Rapid three-dimensional phenotyping of congenital heart disease in mouse by micro-CT

Objective To establish three-dimensional phenotyping system for congenital heart disease in mouse and to lay a foundation for the study of phenotype identification and mechanism of congenital heart disease.Methods Twelve SPF C57BL/6 J wild type pregnant mice(8-10 week-old)were randomly divided into control group(n=6)and experimental group(n=6).

Long noncoding RNA AANCR modulates innate antiviral responses by blocking miR-210-dependent MITA downregulation in teleost fish,Miichthys miiuy

Viral infection induces the initiation of antiviral effectors and cytokines which are critical mediators of innate antiviral responses.The critical molecular determinants are responsible for triggering an appropriate immune response.Long noncoding RNAs(lncRNAs)have emerged as new gene modulators involved in various biological processes,while how lncRNAs operate in lower vertebrates are still unknown.Here,we discover a long noncoding RNA,termed antiviral-associated long noncoding RNA(AANCR),as a novel regulator for innate antiviral responses in teleost fish.The results indicate that fish MITA plays an essential role in host antiviral responses and inhibition of Siniperca chuatsi rhabdovirus(SCRV)production.miR-210 reduces MITA expression and suppress MITA-mediated antiviral responses,which may help viruses evade host antiviral responses.Further,AANCR functions as a competing endogenous RNA(ceRNA)for miR-210 to control protein abundance of MITA,thereby inhibiting SCRV replication and promoting antiviral responses.Our data not only shed new light on understanding the function role of lncRNA in biological processes in teleost fish,but confirmed the hypothesis that ceRNA networks exist widely in vertebrates.

MicroRNA negatively regulates NF-κB-mediated immune responses by targeting NOD1 in the teleost fish Miichthys miiuy

Inflammation is a self-protection mechanism that can be triggered when innate immune cells detect infection.Eradication of pathogen infection requires appropriate immune and inflammatory responses,but excessive inflammatory responses can cause uncontrolled inflammation,autoimmune diseases,or pathogen dissemination.Mounting evidence has shown that microRNAs(miRNAs)in mammals act as important and versatile regulators of innate immunity and inflammation.However,miRNAmediated regulation networks are largely unknown in inflammatory responses in lower vertebrates.Here,miR-144 and miR-217 are identified as negative regulators in teleost inflammatory responses.We find that Vibrio harveyi and lipopolysaccharide(LPS)treatment significantly upregulate the expression of fish miR-144 and miR-217.Upregulated miR-144 and miR-217 suppress LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine expression by targeting nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 1(NOD1),thereby avoiding excessive inflammatory responses.In addition,miR-144 and miR-217 regulate inflammatory responses through NOD1-induced nuclear factor kappa(NF-κB)signaling pathways.These findings demonstrate that miR-144 and miR-217 play regulatory roles in inflammatory responses by modulating the NOD1-induced NF-κB signaling pathway.

A chromosome-level genome assembly of the red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus

Sciaenops ocellatus,also known as red drum,is a valuable commercial fish that is widely cultured in China.In recent years,while the genetic research and molecular breeding on S.ocellatus has been widely performed,whole-genome resources are lacking.In our study,we assembled the S.ocellatus genome by high-quality genome sequencing,followed by complete annotation.The size of final genome was 686.62 Mb and N50 length of contig and scaffold is 99.71 Kb and 25.62 Mb,respectively.Using the Hi-C technology,we obtained 24 pseudochromosomes containing 87.82%of the total scaffolds.We annotated 20,053 protein-coding genes in S.ocellatus genome,of which 99.93%were homologous to proteins in different database.Totally,we detected 133.54 Mb repeat sequences,which accounts for 19.45%of the assembly.According to the phylogenetic analysis,S.ocellatus is most closed to L.croea with a divergence time about 30 million years ago.We assembled a high-quality genome that will be a valuable resource to further study the biology of S.ocellatus and will inform how to breed the red drum to enhance its economic traits.