Nxf3 is expressed in Sertoli cells, but is dispensable for spermatogenesis

In eukaryotes, mRNA is actively exported to the cytoplasm by a family of nuclear RNA export factors (NXF). Four Nxf genes have been identified in the mouse: Nxf1, Nxf2, Nxf3, and Nxf7. Inactivation of Nxf2, a germ cell-specific gene, causes defects in spermatogenesis. Here we report that Nxf3 is expressed exclusively in Sertoli cells of the postnatal testis, in a developmentally regulated manner. Expression of Nxf3 coincides with the cessation of Sertoli cell proliferation and the beginning of their differentiation. Continued expression of Nxf3 in mature Sertoli cells of the adult is spermatogenesis stage-independent. Nxf3 is not essential for spermatogenesis, however, suggesting functional redundancy among Nxf family members. With its unique expression pattern in the testis, the promoter of Nxf3 can be used to drive postnatal Sertoli cell-specific expression of other proteins such as Cre recombinase.     

Cloning of the flap endonuclease-1 gene in Bombyx mori and identification of an antiapoptotic function

The flap endonuclease-1 (FEN-1) gene is involved in DNA replication and repair, and it maintains genomic stability as well as the accuracy of DNA replication under normal growth conditions. However, FEN-1 also plays an important role in apoptosis and cancer development. We cloned the BmFEN-1 gene from Bombyx mori, which was 1343?bp in length and possessed an 1143?bp ORF (123-1266). It consists of seven introns and eight exons that encode a protein with 380 amino acids that has the typical XPG domain. The N-terminal motif is located at amino acids 95-105, and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen interaction motif is located at amino acids 337-344. RNA interference-mediated reduction of BmFEN-1 expression induced cell cycle arrest in S phase in BmE-SWU1?cells. These results suggest that BmFEN-1 can inhibit apoptosis and promote cell proliferation.     

广西巴马小型猪血清淀粉样P物质基因真核载体构建及细胞转染

血清淀粉样P物质(Serum Amyloid Pcomponent,SAP)是一种在进化上高度保守的血清糖蛋白,它可与各种类型的原纤维结合,在免疫应答和炎症反应等多种免疫疾病中发挥作用.以广西巴马小型猪肝组织总RNA为模板,利用RT-PCR技术扩增出相应cDNA片段,连接到克隆载体pMD18-T上进行检测,测序结果为675 bp,与GenBank所提供相关序列同源性为100％,并成功构建pEGFP-N1 -SAP重组真核表达载体,利用脂质体(Lipofectamine 2000)介导法将重组质粒导入到NIH-3T3细胞中培养,经转染24 h后,置于倒置荧光显微镜下观察,发现含有重组质粒的NIH-3T3细胞中表达出绿色荧光,为进一步研究SAP基因的功能特点及在试验动物相关疾病模型的应用提供务件.     

月季愈伤组织的诱导及植株再生

以可在黑龙江地区露地越冬的5个现代月季（Rosa chinensis）品种为实验材料,分别以其无菌苗的叶片和茎段为外植体,研究了愈伤组织诱导及植株再生方法。实验结果表明：5个寒地月季品种的叶片和茎段均可诱导出愈伤组织,2,4-D诱导愈伤组织的效果较好,高浓度的细胞分裂素不适合用于月季叶片和茎段愈伤组织的诱导;TDZ在月季愈伤组织分化培养过程中具有重要作用,光照培养可促进月季愈伤组织的分化,愈伤组织的分化能力随着继代次数的增加呈下降趋势。该实验成功地从2004-8和2004-9（2个月季品种）愈伤组织中诱导出再生植株,其愈伤组织的分化率分别为45%和38%。     

Identification of protein-RNA interaction sites using the information of spatial adjacent residues

Background

Protein-RNA interactions play an important role in numbers of fundamental cellular processes such as RNA splicing, transport and translation, protein synthesis and certain RNA-mediated enzymatic processes. The more knowledge of Protein-RNA recognition can not only help to understand the regulatory mechanism, the site-directed mutagenesis and regulation of RNA–protein complexes in biological systems, but also have a vitally effecting for rational drug design.

Results

Based on the information of spatial adjacent residues, novel feature extraction methods were proposed to predict protein-RNA interaction sites with SVM-KNN classifier. The total accuracies of spatial adjacent residue profile feature and spatial adjacent residues weighted accessibility solvent area feature are 78%, 67.07% respectively in 5-fold cross-validation test, which are 1.4%, 3.79% higher than that of sequence neighbour residue profile feature and sequence neighbour residue accessibility solvent area feature.

Conclusions

The results indicate that the performance of feature extraction method using the spatial adjacent information is superior to the sequence neighbour information approach. The performance of SVM-KNN classifier is little better than that of SVM. The feature extraction method of spatial adjacent information with SVM-KNN is very effective for identifying protein-RNA interaction sites and may at least play a complimentary role to the existing methods.

     

Metabolomic profiling to identify potential serum biomarkers for schizophrenia and risperidone action

Despite recent advances in understanding the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the mechanisms of antipsychotic drug action, the development of biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in schizophrenia remains challenging. Metabolomics provides a powerful approach to discover diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers by analyzing global changes in an individual's metabolic profile in response to pathophysiological stimuli or drug intervention. In this study, we performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomic profiling in serum of unmedicated schizophrenic patients before and after an 8-week risperidone monotherapy, to detect potential biomarkers associated with schizophrenia and risperidone treatment. Twenty-two marker metabolites contributing to the complete separation of schizophrenic patients from matched healthy controls were identified, with citrate, palmitic acid, myo-inositol, and allantoin exhibiting the best combined classification performance. Twenty marker metabolites contributing to the complete separation between posttreatment and pretreatment patients were identified, with myo-inositol, uric acid, and tryptophan showing the maximum combined classification performance. Metabolic pathways including energy metabolism, antioxidant defense systems, neurotransmitter metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and phospholipid metabolism were found to be disturbed in schizophrenic patients and partially normalized following risperidone therapy. Further study of these metabolites may facilitate the development of noninvasive biomarkers and more efficient therapeutic strategies for schizophrenia.     

L‐Cysteine capped CdTe–CdS core–shell quantum dots: preparation,characterization and immuno‐labeling of HeLa cells

Functionalized CdTe–CdS core–shell quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized in aqueous solution via water‐bathing combined hydrothermal method using L‐cysteine (L‐Cys) as a stabilizer. This method possesses both the advantages of water‐bathing and hydrothermal methods for preparing high‐quality QDs with markedly reduced synthesis time, and better stability than a lone hydrothermal method. The QDs were characterized by transmission electronic microscopy and powder X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The CdTe–CdS QDs with core–shell structure showed both enhanced fluorescence and better photo stability than nude CdTe QDs. After conjugating with antibody rabbit anti‐CEACAM8 (CD67), the as‐prepared l ‐Cys capped CdTe–CdS QDs were successfully used as fluorescent probes for the direct immuno‐labeling and imaging of HeLa cells. It was indicated that this kind of QD would have application potential in bio‐labeling and cell imaging. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multiple functional hyperbranched poly(amido amine) nanoparticles: synthesis and application in cell imaging

The hyperbranched poly(amido amine) nanoparticles (HPAMAM NPs) with multiple functions, such as biodegradability, autofluorescence, and specific affinity, were successfully prepared by Michael addition dispersion polymerization of CBA, AEPZ, and N-galactosamine hydrochloride (or N-glucosamine hydrochloride) in a mixture of methanol/water. The resultant NPs displayed strong photoluminescence, high photostability, broad absorption, and emission (from 430 to 620 nm) spectra. The fluorescence from HPAMAM NPs may be attributed to the tertiary amine chromophore. The incubation results of the liver cancer cells, HepG2, with the NPs showed that the NPs are nontoxic and can be recognized by asialoglycoprotein receptors on the surface of HepG2 and then can be internalized. Therefore, they have potential applications in bioimaging and drug or gene delivery.     

Proteomic screening of anaerobically regulated promoters from Salmonella and its antitumor applications

Solid tumors often contain hypoxic and necrotic areas that can be targeted by attenuated Salmonella typhimurium VNP20009 (VNP). We sought to develop a hypoxia- inducible promoter system based on the tumor-specific delivered strain VNP to confine expression of therapeutic gene specifically or selectively within the tumor microenvironment. A hypoxia-inducible promoter - adhE promoter was screened from the hypoxia-regulated endogenous proteins of Salmonella through two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight/time-of-flight MS-based proteomics approaches. The efficiency and specificity of the selected adhE promoter were validated first in both bacteria and animal tumor models. The adhE promoter could specifically drive GFP gene expression under hypoxia, but not under normoxia. Furthermore, luciferase reporter expression controlled by the system was also confined to the tumors. Finally, we investigated the anticancer efficacy of VNP delivering human endostatin controlled by our adhE promoter system in both murine melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma models. Our results demonstrated that by the dual effects of tumoricidal and anti-angiogenic activities, the recombinant Salmonella strain could generate enhanced antitumor effects compared with those of unarmed VNP treatment or untreated control. The recombinant VNP could retard tumor growth significantly and extend survival of tumor-bearing mice by inducing more apoptosis and more severe necrosis as well as inhibiting blood vessel density within tumors. Therefore, VNP carrying the endostatin gene under our tumor-targeted expression system holds promise for the treatment of solid tumors.