模式识别受体的胞内转运及其在植物免疫中的作用

植物利用细胞表面模式识别受体(PRRs)来感知病原相关分子模式(PAMPs), 进而触发自身的免疫反应(PTI)。在植物免疫过程中, PRRs在细胞内的正确定位对其生理功能的发挥至关重要。PRRs蛋白可以在内质网(ER)上合成, 并通过胞吐被分泌到质膜(PM)上。此外, PRRs蛋白也可以通过胞吞进行胞内循环或降解。细胞可以通过胞内转运降解PRRs蛋白以终止信号转导, 也可以通过形成胞内体进行信号传递。该文概述了PRRs蛋白及其配体的研究进展以及PRRs蛋白的胞内转运在植物免疫中的重要作用。     

西藏红景天属一新变种——嘉黎红景天

全国第四次中药资源普查于西藏自治区嘉黎县、芒康县调查中,在海拔4000~5000 m灌木丛的石灰岩上发现了一种红景天属植物,该种在形态上与矮生红景天[Rhodiola humilis(HK.f.et Thoms.)S.H.Fu]较近,但花序顶端伞房状、花茎约7~13枝,基生叶先端锐尖,萼片长三角形,叶片和萼片先端具深粉红色浅囊等独有的特征,与后者不同。分子生物学证据表明,与矮生红景天(R.humilis)和异鳞红景天[Rhodiola smithii(Hamet)S.H.Fu]近缘。基于形态学与分子生物学证据,特将它描述为矮生红景天(R.humilis)新变种,命名为嘉黎红景天[Rhodiola humilis(HK.f.et Thoms.)S.H.Fu var.jialiensis H.Wang,X.Z.Lan&H.P.Deng]。     

被动免疫轮状病毒NSP4&VP7双抗原重组腺病毒对感染乳鼠的排毒保护作用

为建立小鼠轮状病毒(Rotavirus,RV)感染动物模型,研究可同时表达轮状病毒NSP4 (Nonstructural protein 4)和VP7(Viral protein 7)的重组腺病毒疫苗免疫孕鼠后对新生乳鼠感染RV的被动保护作用.新生乳鼠口服异源株轮状病毒Wa、ZTR-68或SA11株后(分2次给予,每次含5×104 CCID50的RV),观察乳鼠是否有腹泻症状、肠道病理变化,检测乳鼠粪便排毒百分率;另以重组腺病毒rAd-NSP4-VP7免疫孕鼠后,检测母鼠血清抗体产生情况,并对比乳鼠粪便中RV抗原检出率初步评价疫苗的被动免疫保护作用.发现口服异源株RV的乳鼠未出现类似人类婴幼儿感染后的明显腹泻症状,但在粪便中可检测到RV抗原的存在(Wa、ZTR-68攻毒组均超过80％).经rAd-NSP4-VP7被动免疫的乳鼠接受Wa和ZTR-68攻毒后其粪便中的RV检出率比未受到被动免疫保护的对照组降低(P＜0.05).rAd-NSP4-VP7重组腺病毒免疫母鼠可显示出对孕鼠感染RV的被动免疫保护作用.     

The Fruits of Maclura pomifera Extracts Inhibits Glioma Stem-Like Cell Growth and Invasion

Glioma is the most common primary intracranial tumour. Recently, growing evidence showed that glioma possesses stem-like cells, which are thought to be chemo- and radio-resistant and believed to contribute to the poor clinical outcomes of these tumours. In this study, we found that stem-like glioma cells (CD133+) were significantly increased in neurosphere cells, which are highly invasive and resistant to multiple chemotherapeutic agents. From our natural products library, we screened 48 natural products and found one compound, Pomiferin, which was of particular interest. Our results showed that Pomiferin could inhibit cell viability, CD133+ cell population, sphere formation, and invasion ability of glioma neurosphere cells. We also found that multiple stemness-associated genes (BIM1, Nestin, and Nanog) were down-regulated by Pomiferin treatment of glioma neurosphere cells. Taken together, our results suggest that Pomiferin could kill the cancer stem-like cells in glioma and may serve as a potential therapeutic agent in the future.     

The oral microbiome of pregnant women facilitates gestational diabetes discrimination

The oral microbiota plays an important role in the development of various diseases,whereas its association with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains largely unclear.The aim of this study is to identify biomarkers from the oral microbiota of GDM patients by analyzing the microbiome of the saliva and dental plaque samples of 111 pregnant women.We find that the microbiota of both types of oral samples in GDM patients exhibits differences and significantly varies from that of patients with periodontitis or dental caries.Using bacterial biomarkers from the oral microbiota,GDM classification models based on support vector machine and random forest algorithms are constructed.The area under curve (AUC) value of the classification model constructed by combination of Lautropia and Neisseria in dental plaque and Streptococcus in saliva reaches 0.83,and the value achieves a maximum value of 0.89 by adding clinical features.These findings suggest that certain bacteria in either saliva or dental plaque can effectively distinguish women with GDM from healthy pregnant women,which provides evidence of oral microbiome as an informative source for developing noninvasive biomarkers of GDM.     

Rapid Acquisition of High-Quality SARS-CoV-2 Genome via Amplicon-Oxford Nanopore Sequencing

Virologica Sinica - Genome sequencing has shown strong capabilities in the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic such as pathogen identification and virus preliminary tracing. While the rapid...     

An analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms of 125 DNA repair genes in the Texas genome-wide association study of lung cancer with a replication for the XRCC4 SNPs

DNA repair genes are important for maintaining genomic stability and limiting carcinogenesis. We analyzed all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 125 DNA repair genes covered by the Illumina HumanHap300 (v1.1) BeadChips in a previously conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 1154 lung cancer cases and 1137 controls and replicated the top-hits of XRCC4 SNPs in an independent set of 597 cases and 611 controls in Texas populations. We found that six of 20 XRCC4 SNPs were associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer with a P-value of 0.01 or lower in the discovery dataset, of which the most significant SNP was rs10040363 (P for allelic test=4.89 x 10??). Moreover, the data in this region allowed us to impute a potentially functional SNP rs2075685 (imputed P for allelic test=1.3 x 10?3). A luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that the rs2075685G>T change in the XRCC4 promoter increased expression of the gene. In the replication study of rs10040363, rs1478486, rs9293329, and rs2075685, however, only rs10040363 achieved a borderline association with a decreased risk of lung cancer in a dominant model (adjusted OR=0.80, 95% CI=0.62-1.03 and P=0.079). In the final combined analysis of both the Texas GWAS discovery and replication datasets, the strength of the association was increased for rs10040363 (adjusted OR=0.77, 95% CI=0.66-0.89, P(dominant)=5 x 10?? and P for trend=5 x 10??) and rs1478486 (adjusted OR=0.82, 95% CI=0.71-0.94, P(dominant)=6 x 10?3 and P for trend=3.5 x 10?3). Finally, we conducted a meta-analysis of these XRCC4 SNPs with available data from published GWA studies of lung cancer with a total of 12,312 cases and 47,921 controls, in which none of these XRCC4 SNPs was associated with lung cancer risk. It appeared that rs2075685, although associated with increased expression of a reporter gene and lung cancer risk in the Texas populations, did not have an effect on lung cancer risk in other populations. This study underscores the importance of replication using published data in larger populations.     

Correlation between base-excision repair gene polymorphisms and levels of in-vitro BPDE-induced DNA adducts in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes

In vitro benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE)-induced DNA adducts in cultured peripheral lymphocytes have been shown to be a phenotypic biomarker of individual’s DNA repair phenotype that is associated with cancer risk. In this study, we explored associations between genotypes of base-excision repair genes (PARP1 Val762Ala, APEX1 Asp148Glu, and XRCC1 Arg399Gln) and in vitro BPDE-induced DNA adducts in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes in 706 cancer-free non-Hispanic white subjects. We found that levels of BPDE-induced DNA adducts were significantly higher in ever smokers than in never smokers and that individuals with the Glu variant genotypes (i.e., Asp/Glu and Glu/Glu) exhibited lower levels of BPDE-induced DNA adducts than did individuals with the common Asp/Asp homozygous genotype (median RAL levels: 32.0 for Asp/Asp, 27.0 for Asp/Glu, and 17.0 for Glu/Glu, respectively; P _trend = 0.030). Further stratified analysis showed that compared with individuals with the common APEX1-148 homozygous Asp/Asp genotype, individuals with the APEX1-148Asp/Glu genotype or the Glu/Glu genotype had a lower risk of having higher-level adducts (adjusted OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.36–0.98 and adjusted OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.26–0.86, respectively; P _trend = 0.012) among smokers. Such an effect was not observed in non-smokers. However, there was no significant interaction between the APEX1 Asp148Glu polymorphism and smoking exposure in this study population (P = 0.512). Additional genotype-phenotype analysis found that the APEX1-148Glu allele had significantly increased expression of APEX1 mRNA in 270 Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines, which is likely associated with more active repair activity. Our findings suggest that the functional APEX1-148Glu allele is associated with reduced risk of having high levels of BPDE-induced DNA adducts mediated with high levels of mRNA expression.     

Association between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in ERCC4 and Risk of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Background

Excision repair cross-complementation group 4 gene (ERCC4/XPF) plays an important role in nucleotide excision repair and participates in removal of DNA interstrand cross-links and DNA double-strand breaks. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ERCC4 may impact repair capacity and affect cancer susceptibility.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this case-control study, we evaluated associations of four selected potentially functional SNPs in ERCC4 with risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) in 1,040 non-Hispanic white patients with SCCHN and 1,046 cancer-free matched controls. We found that the variant GG genotype of rs2276466 was significantly associated with a decreased risk of SCCHN (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.50–0.96), and that the variant TT genotype of rs3136038 showed a borderline significant decreased risk with SCCHN (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.58–1.01) in the recessive model. Such protective effects were more evident in oropharyngeal cancer (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.40–0.92 for rs2276466; OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.48–0.98 for rs3136038). No significant associations were found for the other two SNPs (rs1800067 and rs1799798). In addition, individuals with the rs2276466 GG or with the rs3136038 TT genotypes had higher levels of ERCC4 mRNA expression than those with the corresponding wild-type genotypes in 90 Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from Caucasians.

Conclusions

These results suggest that these two SNPs (rs2276466 and rs3136038) in ERCC4 may be functional and contribute to SCCHN susceptibility. However, our findings need to be replicated in further large epidemiological and functional studies.