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Human umbilical vein endothelial cells are responsible for maintaining and forming new vessels from existing ones, in a biological process called sprouting angiogenesis. Sprouting angiogenesis is a crucial mechanism for the resolution of hypoxia and normal development of tissues. It also plays a key role in internal plague hemorrhages, which can lead to embolisms and other cardiovascular complications. Angiogenesis is also crucial for cancer development. Sprouting angiogenesis is initiated by hypoxic tissue excreted vascular endothelial growth factor gradient, which induces normal endothelial cells into either a proliferative stalk cell or a signal sensing tip cell phenotype. Both of these cell types depend on the rapid flow of lipids to their plasma membrane, either to form plasma membrane protrusions in tip cells or as new plasma membrane material in dividing stalk cells. This flow is envisioned to involve both vesicle-mediated and non-vesicular mechanisms. A major non-vesicular route of lipid transfer occurs at membrane contact sites via lipid transport proteins. Furthermore, lipids can be transported to the plasma membrane by the direct fusion of vesicles or endosomes with the plasma membrane This thesis set out to explore the role of two membrane contact site proteins, oxysterol-binding protein- related protein 2 and protrudin, in angiogenesis and lipid transfer. Their role was examined by RNA-sequencing transient knock-down samples of these proteins in HUVECs. The RNA-sequencing data was examined by differential expression, gene ontology overrepresentation and gene set enrichment analyses. Gene expression analysis provided almost 10 000 significantly changed transcripts (adjusted p-values < 0.05), in each silenced cell type. The distribution of differentially expressed genes in oxysterol-binding protein- related protein 2 silenced cells, is skewed toward negative fold changes, whereas the distribution of differentially expressed genes in protrudin silenced samples is normally distributed. The results also show significant changes in gene ontologies related to proliferation, cell cycle, angiogenesis as well as hypoxia in both sample types. Gene set enrichment analysis showed upregulation in angiogenesis related pathways, such as the PI3K-Akt and MAPK pathways, in both samples. Significant downregulation was present in cell cycle related pathways and cholesterol biosynthesis pathway in both ORP2 and protrudin silenced samples.

Tree shoot architecture research is important due to its significance in fields such as timber production, fruit and nut production and aesthetics of common areas. Also, research on genetic factors that regulate shoot and root system architecture might provide novel methods to store more carbon in forests and, hence, mitigate global warming in the future. LAZY1 is one of the major genes that affects branch and tiller angle in herbaceous and woody species such as Arabidopsis, rice and peach tree. LAZY1 has been under scrutiny over a decade but its molecular function remains unknown. However, it is known that lazy1 mutation affects polar auxin transport. Here it is studied how LAZY1 affects initial branch angle, fiber length and reaction wood development in silver birch (Betula pendula). Also, transcript levels of few shoot architecture related genes were analyzed. LAZY phylogenetic analysis provided evidence of a duplication of LAZY1 in three studied tree species (Betula pendula, Prunus persica, Populus trichocarpa), duplicated genes are here named LAZY1a and LAZY1b. Plant material employed in this study was a segregating population (50:50) of back-cross 1 of weeping birch (B. pendula ´Youngii´) which has a truncated lazy1a. Histological samples of branches were prepared by cryo-sectioning, stained with carbohydrate binding Alcian Blue and lignin binding Safranin dyes to reveal patterns of tension wood development. Due to the large size of branch sections, samples were imaged with a microscope and the images were merged together in a Photoshop application. Branch angles were measured manually with a protractor (angle) tool from stem to the middle of a branch. The data was analyzed using mixed linear models due to the nature of used plant material. We could not use clones because of major issues in in vitro propagation. Branch samples were macerated, fibers imaged and measured by ImageJ software. LAZY1a gene expression levels were analyzed by RT-qPCR method. RNA-sequence analysis indicated that the expression pattern of LAZY1a and LAZY1b is similar in B. pendula. However, one should construct a promoter-reporter line to study with better resolution if their expression is spatially analogous. Initial branch angle was significantly different in wild type compared to lazy1a mutant. For future, one could generate single and double knock out lines of lazy1a/b to study if they have cumulative effect on the branch angle, an important factor in timber quality. Tension wood formation was difficult to quantify with the employed method, due to issues in segregating G-layered tension wood from thick-walled reaction wood. A chemical analysis of cellulose content might provide a more objective method to observe tension wood in branches. RT-qPCR method indicated that LAZY1a transcript levels are higher in wild type compared to mutant. A complementation or knock down experiment would provide sound evidence that lazy1a induces the weeping phenotype. X-ray diffraction method could be employed to study the orientation of cellulose microfibril angle in branches of the wild type vs. mutant. Generation of effective tensional stress requires a cellulose microfibril angle less than 10 and this angle is affected by auxin concentration. It is possible, that this angle is larger in lazy1a due to defect in polar auxin transport.

Women have exhibited higher levels of math anxiety (MA) compared to men. Despite the relationship between MA and sex differences being topic of interest for over twenty years, the focal point has mostly been on the psychological causes. This review investigates the biological underpinnings of the social phobia and identifies numerous possible correlates which could inform future efforts to support students experiencing math anxiety and encourage more females to pursue STEM related careers. Articles that investigated sex differences in the context of MA were selected for the study using PRISMA guidelines. Females were found to experience higher levels of math anxiety compared to males. Age was shown to influence the prevalence of MA between sexes, with sex differences in MA being more infrequent in children and increasing towards adulthood. The findings suggest that a diverse set of biological sex differences related to to brain function, cognition and sex hormones can, in part, explain the higher prevalence of MA among females and age-related deviations. By shedding light on possible biological factors contributing to sex differences in MA, this review represents a valuable step toward a more comprehensive understanding of this complex issue.

Nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 (NR5A1) is a master regulator of both steroidogenesis and gonadal development. Disruptions of NR5A1 can result in differences in sexual development (DSD). With proven interspecies differences in NR5A1 functioning and human material not being available, human stem cells are one of the most achievable, ethical, and accurate models to study the earliest developmental stages of foetal life. However, in currently existing human stem cell-derived gonadal models the expression of NR5A1 has been insufficient without artificial induction due to the lack of knowledge of its distinct biological mechanisms, endogenous ligands, and co-factors. A functional reporter cell line would enable high throughput microscope screening of differentiation protocols with expressed NR5A1. The aim of this thesis was to generate a functional monoclonal human embryonic stem cell (hESC) reporter line for the gene NR5A1 with Alt-R CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex. Firstly, an efficient guide RNA was determined for NR5A1 by T7 assay, and a homology-directed repair (HDR) donor plasmid was designed based on it. Secondly, monoclonal hESC lines were generated with the Alt-R CRISPR-Cas9 RNP complex knock-in method and HDR donor plasmid via electroporation and single-cell sorting. Finally, monoclonal hESC reporter lines were screened with Touchdown PCR and a functionality analysis based on fluorescence and mRNA expression was performed. Two monoclonal hESC reporter lines H9-NR5A1-eGFP cl. 1 and dual-inducible H9-NR5A1-DDdCas9VP192-eGFP cl. 28 were established by using Alt-R CRISPR-Cas9 RNP complex. However, a functional validation performed on H9-NR5A1-DDdCas9VP192-eGFP cl. 28 cells showed the cell line to be non-functional upon NR5A1 upregulation regardless of the expressed eGFP mRNA detected with RT-qPCR.

Skeletal dysplasias are a group of rare monogenic bone disorders affecting joints and the skeleton. An increasing number of gene defects have been associated with skeletal dysplasias, but many cases remain without a known cause or a clear diagnosis. Exome sequencing data of the family with two siblings affected with an undiagnosed type of bone dysplasia was examined in this study with the aim of determining the genetic cause behind the phenotype. The causal variant was assumed to be in a novel disease-causing gene, since a previously performed gene panel of skeletal disease-causing genes had not revealed any positive results. The search for potential rare pathogenic variants in genes linked to the skeleton was done with VarAFT filtering software. The search revealed a short list of candidate variants confirmed first with Broad Institute’s Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV) and then with targeted Sanger sequencing. Conservation analysis on the affected amino acids, in silico functional analysis on the variants and a comprehensive literature review on all candidate genes were performed to evaluate the likelihood of them being the variant behind the phenotype. A shortlist of three genes were obtained with the analyses, with one of them seeming to be the most likely candidate. However, to assuredly identify the disease-causing variant, further testing should be performed. Functional analyses should be done to test the functions of the proteins encoded by the candidate genes and the consequences of the pathogenic variants.

Studies of population structure are motivated by the need to understand population history and to have well-characterised groups of individuals in studies of genetics of diseases and traits. A standard method to analyse genetic population structure is principal component analysis (PCA). A disadvantage of PCA is that it can reliably handle only independent genetic markers. This means that the genetic markers that are correlated with other genetic markers have to be excluded from the data. This leads to a loss of information. In 2012, Lawson et al. published a chromosome painting method that can utilise haplotype information, i.e. information from correlated markers, and thus it can detect more subtle differences in populations than the standard PCA. This thesis studies two questions. The first question is whether the chromosome painting method can provide more precise genetic clustering of geographically defined Finnish groups than the standard PCA method. The second question is whether the chromosome painting method can reveal new details of population structure in Finland. The data used in this study are from the FINRISK Study survey of 1997. This cohort includes the genotype data of about 4,000 individuals and the information about individuals and their parents birthplaces. 345 Individuals were randomly chosen from the cohort in such a way that both of their parents were originated from the same province. Ten provinces of Finland were used as study groups for the method comparison. First, the data were analysed with SmartPCA (a standard PCA method) and ChromoPainter (the chromosome painting method) and the results were compared both visually and quantitatively. Finally, the individuals were assigned to populations based on the ChromoPainter result using FineSTRUCTURE program and these genetic populations were compared to the geographic origin of the individuals. The results showed that the chromosome painting method clustered seven out of ten groups significantly tighter than the standard PCA. Nevertheless, SmartPCA was faster and easier to use than ChromoPainter. The main population genetic division was found between the eastern and western parts of Finland, which was consistent with earlier studies. All in all, 15 populations were detected and the results revealed that they were geographically clustered. The genetic populations correlated well with the borders of Finnish provinces and counties. As the first conclusion, the chromosome painting method was able to give more precise results than the standard PCA but the standard PCA is still more suitable for quick preliminary analyses of genetic data. As the second conclusion, the chromosome painting method was able to detect detailed subpopulation structure in Finland and these populations are geographically clustered. Results provide an excellent basis for the future studies of population structure and genetic diseases in Finland.

Preeclampsia is a vascular pregnancy disorder characterized by new-onset hypertension and proteinuria and/or new-onset preeclampsia associated symptoms during the second half of pregnancy. The pathophysiology of the disorder is not fully understood, but incomplete placentation and maternal tolerance towards fetal tissue are known to play a part in the disease pathogenesis. Predisposing factors include nulliparity, obesity, diabetes, chronic hypertension and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, women who have experienced preeclampsia are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease later in life. One established biomarker for preeclampsia is the increased concentration of the soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt1) in the maternal serum. sFlt1 is frequently overexpressed in preeclampsia and it is linked with angiogenic imbalance and endothelial dysfunction, although its role in the disorder is not completely clear. Preeclampsia has a genetic background. There are protective and predisposing variants in and near the Fms related tyrosine kinase 1 gene (FLT1; coding for sFlt1) that have been associated with preeclampsia either in the mother or in the fetus. In this study, five genetic polymorphisms over a 2.3 kb region in the 3’ untranslated region of FLT1 were genotyped by Sanger sequencing and fragment analysis in altogether 1200 individuals consisting of case and control mother–child pairs of the Finnish Genetics of Pre-eclampsia Consortium (FINNPEC) cohort. These polymorphisms were tested for association with various preeclampsia-related phenotypes by Fisher’s exact test. In the maternal genome, the minor alleles of rs17086497 and rs57760154 were associated with extreme hypertension (systolic blood pressure >180 mmHg) (p=0.004, OR=1.77) and obesity (p=0.023, OR=1.63). Homozygosity for these minor alleles was associated with pregnancy complications in general (p=0.026, OR=2.53) and the early-onset form of preeclampsia (p=0.004, OR=3.34). Additionally, the minor alleles of rs9554314, rs3138582 and rs149279513 were associated with extreme hypertension (p=0.045, OR=1.63) and obesity (p=0.023, OR=1.78). Moreover, a suggestive association to severe proteinuria (> 5 g/24h) was found in the maternal genome. In the fetal genome, significant negative associations were reached for rs17086497 and rs57760154 in terms of the serum concentration of sFlt1 in the preeclampsia group (p=0.008, OR=0.23). Overall, the results seem to link the studied region in the maternal genome to preeclampsia with severe features. This supports the idea of preeclampsia as a heterogeneous disorder with varying etiology and mechanisms and thus highlights the importance of differentiating between the various sub-phenotypes. For example, the association of the same allele in the fetal genome with lower maternal sFlt1 levels and in the maternal genome with severe symptoms of preeclampsia suggests that the sFlt1 level might not be a good measure in all patients. Additionally, the observed associations with extreme hypertension and obesity point to the possibility that this region might be relevant for the endothelial damage that is thought to be a central factor in creating the later-in-life disease susceptibility.

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Ewing sarcoma is a rare bone and soft tissues cancer that occurs mainly among children and young adults. It is an aggressive cancer. Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma Family of Tumours (ESFT) primarily includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The treatment protocol depends on the presence of tumour metastases at the time of diagnosis. In the treatment of local tumours, the 5-year patient survival rate has increased from 50% to 70%. However, patients that have tumour metastases at the time of the diagnosis or have a recurrent disease, the five-year survival rate is only 25%. As the current treatment options have reached their limits, it is important to develop more advanced therapies. DNA methylation is an epigenetic event that affects gene expression. By comparing the methylation level of the DNA in gene promoter regions in ESFT cancer cells to the methylation level of DNA in gene promoter regions in normal cells it could be possible to discover genes and signalling pathways that are important in the development of ESFT and that could be potential drug target molecules. The aim of this study is to find out the genome-wide gene promoter DNA methylation status in Ewing sarcoma cell line samples and Ewing sarcoma patient tumour samples compared to a normal reference sample. Another aim is to find gene promoter regions that are differentially methylated in the Ewing sarcoma cell line samples and the Ewing sarcoma patient tumour samples compared to the normal reference sample. Materials and Methods The Ewing Sarcoma cell line samples (12) were obtained from the Laboratory of Oncologi Research, Instituti Ortopedici Rizzoli Laboratory, Bologna, Italy. The Ewing sarcoma patient tumour samples were pre-isolated DNA samples already in Finland. The normal reference sample was a commercial mesenchymal cell line sample. From the Ewing Sarcoma cell line samples and the normal reference sample, DNA isolation was done by using phenol-chloroform method. DNA methylation profiling of the samples was performed by combining MeDIP (methylated DNA immunoprecipitation) protocol with 2-set promoter microarray hybridization protocol provided by Agilent Tecnologies company. DNA methylation data that was received from the microarrays was normalized and pre-processed with the Feature Extraction software provided also by the Agilent Technologies company. Visualization of the DNA methylation data was performed by using Chipster analysis software provided by CSC. To measure the level of DNA methylation at the gene promoter regions, a log2ratio value was calculated for every gene promoter region in all the sample types. To find gene promoter regions that were differently methylated, a log2 fold change value was calculated from the log2ratio values between the Ewing Sarcoma cell line cancer samples and the normal reference sample and between the Ewing sarcoma patient tumor samples and the normal reference sample for each gene promoter region. The log2 fold change value was also calculated between the Ewing Sarcoma cell line cancer samples and the Ewing Sarcoma patient tumor samples. After this a t-test was performed to determine the statistical significance of the log2 fold change values. Detection of genome-wide DNA methylation levels at the gene promoter regions in the Ewing sarcoma cell line samples and the Ewing sarcoma patient tumour samples compared to the normal reference sample was performed by averaging log2 fold change values. The same calculation method was used to detect the differences in the genome-wide DNA methylation levels at the gene promoter regions between the Ewing sarcoma cell lines and the Ewing Sarcoma patient tumour samples. Results Differences in the DNA methylation levels at the gene promoter regions were detected between the Ewing Sarcoma cell line samples, patient tumour samples, and the normal reference sample. Genome-wide measurement of the DNA methylation levels at the gene promoter areas showed that the Ewing sarcoma cell lines had more DNA methylation at the gene promoter regions than the patient tumour samples and the normal reference sample. The patient tumour samples showed less DNA methylation at the gene promoter regions compared to the Ewing sarcoma cell lines and the normal reference sample. Differentially methylated gene promoter regions between the Ewing sarcoma cell lines and the reference sample were found 16. In the patient tumour samples, also 16 differently methylated gene promoter regions were found compared to the normal reference sample. Differentially methylated gene promoter regions between the Ewing sarcoma cell lines and the patient tumour samples were 56.

The skull represents the most highly diversified and evolutionarily adapted anatomical aspect of metazoans, and its development and evolution have been a major driving force in the expansion of vertebrates. The evolution of skull and lower jaw bones have led to the adaptive radiation of jawed vertebrates, and skull tissues have changed rapidly over time and were finely tuned to meet functional and ecological demands with tremendous precision. Because of the long-lasting interest in conventional animal models, there is no general genetic or developmental model of skull evolution and diversity in vertebrates. Squamate reptiles represent the best model to study those aspects because of their key basal phylogenetic position within amniotes (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles) and their exceptionally high levels of morphological variation (including their kinetic skulls). In particular, their lower jaw bones display tremendous variation. In order to assess this variation and the ecological and developmental factors connected to it, several methods from different fields of biology have to be used. In this study, morphometric, embryology and developmental approaches are used to investigate the ecological and developmental factors associated with the diversification of lower jaw bones in snakes and lizards. The shape diversity of squamate lower jaw bones was approached in a systematic way, using geometric morphometrics. Embryological methods were used to compare the embryonic stage of available squamate model animals at oviposition and to assess the order of ossification of embryo with earliest developmental stage at oviposition (bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps). In addition, expression of major conserved candidate genes at different stages of lower jaw development (pharyngeal arches, mesenchyme patterning, ossification) were assessed in this species. The results indicate that the lower jaw bones of snakes versus lizards but also of fossorial squamates versus other habitats are significantly different. Heterochrony was also detected at both early stages (pharyngeal arche development at oviposition) and at the onset of ossification in lizards and snakes. Coherent with that, alterations in the expression pattern of Dlx genes in pharyngeal arches were observed in bearded dragon in comparison to earlier studies with mice, while other conserved markers of skeletogenesis were rather conserved. This analysis of the genotype and phenotype map of the reptilian skull provides some new insights into the development, origin and divergence of vertebrate tissues. The results will establish a good basis for future studies involving comparative developmental biology of bearded dragon. Future studies will offer excellent new opportunities to link craniofacial morphology, genetics/genomics and development to both ecological adaptation and evolutionary biology.