The sirtuin family in health and disease

Sirtuins(SIRTs)are nicotine adenine dinucleotide(+)-dependent histone deacetylases regulating critical signaling pathways in prokaryotes and eukaryotes,and are involved in numerous biological processes.Currently,seven mammalian homologs of yeast Sir2 named SIRT1 to SIRT7 have been identified.Increasing evidence has suggested the vital roles of seven members of the SIRT family in health and disease conditions.Notably,this protein family plays a variety of important roles in cellular biology such as inflammation,metabolism,oxidative stress,and apoptosis,etc.,thus,it is considered a potential therapeutic target for different kinds of pathologies including cancer,cardiovascular disease,respiratory disease,and other conditions.Moreover,identification of SIRT modulators and exploring the functions of these different modulators have prompted increased efforts to discover new small molecules,which can modify SIRT activity.Furthermore,several randomized controlled trials have indicated that different interventions might affect the expression of SIRT protein in human samples,and supplementation of SIRT modulators might have diverse impact on physiological function in different participants.In this review,we introduce the history and structure of the SIRT protein family,discuss the molecular mechanisms and biological functions of seven members of the SIRT protein family,elaborate on the regulatory roles of SIRTs in human disease,summarize SIRT inhibitors and activators,and review related clinical studies.

Evaluation of the reference genes for expression analysis using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae

The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer （Hemiptera, Aphididae）, is an important cosmopolitan pest. Real time qRT-PCR has been used for target gene expression analysis on M. persicae. Using real time qRT-PCR, the expression levels are normalized on the basis of the reliable reference genes. However, to date, the stability of available reference genes has been insufficient. In this study, we evaluated nine candidate reference genes from M. persicae under diverse experimental conditions. The tested candidate genes were comprehensively ranked based on five alternative methods （RefFinder, geNorm, Normfinder, BestKeeper and the comparative ACt method）. 18s, Actin and ribosomal protein L27 （L27） were recommended as the most stable reference genes for M. persicae, whereas ribosomal protein L27 （L27） was found to be the least stable reference genes for abiotic studies （photoperiod, temperature and insecticide susceptibility）. Our finding not only sheds light on establishing an accurate and reliable normalization of real time qRT-PCR data in M. persicae but also lays a solid foundation for further studies of M. persicae involving RNA interference and functional gene research.