Molecular Characterization and Expression Analysis of ftr01, ftr42, and ftr58 in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Tripartite motif(TRIM) proteins were shown to play an important role in innate antiviral immunity. FinTRIM(ftr) is a new subset of TRIM genes that do not possess obvious orthologs in higher vertebrates. However, little is known about its function. In this study, we used bioinformatic analysis to examine the phylogenetic relationships and conserved domains of zebrafish(Danio rerio) ftr01, ftr42, and ftr58, as well as qualitative real-time PCR to examine their expression patterns in zebrafish embryonic fibroblast(ZF4) cells and zebrafish tissues. Sequence analysis showed that the three finTRIMs are highly conserved, and all contain a RING domain, B-box domain, and SPRY-PRY domain. In addition, ftr42 and ftr58 had one coiled-coil domain(CCD), whereas ftr01 had two CCDs. Tissue expression analysis revealed that the m RNA level of ftr01 was the highest in the liver, whereas those of ftr42 and ftr58 were the highest in the gill; the expression of thesefinTRIMs was clearly upregulated not in the eyes, but in the liver, spleen, kidney, gill, and brain of zebrafish following spring viremia of carp virus(SVCV) infection. Similarly, the expression of these three finTRIM genes also increased in ZF4 cells after SVCV infection. Our study revealed that ftr01, ftr42, and ftr58 may play an important role in antiviral immune responses, and these findings validate the need for more in-depth research on the finTRIM family in the future.     

3,3′,4,4′,5-Pentachlorobiphenyl influences mitochondrial apoptosis pathway in granulosa cells

3,3′,4,4′,5-Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB126) is a persistent organic environmental pollutant which can affect various biological activities of organisms, such as immunity, neurological function, and reproduction. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effects of PCB126 on granulosa cells (GCs). GCs were collected from ovaries in PMSG-treated mice, after 24 hours culture. GCs were then incubated with 10 pg/mL, 100 pg/mL, and 10 ng/mL of PCB126 for another 24 hours. Following these steps, exposed GCs were collected for further experimentation. Our data showed that the number of GCs in the 10 ng/mL PCB126 decreased. Meanwhile, pyknotic nuclei and condensed chromatin increased, while the apoptotic cells in the 10 ng/mL PCB126 group were significantly increased. Furthermore, the expression of the apoptotic executive protein caspase-3 increased after PCB126 treatment. The expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and Bim related to the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway were also influenced to different degrees. Thus, our data suggested that PCB126 affect the GCs apoptosis, and mitochondrial apoptosis pathway was involved in this process.     

Vocal divergence is concordant with genomic evidence for strong reproductive isolation in grasshopper mice (Onychomys)

Behavioral barriers to gene flow often evolve faster than intrinsic incompatibilities and can eliminate the opportunity for hybridization between interfertile species. While acoustic signal divergence is a common driver of premating isolation in birds and insects, its contribution to speciation in mammals is less studied. Here we characterize the incidence of, and potential barriers to, hybridization among three closely related species of grasshopper mice (genus Onychomys). All three species use long‐distance acoustic signals to attract and localize mates; Onychomys arenicola and Onychomys torridus are acoustically similar and morphologically cryptic whereas Onychomys leucogaster is larger and acoustically distinct. We used genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) to test for evidence of introgression in 227 mice from allopatric and sympatric localities in the western United States and northern Mexico. We conducted laboratory mating trials for all species pairs to assess reproductive compatibility, and recorded vocalizations from O. arenicola and O. torridus in sympatry and allopatry to test for evidence of acoustic character displacement. Hybridization was rare in nature and, contrary to prior evidence for O. torridus/O. arenicola hybrids, only involved O. leucogaster and O. arenicola. In contrast, laboratory crosses between O. torridus and O. arenicola produced litters whereas O. leucogaster and O. arenicola crosses did not. Call fundamental frequency in O. torridus and O. arenicola was indistinguishable in allopatry but significantly differentiated in sympatry, a pattern consistent with reproductive character displacement. These results suggest that assortative mating based on a long‐distance signal is an important isolating mechanism between O. torridus and O. arenicola and highlight the importance of behavioral barriers in determining the permeability of species boundaries.     

Leaf traits from stomata to morphology are associated with climatic and edaphic variables for dominant tropical forest evergreen oaks

热带森林优势种青冈叶片气孔、解剖和形态性状与气候、土壤因子的关联 了解优势树种叶片多水平的功能性状沿海拔梯度的变化及其内在关联,有助于预测优势种应对气候变化的响应与适应。本文研究了青冈属树种叶片气孔、解剖和形态性状沿海拔梯度的变化及其与环境调控因子的关联,探究了其生态策略是否随海拔发生改变。在海南尖峰岭热带森林,沿海拔梯度(400–1400 m)采集了6种常绿青冈：竹叶青冈(Cyclobalanopsis bambusaefolia)、雷公青冈(C. hui)、托盘青冈 (C. patelliformis)、饭甄青冈(C. fleuryi)、吊罗山青冈(C. tiaoloshanica)和亮叶青冈(C. phanera)叶片,用于气孔、解剖和形态性状的测定。研究结果表明,随海拔升高,青冈树种叶片气孔密度、气孔孔隙度指数和叶面积显著增加,但海绵组织厚度比和干物质含量则显着降低。叶片气孔、解剖和形态性状沿海拔梯 度的变化主要受年均温、年降水量和土壤pH 值调控。在低海拔和高海拔处,青冈属采取“耐受”和“竞 争”策略,而在中海拔处,则是“竞争”策略。土壤磷含量和土壤pH 值随海拔的变化可能是驱动其生态 策略转变的主要原因。该结果揭示,热带森林优势树种青冈可通过从气孔细胞-组织解剖结构-叶片水平功能性状的改变来响应环境变化。     

Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding human differentiation antigen 5D4

A 1 846 bp cDNA is isolated from a human tonsil cell λgt 11 cDNA library (ATCC No. 37546) with mAb 5D4 reactive strongly with human B cell line 3D5, but weakly with human B cell line Daudi and human T cell line Jurkat as a probe. RT-PCR also shows a strong reaction in 3D5 cell and a weak reaction in Daudi and Jurkat cell for 5D4 mRNA. There is an open reading frame from 88 to 1 209 bp in 5D4 cDNA encoding a 374 AA protein. Both the Northern blot analysis and the two consecutive stop codens before start coden demonstrate that the cDNA is a full-length cDNA. Secondary structure prediction suggests that there are a region from 295 to 334 AA in the protein with strong hydrophobicity and a transmembrane helix region with high score from 313 to 334 AA with an orientation from the inside to the outside of the cell.     

Effect of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol on the interaction between photosystem II core complex and its antenna complexes in liposomes of thylakoid lipids

The non-bilayer lipid monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) is the most abundant type of lipid in the thylakoid membrane and plays an important role in regulating the structure and function of photosynthetic membrane proteins. In this study, we have reconstituted the isolated major light-harvesting complexes of photosystem II (PSII) (LHCIIb) and a preparation consisting of PSII core complexes and minor LHCII of PSII (PSIICC) into liposomes that consisted of digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), with or without MGDG. Transmission electron microscopy and freeze-fracture studies showed unilamellar proteoliposomes, and demonstrated that most of the MGDG is incorporated into bilayer structures. The impact of MGDG on the functional interaction between LHCIIb and PSIICC was investigated by low temperature (77 K) fluorescence emission spectra and the photochemical activity of PSII. The additional incorporation of LHCIIb into liposomes containing PSIICC markedly increased oxygen evolution of PSIICC. Excitation at 480 nm of chlorophyll (Chl) b in LHCIIb stimulated a characteristic fluorescence emission of the Chl a in PSII (684.2 nm), rather than that of the Chl a in LHCIIb (680 nm) in the LHCIIb–PSIICC proteoliposomes, which indicated that the energy was transferred from LHCIIb to PSIICC in liposome membranes. Increasing the percentage of MGDG in the PSIICC–LHCIIb proteoliposomes enhanced the photochemical activity of PSII, due to a more efficient energy transfer from LHCIIb to PSIICC and, thus, an enlarged antenna cross section of PSII.     

Network-based Phenome-Genome Association Prediction by Bi-Random Walk

MotivationThe availability of ontologies and systematic documentations of phenotypes and their genetic associations has enabled large-scale network-based global analyses of the association between the complete collection of phenotypes (phenome) and genes. To provide a fundamental understanding of how the network information is relevant to phenotype-gene associations, we analyze the circular bigraphs (CBGs) in OMIM human disease phenotype-gene association network and MGI mouse phentoype-gene association network, and introduce a bi-random walk (BiRW) algorithm to capture the CBG patterns in the networks for unveiling human and mouse phenome-genome association. BiRW performs separate random walk simultaneously on gene interaction network and phenotype similarity network to explore gene paths and phenotype paths in CBGs of different sizes to summarize their associations as predictions.ResultsThe analysis of both OMIM and MGI associations revealed that majority of the phenotype-gene associations are covered by CBG patterns of small path lengths, and there is a clear correlation between the CBG coverage and the predictability of the phenotype-gene associations. In the experiments on recovering known associations in cross-validations on human disease phenotypes and mouse phenotypes, BiRW effectively improved prediction performance over the compared methods. The constructed global human disease phenome-genome association map also revealed interesting new predictions and phenotype-gene modules by disease classes.     

Aberrant Expression of Osteopontin and E-Cadherin Indicates Radiation Resistance and Poor Prognosis for Patients with Cervical Carcinoma

Radiotherapy is the first-line treatment for all stages of cervical cancer, whether it is used for radical or palliative therapy. However, radioresistance of cervical cancer remains a major therapeutic problem. Consequently, we explored if E-cadherin (a marker of epithelial-mesenchymal transition) and osteopontin could predict radioresistance in patients with locally advanced cervical squamous cell carcinoma (LACSCC). Patients were retrospectively reviewed and 111 patients divided into two groups (radiation-resistant and radiation-sensitive groups) according to progression-free survival (PFS). In pretreated paraffin-embedded tissues, we evaluated E-cadherin and osteopontin expression using immunohistochemical staining. The percentage of patients with high osteopontin but low E-cadherin expression in the radiation-resistant group was significantly higher than those in the radiation-sensitive group (p<0.001). These patients also had a lower 5-year PFS rate (p<0.001). Our research suggests that high osteopontin but low E-cadherin expression can be considered as a negative, independent prognostic factor in patients with LACSCC ([Hazard ratios (95% CI) 6.766 (2.940, 15.572)], p<0.001).