Nikil Badey

Proboscideans have developed a suite of genetic changes including those responsible for tumor suppression and environmental adaptation. Here we examine a handful of woolly mammoth-specific deletions, and their potential contributions to arctic adaptation, as well as the expanded TP53 genetic repertoire in elephants. We use CRISPR-Cas9 to introduce mammoth-specific noncoding deletions as well as knockouts of TP53, all 29 TP53 retrogenes, or both in combination in Asian elephant cell lines, and examine the transcriptomic response. We find that many of the mammoth-specific deletions likely contribute to various arctic phenotypes including vascular development, metabolism and thermogenesis, and hair and skin adaptations. We also find that while there is considerable overlap in DNA damage responses of the TP53 and retrogene knockouts, retrogenes knockouts also exhibit strong enrichment of many extracellular pathways suggesting they may play a role in the tumor microenvironment and mitigating metastatic growth.

Acne vulgaris, rosacea, and hidradenitis suppurativa are enduring inflammatory skin conditions that frequently manifest with akin clinical attributes, posing a considerable challenge for their distinctive diagnosis. While these conditions do exhibit certain resemblances, they also demonstrate distinct underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment modalities. Delving into both the molecular parallels and disparities among these three disorders can yield invaluable insights for refined diagnostics, effective management, and targeted therapeutic interventions. In this report, we present a comparative analysis of transcriptomic data across these three diseases, elucidating differentially expressed genes and enriched pathways specific to each ailment, as well as those shared among them. We also identified high dose dietary zinc as a potential therapeutic agent and validated its efficacy in an acne mouse model.