Comparative transcriptome sequencing of germline and somatic tissues of the Ascaris suum gonad

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Ascaris suum </it>(large roundworm of pigs) is a parasitic nematode that causes substantial losses to the meat industry. This nematode is suitable for biochemical studies because, unlike <it>C. elegans</it>, homogeneous tissue samples can be obtained by dissection. It has large sperm, produced in great numbers that permit biochemical studies of sperm motility. Widespread study of <it>A. suum </it>would be facilitated by more comprehensive genome resources and, to this end, we have produced a gonad transcriptome of <it>A. suum</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two 454 pyrosequencing runs generated 572,982 and 588,651 reads for germline (TES) and somatic (VAS) tissues of the <it>A. suum </it>gonad, respectively. 86% of the high-quality (HQ) reads were assembled into 9,955 contigs and 69,791 HQ reads remained as singletons. 2.4 million bp of unique sequences were obtained with a coverage that reached 16.1-fold. 4,877 contigs and 14,339 singletons were annotated according to the <it>C. elegans </it>protein and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) protein databases. Comparison of TES and VAS transcriptomes demonstrated that genes participating in DNA replication, RNA transcription and ubiquitin-proteasome pathways are expressed at significantly higher levels in TES tissues than in VAS tissues. Comparison of the <it>A. suum </it>TES transcriptome with the <it>C. elegans </it>microarray dataset identified 165 <it>A. suum </it>germline-enriched genes (83% are spermatogenesis-enriched). Many of these genes encode serine/threonine kinases and phosphatases (KPs) as well as tyrosine KPs. Immunoblot analysis further suggested a critical role of phosphorylation in both testis development and spermatogenesis. A total of 2,681 <it>A. suum </it>genes were identified to have associated RNAi phenotypes in <it>C. elegans</it>, the majority of which display embryonic lethality, slow growth, larval arrest or sterility.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Using deep sequencing technology, this study has produced a gonad transcriptome of <it>A. suum</it>. By comparison with <it>C. elegans </it>datasets, we identified sets of genes associated with spermatogenesis and gonad development in <it>A. suum</it>. The newly identified genes encoding KPs may help determine signaling pathways that operate during spermatogenesis. A large portion of <it>A. suum </it>gonadal genes have related RNAi phenotypes in <it>C. elegans </it>and, thus, might be RNAi targets for parasite control.</p

Evaluation of the microbial diversity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using high-throughput sequencing

More and more evidences indicate that diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) have been seriously affected by faecal microbes. However, little work is done to explore interaction between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and faecal microbes. In the present study, high-throughput sequencing method was used to compare the intestinal microbial diversity of healthy people and ALS patients. The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), Venn and unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) showed an obvious microbial changes between healthy people (group H) and ALS patients (group A), and the average ratios of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Anaerostipes, Prevotella, Escherichia and Lachnospira at genus level between ALS patients and healthy people were 0.78, 2.18, 3.41, 0.35, 0.79 and 13.07. Furthermore, the decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio at phylum level using LEfSE (LDA >4.0), together with the significant increased genus Dorea (harmful microorganisms ) and significant reduced genus Oscillibacter, Anaerostipes, Lachnospiraceae (beneficial microorganisms) in ALS patients, indicated that the imbalance in intestinal microflora constitution had a strong association with the pathogenesis of ALS

Higher risk of sarcopenia in older adults with type 2 diabetes: NHANES 1999-2018

Introduction: Recent studies suggested that sarcopenia may be a significant comorbidity of diabetes mellitus (DM). Nonetheless, studies with nationally representative data are scarce, and the changing trend of sarcopenia prevalence over time is largely unknown. Therefore, we aimed to estimate and compare the prevalence of sarcopenia in diabetic and non-diabetic United States (US) older population, and to explore the potential predictors of sarcopenia as well as the trend of sarcopenia prevalent in the past decades. Methods: Data was retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Sarcopenia and DM were defined according to corresponding diagnosis criteria. Weighted prevalence was calculated and compared between diabetic and non-diabetic participants. The differences among age and ethnicity groups were explored. Results: A total of 6381 US adults (>50 years) were involved. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 17.8% for US elders, and the prevalence was higher (27.9% vs. 15.7%) in those with diabetes ones than those without. Stepwise regression revealed that sarcopenia was significantly associated with DM (Adjusted odds ratio=1.37, 95%CI: 1.08-1.22; P<0.05) after controlling for potential confounders including gender, age, ethnicity, educational level, BMI and muscle strengthening activity. A slightly fluctuate but overall increasing trend of sarcopenia prevalence was observed among diabetic elders while no obvious changing trend was observed in their counterparts in recent decades. Conclusion: Diabetic US older adults face significantly higher risk of sarcopenia when compared with their non-diabetic counterparts. Gender, age, ethnicity, educational level and obesity were important influencing factors of sarcopenia development

Reclamation of Herb Residues Using Probiotics and Their Therapeutic Effect on Diarrhea

Residues from herbal medicine processing in pharmaceutical plants create a large amount of waste (herb residues), which consists mainly of environmental pollution and medicinal waste. In order to resolve this problem, probiotics of Bacillus (B.) subtilis, Aspergillus (A.) oryzae, and Lactobacillus (L.) plantarum M3 are selected to reuse herb residue of Jianweixiaoshi tablets (JT), and an antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) mouse model was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the herb residue fermentation supernatant. Our results indicated that the fermentation supernatant had scavenged 77.8% of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 78% of O2•−, 36.7% of •OH, 39% of Fe2+ chelation, and 716 mg/L reducing power. The inhibition zones for Salmonella (S.) typhimurium, S. enteritidis, Shigella (Sh.) flexneri, Escherichia (E.) coli, Listeria (L.) monocytogenes, Sh. dysenteriae 301, and Staphylococcus (S.) aureus were 17, 14, 19, 18, 20, 19, and 20 mm, respectively. The in vivo results indicated that the fermentation supernatant resulted in a high diarrhea inhibition rate (56%, p<0.05), greatly enhanced the disruption of bacterial diversity caused by antibiotics, and restored the dominant position of L. johnsonii in the treatment and recovery stages. Therefore, the combination of the herb residue and probiotics suggests a potential to explore conversion of these materials for the possible development of therapies for AAD

Evaluation of the Antioxidative, Antibacterial, and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of the Aloe Fermentation Supernatant Containing Lactobacillus plantarum HM218749.1

Little work is done to develop Aloe vera (AV) using probiotics. To explore the potential benefits, the antioxidant effects and the antibacterial effects on foodborne pathogens of Aloe fermentation supernatant were evaluated in vitro. Our results indicated that the Aloe fermentation supernatant fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum HM218749.1 had very strong scavenging capacities of the DPPH (86%), O2•- (85%), OH• (76%), and Fe2+ chelation (82%) and reducing powers (242.5 mg/L), and the inhibition zones for Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella flexneri, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, S. dysenteriae 301, Staphylococcus aureus Cowan1, and Propionibacterium acnes were 16, 15, 19, 20, 21, 20, and 27 mm. Moreover, the low concentration of Aloe fermentation supernatant had significantly reduced the production of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 in both mRNA and protein levels (P<0.01). Therefore, the Aloe fermentation supernatant can be used as functional beverage or cosmetic ingredients to guard human intestinal health, delaying senescence, and prevent chronic diseases