Journal: Advanced Science
Article Title: De Novo Gene Transcription of Connexin Mediates Cytoplasmic Fluid Exchange and Flocking Transitions in Physiological and Cancerous Epithelial Systems
doi: 10.1002/advs.202508648
Figure Lengend Snippet: De novo transcription is required for the emergence of flocking motion. A–C) Emergence of Flocking motility of HaCaT cells upon EGF treatment in the absence or presence of Actinomycin D (AD) (A,B) or 5, 6‐dichloro‐1‐β‐D‐ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB) (C); DMSO was used as vehicle control for the pharmacological treatment. A) Representative phase contrast image of the maximum intensity projection (MIP) of all frames acquired over a 24‐h period (5 min frame −1 ). Representative images from n = 6 time‐lapse series. Scale bar 100 µM. (B,C) Root Mean Square Velocity (V RMS ) measured by Particle velocimetry analysis (PIV) over 48 h (left) and its mean within the 10–40 h framecut (right). V RMS is expressed as the mean ± SD ( n = 6 independent experiments). D,E) RNAseq analysis of HaCaT cells serum starved for 48h then treated or not with EGF (100ng mL −1 ) for 24 h ( n = 3 independent experiments). D) Differential expression analysis of connexin genes. A comparison of the statistical significance and expression levels of different connexin genes. The left panel (Statistics) displays a bubble plot representing the significance of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), where the size of the dots corresponds to the ‐log10 (adjusted p ‐value), and the color represents the log2 fold change (red indicates upregulation, blue indicates downregulation). The right panel (Expression) shows the absolute expression levels of the same genes as bar plots. Genes such as GJB2 and GJB3 exhibit high differential gene expression. E) Hierarchical clustering heatmap of connexin gene expression. The heatmap represents the expression levels of deregulated connexin genes (GJA1, GJB6, GJB2, GJB3, GJB5, GJB4, GJC1) in control quiescent vs EGF‐treated (for 24 h) HaCat cells. The rows correspond to genes, while the columns represent individual samples. Expression levels are scaled and color‐coded, with red indicating upregulation and blue indicating downregulation. Hierarchical clustering was applied to group genes with similar expression patterns. The top annotation bar denotes the experimental condition (CTRL: yellow, EGF: purple), and the cell type (HaCaT: black). The color scale represents the standardized expression values. F) mRNA levels of Connexins genes in HaCaT cells treated with EGF for 24 h, quantified by qRT‐PCR. Data are the mRNA fold increase relative to the levels of control cells after normalizing for GAPDH and 18S mRNA levels ( n = 6 independent experiments). G) mRNA levels of Connexins genes in HaCaT cells treated with EGF for 0, 1, 6, and 24 h; quantified by qRT‐PCR. Data is the mRNA fold increase relative to the levels of control cells after normalizing for GAPDH and 18S mRNA levels) ( n = 3 independent experiments). H) mRNA levels of Connexin 26 (GJB2) and Connexin 31 (GJB3) treated with low (1 ng mL −1 ) or high (100 ng mL −1 ) doses of EGF for 6 and 24 h. Data are mRNA fold increase relative to the levels of control cells after normalizing for GAPDH and 18S mRNA levels ( n = 4–6 independent experiments). Statistical tests and significance are indicated in Table .
Article Snippet: GJB2 assay ID: Hs00955889_m1.
Techniques: Control, Quantitative Proteomics, Comparison, Expressing, Gene Expression, Quantitative RT-PCR