Differential mRNA display was used to comprehensively screen the murine thymic transcriptome for genes modulated in vivo by dietary zinc. A moderate feeding protocol rendered young adult, outbred mice zinc-deficient and zinc-supplemented without alterations in feeding behavior or growth. However, these levels of deficiency and supplementation altered specific mRNA abundances in a manner detectable by differential display. In total, 240 primer-pair combinations were used to generate >48,000 interpretable cDNA bands derived from thymic total RNA, of which only 265 or 0.55% were identified as zinc-modulated under these moderate dietary conditions. The most strongly zinc-modulated cDNAs identified by display were reamplified and sequenced. No cDNAs encoding zinc-metalloenzymes or zinc-finger transcription factors were identified as zinc-modulated in this global screening. Those zinc-regulated genes independently confirmed by quantitative PCR included: heat shock proteins 40 and 60; heat shock cognate 70; histocompatibility 2, class II antigen A, alpha; and the T cell cytokine receptor. In addition, a variety of transcription- and translation-related factors (such as ribosomal proteins L3, L5, and L28; nuclear matrix protein 84; matrin cyclophilin; the H3 histone family 3A protein; beta(2) microglobulin; and a cleavage and polyadenylation factor) were identified as zinc-modulated. These profiling data show that differential expression of genes in the thymus in response to the dietary zinc supply precedes many of the phenotypic effects on thymic function associated with severe zinc restriction or supplementation. Several genes involved in T cell development were identified as regulated by zinc and will be targets to evaluate the effects of zinc on immune function.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
3%
Other
3
9%
Unknown
9
26%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 May 2025.
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#7,642,348
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Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#316
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Altmetric has tracked 34,559,526 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 119,174 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.1. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 607 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
