Bioinformatics Analysis of Key micro-RNAs and mRNAs under the Hand,Foot, and Mouth Disease Virus Infection

To clarify crucial key micro-RNAs and mRNAs associated with hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) virus infection, we conducted this bioinformatics analysis from four GEO datasets. The following datasets were used for the analysis: {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE85829","term_id":"85829"}}GSE85829, {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE94551","term_id":"94551"}}GSE94551, {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE52780","term_id":"52780"}}GSE52780, and {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE45589","term_id":"45589"}}GSE45589. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were acquired, and the analysis of functional and pathway enrichment and the relative regulatory network were conducted. After screening common differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNAs), five key miRNAs were acquired: miR-100-3p, miR-125a-3p, miR-1273g-3p, miR-5585-3p, and miR-671-5p. There were three common enriched GO terms between miRNA-derived prediction and mRNA-derived analysis: biosynthetic process, cytosol, and nucleoplasm. There was one common KEGG pathway, i.e., cell cycle shared between miRNA-based and mRNA-based enrichment. Using TarBase V8 in DIANA tools, we acquired 1,520 potential targets (mRNA) from the five key DE-miRNAs, among which the159 DE-mRNAs also included 11 DEGs. These common DEGs showed a PPI network mainly connected by SMC1A, SMARCC1, SF3B3, LIG1, and BRMS1L. Together, changes in five key miRNAs and 11 key mRNAs may play crucial roles in HFMD progression. A combination of these roles may benefit the early diagnosis and treatment of HFMD.Key words: HFMD, micro-RNA, protein-protein interaction, microarray, regulatory network     

SEXUAL DIMORPHISM OF NUCELLA LAPILLUS (GASTROPODA: MURICIDAE) IN NORTH WALES, UK

Multivariate statistical methods were employed to examine sexualdimorphism in size and shape of Nucella lapillus collected from 16sheltered sites along coasts of Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula, NorthWales, UK. Females were significantly larger than males in overallsize; among 12 relative measures of shell shape, two ratios (shellwidth/shell length and aperture length/shell length) were significantlydifferent between males and females, but these differences usuallydecreased with increasing age (shell length). The observed hypoallometricdimorphism could be a result of selection on increased femalefecundity, which may be positively correlated with shell sizein N. lapillus as in other gastropod species. (Received 22 November 1999; accepted 10 April 2000)     

Decreasing nitrogen loading and climate change promotes the occurrence of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria in a restored city lake

Hydrobiologia - External loading reduction has been implemented to improve water quality in China since the 2000s. To evaluate the effects of nutrient reduction on phytoplankton, long-term...     

Genetic characterization of four wild species of Chinese marmots using microsatellite markers

Marmots are large ground squirrels, and 14 species have been reported in the world, including four species of marmots (Himalayan marmot, Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot) living in China. Although these biological resources are abundant in China, information regarding their genetic features is lacking, hampering further study regarding them. The aims of this research were to evaluate genetic variations of four species of Chinese wild marmots, and analyzed kinship of these marmot populations. In the current study, we collected samples of four species of Chinese wild marmot and analyzed the effective allele number, gene diversity, the Shannon index, and polymorphism information to evaluate genetic variations using 13 microsatellite loci. Based on Nei’s genetic distance using the unweighted pair group method, we constructed a dendrogram to analyze the population kinship. We determined that all four Chinese marmot species had high genetic polymorphisms and departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The Chinese marmots to be divided into two large groups: Himalayan marmot was independent group. Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot were others; Tarbagan marmot and gray marmot showed a close kinship with each other, but long-tailed marmot did not have a close relationship with the other species. The high polymorphisms and the kinship of Chinese marmot populations were correlated with geographical terrain of their habitat. Himalayan marmot was characterized as living in unique alpine meadows in Qinghai-Tibet plateau and was affected by terrain; however, Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot were characterized as living in grassland or alpine grassland and were not affected by terrain. Genetic features of Chinese wild marmots were investigated in this study. This may give using information regarding protection of Chinese wild marmot resource and further application of biomedical research.