Development of Species-Specific InDel Markers in Citrus

Citrus taxonomy is complex owing to the existence of a wide range of species: Poncirus is used mainly for rootstock; Fortunella produces small fruit and edible pericarp; and Citrus comprises the most widespread fruit crop species worldwide. Rapidly increasing genome resources from different citrus species facilitate the development of convenient and genome-wide molecular markers that can be applied to both inter- and intra-species analyses. In this study, by comparing the genome sequences of four citrus species, a set of 1958 InDels were identified and 453 candidate InDels were converted into PCR-based markers. Among these candidate InDels, 268 (65%) exhibited length polymorphisms from 30 bp to 200 bp when applied to seven species from the genera Poncirus, Fortunella and Citrus. Seven InDel markers exhibited high intraspecific polymorphisms in a natural pummelo population. The results showed that the InDel markers are effective for both inter- and intra-specific variation and identification analyses. These InDel markers are expected to be applied to germplasm identification, phylogenetic analysis, genetic diversity evaluation and marker-assisted breeding in citrus.     

肺腺癌组织中表皮生长因子受体基因突变的检测及其临床意义

目的:通过检测肺腺癌组织中表皮生长因子受体(EGFR)基因的突变情况,研究EGFR突变与患者临床特征(性别、年龄和吸烟史)的相关性。方法:收集160例肺腺癌患者术前的石蜡组织标本,提取DNA后用实时定量PCR方法对EGFR基因18~21外显子进行突变检测;对基因突变结果与患者的性别、年龄和吸烟史分别做χ2检验。结果:160例肺腺癌组织标本中,有57例检测到EGFR基因突变,突变率为35.6%,且突变与患者性别、年龄和吸烟史均无显著相关性(P0.05);57例EGFR基因突变标本中,27例为19外显子缺失,22例为21外显子L858R点突变,这2种突变占总突变类型的85.96%,并且与患者性别、年龄及吸烟史无显著相关性(P0.05)。结论:EGFR基因在女性不吸烟肺腺癌中有较高的突变率,突变主要集中在19外显子缺失和21外显子L858R点突变,但突变率及突变类型与患者性别、年龄和吸烟史均不相关。     

短序与阔叶十大功劳化学组分及小檗碱含量的FTIR比较研究

为快速评价短序与阔叶十大功劳不同部位化学成分差异,本研究运用FTIR采集短序和阔叶十大功劳不同部位的红外光谱并比较短序与阔叶十大功劳不同部位盐酸小檗碱含量差异.研究结果显示,生物碱、黄酮和丁香酯等化学成分,短序十大功劳根、茎及叶片中均较阔叶十大功劳丰富,但是,多糖和苷类含量在两种十大功劳根中相当,在茎和叶片中均以阔叶十大功劳含量高,尤其是叶片中这种差异更明显.最后,与盐酸小檗碱标准品比较发现,2种十大功劳中盐酸小檗碱含量均以茎中最高,叶片中含量最低;2种十大功劳比较各部位盐酸小檗碱含量均以短序十大功劳中高.故运用FTIR技术可以快速找出2种十大功劳化学成分的差异,本研究结果将为十大功劳属植物资源合理开发利用及良种选育提供参考.     

肌肉营养因子

现已发现许多物质具有肌肉营养作用,这些物质称为肌肉营养因子。肌肉营养因子为运动神经元病和肌肉退行性病变的研究和治疗提供了新的手段。本文分别叙述了已知的各种肌肉营养因子的研究概况,并指出肌肉营养因子研究的方向和临床意义。     

Low Electron Scattering Potentials in High Performance Mg2Si0.45Sn0.55 Based Thermoelectric Solid Solutions with Band Convergence

Understanding the electron and phonon transport characteristics is crucial for designing and developing high performance thermoelectric materials. Weak scattering effects on charge carriers, characterized by deformation potential and alloy scattering potential, are favorable for thermoelectric solid solutions to enable high carrier mobility and thereby promising thermoelectric performance. Mg₂(Si,Sn) solid solutions have attracted much attention due to their low cost and environmental compatibility. Usually, their high thermoelectric performance with ZT ～ 1 is ascribed to the band convergence and reduced lattice thermal conductivity caused by alloying. In this work, both a low deformation potential Ξ = 13 eV and a low alloy scattering potential U = 0.7 eV are found for the thermoelectric alloys by characterizing and modeling of thermoelectric transport properties. The band convergence is also verified by the increased density‐of‐states effective mass. It is proposed that, in addition to band convergence and reduced lattice thermal conductivity, the low deformation potential and alloy scattering potential are additional intrinsic features that contribute to the high thermoelectric performance of the solid solutions.     

Fullerene nanoparticles for the treatment of ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term, recurrent inflammatory bowel disease for which no effective cure is yet available in the clinical setting. Repairing the barrier dysfunction of the colon and reducing intestinal inflammation are considered key objectives to cure UC. Here we demonstrate a novel therapeutic strategy based on a C₆₀ fullerene suspension (C₆₀FS) to treat dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced UC in an animal model. C₆₀FS can repair the barrier dysfunction of UC and effectively promote the healing of ulcers; it also manifests better treatment effects compared with mesalazine enema. C₆₀FS can reduce the numbers of basophils in the blood of UC rats and mast cells in the colorectal tissue, thereby effectively alleviating inflammation. The expression of H1R, H4R, and VEGFR2 receptors in colorectal tissues is inhibited by C₆₀FS, and the levels of histamine and prostaglandin in the rat blood are reduced. This work presents a reliable strategy based on fullerene to cure UC and provides a novel guide for UC treatment.

     

PGC-1 Coactivators Regulate MITF and the Tanning Response

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Highlights? PGC-1 induces pigment formation in melanocytes ? PGC-1s activate expression of MITF ? α-MSH induces PGC-1s, which are required for induction of melanogenic genes ? eQTLs in human PGC-1β are associated with tanning ability and melanoma protection     

Bmi-1 Promotes Glioma Angiogenesis by Activating NF-κB Signaling

Angiogenesis in glioma is associated with the poor prognosis of the disease and closely correlates with the highly invasive phenotype of glioma cells, which represents the most challenging impediment against the currently glioma treatments. Bmi-1, an onco-protein, has been implicated in the progression of various human cancers, including gliomas, whereas its role in glioma angiogenesis remains unclear. Our current study examined the effects of Bmi-1 on glioma angiogenesis in vitro as well as in vivo. We found that overexpression of Bmi-1 enhanced, whereas knockdown of Bmi-1 diminished, the capability of glioma cells to induce tubule formation and migration of endothelial cells and neovascularization in chicken chorioallantoic membrane. In vivo, Bmi-1 overexpression and knockdown, respectively, promoted and inhibited angiogenesis in orthotopically transplanted human gliomas. Furthermore, NF-κB activity and VEGF-C expression was induced by Bmi-1 overexpression, whereas Bmi-1 knockdown attenuated NF-κB signaling and decreased VEGF-C expression. Additionally suppression of NF-κB activity using a specific chemical inhibitor abrogated the NF-κB activation and the pro-angiogenic activities of glioma cells. Together, our data suggest that Bmi-1 plays an important role in glioma angiogenesis and therefore could represent a potential target for anti-angiogenic therapy against the disease.     

Understanding lignin-degrading reactions of ligninolytic enzymes: binding affinity and interactional profile

Previous works have demonstrated that ligninolytic enzymes mediated effective degradation of lignin wastes. The degrading ability greatly relied on the interactions of ligninolytic enzymes with lignin. Ligninolytic enzymes mainly contain laccase (Lac), lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP). In the present study, the binding modes of lignin to Lac, LiP and MnP were systematically determined, respectively. Robustness of these modes was further verified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Residues GLU460, PRO346 and SER113 in Lac, residues ARG43, ALA180 and ASP183 in LiP and residues ARG42, HIS173 and ARG177 in MnP were most crucial in binding of lignin, respectively. Interactional analyses showed hydrophobic contacts were most abundant, playing an important role in the determination of substrate specificity. This information is an important contribution to the details of enzyme-catalyzed reactions in the process of lignin biodegradation, which can be used as references for designing enzyme mutants with a better lignin-degrading activity.