LncRNA GAS6‐AS2 promotes bladder cancer proliferation and metastasis via GAS6‐AS2/miR‐298/CDK9 axis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to play important roles in carcinogenesis and development of numerous cancers, but their biological functions in bladder cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, a novel lncRNA termed GAS6‐AS2 were primary identified, and its roles as well as mechanisms in regulating proliferation and metastasis of bladder cancer cells were investigated. Clinically, GAS6‐AS2 was significantly up‐regulated in bladder cancer tissues and positively correlated with tumour stages and poor prognosis. Moreover, expression of GAS6‐AS2 was also increased in bladder cancer cells compared with normal bladder cells. Further investigating the roles of GAS6‐AS2, we found GAS6‐AS2 regulated proliferation and proliferative activity of bladder cancer cells via inducing G1 phase arrest. What's more, we found that GAS6‐AS2 contributed to metastatic abilities of cells. In mechanism, GAS6‐AS2 could function as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) via direct sponging miR‐298, which further regulating the expression of CDK9. Finally, we also proved that GAS6‐AS2 knockdown suppressed tumour growth and metastasis in vivo. In conclusion, our study proved that GAS6‐AS2 could function as a ceRNA and promote the proliferation and metastasis of bladder cancer cells, which provided a novel prognostic marker for bladder cancer patients in clinic.     

Up‐regulation of ZFAS1 indicates dismal prognosis for cholangiocarcinoma and promotes proliferation and metastasis by modulating USF1 via miR‐296‐5p

LncRNAs has been demonstrated to modulate neoplastic development by modulating downstream miRNAs and functional genes. In this study, we aimed to detect the interaction among lncRNA ZFAS1 miR‐296‐5p and USF1. We explored the proliferation, migration and invasion of cholangiocarcinoma. The differentially expressed ZFAS1 was discovered in both tissues and cell lines by qRT‐PCR. The targeting relationship between miR‐296‐5p and ZFAS1 or USF1 was validated by dual‐luciferase assay. The impact of ZFAS1 on CCA cell proliferation was observed by CCK‐8 assay. The protein expression of USF1 was determined by Western blot. The effects of ZFAS1, miR‐296‐5p and USF1 on tumour growth were further confirmed using xenograft model. LncRNA ZFAS1 expression was relatively up‐regulated in tumour tissues and cells while miR‐296‐5p was significantly down‐regulated. Knockdown of ZFAS1 significantly suppressed tumour proliferation, migration, invasion and USF1 expression. Overexpressed miR‐296‐5p suppressed cell proliferation and metastasis. Knockdown of USF1 inhibited cell proliferation and metastasis and xenograft tumour growth. In conclusion, ZFAS1 might promote cholangiocarcinoma proliferation and metastasis by modulating USF1 via miR‐296‐5p.     

Circulating adiponectin as a biomarker in renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Context: Metabolic imbalance in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) can lead to abnormal adiponectin levels.

Objective: To evaluate circulating adiponectin as a detection or predictive marker for RCC.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search and meta-analysis was performed on studies reporting circulating adiponectin levels and RCC. The meta-analysis was performed using RevMan.

Results: Seven studies compared the circulating adiponection levels between RCC cases and controls. Adiponectin level was significantly lower in RCC cases compared to controls at pre-diagnosis and pre-operative time-points. RCC stage, grade and subtype did not affect adiponectin levels.

Conclusion: Low circulating adiponectin could be a predictive or risk factor for RCC.     

Synthetic Biology Toolkits for Metabolic Engineering of Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria are of great importance to Earth's ecology. Due to their capability in photosynthesis and C1 metabolism, they are ideal microbial chassis that can be engineered for direct conversion of carbon dioxide and solar energy into biofuels and biochemicals. Facilitated by the elucidation of the basic biology of the photoautotrophic microbes and rapid advances in synthetic biology, genetic toolkits have been developed to enable implementation of nonnatural functionalities in engineered cyanobacteria. Hence, cyanobacteria are fast becoming an emerging platform in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Herein, the progress made in the synthetic biology toolkits for cyanobacteria and their utilization for transforming cyanobacteria into microbial cell factories for sustainable production of biofuels and biochemicals is outlined. Current techniques in heterologous gene expression, strategies in genome editing, and development of programmable regulatory parts and modules for engineering cyanobacteria towards biochemical production are discussed and prospected. As cyanobacteria synthetic biology is still in its infancy, apart from the achievements made, the difficulties and challenges in applying and developing genetic toolkits in cyanobacteria for biochemical production are also evaluated.     

Interactions between invasive plants and heavy metal stresses: a review

入侵植物与重金属胁迫的相互作用研究进展 全球变化改变了植物群落的分布格局,包括入侵植物,而人为污染可能降低本地植物对入侵植物的抗性。因此,本文总结了近几十年本地植物、入侵植物和植物-土壤生态系统中重金属生物地球化学行为的研究,以加深我们对入侵植物与环境胁迫因子相互作用的认识。我们的研究结合已有文献报道表明：(i)入侵物种对环境胁迫的影响具有异质性, (ii)影响的大小是多变的, (iii)即使在同一影响类型内,影响类型也具有多向性。然而,入侵植物暴露在重金属环境中表现出更强的自我保护机制,对重金属的生物可利用性和毒性有正向或负向的影响。另一方面,由于入侵植物普遍具有较高的耐受性,加之本地植物暴露于有毒重金属污染时具有“逃逸行为”,重金属胁迫环境更有利于植物的成功入侵。但是,对于入侵植物的重金属等元素组成是否与污染地区的本地植物不同,目前尚无共识。因此,在全球范围内对外来入侵植物与本土植物的植物体内、凋落物和土壤污染物含量进行定量比较是今后研究的一个重要方向。     

Mutation of a conserved asparagine in the I-like domain promotes constitutively active integrins alphaLbeta2 and alphaIIbbeta3

The leukocyte beta2 integrins are heterodimeric adhesion receptors required for a functional immune system. Many leukocyte adhesion deficiency-1 (LAD-1) mutations disrupt the expression and function of beta2 integrins. Herein, we further characterized the LAD-1 mutation N329S in the beta2 inserted (I)-like domain. This mutation converted alphaLbeta2 from a resting into a high affinity conformer because alphaLbeta2N329S transfectants adhered avidly to ligand intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-3 in the absence of additional activating agent. An extended open conformation is adopted by alphaLbeta2N329S because of its reactivity with the beta2 activation reporter monoclonal antibodies MEM148 and KIM127. A corresponding mutation in beta3 generated constitutively active alphaIIbbeta3 that adhered to fibrinogen. This Asn is conserved in all human beta subunits, and it resides before the last helix of the I-like domain, which is known to be important in activation signal propagation. By mutagenesis studies and review of existing integrin structures, we conjectured that this conserved Asn may have a primary role in shaping the I-like domain by stabilizing the conformation of the alpha7 helix and the beta6-alpha7 loop in the I-like domain.     

Comparison between gene expression of conidia and germinating phase in Trichophyton rubrum

Trichophyton rubrum is a dominating superficial dermatophyte, whose conidial germination is correlated to pathopoiesis and a highly important developmental process. To investigate the changes of physiology, biochemistry and cytology during the germination, we selected 3364 function identified ESTs from T. rubrum cDNA library to construct cDNA microarrays, and compared the gene expression levels of conidia and germinating phase. Data analysis indicated that 335 genes were up-regulated during the germination, which mainly encoded translated, modified proteins and structural proteins. The constituents of cell wall and cell membrane were synthetized abundantly, suggesting that they are the foundation of cell morphogenesis. The ingredients of the two-component signal transduction system were up-regulated, presuming that they were important for the conidial germination. Genes of various metabolic pathways were expressed prosperously, especially the genes that participated in glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation were up-regulated on the whole, demonstrating that in the environment with sufficient oxygen and glucose, conidia obtained energy through aerobic respiration. This paper provides important clues which are helpful to understanding the changes in gene expression, signal conduction and metabolism characteristics during T. rubrum conidial germination, and possess significant meaning to the study of other superficial dermatophytes. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2001AA223021) and National Key Technologies R&D Programme (Grant No. 2002BA711A14)     

Membrane subproteomic analysis of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been known for a long time to prevent tuberculosis (TB) worldwide since 1921. Nonetheless, we know little about BCG membrane proteome. In the present study, we utilized alkaline incubation and Triton X-114-based methods to enrich BCG membrane proteins and subsequently digested them using proteolytic enzyme. The recovered peptides were further separated by 2-D LC and identified by ESI-MS/MS. As a result, total 474 proteins were identified, including 78 integral membrane proteins (IMPs). Notably, 18 BCG IMPs were described for the first time in mycobacterium. Further analysis of the 78 IMPs indicated that the theoretical molecular mass distribution of them ranged from 8.06 to 167.86 kDa and pI scores ranged from 4.40 to 11.60. Functional classification revealed that a large proportion of the identified IMPs (67.9%, 53 out of 78) were involved in cell wall and cell processes functional group. In conclusion, here we reported a comprehensive profile of the BCG membrane subproteome. The present investigation may allow the identification of some valuable vaccine and drug target candidates and thus provide basement for future designing of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies against TB.