CCL4 participates in the reprogramming of glucose metabolism induced by ALV-J infection in chicken macrophages

Interferon and chemokine-mediated immune responses are two general antiviral programs of the innate immune system in response to viral infections and have recently emerged as important players in systemic metabolism. This study found that the chemokine CCL4 is negatively regulated by glucose metabolism and avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) infection in chicken macrophages. Low expression levels of CCL4 define this immune response to high glucose treatment or ALV-J infection. Moreover, the ALV-J envelope protein is responsible for CCL4 inhibition. We confirmed that CCL4 could inhibit glucose metabolism and ALV-J replication in chicken macrophages. The present study provides novel insights into the antiviral defense mechanism and metabolic regulation of the chemokine CCL4 in chicken macrophages

Loss of Imprinting of IGF2 as an Epigenetic Marker for the Risk of Human Cancer

IGF2 is the first gene discovered to be imprinted and expressed exclusively from the paternal allele in both human and mouse. IGF2 is also the first imprinted gene displaying loss of imprinting (LOI) or aberrant imprinting in human cancers. Evidently, LOI or reactivation of the maternal allele of IGF2 is associated with an increase of IGF2 expression that may subsequently play an important role in the onset of human cancers. The most important discovery was the association of LOI of IGF2 with the risk of developing human colorectal cancer. LOI occurs not only in colon cancer tissues, but also in matched normal tissues and peripheral blood cells. A pilot study indicated a significant relationship between LOI of IGF2 and family history as well as personal history of colorectal cancer, suggesting that LOI of IGF2 might be a valuable biomolecular marker of predicting an individual's risk for colon cancer. A recent epigenetic progenitor model suggested that human cancers might have a common basis that involves an epigenetic disruption of progenitor cells mediated by “tumor progenitor genes” and proposed that non-neoplastic but epigenetically disrupted progenitor cells might be an important target for cancer risk assessment and prevention

Global Maps of Avian Leukosis Viruses: Research Trends and Themes Based on Networking

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) has a tremendous adverse impact on the poultry industry. Since its discovery, research on different aspects of ALV have been published. Due to the vast academic emphasis and economic importance of the ALV infection in poultry worldwide, this bibliometric analysis explored the scientific output associated with ALV utilizing the Web of Science (Core Collection) database. The relevant data were collected using the search query “AVIAN LEUKOSIS VIRUS”, further refined by document types (article, book chapter, and proceedings paper). Finally, 1060 items with full records were imported in Plaintext and tab-delimited formats. The data analysis was carried out using MS Excel, VOS viewer, and R (Biblioshiny) software. Chinese and American research institutions produced the majority of papers during study time period. The Journal of Virology and Avian Diseases appeared as the favorite journal/source for publications. Apart from the avian leukosis virus and the ALV-J, the important keywords mentioned included avian leukosis virus subgroup j, chicken, and retrovirus. The analysis revealed substantial findings on ALV research, with a strong research response from the USA and China

Isolation and Characterization of N-acyl Homoserine Lactone-Producing Bacteria From Cattle Rumen and Swine Intestines

Quorum sensing systems regulate gene expression in response to bacterial population density. Acyl-homoserine lactones are a class of quorum sensing molecules found in cattle rumen that are thought to regulate the gene expression of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and thus help this pathogen survive in animal gastrointestinal tracts. However, the specific bacteria that produce these signaling molecules in bovine and porcine gastrointestinal tracts are unknown. Here we developed methods to concentrate gastrointestinal fluids and screen the bacteria that produce acyl-homoserine lactones. We isolated a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain YZ1 from cattle rumen, and an Aeromonas hydrophila strain YZ2 from pig intestine. Mass spectrometry analysis of culture supernatants indicated at least three specific classes of acyl-homoserine lactones produced by YZ1, and a C4-acyl-homoserine lactone produced by YZ2. Transformation of E. coli with P. aeruginosa or A. hydrophila luxI homologs,which can produce short- or long-chain acyl-homoserine lactones conferred upon E. coli the ability to synthesize acyl-homoserine lactones and affected gene expression, motility, and acid tolerance of E. coli. This is the first study reporting the isolation and characterization of acyl-homoserine lactone synthase-positive bacteria from cattle rumen and swine intestines

Elicitation of bioactive compounds production in in vitro cultures of Panax ginseng

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biochemical Sciences Candidate: Eliška Syslová Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Lenka Skálová, Ph.D. Thesis title: Elicitation of bioactive compounds production in in vitro cultures of Panax ginseng This diploma thesis is focused on the study of affecting the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer and is focused on increasing the production of biologically active polyacetylenes and ginsenosides in in vitro root cultures by various elicitors. The effect of the concentration of elicitors and growth regulators on the production of root biomass and secondary metabolites was researched. The carriers of the main pharmacological actions of Panax ginseng are ginsenosides and polyacetylenes. The root cultures were cultivated in the liquid medium in the dark at 24 ± 1řC. During the 27 day the sterile elicitation was done and a week later it was harvested. The samples were processed according to the optimized procedure, separately for UPLC analysis of ginsenosides and UPLC analysis of polyacetylenes as well. The presence of individual elicitors influenced the growth of biomass and the amount of ginsenosides and polyacetylenes in the samples

www.mdpi.org/ijms Imprinting Status of IGF2 in Cord Blood Cells of Han Chinese

Abstract: Loss of imprinting (LOI) of insulin-like growth factor II gene (IGF2) is an epigenetic abnormality associated with human diseases. However, little is known about the characteristics of IGF2 imprinting in newborn cord blood cells. METHODS: A total of 923 cord blood samples from term singletons and related clinical data were collected; IGF2 imprinting status in 273 specimens were successfully analyzed using RT-PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: LOI of IGF2 was detected in 20.9% of informative samples. The mean birth weights (BW) in the LOI and the normal imprinting groups were 3462.7 ± 460.2 g and 3363.7 ± 427.7 g, respectively. The abdominal perimeters in the LOI group tended to be larger than that in the normal imprinting group. Pregnancy complications, delivery modes, newborn diseases, occurrences of malignant tumors in grandparents, and other maternal factors were not associated with LOI of IGF2. 22.2 % of the infants with IGF2 LOI also showed LOI in their father’s lymphocytes while 21.4 % in their mother’s lymphocytes. CONCLUSIONS: About 20 % of Han Chinese newborns indicated LOI of IGF2 in their cord blood lymphocytes that may represent the epigenetic characteristics in this ethnic group. While IGF2 LOI tends to be weakly inherited betweenInt. J. Mol. Sci. 2007, 8 27

BAT3 and SET1A Form a Complex with CTCFL/BORIS To Modulate H3K4 Histone Dimethylation and Gene Expression▿ †

Chromatin status is characterized in part by covalent posttranslational modifications of histones that regulate chromatin dynamics and direct gene expression. BORIS (brother of the regulator of imprinted sites) is an insulator DNA-binding protein that is thought to play a role in chromatin organization and gene expression. BORIS is a cancer-germ line gene; these are genes normally present in male germ cells (testis) that are also expressed in cancer cell lines as well as primary tumors. This work identifies SET1A, an H3K4 methyltransferase, and BAT3, a cochaperone recruiter, as binding partners for BORIS, and these proteins bind to the upstream promoter regions of two well-characterized procarcinogenic genes, Myc and BRCA1. RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of BAT3, as well as SET1A, decreased Myc and BRCA1 gene expression but did not affect the binding properties of BORIS, but RNAi knockdown of BORIS prevented the assembly of BAT3 and SET1A at the Myc and BRCA1 promoters. Finally, chromatin analysis suggested that BORIS and BAT3 exert their effects on gene expression by recruiting proteins such as SET1A that are linked to changes in H3K4 dimethylation. Thus, we propose that BORIS acts as a platform upon which BAT3 and SET1A assemble and exert effects upon chromatin structure and gene expression

Additional file 1: Table S1. of The contribution of transposable elements to size variations between four teleost genomes

Numbers of families of DNA repeats from RepBase and the de novo repeats identified by TBLASTN. (PDF 91 kb