Bioinformatics Analysis Raises Candidate Genes in Blood for Early Screening of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson＇s disease （PD） is a typical degenerative disease, which is characterized by the most obvious symptoms of movement dysfunction, including shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty in walking and gait. This disease can not be clearly identified through laboratory tests at present, thus application of high-throughput technique in studying the expression profiles of PD helps to find the genetic markers for its early diagnosis. Studies on expression profiles of neurodegenerative diseases have revealed the novel genes and pathways involved in the progress of illness. In this study, the expression profiles of PD in blood were compared, showing that 181 differentially expressed genes （DEG） exhibit a similar expression trend both in patients and in normal controls.

Characterization and expression analysis of genes encoding Taxol biosynthetic enzymes in Taxus spp.

Taxol(Paclitaxel),an important anticancer drug,is derived at very low yields from Taxus(yew)species that grow very slowly.In the present study,thirteen genes that encode enzymes involved in Taxol biosynthesis in Taxus spp.were analyzed with bioinformatics methods,and their expression levels in different tissues and after cold and hormone treatments were also analyzed.The results indicated that many cis-elements related to abiotic stresses and hormones were found in the promoter sequences of the 8 genes involved in Taxol biosynthesis.Moreover,the 13 enzymes encoded by the target genes were located in different organelles and had many phosphorylation sites in the response proteins.The 13 genes were expressed highly either in roots or in stems,with lower transcripts in needles,and they were highly expressed after treatment with cold,gibberellin,methyl jasmonate or coronatine,consistent with predictions based on the bioinformatics analysis.These results suggest that the factors such as hormones and abiotic stresses stimulate taxane biosynthesis in yews,providing an important way to sustainably generate taxanes from yew trees or their cell cultures to improve Taxol yields.

Cloning and Bioinformatic Analysis of HMGS and HMGR Genes from Panax notoginseng

Objective To clone and analyze 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A synthase（HMGS） and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase（HMGR） genes from Panax notoginseng of four-year old during the flowering period, the key genes involved in the mevalonic acid pathway for saponin biosynthesis. Methods The cDNA sequences of PnHMGS1 and PnHMGR2 were obtained by reverse transcription PCR（RT-PCR） and rapid amplification of cDNA ends（RACE） methods and were analyzed in their secondary structures, subcellular localizations, domains, and the three-dimensional structures of putative proteins by the bioinformatics tools. Fusion genes were constructed by the prokaryotic expression system. Results The two genes were cloned, named as PnHMGS1 and PnHMGR2, respectively, and were both predicted to be located in the chloroplast. PnHMGS1（1410 bp） encoded a predictive unstable protein with 469 amino acids and covered hydroxymethylglutaryl-Co A synthase domain. PnHMGR2（1690 bp） also encoded an unstable protein with 589 amino acids and possessed a hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase domain and two transmembrane regions. Both of the genes were expressed most in flowers followed by roots, stems, and least in leaves. Conclusion PnHMGS1 and PnHMGR2 are firstly cloned from P.notoginseng as the new member of the HMGR family,and they show the same expression profile as P.ginseng and P.quinquefolius.