Cyp6g2 is the major P450 epoxidase responsible for juvenile hormone biosynthesis in Drosophila melanogaster

Background Juvenile hormones (JH) play crucial role in regulating development and reproduction in insects. The most common form of JH is JH III, derived from MF through epoxidation by CYP15 enzymes. However, in the higher dipterans, such as the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, a bis-epoxide form of JHB3, accounted most of the JH detected. Moreover, these higher dipterans have lost the CYP15 gene from their genomes. As a result, the identity of the P450 epoxidase in the JH biosynthesis pathway in higher dipterans remains unknown. Results In this study, we show that Cyp6g2 serves as the major JH epoxidase responsible for the biosynthesis of JHB3 and JH III in D. melanogaster. The Cyp6g2 is predominantly expressed in the corpus allatum (CA), concurring with the expression pattern of jhamt, another well-studied gene that is crucial in the last steps of JH biosynthesis. Mutation in Cyp6g2 leads to severe disruptions in larval-pupal metamorphosis and exhibits reproductive deficiencies, exceeding those seen in jhamt mutants. Notably, Cyp6g2−/− ::jhamt2 double mutants all died at the pupal stage but could be rescued through the topical application of JH analogs. JH titer analyses revealed that both Cyp6g2−/− mutant and jhamt 2 mutant lacking JHB3 and JH III, while overexpression of Cyp6g2 or jhamt caused a significant increase in JHB3 and JH III titer. Conclusions These findings collectively established that Cyp6g2 as the major JH epoxidase in the higher dipterans and laid the groundwork for the further understanding of JH biosynthesis. Moreover, these findings pave the way for developing specific Cyp6g2 inhibitors as insect growth regulators or insecticides

Hydrogen effects on crystallinity, photoluminescence, and magnetization of indium tin oxide thin films sputter-deposited on glass substrate without heat treatment

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were sputter deposited by using working gas containing hydrogen on glass substrate without any heat treatments. The films demonstrated X-ray diffraction due to polycrystalline ITO, blue-green photoluminescence (PL) due to oxygen defects in nano-structured ITO crystals, and paramagnetic behaviour in temperature dependence of magnetization overlapped with diamagnetic signal from the substrate. The carrier density n of the films was of the order of 1020 cm−3, and varied as an inverse of V-character with the hydrogen concentration [H] in the gas. The n value peaked at [H] = 1%. Spectral features at ≈430 and ≈470 nm of the PL emission were invariant with [H]. The order of the density of electrons N with spins obeying the Curie law was 1023 cm−3, and the variation in N with [H] was almost parallel to that in n with [H]

Effects of hydrogen in working gas for sputter-deposition on surface morphology and microstructure of indium tin oxide thin films grown at room temperature

Surface morphology and microstructure of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films sputter deposited without heat treatment were obviously different from each other depending on the hydrogen concentration [H] in the working gas. The film surface became smoother with increasing [H] to 1%, but nucleation and growth of grains were apparent above [H] = 1.5%. The width of columnar grains in the ≤200 nm-thick films narrowed from ≈100 nm to ≈50 nm with increasing [H] from 0% to 1.5%. Randomly oriented and agglomerated grains were observed for the film deposited with [H] = 3.6%. Hydrogen added to the working gas induced reduction of the grain size, and then resulted in lowering of the carrier mobility

Optical and electrical properties of indium tin oxide thin films sputter-deposited in working gas containing hydrogen without heat treatments

Polycrystalline thin films of indium tin oxide sputter-deposited in the working gas containing hydrogen of 0.3–1.5% exhibited transmittance of ≥ 80% for visible lights and blue-shift of ≥ 0.1 eV in the optical absorption energy. The film deposited in the gas containing hydrogen of 1% demonstrated almost flat temperature-dependent resistivity and the lowest resistivity of ≈ 1.5 × 10− 4 Ω cm at room temperature. The carrier density showed an inverse V-shaped behavior with the maximum at the hydrogen concentration of 1%. The mobility stayed at almost constant below the hydrogen concentration of 1% and dropped rather rapidly above 1%

Oxygen annealing for deuterium doped indium tin oxide thin films

Deuterium-doped indium tin oxide films, fabricated by dc plasma deposition in sputter gas consisting of deuterium and argon, were annealed at 300 °C for 40 min in flowing oxygen gas by using tubular gold image furnace. On oxygen annealing, the optical transparency of the film deposited at the gas pressure ratio of deuterium to argon of 3.6% increased from ≈30 to 60% at the wavelength of 600 nm, although that of the films deposited at the ratios of 1 and 1.5% slightly decreased from 88 to 80% and from 85 to 77%, respectively. The resistivity of the films at room temperature, ranged from 2 × 10−4 to 1.4 × 10−3 Ω cm corresponding to the gas pressure ratio from 1 to 3.6%, was almost the same before and after the annealing for each film. A change in morphology toward a smoother surface by the oxygen annealing was apparent especially for the film with the gas pressure ratio of 3.6%. Agglomeration of randomly oriented grains with diameters of <100–200 nm observed before the annealing disappeared on annealing. A smoother surface is responsible for higher transparency of the annealed films that contained densely populated hydroxyl bond before the annealing.Oxygen annealing at 300 °C enlarged the optical transmittance (left panel) but decreased the population of hydrogen-bonded oxygen (right panel) of the indium tin oxide thin film fabricated by dc plasma deposition in sputter gas containing deuterium of 3.6%

Expression and clinicopathological significance of miR-193a-3p and its potential target astrocyte elevated gene-1 in non-small lung cancer tissues

BACKGROUND: Aberrant expression of miR-193a-3p and astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) have been revealed to be related to the tumorigenesis of various cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the significance of miR-193a-3p and its correlation with AEG-1 in NSCLC has not been explored. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between miR-193a-3p and AEG-1 and their relationship with the clinicopathological features in NSCLC patients. METHODS: Via online in silico prediction, complementary sequences were found between miR-193a-3p and the 3′-untranslated region of AEG-1. Three independent cohorts were applied in the current study. Firstly, miR-193a-3p level was detected in 125 cases of NSCLC with quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Secondly, AEG-1 protein level was evaluated in 339 cases of lung cancers with immunohistochemistry. Finally, the relationship between miR-193a-3p and AEG-1 protein expression was verified in another group with 65 cases of NSCLC. RESULTS: The results showed that miR-193a-3p level was decreased in NSCLC tissues and significantly negatively related to tumor size (r = −0.277, P = 0.002), clinical TNM stage (r = −0.226, P = 0.011), lymph node metastasis (r = −0.186, P = 0.038), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein level (r = −0.272, P = 0.041). On the contrary, AEG-1 protein expression was up-regulated in NSCLC and positively relative to tumor size (r = 0.240, P < 0.001), TNM stages (r = 0.164, P = 0.002) and lymph node metastasis (r = 0.232, P < 0.001) in NSCLC patients. In addition, miR-193a-3p was found to be inversely associated with AEG-1 protein expression in the third cohort (r = −0.564, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, miR-193a-3p and AEG-1 might be responsible for the carcinogenesis and aggressiveness of NSCLC. AEG-1 has the potential to be one of the targeted genes of miR-193a-3p. However, future in vitro and in vivo experiments are needed to verify this hypothesis

Correlation between resistivity and oxygen vacancy of hydrogen-doped indium tin oxide thin films

Thin films of indium tin oxide (ITO) sputter-deposited by dc-plasma containing deuterium on glass substrate without any heat treatments exhibited gradual lowering in electrical resistivity with increasing the deuterium content [D2] in plasma gas by 1% and then demonstrated a jump in resistivity by further increase of [D2] than 1%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that hydroxyl-bonded oxygen in ITO grew continuingly with [D2]. Deuterium positioned at the interstitial site increased almost quantitatively with increasing [D2]. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy showed gradual reduction in the oxygen content of ITO with increasing [D2] by 1% and then demonstrated an abrupt increase of the oxygen content with the increase of [D2] than 1%. The films with [D2] 1% were excess of oxygen. The most oxygen deficient film of [D2] = 1% was the most conductive. Behavior in the resistivity with [D2] looks parallel to that in the oxygen content. A lower resistivity of the films corresponded well to oxygen vacancy rather than hydrogen interstitial

Effects of hydrogen in working gas on valence states of oxygen in sputter-deposited indium tin oxide thin films

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy-elastic recoil detection analysis (RBS-ERDA) revealed that hydrogen in working gas for dc-plasma sputter deposition resided in indium tin oxide (ITO) films and generated the O(-) state seen as the suboxide-like O 1s peak in XPS. Growth of the suboxide-like O 1s peak was parallel with an increase of the resided hydrogen quantified by RBS-ERDA. The first-principles band structure calculation revealed that the electronic structure of In(2)O(3) crystal was realized typically for the most conductive as-deposited film grown in the gas containing hydrogen of 1%. The as-deposited film grown in the gas containing hydrogen of more than 1% exhibited rather high density but low mobility of carriers and showed the electronic structure above 4 eV originated from the O(-) state due to the resided hydrogen in addition to that of the most conducting one. Both well preserved In(2)O(3) band structure and proper concentration of the O(2-) vacancy are indispensable for achieving the highest conductivity; however, the O(-) state lowers efficiency of the carrier doping using the O(2-) vacancy in the lattice and increases density of the ionized scattering center for the carriers

Insights into the clinical value of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 in glioma: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggested that expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) may promote the migration and invasion of human glioma cells. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical value of CDK5 in different grades of glioma in relation to Ki-67 labeling index (LI). METHODS: We firstly assessed by immunohistochemistry the expression of CDK5 in 152 glioma tissues and 16 normal brain tissues and further explored the relationship between CDK5 expression and other clinical features. RESULTS: The positive ratio of CDK5 in gliomas (57.2 %) was higher than that in normal brain tissues (12.5 %, P = 0.001). Difference of CDK5 expression among four World Health Organization (WHO) grades was statistically significant (P = 0.001). The significant differences of CDK5 expression were also observed between WHO I glioma (34.8 %) and WHO III glioma (62.5 %), as well as WHO IV glioma (82.8 %; P = 0.026, P < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, Spearman’s rank correlation confirmed that CDK5 was positively correlated with the pathological grade of glioma (r = 0.831, P < 0.001). The CDK5 expression was also positively correlated with Ki-67 LI (r = 0.347, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The current result suggests that CDK5 may play an essential role in the tumorigenesis and aggressiveness of gliomas