The effects of interleukins 1α and 1β on prostaglandin production by cultured human fetal membranes

The effects of IL-1α and IL-1β on cultured human fetal membranes were studied. These cytokines are known to regulate prostaglandin synthesis by the separated components of the fetal membranes (amnion, chorion and decidua), but their effects on intact tissue are unknown. IL-1α increased PGE2 levels on the fetal side of the membrane, indicating increased production of prostaglandin from the amnion, but had little effect on levels of PGE2 on the maternal side of the membrane. Low levels of IL-1β (0.1 - 1.0 ng/ml) increased PGE2 levels on the fetal side of the meembrane, and also increased the production of PGE2 metabolites and PGF2α, suggesting that this cytokine stimulated the decidua as well as the amnion. High concentrations of both cytokines appeared able to stimulate prostaglandin production by the side of the membrane opposing that to which they were added, but it is not clear whether this was mediated by factors released by the stimulated membrane, or by direct transfer of small quantities of cytokines through the membrane. Taken together, these results indicate that IL-1β was a potent stimulator of the synthesis of prostaglandins by decidua and by amnion, whereas IL-1α only stimulated the amnion.     

Metabolism of leukotriene B4 by guinea pig eosinophils

The metabolism of leukotriene B₄ (5(S),12(R)-dihydroxy-6-cis-8,10-trans-14-cis-eicosatetraenoic acid) by isolated guinea pig eosinophils was investigated. Incubation of guinea pig eosinophils with [³H]-leukotriene B₄ resulted in the rapid conversion of leukotriene B₄ to several more polar metabolites. Two of these metabolites were identified by ultraviolet spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as the omega oxidation products 5(S),12(R),20-trihydroxy-6,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (20-hydroxy-leukotriene B₄) and 5(S),12(R),19-trihydroxy-6,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (19-hydroxy-leukotriene B₄). Two novel metabolites, 5(S),12(R),18,19-tetrahydroxy-6,8,10,14 eicosatetraenoic acid (18,19-dihydroxy-leukotriene B₄) and 5(S),12(R)-dihydroxy-1,18-dicarboxylic-6,8,10,14,16-octadecapentaenoic acid (Δ16,17–18-carboxy-19,20-dinor-leukotriene B₄) were tentatively identified. The identification of these compounds indicates that guinea pig eosinophils are capable of metabolizing leukotriene B₄ by both omega and beta oxidation. This catabolic activity may play a role in modulating inflammatory reactions by removing the chemoattractant leukotriene B₄ from inflammatory sites.     

我国微茎类吸虫的研究Ⅻ.类茎属及多黄属二新种报道：复殖目：微茎科

本文报道在湛江市附近海域海鸟体内获得的两种吸虫,经鉴定为新种,命名为巨口类茎吸虫,新种Ｍｉｃｒｏｐｈａｌｌｏｉｄｅｓ ｍａｃｒｏｓｔｏｎｒｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,珊瑚多黄吸虫,新种Ｍｕｌｔｉｖｉｔｅｌｌｕｓ ｃｏｒａｌｉｕｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．     

外显子与内含子序列分维的双碱基研究

引入碱基间的关联,研究了外显子和内含子序列以双碱基为单位的分维,我们发现在这种情况下,外显子和内显子序列在短程和中程存在自相似性并分别定义了这两个区域的分维。结果表明,短程的分维值Ｄｇ一般比中程的Ｄｍ大,外显子的两个分维值比内含子大。我们改变双联体的位相而分维却不变,这反映出在双联体基础上,外显子的不规则性大于内含子,短程的不规则性大于中程,外显子和内含子序列对以２为周期的结构没有位相的特异性。     

Associating somatic mutation with clinical outcomes through kernel regression and optimal transport

Somatic mutations in cancer patients are inherently sparse and potentially high dimensional. Cancer patients may share the same set of deregulated biological processes perturbed by different sets of somatically mutated genes. Therefore, when assessing the associations between somatic mutations and clinical outcomes, gene-by-gene analysis is often under-powered because it does not capture the complex disease mechanisms shared across cancer patients. Rather than testing genes one by one, an intuitive approach is to aggregate somatic mutation data of multiple genes to assess their joint association with clinical outcomes. The challenge is how to aggregate such information. Building on the optimal transport method, we propose a principled approach to estimate the similarity of somatic mutation profiles of multiple genes between tumor samples, while accounting for gene–gene similarities defined by gene annotations or empirical mutational patterns. Using such similarities, we can assess the associations between somatic mutations and clinical outcomes by kernel regression. We have applied our method to analyze somatic mutation data of 17 cancer types and identified at least five cancer types, where somatic mutations are associated with overall survival, progression-free interval, or cytolytic activity.     

Surface imprinted bio-nanocomposites for affinity separation of a cellular DNA repair protein

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) is a multifunctional DNA repair protein localized in different subcellular compartments. The mechanisms responsible for the highly regulated subcellular localization and “interactomes” of this protein are not fully understood but have been closely correlated to the posttranslational modifications in different biological context. In this work, we attempted to develop a bio-nanocomposite with antibody-like properties that could capture APE1 from cellular matrices to enable the comprehensive study of this protein. By fixing the template APE1 on the avidin-modified surface of silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles, we first added 3-aminophenylboronic acid to react with the glycosyl residues of avidin, followed by addition of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid as the second functional monomer to perform the first step imprinting reaction. To further enhance the affinity and selectivity of the binding sites, we carried out the second step imprinting reaction with dopamine as the functional monomer. After the polymerization, we modified the nonimprinted sites with methoxypoly (ethylene glycol) amine (mPEG-NH₂). The resulting molecularly imprinted polymer-based bio-nanocomposite showed high affinity, specificity, and capacity for template APE1. It allowed for the extraction of APE1 from the cell lysates with high recovery and purity. Moreover, the bound protein could be effectively released from the bio-nanocomposite with high activity. The bio-nanocomposite offers a very useful tool for the separation of APE1 from various complex biological samples.     

Investigation of <i>GhFAT</i> Genes Related to Seed Oil Content and Fatty Acid Composition in <i>Gossypium hirsutum</i> L.

Fatty Acyl-ACP thioesterase (FAT) is a key enzyme controlling oil biosynthesis in plant seeds. FATs can be divided into two subfamilies, FATA and FATB according to their amino acid sequences and substrate specificity. The Upland cotton genome contains 20 GhFAT genes, amongst which 6 genes were of the GhFATA subfamily and 14 of the GhFATB subfamily. The 20 GhFAT genes are unevenly distributed on 14 chromosomes. The GhFATA genes have 5 or 7 exons and the GhFATB genes have 6 or 7 exons. All GhFAT proteins have the conserved Acyl-ACP_TE domain and PLN02370 super family, the typical characteristics of plant thioesterases. Analyses of the expression level of GhFATs and the compositions of fatty acid in 5–60 days-post-anthesis seeds showed that the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids was consistent with the expression profile of GhFATB12, GhFATB3, and GhFATB10; the ratio of monounsaturated fatty acid to polyunsaturated fatty acids was consistent with the expression profile of GhFATA3. The oil contents of mature cottonseeds were positively correlated with the contents of palmitic acid and linolenic acid as well as seed vigor. These results provide essential information for further exploring the role(s) of the specific GhFATs in determining oil biosynthesis and cottonseed compositions.     

D-amino acid levels in human physiological fluids

Plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and amniotic fluid were examined to determine whether free D-amino acids were present and if so at what levels. It was found that D-amino acids exist in all physiological fluids tested, but that their level varied, considerably. The lowest levels of D-amino acids were usually found in amniotic fluid or CSF (almost always <1% of the corresponding L-amino acid). The highest levels were found in urine (usually tenth percent to low percent levels). Pipecolic acid seemed to be different from the other amino acids tested in that it was excreted primarily as the D-enantiomer (often >90%). Correspondingly high levels of D-pipecolic acid were not found in plasma. Some of the trends found in this work seemed to be analogous to those found in a recent rodent study. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

An ancient enzyme finds a new home: Prevalence and neofunctionalization of trypsin in marine phytoplankton

Trypsin is an ancient protease best known as a digestive enzyme in animals, and traditionally believed to be absent in plants and protists. However, our recent studies have revealed its wide presence and important roles in marine phytoplankton. Here, to gain a better understanding on the importance of trypsin in phytoplankton, we further surveyed the distribution, diversity, evolution and potential ecological roles of trypsin in global ocean phytoplankton. Our analysis indicated that trypsin is widely distributed both taxonomically and geographically in marine phytoplankton. Furthermore, by systematic comparative analyses we found that algal trypsin could be classified into two subfamilies (trypsin I and trypsin II) and exhibited highly duplicated and diversified during evolution. We also observed markedly different domain sequences and organizations between and within the subfamilies, suggesting potential neofunctionalization. Diatoms contain both subfamilies of trypsin, with higher numbers of genes and more environment-responsive expression of trypsin than other lineages. The duplication and subsequent neofunctionalization of the trypsin family may be important in diatoms for adapting to dynamical environmental conditions, contributing to diatoms' dominance in the coastal oceans. This work advances our knowledge on the distribution and neofunctionalization of this ancient enzyme and creates a new window of research on phytoplankton biology.     

Chromosomal localization of uroplakin genes of cattle and mice

The asymmetric unit membrane (AUM) of the apical surface of mammalian urinary bladder epithelium contains several major integral membrane proteins, including uroplakins IA and IB (both 27 kDa), II (15 kDa), and III (47 kDa). These proteins are synthesized only in terminally differentiated bladder epithelial cells. They are encoded by separate genes and, except for uroplakins IA and IB, appear to be unrelated in their amino acid sequences. The genes encoding these uroplakins were mapped to chromosomes of cattle through their segregation in a panel of bovine x rodent somatic cell hybrids. Genes for uroplakins IA, IB, and II were mapped to bovine (BTA) Chromosomes (Chrs) 18 (UPK1A), 1 (UPK1B), and 15 (UPK2), respectively. Two bovine genomic DNA sequences reactive with a uroplakin III cDNA probe were identified and mapped to BTA 6 (UPK3A) and 5 (UPK3B). We have also mapped genes for uroplakins 1A and II in mice, to the proximal regions of mouse Chr 7 (Upk1a) and 9 (Upk2), respectively, by analyzing the inheritance of restriction fragment length variants in recombinant inbred mouse strains. These assignments are consistent with linkage relationships known to be conserved between cattle and mice. The mouse genes for uroplakins IB and III were not mapped because the mouse genomic DNA fragments reactive with each probe were invariant among the inbred strains tested. Although the stoichiometry of AUM proteins is nearly constant, the fact that the uroplakin genes are unlinked indicates that their expression must be independently regulated. Our results also suggest likely positions for two human uroplakin genes and should facilitate further analysis of their possible involvement in disease.