miR2Disease: a manually curated database for microRNA deregulation in human disease

‘miR2Disease’, a manually curated database, aims at providing a comprehensive resource of microRNA deregulation in various human diseases. The current version of miR2Disease documents 1939 curated relationships between 299 human microRNAs and 94 human diseases by reviewing more than 600 published papers. Around one-seventh of the microRNA–disease relationships represent the pathogenic roles of deregulated microRNA in human disease. Each entry in the miR2Disease contains detailed information on a microRNA–disease relationship, including a microRNA ID, the disease name, a brief description of the microRNA–disease relationship, an expression pattern of the microRNA, the detection method for microRNA expression, experimentally verified target gene(s) of the microRNA and a literature reference. miR2Disease provides a user-friendly interface for a convenient retrieval of each entry by microRNA ID, disease name, or target gene. In addition, miR2Disease offers a submission page that allows researchers to submit established microRNA–disease relationships that are not documented. Once approved by the submission review committee, the submitted records will be included in the database. miR2Disease is freely available at http://www.miR2Disease.org

Age, Growth and Population Structure Analyses of the Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi in the Japan Sea by Statolith Microstructure

Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi is a new subspecies in the Japan Sea, and thus, little is known about its fisheries biology, especially age and population structure. Based on the 296 samples collected by the Chinese commercial jigging vessel in December 2018 in the Japan Sea. The age, growth, and population structure of B. magister shevtsovi were studied based on the microstructure of the statolith. The results indicated that the range of mantle length (ML) was 90–148 mm for females and 94–141 mm for males, the body weight (BW) ranged from 49 to 116 g and 38 to 110 g for females and males, and the ages were estimated from 52 to 166 days for females and 51 to 143 days for males, respectively. The hatching date extended from March to October, with a peak from July to September, suggesting the presence of one spawning group (summer–autumn group). The ANCOVA showed that there was no significant sex difference between the ML and BW growth; however, there was a significant difference between the sexes in the relationship between ML–age and BW–age. The relationship between the ML and BW was best described by the power function, the ML–age relationship of females was best described by linear function; the ML–age relationship of males and BW–age relationships of females and males were best described by the exponential function. B. magister shevtsovi is a high-growing squid, and the growth rate seemed to be high at the young life stage and decreased after the subadult stage (60–120 days older). This study provided basic information on the age, growth, and population structure of B. magister shevtsovi

Age, Growth and Population Structure Analyses of the <i>Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi</i> in the Japan Sea by Statolith Microstructure

Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi is a new subspecies in the Japan Sea, and thus, little is known about its fisheries biology, especially age and population structure. Based on the 296 samples collected by the Chinese commercial jigging vessel in December 2018 in the Japan Sea. The age, growth, and population structure of B. magister shevtsovi were studied based on the microstructure of the statolith. The results indicated that the range of mantle length (ML) was 90–148 mm for females and 94–141 mm for males, the body weight (BW) ranged from 49 to 116 g and 38 to 110 g for females and males, and the ages were estimated from 52 to 166 days for females and 51 to 143 days for males, respectively. The hatching date extended from March to October, with a peak from July to September, suggesting the presence of one spawning group (summer–autumn group). The ANCOVA showed that there was no significant sex difference between the ML and BW growth; however, there was a significant difference between the sexes in the relationship between ML–age and BW–age. The relationship between the ML and BW was best described by the power function, the ML–age relationship of females was best described by linear function; the ML–age relationship of males and BW–age relationships of females and males were best described by the exponential function. B. magister shevtsovi is a high-growing squid, and the growth rate seemed to be high at the young life stage and decreased after the subadult stage (60–120 days older). This study provided basic information on the age, growth, and population structure of B. magister shevtsovi

A β-glucosidase-producing M-2 strain: Isolation from cow dung and fermentation parameter optimization for flaxseed cake

Flaxseed cake contains cyanogenic glucosides, which can be metabolized into hydrocyanic acid in an animal's body, leading to asphyxia poisoning in cells. Beta-glucosidase is highly efficient in degrading cyanogenic glucosides. The Cattle may have β-glucosidase-producing strains in the intestinal tract after eating small amounts of flaxseed cake for a long time. This study aimed to isolate of a strain from cow dung that produces β-glucosidase with high activity and can significantly reduce the amount of cyanogenic glucosides. We used cow dung as the microflora source and an esculin agar as the selective medium. After screening with 0.05% esculin and 0.01% ferric citrate, we isolated 5 strains producing high amounts of β-glucosidase. In vitro flaxseed cake fermentation was fermented by these 5 strains, in which the strain M-2 exerted the best effect (P < 0.05). The strain M-2 was identified as Lichtheimia ramosa and used as the fermentation strain to optimize the fermentation parameters by a single factor analysis and orthogonal experimental design. The optimum condition was as follows: inoculum size 3%, water content 60%, time 144 h, and temperature 32 °C. Under this condition, the removal rate of cyanogenic glucosides reached 89%, and crude protein increment reached 44%. These results provided a theoretical basis for the removal of cyanogenic glucosides in flaxseed and the comprehensive utilization of flaxseed cake. Keywords: Flaxseed cake, Cyanogenic glycosides, Fermentation, β-glucosidase, Crude protein, Lichtheimi