The alteration of PLCζ protein expression in unexplained infertile and asthenoteratozoospermic patients: A potential effect on sperm fertilization ability

Failed oocyte activation has been observed in unexplained infertile (UI) and asthenoteratozoospermic (AT) men. The deficiency of phospholipase C‐zeta (PLCζ) could be a possible reason for such failures and has not been studied yet. We investigated the expression and localization of PLCζ protein in the sperms of patients with UI and AT conditions. The relationships between PLCζ‐related parameters with male age, sperm characteristics, DNA integrity, and cellular maturity were assessed. Semen samples were collected from fertile (n = 40), UI (n = 40), and AT (n = 40) men. Subsequently, semen analysis, DNA fragmentation, hyaluronic acid‐binding ability, and PLCζ level along with its distribution were evaluated using computer‐assisted sperm analyzer, sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), hyaluronic acid‐binding assay (HBA), western blot analysis and immunofluorescence microscopy, respectively. Unlike SCSA, the values of HBA, and PLCζ expression were significantly reduced in UI and AT patients compared to fertile men, whereas no significant differences were observed among the experimental groups in terms of PLCζ localization patterns. The regression analysis also showed that HBA is the only variable associated with PLCζ levels. Furthermore, the correlation of male age with PLCζ localization in postacrosomal, equatorial, and acrosomal+postacrosomal+equatorial (A+PA+E) patterns, as well as the relation of normal morphology, with the (A+PA+E) pattern, remained in the regression model. Our findings indicated that reduced PLCζ level along with the increased DNA fragmentation and impaired maturation may be possible etiologies of decreased fertilization in the studied subjects.     

Serological tests for COVID-19: Potential opportunities

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel betacoronavirus, caused a pandemic leading to a standstill of nearly all global activities. There are some controversies on the production of specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies after the infection with SARS-CoV-2. This paper seeks to elaborate on the potential application of IgM and IgG antibodies and the viral antigens for the diagnosis and the course of the disease as well as the recurrence of positive nucleic acid tests after discharge.     

Generalized Baum-Welch Algorithm Based on the Similarity between Sequences

The profile hidden Markov model (PHMM) is widely used to assign the protein sequences to their respective families. A major limitation of a PHMM is the assumption that given states the observations (amino acids) are independent. To overcome this limitation, the dependency between amino acids in a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) which is the representative of a PHMM can be appended to the PHMM. Due to the fact that with a MSA, the sequences of amino acids are biologically related, the one-by-one dependency between two amino acids can be considered. In other words, based on the MSA, the dependency between an amino acid and its corresponding amino acid located above can be combined with the PHMM. For this purpose, the new emission probability matrix which considers the one-by-one dependencies between amino acids is constructed. The parameters of a PHMM are of two types; transition and emission probabilities which are usually estimated using an EM algorithm called the Baum-Welch algorithm. We have generalized the Baum-Welch algorithm using similarity emission matrix constructed by integrating the new emission probability matrix with the common emission probability matrix. Then, the performance of similarity emission is discussed by applying it to the top twenty protein families in the Pfam database. We show that using the similarity emission in the Baum-Welch algorithm significantly outperforms the common Baum-Welch algorithm in the task of assigning protein sequences to protein families.     

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-3 gene variations affect MMP-1 and -3 serum concentration and associates with breast cancer

Molecular Biology Reports - Matrix metallopeptidases (MMPs) 1 and 3 have been shown to contribute to the initiation, and progression of different cancers, including breast cancer (BC). In this...     

Functional analyses of recombinant mouse hepcidin-1 in cell culture and animal model

Hepcidin is a peptide hormone that plays an important role in iron metabolism. We have produced a recombinant mouse hepcidin-1 by using baculovirus expression system. Its expression yield was 25 μg/ml when cell culture media were supplemented with a protease inhibitor cocktail. The recombinant mouse hepcidin-1 and synthetic human hepcidin-25 had similar effects on reducing ferroportin expression in J774A cell line and in peritoneal macrophages. However, synthetic human hepcidin-25 was more efficient than recombinant mouse hepcidin-1 in reducing iron concentration in blood circulation (p < 0.01).     

Analysis of Allele-Specific Expression in Mouse Liver by RNA-Seq: A Comparison With Cis-eQTL Identified Using Genetic Linkage

We report an analysis of allele-specific expression (ASE) and parent-of-origin expression in adult mouse liver using next generation sequencing (RNA-Seq) of reciprocal crosses of heterozygous F₁ mice from the parental strains C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. We found a 60% overlap between genes exhibiting ASE and putative cis-acting expression quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTL) identified in an intercross between the same strains. We discuss the various biological and technical factors that contribute to the differences. We also identify genes exhibiting parental imprinting and complex expression patterns. Our study demonstrates the importance of biological replicates to limit the number of false positives with RNA-Seq data.     

Dietary supplementation with monosodium glutamate is safe and improves growth performance in postweaning pigs

Dietary intake of glutamate by postweaning pigs is markedly reduced due to low feed consumption. This study was conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of dietary supplementation with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in postweaning pigs. Piglets were weaned at 21 days of age to a corn and soybean meal-based diet supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 % MSG (n = 25/group). MSG was added to the basal diet at the expense of cornstarch. At 42 days of age (21 days after weaning), blood samples (10 mL) were obtained from the jugular vein of 25 pigs/group at 1 and 4 h after feeding for hematological and clinical chemistry tests; thereafter, pigs (n = 6/group) were euthanized to obtain tissues for histopathological examinations. Feed intake was not affected by dietary supplementation with 0–2 % MSG and was 15 % lower in pigs supplemented with 4 % MSG compared with the 0 % MSG group. Compared with the control, dietary supplementation with 1, 2 and 4 % MSG dose-dependently increased plasma concentrations of glutamate, glutamine, and other amino acids (including lysine, methionine, phenylalanine and leucine), daily weight gain, and feed efficiency in postweaning pigs. At day 7 postweaning, dietary supplementation with 1–4 % MSG also increased jejunal villus height, DNA content, and antioxidative capacity. The MSG supplementation dose-dependently reduced the incidence of diarrhea during the first week after weaning. All variables in standard hematology and clinical chemistry tests, as well as gross and microscopic structures, did not differ among the five groups of pigs. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with up to 4 % MSG is safe and improves growth performance in postweaning pigs.