Single-Cell Heterogeneity Analysis and CRISPR Screen Identify Key β-Cell-Specific Disease Genes

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LncDACH1 promotes mitochondrial oxidative stress of cardiomyocytes by interacting with sirtuin3 and aggravates diabetic cardiomyopathy

Science China Life Sciences - Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a common complication in diabetic patients. The molecular mechanisms of DCM remain to be fully elucidated. The intronic long noncoding...     

Environmental and genetic modifiers of squint penetrance during zebrafish embryogenesis

The Nodal-related subgroup of the TGFbeta superfamily of secreted cytokines regulates the specification of the mesodermal and endodermal germ layers during gastrulation. Two Nodal-related proteins - Squint (Sqt) and Cyclops (Cyc) - are expressed during germ-layer specification in zebrafish. Genetic sqt mutant phenotypes have defined a variable requirement for zygotic Sqt, but not for maternal Sqt, in midline mesendoderm development. However a comparison of phenotypes arising from oocytes or zygotes injected with Sqt antisense morpholinos has suggested a novel requirement for maternal Sqt in dorsal specification. In this study we examined maternal-zygotic mutants for each of two sqt alleles and we also compared phenotypes of closely related zygotic and maternal-zygotic sqt mutants. Each of these approaches indicated there is no general requirement for maternal Sqt. To better understand the dispensability of maternal and zygotic Sqt, we sought out developmental contexts that more rigorously demand intact Sqt signalling. We found that sqt penetrance is influenced by genetic modifiers, by environmental temperature, by levels of residual Activin-like activity and by Heat-Shock Protein 90 (HSP90) activity. Therefore, Sqt may confer an evolutionary advantage by protecting early-stage embryos against detrimental interacting alleles and environmental challenges.     

Exclusive developmental functions of gatae cis-regulatory modules in the Strongylocentrorus purpuratus embryo

The gatae gene of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is orthologous to vertebrate gata-4,5,6 genes. This gene is expressed in the endomesoderm in the blastula and later the gut of the embryo, and is required for normal development. A gatae BAC containing a GFP reporter knocked into exon one of the gene was able to reproduce all aspects of endogenous gatae expression in the embryo. To identify putative gatae cis-regulatory modules we carried out an interspecific sequence conservation analysis with respect to a Lytechinus variegatus gatae BAC, which revealed 25 conserved non-coding sequence patches. These were individually tested in gene transfer experiments, and two modules capable of driving localized reporter expression in the embryo were identified. Module 10 produces early expression in mesoderm and endoderm cells up to the early gastrula stage, while module 24 generates late endodermal expression at gastrula and pluteus stages. Module 10 was then deleted from the gatae BAC by reciprocal recombination, resulting in total loss of reporter expression in the time frame in which it is normally active. Similar deletion of module 24 led to ubiquitous GFP expression in the gastrula and pluteus. These results show that Module 10 is uniquely necessary and sufficient to account for the early phase of gatae expression during endomesoderm specification. In addition, they imply a functional cis-regulatory module exclusion, whereby only a single module can associate with the basal promoter and drive gene expression at any given time.     

Altered -3 substrate specificity of Escherichia coli signal peptidase 1 mutants as revealed by screening a combinatorial peptide library

Signal peptidase functions to cleave signal peptides from preproteins at the cell membrane. It has a substrate specificity for small uncharged residues at -1 (P1) and aliphatic residues at the -3 (P3) position. Previously, we have reported that certain alterations of the Ile-144 and Ile-86 residues in Escherichia coli signal peptidase I (SPase) can change the specificity such that signal peptidase is able to cleave pro-OmpA nuclease A in vitro after phenylalanine or asparagine residues at the -1 position (Karla, A., Lively, M. O., Paetzel, M. and Dalbey, R. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 6731-6741). In this study, screening of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based peptide library revealed that the I144A, I144C, and I144C/I86T SPase mutants have a more relaxed substrate specificity at the -3 position, in comparison to the wild-type SPase. The double mutant tolerated arginine, glutamine, and tyrosine residues at the -3 position of the substrate. The altered specificity of the I144C/I86T mutant was confirmed by in vivo processing of pre-beta-lactamase containing non-canonical arginine and glutamine residues at the -3 position. This work establishes Ile-144 and Ile-86 as key P3 substrate specificity determinants for signal peptidase I and demonstrates the power of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based peptide library approach in defining the substrate specificity of proteases.     

妊娠期糖耐量标准与妊娠结局的关系

目的:探讨不同的诊断标准的妊娠期糖尿病的妊娠结局。方法:回顾性分析我院2001-2004年产前检查并分娩,无显性糖尿病及其他内分泌疾病的单胎孕妇共337例,按糖尿痛不同的诊断标准分成三组进行比较:干预组78例(OGTT(oral glucose toler- ante test)血糖值达到妊娠期糖尿病诊断标准,予饮食调整、运动指导,和或胰岛素治疗);未干预组91例(OGTT值小于妊娠期糖尿病诊断标准,但第2小时血糖≥7.8mmol/L,一般产科检查,无相应血糖的检测与治疗);对照组168例(OGTT正常,且第2小时血糖<7.8mmol/L一般产科检查)。结果:未干预组在巨大胎与干预组及对照组间有显著差异。干预组在妊娠周数与对照组及未干预组之间有差异。三组在年龄、分娩前体重指数、分娩方式等方面无显著差异。结论:未干预糖尿病组与巨大胎有关。建议诊断妊娠期糖尿病标准采用空腹血糖≥5.8mmol/L和或75克糖耐量试验2小时血糖≥7.8mmol/L。     

Synthesis of safflomide and its HPLC measurement in mouse plasma after oral administration

Safflomide (N-caffeoyltryptamine) is a compound belonging to a group of phenylpropanoid amides found in plants. In this study, safflomide was chemically synthesized and confirmed by LC-MS, LC-MS/MS and NMR spectroscopic methods, and a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for quantifying safflomide in biological samples. The synthesis was simple, and the yield of safflomide was greater than 50%. Using the synthesized safflomide as a standard, HPLC separation was performed on a Nova-Pak C18 column using an isocratic buffer, and the separation was detected using a coulometric electrochemical detector. The detection of safflomide yielded an excellent peak resolution at the retention time of 21 min, and the lower limit of the detection was as little as 100 fmol. Using this HPLC method, the plasma concentrations of safflomide were determined in mouse blood, collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 min following its oral administrations (1 and 3 mg/30 g body weight). This HPLC method standardized with safflomide is the first reported method able to quantify the compound in standard and plasma samples with good detection limit and consistent reproducibility.     

绿狐尾藻光合色素组成及氮磷化学计量学特征对外源铵的响应

绿狐尾藻(Myriophyllum aquaticum)对高浓度铵(NH⁺₄)具有较高的耐受性, 是处理养殖废水的优选植物。探究外源铵对绿狐尾藻光合色素组成及氮(N)、磷(P)化学计量学特征的影响, 对提高绿狐尾藻人工湿地系统的处理效率具有重要意义。该研究设置0、0.1、1、5、15、30 mmol·L^-1 6个NH₄⁺浓度, 室内培养21天, 测定分析不同铵浓度下绿狐尾藻叶绿素含量、N含量、P含量和N:P的变化特征。结果表明, 随外源铵浓度增加, 绿狐尾藻的相对茎高和相对生物量先升高后降低, 且通过拟合曲线方程发现, 外源铵在16.22和12.58 mmol·L^-1时, 其相对茎高和相对生物量达到最大值。随外源铵浓度的增加, 绿狐尾藻叶片叶绿素含量显著降低, 而茎中叶绿素含量增加, 且叶绿素a含量变化的幅度比叶绿素b大, 但对叶绿素a/b影响不显著, 仅在5 mmol·L^-1处理时茎叶绿素a/b显著下降。随外源铵浓度增加, 与CK相比, 叶片和茎的N含量分别显著增加了85%-235%和127%-373%, 叶片P含量增幅为49%-51%。当外源铵浓度不大于15 mmol·L^-1时, 叶片和茎的N含量、N:P增加速度较快, 且相对茎高和相对生物量增长较快。相关分析表明, 叶片N、P含量和N:P与总叶绿素含量呈极显著负相关关系, 而在茎中呈显著或极显著正相关关系。综上所述, 外源铵浓度在12-16 mmol·L^-1范围内时, 绿狐尾藻生长良好, 生物量更大, N和P的吸收量更高, 从而利用其构建的人工湿地可以有效去除污染废水的N、P, 达到高效净化水体的目的。     

Exosomes from human-bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells protect against renal ischemia/reperfusion injury via transferring miR-199a-3p

Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is the main reason for acute kidney injury (AKI) and is closely related to high morbidity and mortality. In this study, we found that exosomes from human-bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC-Exos) play a protective role in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury. hBMSC-Exos were enriched in miR-199a-3p, and hBMSC-Exo treatment increased the expression level of miR-199a-3p in renal cells. We further explored the function of miR-199a-3p on H/R injury. miR-199a-3p was knocked down in hBMSCs with a miR-199a-3p inhibitor. HK-2 cells cocultured with miR-199a-3p-knockdown hBMSCs were more susceptible to H/R injury and showed more apoptosis than those cocultured with hBMSCs or miR-199a-3p-overexpressing hBMSCs. Meanwhile, we found that HK-2 cells exposed to H/R treatment incubated with hBMSC-Exos decreased semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) and activated the protein kinase B (AKT) and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathways. However, HK-2 cells cocultured with miR-199a-3p-knockdown hBMSCs restored Sema3A expression and blocked the activation of the AKT and ERK pathways. Moreover, knocking down Sema3A could reactivate the AKT and ERK pathways suppressed by a miR-199a-3p inhibitor. In vivo, we injected hBMSC-Exos into mice suffering from I/R injury; this treatment induced functional recovery and histologic protection and reduced cleaved caspase-3 and Sema3A expression levels, as shown by immunohistochemistry. On the whole, this study demonstrated an antiapoptotic effect of hBMSC-Exos, which protected against I/R injury, via delivering miR-199a-3p to renal cells, downregulating Sema3A expression and thereby activating the AKT and ERK pathways. These findings reveal a novel mechanism of AKI treated with hBMSC-Exos and provide a therapeutic method for kidney diseases.