Dear Editor,Bacteriophages(otherwise called phages)are a type of virus that infect bacteria.This viral type has found useful applications in the control of bacterial pathogens in foods and food processing environments...Dear Editor,Bacteriophages(otherwise called phages)are a type of virus that infect bacteria.This viral type has found useful applications in the control of bacterial pathogens in foods and food processing environments.In addition,phages may be useful to prevent colonization and shedding of bacteria into the surrounding environment.展开更多
Dear Editor,Transposable phages,which are reproduced by transposition(Harshey,2012;Taylor,1963),have been widely applied in the field of biotechnology to manipulate operon/gene fusions,in vivo cloning,randomion mutage...Dear Editor,Transposable phages,which are reproduced by transposition(Harshey,2012;Taylor,1963),have been widely applied in the field of biotechnology to manipulate operon/gene fusions,in vivo cloning,randomion mutagenesis,and integration of DNA into bacterial genomes(Abalakina et al.,2008;Akhverdyan et al.,2011).One of the best-studied transposable phages is展开更多
AIM To identify whether chitinase 3-like 1(CHI3 L1) serves as a suitable biomarker for the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) and to analyze this protein's cellular source.METHODS An ELISA was c...AIM To identify whether chitinase 3-like 1(CHI3 L1) serves as a suitable biomarker for the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) and to analyze this protein's cellular source.METHODS An ELISA was conducted to detect the concentration of CHI3 L1 in the serum of 150 ESCC patients diagnosed between January 2001 and February 2005. The prognostic relevance of CHI3 L1 was evaluated by a Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. The immunohistochemistry was reanalyzed,and fluorescent staining was utilized to explore the cellular origins of CHI3 L1. We stimulated monocyte-derived macrophages(MDMs) with either IL-6 or the supernatant of the ESCC cell line Eca-109 and later investigated the level of CHI3 L1 by q PCR and ELISA.RESULTS The level of serum CHI3 L1 was higher in older patients(≥ 60) than in patients under the age of 60(P = 0.001). The patients with higher levels of CHI3 L1 had a significantly shorter overall survival,whereas the traditional markers,carcinoembryonic antigen and squamous cell carcinoma antigen,were less effective(P > 0.05). A multivariate Cox analysis(P = 0.001) indicated that CHI3 L1 was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC patients. Peritumoral macrophages in ESCC exhibited high levels of CHI3 L1. Interleukin-6(IL-6) and the supernatant of Eca-109 containing IL-6 stimulated MDMs to secrete CHI3 L1. The serum concentration of CHI3 L1 in the ESCC patients showed a weak correlation with the laboratory inflammatory parameters neutrophil(NEU,P = 0.045),neutrophil/lymphocyte rate(NLR,P = 0.016),and C-reactive protein(CRP,P < 0.001).CONCLUSION Our study first established a connection between the pretreated CHI3 L1 and patients with ESCC,and the serum CHI3 L1 was primarily secreted by ESCC-surrounded macrophages.展开更多
Stutzerimonas have been extensively studied due to their remarkable metabolic and physiological diversity.However,research on its phages is currently limited.In this study,we isolated a novel double-stranded DNA(dsDNA...Stutzerimonas have been extensively studied due to their remarkable metabolic and physiological diversity.However,research on its phages is currently limited.In this study,we isolated a novel double-stranded DNA(dsDNA)phage,vB_SstM-PG1,from the marine environment that infects Stutzerimonas stutzeri G1.Its dsDNA genome is 37204 bp long with a G/C content of 64.14%and encodes 54 open reading frames.The phage possesses a tail packaging structure that is different from known Stutzerimonas stutzeri phages and exhibits structural protein characteristics similar to those of temperate phages.In addition,two genes of toxin-antitoxin system,including YdaS_antitoxin and HEPN_SAV_6107,were found in the vB_SstM-PG1 genome and play important roles in regulating host growth and metabolism.With phylogenetic tree and comparative genomic analysis,it has been determined that vB_SstM-PG1 is not closely related to any phages previously identified in the GenBank database.Instead,it has a connection with enigmatic,uncultured viruses.Specifically,the vB_SstM-PG1 virus exhibits an average nucleotide identity of over 70%with six uncultivated viruses identified in the IMG/VR v4 database.This significant finding has resulted in the identification of a novel viral genus known as Metabovirus.展开更多
Color fading caused by a decrease in anthocyanin accumulation during the post-flowering stage significantly affects postharvest quality of chrysanthemum.However,the underlying mechanism by which anthocyanin accumulati...Color fading caused by a decrease in anthocyanin accumulation during the post-flowering stage significantly affects postharvest quality of chrysanthemum.However,the underlying mechanism by which anthocyanin accumulation decreases during the post-flowering stage still unclear,which greatly restricts design of molecular breeding in chrysanthemum.Here,a chrysanthemum SG7 R2R3 MYB transcription factor(TF),CmMYB3-like,was identified to have a function in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis during the post-flowering stage.Quantitative real time PCR(qRT-PCR)assays showed that the expression of CmMYB3-like was gradually downregulated when anthocyanin content increased during the flowering stage and was significantly upregulated during the post-flowering stage.Genetic transformation of chrysanthemum and dual-luciferase assays in N.benthamiana leaves showed that CmMYB3-like suppressed anthocyanin accumulation by inhibiting the transcription of CmCHS and CmANS directly and that of CmF3H indirectly.However,overexpression or suppression of CmMYB3-like did not affect the biosynthesis of flavones or flavonols.Genetic transformation of chrysanthemum revealed that the overexpression of CmMYB3-like inhibited anthocyanin accumulation,but its suppression prevented the decrease in anthocyanin accumulation during the post-flowering stage.Our results revealed a crucial role of CmMYB3-like in regulating the color of petals during the post-flowering stage and provided a target gene for molecular design breeding to improve the postharvest quality of chrysanthemum.展开更多
Drought stress impairs crop growth and development.BEL1-like family transcription factors may be involved in plant response to drought stress,but little is known of the molecular mechanism by which these proteins regu...Drought stress impairs crop growth and development.BEL1-like family transcription factors may be involved in plant response to drought stress,but little is known of the molecular mechanism by which these proteins regulate plant response and defense to drought stress.Here we show that the BEL1-like transcription factor GhBLH5-A05 functions in cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)response and defense to drought stress.Expression of GhBLH5-A05 in cotton was induced by drought stress.Overexpression of GhBLH5-A05 in both Arabidopsis and cotton increased drought tolerance,whereas silencing GhBLH5-A05 in cotton resulted in elevated sensitivity to drought stress.GhBLH5-A05 binds to cis elements in the promoters of GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05 to activate the expression of these genes.GhBLH5-A05 interacted with the KNOX transcription factor GhKNAT6-A03.Co-expression of GhBLH5-A05 and GhKNAT6-A03 increased the transcription of GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05.We conclude that GhBLH5-A05 acts as a regulatory factor with GhKNAT6-A03 functioning in cotton response to drought stress by activating the expression of the drought-responsive genes GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05.展开更多
Despite significant advances in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of liver cancer and the availability of novel pharmacotherapies,liver cancer remains the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality...Despite significant advances in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of liver cancer and the availability of novel pharmacotherapies,liver cancer remains the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide.Tumor relapse,resistance to current anti-cancer drugs,metastasis,and organ toxicity are the major challenges that prevent considerable improvements in patient survival and quality of life.Calculus bovis(CB),an ancient Chinese medicinal drug,has been used to treat various pathologies,including stroke,convulsion,epilepsy,pain,and cancer.In this editorial,we discuss the research findings recently published by Huang et al on the therapeutic effects of CB in inhibiting the development of liver cancer.Utilizing the comprehensive transcriptomic analyses,in vitro experiments,and in vivo studies,the authors demonstrated that CB treatment inhibits the tumor-promoting M2 phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages via downregulating Wnt pathway.While multiple studies have been performed to explore the molecular mechanisms regulated by CB,this study uniquely shows its role in modulating the M2 phenotype of macrophages present within the tumor microenvironment.This study opens new avenues of future investigations aimed at investigating this drug’s efficacy in various mouse models including the effects of combination therapy,and against drug-resistant tumors.展开更多
基金Research University Grant Scheme(RUGSgrant number 9329400)University Putra Malaysia,partly funded the research
文摘Dear Editor,Bacteriophages(otherwise called phages)are a type of virus that infect bacteria.This viral type has found useful applications in the control of bacterial pathogens in foods and food processing environments.In addition,phages may be useful to prevent colonization and shedding of bacteria into the surrounding environment.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program(973 Program)of China(2014CB745100)the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China(2012AA022101)
文摘Dear Editor,Transposable phages,which are reproduced by transposition(Harshey,2012;Taylor,1963),have been widely applied in the field of biotechnology to manipulate operon/gene fusions,in vivo cloning,randomion mutagenesis,and integration of DNA into bacterial genomes(Abalakina et al.,2008;Akhverdyan et al.,2011).One of the best-studied transposable phages is
文摘AIM To identify whether chitinase 3-like 1(CHI3 L1) serves as a suitable biomarker for the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) and to analyze this protein's cellular source.METHODS An ELISA was conducted to detect the concentration of CHI3 L1 in the serum of 150 ESCC patients diagnosed between January 2001 and February 2005. The prognostic relevance of CHI3 L1 was evaluated by a Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. The immunohistochemistry was reanalyzed,and fluorescent staining was utilized to explore the cellular origins of CHI3 L1. We stimulated monocyte-derived macrophages(MDMs) with either IL-6 or the supernatant of the ESCC cell line Eca-109 and later investigated the level of CHI3 L1 by q PCR and ELISA.RESULTS The level of serum CHI3 L1 was higher in older patients(≥ 60) than in patients under the age of 60(P = 0.001). The patients with higher levels of CHI3 L1 had a significantly shorter overall survival,whereas the traditional markers,carcinoembryonic antigen and squamous cell carcinoma antigen,were less effective(P > 0.05). A multivariate Cox analysis(P = 0.001) indicated that CHI3 L1 was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC patients. Peritumoral macrophages in ESCC exhibited high levels of CHI3 L1. Interleukin-6(IL-6) and the supernatant of Eca-109 containing IL-6 stimulated MDMs to secrete CHI3 L1. The serum concentration of CHI3 L1 in the ESCC patients showed a weak correlation with the laboratory inflammatory parameters neutrophil(NEU,P = 0.045),neutrophil/lymphocyte rate(NLR,P = 0.016),and C-reactive protein(CRP,P < 0.001).CONCLUSION Our study first established a connection between the pretreated CHI3 L1 and patients with ESCC,and the serum CHI3 L1 was primarily secreted by ESCC-surrounded macrophages.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.42188102,42120104006,41976117,42176111 and 42306111)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.201812002 and Andrew McMinn)。
文摘Stutzerimonas have been extensively studied due to their remarkable metabolic and physiological diversity.However,research on its phages is currently limited.In this study,we isolated a novel double-stranded DNA(dsDNA)phage,vB_SstM-PG1,from the marine environment that infects Stutzerimonas stutzeri G1.Its dsDNA genome is 37204 bp long with a G/C content of 64.14%and encodes 54 open reading frames.The phage possesses a tail packaging structure that is different from known Stutzerimonas stutzeri phages and exhibits structural protein characteristics similar to those of temperate phages.In addition,two genes of toxin-antitoxin system,including YdaS_antitoxin and HEPN_SAV_6107,were found in the vB_SstM-PG1 genome and play important roles in regulating host growth and metabolism.With phylogenetic tree and comparative genomic analysis,it has been determined that vB_SstM-PG1 is not closely related to any phages previously identified in the GenBank database.Instead,it has a connection with enigmatic,uncultured viruses.Specifically,the vB_SstM-PG1 virus exhibits an average nucleotide identity of over 70%with six uncultivated viruses identified in the IMG/VR v4 database.This significant finding has resulted in the identification of a novel viral genus known as Metabovirus.
基金financially supported grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.31902053,31870279,31730081)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2018M642273)+3 种基金Jiangsu Planned Projects or Postdoctoral Reaearch Funds(Grant No.2019K169)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Uniersities(Grant No.KYQN202031)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant Nos.2019YFD1001500,2020YFD1000400)the earmarked fund for Jiangsu Agricultural Industry Technology System,and a project funded by the Priority academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions。
文摘Color fading caused by a decrease in anthocyanin accumulation during the post-flowering stage significantly affects postharvest quality of chrysanthemum.However,the underlying mechanism by which anthocyanin accumulation decreases during the post-flowering stage still unclear,which greatly restricts design of molecular breeding in chrysanthemum.Here,a chrysanthemum SG7 R2R3 MYB transcription factor(TF),CmMYB3-like,was identified to have a function in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis during the post-flowering stage.Quantitative real time PCR(qRT-PCR)assays showed that the expression of CmMYB3-like was gradually downregulated when anthocyanin content increased during the flowering stage and was significantly upregulated during the post-flowering stage.Genetic transformation of chrysanthemum and dual-luciferase assays in N.benthamiana leaves showed that CmMYB3-like suppressed anthocyanin accumulation by inhibiting the transcription of CmCHS and CmANS directly and that of CmF3H indirectly.However,overexpression or suppression of CmMYB3-like did not affect the biosynthesis of flavones or flavonols.Genetic transformation of chrysanthemum revealed that the overexpression of CmMYB3-like inhibited anthocyanin accumulation,but its suppression prevented the decrease in anthocyanin accumulation during the post-flowering stage.Our results revealed a crucial role of CmMYB3-like in regulating the color of petals during the post-flowering stage and provided a target gene for molecular design breeding to improve the postharvest quality of chrysanthemum.
基金supported by the Project from the Ministry of Agriculture of China for Transgenic Research(2014ZX0800927B)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31871667).
文摘Drought stress impairs crop growth and development.BEL1-like family transcription factors may be involved in plant response to drought stress,but little is known of the molecular mechanism by which these proteins regulate plant response and defense to drought stress.Here we show that the BEL1-like transcription factor GhBLH5-A05 functions in cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)response and defense to drought stress.Expression of GhBLH5-A05 in cotton was induced by drought stress.Overexpression of GhBLH5-A05 in both Arabidopsis and cotton increased drought tolerance,whereas silencing GhBLH5-A05 in cotton resulted in elevated sensitivity to drought stress.GhBLH5-A05 binds to cis elements in the promoters of GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05 to activate the expression of these genes.GhBLH5-A05 interacted with the KNOX transcription factor GhKNAT6-A03.Co-expression of GhBLH5-A05 and GhKNAT6-A03 increased the transcription of GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05.We conclude that GhBLH5-A05 acts as a regulatory factor with GhKNAT6-A03 functioning in cotton response to drought stress by activating the expression of the drought-responsive genes GhRD20-A09 and GhDREB2C-D05.
基金Supported by the National Institutes of Health grants,No.K99HL146954 and No.R00HL146954the UTHSC College of Pharmacy Research Seed Grant award,No.2023.
文摘Despite significant advances in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of liver cancer and the availability of novel pharmacotherapies,liver cancer remains the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide.Tumor relapse,resistance to current anti-cancer drugs,metastasis,and organ toxicity are the major challenges that prevent considerable improvements in patient survival and quality of life.Calculus bovis(CB),an ancient Chinese medicinal drug,has been used to treat various pathologies,including stroke,convulsion,epilepsy,pain,and cancer.In this editorial,we discuss the research findings recently published by Huang et al on the therapeutic effects of CB in inhibiting the development of liver cancer.Utilizing the comprehensive transcriptomic analyses,in vitro experiments,and in vivo studies,the authors demonstrated that CB treatment inhibits the tumor-promoting M2 phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages via downregulating Wnt pathway.While multiple studies have been performed to explore the molecular mechanisms regulated by CB,this study uniquely shows its role in modulating the M2 phenotype of macrophages present within the tumor microenvironment.This study opens new avenues of future investigations aimed at investigating this drug’s efficacy in various mouse models including the effects of combination therapy,and against drug-resistant tumors.
