A New Pathway for Senescence Regulation

<正>Research concerning senescence has become a hotspot since the conception of‘cellular senescence’was put forward by Drs.Hayflick and Moorhead over five decades ago[1].Recently,a paper published in Science by Kang and colleagues,which this article aims to comment on,provides evidence of a new pathway involved in senescence[2].Senescence is a physiological and pathological process induced by numerous factors,during which cell growth ceases     

High-speed broadband monitoring of cell viscoelasticity in real time shows myosin-dependent oscillations

Study of the dynamic evolutions of cell viscoelasticity is important as during cell activities such as cell metastasis and invasion, the rheological behaviors of the cells also change dynamically, reflecting the biophysical and biochemical connections between the outer cortex and the intracellular structures. Although the time variations of the static modulus of cells have been investigated, few studies have been reported on the dynamic variations of the frequency-dependent viscoelasticity of cells. Measuring and monitoring such dynamic evolutions of cells at nanoscale can be challenging as the measurement needs to meet two objectives inherently contradictory to each other—the measurement must be broadband (to cover a large frequency spectrum) but also rapid (to capture the time-elapsed changes). In this study, we exploited a recently developed control-based nanomechanical protocol of atomic force microscope to monitor in real time the dynamic evolutions of the viscoelasticity of live human prostate cancer cells (PC-3 cells) and study its dependence on myosin activities. We found that the viscoelasticity of PC-3 cells, followed the power law, and oscillated at a period of about 200 s. Both the amplitude and the frequency of the oscillation strongly depended on the intracellular calcium and blebbistatin-sensitive motor proteins.     

Marek's disease virus (MDV) ICP4, pp38, and meq genes are involved in the maintenance of transformation of MDCC-MSB1 MDV-transformed lymphoblastoid cells.

An antisense strategy has been used to identify genes important for the maintenance of transformation of MDCC-MSB1 (MSB1) Marek's disease virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cells. Oligodeoxynucleotides antisense to the predicted translation initiation regions of ICP4 and pp38 mRNAs inhibited proliferation of MSB1 cells but not MDCC-CU91 (CU91) reticuloendotheliosis virus-transformed cells. Control oligodeoxynucleotides having the same base composition but a different sequence did not inhibit MSB1 cell proliferation. In addition, ICP4 and pp38 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides resulted in 77- and 100-fold reductions in colony formation by MSB1 cells in soft agar, respectively. To extend and corroborate these results, a novel system based on efficiently regulated expression of eukaryotic genes by a chimeric mammalian transactivator, LAP267 (S. B. Baim, M. A. Labow, A. J. Levine, and T. Shenk, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:5072-5076, 1991), was used. MSB1-derived stably transfected cell lines in which RNA antisense to Marek's disease virus ICP4, pp38, or meq could be induced by treatment of the cells with isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) were constructed. Control cell lines in which expression of ICP4 sense or pUC19 sequences could be induced by IPTG were also constructed. Induction of the cell lines indicated that ICP4 antisense RNA, but not ICP4 sense RNA or pUC19 RNA, inhibited proliferation of MSB1 cells. Induction of ICP4, meq, or pp38 antisense RNAs, but not ICP4 sense or pUC19 RNAs, had a dramatic effect on relative colony formation by MSB1 cells in soft agar. These results indicate that ICP4, pp38, and Meq are all involved in the maintenance of transformation of MSB1 cells.     

Statures in Han populations of China

<正>Dear Editor,Shortly after initiating the"Physical Anthropological Research on Han Chinese"research project,we applied uniform sampling methods as well as methods and instruments of measurement to obtain a complete set of measurements of physical anthropological indicators among Han populations across China.Among these measurements,body stature was a key indicator.Currently,there should be reliable     

Mitochondrial ribosomal protein S9M is involved in male gametogenesis and seed development in Arabidopsis

• Mitochondrial function is critical for cell vitality in all eukaryotes including plants. Although plant mitochondria contain many proteins, few have been studied in the context of plant development and physiology.
• We used knock‐down mutant RPS9M to study its important role in male gametogenesis and seed development in Arabidopsis thaliana.
• Knock‐down of RPS9M in the rps9m‐3 mutant led to abnormal pollen development and impaired pollen tube growth. In addition, both embryo and endosperm development were affected. Phenotype analysis revealed that the rps9m‐3 mutant contained a lower amount of endosperm and nuclear proteins, and both embryo cell division and embryo pattern were affected, resulting in an abnormal and defective embryo. Lowering the level of RPS9M in rps9m‐3 affects mitochondrial ribosome biogenesis, energy metabolism and production of ROS.
• Our data revealed that RPS9M plays important roles in normal gametophyte development and seed formation, possibly by sustaining mitochondrial function.