Methylation-mediated miR-214 regulates proliferation and drug sensitivity of renal cell carcinoma cells through targeting LIVIN

LIVIN, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs), is reported playing important roles in the development and progression of multiple human cancers. However, its underlined mechanisms in human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are still needed to be clarified. In the present study, we reported that inhibition of miR-214 promoted the expression of LIVIN, then facilitated RCC cells growth and reduced the sensitivity of RCC cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. In constant, overexpression of miR-214 had contradictory effects. Further investigation showed that miR-214 was down-regulated in RCC because of abnormal methylation. In addition, DNA methyltransferase DNMT1, miR-214 and LIVIN are directly correlated in RCC patients. In conclusion, these results suggest that abnormal miR-214 methylation negatively regulates LIVIN, which may promote RCC cells growth and reduced the sensitivity of RCC cells to chemotherapeutic drugs.     

Understanding Molecular Structures of Buried Interfaces in Halide Perovskite Photovoltaic Devices Nondestructively with Sub‐Monolayer Sensitivity Using Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy

As performance of halide perovskite devices progresses, the device structure becomes more complex with more layers. Molecular interfacial structures between different layers play an increasingly important role in determining the overall performance in a halide perovskite device. However, current understanding of such interfacial structures at a molecular level nondestructively is limited, partially due to a lack of appropriate analytical tools to probe buried interfacial molecular structures in situ. Here, sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy, a state‐of‐the‐art nonlinear interface sensitive spectroscopy, is introduced to the halide perovskite research community and is presented as a powerful tool to understand molecule behavior at buried halide perovskite interfaces in situ. It is found that interfacial molecular orientations revealed by SFG can be directly correlated to halide perovskite device performance. Here how SFG can examine molecular structures (e.g., orientations) at the perovskite/hole transporting layer and perovskite/electron transporting layer interfaces is discussed. This will promote the use of SFG to investigate molecular structures of buried interfaces in various halide perovskite materials and devices in situ nondestructively with a sub‐monolayer interface sensitivity. Such research will help to elucidate structure–function relationships of buried interfaces, aiding in the rational design/development of halide perovskite materials/devices with improved performance.     

Economical production of isomaltulose from agricultural residues in a system with sucrose isomerase displayed on Bacillus subtilis spores

Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering - A safe, efficient, environmentally friendly process for producing isomaltulose is needed. Here, the biocatalyst, sucrose isomerase (SIase) from Erwinia...     

Clinical Features and Treatment of 2019-nCov Pneumonia Patients in Wuhan: Report of A Couple Cases

正Dear Editor,Till January 20, 2020, the 2019-new coronavirus(2019-nCoV) has caused more than one hundred cases in Wuhan(WMHC 2020). During a retrospective study of recent pneumonia patients in our department, we found two patients who are likely being infected with the 2019-nCoV.     

Antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients: what can be learned for vaccine development?

Science China Life Sciences - The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people and caused tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide....     

Chromosome‐level genome assembly of an important pine defoliator,Dendrolimus punctatus (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae)

Dendrolimus spp. are important destructive pests of conifer forests, and Dendrolimus punctatus Walker (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae) is the most widely distributed Dendrolimus species. During periodic outbreaks, this species is said to make “fire without smoke” because large areas of pine forest can be quickly and heavily damaged. Yet, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie the unique ecological characteristics of this forest insect. Here, we combined Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) RSII single‐molecule long reads and high‐throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi‐C) genomics‐linked reads to produce a high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome for D. punctatus. The final assembly was 614 Mb with contig and scaffold N50 values of 1.39 and 22.15 Mb, respectively, and 96.96% of the contigs anchored onto 30 chromosomes. Based on the prediction, this genome contained 17,593 protein‐coding genes and 56.16% repetitive sequences. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that D. punctatus diverged from the common ancestor of Hyphantria cunea, Spodoptera litura and Thaumetopoea pityocampa ~ 108.91 million years ago. Many gene families that were expanded in the D. punctatus genome were significantly enriched for the xenobiotic biodegradation system, especially the cytochrome P450 gene family. This high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome will be a valuable resource for understanding mechanisms of D. punctatus outbreak and host resistance adaption. Because this is the first Lasiocampidae insect genome to be sequenced, it also will serve as a reference for further comparative genomics.     

Maximizing antibody production in a targeted integration host by optimization of subunit gene dosage and position

Historically, therapeutic protein production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells has been accomplished by random integration (RI) of expression plasmids into the host cell genome. More recently, the development of targeted integration (TI) host cells has allowed for recombination of plasmid DNA into a predetermined genomic locus, eliminating one contributor to clone-to-clone variability. In this study, a TI host capable of simultaneously integrating two plasmids at the same genomic site was used to assess the effect of antibody heavy chain and light chain gene dosage on antibody productivity. Our results showed that increasing antibody gene copy number can increase specific productivity, but with diminishing returns as more antibody genes are added to the same TI locus. Random integration of additional antibody DNA copies in to a targeted integration cell line showed a further increase in specific productivity, suggesting that targeting additional genomic sites for gene integration may be beneficial. Additionally, the position of antibody genes in the two plasmids was observed to have a strong effect on antibody expression level. These findings shed light on vector design to maximize production of conventional antibodies or tune expression for proper assembly of complex or bispecific antibodies in a TI system.