DNASE1L3 inhibits proliferation,invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by interacting with β‐catenin to promote its ubiquitin degradation pathway

As a member of the deoxyribonuclease 1 family, DNASE1L3 plays a significant role both inside and outside the cell. However, the role of DNASE1L3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its molecular basis remains to be further investigated. In this study, we report that DNASE1L3 is downregulated in clinical HCC samples and evaluate the relationship between its expression and HCC clinical features. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that DNASE1L3 negatively regulates the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of HCC cells. Mechanistic studies showed that DNASE1L3 recruits components of the cytoplasmic β‐catenin destruction complex (GSK‐3β and Axin), promotes the ubiquitination degradation of β‐catenin, and inhibits its nuclear transfer, thus, decreasing c‐Myc, P21 and P27 level. Ultimately, cell cycle and EMT signals are restrained. In general, this study provides new insight into the mechanism for HCC and suggests that DNASE1L3 can become a considerable target for HCC.

Decreased expression of DNASE1L3 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC DNASE1L3 inhibits the proliferation and cell cycle of HCC cells in vitro and promotes the invasion and metastasis of HCC cells DNASE1L3 inhibits the tumorigenicity and metastasis of HCC cells in vivo DNASE1L3 interacts with β‐catenin and promotes its binding to the β‐catenin destroying complex DNASE1L3 interacts with P21 and stabilizes P21 by mediating the deubiquitin activity     

CircHIPK3 prevents chondrocyte apoptosis and cartilage degradation by sponging miR‐30a‐3p and promoting PON2

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease featured by the deterioration of articular cartilage and chondrocyte death. Emerging evidence has indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play an essential role in OA progress. Here, we found that the expression of circHIPK3 was significantly decreased in human and mouse OA cartilage. Knocking down circHIPK3 increased apoptosis and intracellular ROS level in HC‐a chondrocytes. We performed proteomic studies and identified that circHIPK3 regulated chondrocyte apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. Results of JC‐1 staining and western blot further confirmed that mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization was promoted in HC‐a chondrocytes transfected by circHIPK3 siRNA. In terms of mechanism, we showed that PON2 functioned as a potential target of circHIPK3 to regulate chondrocyte apoptosis. Moreover, we revealed that circHIPK3 interacted with miR‐30a‐3p to regulate PON2 expression in chondrocytes. Taken together, our findings suggested that circHIPK3 regulated chondrocyte apoptosis by mitochondrial pathway, and targeting the circHIPK3/miR‐30a‐3p/PON2 axis might be a potential strategy for OA treatment.

The current study revealed the important role of circHIPK3 in regulating chondrocyte apoptosis and maintaining extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis. Mechanistically, circHIIPK3 might serve as a sponge of miR‐30a‐3p to regulate PON2 expression. The downregulation of circHIIPK3 resulted in the increased expression of miR‐30a‐3p and decreased expression of PON2, thus leading to mitochondrial pathway apoptosis and ECM destruction.     

Effect of Carica papaya on beta catenin and Wnt mRNA expression in human colon cancer (HT-29) cells in vitro

Colon cancer is the third most frequent cancer in humans. Carica papaya leaves are vegetable foods consumed by most people around the world; it has potential as an anticancer. Therefore it is of interest to investigate the effect of Carica papaya on beta catenin and Wnt mRNA expression in human colon cancer (HT-29) cells in vitro. Human Colon cancer cell line (HT-29) was purchased from the National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune, India. Cell viability test was done by MTT assay. Gene expression analysis was done by Real Time-PCR. The obtained data were analyzed statistically by one-way analysis of variance and Duncan''s multiple range test with Graph Pad Prism version 5 to analyze the significance of individual variations among the control and experimental groups. The significance was considered at p<0.05 level in Duncan''s test. Carica papaya caused a marked increase in cell death in a dose dependent manner. At the end of 48 hours, maximum inhibition was at 300 and 400 µg/ml. Carica papaya has significantly reduced the mRNA expression of Wnt and beta catenin (p<0.05). Data showed that Carica papaya leaf extract has anticancer activity on Colon cancer cell lines (HT-29).     

Positional behavior and canopy use of black snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus strykeri in the Gaoligong Mountains,Yunnan, China

Studies on positional behavior and canopy use are essential for understanding how arboreal animals adapt their morphological characteristics and behaviors to the challenges of their environment. This study explores canopy and substrate use along with positional behavior in adult black snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus strykeri, an endemic, critically endangered primate species in Gaoligong Mountains, southwest China. Using continuous focal animal sampling, we collected data over a 52-month period and found that R. strykeri is highly arboreal primarily using the high layers of the forest canopy (15–30 m), along with the terminal zone of tree crowns (52.9%), medium substrates (41.5%), and oblique substrates (56.8%). We also found sex differences in canopy and substrate use. Females use the terminal zones (56.7% versus 40.4%), small/medium (77.7% versus 60.1%), and oblique (59.9% versus 46.5%) substrates significantly more than males. On the other hand, males spend more time on large/very large (39.9% versus 22.3%) and horizontal (49.7% versus 35.2%) substrates. Whereas both sexes mainly sit (84.7%), and stand quadrupedally (9.1%), males stand quadrupedally (11.5% versus 8.3%), and bipedally (2.9% versus 0.8%) more often than females. Clamber, quadrupedalism, and leap/drop are the main locomotor modes for both sexes. Rhinopithecus strykeri populations never enter canopies of degenerated secondary forest and mainly use terminal branches in the middle and upper layers of canopies in intact mid-montane moist evergreen broadleaf forest and hemlock coniferous broadleaf mixed forests across their habitat.     

草地贪夜蛾雄性成虫和5龄幼虫的转录组比较分析

【目的】草地贪夜蛾Spodoptera frugiperda是一种新近入侵我国的重要害虫。本研究旨在对草地贪夜蛾雄性成虫和5龄幼虫两个不同发育阶段的转录组进行比较分析。【方法】利用高通量测序技术对草地贪夜蛾雄性成虫和5龄幼虫进行转录组测序和数据组装,并对转录组数据进行功能注释和比较分析。【结果】经de novo组装共获得209 002条转录本,平均长度为687.55 bp,N50为982 bp。共有46 198条(57.43%) unigene在至少一个数据库中获得功能注释,其中1 713条(2.13%) unigene在所有数据库中均能获得注释。在GO数据库中获得205 269条unigene的注释,主要包括68个功能分类;在KEGG数据库中共有3 408条unigene得到注释,涉及277个代谢通路。共鉴定到424个嗅觉相关的基因,并且在雄性成虫和5龄幼虫之间的表达存在差异。通过比较转录组分析,在雄性成虫中鉴定到9 162个上调和6 399个下调差异表达基因(DEGs);功能富集分析发现在上调DEGs中涉及信息素以及信号转导的代谢通路显著富集,而下调DEGs中涉及解毒相关的通路显著...     

果胶甲酯酶的结构与功能研究进展

果胶甲酯酶(PME)是一种重要的果胶酶,其水解果胶中的甲酯基从而释放甲醇并降低果胶的甲酯化程度。目前在食品加工、茶饮料、造纸等生产工艺中有着广泛的应用前景。随着对PME的深入研究,已报道了几种不同来源的酶晶体结构,对这些已获得的晶体结构进行分析发现,PME属于右手平行β-螺旋结构,其催化残基为2个保守的天冬氨酸和1个谷氨酰胺残基,并且在催化过程中分别起到了一般酸碱、亲核试剂以及稳定中间体的作用。同时对其底物特异性进行分析,初步了解其底物与活性位点的识别机制。文中针对这几个相关方面进行了系统的综述。     

Validation of Monte Carlo multithreading TOpas 3.6 software in order to simulate the 6 MV Elekta Synergy MLCi2 platform linac

BackgroundMonte Carlo simulation is generally appreciated as an extraordinary technique to investigate particle physics processes and interactions in nuclear medicine and Radiation Therapy. The present task validates a new methodology of Monte Carlo simulation based on the Multithreading technique to reduce CPU time to simulate a 6 MV photon beam provided by the Elekta Synergy MLCi2 platform medical linear accelerator treatment head utilizing TOpas version 3.6 Monte Carlo software and the Slurm Marwan cluster.Materials and methodsThe simulation includes the linear accelerator (LINAC) major components. Calculations are performed for the photon beam with several treatment field sizes varying from 3 × 3 to 10 × 10 cm² at a 100 cm of distance from the source to the surface of the IBA dosimetry water box. The simulation was wholly approved by comparison with experimental distributions. To evaluate simulation accuracy, gamma index formalism for (2%/2mm) and (3%/2mm) criteria, Distance To Agreement DTA, and the estimator standard error ɛ and ɛ_max are used.ResultsGood agreement between simulations and measurements was observed for depth doses and lateral dose profiles, respectively. The gamma index comparisons also highlighted this agreement; more than 97% of the points for all simulations satisfy the quality assurance criteria of (2%/2mm). Regarding calculation performance, the event processing speed is faster using Gate-[mp] compared to TOpas-[mt] mode when running the identical simulation code for both.ConclusionsConsequently, according to the achieved results, the proposed methodology shows the first validation of TOpas in radiotherapy linacs simulations and a reduction in calculation time, capping simulation accuracy as much as possible. For this reason, this software is recommended to be serviceable for Treatment Planning Systems (TPS) purposes.     

土壤乙烯产生和氧化的研究进展

乙烯作为植物生长调节素及挥发性有机气体影响着植物生长和大气环境质量。有关土壤源乙烯产生和氧化特征,已发表的文献偏重实验室过程研究,很少涉及野外观测实验;陆地生态系统中土壤源乙烯行为有可能影响到植物生长及区域大气环境,大气环境变化(如水热状况和氮/酸沉降等)势必引起陆地土壤理化和生物学特性发生改变,进而影响土壤源乙烯产生和氧化过程。根据以前出版的文献,就土壤理化性质及外源碳氮施加、土壤微生物和重金属行为等对影响土壤乙烯产生和氧化作了详细综述,并简要阐述根际土壤乙烯产生和氧化以及不同土地利用方式对土壤乙烯产生和氧化的影响。指出应加强大气氮/酸沉降对典型林地土壤乙烯产生和氧化的影响机制以及不同土地利用方式下土壤乙烯产生和氧化的原位观测等方面的研究;同时也应关注不同成熟林型及森林演替不同阶段土壤理化和生物学特性跟乙烯产生和氧化的关联,明确土壤微生物(如细菌和真菌等)对此的相对贡献程度,利于丰富陆地土壤乙烯产生和氧化等有关科学认识,寻求适宜措施减少陆地土壤源乙烯产生潜势。