Cullenbarber8544
Functional annotations implicate the role of these three novel loci in regulating the immune system. In addition, the annotation for rs117996675 supports the body mass index as the most relevant environmental factor, as evidenced by the Bayes factor value. Our findings help to understand the role of the immune system in asthma and the role of environmental factors in late-onset asthma through G×E interactions. Ultimately, the enhanced understanding of asthma would contribute to better precision treatment depending on personal genetic and environmental information.Bupleurum chinense DC is a plant widely used in Chinese traditional medicine. Saikosaponins are the major bioactive constituents of B. chinense DC. Saikosaponins biosynthesis in Bupleurum has been more intensively studied than any other metabolic processes or bioactive constituents. However, whole-genome sequencing and chromosome-level assembly for Bupleurum genus have not been reported yet. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome of B. chinense DC. through the integration of PacBio long-read sequencing, Illumina short-read sequencing, and Hi-C sequencing. The genome was phased into haplotype 0 (621.27 Mb with a contig N50 of 16.86 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 92.25 Mb) and haplotype 1 (600.48 Mb with a contig N50 of 23.90 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 102.68 Mb). A total of 45,909 and 35,805 protein-coding genes were predicted in haplotypes 0 and 1, respectively. The enrichment analyses suggested that the gene families that expanded during the evolution of B. chinense DC are involved in the biosynthesis of isoquinoline alkaloid, tyrosine, and anthocyanin. Furthermore, we analyzed the genes involved in saikosaponin biosynthesis and determined the candidate P450 and UGT genes in the third stage of saikosaponins biosynthetic, which provided new insight into the saikosaponins biosynthetic. The genomic data provide a valuable resource for future investigations of the molecular mechanisms, biological functions, and evolutionary adaptations of B. chinense DC.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as small non-coding RNA transcripts bind their complementary sequences in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to regulate their expression. It is known that miR-372 belongs to the miR-371-373 gene cluster and has been found to be abnormally expressed in a variety of cancers, but its precise mechanism in cancer remains to be discovered. In this study, miR-372-3p expression was assessed in 153 frozen tissue samples, including primary diagnosed colon cancer and matched normal and adjacent tissues, using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). An analysis of qPCR data revealed a significant reduction in miR-372-3p expression (by >2-fold) in colon cancer tissues in 51.5% (34/66) of patients. Consistent with this, mimicking the increased miR-372-3p levels in SW480 colon cancer cells significantly suppressed cell growth and proliferation. Although no direct correlation was found between the low level of miR-372-3p and certain tumor-related factors, such as p53, HRE-2, PMS2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, HDAC4, p21, and Wee1, in colon cancer tissues, an inverse relationship between miR-372-3p and Ki67 (a marker of proliferation) or miR-372-3p and MAP3K2(MEKK2), which plays a critical role in the MAPK signaling pathways, was confirmed using tissue samples. The target relationship between miR-372-3p and MAP3K2 was verified using luciferase assays in SW480 colon cancer cells. As expected, miR-372-3p mimics significantly suppressed the luciferase activity of pMIR-luc/MAP3K2 3'-UTR in cells, suggesting that miR-372-3p modulates the expression of MAP3K2 by directly targeting its 3'-UTR. Overall, the results obtained herein suggest that miR-372-3p may function as a tumor-suppressor miRNA in colon cancer by targeting MAP3K2.MicroRNA (miRNA) is a category of single-stranded non-coding small RNA (sRNA) that regulates gene expression by targeting mRNA. It plays a key role in the temperature-dependent sex determination of Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), a reptile whose sex is determined solely by the temperature during the incubation period and remains stable thereafter. However, the potential function of miRNAs in the gonads of adult Chinese alligators is still unclear. Here, we prepared and sequenced sRNA libraries of adult female and male alligator gonads, from breeding (in summer) and hibernating (in winter) animals. We obtained 130 conserved miRNAs and 683 novel miRNAs, which were assessed for sex bias in summer and winter; a total of 65 miRNAs that maintained sex bias in both seasons were identified. A regulatory network of sex-biased miRNAs and genes was constructed. Sex-biased miRNAs targeted multiple genes in the meiosis pathway of adult Chinese alligator oocytes and the antagonistic gonadal function maintenance pathway, such as MOS, MYT1, DMRT1, and GDF9. Our study emphasizes the function of miRNA in the epigenetic mechanisms of sex maintenance in crocodilians.Impatiens L., the largest genus in the family Balsaminaceae with approximately 1,000 species, is a controversial genus. Due to the conflict of morphological features and insufficient genomic resources, the studies of systematic evolution and understanding of taxonomic identification are considered to be very limited. Hence, we have sequenced the complete chloroplast genomes of three ornamental species (Impatiens balsamina, I. hawkeri, and I. walleriana), and compared them with previously published wild species data. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mk-5108-vx-689.html We performed a detailed comparison of a highly similar basic structure, size, GC content, gene number, order, and functional array among them. Similarly, most divergent genes were detected from previous work in the literature. The mutational regions containing highly variable nucleotide hotspots were identified and may be used as potential markers for species identification and taxonomy. Furthermore, using whole chloroplast genome data to analysis the phylogenetic relationship of the Balsaminaceae species, we found that they were all part of a single clade. The three phenotypically different ornamental species were clustered together, suggesting that they were very likely to be closely related. We achieved and characterized the plastid genome structure, identified the divergence hotspots, and determined the phylogenetic and taxonomic positions of the three cultivated species in the Impatiens genus. The results may show that the chloroplast genome can be used to solve phylogenetic problems in or between the Impatiens genus and also provide genomic resources for the study of the Balsaminaceae family's systematics and evolution.Understanding the process of human placentation is important to the development of strategies for treatment of pregnancy complications. Several animal and in vitro human model systems for the general study human placentation have been used. The field has expanded rapidly over the past decades to include stem cell-derived approaches that mimic preclinical placental development, and these stem cell-based models have allowed us to better address the physiology and pathophysiology of normal and compromised trophoblast (TB) sublineage development. The application of transcriptomic approaches to these models has uncovered limitations that arise when studying the distinctive characteristics of the large and fragile multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast (STB), which plays a key role in fetal-maternal communication during pregnancy. The extension of these technologies to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is just now being reported and will allow, for the first time, a reproducible and robust approach to the study of the developmental underpinnings of late-manifesting diseases such as preeclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth retardation in a manner that is patient- and disease-specific. Here, we will first focus on the application of various RNA-seq technologies to TB, prior limitations in fully accessing the STB transcriptome, and recent leveraging of single nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) technology to improve our understanding of the STB transcriptome. Next, we will discuss new stem-cell derived models that allow for disease- and patient-specific study of pregnancy disorders, with a focus on the study of STB developmental abnormalities in PE that combine snRNA-seq approaches and these new in vitro models.The depot differences between Subcutaneous Fat (SAF) and Visceral Fat (VAF) are critical for human well-being and disease processes in regard to energy metabolism and endocrine function. Miniature pigs (Sus scrofa) are ideal biomedical models for human energy metabolism and obesity due to the similarity of their lipid metabolism with that of humans. However, the regulation of differences in fat deposition and development remains unclear. In this study, the development of SAF and VAF was characterized and compared in Bama pig during postnatal development (infancy, puberty and adulthood), using RNA sequencing techniques (RNA-Seq). The transcriptome of SAF and VAF was profiled and isolated from 1-, 3- and 6 months-old pigs and identified 23,636 expressed genes, of which 1,165 genes were differentially expressed between the depots and/or developmental stages. Upregulated genes in SAF showed significant function and pathway enrichment in the central nervous system development, lipid metabolism, oxidation-reduction process and cell adhesion, whereas genes involved in the immune system, actin cytoskeleton organization, male gonad development and the hippo signaling pathway were preferentially expressed in VAF. Miner analysis of short time-series expression demonstrated that differentiation in gene expression patterns between the two depots corresponded to their distinct responses in sexual development, hormone signaling pathways, lipid metabolism and the hippo signaling pathway. Transcriptome analysis of SAF and VAF suggested that the depot differences in adipose tissue are not only related to lipid metabolism and endocrine function, but are closely associated with sexual development and organ size regulation.Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare and genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by skin fragility and blister formation occurring spontaneously or after minor trauma. EB is accompanied by congenital absence of skin (EB with CAS) in some patients. Pathogenic variants of COL7A1 are responsible for EB with CAS in the vast majority of cases. Type and subtype diagnosis of EB with CAS generally requires specific immunohistological examinations that are not widely available plus targeted gene analysis. The present study aimed to determine the clinical features of five patients affected by EB with CAS and to identify the underlying genetic defects using whole exome sequencing (WES) followed by focused analysis of the target genes. Four patients had generalized skin involvement and one had localized defects. Two patients exhibited extremely severe skin manifestations and congenital cloudy cornea along with pyloric atresia, and one had partial esophagogastric obstruction and anuria due to vesicoureteric obstron EB.The assessment of the cellular heterogeneity and abundance in bulk tissue samples is essential for characterising cellular and organismal states. Computational approaches to estimate cellular abundance from bulk RNA-Seq datasets have variable performances, often requiring benchmarking matrices to select the best performing methods for individual studies. However, such benchmarking investigations are difficult to perform and assess in typical applications because of the absence of gold standard/ground-truth cellular measurements. Here we describe Decosus, an R package that integrates seven methods and signatures for deconvoluting cell types from gene expression profiles (GEP). Benchmark analysis on a range of datasets with ground-truth measurements revealed that our integrated estimates consistently exhibited stable performances across datasets than individual methods and signatures. We further applied Decosus to characterise the immune compartment of skin samples in different settings, confirming the well-established Th1 and Th2 polarisation in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, respectively.