A new species of the genus Neogalumna (Acari, Oribatida, Galumnidae) from China

A new species of oribatid mites of the family Galumnidae, Neogalumna longiporosa sp. nov., is described from dark loamy soil collected under moss in North Eastern China. It is the first identified member of the genus Neogalumna recorded for China. An identification key to the known species of Neogalumna is also given

Effect of Baicalin on inflammatory mediator levels and microcirculation disturbance in rats with severe acute pancreatitis

Objective: To investigate the effect of Bacailin on inflammatory mediator levels and microcirculation disturbance in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats and explore its therapeutic mechanism on this disease. Methods: SAP model rats were randomly divided into model control group and Baicalin treated group, 45 rats in each group. The same number of normal rats were included in sham-operated group. These groups were further subdivided into 3 h, 6 h and 12 h subgroups, respectively (15 rats in each subgroup). At 3, 6 and 12 hours after operation, rats were killed to conduct the following experiments: (1) to examine the mortality rates of rats, the ascites volume and pancreatic pathological changes in each group; (2) to determine the contents of amylase, PLA~2~, TXB~2~, PGE~2~, PAF and IL-1[beta]; in blood as well as the changes in blood viscosity.Results: (1) Compared to model control group, treatment with Baicalin is able to improve the pathological damage of the pancreas, lower the contents of amylase and multiple inflammatory mediators in blood, decrease the amount of ascitic fluid and reduce the mortality rates of SAP rats; (2) at 3 hours after operation, the low-shear whole blood viscosity in Baicalin treated group was significantly lower than that in model control group;at 12 hours after operation, both the high-shear and low-shear whole blood viscosity in Baicalin treated group were also significantly lower than those in model control group.Conclusion: Baicalin, as a new drug, has good prospects in the treatment of SAP since it can exert therapeutic effects on this disease through inhibiting the production of inflammatory mediators, lowering blood viscosity, improving microcirculation and mitigating the pathological damage of the pancreas

Apoptosis of human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell (CAL-27) induced by Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites

Objective: To study the effect of Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites on viability of CAL-27 cells and apoptosis in CAL-27 cells. Methods: Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites 1 and 2 (LM1 and LM2) were obtained by culturing Lactobacillus sp. A-2 in reconstituted whey medium and whey-inulin medium; the cultured CAL-27 cells were treated with different concentrations of LM1 and LM2 (0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 mg/mL) and assayed by methyl thiazolyltetrazolium (MTT) method; morphological changes of apoptotic cell were observed under fluorescence microscopy by acridine orange (Ao) fluorescent staining; flow cytometry method (FCM) and agarose gel electrophoresis were used to detect the apoptosis of CAL-27 cells treated LM1 and LM2. Results: The different concentrations of LM1 and LM2 could restrain the growth of CAL-27 cells, and in a dose-dependent manner; the apoptosis of CAL-27 cells was obviously induced and was time-dependent. Conclusions: Viability of CAL-27 cells was inhibited by Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites; Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites could induce CAL-27 cells apoptosis; study on the bioactive compounds in the Lactobacillus sp. A-2 metabolites and their molecular mechanism is in progress

High-Throughput Sequencing of Three Lemnoideae (Duckweeds) Chloroplast Genomes from Total DNA

BACKGROUND: Chloroplast genomes provide a wealth of information for evolutionary and population genetic studies. Chloroplasts play a particularly important role in the adaption for aquatic plants because they float on water and their major surface is exposed continuously to sunlight. The subfamily of Lemnoideae represents such a collection of aquatic species that because of photosynthesis represents one of the fastest growing plant species on earth. METHODS: We sequenced the chloroplast genomes from three different genera of Lemnoideae, Spirodela polyrhiza, Wolffiella lingulata and Wolffia australiana by high-throughput DNA sequencing of genomic DNA using the SOLiD platform. Unfractionated total DNA contains high copies of plastid DNA so that sequences from the nucleus and mitochondria can easily be filtered computationally. Remaining sequence reads were assembled into contiguous sequences (contigs) using SOLiD software tools. Contigs were mapped to a reference genome of Lemna minor and gaps, selected by PCR, were sequenced on the ABI3730xl platform. CONCLUSIONS: This combinatorial approach yielded whole genomic contiguous sequences in a cost-effective manner. Over 1,000-time coverage of chloroplast from total DNA were reached by the SOLiD platform in a single spot on a quadrant slide without purification. Comparative analysis indicated that the chloroplast genome was conserved in gene number and organization with respect to the reference genome of L. minor. However, higher nucleotide substitution, abundant deletions and insertions occurred in non-coding regions of these genomes, indicating a greater genomic dynamics than expected from the comparison of other related species in the Pooideae. Noticeably, there was no transition bias over transversion in Lemnoideae. The data should have immediate applications in evolutionary biology and plant taxonomy with increased resolution and statistical power

Whole-genome sequencing of <em>Oryza brachyantha</em> reveals mechanisms underlying <em>Oryza</em> genome evolution

The wild species of the genus Oryza contain a largely untapped reservoir of agronomically important genes for rice improvement. Here we report the 261-Mb de novo assembled genome sequence of Oryza brachyantha. Low activity of long-terminal repeat retrotransposons and massive internal deletions of ancient long-terminal repeat elements lead to the compact genome of Oryza brachyantha. We model 32,038 protein-coding genes in the Oryza brachyantha genome, of which only 70% are located in collinear positions in comparison with the rice genome. Analysing breakpoints of non-collinear genes suggests that double-strand break repair through non-homologous end joining has an important role in gene movement and erosion of collinearity in the Oryza genomes. Transition of euchromatin to heterochromatin in the rice genome is accompanied by segmental and tandem duplications, further expanded by transposable element insertions. The high-quality reference genome sequence of Oryza brachyantha provides an important resource for functional and evolutionary studies in the genus Oryza

Disruption of splicing-regulatory elements using CRISPR/Cas9 to rescue spinal muscular atrophy in human iPSCs and mice

We here report a genome-editing strategy to correct spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Rather than directly targeting the pathogenic exonic mutations, our strategy employed Cas9 and guide-sgRNA for the targeted disruption of intronic splicing-regulatory elements. We disrupted intronic splicing silencers (ISSs, including ISS-N1 and ISS + 100) of survival motor neuron (SMN) 2, a key modifier gene of SMA, to enhance exon 7 inclusion and full-length SMN expression in SMA iPSCs. Survival of splicing-corrected iPSC-derived motor neurons was rescued with SMN restoration. Furthermore, co-injection of Cas9 mRNA from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) or Cas9 from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) alongside their corresponding sgRNAs targeting ISS-N1 into zygotes rescued 56% and 100% of severe SMA transgenic mice (Smn , SMN2 ). The median survival of the resulting mice was extended to >400 days. Collectively, our study provides proof-of-principle for a new strategy to therapeutically intervene in SMA and other RNA-splicing-related diseases. -/- tg/

Pre-obfuscation model based on COIL intermediate language

Abstract Code obfuscation techniques changes and complicates the logic and structure within the program on the basis of assuring the procedures being implemented correctly, which needs to transform the original program to an intermediate form which can be analyzed. Most of the pre-obfuscation models at present are lack of unified and formalized intermediate language, and the results of the pre-processing cannot accurately extract the information needed in obfuscation. A pre-obfuscation model COTOOL which is based on COIL is put forward in this paper to accurately locate the distribution and weight of the obfuscation node in the program taking advantage of the pre-processing algorithm of COIL intermediate language. The experimental data shows that this model improves the obfuscation efficiency and effectiveness greatly