NAT2 polymorphisms with oral carcinoma susceptibility: a meta-analysis

Published data have implicated NAT2 polymorphisms as risk factors for various cancers. A number of studies have focused on the association of NAT2 polymorphisms with susceptibility to oral carcinoma and have yielded inconclusive results. The aim of the present study was to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship. We first carried out a deliberate search in the databases without a language limitation, covering all papers published up to Dec 2011. A total of seven case-control studies including 1,379 cases and 1,868 controls were selected and the relevant data were extracted for systematic meta-analyses. No significant association was found for the overall data (OR: 1.04, 95?% CI: 0.79-1.39). In subgroup analyses according to ethnicity, slow acetylators might increase oral cancer risk among Asians (OR: 1.38, 95?% CI: 1.04-1.82) but not Caucasians or Mixed races. The data suggested that NAT2 polymorphisms might be a low-penetrant risk factor for oral carcinoma in Asians.     

Effects of simulated microgravity on human umbilical vein endothelial cell angiogenesis and role of the PI3K-Akt-eNOS signal pathway

Endothelial cells are very sensitive to microgravity and the morphological and functional changes in endothelial cells are believed to be at the basis of weightlessness-induced cardiovascular deconditioning. It has been shown that the proliferation, migration, and morphological differentiation of endothelial cells play critical roles in angiogenesis. However, the influence of microgravity on the ability of endothelial cells to foster angiogenesis remains to be explored in detail. In the present study, we used a clinostat to simulate microgravity, and we observed tube formation, migration, and expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC-C). Specific inhibitors of eNOS and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) were added to the culture medium and gravity-induced changes in the pathways that mediate angiogenesis were investigated. After 24 h of exposure to simulated microgravity, HUVEC-C tube formation and migration were significantly promoted.This was reversed by co-incubation with the specific inhibitor of N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (eNOS). Immunofluorescence assay, RT-PCR, and Western blot analysis demonstrated that eNOS expression in the HUVEC-C was significantly elevated after simulated microgravity exhibition. Ultrastructure observation via transmission electron microscope showed the number of caveolae organelles in the membrane of HUVEC-C to be significantly reduced. This was correlated with enhanced eNOS activity. Western blot analysis then showed that phosphorylation of eNOS and serine/threonine kinase (Akt) were both up-regulated after exposure to simulated microgravity. However, the specific inhibitor of PI3K not only significantly downregulated the expression of phosphorylated Akt, but also downregulated the phosphorylation of eNOS. This suggested that the PI3K-Akt signal pathway might participate in modulating the activity of eNOS. In conclusion, the present study indicates that 24 h of exposure to simulated microgravity promote angiogenesis among HUVEC-C and that this process is mediated through the PI3K-Akt-eNOS signal pathway.     

DNA sequence polymorphism of the Rhg4 candidate gene conferring resistance to soybean cyst nematode in Chinese domesticated and wild soybeans

Rhg4 is one of the major resistant genes conferring resistance to soybean cyst nematode races 1, 3 and 4. In order to better understand its sequence diversity among different Chinese soybean populations and the impact of human activities on it, we designed 5 primer sets based on its sequence deposited in Genbank (Genbank accession No. AF506518) to obtain the Rhg4 sequence from 104 Chinese cultivated and wild soybean genotypes, and then analyzed the DNA sequence polymorphism in different Chinese soybean populations. The alignment of Rhg4 sequence included 5,216 nucleotide base pairs. A total of 67 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including 59 single base changes and 8 DNA insertion-deletions (InDels) were identified with a SNP frequency of 1/78. Except for a 14-base InDel, there were 29 SNPs in coding regions, and among them, 13 were non-synonymous (9 in functional domains with 1 in a leucine-rich repeats region, 2 in a transmembrane region and 6 in a Ser/Thr kinase domain). The probability of substitution at each site was not the same, there were two hot spots, one was in the 5'-untranslated region between positions 124 and 804, and the other was in the region between positions 2520 and 3733. Sequence diversity analysis among 104 soybean genotypes showed π?=?0.00102 and θ?=?0.00218 for Rhg4. A domestication bottleneck was found because of lower sequence diversity and 58% unique SNPs loss in landraces compared with Glycine soja. Intensive selection increased the sequence diversity of cultivars, which had higher diversity and more unique SNPs than landraces. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11032-012-9703-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

乙肝病毒X蛋白结合蛋白通过下调PEPCK的表达抑制肝脏糖异生

乙肝病毒X蛋白结合蛋白（hepatitis B X-interacting protein,HBXIP）可以调节乳腺癌中糖代谢重编程. 为了研究HBXIP在生理条件下对糖代谢的调节作用及机制,本研究利用Cre/loxP重组酶系统成功构建了肝脏组织中HBXIP特异敲除小鼠. 当小鼠接受刺激后,与正常组小鼠相比,肝脏HBXIP敲除小鼠表现基础糖代谢功能异常,如葡萄糖、丙酮酸;相对于对照小鼠,肝脏HBXIP敲除小鼠对糖异生和胰岛素耐受性减弱. RT-PCR、Western blot实验和免疫组化实验结果表明,HBXIP敲除小鼠肝脏组织中糖异生关键酶磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸羧化酶(phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase,PEPCK)表达显著增加. QRT-PCR 分析30例临床肝组织中HBXIP mRNA和PEPCK mRNA表达水平发现,HBXIP与PEPCK表达水平呈负相关. 荧光素酶报告基因实验和ChIP实验结果表明HBXIP可以在基因转录水平调节PEPCK表达. 以上结果表明,HBXIP通过调节糖异生关键酶PEPCK的表达参与调控小鼠肝脏糖异生.     

Human recombination rates are increased around accelerated conserved regions--evidence for continued selection?

MOTIVATION: We hypothesized that recombination rates might be increased at genetic loci that are subject to more intense selection. Here, we test this hypothesis by using a recently published set of accelerated conserved regions and fine-scale recombination rate estimates provided by the HapMap project. RESULTS: We observed that fine-scale recombination rates are increased around conserved noncoding regions that show accelerated evolution in human or chimp, as compared to noncoding regions showing accelerated evolution in mouse and those being conserved between human and fugu. Recombination rates around hominid accelerated conserved regions (ACRs) are furthermore increased as compared to exonic regions. On the other hand, GC-content is reduced around ACRs, excluding a major confounding influence of GC-content on the observed variation in recombination rate. Conclusion: Our observations indicate that selection intensity could be an important determinant of local recombination rate variation and that continued positive selection might act at many ACR loci. Alternatively, a confounding factor needs to be found that causes a congruent signal in recombination rate estimates based on human polymorphism data and in the comparative genomic data. Researchers who consider the explanation involving selection as more likely may expect more common functional sequence variants at ACRs in genetic association studies.     

根癌农杆菌介导转化谷子的影响因素

利用GUS报告基因,建立了农杆菌介导的谷子(Setaria italica)遗传转化体系,并研究了多种影响因素对转化效率的影响,包括受体基因型、外植体类型、菌液浓度、培养基中乙酰丁香酮的浓度、侵染时间和共培养时间.确定了最优的转化条件为:以谷子幼穗诱导的愈伤组织为外植体,用低浓度的农杆菌菌液侵染30～40min,然后在含有0.1mmol/L乙酰丁香酮的LS培养基上共培养2d.     

葡萄果实生长发育过程中白藜芦醇及其糖苷的HPLC测定

利用高效液相色谱(HPLC)梯度洗脱方法,结合C18固相萃取技术,检测了葡萄果实生长发育过程中顺反式白藜芦醇及其糖苷的动态变化。结果显示,适于酿造红葡萄酒的蛇龙珠和酿造白葡萄酒的白羽品种的白藜芦醇及其糖苷含量的变化规律大不相同。葡萄果实生长发育期间,蛇龙珠果实内的白藜芦醇及其糖苷含量较高,而白羽果实中白藜芦醇含量很低,其糖苷含量则持续下降。