Hepatic overexpression of methionine sulfoxide reductase A reduces atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice

Methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA), a specific enzyme that converts methionine-S-sulfoxide to methionine, plays an important role in the regulation of protein function and the maintenance of redox homeostasis. In this study, we examined the impact of hepatic MsrA overexpression on lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis in apoE-deficient (apoE^−/−) mice. In vitro study showed that in HepG2 cells, lentivirus-mediated human MsrA (hMsrA) overexpression upregulated the expression levels of several key lipoprotein-metabolism-related genes such as liver X receptor α, scavenger receptor class B type I, and ABCA1. ApoE^−/− mice were intravenously injected with lentivirus to achieve high-level hMsrA expression predominantly in the liver. We found that hepatic hMsrA expression significantly reduced plasma VLDL/LDL levels, improved plasma superoxide dismutase, and paraoxonase-1 activities, and decreased plasma serum amyloid A level in apoE^−/− mice fed a Western diet, by significantly altering the expression of several genes in the liver involving cholesterol selective uptake, conversion and excretion into bile, TG biosynthesis, and inflammation. Moreover, overexpression of hMsrA resulted in reduced hepatic steatosis and aortic atherosclerosis. These results suggest that hepatic MsrA may be an effective therapeutic target for ameliorating dyslipidemia and reducing atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular diseases.     

Receptor Usage and Cell Entry of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Coronavirus

Porcine epidemic diarrhea coronavirus (PEDV) has significantly damaged America''s pork industry. Here we investigate the receptor usage and cell entry of PEDV. PEDV recognizes protein receptor aminopeptidase N from pig and human and sugar coreceptor N-acetylneuraminic acid. Moreover, PEDV infects cells from pig, human, monkey, and bat. These results support the idea of bats as an evolutionary origin for PEDV, implicate PEDV as a potential threat to other species, and suggest antiviral strategies to control its spread.     

福寿螺表型性状的空间尺度变异

格局和尺度是生态学的核心概念。尺度的变化可能导致生态学格局的改变。入侵物种性状的变异会对种群的建立和扩散产生重要的影响。为了研究入侵物种福寿螺(Pomacea canaliculata)表型性状的尺度变异并推测可能的作用机制,在广东省开展了福寿螺的体质量、体高、体宽、壳口宽4个表型性状在城市、乡镇、生境、样方、个体5个空间尺度上变异的研究。通过拟合混合模型,进行方差分解,结果发现个体和样方差异解释了近80%的性状变异,生境的差异解释了除体重外其他性状的剩余变异;除体重外乡镇和城市尺度上性状的变异并不明显。结果进一步表明,区域尺度的过程如气候特征等对福寿螺表型性状变异不起主要作用;福寿螺种群特征的研究及防控的重点应考虑其遗传结构特征及局部尺度环境因素。通过不同尺度下性状的变异系数和频度分布曲线的分析,进一步验证了以上结果。     

浙江天童太白山不同群落植物构型比较

植物构型是植株构件在空间上的分配方式,反映了植物对环境的响应策略。通过对浙江天童太白山海拔差异很小的栲树(Castanopsis fargesii)、小叶青冈(Cyclobalanopsis gracilis)和云山青冈(Cyclobalanopsis sessilifolia)群落类型中所有植株的树高、树冠厚度、树冠面积、叶片聚集度、枝下高和距地45 cm基径等植物构型性状,以及树冠曝光指数、土壤含水率、空气温湿度、土壤p H值和风速6个环境因子的测定,分别分析乔灌木层植物构型性状及性状关系在3个群落间的变化规律。结果表明:(1)从栲树到小叶青冈至云山青冈群落,灌木层的树高、树冠厚度、枝下高和距地45 cm基径增加,叶片聚集度减小;乔木层的树高、树冠厚度、树冠面积、枝下高和距地45 cm基径均减小,叶片聚集度增大;(2)3个群落灌木层构型性状间显著相关(P0.001),而乔木层只在中低海拔群落存在相关性;(3)从栲树到小叶青冈至云山青冈群落,乔灌木层的冠层曝光指数显著增加(P0.05);(4)多元逐步回归表明,树冠曝光指数对灌木层构型性状变异的贡献最大,而风速、土壤含水率和p H值对乔木构型性状的变异起主导作用。综上得知,天童太白山乔灌木植物在不同群落间存在构型分异,植物对光资源的竞争是引起灌木构型在不同群落间变化的主要驱动因子,而对乔木植物,其构型变化更多受到风速和土壤含水量的影响。     

Detection of selection signatures in dairy and beef cattle using high-density genomic information

Background

Artificial selection for economically important traits in cattle is expected to have left distinctive selection signatures on the genome. Access to high-density genotypes facilitates the accurate identification of genomic regions that have undergone positive selection. These findings help to better elucidate the mechanisms of selection and to identify candidate genes of interest to breeding programs.

Results

Information on 705 243 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3122 dairy and beef male animals from seven cattle breeds (Angus, Belgian Blue, Charolais, Hereford, Holstein-Friesian, Limousin and Simmental) were used to detect selection signatures by applying two complementary methods, integrated haplotype score (iHS) and global fixation index (F_ST). To control for false positive results, we used false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment to calculate adjusted iHS within each breed and the genome-wide significance level was about 0.003. Using the iHS method, 83, 92, 91, 101, 85, 101 and 86 significant genomic regions were detected for Angus, Belgian Blue, Charolais, Hereford, Holstein-Friesian, Limousin and Simmental cattle, respectively. None of these regions was common to all seven breeds. Using the F_ST approach, 704 individual SNPs were detected across breeds. Annotation of the regions of the genome that showed selection signatures revealed several interesting candidate genes i.e. DGAT1, ABCG2, MSTN, CAPN3, FABP3, CHCHD7, PLAG1, JAZF1, PRKG2, ACTC1, TBC1D1, GHR, BMP2, TSG1, LYN, KIT and MC1R that play a role in milk production, reproduction, body size, muscle formation or coat color. Fifty-seven common candidate genes were found by both the iHS and global F_ST methods across the seven breeds. Moreover, many novel genomic regions and genes were detected within the regions that showed selection signatures; for some candidate genes, signatures of positive selection exist in the human genome. Multilevel bioinformatic analyses of the detected candidate genes suggested that the PPAR pathway may have been subjected to positive selection.

Conclusions

This study provides a high-resolution bovine genomic map of positive selection signatures that are either specific to one breed or common to a subset of the seven breeds analyzed. Our results will contribute to the detection of functional candidate genes that have undergone positive selection in future studies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-015-0127-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

辽河流域大型底栖动物耐污值

大型底栖动物耐污值是构建河流生物评价指标的基础。受自然地理区域影响,同一分类单元的耐污值会出现地域上的差异,因此计算和修订适用于某一研究区域的耐污值是准确评价该区域河流健康状况的前提。目前尚未有针对我国北方河流大型底栖动物耐污值计算和修订的报道,基于2009年春季、秋季和2010年夏季在辽河流域308个样点的大型底栖动物数据,采用Simpson多样性指数的水质分级标准对所有样点的水质等级进行了划分,并利用累积分位数法计算获得了辽河流域大型底栖动物195个分类单元的耐污值;同时参考专家经验和相关文献核定了其余71个分类单元的耐污值。依据耐污值敏感特征划分标准,辽河流域大型底栖动物优势类群以敏感种和一般耐污种为主,两者几乎占到总分类单元数的84%,耐污类群种类较少,仅占16%。其中敏感类群有齿蛉科Corydalidae,襀科Perlidae,原石蛾科Rhyacophilidae,细裳蜉科Leptophlebiidae等;一般耐污类群有纹石蛾科Hydropsychidae,四节蜉科Baetidae,扁蜷螺科Planorbidae等;耐污类群有颤蚓科Tubificidae、石蛭科Erpobdellidae等。