Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast

Here, we report the design, construction, and characterization of a tRNA neochromosome, a designer chromosome that functions as an additional, de novo counterpart to the native complement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Intending to address one of the central design principles of the Sc2.0 project, the ∼190-kb tRNA neochromosome houses all 275 relocated nuclear tRNA genes. To maximize stability, the design incorporates orthogonal genetic elements from non-S. cerevisiae yeast species. Furthermore, the presence of 283 rox recombination sites enables an orthogonal tRNA SCRaMbLE system. Following construction in yeast, we obtained evidence of a potent selective force, manifesting as a spontaneous doubling in cell ploidy. Furthermore, tRNA sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, nucleosome mapping, replication profiling, FISH, and Hi-C were undertaken to investigate questions of tRNA neochromosome behavior and function. Its construction demonstrates the remarkable tractability of the yeast model and opens up opportunities to directly test hypotheses surrounding these essential non-coding RNAs

Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast

Here, we report the design, construction, and characterization of a tRNA neochromosome, a designer chromosome that functions as an additional, de novo counterpart to the native complement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Intending to address one of the central design principles of the Sc2.0 project, the ∼190-kb tRNA neochromosome houses all 275 relocated nuclear tRNA genes. To maximize stability, the design incorporates orthogonal genetic elements from non-S. cerevisiae yeast species. Furthermore, the presence of 283 rox recombination sites enables an orthogonal tRNA SCRaMbLE system. Following construction in yeast, we obtained evidence of a potent selective force, manifesting as a spontaneous doubling in cell ploidy. Furthermore, tRNA sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, nucleosome mapping, replication profiling, FISH, and Hi-C were undertaken to investigate questions of tRNA neochromosome behavior and function. Its construction demonstrates the remarkable tractability of the yeast model and opens up opportunities to directly test hypotheses surrounding these essential non-coding RNAs

The relationship between mother's socioeconomic status and child health

Child health as one of the main indicators of economic development has been included directly in the millennium development goals. Due to the increased rate of mothers' employment and education along with children malnutrition, the effect of mothers’ socioeconomic status on children’s health was examined in this study. In case study, data on children at birth were gathered from health care records in 10 health centers of Tehran. The sample size of 400 was determined using the Cochran formula with an error margin of 5%. The cases were selected through random cluster sampling. The probit, probit with endogenous variable, and ordered probit models were employed. The mean mother's education was at the level of 3.76, representing higher than diploma and lower than associate degrees. The mean mothers' age, whose children were normal, stunting, and severe stunting, was 32.25, 32.92, and 34.20, respectively. The mothers' employment and education level increased the likelihood of stunting by 93 and 37 percent, respectively. Therefore, mother's employment had a negative effect on child health; i.e. mother's employment increases the possibility of stunting probably because of child malnutrition. In addition, rising education level among unemployed mothers increased the probability of children’s health. The parents’ education affected positively the health of children, and officeholder father, family size, and being twin had negative effects on children's health

Improving the Dictation in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by Using Computer Based Interventions: A Clinical Trial

Objective: The aim of the current study was to assess the impact of computer games and computer-assisted type instruction on dictation scores of elementary school children with attention deficit – hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: In this single-blind clinical trial, 37 elementary school children with ADHD, selected by convenience sampling and divided into group I (n=17) and group II (n=20), underwent eight one-hour sessions (3 sessions per week) of intervention by computer games versus computer-assisted type instruction, respectively. 12 school dictation scores were considered: 4 scores preintervention, 4 scores during interventions, and 4 scores post-intervention. Dictation test was taken during each session. Data was analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA. Results: Two groups were matched for age, gender, school grade, medication, IQ, parent’s and teacher’s Conners’ scale scores, having computer at home, history of working with computer, and mean dictation scores. There was no significant difference in dictation scores before and after interventions and also between the study groups. The improvement in school dictation scores had no significant correlation with age, gender, Ritalin use, owning a computer at home and past history of computer work, baseline dictation scores, Ritalin dose, educational status, IQ, and the total score of parent’s and teacher’s Conners’ rating scale. Conclusion: Absence of significant improvement in dictation scores in study groups may be due to the confounding effect of other variables with known impact on dictation scores. Further studies in this field should also assess the change of attention and memory

Single-read tRNA-seq analysis reveals coordination of tRNA modification and aminoacylation and fragmentation

Transfer RNA (tRNA) utilizes multiple properties of abundance, modification, and aminoacylation in translational regulation. These properties were typically studied one-by-one; however, recent advance in high throughput tRNA sequencing enables their simultaneous assessment in the same sequencing data. How these properties are coordinated at the transcriptome level is an open question. Here, we develop a single-read tRNA analysis pipeline that takes advantage of the pseudo single-molecule nature of tRNA sequencing in NGS libraries. tRNAs are short enough that a single NGS read can represent one tRNA molecule, and can simultaneously report on the status of multiple modifications, aminoacylation, and fragmentation of each molecule. We find correlations among modification-modification, modification-aminoacylation and modification-fragmentation. We identify interdependencies among one of the most common tRNA modifications, m1A58, as coordinators of tissue-specific gene expression. Our method, SingLe-read Analysis of Crosstalks (SLAC), reveals tRNAome-wide networks of modifications, aminoacylation, and fragmentation. We observe changes of these networks under different stresses, and assign a function for tRNA modification in translational regulation and fragment biogenesis. SLAC leverages the richness of the tRNA-seq data and provides new insights on the coordination of tRNA properties