New gene origin

BACKGROUND: We investigated the association between dietary nitrate intake and early clinical cardiometabolic risk biomarkers, and explored whether the oral microbiome modifies the association between dietary nitrate intake and cardiometabolic biomarkers. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from 668 (mean [SD] age 31 [9] years, 73% women) participants was analyzed. Dietary nitrate intakes and alternative healthy eating index (AHEI) scores were calculated from food frequency questionnaire responses and a validated US food database...

During the last 60 years many inherited traits in domestic outbred cats were selected and retained giving birth to new breeds characterised by singular coat or morphological phenotypes. Among them, minimal white spotting associated with blue eyes was selected by feline breeders to create the Altai, Topaz, and Celestial breeds. Various established breeds also introduced this trait in their lineages. The trait, that was confirmed as autosomal dominant by breeding data, was first described in domestic cats from Kazakhstan and Russia, in British shorthair and British longhair from Russia, and in Maine Coon cats from the Netherlands, suggesting different founding effects...

BACKGROUND: Refractoriness to surgical resection and chemotherapy makes intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) a fatal cancer of the digestive system with high mortality and poor prognosis. Important function invests circRNAs with tremendous potential in biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Nevertheless, it is still unknown how circRNAs contribute to the evolution of ICC. METHODS: CircRNAs in paired ICC and adjacent tissues were screened by circRNAs sequencing. To explore the impact of circRNAs on ICC development, experiments involving gain and loss of function were conducted...

The CLEFF4 sub clone from stock late passage Caco2 cells has a unique property of being able to develop polarised cell monolayers with high P-gp expression and tight junctions much quicker than the original cell line. Instead of being useful for transport studies 21-24 days after initiating culture, the CLEFF4 cell line matures in 5-6 days with tight junctions surpassing that of 3 week old Caco2 cells in that time frame [1]. This has enabled the CLEFF4 cell line to provide measures of apparent permeability for potential drug candidates, so important for pre-clinical drug development, 4 times faster than the original cell line...

Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski is a perennial creeping herb of the Asteraceae family, which is native to South America. It was introduced into Southern China as a groundcover in the 1970s (Zhang et al. 2023). Now it is mainly used for folk medicine to treat various kinds of inflammatory, incuding joint pain, rheumatic diseases, arthritis, in addition to treating persistent wounds, ulcers, and edemas (Gonçalves et al. 2022). In February and November 2023, powdery mildew symptoms were observed on 60% of S...

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) play a vital role in bacterial evolution by carrying essential genes that confer adaptive functions to the host. Despite their importance, the mechanism underlying the stable inheritance of ICEs, which is necessary for the acquisition of new traits in bacteria, remains poorly understood. Here, we identified SezAT, a type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) system, and AbiE, a type IV TA system encoded within the ICESsuHN105, coordinately promote ICE stabilization and mediate multidrug resistance in Streptococcus suis...

Natural products have played significant roles as medicine and food throughout human history. Here, we first provide a brief historical overview of natural products, their classification, biosynthetic origins, and the microbiological and genetic methods used for their discovery. We also describe and discuss the technologies that revolutionized the field, which transitioned from classic genetics to genome-centric discovery approximately two decades ago. We then highlight the most recent advancements and approaches in the current postgenomic era, in which genome mining is a standard operation and high-throughput analytical methods allow parallel discovery of genes and molecules at an unprecedented pace...

In vitro models of pediatric brain tumors (pBT) are instrumental for better understanding the mechanisms contributing to oncogenesis and testing new therapies; thus, ideally, they should recapitulate the original tumor. We applied DNA methylation (DNAm) and copy number variation (CNV) profiling to characterize 241 pBT samples, including 155 tumors and 86 pBT-derived cell cultures, considering serum vs serum-free conditions, late vs early passages, and dimensionality (2D vs 3D cultures). We performed a t-SNE classification and identified differentially methylated regions in tumors compared to cell models...

Many organisms have formed symbiotic relationships with nitrogen (N)-fixing bacteria to overcome N limitation. Diatoms in the family Rhopalodiaceae host unicellular, N-fixing cyanobacterial endosymbionts called spheroid bodies (SBs). Although this relationship is relatively young, SBs share many key features with older endosymbionts, including coordinated cell division and genome reduction. Unlike free-living relatives that fix N exclusively at night, SBs fix N largely during the day; however, how SB metabolism is regulated and coordinated with the host is not yet understood...

IMPORTANCE: Benefits of prostate cancer (PCa) screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) alone are largely offset by excess negative biopsies and overdetection of indolent cancers resulting from the poor specificity of PSA for high-grade PCa (ie, grade group [GG] 2 or greater). OBJECTIVE: To develop a multiplex urinary panel for high-grade PCa and validate its external performance relative to current guideline-endorsed biomarkers. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: RNA sequencing analysis of 58 724 genes identified 54 markers of PCa, including 17 markers uniquely overexpressed by high-grade cancers...

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most prominent malignancies that originate in the epithelial cells of the gastric mucosa and is one of the main causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. New circulating biomarkers of exosomal RNA might have great potential for non-invasive early prognosis of GC. Sijunzi Decoction (SJZD) is a typical representative formula of the method of benefiting Qi and strengthening the spleen in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). However, the effects and mechanism of SJZD in treating GC remain unclear...

Introduction: Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) subsequent to differential expression analysis is a standard step in transcriptomics and proteomics data analysis. Although many tools for this step are available, the results are often difficult to reproduce because set annotations can change in the databases, that is, new features can be added or existing features can be removed. Finally, such changes in set compositions can have an impact on biological interpretation. Methods: We present bootGSEA, a novel computational pipeline, to study the robustness of GSEA...

The first identification of a novel α1-Globin variant, Hb Ormylia in 11 Greeks originating from a small village, Ormylia, Chalkidiki, Greece is reported. The new genetic variant leads to the production of a hemoglobin variant that can be identified and quantified by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Capillary and classic electrophoresis were not informative. Direct DNA sequencing revealed a new mutation C > G mutation at codon 21 of α1 gene (His > Gln). The new variant has been named Hb Ormylia and this is the first description of this genetic variant of α1 gene in the literature...

BACKGROUND Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is an important treatment for severe aplastic anemia (SAA). It is known that SAA can evolve into malignant clonal diseases, such as acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome. However, the transformation of SAA into AML after allo-HSCT is a rare phenomenon. Here, we report a case of SAA transformed into AML after patient received human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling peripheral blood stem cell transplantation...

The neural crest is an embryonic stem cell population unique to vertebrates1 whose expansion and diversification are thought to have promoted vertebrate evolution by enabling emergence of new cell types and structures such as jaws and peripheral ganglia2 . Although jawless vertebrates have sensory ganglia, convention has it that trunk sympathetic chain ganglia arose only in jawed vertebrates3-8 . Here, by contrast, we report the presence of trunk sympathetic neurons in the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, an extant jawless vertebrate...

Introduction. The first hybrid resistance/virulence plasmid, combining elements from virulence plasmids described in hypervirulent types of Klebsiella pneumoniae with those from conjugative resistance plasmids, was described in an isolate of sequence type (ST) 147 from 2016. Subsequently, this type has been increasingly associated with these plasmids. Hypothesis or gap statement. The extent of carriage of hybrid virulence/resistance plasmids in nosocomial isolates of K. pneumoniae requires further investigation...

Peritoneal metastasis of colorectal origin appears in ~10-15% of patients at the time of diagnosis and in 30-40% of cases with disease progression. Locoregional spread through the peritoneum is considered stage IVc and is associated with a poor prognosis. The development of a regional therapeutic strategy based on cytoreductive surgery, and hyperthermic intra-abdominal chemotherapy has significantly altered the course of the disease. Although recent evidence supports the benefits of cytoreductive surgery, the benefits of hyperthermic intra-abdominal chemotherapy are, however, still a matter of debate...

Lagerstroemia indica is an important commercial tree known for the ornamental value. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Lagerstroemia indica "Pink Velour" ( Lagerstroemia "Pink Velour") was 152,174 bp in length with a GC content of 39.50%. It contained 85 protein coding genes (PCGs), 37 tRNAs, and 8 rRNA genes. 207 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and 31 codons with relative synonymous codon (RSCU)value > 1 were detected. Phylogenetic analysis divided 10 Lagerstroemia species into evolutionary branches of clade A and clade B...

BACKGROUND: Lipids found in plant seeds are essential for controlling seed dormancy, dispersal, and defenses against biotic and abiotic stress. Additionally, these lipids provide nutrition and energy and are therefore important to the human diet as edible oils. Acer truncatum, which belongs to the Aceaceae family, is widely cultivated around the world for its ornamental value. Further because its seed oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs)- i.e. α-linolenic acid (ALA) and nervonic acid (NA)- and because it has been validated as a new food resource in China, the importance of A...

Biallelic intronic expansions (AAGGG)exp in intron 2 of the RFC1 gene have been shown to be a common cause of late-onset ataxia. Since their first description, the phenotypes, neurological damage, and pathogenic variants associated with the RFC1 gene have been frequently updated. Here, we review the various motifs, genetic variants, and phenotypes associated with the RFC1 gene. We searched PubMed for scientific articles published between March 1st, 2019, and January 15th, 2024. The motifs and phenotypes associated with the RFC1 gene are highly heterogeneous, making molecular diagnosis and clinical screening and investigation challenging...