Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces sp. Strain CT34, Isolated from a Ghanaian Soil Sample

Copyright © 2015 Zhai et al. This work was supported by the China “973” program (2012CB721001), the “863” Program (2012AA092201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170467), and the EU FP7 project PharmaSea (312184). K.K., M.J., and H.D. thank the Royal Society–Leverhulme Trust Africa for the financial support (award AA090088) that enabled the sampling of sediments and subsequent isolation of this unique Ghanaian strain.Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

RNA-binding protein CUGBP1 regulates insulin secretion via activation of phosphodiesterase 3B in mice

International audienceAims/hypothesis: CUG-binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) is a multifunctional RNA-binding protein that regulates RNA processing at several stages including translation, deadenylation and alternative splicing, as well as RNA stability. Recent studies indicate that CUGBP1 may play a role in metabolic disorders. Our objective was to examine its role in endocrine pancreas function through gain- and loss-of-function experiments and to further decipher the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods: A mouse model in which type 2 diabetes was induced by a high-fat diet (HFD; 60% energy from fat) and mice on a standard chow diet (10% energy from fat) were compared. Pancreas-specific CUGBP1 overexpression and knockdown mice were generated. Different lengths of the phosphodiesterase subtype 3B (PDE3B) 3′ untranslated region (UTR) were cloned for luciferase reporter analysis. Purified CUGBP1 protein was used for gel shift experiments.Results: CUGBP1 is present in rodent islets and in beta cell lines; it is overexpressed in the islets of diabetic mice. Compared with control mice, the plasma insulin level after a glucose load was significantly lower and glucose clearance was greatly delayed in mice with pancreas-specific CUGBP1 overexpression; the opposite results were obtained upon pancreas-specific CUGBP1 knockdown. Glucose- and glucagon-like peptide1 (GLP-1)-stimulated insulin secretion was significantly attenuated in mouse islets upon CUGBP1 overexpression. This was associated with a strong decrease in intracellular cAMP levels, pointing to a potential role for cAMP PDEs. CUGBP1 overexpression had no effect on the mRNA levels of PDE1A, 1C, 2A, 3A, 4A, 4B, 4D, 7A and 8B subtypes, but resulted in increased PDE3B expression. CUGBP1 was found to directly bind to a specific ATTTGTT sequence residing in the 3′ UTR of PDE3B and stabilised PDE3B mRNA. In the presence of the PDE3 inhibitor cilostamide, glucose- and GLP-1-stimulated insulin secretion was no longer reduced by CUGBP1 overexpression. Similar to CUGBP1, PDE3B was overexpressed in the islets of diabetic mice.Conclusions/interpretation: We conclude that CUGBP1 is a critical regulator of insulin secretion via activating PDE3B. Repressing this protein might provide a potential strategy for treating type 2 diabetes

In-situ Magnesium Diboride Superconducting Thin Films grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Superconducting thin films of MgB2 were deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition on magnesium oxide and sapphire substrates. Samples grown at 450C in an argon buffer pressure of about 10-2 mbar by using a magnesium enriched target resulted to be superconducting with a transition temperature of about 25 K. Film deposited from a MgB2 sintered pellet target in ultra high vacuum conditions showed poor metallic or weak semiconducting behavior and they became superconducting only after an ex-situ annealing in Mg vapor atmosphere. Up to now, no difference in the superconducting properties of the films obtained by these two procedures has been evidenced.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

FoxO Transcription Factor Regulate Hormone Mediated Signaling on Nymphal Diapause

Diapause is a complex physiological adaptation phenotype, and the transcription factor Forkhead-box O (FoxO) is a prime candidate for activating many of its diverse regulatory signaling pathways. Hormone signaling regulates nymphal diapause in Laodelphax striatellus. Here, the function of the FoxO gene isolated from L. striatellus was investigated. After knocking-down LsFoxO in diapausal nymphs using RNA interference, the titers of juvenile hormone III and some cold-tolerance substances decreased significantly, and the duration of the nymphal developmental period was severely shorted to 25.5 days at 20°C under short day-length (10 L:14 D). To determine how LsFoxO affects nymphal diapause, analyses of RNA-sequencing transcriptome data after treatment with LsFoxO–RNA interference was performed. The differentially expressed genes affected carbohydrate, amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway. Thus, LsFoxO acts on L. striatellus nymphal diapause and is, therefore, a potential target gene for pest control. This study may lead to new information on the regulation of nymphal diapause in this important pest

In situ epitaxial MgB2 thin films for superconducting electronics

A thin film technology compatible with multilayer device fabrication is critical for exploring the potential of the 39-K superconductor magnesium diboride for superconducting electronics. Using a Hybrid Physical-Chemical Vapor Deposition (HPCVD) process, it is shown that the high Mg vapor pressure necessary to keep the MgB$_2$ phase thermodynamically stable can be achieved for the {\it in situ} growth of MgB$_2$ thin films. The films grow epitaxially on (0001) sapphire and (0001) 4H-SiC substrates and show a bulk-like $T_c$ of 39 K, a $J_c$(4.2K) of $1.2 \times 10^7$ A/cm$^2$ in zero field, and a $H_{c2}(0)$ of 29.2 T in parallel magnetic field. The surface is smooth with a root-mean-square roughness of 2.5 nm for MgB$_2$ films on SiC. This deposition method opens tremendous opportunities for superconducting electronics using MgB$_2$

The accelerated scaling attractor solution of the interacting agegraphic dark energy in Brans-Dicke theory

We investigate the interacting agegraphic dark energy in Brans-Dicke theory and introduce a new series general forms of dark sector coupling. As examples, we select three cases involving a linear interaction form (Model I) and two nonlinear interaction form (Model II and Model III). Our conclusions show that the accelerated scaling attractor solutions do exist in these models. We also find that these interacting agegraphic dark energy modes are consistent with the observational data. The difference in these models is that nonlinear interaction forms give more approached evolution to the standard $\Lambda$CDM model than the linear one. Our work implies that the nonlinear interaction forms should be payed more attention.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted in Eur. Phys. J.

Study of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays Ds+→K+K+π−D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^- and Ds+→K+K+π−π0D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^-\pi^0

Based on 7.33 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.128 and 4.226 GeV with the BESIII detector, the experimental studies of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays $D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^-$ and $D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^-\pi^0$ are reported. We determine the absolute branching fraction of $D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^-$ to be (${1.23^{+0.28}_{-0.25}}({\rm stat})\pm0.06({\rm syst})$) $\times 10^{-4}$. No significant signal of $D^+_s\to K^+K^+\pi^-\pi^0$ is observed and the upper limit on its decay branching fraction at 90\% confidence level is set to be $1.7\times10^{-4}$.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 4 table

Observation of the Singly Cabibbo-Suppressed Decay Λc+→Σ−K+π+\Lambda_{c}^{+}\to \Sigma^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+}

The singly Cabibbo-suppressed decay $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\to \Sigma^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+}$ is observed for the first time with a statistical significance of $6.4\sigma$ by using 4.5 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.600 and 4.699 GeV with the BESIII detector at BEPCII. The absolute branching fraction of $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\to \Sigma^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+}$ is measured to be $(3.8\pm1.3_{\rm stat}\pm0.2_{\rm syst})\times 10^{-4}$ in a model-independent approach. This is the first observation of a Cabibbo-suppressed $\Lambda_{c}^{+}$ decay involving $\Sigma^-$ in the final state. The ratio of branching fractions between $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\to \Sigma^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+}$ and the Cabibbo-favored decay $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\to \Sigma^- \pi^+\pi^+$ is calculated to be $(0.4 \pm 0.1)s_{c}^{2}$, where $s_{c} \equiv \sin\theta_c = 0.2248$ with $\theta_c$ the Cabibbo mixing angle. This ratio significantly deviates from $1.0s_{c}^{2}$ and provides important information for the understanding of nonfactorization contributions in $\Lambda_{c}^{+}$ decays.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure