Genetic Diversity and Evolution of Yunnan Chicken Breeds of China

Chickens are the first type of bird that was domesticated and spread widely in the world to cover the growing demand for animal protein from meat and eggs, and it was cultivated from a wild ancestor known Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). Yunnan Province is considered the most diverse in culture and biology among all the provinces of China. There are a total of more than 24 chicken breeds in Yunnan Province. These chickens are characterized by good quality of their meat and eggs, a good immune system against diseases, and the ability to adapt to various environmental and administrative conditions. Yunnan Province is one of the centers of domestication and evolutionary of chickens in the world. There are many studies that have been conducted to evaluate and study the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationship within and among chicken breeds in Yunnan Province and their relationship with wild chicken species and other chicken breeds using phenotypic markers, protein polymorphisms, SNPs marker, microsatellite marker, and mitochondrial DNA marker. However, there is no review that summarizes these studies, and most of these studies were authored in the Chinese language. Therefore, we have reviewed all studies that have been conducted on Yunnan chicken breeds diversity in Yunnan Province

Impact of dietary protein on lipid metabolism-related gene expression in porcine adipose tissue

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High dietary protein can reduce fat deposition in animal subcutaneous adipose tissue, but little is known about the mechanism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty Wujin pigs of about 15 kg weight were fed either high protein (HP: 18%) or low protein (LP: 14%) diets, and slaughtered at body weights of 30, 60 or 100 kg. Bloods were collected to measure serum parameters. Subcutaneous adipose tissues were sampled for determination of adipocyte size, protein content, lipid metabolism-related gene expression, and enzyme activities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HP significantly reduced adipocyte size, fat meat percentage and backfat thickness, but significantly increased daily gain, lean meat percentage and loin eye area at 60 and 100 kg. Serum free fatty acid and triglyceride concentrations in the HP group were significantly higher than in the LP group. Serum glucose and insulin concentrations were not significantly affected by dietary protein at any body weight. HP significantly reduced gene expression of acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) at 60 kg and 100 kg; however, the mRNA level and enzyme activity of FAS were increased at 30 kg. HP promoted gene and protein expression and enzyme activities of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), carmitine palmtoyltransferase-1B (CPT-1B), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor <it>γ </it>(PPAR<it>γ</it>) and adipocyte-fatty acid binding proteins (A-FABP) at 60 kg, but reduced their expression at 100 kg.</p> <p>Gene expression and enzyme activity of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) was reduced markedly at 60 kg but increased at 100 kg by the high dietary protein. Levels of mRNA, enzyme activities and protein expression of ACC, FAS, SREBP-1c and PPAR<it>γ </it>in both LP and HP groups increased with increasing body weight. However, gene and protein expression levels/enzyme activities of LPL, CPT-1B, A-FABP and HSL in both groups were higher at 60 kg than at 30 and 100 kg.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Fat deposition in Wujin pigs fed high dietary protein for 25 weeks was reduced mainly by depression of lipogenic gene expression. The mechanism of lipid transport, lipolysis and oxidation in adipose tissue regulated by dietary protein appeared to be different at 60 kg and 100 kg body weights.</p

Некоторые аспекты эффективности обучения при переходе от очной формы обучения к дистанционной

ВЫСШЕЕ МЕДИЦИНСКОЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕОБРАЗОВАНИЕ МЕДИЦИНСКОЕ /МЕТОДЫОЧНАЯ ФОРМА ОБУЧЕНИЯЗАОЧНАЯ ФОРМА ОБУЧЕНИЯДИСТАНЦИОННОЕ ОБУЧЕНИЕ /МЕТОДЫОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНЫЙ ПРОЦЕССХИМИЯ (ДИСЦИПЛИНА

Antibodies to Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein Are Pathogenic in Mice and May Be Clinically Relevant in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is an autoantigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and experimental models of arthritis. This study was undertaken to investigate the structure, function, and relevance of anti-COMP antibodies. Methods. We investigated the pathogenicity of monoclonal anti-COMP antibodies in mice using passive transfer experiments, and we explored the interaction of anti-COMP antibodies with cartilage using immunohistochemical staining. The interaction of the monoclonal antibody 15A11 in complex with its specific COMP epitope P6 was determined by x-ray crystallography. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a surface plasma resonance technique were used to study the modulation of calcium ion binding to 15A11. The clinical relevance and value of serum IgG specific to the COMP P6 epitope and its citrullinated variants were evaluated in a large Swedish cohort of RA patients. Results. The murine monoclonal anti-COMP antibody 15A11 induced arthritis in naive mice. The crystal structure of the 15A11-P6 complex explained how the antibody could bind to COMP, which can be modulated by calcium ions. Moreover, serum IgG specific to the COMP P6 peptide and its citrullinated variants was detectable at significantly higher levels in RA patients compared to healthy controls and correlated with a higher disease activity score. Conclusion. Our findings provide the structural basis for binding a pathogenic anti-COMP antibody to cartilage. The recognized epitope can be citrullinated, and levels of antibodies to this epitope are elevated in RA patients and correlate with higher disease activity, implicating a pathogenic role of anti-COMP antibodies in a subset of RA patients.</p

A memória da luz : customizações e encontros com o espectador

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Artes Visuais, 2017.O presente trabalho fala do desenvolvimento e aplicação de simulacros computacionais da luz como opção poética que é estética e empiricamente investigada de modo a envolver a comparação de minhas percepções e meus horizontes, como artista, com os de meus espectadores, como forma de encontrar aproximações e distâncias entre essas percepções e horizontes enquanto criações necessariamente implicadas na fruição esteticamente qualificada desses simulacros, em favor de um maior entendimento sobre o que poderia ser um encontro ou comunicação possível entre autor e receptor e na expectativa de obter, pelo somatório de percepções e horizontes colhidos desses espectadores, uma revelação paulatina das propostas artísticas correspondentes a esses simulacros.This work is about the development and application of computer light simulacra as poetic option that is aesthetically and empirically investigated in a way that involves the comparison of my perceptions and horizons, as an artist, with those of my spectators, as a way to find the proximities and distances between those perceptions and horizons as creations necessarily implied in the fruition aesthetically qualified of these simulacra, in favor of a greater understanding of what could be a possible encounter or communication between author and receiver and in the expectation of a gradual revelation of the artistic proposals corresponding to these simulacra, by the sum of perceptions and horizons taken from those spectators

Property-controlling Enzymes at the Membrane Interface

Monotopic proteins represent a specialized group of membrane proteins in that they are engaged in biochemical events taking place at the membrane interface. In particular, the monotopic lipid-synthesizing enzymes are able to synthesize amphiphilic lipid products by catalyzing two biochemically distinct molecules (substrates) at the membrane interface. Thus, from an evolutionary point of view, anchoring into the membrane interface enables monotopic enzymes to confer sensitivity to a changing environment by regulating their activities in the lipid biosynthetic pathways in order to maintain a certain membrane homeostasis. We are focused on a plant lipid-synthesizing enzyme DGD2 involved in phosphate shortage stress, and analyzed the potentially important lipid anchoring segments of it, by a set of biochemical and biophysical approaches. A mechanism was proposed to explain how DGD2 adjusts its activity to maintain a proper membrane. In addition, a multivariate-based bioinformatics approach was used to predict the lipid-binding segments for GT-B fold monotopic enzymes. In contrast, a soluble protein Myr1 from yeast, implicated in vesicular traffic, was also proposed to be a membrane stress sensor as it is able to exert different binding properties to stressed membranes, which is probably due to the presence of strongly plus-charged clusters in the protein. Moreover, a bacterial monotopic enzyme MGS was found to be able to induce massive amounts of intracellular vesicles in Escherichia coli cells. The mechanisms involve several steps: binding, bilayer lateral expansion, stimulation of lipid synthesis, and membrane bending. Proteolytic and mutant studies indicate that plus-charged residues and the scaffold-like structure of MGS are crucial for the vesiculation process. Hence, a number of features are involved governing the behaviour of monotopic membrane proteins at the lipid bilayer interface.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript

Tryptophan residues promote membrane association for a plant lipid glycosyltransferase involved in phosphate stress

Chloroplast membranes contain a substantial excess of the nonbilayer-prone monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (GalDAG) over the biosynthetically consecutive, bilayer-forming digalactosyldiacylglycerol (GalGalDAG), yielding a high membrane curvature stress. During phosphate shortage, plants replace phospholipids with GalGalDAG to rescue phosphate while maintaining membrane homeostasis. Here we investigate how the activity of the corresponding glycosyltransferase (GT) in Arabidopsis thaliana (atDGD2) depends on local bilayer properties by analyzing structural and activity features of recombinant protein. Fold recognition and sequence analyses revealed a two-domain GT-B monotopic structure, present in other plant and bacterial glycolipid GTs, such as the major chloroplast GalGalDAG GT atDGD1. Modeling led to the identification of catalytically important residues in the active site of atDGD2 by site-directed mutagenesis. The DGD synthases share unique bilayer interface segments containing conserved tryptophan residues that are crucial for activity and for membrane association. More detailed localization studies and liposome binding analyses indicate differentiated anchor and substrate-binding functions for these separated enzyme interface regions. Anionic phospholipids, but not curvature-increasing nonbilayer lipids, strongly stimulate enzyme activity. From our studies, we propose a model for bilayer "control" of enzyme activity, where two tryptophan segments act as interface anchor points to keep the substrate region close to the membrane surface. Binding of the acceptor substrate is achieved by interaction of positive charges in a surface cluster of lysines, arginines, and histidines with the surrounding anionic phospholipids. The diminishing phospholipid fraction during phosphate shortage stress will then set the new GalGalDAG/phospholipid balance by decreasing stimulation of atDGD2

Interacting Networks of the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Ovarian Axis Regulate Layer Hens Performance

Egg production is a vital biological and economic trait for poultry breeding. The ‘hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian (HPO) axis’ determines the egg production, which affects the layer hens industry income. At the organism level, the HPO axis is influenced by the factors related to metabolic and nutritional status, environment, and genetics, whereas at the cellular and molecular levels, the HPO axis is influenced by the factors related to endocrine and metabolic regulation, cytokines, key genes, signaling pathways, post-transcriptional processing, and epigenetic modifications. MiRNAs and lncRNAs play a critical role in follicle selection and development, atresia, and ovulation in layer hens; in particular, miRNA is known to affect the development and atresia of follicles by regulating apoptosis and autophagy of granulosa cells. The current review elaborates on the regulation of the HPO axis and its role in the laying performance of hens at the organism, cellular, and molecular levels. In addition, this review provides an overview of the interactive network regulation mechanism of the HPO axis in layer hens, as well as comprehensive knowledge for successfully utilizing their genetic resources