Identification and characterization of the expression profile of microRNAs in Anopheles anthropophagus

BACKGROUND: Anopheles anthropophagus, one of the most important mosquito-borne disease vectors in Asia, mainly takes blood meals from humans and transmits both malaria and filariae. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs, and play a critical role in many cellular processes, including development, differentiation, apoptosis and innate immunity. METHODS: We investigated the global miRNA expression profile of male and female adults of A. anthropophagus using illumina Hiseq2000 sequencing combined with Northern blot. RESULTS: By using the miRNAs of the closely-related species Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti as reference, we obtained 102 miRNAs candidates out of 12.43 million raw sequencing reads for male and 16.51 million reads for female, with 81 of them found as known miRNAs in An. gambiae and/or Ae. aegypti, and the remaining 21 miRNAs were considered as novel. By analyzing the revised read count of miRNAs in male and female, 29 known miRNAs show sexual difference expression: >2-fold in the read count of the same miRNAs in male and female. Especially for miR-989, which is highly expressed in the female mosquitoes, but shows almost no detected expression in male mosquitoes, indicating that miR-989 may be involved in the physiological activity of female mosquito adults. The expression of four miRNAs in different growth stages of mosquito were further identified by Northern blot. Several miRNAs show the stage-specific expression, of which miR-2943 only expressed in the egg stage, suggesting that miR-2943 may be associated with the development of mosquito eggs. CONCLUSIONS: The present study represents the first global characterization of An. anthropophagus miRNAs in sexual differences and stage-specific functions. A better understanding of the functions of these miRNAs will offer new insights in mosquito biology and has implications for the effective control of mosquito-borne infectious diseases

Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Emotional Well-Being during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in China

We aimed to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 lock down on lifestyle in China during the initial stage of the pandemic. A questionnaire was distributed to Chinese adults living in 31 provinces of China via the internet using a snowball sampling strategy. Information on 7-day physical activity recall, screen time, and emotional state were collected between January 24 and February 2, 2020. ANOVA, χ² test, and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used for statistical analysis. 12,107 participants aged 18-80 years were included. During the initial phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly 60% of Chinese adults had inadequate physical activity (95% CI 56.6%-58.3%), which was more than twice the global prevalence (27.5%, 25.0%-32.2%). Their mean screen time was more than 4 hours per day while staying at home (261.3 ± 189.8 min per day), and the longest screen time was found in young adults (305.6 ± 217.5 min per day). We found a positive and significant correlation between provincial proportions of confirmed COVID-19 cases and negative affect scores (r = 0.501, p = 0.004). Individuals with vigorous physical activity appeared to have a better emotional state and less screen time than those with light physical activity. During this nationwide lockdown, more than half of Chinese adults temporarily adopted a sedentary lifestyle with insufficient physical activity, more screen time, and poor emotional state, which may carry considerable health risks. Promotion of home-based self-exercise can potentially help improve health and wellness.This study was funded by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2019YFF0301600),and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775059 and 31900845)

Stabilization of the Transcription Factors Slug and Twist by the Deubiquitinase Dub3 is a Key Requirement for Tumor Metastasis

The Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) represents a cellular de-differentiation process that provides cells with the increased plasticity required during embryonic development, tissue remodeling, wound healing and metastasis. Slug and Twist are two key EMT transcription factors (EMT-TFs) that are tightly regulated via ubiquitination and degradation. How Slug and Twist escape degradation and become stabilized in cancer cells remains unclear. One plausible mechanism of Slug and Twist stabilization involves removal of ubiquitin by deubiquitinases (DUBs). In this study, we identified Dub3 as a novel DUB for both Slug and Twist. We further found that Dub3 overexpression increased Slug and Twist protein levels in a dose-dependent manner, whereas Dub3-knockdown decreased their protein levels. Of importance, Dub3 interacted with Slug and Twist and prevented them from degradation, thereby promoting migration, invasion, and cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties of breast cancer cells. Intriguingly, Dub3 was identified as an early response gene that was upregulated after exposure to inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, which plays a critical role in the growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells, as well as the maintenance of breast CSCs. We found that Dub3 played an essential role in IL-6 induced EMT through stabilization of Slug and Twist. Our study has uncovered an IL-6-Dub3-Slug/Twist signaling axis during EMT and suggests potential approaches that could target Dub3 to prevent metastatic breast tumor

Could the wild population of Large Yellow Croaker Larimichthys crocea (Richardson) in China be restored? A case study in Guanjingyang, Fujian, China

Over 90% of the world's fisheries have been fully exploited or over-fished. Included is the large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea), an important commercial fish species in China whose population was nearly depleted prior to the 1980s. Although overfishing and natural resources collapse present a daunting issue, some studies indicate that improved management strategies could aid in natural stock restoration to prevent depletion. We developed an integrated assessment method grounded on an ecosystem-based approach and deigned an integrated index with three key aspects of habitat suitability, natural population status and government & social interventions, to evaluate the potential restoration capacity of the species in a designated “national aquatic germplasm resource protected area” in Guanjinyang based on a data set spanning 1987 to 2015. The results show that although restoration efforts on research and rehabilitation have increased greatly since late 1990s, the effectiveness stays moderate and the natural population remains near depletion

Artificial trans-encoded small non-coding RNAs specifically silence the selected gene expression in bacteria

Recently, many small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) with important regulatory roles have been identified in bacteria. As their eukaryotic counterparts, a major class of bacterial trans-encoded sRNAs acts by basepairing with target mRNAs, resulting in changes in translation and stability of the mRNA. RNA interference (RNAi) has become a powerful gene silencing tool in eukaryotes. However, such an effective RNA silencing tool remains to be developed for prokaryotes. In this study, we described first the use of artificial trans-encoded sRNAs (atsRNAs) for specific gene silencing in bacteria. Based on the common structural characteristics of natural sRNAs in Gram-negative bacteria, we developed the designing principle of atsRNA. Most of the atsRNAs effectively suppressed the expression of exogenous EGFP gene and endogenous uidA gene in Escherichia coli. Further studies demonstrated that the mRNA base pairing region and AU rich Hfq binding site were crucial for the activity of atsRNA. The atsRNA-mediated gene silencing was Hfq dependent. The atsRNAs led to gene silencing and RNase E dependent degradation of target mRNA. We also designed a series of atsRNAs which targeted the toxic genes in Staphyloccocus aureus, but found no significant interfering effect. We established an effective method for specific gene silencing in Gram-negative bacteria

Purification of artemisinin precursor amorphadiene from microbial metabolites containing isomeride farnesene: Solid-Pd chemocatalysis of farnesene to squalene with high boiling point

Due to complex chemical mechanism of sesquiterpene synthases, amorpha-4, 11-diene (AD) from microbial fermentation contained isomeride β-farnesene (FA) with similar boiling point. For purifying AD, FA was converted to biofuel-valued squalene (SQ) with high boiling point using solid Pd catalysts. (NHT)OS-Pd catalysts resulted in FA conversion of >99.9% and SQ selectivity of >99.0% at 80 °C for 5 h. Moreover, this catalyst exhibited great stability and recycling performance. When (NHT)OS-Pd was applied to AD mixture, almost FA was converted to SQ and AD remained in the pre-reaction state. As SQ had a higher boiling point, AD was easily distilled out

Estimation of Health Effects and Economic Losses from Ambient Air Pollution in Undeveloped Areas: Evidence from Guangxi, China

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, located in the southwest of China, has rapidly developed since the late 2000s. Similar to other regions, economic development has been accompanied by environmental problems, especially air pollution, which can adversely affect the health of residents in the area. In this study, we estimated the negative health effects of three major ambient pollutants, Particulate Matter with a diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in Guangxi from 2011 to 2016 using a log-linear exposure–response function. We monetarized the economic loss using the value of statistical life (VSL) and the cost of illness (COI) methods. The results show that the total possible short-term all-cause mortality values due to PM10, SO2, and NO2 were 28,396, with the confidence intervals from 14,664 to 42,014 (14,664–42,014), 24,618 (15,480–33,371), and 46,365 (31,158–61,423), respectively. The mortality from the three pollutants was 48,098 (19,972–75,973). The economic loss of the health burden from the three pollutants was 40,555 (24,172–57,585), which was 2.86% (1.70–4.06%) of the regional gross domestic product. The result of the comparative analysis among different cities showed that urbanization, industrialization, and residents’ income are important factors in air-pollution-caused health damage and subsequent economic loss. We conclude that the health burden caused by ambient pollutants in developing regions, accompanied by its rapid socio-economic growth, is significant and tighter regulation is needed in the future to alleviate air pollution and mitigate the related health damage