Monitoring Hip and Elbow Dysplasia Achieved Modest Genetic Improvement of 74 Dog Breeds over 40 Years in USA

Hip (HD) and Elbow Dysplasia (ED) are two common complex developmental disorders of dogs. In order to decrease their prevalence and severity, the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) has a voluntary registry of canine hip and elbow conformation certified by boarded radiologists. However, the voluntarily reports have been severely biased against exposing dogs with problems, especially at beginning period. Fluctuated by additional influential factors such as age, the published raw scores barely showed trends of improvement. In this study, we used multiple-trait mixed model to simultaneously adjust these factors and incorporate pedigree to derive Estimated Breeding Values (EBV). A total of 1,264,422 dogs from 74 breeds were evaluated for EBVs from 760,455 hip scores and 135,409 elbow scores. These EBVs have substantially recovered the reporting bias and the other influences. Clear and steady trends of genetic improvement were observed over the 40 years since 1970. The total genetic improvements were 16.4% and 1.1% of the phenotypic standard deviation for HD and ED, respectively. The incidences of dysplasia were 0.83% and 2.08%, and the heritabilities were estimated as 0.22 and 0.17 for hip and elbow scores, respectively. The genetic correlation between them was 0.12. We conclude that EBV is more effective than reporting raw phenotype. The weak genetic correlation suggested that selection based on hip scores would also slightly improve elbow scores but it is necessary to allocate effort toward improvement of elbow scores alone.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rubellimicrobium roseum</Emphasis> sp. nov., a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from the forest soil sample

A novel pink-coloured, non-spore-forming, non-motile, Gram-negative bacterium, designated YIM 48858^T, is described by using a polyphasic approach. The strain can grow at pH 6.5–9 (optimum at pH 7) and 25–30°C (optimum at 28°C). NaCl is not required for its growth. Positive for oxidase and catalase. Urease activity, nitrate reduction, starch and Tween 80 tests are negative reaction. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies showed that strain YIM 48858^T is a member of the genus Rubellimicrobium, with similarities of 96.3, 95.7 and 95.5% to Rubellimicrobium mesophilum MSL-20^T, Rubellimicrobium aerolatum 5715S-9^T and Rubellimicrobium thermophilum DSM 16684^T, respectively. Q-10 was the predominant respiratory ubiquinone as in the other members of the genus Rubellimicrobium. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphoglycolipid, glycolipid and the major fatty acids were C18:1 ω7c, C16:0 and C10:0 3-OH, which are very different from the valid published species. The DNA G + C content was 67.7 mol%. Both phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic evidence supports that YIM 48858^T is a novel species of the genus Rubellimicrobium, for which the name Rubellimicrobium roseum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 48858^T (=CCTCC AA 208029^T =KCTC 23202^T).     

鲸类繁殖生物学的研究概况

生殖是生物繁殖自身的能力,生殖过程包括生殖细胞(精子与卵子)的生成与成熟、受精过程、妊娠、胎儿的发育、分娩等环节。       

Design and synthesis of diarylamines and diarylethers as cytotoxic antitumor agents

Based on a shared structural core of diarylamine in several known anticancer drugs as well as a new cytotoxic hit 6-chloro-2-(4-cyanophenyl)amino-3-nitropyridine (7), 30 diarylamines and diarylethers were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for cytotoxic activity against A549, KB, KB-vin, and DU145 human tumor cell lines (HTCL). Four new leads 11e, 12, 13a, and 13b were discovered with GI(50) values ranging from 0.33 to 3.45μM. Preliminary SAR results revealed that a diarylamine or diarylether could serve as an active structural core, meta-chloro and ortho-nitro groups on the A-ring (either pyridine or phenyl ring) were necessary and crucial for cytotoxic activity, and the para-substituents on the other phenyl ring (B-ring) were related to inhibitory selectivity for different tumor cells. In an investigation of potential biological targets of the new leads, high thoughput kinase screening discovered that new leads 11e, 12 and 13b especially inhibit Mer tyrosine kinase, a proto-oncogene associated with munerous tumor types, with IC(50) values of 2.2-3.0μM. Therefore, these findings provide a good starting point to optimize a new class of compounds as potential anticancer agents, particularly targeting Mer tyrosine kinase.     

Nitric oxide inhibits larval settlement in Amphibalanus amphitrite cyprids by repressing muscle locomotion and molting

Nitric oxide (NO) is a universal signaling molecule and plays a negative role in the metamorphosis of many biphasic organisms. Recently, the NO/cGMP (cyclic guanosine monophosphate) signaling pathway was reported to repress larval settlement in the barnacle Amphibalanus amphitrite. To understand the underlying molecular mechanism, we analyzed changes in the proteome of A. amphitrite cyprids in response to different concentrations of the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP; 62.5, 250, and 1000 μM) using a label‐free proteomics method. Compared with the control, the expression of 106 proteins differed in all three treatments. These differentially expressed proteins were assigned to 13 pathways based on KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. SNP treatment stimulated the expression of heat shock proteins and arginine kinase, which are functionally related to NO synthases, increased the expression levels of glutathione transferases for detoxification, and activated the iron‐mediated fatty acid degradation pathway and the citrate cycle through ferritin. Moreover, NO repressed the level of myosins and cuticular proteins, which indicated that NO might inhibit larval settlement in A. amphitrite by modulating the process of muscle locomotion and molting.     

人间隙连接蛋白 31 相互作用蛋白Annexin Ⅱ的筛选与证实

间隙连接蛋白 31 (connexin31 , Cx31) 是间隙连接蛋白 (connexin) 家族的一员,目前对于 Cx31 的功能及其调节方式知之甚少 . 采用固相多肽合成的方法合成 Cx31 羧基端一个多肽片段 (250~266) ,经 HPLC 纯化后偶联到匙孔血蓝蛋白,免疫新西兰雄兔后采血检测、并纯化、经蛋白质印迹、细胞免疫荧光染色、免疫沉淀证实得到的抗体为特异性抗 Cx31 的抗体 . 运用制备的抗 Cx31 多克隆抗体免疫沉淀, SDS- 聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳 (SDS-PAGE) 分离,蛋白质条带回收,蛋白质胶块酶解, Q-TOF 质谱分析,数据库扫描筛选可能相互作用蛋白,运用抗体 pull-down 实验,筛选到可能相互作用蛋白 annexin Ⅱ,经过免疫共沉淀、细胞免疫共定位等实验证实 annexin Ⅱ与 Cx31 相互作用 .     

Focal adhesion kinase maintains,but not increases the adhesion of dental pulp cells

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) functions as a key enzyme in the integrin-mediated adhesion-signalling pathway. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of FAK on adhesion of human dental pulp (HDP) cells. We transfected lentiviral vectors to silence or overexpress FAK in HDP cells ex vivo. Early cell adhesion, cell survival and focal contacts (FCs)-related proteins (FAK and paxillin) were examined. By using immunofluorescence, the formation of FCs and cytoskeleton was detected, respectively. We found that both adhesion and survival of HDP cells were suppressed by FAK inhibition. However, FAK overexpression slightly inhibited cell adhesion and exhibited no change in cell survival compared with the control. A thick rim of cytoskeleton accumulated and smaller dot-shaped FCs appeared in FAK knockdown cells. Phosphorylation of paxillin (p-paxillin) was inhibited in FAK knockdown cells, verifying that the adhesion was inhibited. Less cytoskeleton and elongated FCs were observed in FAK-overexpressed cells. However, p-paxillin had no significant difference compared with the control. In conclusion, the data suggest that FAK maintains cell adhesion, survival and cytoskeleton formation, but excessive FAK has no positive effects on these aspects.