Protein-Protein Interactions of Tandem Affinity Purified Protein Kinases from Rice

Eighty-eight rice (Oryza sativa) cDNAs encoding rice leaf expressed protein kinases (PKs) were fused to a Tandem Affinity Purification tag (TAP-tag) and expressed in transgenic rice plants. The TAP-tagged PKs and interacting proteins were purified from the T1 progeny of the transgenic rice plants and identified by tandem mass spectrometry. Forty-five TAP-tagged PKs were recovered in this study and thirteen of these were found to interact with other rice proteins with a high probability score. In vivo phosphorylated sites were found for three of the PKs. A comparison of the TAP-tagged data from a combined analysis of 129 TAP-tagged rice protein kinases with a concurrent screen using yeast two hybrid methods identified an evolutionarily new rice protein that interacts with the well conserved cell division cycle 2 (CDC2) protein complex

Role of Arabidopsis AGO6 in siRNA accumulation, DNA methylation and transcriptional gene silencing

Argonautes (AGOs) are conserved proteins that contain an RNA-binding PAZ domain and an RNase H-like PIWI domain. In Arabidopsis, except for AGO1, AGO4 and AGO7, the roles of seven other AGOs in gene silencing are not known. We found that a mutation in AGO6 partially suppresses transcriptional gene silencing in the DNA demethylase mutant ros1-1. In ago6-1ros1-1 plants, RD29A promoter short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are less abundant, and cytosine methylation at both transgenic and endogenous RD29A promoters is reduced, compared to that in ros1-1. Interestingly, the ago4-1 mutation has a stronger suppression of the transcriptional silencing phenotype of ros1-1 mutant. Analysis of cytosine methylation at the endogenous MEA-ISR, AtREP2 and SIMPLEHAT2 loci revealed that the CpNpG and asymmetric methylation levels are lower in either of the ago6-1 and ago4-1 single mutants than those in the wild type, and the levels are the lowest in the ago6-1ago4-1 double mutant. These results suggest that AGO6 is important for the accumulation of specific heterochromatin-related siRNAs, and for DNA methylation and transcriptional gene silencing, this function is partly redundant with AGO4

High-rise buildings: A risk factor in the COVID-19 Omicron epidemic period

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate possible viral transmission scenarios inside a high-rise building during the Omicron phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design: Cross-sectional study design. Methods: In order to determine the pathogenicity of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, demographic, vaccination and clinical data were collected from COVID-19 positive cases during an outbreak in a high-rise residential building in Shenzhen, China, in early 2022. The pattern of viral transmission inside the building was determined through field investigation and engineering analysis. The results highlight the risk of Omicron infection in high-rise residential buildings. Results: Symptoms of infection with the Omicron variant are predominantly mild. Younger age has a greater impact on the severity of disease than vaccination status. Each floor of the high-rise building investigated contained 7 apartments, numbered 01 to 07, positioned in the same layout on each floor. The drainage system included vertical pipes from the ground to the roof of the building. There were statistically significant differences in infection rates at different time points and incidence ratios between apartment numbers ending in 07 (type 07) and other apartments (P < 0.001). Households with early disease onset were concentrated in apartment type 07 and the severity of their disease was more severe. The incubation period of the outbreak was 5.21–5.31 days and the time-dependent reproduction number (Rt) was 12.08 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.66, 18.29). Results suggest both non-contact and contact viral transmission may have contributed to the outbreak. The drainage system in the building allows aerosol regurgitation, thus indicating that the structure of the building may have led to spread of the virus from the sewage pipes. Infections in other apartments may have been as result of viral transmission in the elevators and intimate family contact. Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that Omicron transmission was likely to be via the sewage system, supplemented by contact transmission in the stairs and elevators. The environmental spread of Omicron needs to be highlighted and prevented

Effects of Emulsifier on Fermentation Performance of Active Dry Wine Yeast

[Objectives] To explore the influence of emulsifier on the fermentation performance of wine active dry yeast. [Methods] Angel active dry yeast RV002 was selected as the test strain, and the simulated grape juice was used as the fermentation medium to investigate the fermentation rate, the yeast cell number and morphology, and the physicochemical indexes of the produced wine. [Results] It was found that the viable cell rate of the active dry yeast without the emulsifier was significantly reduced, and the fermentation rate was significantly slowed down. However, the emulsifier had no significant effect on the morphology of yeast cells, the fermentation cycle, the final number of viable cells, and the quality of the produced wine. [Conclusions] The active dry wine yeast without emulsifier can reduce the formation of grape juice foam and reduce the risk of grape juice spillover

Identification of a Four-Gene Signature Associated with the Prognosis Prediction of Lung Adenocarcinoma Based on Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, so it is necessary to identify potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of LUAD. In our study, a gene co-expression network was constructed using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) in order to obtain the key modules and genes correlated with LUAD prognosis. Four hub genes (HLF, CHRDL1, SELENBP1, and TMEM163) were screened out using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)&ndash;Cox regression analysis; then, a prognostic model was established for predicting overall survival (OS) based on these four hub genes..Furthermore, the prognostic values of this four-gene signature were verified in four validation sets (GSE26939, GSE31210, GSE72094, and TCGA-LUAD) as well as in the GEPIA database. To assess the prognostic values of hub genes, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed and a nomogram was created. We found that a higher expression of four hub genes was associated with a lower risk of patient death. In a training set, it was demonstrated that this four-gene signature was a better prognostic factor than clinical factors such as age and stage of disease. Moreover, our results revealed that these four genes were suppressor factors of LUAD and that their high expression was associated with a lower risk of death. In summary, we demonstrated that this four-gene signature could be a potential prognostic factor for LUAD patients. These findings provide a theoretical basis for exploring potential biomarkers for LUAD prognosis prediction in the future

HO-1 Protects Remnant Liver against Dysfunction after Major Hepatectomy in Humans

Objective During major resection of liver carcinoma, liver regeneration (LR) is induced by various clinical and biological factors. Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 has been found as a key inducer of LR in preclinical trial. The clinical evidence for the role of HO-1 in liver dysfunction (LD) including LR is still unknown and has been included in this study. Methods Therefore, plasma HO-1 were monitored during perioperative period in 65 patients with hepatectomy, with 35 training and 30 validation cohorts. LD were evaluated by liver function serum markers and calculation of regeneration indices, respectively. Results In the training setting, HO-1 levels were remarkably reduced after liver resection (P < 0.001) and gradually recovered within 7 days after surgery. Preoperative HO-1 specifically predicted LD during the first week after surgery (AUC: 0.757; P = 0.01). In patients with LD and complications after surgery, HO-1 levels decreased throughout the perioperative period. In addition, we had also confirmed that low levels of HO-1 (<169 ng/ml) before surgery were associated with an increase in the incidence of postoperative LD and morbidity (P = 0.007, P = 0.045), and decrease of liver regeneration (P = 0.005). And HO-1 was an independent predictor for poor clinical outcome. Conclusions We had provided the first clinical data verifying that human HO-1 was related to LD. Consequently, HO-1 levels can be used as effective clinical indicators to predict LD and clinical outcome, and can be used as intervention target before liver resection

Synthesis and characterization of self-assembled c-axis oriented Bi2Sr3Co2Oy thin films by the sol-gel method

Bi2Sr3Co2Oy thin films are prepared on SrTiO3 (100), (110) and (111) single crystal substrates using the sol–gel method. All the thin films are c-axis oriented regardless of the orientation of the substrate suggesting self-assembled c-axis orientation, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results give evidence of coexistence of Co3+ and Co2+ ions in the derived films. Transmission electronic microscopy observations reveal that all samples are c-axis oriented with no obvious differences for different samples, and the c-axis lattice constant is determined as 15 Å suggesting the misfit structure. A phenomenological thermodynamic phase diagram for self-assembled c-axis orientation is established for misfit cobaltate-based films using chemical solution deposition. All samples behave like semiconductors due to the coexistence of Co3+/Co2+ ions, and the resistivity at 350 K is 47, 39 and 17 mΩ cm for the thin films on SrTiO3 (100), (110) and (111), respectively, whereas the Seebeck coefficient at 300 K is 97, 89 and 77 μV K−1. The successful attainment of Bi2Sr3Co2Oy thin films with self-assembled c-axis orientation will provide an effective prototype for investigation of growth mechanisms in complex oxide thin films with a misfit structure