Pseudogenes have long been labeled as ''junk'' DNA, failed copies of genes that arise during the evolution of genomes. However, recent results are challenging this moniker; indeed, some pseudogenes appear to harbor the potential to regulate their protein-coding cousins. Far from being silent relics, many pseudogenes are transcribed into RNA, some exhibiting a tissuespecific pattern of activation. Pseudogene transcripts can be processed into short interfering RNAs that regulate coding genes through the RNAi pathway. In another remarkable discovery, it has been shown that pseudogenes are capable of regulating tumor suppressors and oncogenes by acting as microRNA decoys. The finding that pseudogenes are often deregulated during cancer progression warrants further investigation into the true extent of pseudogene function. In this review, we describe the ways in which pseudogenes exert their effect on coding genes and explore the role of pseudogenes in the increasingly complex web of noncoding RNA that contributes to normal cellular regulation.

No abstract

Bone marrow (BM)-derived classical monocytes are critical to wound repair, where they differentiate into macrophages and purge foreign materials and dead cells while also laying the framework for tissue repair and regeneration. A subset of this recruited population persists in the wound and acquires alternative activation states to promote cell proliferation and matrix remodeling. In diabetes, this phenotypic switch is impaired and inflammation persists in an elevated state, contributing to delayed wound healing. Long-term tissue-resident macrophages can also play a key role in the resolution of inflammation to varying degrees across different organs. In this study, we investigated different macrophage subpopulations in nondiabetic and diabetic wounds over time using Cx3CR1 eGFP transgenic mice and BM transplants. We show Cx3CR1 eGFP-hi macrophages in skin wounds are derived from long-term tissue-resident macrophages and predominantly exhibit an alternative activation state, whereas cells expressing low-intermediate Cx3CR1 eGFP are derived from the BM, contribute to both early and later stages of wound healing, and show both classical and alternative activation states. Diabetic mice showed significant differences in the dynamics of these subpopulations, which likely contribute to elevated and persisting inflammatory states over time. In particular, failure of Cx3CR1 int macrophages to mature into Cx3CR1 hi links maturation to resolution of inflammation. Thus strategies to promote macrophage maturation may be effective therapeutic tools in chronic inflammatory environments. ImmunoHorizons, 2019, 3: 262-273.

OBJECTIVEInactivating mutations in glucokinase (GCK) cause mild fasting hyperglycemia. Identification of a GCK mutation has implications for treatment and prognosis; therefore, it is important to identify these individuals. A significant number of patients have a phenotype suggesting a defect in glucokinase but no abnormality of GCK. We hypothesized that the GCK β-cell promoter region, which currently is not routinely screened, could contain pathogenic mutations; therefore, we sequenced this region in 60 such probands.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThe β-cell GCK promoter was sequenced in patient DNA. The effect of the identified novel mutation on GCK promoter activity was assessed using a luciferase reporter gene expression system. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) were used to determine the impact of the mutation on Sp1 binding.RESULTSA novel −71G>C mutation was identified in a nonconserved region of the human promoter sequence in six apparently unrelated probands. Family testing established cosegregation with fasting hyperglycemia (≥5.5 mmol/l) in 39 affected individuals. Haplotype analysis in the U.K. family and four of the Slovakian families demonstrated that the mutation had arisen independently. The mutation maps to a potential transcriptional activator binding site for Sp1. Reporter assays demonstrated that the mutation reduces promoter activity by up to fourfold. EMSAs demonstrated a dramatic reduction in Sp1 binding to the promoter sequence corresponding to the mutant allele.CONCLUSIONSA novel β-cell GCK promoter mutation was identified that significantly reduces gene expression in vitro through loss of regulation by Sp1. To ensure correct diagnosis of potential GCK-MODY (maturity-onset diabetes of the young) cases, analysis of the β-cell GCK promoter should be included.