Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) mediates ischemic preconditioning-induced ischemic tolerance via attenuating apoptosis in rat brain

A mild cerebral ischemic insult, also known as ischemic preconditioning (IPC), confers transient tolerance to a subsequent ischemic challenge in the brain. This study was conducted to investigate whether bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) is involved in neuroprotection elicited by IPC in a rat model of ischemia. Ischemic tolerance was induced in rats by IPC (15 min middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO) at 48 h before lethal ischemia (2 h MCAO). The present data showed that IPC increased BMP-7 mRNA and protein expression after 24 h reperfusion following ischemia in the brain. In rats of ischemia, IPC-induced reduction of cerebral infarct volume and improvement of neuronal morphology were attenuated when BMP-7 was inhibited either by antagonist noggin or short interfering RNA (siRNA) pre-treatment. Besides, cerebral IPC-induced up-regulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and down-regulation of cleaved caspase-3 at 24 h after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury were reversed via inhibition of BMP-7. These findings indicate that BMP-7 mediates IPC-induced tolerance to cerebral I/R, probably through inhibition of apoptosis.     

Combined small RNA and degradome sequencing reveals microRNA regulation during immature maize embryo dedifferentiation

Genetic transformation of maize is highly dependent on the development of embryonic calli from the dedifferentiated immature embryo. To better understand the regulatory mechanism of immature embryo dedifferentiation, we generated four small RNA and degradome libraries from samples representing the major stages of dedifferentiation. More than 186 million raw reads of small RNA and degradome sequence data were generated. We detected 102 known miRNAs belonging to 23 miRNA families. In total, we identified 51, 70 and 63 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in the stage I, II, III samples, respectively, compared to the control. However, only 6 miRNAs were continually up-regulated by more than fivefold throughout the process of dedifferentiation. A total of 87 genes were identified as the targets of 21 DEM families. This group of targets was enriched in members of four significant pathways including plant hormone signal transduction, antigen processing and presentation, ECM-receptor interaction, and alpha-linolenic acid metabolism. The hormone signal transduction pathway appeared to be particularly significant, involving 21 of the targets. While the targets of the most significant DEMs have been proved to play essential roles in cell dedifferentiation. Our results provide important information regarding the regulatory networks that control immature embryo dedifferentiation in maize.     

Global Analysis of DNA Methylation Variation in Adipose Tissue from Twins Reveals Links to Disease-Associated Variants in Distal Regulatory Elements

Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation play a key role in gene regulation and disease susceptibility. However, little is known about the genome-wide frequency, localization, and function of methylation variation and how it is regulated by genetic and environmental factors. We utilized the Multiple Tissue Human Expression Resource (MuTHER) and generated Illumina 450K adipose methylome data from 648 twins. We found that individual CpGs had low variance and that variability was suppressed in promoters. We noted that DNA methylation variation was highly heritable (h²_median = 0.34) and that shared environmental effects correlated with metabolic phenotype-associated CpGs. Analysis of methylation quantitative-trait loci (metQTL) revealed that 28% of CpGs were associated with nearby SNPs, and when overlapping them with adipose expression quantitative-trait loci (eQTL) from the same individuals, we found that 6% of the loci played a role in regulating both gene expression and DNA methylation. These associations were bidirectional, but there were pronounced negative associations for promoter CpGs. Integration of metQTL with adipose reference epigenomes and disease associations revealed significant enrichment of metQTL overlapping metabolic-trait or disease loci in enhancers (the strongest effects were for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and body mass index [BMI]). We followed up with the BMI SNP rs713586, a cg01884057 metQTL that overlaps an enhancer upstream of ADCY3, and used bisulphite sequencing to refine this region. Our results showed widespread population invariability yet sequence dependence on adipose DNA methylation but that incorporating maps of regulatory elements aid in linking CpG variation to gene regulation and disease risk in a tissue-dependent manner.     

A chronocoulometric aptasensor based on gold nanoparticles as a signal amplification strategy for detection of thrombin

A sensitive chronocoulometric aptasensor for the detection of thrombin has been developed based on gold nanoparticle amplification. The functional gold nanoparticles, loaded with link DNA (LDNA) and report DNA (RDNA), were immobilized on an electrode by thrombin aptamers performing as a recognition element and capture probe. LDNA was complementary to the thrombin aptamers and RDNA was noncomplementary, but could combine with [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺ (RuHex) cations. Electrochemical signals obtained by RuHex that bound quantitatively to the negatively charged phosphate backbone of DNA via electrostatic interactions were measured by chronocoulometry. In the presence of thrombin, the combination of thrombin and thrombin aptamers and the release of the functional gold nanoparticles could induce a significant decrease in chronocoulometric signal. The incorporation of gold nanoparticles in the chronocoulometric aptasensor significantly enhanced the sensitivity. The performance of the aptasensor was further increased by the optimization of the surface density of aptamers. Under optimum conditions, the chronocoulometric aptasensor exhibited a wide linear response range of 0.1–18.5 nM with a detection limit of 30 pM. The results demonstrated that this nanoparticle-based amplification strategy offers a simple and effective approach to detect thrombin.     

Autoimmune regulator, Aire, is a novel regulator of chondrocyte differentiation

Chondrocyte differentiation is controlled by various regulators, such as Sox9 and Runx2, but the process is complex. To further understand the precise underlying molecular mechanisms of chondrocyte differentiation, we aimed to identify a novel regulatory factor of chondrocyte differentiation using gene expression profiles of micromass-cultured chondrocytes at different differentiation stages. From the results of microarray analysis, the autoimmune regulator, Aire, was identified as a novel regulator. Aire stable knockdown cells, and primary cultured chondrocytes obtained from Aire^−/− mice, showed reduced mRNA expression levels of chondrocyte-related genes. Over-expression of Aire induced the early stages of chondrocyte differentiation by facilitating expression of Bmp2. A ChIP assay revealed that Aire was recruited on an Airebinding site (T box) in the Bmp2 promoter region in the early stages of chondrocyte differentiation and histone methylation was modified. These results suggest that Aire can facilitate early chondrocyte differentiation by expression of Bmp2 through altering the histone modification status of the promoter region of Bmp2.     

Comparative study of four rice cultivars with different levels of cadmium tolerance

Cadmium (Cd) has been identified as a significant pollutant due to its high solubility in water and soil and high toxicity to plants and animals. Rice, as one of the most important food crops, is grown in soils with variable levels of Cd and therefore, is important to discriminate the Cd tolerance of different rice cultivars to determine their suitability for cultivation in Cd-contaminated soils. This study investigates the primary mechanisms employed by four rice cultivars in attaining Cd tolerance. HA63 cultivar reduces Cd uptake by increasing Fe absorption through activation of phytosiderophores. T3028 cultivar accumulates the highest level of Cd in leaves while also activating its reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging system, including antioxidant enzymes and phytochelatins. In some rice cultivars (such as HA63), a cyanide-resistant respiration mechanism, important in Cd detoxification, was also promoted under the Cd stress. In conclusion, different rice cultivars may adopt different biochemical strategies and respond with different efficiency to Cd stress.     

Opioid receptor selectivity profile change via isosterism for 14-O-substituted naltrexone derivatives

Isosterism is commonly used in drug discovery and development to address stability, selectivity, toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy issues. A series of 14-O-substituted naltrexone derivatives were identified as potent mu opioid receptor (MOR) antagonists with improved selectivity over the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) and the delta opioid receptor (DOR), compared to naltrexone. Since esters are not metabolically very stable under typical physiological conditions, their corresponding amide analogs were thus synthesized and biologically evaluated. Unlike their isosteres, most of these novel ligands seem to be dually selective for the MOR and the KOR over the DOR. The restricted flexibility of the amide bond linkage might be responsible for their altered selectivity profile. However, the majority of the 14-N-substituted naltrexone derivatives produced marginal or no MOR stimulation in the ³⁵S-GTP[γS] assay, which resembled their ester analogs. The current study thus indicated that the 14-substituted naltrexone isosteres are not bioisosteres since they have distinctive pharmacological profile with the regard to their opioid receptor binding affinity and selectivity.     

Synthesis,cytotoxicity and topoisomerase II inhibitory activity of lomefloxacin derivatives

A novel series of amide derivatives of lomefloxacin were synthesized and evaluated for their topoisomerase I and II inhibitory activity as well as cytotoxicity against a panel of five human cancer cell lines. Of the compounds prepared compounds 9d and 9g exhibited strong inhibition against topoisomerase II at 100 μM. In addition, docking studies were performed to predict the inhibition mode.