Isolation and identification of two marine-derived Streptomyces from marine mud of coast and offshore Zhuhai, and bioactive potential for plant pathogenic fungi

Two different actinomycete strains (XAS585 and XAS588), producing antifungal substances, were isolated from the marine mud of coast and offshore Zhuhai city, Guangdong province, China. On the basis of micro-morphology, physiological and chemotaxonomic characterization and phylogenetic similarity of 16S rDNA gene sequences, the strains XAS585 and XAS588 were identified as Streptomyces roseobiolascens XAS585 and Streptomyces roseofulvus XAS588, respectively. Antifungal profiles of the ethyl acetate extracts of the two strains fermented broth (FBE) were evaluated against the test phytopathogenic fungi; the results showed that the FBE of S. roseobiolascens XAS585 exhibited strong antifungal activity against mycelia growth of all test fungi at 150 μg/ml, while the FBE of S. roseobiolascens XAS588 also exhibited strong antifungal activity, except Sclerotinia scleroitiorum, Valsa mali and Cercospora sorghi at 150 μg/ml. In addition, the FBE of both strains at 100 g/ml showed inhibitory effect against the condina germination of Alternaria alternate, Exserlhilum turcicum and Bipolaris sorokiniana. This study showed that the two marinederived Streptomyces may provide potent sources for antifungal metabolites.Key words: Actinomycete, phytopathogenic fungi, antimicrobial activity, marine mud, Streptomyces roseobiolascens XAS585, Streptomyces roseofulvus XAS588

Magnetic Activities of M-type Stars Based on LAMOST DR5 and Kepler and K2 Missions

We performed a statistical study of magnetic activities of M-type stars by combining the spectra of LAMOST DR5 with light curves from the Kepler and K2 missions. We mainly want to study the relationship between chromospheric activity and flares, and their relations of magnetic activity and rotation period. We have obtained the maximum catalog of 516,688 M-type stellar spectra of 480,912 M stars from LAMOST DR5 and calculated their equivalent widths of chromospheric activity indicators (Hα, Hβ, Hγ, Hδ, Ca II H&K, and He I D3). Using the Hα indicator, 40,464 spectra of 38,417 M stars show chromospheric activity, and 1791 of these 5499 M-type stars with repeated observations have Hα variability. We used an automatic detection plus visual inspection method to detect 17,432 flares on 8964 M-type stars from the catalog by cross-matching LAMOST DR5 and the Kepler and K2 databases. We used the Lomb–Scargle method to calculate their rotation periods. We find that the flare frequency is consistent with the ratio of activities of these chromospheric activity indicators as a function of spectral type in M0–M3. We find the equivalent widths of Hα and Ca II H have a significant statistical correlation with the flare amplitude in M-type stars. We confirm that the stellar flare is affected by both the stellar magnetic activity and the rotation period. Finally, using the Hα equivalent width equal to 0.75 Å and using the rotation period equal to 10 days as the threshold for the M-type stellar flare time frequency are almost equivalent

Curation-free biomodules mechanisms in prostate cancer predict recurrent disease

Abstract Motivation Gene expression-based prostate cancer gene signatures of poor prognosis are hampered by lack of gene feature reproducibility and a lack of understandability of their function. Molecular pathway-level mechanisms are intrinsically more stable and more robust than an individual gene. The Functional Analysis of Individual Microarray Expression (FAIME) we developed allows distinctive sample-level pathway measurements with utility for correlation with continuous phenotypes (e.g. survival). Further, we and others have previously demonstrated that pathway-level classifiers can be as accurate as gene-level classifiers using curated genesets that may implicitly comprise ascertainment biases (e.g. KEGG, GO). Here, we hypothesized that transformation of individual prostate cancer patient gene expression to pathway-level mechanisms derived from automated high throughput analyses of genomic datasets may also permit personalized pathway analysis and improve prognosis of recurrent disease. Results Via FAIME, three independent prostate gene expression arrays with both normal and tumor samples were transformed into two distinct types of molecular pathway mechanisms: (i) the curated Gene Ontology (GO) and (ii) dynamic expression activity networks of cancer (Cancer Modules). FAIME-derived mechanisms for tumorigenesis were then identified and compared. Curated GO and computationally generated "Cancer Module" mechanisms overlap significantly and are enriched for known oncogenic deregulations and highlight potential areas of investigation. We further show in two independent datasets that these pathway-level tumorigenesis mechanisms can identify men who are more likely to develop recurrent prostate cancer (log-rank_p = 0.019). Conclusion Curation-free biomodules classification derived from congruent gene expression activation breaks from the paradigm of recapitulating the known curated pathway mechanism universe.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112452/1/12920_2013_Article_384.pd

Genetic Interactions between Chromosomes 11 and 18 Contribute to Airway Hyperresponsiveness in Mice

We used two-dimensional quantitative trait locus analysis to identify interacting genetic loci that contribute to the native airway constrictor hyperresponsiveness to methacholine that characterizes A/J mice, relative to C57BL/6J mice. We quantified airway responsiveness to intravenous methacholine boluses in eighty-eight (C57BL/6J X A/J) F2 and twenty-seven (A/J X C57BL/6J) F2 mice as well as ten A/J mice and six C57BL/6J mice; all studies were performed in male mice. Mice were genotyped at 384 SNP markers, and from these data two-QTL analyses disclosed one pair of interacting loci on chromosomes 11 and 18; the homozygous A/J genotype at each locus constituted the genetic interaction linked to the hyperresponsive A/J phenotype. Bioinformatic network analysis of potential interactions among proteins encoded by genes in the linked regions disclosed two high priority subnetworks - Myl7, Rock1, Limk2; and Npc1, Npc1l1. Evidence in the literature supports the possibility that either or both networks could contribute to the regulation of airway constrictor responsiveness. Together, these results should stimulate evaluation of the genetic contribution of these networks in the regulation of airway responsiveness in humans.</p

cAMP/CREB-regulated LINC00473 marks LKB1-inactivated lung cancer and mediates tumor growth

The LKB1 tumor suppressor gene is frequently mutated and inactivated in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Loss of LKB1 promotes cancer progression and influences therapeutic responses in preclinical studies; however, specific targeted therapies for lung cancer with LKB1 inactivation are currently unavailable. Here, we have identified a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) signature that is associated with the loss of LKB1 function. We discovered that LINC00473 is consistently the most highly induced gene in LKB1-inactivated human primary NSCLC samples and derived cell lines. Elevated LINC00473 expression correlated with poor prognosis, and sustained LINC00473 expression was required for the growth and survival of LKB1-inactivated NSCLC cells. Mechanistically, LINC00473 was induced by LKB1 inactivation and subsequent cyclic AMP–responsive element–binding protein (CREB)/CREB-regulated transcription coactivator (CRTC) activation. We determined that LINC00473 is a nuclear lncRNA and interacts with NONO, a component of the cAMP signaling pathway, thereby facilitating CRTC/CREB-mediated transcription. Collectively, our study demonstrates that LINC00473 expression potentially serves as a robust biomarker for tumor LKB1 functional status that can be integrated into clinical trials for patient selection and treatment evaluation, and implicates LINC00473 as a therapeutic target for LKB1-inactivated NSCLC

SN 2014J in M82: New Insights On the Spectral Diversity of Type Ia Supernovae

We present extensive spectroscopic observations for one of the closest type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), SN 2014J discovered in M82, ranging from 10.4 days before to 473.2 days after B-band maximum light. The diffuse interstellar band (DIB) features detected in a high-resolution spectrum allow an estimate of line-of-sight extinction as Av=1.9+/-0.6 mag. Spectroscopically, SN 2014J can be put into the high-velocity (HV) subgroup in Wang's classification with a velocity of Si~II 6355 at maximum light as about 12200 km/s, but has a low velocity gradient (LVG, following Benetti's classification) as 41+/-2 km/s/day, which is inconsistent with the trend that HV SNe Ia generally have larger velocity gradients. We find that the HV SNe Ia with LVGs tend to have relatively stronger Si III (at ~4400 Angstrom) absorptions in early spectra, larger ratios of S II 5468 to S II 5640, and weaker Si II 5972 absorptions compared to their counterparts with similar velocities but high velocity gradients. This shows that the HV+LVG subgroup of SNe Ia may have intrinsically higher photospheric temperature, which indicates that their progenitors may experience more complete burning in the explosions relative to the typical HV SNe Ia.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS, 13 figure