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Thanatotranscriptome: genes actively expressed after organismal death

View ORCID ProfileAlex E. Pozhitkov, View ORCID ProfileRafik Neme, View ORCID ProfileTomislav Domazet-Lošo, View ORCID ProfileBrian G. Leroux, View ORCID ProfileShivani Soni, View ORCID ProfileDiethard Tautz, View ORCID ProfilePeter A. Noble
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/058305
Alex E. Pozhitkov
1Department of Oral Health Sciences, University of Washington, Box 357444, Seattle, WA USA, 98195.
2Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Strasse 2, 24306 Ploen Germany.
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Rafik Neme
2Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Strasse 2, 24306 Ploen Germany.
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Tomislav Domazet-Lošo
3Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics, Division of Molecular Biology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10002 Zagreb, Croatia.
4Catholic University of Croatia, Ilica 242, Zagreb, Croatia.
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Brian G. Leroux
1Department of Oral Health Sciences, University of Washington, Box 357444, Seattle, WA USA, 98195.
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Shivani Soni
5Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Box 15 357444, Seattle, WA USA 98195.
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Diethard Tautz
2Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Strasse 2, 24306 Ploen Germany.
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Peter A. Noble
5Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Box 15 357444, Seattle, WA USA 98195.
6Department of Biological Sciences, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA 36101-0271.
7PhD Program in Microbiology, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA 36101-0271.
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  • For correspondence: panoble@washington.edu
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ABSTRACT

A continuing enigma in the study of biological systems is what happens to highly ordered structures, far from equilibrium, when their regulatory systems suddenly become disabled. In life, genetic and epigenetic networks precisely coordinate the expression of genes -- but in death, it is not known if gene expression diminishes gradually or abruptly stops or if specific genes are involved. We investigated the ‘unwinding of the clock’ by identifying upregulated genes, assessing their functions, and comparing their transcriptional profiles through postmortem time in two species, mouse and zebrafish. We found transcriptional abundance profiles of 1,063 genes were significantly changed after death of healthy adult animals in a time series spanning from life to 48 or 96 h postmortem. Ordination plots revealed non-random patterns in profiles by time. While most thanatotranscriptome (thanatos-, Greek defn. death) transcript levels increased within 0.5 h postmortem, some increased only at 24 and 48 h. Functional characterization of the most abundant transcripts revealed the following categories: stress, immunity, inflammation, apoptosis, transport, development, epigenetic regulation, and cancer. The increase of transcript abundance was presumably due to thermodynamic and kinetic controls encountered such as the activation of epigenetic modification genes responsible for unraveling the nucleosomes, which enabled transcription of previously silenced genes (e.g., development genes). The fact that new molecules were synthesized at 48 to 96 h postmortem suggests sufficient energy and resources to maintain self-organizing processes. A step-wise shutdown occurs in organismal death that is manifested by the apparent upregulation of genes with various abundance maxima and durations. The results are of significance to transplantology and molecular biology.

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Posted June 10, 2016.
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Thanatotranscriptome: genes actively expressed after organismal death
Alex E. Pozhitkov, Rafik Neme, Tomislav Domazet-Lošo, Brian G. Leroux, Shivani Soni, Diethard Tautz, Peter A. Noble
bioRxiv 058305; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/058305
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Thanatotranscriptome: genes actively expressed after organismal death
Alex E. Pozhitkov, Rafik Neme, Tomislav Domazet-Lošo, Brian G. Leroux, Shivani Soni, Diethard Tautz, Peter A. Noble
bioRxiv 058305; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/058305

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