, outside of the Ecdysozoa clade, and its peculiar gene structure suggest the necessity to reconsider the current hypothesis on the origin and evolution of gap junctional proteins.
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Papers by Rosanna del Gaudio