Differential Gene Expression in the Liver of the African Lungfish,Protopterus annectens,after 6 Months of Aestivation in Air or 1 Day of Arousal from 6 Months of Aestivation

The African lungfish, Protopterus annectens, can undergo aestivation during drought. Aestivation has three phases: induction, maintenance and arousal. The objective of this study was to examine the differential gene expression in the liver of P. annectens after 6 months (the maintenance phase) of aestivation as compared with the freshwater control, or after 1 day of arousal from 6 months aestivation as compared with 6 months of aestivation using suppression subtractive hybridization. During the maintenance phase of aestivation, the mRNA expression of argininosuccinate synthetase 1 and carbamoyl phosphate synthetase III were up-regulated, indicating an increase in the ornithine-urea cycle capacity to detoxify ammonia to urea. There was also an increase in the expression of betaine homocysteine-S-transferase 1 which could reduce and prevent the accumulation of hepatic homocysteine. On the other hand, the down-regulation of superoxide dismutase 1 expression could signify a decrease in ROS production during the maintenance phase of aestivation. In addition, the maintenance phase was marked by decreases in expressions of genes related to blood coagulation, complement fixation and iron and copper metabolism, which could be strategies used to prevent thrombosis and to conserve energy. Unlike the maintenance phase of aestivation, there were increases in expressions of genes related to nitrogen, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and fatty acid transport after 1 day of arousal from 6 months aestivation. There were also up-regulation in expressions of genes that were involved in the electron transport system and ATP synthesis, indicating a greater demand for metabolic energy during arousal. Overall, our results signify the importance of sustaining a low rate of waste production and conservation of energy store during the maintenance phase, and the dependence on internal energy store for repair and structural modification during the arousal phase, of aestivation in the liver of P. annectens.     

Effect of combination of high-intensity ultrasound treatment and dextran glycosylation on structural and interfacial properties of buckwheat protein isolates

This study investigated the effects of high-intensity ultrasound and glycosylation on the structural and interfacial properties of the Maillard reaction conjugates of buckwheat protein isolate (BPI). The covalent attachment of dextran to BPI was confirmed by examination of the Fourier-transform infrared spectra. Emulsifying properties of the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment were improved as compared to those obtained by classical heating. Structural feature analyses suggested that conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment had less α-helix and more random coil, higher surface hydrophobicity and less compact tertiary structure as compared to those obtained by classical heating. The surface activity measurement revealed that the BPI–dextran conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment were closely packed and that each molecule occupied a small area of the interface. Combination of ultrasonic treatment and glycosylation was proved to be an efficient way to develop new stabilizers and thickening agents for food in this study.     

Brain metabolic activity associated with long-term memory consolidation

The use of day-old chickens trained on a single-trial passive avoidance task provides a useful paradigm for investigations into cellular mechanisms underlying memory formation. Pharmacological intervention studies indicate that there are three temporally identifiable stages of memory processing leading to the consolidation of information for this task. These stages, designated as short-term (STM; up to 15 min), intermediate-term (ITM; 15-55 min), and long-term (LTM; more than 55 min) memory, have been found to be sequentially dependent (Ng and Gibbs, 1989). In addition, ITM appears to consist of two physiologically distinguishable phases, A and B. Evidence in this laboratory suggests that the crossover between these ITM phases (at 30 min after training) represents a critical time-point for the triggering of LTM.     

Nutrients Limiting Soybean (glycine max l) Growth in Acrisols and Ferralsols of Western Kenya

Low soybean yields in western Kenya have been attributed to low soil fertility despite much work done on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrition leading to suspicion of other nutrient limitations. To investigate this, a nutrient omission trial was set up in the greenhouse at the University of Eldoret-Kenya to diagnose the nutrients limiting soybean production in Acrisols from Masaba central and Butere sub-Counties, and Ferralsols from Kakamega (Shikhulu and Khwisero sub-locations) and Butula sub-Counties and to assess the effect of liming on soil pH and soybean growth. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with ten treatments viz; positive control (complete), negative control (distilled water), complete with lime, complete with N, minus macronutrients P, potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) and with, micro-nutrients boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) omitted. Visual deficiency symptoms observed included interveinal leaf yellowing in Mg omission and N addition and dark green leaves in P omission. Nutrients omission resulted in their significantly low concentration in plant tissues than the complete treatment. Significantly (P≤ 0.05) lower shoot dry weights (SDWs) than the complete treatment were obtained in different treatments; omission of K and Mg in Masaba and Shikhulu, Mg in Khwisero, K in Butere and, P, Mg and K in Butula. Nitrogen significantly improved SDWs in soils from Kakamega and Butula. Liming significantly raised soil pH by 9, 13 and 11% from 4.65, 4.91 and 4.99 in soils from Masaba, Butere and Butula respectively and soybean SDWs in soils from Butere. The results show that, poor soybean growth was due to K, Mg and P limitation and low pH in some soils. The results also signify necessity of application of small quantities of N for initial soybean use.     

LINC01342 promotes the progression of ovarian cancer by absorbing microRNA-30c-2-3p to upregulate HIF3A

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a highly prevalent gynecologic malignancy and its mortality is extremely high. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic approaches for OC is of great significance. In this study, LINC01342 was upregulated in OC tissue in the GSE38666 microarray and in tumor tissue samples collected in our center. The silencing of LINC01342 suppressed the proliferative and metastatic capacities of A2780 and HO8910 cells. Subcellular distribution assays showed that LINC01342 was mainly enriched in the cytoplasm. Subsequently, the downregulation of microRNA-30c-2-3p was proven to be the target of LINC01342. The silencing of microRNA-30c-2-3p enhanced the clonality and migratory capacity of OC cells. Moreover, the silencing of microRNA-30c-2-3p could reverse the inhibited migration and clonality in OC cells caused by LINC01342 knockdown. In addition, hypoxia-inducible factor 3 subunit α (HIF3A) was proven to be the target gene of microRNA-30c-2-3p, which was upregulated. HIF3A was negatively regulated by microRNA-30c-2-3p but positively regulated by LINC01342 in OC cells. An RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation assay showed that microRNA-30c-2-3p, LINC01342, and HIF3A could bind to argonaute RISC catalytic component 2. The overexpression of HIF3A reversed the inhibited migration and clonality in OC cells with LINC01342 knockdown. By analyzing the follow-up data from the enrolled OC patients, the LINC01342 and HIF3A levels were negatively correlated with prognosis, while the microRNA-30c-2-3p level was positively correlated with the same. In short, the upregulated LINC01342 in OC absorbs microRNA-30c-2-3p to release HIF3A. Thus, upregulated HIF3A expression accelerates the progression of OC.