Molecular cloning, tissue expression and SNP analysis in the goat nerve growth factor gene

In this study, we cloned the full coding region of NGF gene from the caprine ovary. Result showed the caprine NGF cDNA (GenBank Accession No. JQ308184) contained a 726 bp open reading frame encoding a protein with 241 amino acid residues. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that caprine NGF amino acid sequence was 83–99 % identical to that of mouse, pig, dog, human and bovine. It was predicted that caprine NGF contained nine serine phosphorylation loci, four threonine phosphorylation loci and nine specific PKC phosphorylation loci. The NGF mRNA expression pattern showed that NGF gene was expressed highly in ovary. This work provided an important experimental basis for further research on the function of NGF in goat. A single nucleotide polymorphism (A705G) in the coding region of NGF gene was detected by PCR–RFLP and DNA sequencing in 630 goats of three breeds. The frequencies of G allele were 0.52–0.61, and frequencies of A allele were 0.48–0.39 for SN, GZ and BG breeds, respectively. The does with GG genotype had higher litter size than those with GA and AA genotypes (P < 0.05). Hence, the biochemical and physiological functions, together with the results obtained in our investigation, suggest that the NGF gene could serve as a genetic marker for litter size in goat breeding.     

New trends in peptide-based anti-biofilm strategies: a review of recent achievements and bioinformatic approaches

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have a broad spectrum of activity and unspecific mechanisms of action. Therefore, they are seen as valid alternatives to overcome clinically relevant biofilms and reduce the chance of acquired resistance. This paper reviews AMPs and anti-biofilm AMP-based strategies and discusses ongoing and future work. Recent studies report successful AMP-based prophylactic and therapeutic strategies, several databases catalogue AMP information and analysis tools, and novel bioinformatics tools are supporting AMP discovery and design. However, most AMP studies are performed with planktonic cultures, and most studies on sessile cells test AMPs on growing rather than mature biofilms. Promising preliminary synergistic studies have to be consubstantiated and the study of functionalized coatings with AMPs must be further explored. Standardized operating protocols, to enforce the repeatability and reproducibility of AMP anti-biofilm tests, and automated means of screening and processing the ever-expanding literature are still missing.     

Biomass accumulation and partitioning, photosynthesis, and photosynthetic induction in field-grown maize (Zea mays L.) under low- and high-nitrogen conditions

The objectives of this comparative study were to investigate the responses of biomass accumulation and partitioning to nitrogen supply and to examine the effect of low-nitrogen supply on the photosynthetic responses of maize leaves to steady-state and dynamic light. While the difference in leaf number and stem diameter was not statistically significant, there was a significant difference in plant height between the low-nitrogen and high-nitrogen maize plants. During grain-filling period, the ear leaf of the low-nitrogen maize plants possessed lower values of maximum photosynthetic rate, maximum stomatal conductance, maximum transpiration rate, apparent quantum yield, light compensate point, and carboxylation efficiency than did that of the high-nitrogen maize plants. Contrarily, lower values of intercellular CO₂ concentration and dark respiration rate were observed in the high-nitrogen maize plants. In addition, a slower response to simulated sunflecks was found in the ear leaf of the low-nitrogen maize plants; however, stomatal limitations did not operate in the ear leaf of the high-nitrogen or low-nitrogen maize plants during the photosynthetic induction. As compared to the high-nitrogen maize plants, the low-nitrogen maize plants accumulated much less plant biomass but allocated a greater proportion of biomass to belowground parts. In conclusion, our results suggested that steady-state photosynthetic capacity is restricted by both biochemical and stomatal limitation and the photosynthetic induction is constrained by biochemical limitation alone in low-nitrogen maize plants, and that maize crops respond to low-nitrogen supply in a manner by which more biomass was allocated preferentially to root tissues.     

Arabidopsis CROLIN1, a Novel Plant Actin-binding Protein,Functions in Cross-linking and Stabilizing Actin Filaments

Higher order actin filament structures are necessary for cytoplasmic streaming, organelle movement, and other physiological processes. However, the mechanism by which the higher order cytoskeleton is formed in plants remains unknown. In this study, we identified a novel actin-cross-linking protein family (named CROLIN) that is well conserved only in the plant kingdom. There are six isovariants of CROLIN in the Arabidopsis genome, with CROLIN1 specifically expressed in pollen. In vitro biochemical analyses showed that CROLIN1 is a novel actin-cross-linking protein with binding and stabilizing activities. Remarkably, CROLIN1 can cross-link actin bundles into actin networks. CROLIN1 loss of function induces pollen germination and pollen tube growth hypersensitive to latrunculin B. All of these results demonstrate that CROLIN1 may play an important role in stabilizing and remodeling actin filaments by binding to and cross-linking actin filaments.     

Cell proliferation is promoted by compressive stress during early stage of chondrogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs

The presence of an appropriate number of viable cells is prerequisite for successive differentiation during chondrogenesis. Chondrogenic differentiation has been reported to be influenced by mechanical stimuli. This research aimed to study the effects of cyclic compressive stress on cell viability of rat bone marrow‐derived MSCs (BMSCs) during chondrogenesis as well as its underlying mechanisms. The results showed that dynamic compression increased cell quantity and viability remarkably in the early stage of chondrogenesis, during which the expression of Ihh, Cyclin D1, CDK4, and Col2α1 were enhanced significantly. Possible signal pathways implicated in the process were explored in our study. MEK/ERK and p38 MAPK were not found to function in this process while BMP signaling seemed to play an important role in the mechanotransduction during chondrogenic proliferation. In conclusion, dynamic compressive stress could enhance cell viability during chondrogenesis, which might be achieved by activating BMP signaling. J. Cell. Physiol. 228: 1935–1942, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sequence polymorphisms in Pvs48/45 and Pvs47 gametocyte and gamete surface proteins in Plasmodium vivax isolated in Korea

Nucleotide sequence analyses of the Pvs48/45 and Pvs47 genes were conducted in 46 malaria patients from the Republic of Korea (ROK) (n = 40) and returning travellers from India (n = 3) and Indonesia (n = 3). The domain structures, which were based on cysteine residue position and secondary protein structure, were similar between Plasmodium vivax (Pvs48/45 and Pvs47) and Plasmodium falciparum (Pfs48/45 and Pfs47). In comparison to the Sal-1 reference strain (Pvs48/45, PVX_083235 and Pvs47, PVX_083240), Korean isolates revealed seven polymorphisms (E35K, H211N, K250N, D335Y, A376T, I380T and K418R) in Pvs48/45. These isolates could be divided into five haplotypes with the two major types having frequencies of 47.5% and 20%, respectivelfy. In Pvs47, 10 polymorphisms (F22L, F24L, K27E, D31N, V230I, M233I, E240D, I262T, I273M and A373V) were found and they could be divided into four haplotypes with one major type having a frequency of 75%. The Pvs48/45 isolates from India showed a unique amino acid substitution site (K26R). Compared to the Sal-1 and ROK isolates, the Pvs47 isolates from travellers returning from India and Indonesia had amino acid substitutions (S57T and I262K). The current data may contribute to the development of the malaria transmission-blocking vaccine in future clinical trials.     

A new genus and species of parasitic isopod (Isopoda: Bopyridae: Orbioninae) from Chinese waters, with a new locality and host record for Orbione halipori Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1923

Parasymmetrorbione bicauda n. g., n. sp. is described from Chinese waters infesting two species of Solenocera Lucas (Decapoda: Penaeoidea). The new genus differs from other orbionine genera by the following combination of features: a pronounced asymmetry of coxal and lateral plate development, biramous uropods, tuberculate lateral plates and a digitate internal ridge on oostegite 1. A key to the eight genera of the Orbioninae R. Codreanu, 1967 is presented. Orbione halipori Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1923 is also recorded from a new Chinese locality and a new host.     

Assessing the impact of thermal acclimation on physiological condition in the zebrafish model

The zebrafish has become a valuable vertebrate model organism in a wide range of scientific disciplines, but current information concerning the physiological temperature response of adult zebrafish is rather scarce. In this study, zebrafish were experimentally acclimated for 28 days to 18, 26 or 34 °C and a suite of non-invasive and invasive methods was applied to determine the thermal dependence of zebrafish physiological condition. With decreasing temperature, the metabolic rate of zebrafish decreased, as shown by the decreasing oxygen uptake and ammonia excretion rates, limiting the critical swimming speed, probably due to a decreased muscle fibre power output. In response to exercise, fuel stores were mobilized to the liver as shown by the increased hepatosomatic index, liver total absolute energetic value and liver carbohydrate concentration but due to the low metabolic rate they could not be adequately addressed to power swimming activity at 18 °C. Conversely, the increased metabolic performance at high temperature came with an increased metabolic cost resulting in decreased energy status reflected particularly well by the non-invasive condition factor and invasive measures of carcass protein concentration, carcass total absolute energetic value and liver carbohydrate concentration. We showed that the combined measurement of the relative condition factor and critical swimming speed is a powerful non-invasive tool for long-term follow-up studies. Invasive methods were redundant for measuring general energy status but they provided detailed information concerning metabolic reorganization. With this study we proved that the usefulness of the zebrafish as a model organism can easily be expanded to include physiological studies and we provided a reference dataset for the selection of measures of physiological responses for future studies using the zebrafish.