Identification of three novel SNPs and association with carcass traits in porcine <Emphasis Type="Italic">TNNI1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">TNNI2</Emphasis>

In this study, two novel SNPs (EU743939:g.5174T>C in intron 4 and EU743939:g.8350C>A in intron 7) in TNNI1 and one SNP (EU696779:g.1167C>T in intron 3) in TNNI2 were identified by PCR–RFLP (PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism) using XbaI, MspI and SmaI restriction enzyme, respectively. The allele frequencies of three novel SNPs were determined in the genetically diverse pig breeds including ten Chinese indigenous pigs and three Western commercial pig breeds. Association analysis of the SNPs with the carcass traits were conducted in a Large White × Meishan F₂ pig population. The linkage of two SNPs (g.5174T>C and g.8350C>A) in TNNI1 gene had significant effect on fat percentage. Besides these, the g.5174T>C polymorphism was also significantly associated with skin percentage (P < 0.05), shoulder fat thickness (P < 0.05) and backfat thickness between sixth and seventh ribs (P < 0.05). The significant effects of g.1167C>T polymorphism in TNNI2 gene on fat percentage (P < 0.01), lean meat percentage (P < 0.05), lion eye area (P < 0.05), thorax–waist backfat thickness (P < 0.01) and average backfat thickness (P < 0.05) were also found.     

A single-nucleotide polymorphism of the TNFAIP3 gene is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus in Chinese Han population

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex systemic disease influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The exact pathogenesis of SLE is still unknown. Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWA) in European population have found many novel susceptibility genes for SLE including TNFAIP3. In order to examine whether TNFAIP3 is associated with SLE in Chinese Han population, we genotyped one of its non-synonymous mutation SNP rs2230926, showing significant association evidence with SLE in European population, with 1,420 cases and 4,461 controls of Chinese Han by using Sequenom MassArray system. Highly significant association between SNP rs2230926 and SLE of Chinese Han was detected [OR = 1.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.392–1.986, P = 2.03 × 10⁻⁸]. Interestingly, rs2230926 of TNFAIP3 was also associated with arthritis, ANA and some other subphenotypes of the disease. Our findings suggest that SNP rs2230926 in the TNFAIP3 might be a common genetic factor for SLE within different populations in terms of Chinese Han and European population.     

Limits to sustainable energy budget during lactation in the striped hamster (Cricetulus barabensis) raising litters of different size

A female animal appears to approach an upper limit to the rate of sustained energy intake/metabolic rate (SusEI/MR) during lactation. However, different species of animals may respond differently to the sustainable limit. Here, we measured energy budget during lactation in female striped hamsters raising litters of natural size (Con), and females whose litter size was manipulated during early lactation to support fewer or more pups (minus pups, MP or plus pups, PP). The striped hamsters significantly decreased their body mass and increased food intake from early to late lactation; and MP females had lower weight loss and food intake than the control and PP females. Litter size of the PP group decreased significantly over the period of lactation, and pups were weaned at a similar weight to that of the controls. MP females supported a significantly lower litter mass throughout lactation compared with the control and PP females, but during late lactation the pups from the MP group were significantly heavier. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) did not differ significantly between the three groups and the gross energy intake during peak lactation was 5.0×, 4.2× and 5.0 × RMR for the control, MP and PP females, respectively. Female striped hamsters reached a plateau in food intake at around 14 g/d during peak lactation, which might signify a limit of SusEI at 5.0 × RMR. However, it was not possible to determine whether the limitation on SusEI was imposed centrally by the capacity of the gastrointestinal tract to process food, peripherally by the capacity of the mammary gland to produce milk, or by the capacity of animals to dissipate heat.     

Using K-minimum increment of diversity to predict secretory proteins of malaria parasite based on groupings of amino acids

Due to the complexity of Plasmodium falciparumis genome, predicting secretory proteins of P. falciparum is more difficult than other species. In this study, based on the measure of diversity definition, a new K-nearest neighbor method, K-minimum increment of diversity (K-MID), is introduced to predict secretory proteins. The prediction performance of the K-MID by using amino acids composition as the only input vector achieves 88.89% accuracy with 0.78 Mathew’s correlation coefficient (MCC). Further, the several reduced amino acids alphabets are applied to predict secretory proteins and the results show that the prediction results are improved to 90.67% accuracy with 0.83 MCC by using the 169 dipeptide compositions of the reduced amino acids alphabets obtained from Protein Blocks method.     

千岛湖姥山马尾松种群结构和分布格局研究

为研究千岛湖马尾松(Pinus massoniana)种群动态变化,在姥山岛上设置面积为5.76 hm2的固定样地,进行群落学调查。根据野外调查的数据,对马尾松种群的结构和分布格局进行分析。结果表明:马尾松种群1、2级个体数极少,仅占样地中马尾松个体数的0.06%和1.01%,幼苗、幼树储备严重不足,5级个体的比例最高,达到28.28%,马尾松种群径级结构为纺锤型;马尾松种群的存活曲线为凸型。这些均表明马尾松种群的年龄结构趋向衰退型。但马尾松种群中树个体很多,在较长的时期内马尾松还不会退出群落。马尾松种群静态生命表也可看出中一些小型径级的死亡率为负值,也说明马尾松种群幼苗严重缺乏,种群呈衰退趋势。马尾松种群各径级和总体的分布格局均呈聚集分布,从小树→中树→大树聚集指数逐渐减小,种群呈扩散趋势。     

A novel basic fibroblast growth factor delivery system fabricated with heparin-incorporated fibrin–fibronectin matrices for repairing rat sciatic nerve disruptions

Autologous nerve grafts are widely used in bridging critical gaps of peripheral nerves, but they remain associated with high morbidity of the donor site and lack of full recovery. As an alternative, we have focused on chitosan nerve conduits filled with a heparin-incorporated fibrin–fibronectin matrix serving as delivery systems for basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The artificial nerve conduits were used for repairing sciatic nerve defects of 10 mm in adult rats. Three months post-operation, the conduction velocity recovery index (CVRI) and the muscle restoration rate (MRR) in animals of the experimental group were 32 ± 4.1 and 77.4 ± 7.9%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the PBS control group (17.8 ± 1.9 and 66.7 ± 6.5%), and similar to those of the autograft group (38.4 ± 3.9 and 81.3 ± 7.8%). These results were also consistent with the densities of regenerated axons in the three groups, which were demonstrated by histomorphological analysis.     

Robust stability analysis of delayed Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy Hopfield neural networks with discontinuous activation functions

In this paper, the global robust stability problem of delayed Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy Hopfield neural networks with discontinuous activation functions (TSFHNNs) is considered. Based on Lyapunov stability theory and M-matrices theory, we derive a stability criterion to guarantee the global robust stability of TSFHNNs. Compared with the existing literature, we remove the assumptions on the neuron activations such as Lipschitz conditions, bounded, monotonic increasing property or the assumption that the right-limit value is bigger than the left one at the discontinuous point. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed stability results.     

In vitro concentration dependent transport of phenytoin and phenobarbital,but not ethosuximide,by human P-glycoprotein

AimsOne possible mechanism for epilepsy drug resistance is overexpression of P-glycoprotein in the blood–brain barrier, but whether (or which) antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are transported by P-gp remains unclear. We evaluated AEDs as P-gp substrates using cell monolayers.Main methodsBi-directional transport assays and concentration equilibrium transport assays (CETAs) were performed for phenytoin (PHT), phenobarbital (PB), and ethosuximide (ESM) using wildtype Madin–Darby Canine Kidney II cell line MDCKII and porcine renal endothelial cell line LLC–PK1 cells and these cells transfected with human MDR1 cDNA to express P-gp.Key findingsWildtype cells demonstrated no efflux transport of PHT, PB, or ESM. In CETAs, both MDR1-transfected cell lines transported PHT from basolateral to apical when PHT loading concentrations were 5 or 10, but not 20 µg/ml. MDCK–MDR1 cells transported PB when initial concentrations were 10 or 20, but not 5 µg/ml. LLC–MDR1 did not transport PB. P-gp inhibitor verapamil blocked efflux transport. MDR1-transfected cells did not transport ESM at 5.6 or 56 µg/ml. Bi-directional transport assays demonstrated weak transport for PHT but not PB or ESM.SignificanceHuman P-gp transports PHT and PB, but not ESM, in a concentration dependent manner. CETA may be more sensitive than bi-directional assays to detect transport of drugs with high passive diffusion. Potential P-gp substrates should be tested at clinically relevant concentration ranges.     

General Information

A novel cDNA clone encoding a COR413-like gene was isolated by suppression subtraction hybridization and cDNA library screening from sea-island cotton (Gossypium barbadense). This gene (designated as GbCOR413, Accession number: AY761065) has a total length of 893 bp with an open reading frame of 600 bp, encoding a predicated polypeptide of 200 amino acids with a molecular weight of 22.74 kDa and a predicated pI of 9.2. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that this gene belonged to a novel stress-regulated multi-spanning transmembrane protein family without signal peptide. By means of semi-quantities RT-PCR analysis, the expression of GbCOR413 under short-term cold treatment at 4°C, water submergence and abscic acid treatment was investigated. Our studies suggested that the cloned gene was a new member of COR gene family which was slowly responsive to cold stress in cotton. Jin Wang and Kai-Jing Zuo are co-first authors of this paper.     

Thermodynamics of nucleosomal core particles

In this paper, a numerically detailed thermodynamic investigation of nucleosomal core particles is presented. The nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation governs the electrostatic properties of both the DNA and histone protein. Brownian dynamics is used as the leading method, in combination with the analysis of the electrical features of the nucleosome. At elevated temperature, the structure of the nucleosome is destabilized by the decrease in electrical interactions of DNA-histone complexes, which can be explained with the EDL theory. Two obvious unwrapping transitions can be found, occurring within the temperature ranges 43-52 and 65-80 degrees C. The first transition is characterized by the melting of DNA terminal domains, and the feature of the second transition is the massive unwrapping of the DNA middle domain. It can be concluded that the nucleosomal DNA consists of two distinct structures, where the DNA terminal domains are less tightly bound to the histone than the DNA middle domain.