大果木姜子的甘油三酯组成

采用光谱法和胰酯酶分解法对大果木姜子油酯中分得的结晶C—I组成进行了分析,结果表明C—I是由11种甘油三酯组成。其中2-位为月硅酸的甘油三酯占91.80％,1,3-位脂肪酸主要为癸酸和月桂酸,甘油三酯的组成中,CLC占62.24％,LLC占24.50％。     

A stroma-related lncRNA panel for predicting recurrence and adjuvant chemotherapy benefit in patients with early-stage colon cancer

The heterogeneity in prognoses and chemotherapeutic responses of colon cancer patients with similar clinical features emphasized the necessity for new biomarkers that help to improve the survival prediction and tailor therapies more rationally and precisely. In the present study, we established a s troma-related l ncRNA s ignature (SLS) based on 52 lncRNAs to comprehensively predict clinical outcome. The SLS model could not only distinguish patients with different recurrence and mortality risks through univariate analysis, but also served as an independent factor for relapse-free and overall survival. Compared with the conventionally used TNM stage system, the SLS model clearly possessed higher predictive accuracy. Moreover, the SLS model also effectively screened chemotherapy-responsive patients, as only patients in the low-SLS group could benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. The following cell infiltration and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network functional analyses further confirmed the association between the SLS model and stromal activation-related biological processes. Additionally, this study also identified three phenotypically distinct colon cancer subtypes that varied in clinical outcome and chemotherapy benefits. In conclusion, our SLS model may be a significant determinant of survival and chemotherapeutic decision-making in colon cancer and may have a strong clinical transformation value.     

Alpine grassland plants grow earlier and faster but biomass remains unchanged over 35 years of climate change

Satellite data indicate significant advancement in alpine spring phenology over decades of climate warming, but corresponding field evidence is scarce. It is also unknown whether this advancement results from an earlier shift of phenological events, or enhancement of plant growth under unchanged phenological pattern. By analyzing a 35‐year dataset of seasonal biomass dynamics of a Tibetan alpine grassland, we show that climate change promoted both earlier phenology and faster growth, without changing annual biomass production. Biomass production increased in spring due to a warming‐induced earlier onset of plant growth, but decreased in autumn due mainly to increased water stress. Plants grew faster but the fast‐growing period shortened during the mid‐growing season. These findings provide the first in situ evidence of long‐term changes in growth patterns in alpine grassland plant communities, and suggest that earlier phenology and faster growth will jointly contribute to plant growth in a warming climate.     

Dinucleotides as simple models of the base stacking-unstacking component of DNA ‘breathing’ mechanisms

Regulatory protein access to the DNA duplex ‘interior’ depends on local DNA ‘breathing’ fluctuations, and the most fundamental of these are thermally-driven base stacking-unstacking interactions. The smallest DNA unit that can undergo such transitions is the dinucleotide, whose structural and dynamic properties are dominated by stacking, while the ion condensation, cooperative stacking and inter-base hydrogen-bonding present in duplex DNA are not involved. We use dApdA to study stacking-unstacking at the dinucleotide level because the fluctuations observed are likely to resemble those of larger DNA molecules, but in the absence of constraints introduced by cooperativity are likely to be more pronounced, and thus more accessible to measurement. We study these fluctuations with a combination of Molecular Dynamics simulations on the microsecond timescale and Markov State Model analyses, and validate our results by calculations of circular dichroism (CD) spectra, with results that agree well with the experimental spectra. Our analyses show that the CD spectrum of dApdA is defined by two distinct chiral conformations that correspond, respectively, to a Watson–Crick form and a hybrid form with one base in a Hoogsteen configuration. We find also that ionic structure and water orientation around dApdA play important roles in controlling its breathing fluctuations.     

The effect of mesenchymal stromal cells on doxorubicin-induced nephropathy in rats

Background aimsThe potential protective effects of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) on some kidney diseases has been reported. However, the effect of MSCs on doxorubicin-induced nephropathy is still poorly understood.MethodsRats with doxorubicin-induced kidney injuries were treated with human cord-derived MSCs. Human MSCs were first labeled with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine to track their homing in kidneys after infusion.ResultsAlleviation of proteinuria, decreased serum albumin, alleviation of lipid disorders and histologic alterations were found in rats 4 weeks after treatment with MSCs, particularly in rats that were given repeat doses. Decreases in serum levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α and prostaglandin E₂ and decreases in messenger RNA levels of kidney tissue cylooxygenase-2 and EP4 were found in MSC-treated rats. MSC-treated rats also displayed an increase in serum interleukin-10 levels.ConclusionsThese results indicate that MSCs ameliorate doxorubicin-induced kidney injuries and inflammation, suggesting a potential clinical treatment for inflammatory kidney diseases.     

DDIG-in: discriminating between disease-associated and neutral non-frameshifting micro-indels

Micro-indels (insertions or deletions shorter than 21 bps) constitute the second most frequent class of human gene mutation after single nucleotide variants. Despite the relative abundance of non-frameshifting indels, their damaging effect on protein structure and function has gone largely unstudied. We have developed a support vector machine-based method named DDIG-in (Detecting disease-causing genetic variations due to indels) to prioritize non-frameshifting indels by comparing disease-associated mutations with putatively neutral mutations from the 1,000 Genomes Project. The final model gives good discrimination for indels and is robust against annotation errors. A webserver implementing DDIG-in is available at http://sparks-lab.org/ddig.     

Involvement of and Interaction between WNT10A and EDA Mutations in Tooth Agenesis Cases in the Chinese Population

Background

Dental agenesis is the most common, often heritable, developmental anomaly in humans. Although WNT10A gene mutations are known to cause rare syndromes associated with tooth agenesis, including onycho-odontodermal dysplasia (OODD), Schöpf-Schulz-Passarge syndrome (SSPS), hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED), and more than half of the cases of isolated oligodontia recently, the genotype-phenotype correlations and the mode of inheritance of WNT10A mutations remain unclear. The phenotypic expression with WNT10A mutations shows a high degree of variability, suggesting that other genes might function with WNT10A in regulating ectodermal organ development. Moreover, the involvement of mutations in other genes, such as EDA, which is also associated with HED and isolated tooth agenesis, is not clear. Therefore, we hypothesized that EDA mutations interact with WNT10A mutations to play a role in tooth agenesis. Additionally, EDA, EDAR, and EDARADD encode signaling molecules in the Eda/Edar/NF-κB signaling pathways, we also checked EDAR and EDARADD in this study.

Methods

WNT10A, EDA, EDAR and EDARADD were sequenced in 88 patients with isolated oligodontia and 26 patients with syndromic tooth agenesis. The structure of two mutated WNT10A and two mutated EDA proteins was analyzed.

Results

Digenic mutations of both WNT10A and EDA were identified in 2 of 88 (2.27%) isolated oligodontia cases and 4 of 26 (15.38%) syndromic tooth agenesis cases. No mutation in EDAR or EDARADD gene was found.

Conclusions

WNT10A and EDA digenic mutations could result in oligodontia and syndromic tooth agenesis in the Chinese population. Moreover, our results will greatly expand the genotypic spectrum of tooth agenesis.     

Overexpression of an Acidic Endo-β-1,3-1,4-glucanase in Transgenic Maize Seed for Direct Utilization in Animal Feed

Background

Incorporation of exogenous glucanase into animal feed is common practice to remove glucan, one of the anti-nutritional factors, for efficient nutrition absorption. The acidic endo-β-1,3-1,4-glucanase (Bgl7A) from Bispora sp. MEY-1 has excellent properties and represents a potential enzyme supplement to animal feed.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we successfully developed a transgenic maize producing a high level of Bgl7AM (codon modified Bgl7A) by constructing a recombinant vector driven by the embryo-specific promoter ZM-leg1A. Southern and Western blot analysis indicated the stable integration and specific expression of the transgene in maize seeds over four generations. The β-glucanase activity of the transgenic maize seeds reached up to 779,800 U/kg, about 236-fold higher than that of non-transgenic maize. The β-glucanase derived from the transgenic maize seeds had an optimal pH of 4.0 and was stable at pH 1.0–8.0, which is in agreement with the normal environment of digestive tract.

Conclusion/Significance

Our study offers a transgenic maize line that could be directly used in animal feed without any glucanase production, purification and supplementation, consequently simplifying the feed enzyme processing procedure.     

LncRNAs Expression in Preeclampsia Placenta Reveals the Potential Role of LncRNAs Contributing to Preeclampsia Pathogenesis

Background

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an important class of pervasive genes involved in a variety of biological functions. They are aberrantly expressed in many types of diseases. In this study, we aimed to investigate the lncRNA profiles in preeclampsia. Preeclampsia has been observed in patients with molar pregnancy where a fetus is absent, which demonstrate that the placenta is sufficient to cause this condition. Thus, we analyzed the lncRNA profiles in preeclampsia placentas.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this study, we described the lncRNA profiles in six preeclampsia placentas (T) and five normal pregnancy placentas (N) using microarray. With abundant and varied probes accounting for 33,045 LncRNAs in our microarray, 28,443 lncRNAs that were expressed at a specific level were detected. From the data, we found 738 lncRNAs that were differentially expressed (≥1.5-fold-change) among preeclampsia placentas compared with controls. Coding-non-coding gene co-expression networks (CNC network) were constructed based on the correlation analysis between the differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs. According to the CNC network and GO analysis of differentially expressed lncRNAs/mRNAs, we selected three lncRNAs to analyze the relationship between lncRNAs and preeclampsia. LOC391533, LOC284100, and CEACAMP8 were evaluated using qPCR in 40 preeclampsia placentas and 40 controls. These results revealed that three lncRNAs were aberrantly expressed in preeclampsia placentas compared with controls.

Conclusions/Significance

Our study is the first study to determine the genome-wide lncRNAs expression patterns in preeclampsia placenta using microarray. These results revealed that clusters of lncRNAs were aberrantly expressed in preeclampsia placenta compared with controls, which indicated that lncRNAs differentially expressed in preeclampsia placenta might play a partial or key role in preeclampsia development. Misregulation of LOC391533, LOC284100, and CEACAMP8 might contribute to the mechanism underlying preeclampsia. Taken together, this study may provide potential targets for the future treatment of preeclampsia and novel insights into preeclampsia biology.