Survey of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Motif Finding Algorithms

An important task in biology is to identify binding sites in DNA for transcription factors. These binding sites are short DNA segments which are called motifs. Given a set of DNA sequences, the motif finding problem is to detect overrepresented motifs that are good candidates for being transcription factor binding sites. The current study is a survey of motif finding algorithms. The study shows that a sensible approach to detect motif is to search for statistically overrepresented motifs in the promoter region of a set of co-regulated genes. The weak point of the available motif finding algorithms is that they tend to be sensitive to the noise, i.e., the presence of upstream sequences in data set that do not contain the motif. We conclude that instead of relying on a single motif finding tool, biologists should use a few complementary tools and pursue the top few predicted motifs of each.Computer Science Departmen

Urinary biomarker concentrations of captan, chlormequat, chlorpyrifos and cypermethrin in UK adults and children living near agricultural land

There is limited information on the exposure to pesticides experienced by UK residents living near agricultural land. This study aimed to investigate their pesticide exposure in relation to spray events. Farmers treating crops with captan, chlormequat, chlorpyrifos or cypermethrin provided spray event information. Adults and children residing ≤100 m from sprayed fields provided first-morning void urine samples during and outwith the spray season. Selected samples (1–2 days after a spray event and at other times (background samples)) were analysed and creatinine adjusted. Generalised Linear Mixed Models were used to investigate if urinary biomarkers of these pesticides were elevated after spray events. The final data set for statistical analysis contained 1518 urine samples from 140 participants, consisting of 523 spray event and 995 background samples which were analysed for pesticide urinary biomarkers. For captan and cypermethrin, the proportion of values below the limit of detection was greater than 80%, with no difference between spray event and background samples. For chlormequat and chlorpyrifos, the geometric mean urinary biomarker concentrations following spray events were 15.4 μg/g creatinine and 2.5 μg/g creatinine, respectively, compared with 16.5 μg/g creatinine and 3.0 μg/g creatinine for background samples within the spraying season. Outwith the spraying season, concentrations for chlorpyrifos were the same as those within spraying season backgrounds, but for chlormequat, lower concentrations were observed outwith the spraying season (12.3 μg/g creatinine). Overall, we observed no evidence indicative of additional urinary pesticide biomarker excretion as a result of spray events, suggesting that sources other than local spraying are responsible for the relatively low urinary pesticide biomarkers detected in the study population

Effect of anthropogenic sulphate aerosol in China on the drought in the western-to-central US

In recent decades, droughts have occurred in the western-to-central United States (US), significantly affecting food production, water supplies, ecosystem health, and the propagation of vector-borne diseases. Previous studies have suggested natural sea surface temperature (SST) forcing in the Pacific as the main driver of precipitation deficits in the US. Here, we show that the aerosol forcing in China, which has been known to alter the regional hydrological cycle in East Asia, may also contribute to reducing the precipitation in the western-to-central US through atmospheric teleconnections across the Pacific. Our model experiments show some indications that both the SST forcing and the increase in regional sulphate forcing in China play a similar role in modulating the western-to-central US precipitation, especially its long-term variation. This result indicates that regional air quality regulations in China have important implications for hydrological cycles in East Asia, as well as in the USopen1

Cytoplasmic p53 couples oncogene-driven glucose metabolism to apoptosis and is a therapeutic target in glioblastoma.

Cross-talk among oncogenic signaling and metabolic pathways may create opportunities for new therapeutic strategies in cancer. Here we show that although acute inhibition of EGFR-driven glucose metabolism induces only minimal cell death, it lowers the apoptotic threshold in a subset of patient-derived glioblastoma (GBM) cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that after attenuated glucose consumption, Bcl-xL blocks cytoplasmic p53 from triggering intrinsic apoptosis. Consequently, targeting of EGFR-driven glucose metabolism in combination with pharmacological stabilization of p53 with the brain-penetrant small molecule idasanutlin resulted in synthetic lethality in orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft models. Notably, neither the degree of EGFR-signaling inhibition nor genetic analysis of EGFR was sufficient to predict sensitivity to this therapeutic combination. However, detection of rapid inhibitory effects on [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, assessed through noninvasive positron emission tomography, was an effective predictive biomarker of response in vivo. Together, these studies identify a crucial link among oncogene signaling, glucose metabolism, and cytoplasmic p53, which may potentially be exploited for combination therapy in GBM and possibly other malignancies

Tracing of temporo-entorhinal connections in the human brain: cognitively impaired argyrophilic grain disease cases show dendritic alterations but no axonal disconnection of temporo-entorhinal association neurons

Argyrophilic grain disease (AGD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is often associated with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related pathology. The development of dementia in AGD is associated with the extent of coexisting AD-related pathology. Therefore, the question arises whether the degenerative changes in the neuronal network of demented AGD-patients represent a distinct pattern or show similar changes of disconnection as considered for AD. We were able to apply DiI-tracing in two human autopsy cases with mild AD-related pathology (controls), in one AD-patient, in one non-demented patient with advanced AD-related pathology, and in three cognitively impaired AGD-patients. DiI-crystals were injected into the entorhinal cortex. Pyramidal neurons of layers III and V of the adjacent temporal neocortex (area 35) were retrogradely marked with the tracer and analyzed. The AD case did not exhibit any retrogradely labeled neurons in the temporal neocortex. In the non-demented case with advanced AD-related pathology, the number of traced neurons was reduced as compared to that in the two controls and in the three AGD cases. In contrast, all three cognitively impaired AGD cases exhibited labeled pyramidal neurons in area 35 in an almost similar number as in the controls. However, alterations in the dendritic tree were observed in the AGD cases. These results show the existence of temporo-entorhinal connections in the adult human brain similar to those reported in animal models. Furthermore, the present study based on seven cases is the first attempt to study changes in the neuronal network in a human tauopathy with targeted axonal tracing techniques. Our findings in three cognitively impaired AGD cases suggest that AGD-related dementia constitutes a distinct disorder with a characteristic pattern of degeneration in the neuronal network

Mitochondrial genome nucleotide substitution pattern between domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori, and its wild ancestors, Chinese Bombyx mandarina and Japanese Bombyx mandarina

Bombyx mori and Bombyx mandarina are morphologically and physiologically similar. In this study, we compared the nucleotide variations in the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes between the domesticated silkmoth, B. mori, and its wild ancestors, Chinese B. mandarina (ChBm) and Japanese B. mandarina (JaBm). The sequence divergence and transition mutation ratio between B. mori and ChBm are significantly smaller than those observed between B. mori and JaBm. The preference of transition by DNA strands between B. mori and ChBm is consistent with that between B. mori and JaBm, however, the regional variation in nucleotide substitution rate shows a different feature. These results suggest that the ChBm mt genome is not undergoing the same evolutionary process as JaBm, providing evidence for selection on mtDNA. Moreover, investigation of the nucleotide sequence divergence in the A+T-rich region of Bombyx mt genomes also provides evidence for the assumption that the A+T-rich region might not be the fastest evolving region of the mtDNA of insects

Epidermal growth factor suppresses induction by progestin of the adhesion protein desmoplakin in T47D breast cancer cells

INTRODUCTION: Although the effects of progesterone on cell cycle progression are well known, its role in spreading and adhesion of breast cancer cells has not attracted much attention until recently. Indeed, by controlling cell adhesion proteins, progesterone may play a direct role in breast cancer invasion and metastasis. Progesterone has also been shown to modulate epidermal growth factor (EGF) effects in neoplasia, although EGF effects on progesterone pathways and targets are less well understood. In the present study we identify an effect of EGF on a progesterone target, namely desmoplakin. METHODS: Initially flow cytometry was used to establish the growing conditions and demonstrate that the T47D breast cancer cell line was responding to progesterone and EGF in a classical manner. Differential display RT-PCR was employed to identify differentially expressed genes affected by progesterone and EGF. Western and Northern blotting were used to verify interactions between EGF and progesterone in three breast cancer cell lines: T47D, MCF-7, and ZR-75. RESULTS: We found the cell adhesion protein desmoplakin to be upregulated by progesterone – a process that was suppressed by EGF. This appears to be a general but not universal effect in breast cancer cell lines. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that progesterone and EGF may play opposing roles in metastasis. They also suggest that desmoplakin may be a useful biomarker for mechanistic studies designed to analyze the crosstalk between EGF and progesterone dependent events. Our work may help to bridge the fields of metastasis and differentiation, and the mechanisms of steroid action

Graphene on hexagonal boron nitride as a tunable hyperbolic metamaterial

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a natural hyperbolic material1, in which the dielectric constants are the same in the basal plane (ε[superscript t] ≡ ε[superscript x] = ε[superscript y]) but have opposite signs (ε[superscript t] ε[superscript z ]< 0) in the normal plane (ε[superscript z]). Owing to this property, finite-thickness slabs of h-BN act as multimode waveguides for the propagation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons—collective modes that originate from the coupling between photons and electric dipoles in phonons. However, control of these hyperbolic phonon polaritons modes has remained challenging, mostly because their electrodynamic properties are dictated by the crystal lattice of h-BN. Here we show, by direct nano-infrared imaging, that these hyperbolic polaritons can be effectively modulated in a van der Waals heterostructure composed of monolayer graphene on h-BN. Tunability originates from the hybridization of surface plasmon polaritons in graphene with hyperbolic phonon polaritons in h-BN so that the eigenmodes of the graphene/h-BN heterostructure are hyperbolic plasmon–phonon polaritons. The hyperbolic plasmon–phonon polaritons in graphene/h-BN suffer little from ohmic losses, making their propagation length 1.5–2.0 times greater than that of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in h-BN. The hyperbolic plasmon–phonon polaritons possess the combined virtues of surface plasmon polaritons in graphene and hyperbolic phonon polaritons in h-BN. Therefore, graphene/h-BN can be classified as an electromagnetic metamaterial as the resulting properties of these devices are not present in its constituent elements alone

A Non-Lévy Random Walk in Chacma Baboons: What Does It Mean?

The Lévy walk is found from amoebas to humans and has been described as the optimal strategy for food research. Recent results, however, have generated controversy about this conclusion since animals also display alternatives to the Lévy walk such as the Brownian walk or mental maps and because movement patterns found in some species only seem to depend on food patches distribution. Here I show that movement patterns of chacma baboons do not follow a Lévy walk but a Brownian process. Moreover this Brownian walk is not the main process responsible for movement patterns of baboons. Findings about their speed and trajectories show that baboons use metal maps and memory to find resources. Thus the Brownian process found in this species appears to be more dependent on the environment or might be an alternative when known food patches are depleted and when animals have to find new resources

Discovering functional modules by identifying recurrent and mutually exclusive mutational patterns in tumors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Assays of multiple tumor samples frequently reveal recurrent genomic aberrations, including point mutations and copy-number alterations, that affect individual genes. Analyses that extend beyond single genes are often restricted to examining pathways, interactions and functional modules that are already known.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We present a method that identifies functional modules without any information other than patterns of recurrent and mutually exclusive aberrations (RME patterns) that arise due to positive selection for key cancer phenotypes. Our algorithm efficiently constructs and searches networks of potential interactions and identifies significant modules (RME modules) by using the algorithmic significance test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We apply the method to the TCGA collection of 145 glioblastoma samples, resulting in extension of known pathways and discovery of new functional modules. The method predicts a role for <it>EP300 </it>that was previously unknown in glioblastoma. We demonstrate the clinical relevance of these results by validating that expression of <it>EP300 </it>is prognostic, predicting survival independent of age at diagnosis and tumor grade.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have developed a sensitive, simple, and fast method for automatically detecting functional modules in tumors based solely on patterns of recurrent genomic aberration. Due to its ability to analyze very large amounts of diverse data, we expect it to be increasingly useful when applied to the many tumor panels scheduled to be assayed in the near future.</p