Controversial opinion: evaluation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">EGR1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">LAMA2</Emphasis> loci for high myopia in Chinese populations

Functional studies have suggested the important role of early growth response 1 (EGR1) and Laminin α2-chain (LAMA2) in human eye development. Genetic studies have reported a significant association of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the LAMA2 gene with myopia. This study aimed to evaluate the association of the tagging SNPs (tSNPs) in the EGR1 and LAMA2 genes with high myopia in two independent Han Chinese populations. Four tSNPs (rs11743810 in the EGR1 gene; rs2571575, rs9321170, and rs1889891 in the LAMA2 gene) were selected, according to the HapMap database (http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), and were genotyped using the ligase detection reaction (LDR) approach for 167 Han Chinese nuclear families with extremely highly myopic offspring (<?10.0 diopters) and an independent group with 485 extremely highly myopic cases (<?10.0 diopters) and 499 controls. Direct sequencing was used to confirm the LDR results in twenty randomly selected subjects. Family-based association analysis was performed using the family-based association test (FBAT) software package (Version 1.5.5). Population-based association analysis was performed using the Chi-square test. The association analysis power was estimated using online software (http://design.cs.ucla.edu). The FBAT demonstrated that all four tSNPs tested did not show association with high myopia (P>0.05). Haplotype analysis of tSNPs in the LAMA2 genes also did not show a significant association (P>0.05). Meanwhile, population-based association analysis also showed no significant association results with high myopia (P>0.05). On the basis of our family- and population-based analyses for the Han Chinese population, we did not find positive association signals of the four SNPs in the LAMA2 and EGR1 genes with high myopia.     

Improving the antioxidant activity and enriching salvianolic acids by the fermentation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salvia miltiorrhizae</Emphasis> with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geomyces luteus</Emphasis>

The antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of fermented Salvia miltiorrhiza with fungus Geomyces luteus were investigated. The results revealed that G. luteus fermentation could significantly improve the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of S. miltiorrhiza. The main antioxidant constituents were characterized by spectroscopic analysis as salvianolic acids. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantification also showed the enhanced content of salvianolic acid B after fermentation. The present study suggests that G. luteus fermentations are effective in the S. miltiorrhiza salvianolic acids’ enrichment process.     

Acaricidal activities of whole cell suspension,cell-free supernatant,and crude cell extract of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xenorhabdus stokiae</Emphasis> against mushroom mite (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Luciaphorus</Emphasis> sp.)

Xenorhabdus bacterium has been used as a biological control agent against Luciaphorus sp., a mushroom mite endemic in Thailand. To develop an effective formulation of Xenorhabdus stokiae, treatments using different parts of X. stokiae isolate PB09 culture, including whole cell suspension, cell-free supernatant, and crude cell extract, were performed. The results show that different parts of X. stokiae isolate PB09 culture could induce variable effects on mite mortality and fecundity. Application with cell-free supernatant of X. stokiae culture resulted in both the highest mite mortality rate [(89.00±3.60)%] and the lowest mite fecundity [(41.33±23.69) eggs/gravid female]. Whole cell suspension of X. stokiae isolate PB09 culture was found to be slightly less effective than its cell-free supernatant, suggesting that X. stokiae was more likely to release its metabolites with acaricidal activities to the surrounding culture media. Crude cell extract of X. stokiae was not effective against mites. Cell-free supernatant of X. stokiae isolate PB09 was the most effective biological control agent and it could be conveniently used in future formulations instead of live bacteria.     

Meta-analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">C242T</Emphasis> polymorphism in <Emphasis Type="Italic">CYBA</Emphasis> genes: risk of acute coronary syndrome is lower in Asians but not in Caucasians

Background

A lot of studies have demonstrated that C242T polymorphism in CYBA genes may play an important role in the pathological process of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the results are not consistent. To further evaluate this debate, we performed a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between C242T polymorphism and ACS.

Methods and results

We screened PubMed/MEDLINE, EBSCIO, and EMBASE research reports until Mar. 2014 and extracted data from 10 studies involving 6102 ACS patients and 8669 controls. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity documented a significant decreased risk of ACS for C242T polymorphism in the Asian population under allelic comparison (odd ratio (OR) 0.73; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.64–0.83), dominant model (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.62–0.82), and homozygote comparison (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.35–0.92). However, in the overall population and especially with Caucasians, no significant association was uncovered. Further meta-regression analysis revealed that the heterogeneity among studies was largely attributed to ethnicity. No publication bias was detected through a funnel plot and an Egger’s linear regression test.

Conclusions

Taken together, our results suggest that the C242T polymorphism might be a protective factor against developing ACS in the Asian population. Further researches will be needed to identify the confounding factors which modified the protective effect of T allele among Caucasians.

     

中国地区孢子丝菌临床分离株的分子鉴定(英文)简

In this study, we investigated the molecular phylogeny of 64 clinical isolates which were identified as Sporothrix schenckii sensu lato by morphological identification. All of the strains were isolates from patients from several provinces in China. The phylogeny was inferred by DNA sequence analyses based on datasets of the ribo- somal internal transcribed spacer （ITS） and a combined ITS and partial 13-tubulin region. Reference sequences were retrieved from GenBank. Results showed that all of the isolates were clustered in a distinct clade with a type of Spo- rothrix globosa. Our analysis showed that S. globosa is the causal agent of the tested sporotrichosis in China, rather than S. schenckii that was generally believed to be the case. The existence of S. schenckii in China remains to be confirmed. This study improved our understanding of the distribution of the species in S. schenckii complex.     

Review：BRCA1/2 associated hereditary breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women today. Some of the patients are hereditary, with a large proportion characterized by mutation in BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 genes. In this review, we provide an overview of these two genes, focusing on their relationship with hereditary breast cancers. BRCA1/2 associated hereditary breast cancers have unique features that differ from the general breast cancers, including alterations in cellular molecules, pathological bases, biological behavior, and a different prevention strategy. But the outcome of BRCA1/2 associated hereditary breast cancers still remains controversial; further studies are needed to elucidate the nature of BRCA1/2 associated hereditary breast cancers. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30772510) and the Joint Program of Ministry of Health and Zhejiang Provincal Government of China (No. WKJ2006-2-008)     

bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 down-regulate expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis> fibroin light chain gene in vitro

Based on bioinformatic analysis, we selected two novel microRNAs (miRNAs), bmo-miR-0001 and bmomiR-0015, from high-throughput sequencing of the Bombyx mori larval posterior silk gland (PSG). Firstly, we examined the expression of bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 in 12 different tissues of the 5th instar Day-3 larvae of the silkworm. The results showed that the expression levels of both bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 were obviously higher in the PSG than in other tissues, implying there is a spatio-temporal condition for bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 to regulate the expression of BmFib-L. To test this hypothesis, we constructed pri-bmo-miR-0001 expressing the plasmid pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmo-miR-0001-SV40] and pri-bmo-miR-0015 expressing the plasmid pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pribmo-miR-0015-SV40]. Finally, the BmN cells were harvested and luciferase activity was detected. The results showed that luciferase activity was reduced significantly (P<0.05) in BmN cells co-transfected by pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmomiR-0001-SV40] or pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmo-miR-0015-SV40] with pGL3.0 [A3-luc-Fib-L-3′UTR-SV40], suggesting that both bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 can down-regulate the expression of BmFib-L in vitro.     

Comparative studies on phenotypic plasticity of two herbs,<Emphasis Type="Italic">Changium smyrnioides</Emphasis> and<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anthriscus sylvestris</Emphasis>

The endangered medicinal herb,Changium smyrnioides can only be found in deciduous forest gaps within the middle to northern subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forest zone of China. The considerable plasticity of its shoot and root structure helps it to capture light more effectively in winter and early spring, and to adapt to the soil moisture conditions in its narrow habitat. Another medicinal plant,Anthriscus sylvestris, is of similar economic importance but commonly distributed widely. In contrast toC. smyrnioides, it has low structural plasticity. It is also specialized to adapt to the moist and sunny environment, where habitat, such as the banks of creeks and rivers, is abundant. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (No. G2000046805) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 39970058)     

A pair of two-component regulatory genes<Emphasis Type="Italic">ecr</Emphasis>A1/A2 in<Emphasis Type="Italic">S. coelicolor</Emphasis>

Two-component genes are kinds of genetic elements involved in regulation of antibiotic production inStreptomyces coelicolor. DNA microarray analysis revealed thatecrA1/A2, which mapped at distant sites fromred lucus and encode respectively the kinase and regulator, expressed coordinately with genes of Red specific biosynthetic pathway.ecrA1 andecrA2 gene-disruptive mutants were constructed using homogenotisation by reciprocal double crossover. Fermentation data showed that the undecylprodigiosin (Red) level of production was lower than that of wild-type strain. However, the change of the actinorhodin (Act) production level was not significant compared with wild type. Thus, these experiment results confirmed that the two-component systemecrA1/A2 was positive regulatory element forred gene cluster. Project (No.20172046) supported by the National Natural Foundation of China     

Mixed G<Emphasis Type="Italic">l</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>/G<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> multi-channel multi-objective control synthesis for discrete time systems

This paper proposes a new approach for multi-objective robust control. The approach extends the standard generalizedl ₂ (Gl ₂) and generalizedH ₂ (GH ₂) conditions to a set of new linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints based on a new stability condition. A technique for variable parameterization is introduced to the multi-objective control problem to preserve the linearity of the synthesis variables. Consequently, the multi-channel multi-objective mixed Gl ₂/GH ₂ control problem can be solved less conservatively using computationally tractable algorithms developed in the paper. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60374028), and the Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, Ministry of Education (No. [2004]176)     

Cloning and efficient expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus sp.</Emphasis> BH072 <Emphasis Type="Italic">tasA</Emphasis> gene in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

The Bacillus strain BH072 isolated from a honey sample showed strong antifungal activity against phytopathogen. Gene cloning test demonstrated that the strain had a tasA gene encoding an antifungal TasA protein. Although the wild strain simultaneously produced various antifungal substances, only the physicochemical property and antifungal activity of TasA protein were unclear due to the difficulty in extraction. In this study, tasA gene encoding the protein from Bacillus sp. BH072 was amplified by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and cloned into pET 28a (+) vector, and then expressed in host cells Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The expressed proteins were collected by centrifugation and ultrasonic treatment, and then purified by using nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) metal affinity column and dialysis methods. The result of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) test showed that an expected protein band appeared with a size of 31 kDa. The expressed products possessed antifungal activity against the phytopathogenic indicator strain Botrytis cinerea. A genetically engineered strain tasA of E. coli was established in this study which can efficiently express Tas A protein.     

Science Letters： A TOM1 homologue is required for multiplication of Tobacco mosaic virus in Nicotiana benthamiana

The AtTOM1 gene ofArabidopsis thaliana had been shown to be essential for the efficient multiplication of Tobacco mosaic virus （TMV） in A. thaliana. In this study, we cloned an AtTOM1-like gene from Nicotiana benthamiana named as NbTOM1. Sequence alignment showed that NbTOM1 is closely related to AtTOM1 homologues of N. tabacum and Lycopersicon esculentum with 97.2% and 92.6% nucleotide sequence identities, respectively. Silencing of NbTOM1 by a modified viral satellite DNA-based vector resulted in complete inhibition of the multiplication of TMV in N. benthamiana. The result suggests that inhibition of NbTOM1 via RNA silencing is a potentially useful method for generating TMV-resistant plants.     

Seymour Benzer and T4 <Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>II

One of the goals of genetics is to understand genes in as much detail as possible. For instance, with respect to a given gene, one would like to know its chromosomal location, its physical and genetic size, its neighbours, the number of mutations/alleles defining the gene, the order of mutations, the genetic/physical distance between them, etc. Thus, rather than focusing on the whole genome, one focuses on the finer details of a given genetic segment. The exercise of probing such details is called ‘fine structure genetic analysis’. There are several pioneers who have contributed enormously to this area in many bacterial and phage systems. Two stalwarts, Seymour Benzer and Charles Yanofsky, stand preeminent among them. In the following pages I present briefly Benzer’s outstanding work on the fine structure of the rII region of bacteriopage T4. These path-breaking studies contributed significantly to our understanding of the structure, organization and function of genes. R Jayaraman is an Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology at the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, where he taught and carried out research in the area of microbial genetics for three decades.     

Polymorphisms of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">IGF1</Emphasis> gene and their association with growth traits,serum concentration and expression rate of <Emphasis Type="Italic">IGF1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">IGF1R</Emphasis> in buffalo

The insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene is a member of the group of somatotropin axis genes that play a significant role in cell proliferation and growth of muscles. Here, we searched for polymorphisms in buffalo IGF1 and found two novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), G64A and G280A, in the noncoding sequences of exon 1 and exon 4, respectively. Statistical analysis of different genotypes showed that the individuals with GG genotypes had significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) than those with other genotypes at ages of 3–6 months in G64A SNP and 6–9 months in G280A SNP. The combined genotypes of these two SNPs produced three haplotypes, GG/GG, AG/AG, and AA/AA, which were significantly associated (P<0.0001) with BW and ADG at an age from 3 to 12 months. Buffaloes with the homozygous GG/GG haplotype showed higher growth performance than other buffaloes. The two SNPs were correlated with mRNA levels of IGF1 and IGF1 receptor (IGF1R) in semitendinosus muscle as well as with the serum concentration level of IGF1. Also, buffaloes with GG/GG haplotype showed higher mRNA and serum concentration levels. The data revealed that these two SNPs could be valuable genetic markers for selection of Egyptian buffaloes for better performance in the population.     

Pb uptake,accumulation, subcellular distribution in a Pb-accumulating ecotype of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sedum alfredii</Emphasis> (Hance)

Lead concentrations in roots, stems and leaves of accumulating and non-accumulating ecotypes ofSedum alfredii (Hance) were studied through a hydroponic experiment with different Pb concentrations supplied as Pb(NO₃)₂. Lead concentrations in leaves and stems of the accumulating ecotype were 4–9 times and 3–5 times those of the non-accumulating ecotype, and Pb-accumulated amounts in stems and leaves of the accumulating ecotype were 4–9 times and 8–11 times higher than those of the non-accumulating ecotype, respectively. The results indicated that the accumulating ecotype had better ability to transport Pb from roots to shoots. The subcellular distributions of Pb in the root, stem and leaf tissues were studied using sucrose differential centrifugation. Approximately 50% of Pb contents was found to be associated with the cell wall fraction in stems of the accumulating ecotype and the percentage increased to 80% both in roots and leaves, no matter when plants were grown with different levels of Pb. The results indicated that the distribution of Pb on cell walls of the accumulating ecotype could mainly account for the high tolerance to Pb. Project supported by a Key Project from the Educational Ministry of China (No:02180) and by the Outstanding Young Scientist Grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 39925024).