490 research outputs found

    Phylogeny of the genus Morus (Urticales: Moraceae) inferred from ITS and trnL-F sequences

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    Both nuclear ribosomal ITS and chloroplast trnL-F sequences were acquired from 13 mulberry genotypes belonging to nine species and three varieties, and one paper mulberry. The later belongs to genus B. papyrifera, designed as outgroup, and were analyzed. Within the genus Morus, the sequence diversity of ITS was much higher than that of trnL-F. The results of phylogenetic analyses based on these data (separately or combined) show that the genus Morus is monophyletic group. Strict consensus tree obtained through the Neighbor-joining method can be divided into five major clades in the genus Morus, according to combined sequence data. M. bombycis, M. alba var. venose formed clades A and B, respectively. Clade C comprises of 5 species; M. rotundiloba, M. atropurpurea, M. mongolica, M. australi, and M. mongolica var. diabolica. Clade D comprises of 3 species; M. wittiorum, M. laevigata, and M. alba. Clade E comprises of 2 species; M. multicaulis, and M.alba var. macrophylla. The results from cluster analysis were basically in agreement with the existing morphologic classification.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 563-569, 200

    The dark kinase STK32A regulates hair cell planar polarity opposite of EMX2 in the developing mouse inner ear.

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    The vestibular maculae of the inner ear contain sensory receptor hair cells that detect linear acceleration and contribute to equilibrioception to coordinate posture and ambulatory movements. These hair cells are divided between two groups, separated by a line of polarity reversal (LPR), with oppositely oriented planar-polarized stereociliary bundles that detect motion in opposite directions. The transcription factor EMX2 is known to establish this planar polarized organization in mouse by regulating the distribution of the transmembrane receptor GPR156 at hair cell boundaries in one group of cells. However, the genes regulated by EMX2 in this context were previously not known. Using mouse as a model, we have identified the serine threonine kinase STK32A as a downstream effector negatively regulated by EMX2

    Insect-Specific microRNA Involved in the Development of the Silkworm Bombyx mori

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    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding genes that participate in post-transcription regulation by either degrading mRNA or blocking its translation. It is considered to be very important in regulating insect development and metamorphosis. We conducted a large-scale screening for miRNA genes in the silkworm Bombyx mori using sequence-by-synthesis (SBS) deep sequencing of mixed RNAs from egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages. Of 2,227,930 SBS tags, 1,144,485 ranged from 17 to 25 nt, corresponding to 256,604 unique tags. Among these non-redundant tags, 95,184 were matched to the silkworm genome. We identified 3,750 miRNA candidate genes using a computational pipeline combining RNAfold and TripletSVM algorithms. We confirmed 354 miRNA genes using miRNA microarrays and then performed expression profile analysis on these miRNAs for all developmental stages. While 106 miRNAs were expressed in all stages, 248 miRNAs were egg- and pupa-specific, suggesting that insect miRNAs play a significant role in embryogenesis and metamorphosis. We selected eight miRNAs for quantitative RT-PCR analysis; six of these were consistent with our microarray results. In addition, we searched for orthologous miRNA genes in mammals, a nematode, and other insects and found that most silkworm miRNAs are conserved in insects, whereas only a small number of silkworm miRNAs has orthologs in mammals and the nematode. These results suggest that there are many miRNAs unique to insects

    Muscone suppresses gastric cancer via regulation of miRNA‐145

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    Abstract This study aims to determine the effects and mechanism of action of muscone on the biological activity of the gastric cancer cell lines SGC‐7901 and MGC‐803 (proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration) in vitro. An optimal muscone concentration was determined using MTT and cell apoptosis tests. The SGC‐7901 and MGC‐803 cells were divided into five groups: normal control, muscone, miRNA, muscone + miRNA, and muscone + miRNA inhibitor. Cell proliferation rate, apoptosis rate, cell cycle phase distribution, number of invading cells, and wound healing rate were compared among the five groups using MTT, flow cytometry, transwell, and wound healing assays. Relative expression levels of the proteins PI3K, AKT, P21, c‐Myc, MMP‐2, and MMP‐9 were measured by Western blot. Compared with the control group, the groups treated with muscone and miRNA showed significantly lower cell proliferation rate, number of invading cells, and wound healing rate (p < .05 for all), but significantly higher rates of cell apoptosis rate and numbers of cells in the G1 phase (p < .05 for all). These groups also showed significantly lower expression of the proteins PI3K, AKT, c‐Myc, MMP‐2, and MMP‐9 but significantly increased expression of the protein P21 (p < .05). Transfecting muscone‐treated SGC‐7901 and MGC‐803 cells with miRNA‐145 inhibitor resulted in a significant recovery of biological activity (p < .05). Muscone suppresses the biological activity of SGC‐7901 and MGC‐803 gastric cancer cells in vitro via regulation of miRNA‐145

    PGC-1β cooperating with FOXA2 inhibits proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells

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    Abstract Background Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancy among females from the worldwide cancer incidence statistics. Peroxisome gamma coactivator-1β (PGC-1β) has long been identified to be involved in this type of tumorigenesis. However, the mechanisms of PGC-1β in human breast cancer have not been fully understood and the function requires to be further elucidated. Methods mRNA and protein expression of PGC-1β and FOXA2 in breast cancer tissues and cell lines were determined by qRT-PCR and Western Blotting, respectively. To further visualize the expression and localization of PGC-1β and FOXA2, immunochemistry and immunofluorescence staining methods were employed. The effect of PGC-1β and FOXA2 on cell proliferation and migration were evaluated by CCK8, clone formation, transwell and wound-healing assays, which has been done either with stable PGC-1β knockdown or FOXA2 overexpression in vitro. Xenografts model of nude mice were used to evaluate tumor growth in vivo. In addition, proteins expression of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway involved in the regulation of breast cancer were detected by Western Blotting. Results Our results showed that PGC-1β was upregulated and FOXA2 was downregulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. These two proteins can be interacted with each other to form the complex. Also, we found the combination of PGC-1β interference with FOXA2 overexpression significantly inhibited cell proliferation and migration in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo. We further identified that PGC-1β and FOXA2 strongly correlated with the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway, and they exerted their biological functions by activating this pathway. Conclusions We demonstrated that downregulation of PGC-1β combined with overexpression of FOXA2 obviously inhibited the function of breast cancer cells through regulating the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway

    Hydration of Early Age Cement Paste with Nano-CaCO3 and SAP by LF-NMR Spectroscopy: Mechanism and Prediction

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    In this paper, by testing the evolution of the physically bound water using the low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) technology, the hydration process of cement paste with nano-CaCO3 (NC) and superabsorbent polymer (SAP) at early age is investigated. Results indicate that the hydration process can be divided into four periods according to the zero points of the second-order differential hydration curve: initial period, acceleration period, deceleration period, and steady period. Firstly, with the increase in the water to cement ratio, the starting time of the hydration period is delayed, and the duration becomes longer. Secondly, the addition of NC leads to the speedy arrival of each period and shortens the duration of each period in the hydration process, and the optimal NC content is 1.5%. Thirdly, with the increase in SAP content, the starting time of the hydration period is delayed and the duration becomes longer. Finally, based on the experimental results and the existing hydration model, the modified hydration model considering the content of NC and SAP is proposed

    Effects of Nano-SiO2 and SAP on Hydration Process of Early-Age Cement Paste Using LF-NMR

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    The effects of nano-SiO2 and superabsorbent polymer on the hydration process of early-age cement paste are investigated through the physically bound water evolution test by means of the low-field nuclear magnetic resonance technology. The test results show that the hydration process can be characterized by four-stage patterns based on the zero points of the second-order differential hydration curve, i.e., the initial, accelerated, decelerated, and steady periods. The beginning time of each stage is postponed and the hydration duration is prolonged with an increasing water to cement ratio. The beginning time of each stage and the hydration duration are shortened with an increasing content of nano-SiO2. And the beginning time of each stage and the hydration duration are prolonged with an increasing content of superabsorbent polymer. Based on the test data and the Avrami–Erofeev model, a modified hydration model taking the influence of nano-SiO2 and SAP into account is proposed, and the predicted results are consistent with the test results

    Retrieval of Soil Moisture Content Based on Multisatellite Dual-Frequency Combination Multipath Errors

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    Global navigation satellite system interferometric reflectometry (GNSS-IR) is a new type of microwave remote sensing technology that can measure soil moisture content (SMC). GNSS-IR soil moisture retrieval methods based on the satellite signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and triple-frequency signal combination have the following shortcomings: SNR does not always exist in the original GNSS file, and the number of triple-frequency signal observation satellites is small, resulting in GNSS-IR soil moisture observation time resolution being low. Based on the above problems, in this study, we constructed a soil moisture inversion method based on multisatellite dual-frequency combined multipath error is proposed: the multipath error calculation model of dual-frequency carrier phase (L4 Ionosphere Free, L4_IF) and dual-frequency pseudorange (DFP) without ionospheric effect is constructed. We selected the data of the five epochs before and after the time point of the effective satellite period to construct the multipath error model and error equation, and we solved the delay phase for soil moisture retrieval. We verified the method using Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) P041 site data. The results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficients (R) of L4_IF and DFP methods at P041 station are 0.97 and 0.91, respectively. To better verify the results&rsquo; reliability and the proposed method&rsquo;s effectiveness, the soil moisture data of the MFLE station about 210 m away from P041 station are used as the verification data in this paper. The results showed that the delay phase solved by multipath error and soil moisture strongly correlate. Pearson correlation coefficients (R) of L4_IF and DFP methods at MFLE station are 0.93 and 0.86, respectively. In order to improve the inversion accuracy of GNSS-IR soil moisture, this paper constructs the prediction model of soil moisture by using the linear regression (ULR), back propagation neural network (BPNN) and radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), and evaluates the accuracy of each model. The results showed that the soil moisture retrieval method based on multisatellite dual-frequency combined multipath error can replace the traditional retrieval method and effectively improve the time resolution of GNSS-IR soil moisture estimation. To perform highly dynamic monitoring of soil moisture, higher retrieval accuracy can only be obtained with a small epoch multipath error
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