SHE cells from colonies having been morphologi cally transformed

SHE cells from colonies having been morphologi cally transformed after short exposure to chemical carci nogens induced tumours when transplanted back into hamsters. This validated the model and the cell transformation criteria for in vitro carcinogenicity. new post Recently, the SHE cell transformation assay has been recommended by OECD in 2007 as in vitro method of screening chemical carcinogens on the basis of its per formances to detect non genotoxic as well as genotoxic carcinogens. The aim of this work was to use a global transcrip tomic approach to understand the molecular mechan isms of cell transformation induced by DEHP in SHE cells. The objectives were to identify changes in gene expression occurring in the early steps of cell transfor mation as well as pathway disturbances that may trigger a carcinogenic process.

A characterization of the genes expressed in SHE cells at DEHP concentrations inducing cell transformation may give information on PPAR inde pendent mechanisms and alternative pathways of DEHP carcinogenicity. The transcriptomic changes induced by DEHP in SHE cells were analyzed in the first hours of exposure. We focused secondly on changes of cytoskele ton related genes underlying morphological transforma tion in SHE cells. Indeed, cell transformation is expressed by the alteration of cell morphology, a disor ganized pattern of colony growth and the acquisition of anchorage independent growth which is predictive of their ability to induce tumors when injected into syn genic animals.

Despite the Entinostat central role of the actin cytoskeleton throughout the life cycle, little is known about the gene expression changes involved in deregula tion of its dynamic in the first stages of tumorigenesis. Cytoskeleton defects in relation to cancer have been mostly studied in the late stages of cell invasion and metastasis. Differential Display was chosen to identify differen tially expressed genes in SHE cells and to explore the entire genome. The mRNA differential display described by Liang and Pardee is a powerful approach for transcriptomic analysis. This methodology has become popular as a tool for non model organisms because of lack of requirement of previous genomic information about the species of interest. As the genome of hamster is partly characterized so far, Differential Display appeared quite appropriate to study DEHP dose depen dent effects in SHE cells. We applied the current metho dology that uses a combination of 3 anchored oligo dT primers and 80 arbitrary primers of 13 mers. The 240 primer combination allowed us to obtain a level of 95% gene coverage. DD was applied to cells exposed for 24 hrs to DEHP. Genes corresponding to differentially expressed frag ments were characterized.

After 21 days, 1 l of culture was ex tracted twice with an equal

After 21 days, 1 l of culture was ex tracted twice with an equal volume www.selleckchem.com/products/lapatinib.html of methylene chloride. The obtained crude extract was subjected to thin layer chromatographic analysis using solvent system, chloroform methanol. After chromatography, the area with silica gel on the plates containing putative taxol and bacca tin III was scraped at the appropriate relative front and exhaustively eluted with methanol and further separated by high performance liquid chromatography using Kromasil C18 column at 227 nm. Authentic taxol and baccatin III standards were used as reference. Cell lines and culture conditions HeLa, HepG2, Jurkat JR4, Ovcar 3, T47D, Jurkat JR16 and caspase 8 deficient Jurkat cells were used for the experiments. The Jurkat cell lines were grown in RPMI 1640 medium.

HepG2, HeLa, Ovcar 3 and T47D cells were cultured in DMEM. All cul ture media were supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 iu ml 1 penicillin and 100 ug ml 1 streptomycin. Cell lines were grown in a humidified 5% CO2 environment at 37 C and were passaged every 3 4 days. Stock solutions of paclitaxel, baccatin III, fungal taxol and fungal baccatin III dissolved in DMSO were stored at ?80 C. Stocks were diluted in culture medium at the required concentration at the time of treatment. Analysis and quantification of apoptosis Analysis of hypodiploid cells were performed using Propi dium Iodide staining. Flow cytometric analysis of the cell lines was performed after treatment with taxol and baccatin III. Cells treated with different concentrations of standards or fungal taxol and baccatin III in 500 ul of medium for various time intervals were harvested and washed once with 0.

2% BSA containing PBS and fixed in 70% ethanol for 1 h at ?20 C. The cells were then centrifuged at 1000 g and suspended in stain ing solution containing 50 ug/ml PI, 50 ug/ml RNase A and 100 uM EDTA in PBS for 1 h at 42 C. Analysis was carried out using a flow cytometer. Cell cycle distribution is presented as the number of cells versus the amount of DNA, and Anacetrapib the extent of apoptosis was determined by counting cells of DNA content within the subG1 peak. Effect of caspases on fungal taxol and baccatin III induced apoptosis In order to find out the involvement of caspases in the fungal taxol and baccatin III induced apoptotic pathway, caspase in hibitors were employed. Jurkat cells in 250 ul of RPMI supplemented with 10% FBS were first pretreated with 25, 50 and 100 uM of cell permeable Z VAD FMK or Z LEHD FMK or Z DEVD FMK or Z AEVD FMK or Z VDVAD FMK for 1 h. The cells were then cultured for 24 and 48 h with 6 nM of fungal taxol or 3. 5 uM of fungal baccatin III. The cells were processed for PI staining and sub jected to FACScan analysis as described above.

Within all rat strains, abdominal adipocyte FAAH activity correla

Within all rat strains, abdominal adipocyte FAAH activity correlated molecular weight calculator positively with body mass. There was no correlation between blood glucose levels and FAAH activity . however, when the diabetic animals were removed from this analysis, a posi tive correlation was observed between FAAH activity and blood glucose in the subcutaneous and abdominal adipo cytes. In subcutaneous adipocytes, MGL activities for the obese and obese diabetic rats were 18 and 12 fold increased com pared to the lean animals. In abdominal adipocytes the corresponding values were 5 and 3 fold, respectively, and in epididymal adipocytes, MGL activity was 5 and 3. 5 fold increased. A positive relationship was identified between MGL activity and body mass in all adipose tissues.

MGL activity also correlated with blood glucose levels in adipocytes from all three adipose tis sue depots, and this effect became stronger when the diabetic rats were removed. The effects of adipose depots on FAAH and MGL activity In the lean rats, there was no significant difference in FAAH activity between adipose depots, but MGL activity was found to be lower in the subcutaneous adipo cytes than either the abdominal and epididymal adipocytes. In the obese and obese diabetic rats, neither FAAH nor MGL activity in adipocytes differed between the three adipose tissue depots tested. Similarly, in human adipocytes, FAAH and MGL activities did not differ be tween paired subcutaneous and visceral adipocytes. All sub sequent analysis was carried out in subcutaneous adipocytes.

FAAH and MGL activity in obese patients The physiological characteristics of these severely obese patients are given in Table 1, which shows the sample divided into three groups patients with clinically diag nosed T2M, patients without T2M but with at least three markers of metabolic syndrome, and patients without diabetes and with only one or two markers of metabolic syndrome. Be tween these groups, age, BMI, fasting serum insulin con centration, HOMA and mean arterial pressure did not differ. The mean fasting serum glucose concentration and HbA1c were higher in the diabetic group than both the healthy and metabolic syndrome groups. Patients in all groups were prescribed similar medica tions for dyslipidaemia and hypertension, but 5 patients in the diabetic group were taking hypoglycaemic medica tion compared to none in the healthy and metabolic syn drome groups.

Within this sample of obese patients, neither FAAH ac tivity nor MGL activity in subcutaneous adipocytes corre lated with BMI GSK-3 or waist circumference, although there was a trend for a positive correlation between MGL activ ity and BMI. Removing patients with diabetes revealed a significant correlation be tween MGL and BMI. FAAH and MGL activity were not correlated with various skinfold measurements. There was a trend for a negative correlation between FAAH activity and neck cir cumference.

Similarly, the clonidine induced activation of PKC? was eliminate

Similarly, the clonidine induced activation of PKC? was eliminated in tissues preincubated with yohimbine and LY SB203580 chemical structure 294002. These results indicate that stimula tion of canine mesenteric veins with NE and clonidine is associated with activation of PI3Ks and a subsequent acti vation of PKC?. Ion channel blockers and PI3K blockers do not inhibit release of NE Reduction of the SMD could be the result of suppressed NE release from sympathetic nerve terminals in veins, incubated with protein kinase and ion channel blockers. To test this possibility, we assayed the EFS evoked release of NE in superfusates collected during EFS in control veins and in tissues preincubated with each of the aforemen tioned blockers. The average EFS evoked overflow of NE in tissue controls was 122 27 fmol/mg.

In preincubated tissues, the overflow of NE changed to 236 40 in the presence of NFA, 480 122 by NPPB, 142 2 by DIDS, 144 5 by wortmannin, and 214 38 by LY 294002. Therefore, none of these agents reduced the EFS evoked overflow of NE, indicating that their effects on the EFS induced SMD are not due to inhibited NE release but to activation of postjunctional mechanisms. Discussion The NE induced membrane depolarization is an essential requirement for opening VOCC, Ca2 entry and smooth muscle contraction, and hence it represents an important mechanism of autonomic neurovascular control. Previous studies as well as the present work indicate that ?2 adrenoceptors are involved in the SMD and the vasocon striction of mesenteric vein. However, the downstream mechanisms that couple ?2 adronoceptors to SMD remain undefined.

For example, NE induced activation of ClCCa plays a key role in the associated vasoconstriction and presumed membrane depolarization in various vas cular networks, but NSCC may also participate in the NE induced vasoconstriction. In the present study, we have expanded upon these previous works by directly measuring membrane potential in response to EFS of intact canine isolated mesenteric veins. We found that the SMD in response to EFS is frequency dependent, and is sensitive to the fast Na channel blocker TTX, to the inhibitor of neuronal N type Ca2 channels ? conotoxin GVIA, and to the selective antagonist of ?2 adreno ceptors yohimbine. Consistent with previous works, therefore, our results indicate that EFS gives rise to a SMD, which is mediated by smooth muscle ?2 adrenoceptors and hence is primarily mediated by NE, released upon action potential. Furthermore, the SMD of the vascular smooth Brefeldin_A muscle cell membrane appears to be mediated by channels sensitive to NFA, NPPB, and DIDS. Although these inhibitors target transporters with presumed high preference for Cl, they may also affect other ion chan nels, such as the inhibition of NSCC by DIDS.

Furthermore, use of DAPT increased the expression of ROCK1 and 2,

Furthermore, use of DAPT increased the expression of ROCK1 and 2, support ing the idea that Notch1 normally controls these genes in keratinocytes to prevent tumour progression. The transcript levels of Dasatinib Notch have been shown to be upregu lated in mouse embryos treated with trichostatin A, a po tent HDAC inhibitor. Therefore, there is evidence to suggest that Notch1 not only negatively regulates ROCK1 at the promoter level but that HDAC inhibitors upregulate Notch1 gene expression. In HD matrix, we find that Notch1 but not p53 was upregulated by MS 275 and the increase in Notch1 levels was independent of CHX. When Notch1 activation was blocked using a secretase inhibitor, DAPT, or when Notch1 levels were reduced by pooled siRNA transfec tion, the effect of MS 275 on ROCK1 activity was abro gated.

The data suggest that MS 275 directly upregulates Notch1, which in turn blocks ROCK1 expression perhaps via repressor activities on the ROCK1 promoter. Conclusion This work shows that amoeboid tumour cells migrate in stiff matrices by upregulating ROCK1 activity and cell contractility via an epigenetically derived, Notch1 dependant mechanism. However, the require ment for ROCK1 is conditional upon the availability of other mechanisms such as proteolysis assisted migration. Methods Reagents N 4 hosts over half a million single array chip expression profiles and the EBI hosts the ArrayExpress database with a similar largely overlapping number of arrays. These data cannot be compared directly as they come from different array platforms covering many different species and a variety of normalisation schemes are used.

In the overwhelming number of analyses expression profiles are compared within the given series and probed for the up or down regulation of single genes using volcano plot representations or other statistical filters. Alternatively, a larger set of responders can be scored against gene sets corresponding to pathways, interacting networks or gene ontology classes. For large series it is possible to compile correla tions of expression changes of individual gene pairs and groups of genes leading to a hierarchical clustering based network discovery and gene interaction predic tion. To this end SOURCE hosts gene expression profiles across a large collection of experimental series and profile correlations GSK-3 within a given series can be exam ined to predict genes with similar or related function. Many array analysis applications incorporate array derived network data that are valuable aids in characterising the expression profile data GeneGo. However, these analyses do not allow for a direct quantitative comparison between separate expression studies and therefore a lot of the infor mation contained in the experiment is effectively lost.

2% Triton X 100 in PBS for 10 min, followed by 3 washes in PBS B

2% Triton X 100 in PBS for 10 min, followed by 3 washes in PBS. Blocking was carried out for 30 min at room temperature with 5% normal goat serum in PBS. Cells were incubated www.selleckchem.com/products/MLN-2238.html with mouse anti H2A. X for 1 hr, followed by 3 PBS washes. Secondary antibody, anti mouse Alexa Fluor 488, was applied for 1 hr, fol lowed by 3 washes in PBS. Following a rinse with ddH2O, coverslips were mounted on glass slides using Vectashield mounting medium with DAPI. Fluorescence was assessed using the Axioskop 2 MOT microscope. Flow Cytometric Analysis of g H2A. X Expression Following treatment, cells were trypsinized, washed in PBS and fixed on ice with 1% paraformaldehyde for 15 min. After centrifugation, the cell pellet was resus pended in 500 ul of PBS and transferred to a tube con taining 4.

5 ml of cold 70% ethanol and kept at 20 C for a minimum of 2 hrs. Cells were centrifuged and then washed twice in BSA T PBS. Following the sec ond wash, the cell pellet was resuspended in BSA T PBS containing mouse anti gamma H2A. X primary antibody at 1 100 and incubated overnight at 4 C. Cells were then washed once in BSA T PBS and resuspended in BSA T PBS containing anti mouse Alexa Fluor 488 secondary antibody at 1 400 and incubated at room temperature in the dark for 1 hr. Cells were washed once in BSA T PBS and resuspended in PBS containing 50 ug ml propidium iodide and 5 ug ml RNAse A. Cells were analyzed on a Coulter Epics XL flow cytometer and the resulting data was assessed using ModFit software. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay Cells were fixed in 1% formaldehyde for 20 min at room temperature.

Fixation was stopped by quenching with 2. 5 mM glycine solution to a final concentration of 200 mM for 5 min. Cells were then washed twice with ice cold PBS and harvested in 1 ml cold PBS by centrifugation for 5 min at 5,000 rpm. The pellet was resuspended in 90 ul lysis buffer supplemented with 1X Protease Inhibitor Cocktail, 1 mM 1,4 dithio DL threitol, and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. The lysates were sonicated using a Sonicator 3000 to shear DNA to an average size of 300 to 1000 base pairs and then cleared of debris by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 15 min. Input controls were removed from each sample and stored at 20 C. The sonicated lysates were diluted 10 fold with dilu tion buffer, supplemented with 1X Protease Inhibitor Cocktail, 1 mM DTT and 1 mM PMSF, and immunoprecipitated by overnight rota tion at 4 C with rabbit anti acetyl H4 primary antibody.

Negative controls were incubated in the absence of primary antibody. Immune complexes were collected by 2 hr rotation at 4 C with the addi tion of 40 ul of protein A agarose salmon sperm DNA 50% slurry to both positive samples and negative controls. The beads were pelleted gently by centrifugation for 1 min at 3,000 rpm at 4 C and washed Carfilzomib with 1 ml of the following buffers by rotation for 10 min at 4 C Buffer A once, Buffer B once, Buffer C once and TE washing buffer twice.

The mem brane was then developed with ECL reagents and imaged wit

The mem brane was then developed with ECL reagents and imaged with ChemiGenius Bio Imaging system. Optical density of protein signals were mea sured with ImageJ. Endogenous PINK1 was detected using Odyssey Infrared Imaging System. The epithelial barrier indicates the epithelial cell layer on the surface of mucosa such as airway and intestine. The epithelial barrier dysfunction is recognized in selleckchem a number of body disorders, such as intestinal allergy, inflammatory bowel diseases and asthma. The pathogenesis is un clear. Our previous studies reveal that microbial products, such as Staphylococcal enterotoxin B, can facilitate the development of immune disorders in the intestine. However, how the microbial products passing through the epithelial barrier to arrive the deep part of tissue is elusive.

The dysfunction of epithelial barrier manifests increases in the permeability to macromolecular molecules, such as protein antigens. The macromolecular substances may pass through the paracellular spaces, or to be transported via the transcellular pathway, to arrive the subepithelial re gion. Under healthy condition, epithelial cells endocytose some proteins of small molecular weight, those endocytic cargo can be wrapped by the plasma membranes to be formed as endosomes, the latter fuse with lysososmes where there are acidic enzymes to degrade the endocytic cargo. Recent reports indicate that there are a number of factors can affect the endolysosome systems to enhance the epithelial barrier permeability, the causative fac tors include microbial products, such as cholera toxin and SEB.

The underlying mechanism remains to be further understood. Alix Aip1 is a protein that functions in endosomal protein sorting, enveloped virus budding, and many other cellular processes. Crystal structures show that the Alix protein is composed of an N terminal Bro1 do main and a central domain, the latter consists of two ex tended three helix bundles that form elongated arms that fold back into a V. Alix binds to the endosomal sort ing complex required for transport to facilitate the membrane fusion events during the multivesicular en dosome formation. Based on the above information, we hypothesize that Alix is involved in the transcellular transport in epithelial cells. In this study, we observed that intestinal epithelial cell line, T84 cell, expresses Alix.

Ex posure to Brefeldin_A SEB suppressed the expression of Alix in T84 cells, which resulted in enhancing the epithelial barrier permeability to macromolecular antigens. Reagents The antibodies of Alix, TLR2, shRNA of TLR2 and shRNA of Alix were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotech. The reagents of qRT PCR, Western blotting and gene cloning were purchased from Invitrogen. SEB was purchased from Sigma Aldrich. The immune cell isolation kits were purchased from Miltenyi Biotech. The OVA ELISA kit was purchased from Antibodies Online. Mice The OVA TCR transgenic DO11.

These cells were also cap able of chondro, osteo and adipogenesis

These cells were also cap able of chondro, osteo and adipogenesis, selleck catalog validated through histochemistry and gene expression assays, as described in the literature. Materials The protease and phosphatase inhibitor cock tail, were purchased from Roche. Modified porcine trypsin was purchased from Promega. DTT, ammonium bi carbonate, sodium cyanoborohydride, iodoacetamide, triethylammonium bicarbonate and glycolic acid, were from Sigma. CD2O,13CD2O, and sodium cyanoborodeuteride were from Isotec. Formaldehyde and ammonia solution was purchased from Merck. Poros Oligo R3 reversed phase material was from PerSeptive Biosystems. TiO2 beads were obtained from GL Science. EmporeTM C8 extraction disk was from 3 M Bioanalytical Technologies. The water used in all experiments was obtained from a Milli Q purification system.

All other chemicals were pur chased from commercial sources and were of analysis grade. Total protein extract from murine derived mesenchymal stem cells induced with rhBMP2 Cell extracts from mesenchymal stem cells were made as previously described, with some modifications. Briefly, murine skin derived mesenchymal stem cells obtained in our laboratory, were seeded onto 100 mm diameter culture plate in Dulbeccos modified Eagles Medium containing Glutamax I, 1% penicillin streptomycin and 10% fetal bovine serum at 37 C until they reached 90% con fluence. The medium was then changed in each experi mental group for DMEM supplemented with 200 ng ml of rhBMP2 and 10% fetal bovine serum. After the induc tion period, the cultures were washed twice with ice cold PBS buffer.

After washing, cells were harvested and the cell suspension was then centrifuged at 1,000 g for 5 min. The cell pellet was ressuspended in 100 ul of lysis buffer, 2 M thiourea, 1% N octyl glycoside, 40 mM Tris containing phosphatase and proteinase inhibitors and 300 units of Benzonase. The cells were then sonicated at 40% output with intervals of 3 �� 15 s on ice to disrupt the cells and then incubated at ?80 C for 30 min. After incubation, 20 mM DTT was added, and samples were incubated at room temperature for 35 min. Iodoacetamide was then added, followed by incubation for 35 min at room temperature in the dark. For protein precipitation, Entinostat 14 ml of ice cold acet one was added to the solution, followed by incubation at ?20 C for 20 min. The proteins were pelleted by centrifugation at 6,000 g for 10 min at 4 C, and the pellet was stored at ?20 C until further use. The BCA method was used to determine the protein concentra tion of each sample.

Immunofluorescence Cell Fate Quantification Passaged adult NSCs w

Immunofluorescence Cell Fate Quantification Passaged adult NSCs were seeded at 2,000 cells well in ploy D lysine coated black frame white wall 96 well tis sue culture plates in NeuroCult NSC Basal Medium supplemented with mouse NeuroCult NSC Proliferation Supplement, 20 ng ml rh EGF, selleck Tofacitinib 10 ng ml of rh FGF b, 2 ug ml Heparin, 1 2,000 dilution of mouse monoclonal anti GFAP, 1 1,000 dilution of rabbit polyclonal anti Olig2. The following day plates were washed in 1�� PBS and incubated with Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated goat ant mouse IgG or Alexa Fluor 555 conjugated goat anti rabbit IgG secondary antibodies at 1 1,000 dilution in 1�� PBS for 60 minutes at room temp. Plates were then washed in 1�� PBS and the fluor escence signal in each well measured using a FLUOStar Optima microplate reader.

The average fluorescence value for each treat ment was calculated and data obtained from 6 indepen dent replicates. Western blot Nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins were isolated from adult NSCs using NE PER reagents according to the manufacturers instructions. Protein fractions were stored at 20 C in 1x Halt Protease Inhibitor Cocktail until use. Protein extracts were mixed with reducing sample buffer, separated by SDS PAGE and electro transferred to PVDF membrane. 20 ug protein was loaded per lane. All washes and antisera incubations were performed in 5% skim milk in TBS with 0. 1% Tween 20. Blots were incubated with primary antisera overnight at 4 C on a rocking platform. Primary antisera and dilutions used were as follows 1 2,000 mouse anti b catenin, 1 1,000 mouse anti Gapdh 1,000 mouse anti Laminin A C.

The follow ing day blots were washed 3 times and incubated with a 1 5,000 dilution of peroxidase conjugated goat anti mouse IgG secondary antisera for 1 Carfilzomib hour at room temp. Blots were developed in Immobilon chemiluminescent ECL substrate for 5 minutes at room temp and the fluorescent signal captured using a Fujifilm LAS 3000 phospho imager. Immunosignal intensities were measured using Fujifilm Multi Gauge software. Images were optimized for brightness and contrast for publication. Background Nitric oxide is a highly reactive signaling molecule and inflammatory mediator, which acts as a cytotoxic agent and modulates immune responses and inflamma tion. High amounts of NO are produced for pro longed times by inducible nitric oxide synthase in response to proinflammatory cytokines and bacterial products. iNOS expression is regulated both at tran scriptional and posttranscriptional level. Several tran scription factors which regulate iNOS promoter activity have been characterized, but the mechanisms and factors regulating iNOS mRNA stability are largely unknown.

To minimise potential long branch attraction tree reconstruction

To minimise potential long branch attraction tree reconstruction artefacts, we discarded at Sorafenib Raf-1 this step the extremely fast evolving and or very partial sequences of Enterocytozoon bieneusi, Plasmodium spp. and B. hominis, all them having 60% of miss ing data. We also discarded T. vaginalis because this species contained multiple copies of several APC C components and main targets. The resulting Bayesian and maximum likelihood trees recovered the monophyly of each eukaryotic phyla and most often supported by high Bayesian posterior probabilities and maximum likelihood bootstrap values, Discicristata, Het erokonta, Metazoa, Fungi, Choanoflagellata, Viridiplantae and Alveolata. The most remarkable result was the good support retrieved for the monophyly of Fungi, including the extremely fast evolving Microsporidia.

The APC C pro teins are therefore among the rare ones that sup port the correct phylogenetic placement of these parasites as members of the Fungi. Regarding the relationships among the main eukaryo tic groups, the sister grouping of the two choanoflagel lates and C. owczarzaki was supported both by the Bayesian and maximum likelihood trees, these two groups being closely related to Metazoa. This was in agreement with pre vious results, but not with those supporting the emergence of Capsaspora at the base of the group com posed of Choanoflagellata and Metazoa. The phylogenetic signal contained in APC C components and main targets also supported the monophyly of Opisthokonta.

Moreover, if we accept the putative unikont bikont rooting, our analyses also retrieved the Unikonta, including the apu sozoan Thecamonas trahens, albeit with a weaker sup port. Similarly, most of the relationships among bikont lineages were poorly resolved. In particular, the monophyly of Plantae was not recovered, green plants and algae appeared closely related to the haptophyte E. huxleyi, whereas the phylogenetic posi tion of red algae was not resolved. This agreed with other studies showing the difficulty to retrieve the monophyly of Plantae, even with much larger datasets. Finally, heterokonts formed the sister group of green plants and haptophytes. Taken together, our phylogenetic analyses showed that despite the relative small size of the supermatrix con structed with the APC C components and main targets, it contained an interesting phylogenetic signal that can be useful to infer part of the ancient evo lutionary history of eukaryotes.

However, the large size of most of the APC C subunits and main targets made difficult the use of the abundant body of sequence data coming from the analysis of expressed sequence tags because of their incomplete sequence coverage, which limited our taxonomic sampling. Nevertheless, our dataset can now be employed as a reference to enrich it with assembled EST sequences as well as with those from upcoming complete genome sequences from various Drug_discovery protist species.