Identification of candidate chemosensory receptors in the antennal transcriptome of Tropidothorax elegans

Molecular Biology Reports - Chemosensory receptors in the dendritic membrane of olfactory cells are critical for the molecular recognition and discrimination of odorants. Tropidothorax elegans is a...     

An in-depth analysis reveals two new genetic variants on 22q11.2 associated with vitiligo in the Chinese Han population

Molecular Biology Reports - Vitiligo is a complex disease in which patchy depigmentation is the result of an autoimmune-induced loss of melanocytes in affected regions. On the basis of a...     

Integrated Microarray to Identify the Hub miRNAs and Constructed miRNA–mRNA Network in Neuroblastoma Via Bioinformatics Analysis

Neurochemical Research - Neuroblastomas (NB) are childhood malignant tumors originating in the sympathetic nervous system. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential regulatory role in tumorigenesis and...     

Gastrodin Alleviates Cerebral Ischaemia/Reperfusion Injury by Inhibiting Pyroptosis by Regulating the lncRNA NEAT1/miR-22-3p Axis

Cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury-induced irreversible brain injury is a major cause of mortality and functional impairment in ageing people. Gastrodin (GAS), derived from the traditional Chinese herbal medicine Tianma, has been reported to inhibit the progression of stroke, but the mechanism whereby GAS modulates the progression of cerebral I/R remains unclear. The middle cerebral artery occlusion method was used as a model of I/R in vivo. Rats were pretreated with GAS by intraperitoneal injection 7 days before I/R surgery and were then treated with GAS for 7 days after I/R surgery. Additionally, an oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation model using neuronal cells was established in vitro to simulate I/R injury. 2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride and Nissl staining were used to evaluate infarct size and neuronal damage, respectively. Lactate dehydrogenase release and cell counting kit-8 assays were used to assess neuronal cell viability. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, qPCR, flow cytometry and western blotting were performed to analyse the expression levels of inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-18), lncRNA NEAT1, miR-22-3p, NLRP3 and cleaved caspase-1. Luciferase reporter experiments were performed to verify the association between lncRNA NEAT1 and miR-22-3p. The results indicated that GAS could significantly improve the neurological scores of rats and reduce the area of cerebral infarction. Meanwhile, GAS inhibited pyroptosis by downregulating NLRP3, inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-18) and cleaved caspase-1. In addition, GAS attenuated I/R-induced inflammation in neuronal cells through the modulation of the lncRNA NEAT1/miR-22-3p axis. GAS significantly attenuated cerebral I/R injury via modulation of the lncRNA NEAT1/miR-22-3p axis. Thus, GAS might serve as a new agent for the treatment of cerebral I/R injury.

     

Activation of Dopamine Signals in the Olfactory Tubercle Facilitates Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia in Mice

Neurochemical Research - Activation of dopamine (DA) neurons is essential for the transition from sleep to wakefulness and maintenance of awakening, and sufficient to accelerate the emergence from...     

河野脂螨发育各阶段外部形态扫描电镜观察

【目的】了解河野脂螨Lardoglyphus konoi各发育阶段外部形态和超微结构特征。【方法】利用室内培养获得的不同发育阶段的河野脂螨个体样本,在扫描电镜下观察各发育阶段(卵、幼螨、若螨和成螨)的外部形态和超微结构。【结果】河野脂螨卵呈椭圆形;幼螨足3对,未见生殖器官生长痕迹,生殖毛和肛毛缺如;若螨足4对,生殖器官发育不完全,有生殖毛和肛毛,但发育亦不完全。休眠体前端尖细,后端钝圆,呈梨形状。在末体区有吸盘板,其上有13个吸盘,呈2-2-4-5分布。成螨螯肢细长,剪刀状,其上的定趾和动趾上有几个小齿;顶外毛长度约为顶内毛的50%,与顶内毛处同一水平线上。雄成螨第3对足的跗节末端为2个粗钝的齿所替代;腹面有1个生殖区和带有1对肛门吸盘的肛区。雌成螨所有的爪均分叉;腹面生殖孔为1个纵向裂缝;肛门不伸达后缘。【结论】通过电镜扫描对河野脂螨不同发育阶段外部形态和超微结构的观察,更加详细地了解了该螨的形态结构,从而为脂螨科螨类的分类和生物学研究提供了理论依据。     

Correction to: Population genomic structure of the black coral Antipathella subpinnata in Mediterranean Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems

Coral Reefs - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02120-y     

Ultra‐Conserved Elements and morphology reciprocally illuminate conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses in Chalcididae (Hymenoptera,Chalcidoidea)

Recent technical advances combined with novel computational approaches have promised the acceleration of our understanding of the tree of life. However, when it comes to hyperdiverse and poorly known groups of invertebrates, studies are still scarce. As published phylogenies will be rarely challenged by future taxonomists, careful attention must be paid to potential analytical bias. We present the first molecular phylogenetic hypothesis for the family Chalcididae, a group of parasitoid wasps, with a representative sampling (144 ingroups and seven outgroups) that covers all described subfamilies and tribes, and 82% of the known genera. Analyses of 538 Ultra‐Conserved Elements (UCEs) with supermatrix (RAx ML and IQTREE) and gene tree reconciliation approaches (ASTRAL, ASTRID) resulted in highly supported topologies in overall agreement with morphology but reveal conflicting topologies for some of the deepest nodes. To resolve these conflicts, we explored the phylogenetic tree space with clustering and gene genealogy interrogation methods, analyzed marker and taxon properties that could bias inferences and performed a thorough morphological analysis (130 characters encoded for 40 taxa representative of the diversity). This joint analysis reveals that UCEs enable attainment of resolution between ancestry and convergent/divergent evolution when morphology is not informative enough, but also shows that a systematic exploration of bias with different analytical methods and a careful analysis of morphological features is required to prevent publication of artifactual results. We highlight a GC content bias for maximum‐likelihood approaches, an artifactual mid‐point rooting of the ASTRAL tree and a deleterious effect of high percentage of missing data (>85% missing UCEs) on gene tree reconciliation methods. Based on the results we propose a new classification of the family into eight subfamilies and ten tribes that lay the foundation for future studies on the evolutionary history of Chalcididae.