Fatal disseminated cytomegalovirus infection in an infant with Cushing's syndrome caused by topical steroid

Corticosteroids, even in topical application, may cause immunosuppression and Cushing's syndrome. A case of disseminated fatal cytomegalovirus infection is reported in a 3-month-old girl with Cushing's syndrome caused by exogenous topical clobetasol propionate application, which might have caused immunosuppression due to prolonged use.     

Quantitative trait loci analysis of morphological traits in Citrus

The objectives of this study were to understand the genetic basis of morphological variation observed in the genus Citrus and its relatives and to identify genomic regions associated with certain morphological traits using genetic linkage mapping and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) analysis with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. First, a genetic linkage map was constructed with RAPD markers obtained by screening 98 progeny plants from a {Citrus grandis × [C. paradisi × Poncirus trifoliata]} × {[(C. paradisi × P. trifoliata) × C. reticulata] × [(C. paradisi × Poncirus trifoliata) × C. sinensis]} intergeneric cross. The map contains 69 RAPD markers distributed into nine linkage groups. Then, 17 different morphological traits, including six tree and two leaf characters of 98 progeny plants and six floral and three fruit characters of about half of the same progeny plants were evaluated for 2 years and statistically analyzed for variation. Statistical analysis of individual traits indicated that trunk diameter and growth, tree height, canopy width, tree vigor and growth, leaf length and width, petal and anther numbers, petal length and width, length of pistil and style, fruit length and diameter, and fruit segment number showed normal or close to normal distribution, suggesting that these traits may be inherited quantitatively. Quantitative data from the morphological traits were analyzed to detect markers and putative QTLs associated with these traits using interval mapping method. QTL analysis revealed 18 putative QTLs of LOD > 3.0 associated with 13 of the morphological traits analyzed. The putative QTLs were distributed in several different linkage groups, and QTLs associated with similar traits were mostly mapped to the same LG or similar locations in the linkage group, indicating that the same genomic region is involved in the inheritance of some of the morphological traits.     

The highly similar Arabidopsis homologs of trithorax ATX1 and ATX2 encode proteins with divergent biochemical functions

Gene duplication followed by functional specialization is a potent force in the evolution of biological diversity. A comparative study of two highly conserved duplicated genes, ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAX-LIKE PROTEIN1 (ATX1) and ATX2, revealed features of both partial redundancy and of functional divergence. Although structurally similar, their regulatory sequences have diverged, resulting in distinct temporal and spatial patterns of expression of the ATX1 and ATX2 genes. We found that ATX2 methylates only a limited fraction of nucleosomes and that ATX1 and ATX2 influence the expression of largely nonoverlapping gene sets. Even when coregulating shared targets, ATX1 and ATX2 may employ different mechanisms. Most remarkable is the divergence of their biochemical activities: both proteins methylate K4 of histone H3, but while ATX1 trimethylates it, ATX2 dimethylates it. ATX2 and ATX1 provide an example of separated K4 di from K4 trimethyltransferase activity.     

Synthesis of some acrylophenones with N-methylpiperazine and evaluation of their cytotoxicities

In this study, the compounds having acrylophenone structure, 1-aryl-2-(N-methylpiperazinomethyl)-2-propen-1-one dihydrochlorides, were synthesized and their chemical structures were identified with ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS spectra. The cytotoxicities of the compounds were tested towards Ca9-22 (human gingival carcinoma), HSC-2 (human oral squamous carcinoma), HSC-3 (human oral squamous carcinoma) and HSC-4 (human oral squamous carcinoma) cell lines as tumor cell lines and HGF (gingival fibroblasts), HPLF (periodontal ligament fibroblasts) and HPC (pulp cells) cell lines as non-tumor cell lines. PSE of the compound TA2, which has a methyl substituent on phenyl ring, pointed out the compound TA2 as a leader compound to be considered.