RpoS protein is a σ factor of RNA polymerase that can control the expression of a group-specific gene, thus playing a vital role in bacteria. In bacteria, RpoS expression is under strict control and is mainly regulat...RpoS protein is a σ factor of RNA polymerase that can control the expression of a group-specific gene, thus playing a vital role in bacteria. In bacteria, RpoS expression is under strict control and is mainly regulated at three levels: transcription level, translation level and post-translational level. Environmental stress enters bacterial cells through signal transduction and leads to a series of variations in microenvironment, thereby causing changes of regulator and controlling its levels based on the direct and indirect interaction between regulator and RpoS protein. In addition, RpoS protein has played special roles in bacteria, therefore the changes of RpoS protein levels will lead to variations in expression levels of a large number of genes, thereby causing variations of bacterial response to different environmental stress and changes of certain characteristics of bacteria, which provides a new strategy for the control of bacterial diseases in the future. This paper reviewed the recent progress on the regulation of RpoS protein expression and its function in several common bacteria. Due to the functional complexity of RpoS protein, there are still a lot of unknown functions to be further identified.展开更多
Seventy-five previously known plant microRNAs (miRNAs) were classified into 14 families according to their gene sequence identity. A total of 18,694 plant expressed sequence tags (EST) were found in the GenBank EST da...Seventy-five previously known plant microRNAs (miRNAs) were classified into 14 families according to their gene sequence identity. A total of 18,694 plant expressed sequence tags (EST) were found in the GenBank EST databases by comparing all previously known Arabidopsis miRNAs to GenBank’s plant EST databases with BLAST algorithms. After removing the EST sequences with high numbers (more than 2) of mismatched nucleotides, a total of 812 EST contigs were identified. After predicting and scoring the RNA secondary structure of the 812 EST sequences using mFold software, 338 new potential miRNAs were identified in 60 plant species. miRNAs are widespread. Some microRNAs may highly conserve in the plant kingdom, and they may have the same ancestor in very early evolution. There is no nucleotide substitution in most miRNAs among many plant species. Some of the new identified potential miRNAs may be induced and regulated by environmental biotic and abiotic stresses. Some may be preferentially expressed in specific tissues, and are regulated by developmental switching. These findings suggest that EST analysis is a good alternative strategy for identifying new miRNA candidates, their targets, and other genes. A large number of miRNAs exist in different plant species and play important roles in plant developmental switching and plant responses to environmental abiotic and biotic stresses as well as signal transduction. Environmental stresses and developmental switching may be the signals for synthesis and regulation of miRNAs in plants. A model for miRNA induction and expression, and gene regulation by miRNA is hypothesized.展开更多
Small heat shock proteins encompass a widespread but diverse class of proteins, which play key roles in protecting organisms from various stressors. In the present study, the full-length cDNAs of two small heat shock ...Small heat shock proteins encompass a widespread but diverse class of proteins, which play key roles in protecting organisms from various stressors. In the present study, the full-length cDNAs of two small heat shock proteins (MgsHSP22 and MgsHSP24.1) were cloned from Mytilus galloprovincialis, which encoded peptides of 181 and 247 amino acids, respectively. Both MgsHSP22 and MgsHSP24.1 were detected in all tissues examined by real-time PCR, with the highest expression being observed in muscle and gonad tissues. The real-time PCR results revealed that Cd significantly inhibited MgsHSP22 expression at 24 h and MgsHSP24.1 at 24 and 48 h under 5 ug/L Cd2+ exposure. MgsHSP24.1 expression was also significantly inhibited after 50 ug/L Cd2+ exposure for 48 h. With regard to antioxidant enzymes, increased GPx and CAT activity were detected under Cd2+ stress (5 and 50 ug/L), while no significant difference in SOD activity was observed throughout the experiment. Overall, both MgsHsps and antioxidant enzymes revealed their potential as Cd stress biomarkers in M. galloprovincialis.展开更多
Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that the thermosensitivity locus cosegregates with blood pressure and that the elevated expression and restriction fragment length polymorphism of HSP70 gene are as...Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that the thermosensitivity locus cosegregates with blood pressure and that the elevated expression and restriction fragment length polymorphism of HSP70 gene are associ-ated with hypertension. Cell protection against environ-mental stressors such as heat and chemicals is often accom-panied by up-regulated expression of a wide spectrum of heat sliock genes(HSP). To further investigate the interre-lation between HSP expression and blood pressure regulation, we employed an effective method of cloning 2 poten-tial hypertension-related HSPs. Synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding either to a higbly-conserved region of the known HSP family or a repetitive sequence in the protein- encoding gene were used as target primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). cDNA prepared from heat-stressed and non-stressed vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of Brown Norway rats (BN.1x) and spontaneously hyperten-sive rats (SHRp) respectively served as template in the reaction. The PCR products were subsequently analyzed in a single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) electrophoresing system. Differential gene expression in BN.1x and SHRp was seen on autoradiographs of SSCP gel by comparing the migration patterns of PCR-amplified DNA fragments. Using this technique, we also found that HSP27 and a new member of the large HSP gene family were differentially expressed in BN.1x and SHRp VSMC.展开更多
This paper presents an improved Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm which uses the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) measure. We assume that noise Power Spectral Density (PSD) in each spectral bin follows a Rayle...This paper presents an improved Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm which uses the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) measure. We assume that noise Power Spectral Density (PSD) in each spectral bin follows a Rayleigh distribution. Rayleigh distributions with its asymmetric tail characteristics give a better description of the noise PSD distribution than Gaussian distribution. Under this asstlmption, a new threshold updating expression is derived. Since the analytical integral of the false alarm probability, the threshold updating expression can be represented without the inverse complementary error function and low computational complexity is achieved in our system. Experimental results show that the proposed VAD outperforms or at least is comparable with the VAD scheme presented by Davis under several noise environments and has a lower computational complexity.展开更多
Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the expression pattern of hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-1, -2 and -3 genes in leukemic bone marrow (BM) micreenvironment [including bone marrow stremal c...Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the expression pattern of hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-1, -2 and -3 genes in leukemic bone marrow (BM) micreenvironment [including bone marrow stremal cells (BMSCs) and BM hematopoietic cells]. Methods: Mononuclear cells were isolated from BM of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), or acute lymphoblasUc leukemia (ALL). Adherent cells (BMSCs) and nonadherent ceils (BM hematopoietic cells) were collected after long-term culture in vitro. The semi-quantitative expression levels of GATA genes in the BMSCs or BM hematopoietic cells from patients with leukemia were analyzed by using RT-PCR-ELISA and com- pared with normal controls. Results: The expression level of GATA-1 gene in the BMSCs from CML group was significantly lower than that of the normal controls. The expression level of GATA-3 gene in the BMSCs from ALL was higher than that of the normal controls, but that from CML was lower than the normal controls. Dominant expression of GATA-3 gene was found in the normal BM hematopoietic cells. The dominant expression of GATA-2 gene was found in the normal BMSCs and the BMSCs from CML, whereas the dominant expression of GATA-3 gene was detected in the BMSCs from AML. Conclusion: GATA-1, -2 and -3 genes might play a role in hematopoiesis regulation in leukemia, and the changes of expression pattern of GATA genes might influence the hematopoiesis in BM microenvironment and relate to the pathogenesis and development of leukemia.展开更多
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are increasingly viewed as persistent pollutants, similar to natural hormones in function. This paper describes the expression profiles of 7 genes (DMRT, VTG, GnRHR, FSHR, CYP1...Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are increasingly viewed as persistent pollutants, similar to natural hormones in function. This paper describes the expression profiles of 7 genes (DMRT, VTG, GnRHR, FSHR, CYP17A, CYP19A, and CYP19B) involved in sex steroid synthesis and action as well as sexual development in adult male and female Cynoglossus semilaevis, after exposure to different concentrations ofBisphenol A (BPA) and 17[3-estradiol (E2). Both BPA (1, 10, 50, 125, and 250 mg/kg) and E2 (0.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg) induced changes in target gene expression, although the estrogenic effects orE2 as a model estrogen were stronger. Among the 7 genes, VTG, CYP17A and CYP19 responded strongly to BPA or E2 exposure and can thus serve as reference biomarkers for estrogenic EDCs exposure in marine teleosts. These data will provide a window to establish a hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal model in C. semilaevis to better understand the effect pathways of EDCs.展开更多
Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are phase II enzymes that facilitate the detoxification of xenobioties and play important roles in antioxidant defense. We investigated the expression patterns of seven Venerupis ph...Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are phase II enzymes that facilitate the detoxification of xenobioties and play important roles in antioxidant defense. We investigated the expression patterns of seven Venerupis philippinarum GSTs (VpGSTs) and four Mytilus galloprovincialis GSTs (MgGSTs) following exposure to BDE-47. Differential expressions of the seven VpGSTs and four MgGSTs transcripts were observed, with differences between the hepatopancreas and gills. Among these GSTs, the sigma classes (VpGSTS1, VpGSTS2, VpGSTS3, MgGST1, and MgGST3) were highly expressed in response to BDE-47 exposure, demonstrating their potential as molecular biomarkers for environmental biomonitoring studies. We obtained the three-dimensional crystal structures of VpGSTs and MgGSTs by homologous modeling. A model to elucidate the binding interactions between the ligands and receptors was defined by molecular docking, Hydrophobic and n were the most often observed interactions between BDE-47 and the GSTs.展开更多
基金Supported by Science and Technology Program of Shandong Province (No. 2010GHY10501)National Department Public Benefit Research Fond of China (No. 200909020)~~
文摘RpoS protein is a σ factor of RNA polymerase that can control the expression of a group-specific gene, thus playing a vital role in bacteria. In bacteria, RpoS expression is under strict control and is mainly regulated at three levels: transcription level, translation level and post-translational level. Environmental stress enters bacterial cells through signal transduction and leads to a series of variations in microenvironment, thereby causing changes of regulator and controlling its levels based on the direct and indirect interaction between regulator and RpoS protein. In addition, RpoS protein has played special roles in bacteria, therefore the changes of RpoS protein levels will lead to variations in expression levels of a large number of genes, thereby causing variations of bacterial response to different environmental stress and changes of certain characteristics of bacteria, which provides a new strategy for the control of bacterial diseases in the future. This paper reviewed the recent progress on the regulation of RpoS protein expression and its function in several common bacteria. Due to the functional complexity of RpoS protein, there are still a lot of unknown functions to be further identified.
文摘Seventy-five previously known plant microRNAs (miRNAs) were classified into 14 families according to their gene sequence identity. A total of 18,694 plant expressed sequence tags (EST) were found in the GenBank EST databases by comparing all previously known Arabidopsis miRNAs to GenBank’s plant EST databases with BLAST algorithms. After removing the EST sequences with high numbers (more than 2) of mismatched nucleotides, a total of 812 EST contigs were identified. After predicting and scoring the RNA secondary structure of the 812 EST sequences using mFold software, 338 new potential miRNAs were identified in 60 plant species. miRNAs are widespread. Some microRNAs may highly conserve in the plant kingdom, and they may have the same ancestor in very early evolution. There is no nucleotide substitution in most miRNAs among many plant species. Some of the new identified potential miRNAs may be induced and regulated by environmental biotic and abiotic stresses. Some may be preferentially expressed in specific tissues, and are regulated by developmental switching. These findings suggest that EST analysis is a good alternative strategy for identifying new miRNA candidates, their targets, and other genes. A large number of miRNAs exist in different plant species and play important roles in plant developmental switching and plant responses to environmental abiotic and biotic stresses as well as signal transduction. Environmental stresses and developmental switching may be the signals for synthesis and regulation of miRNAs in plants. A model for miRNA induction and expression, and gene regulation by miRNA is hypothesized.
基金Supported by the 100 Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciencesthe National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41206105)the Key Deployment Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.KZZD-EW-14-03)
文摘Small heat shock proteins encompass a widespread but diverse class of proteins, which play key roles in protecting organisms from various stressors. In the present study, the full-length cDNAs of two small heat shock proteins (MgsHSP22 and MgsHSP24.1) were cloned from Mytilus galloprovincialis, which encoded peptides of 181 and 247 amino acids, respectively. Both MgsHSP22 and MgsHSP24.1 were detected in all tissues examined by real-time PCR, with the highest expression being observed in muscle and gonad tissues. The real-time PCR results revealed that Cd significantly inhibited MgsHSP22 expression at 24 h and MgsHSP24.1 at 24 and 48 h under 5 ug/L Cd2+ exposure. MgsHSP24.1 expression was also significantly inhibited after 50 ug/L Cd2+ exposure for 48 h. With regard to antioxidant enzymes, increased GPx and CAT activity were detected under Cd2+ stress (5 and 50 ug/L), while no significant difference in SOD activity was observed throughout the experiment. Overall, both MgsHsps and antioxidant enzymes revealed their potential as Cd stress biomarkers in M. galloprovincialis.
文摘Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that the thermosensitivity locus cosegregates with blood pressure and that the elevated expression and restriction fragment length polymorphism of HSP70 gene are associ-ated with hypertension. Cell protection against environ-mental stressors such as heat and chemicals is often accom-panied by up-regulated expression of a wide spectrum of heat sliock genes(HSP). To further investigate the interre-lation between HSP expression and blood pressure regulation, we employed an effective method of cloning 2 poten-tial hypertension-related HSPs. Synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding either to a higbly-conserved region of the known HSP family or a repetitive sequence in the protein- encoding gene were used as target primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). cDNA prepared from heat-stressed and non-stressed vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of Brown Norway rats (BN.1x) and spontaneously hyperten-sive rats (SHRp) respectively served as template in the reaction. The PCR products were subsequently analyzed in a single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) electrophoresing system. Differential gene expression in BN.1x and SHRp was seen on autoradiographs of SSCP gel by comparing the migration patterns of PCR-amplified DNA fragments. Using this technique, we also found that HSP27 and a new member of the large HSP gene family were differentially expressed in BN.1x and SHRp VSMC.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60874060)
文摘This paper presents an improved Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm which uses the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) measure. We assume that noise Power Spectral Density (PSD) in each spectral bin follows a Rayleigh distribution. Rayleigh distributions with its asymmetric tail characteristics give a better description of the noise PSD distribution than Gaussian distribution. Under this asstlmption, a new threshold updating expression is derived. Since the analytical integral of the false alarm probability, the threshold updating expression can be represented without the inverse complementary error function and low computational complexity is achieved in our system. Experimental results show that the proposed VAD outperforms or at least is comparable with the VAD scheme presented by Davis under several noise environments and has a lower computational complexity.
基金Supported by a grant from National Scaling Height Program, China (No. 95-zhuan-10)
文摘Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the expression pattern of hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-1, -2 and -3 genes in leukemic bone marrow (BM) micreenvironment [including bone marrow stremal cells (BMSCs) and BM hematopoietic cells]. Methods: Mononuclear cells were isolated from BM of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), or acute lymphoblasUc leukemia (ALL). Adherent cells (BMSCs) and nonadherent ceils (BM hematopoietic cells) were collected after long-term culture in vitro. The semi-quantitative expression levels of GATA genes in the BMSCs or BM hematopoietic cells from patients with leukemia were analyzed by using RT-PCR-ELISA and com- pared with normal controls. Results: The expression level of GATA-1 gene in the BMSCs from CML group was significantly lower than that of the normal controls. The expression level of GATA-3 gene in the BMSCs from ALL was higher than that of the normal controls, but that from CML was lower than the normal controls. Dominant expression of GATA-3 gene was found in the normal BM hematopoietic cells. The dominant expression of GATA-2 gene was found in the normal BMSCs and the BMSCs from CML, whereas the dominant expression of GATA-3 gene was detected in the BMSCs from AML. Conclusion: GATA-1, -2 and -3 genes might play a role in hematopoiesis regulation in leukemia, and the changes of expression pattern of GATA genes might influence the hematopoiesis in BM microenvironment and relate to the pathogenesis and development of leukemia.
基金Supported by the special funds for the Basic R&D Program in the Central Non-profit Research Institutes(No.2060302)
文摘Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are increasingly viewed as persistent pollutants, similar to natural hormones in function. This paper describes the expression profiles of 7 genes (DMRT, VTG, GnRHR, FSHR, CYP17A, CYP19A, and CYP19B) involved in sex steroid synthesis and action as well as sexual development in adult male and female Cynoglossus semilaevis, after exposure to different concentrations ofBisphenol A (BPA) and 17[3-estradiol (E2). Both BPA (1, 10, 50, 125, and 250 mg/kg) and E2 (0.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg) induced changes in target gene expression, although the estrogenic effects orE2 as a model estrogen were stronger. Among the 7 genes, VTG, CYP17A and CYP19 responded strongly to BPA or E2 exposure and can thus serve as reference biomarkers for estrogenic EDCs exposure in marine teleosts. These data will provide a window to establish a hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal model in C. semilaevis to better understand the effect pathways of EDCs.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.21107136)the International Foundation for Science(No.F/5230-1)
文摘Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are phase II enzymes that facilitate the detoxification of xenobioties and play important roles in antioxidant defense. We investigated the expression patterns of seven Venerupis philippinarum GSTs (VpGSTs) and four Mytilus galloprovincialis GSTs (MgGSTs) following exposure to BDE-47. Differential expressions of the seven VpGSTs and four MgGSTs transcripts were observed, with differences between the hepatopancreas and gills. Among these GSTs, the sigma classes (VpGSTS1, VpGSTS2, VpGSTS3, MgGST1, and MgGST3) were highly expressed in response to BDE-47 exposure, demonstrating their potential as molecular biomarkers for environmental biomonitoring studies. We obtained the three-dimensional crystal structures of VpGSTs and MgGSTs by homologous modeling. A model to elucidate the binding interactions between the ligands and receptors was defined by molecular docking, Hydrophobic and n were the most often observed interactions between BDE-47 and the GSTs.