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Requirement of Toxoplasma gondii metacaspases pertaining to IMC1 maturation, endodyogeny and also virulence in these animals.
Background Gliomas are the most prevalent type of intracranial tumors. NKCC1 is an important regulator in tumor cell volume. We noticed that abnormally high NKCC1 expression resulted in changes in the shape and adhesion of glioma cells. However, little is known about the role of NKCC1 in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of gliomas. This study aims to clarify the biological function of NKCC1 in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) progression. Methods Using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we performed a Kaplan-Meier analysis on NKCC1 expression levels to estimate the rate of survival of mesenchymal GBM patients. The correlation between NKCC1 and EMT-related proteins was analyzed from the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) server. We conducted Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to verify molecular signatures and pathways. We then studied the expression of NKCC1 in grade I-IV glioma tissue samples collected from patients using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Finally, we evaluated the effects of NKCC1 migration and invasion on the cellular behaviors of U251 cells using the transwell assay and western blots. Results High NKCC1 expression was associated with poor prognoses in mesenchymal GBM. Our results suggest a correlation between NKCC1 and EMT-protein markers CDH2 and VIM. GSEA showed that gliomas, TGF-beta signaling and EMT were enriched in the NKCC1 high expression phenotype. Higher expression levels of NKCC1 in gliomas correlate with higher glioma grades. Transwell assay and western blot results demonstrated that the knockdown of NKCC1 led to a reduction in migration and invasion, while also inhibiting MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in U251. Conclusion These results suggest that high expression of NKCC1 regulates EMT in gliomas, providing a new therapeutic strategy for addressing the spread of gliomas by inhibiting the spread of intracranial tumors. ©2020 Sun et al.To determine the Dysgonia stuposa mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) structure and to clarify its phylogenetic position, the entire mitogenome of D. stuposa was sequenced and annotated. The D. stuposa mitogenome is 15,721 bp in size and contains 37 genes (protein-coding genes, transfer RNA genes, ribosomal RNA genes) usually found in lepidopteran mitogenomes. The newly sequenced mitogenome contained some common features reported in other Erebidae species, e.g., an A+T biased nucleotide composition and a non-canonical start codon for cox1 (CGA). Like other insect mitogenomes, the D. stuposa mitogenome had a conserved sequence 'ATACTAA' in an intergenic spacer between trnS2 and nad1, and a motif 'ATAGA' followed by a 20 bp poly-T stretch in the A+T rich region. Phylogenetic analyses supported D. stuposa as part of the Erebidae family and reconfirmed the monophyly of the subfamilies Arctiinae, Catocalinae and Lymantriinae within Erebidae. ©2020 Sun et al.Background WRKY proteins play a vital role in the plants response to different stresses, growth and development. Studies of WRKY proteins have been mainly focused on model plant Arabidopsis and a few other vegetable plants. However, the systematical study of eggplant WRKY transcription factor superfamily is scarce. Methods Bioinformatics has been used to identify and characterize the eggplant WRKY gene family. selleck chemicals For the exploration of the differentially expressed WRKY genes, two cultivars with different cold-tolerance were used. Finally, we performed a virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) experiment to verify the functions of SmWRKY26 and SmWRKY32. Results Fifty eight (58) genes encoding eggplant WRKY proteins were identified through searching the eggplant genome. Eggplant WRKY proteins could be classified into three groups or seven subgroups in accordance with other plants. WRKY variants were identified from the eggplant. Gene structure analysis showed that the number of intron in eggplant WRKY family was from 0 to 11, with an average of 4.4. Conserved motif analysis suggested that WRKY DNA-binding domain was conserved in eggplant WRKY proteins. Furthermore, RNA-seq data showed that WRKY genes were differentially expressed in eggplant response to cold stress. By using VIGS, the two differentially expressed genes-SmWRKY26 and SmWRKY32 were verified in response to cold stress. Discussions This study provides a foundation for further exploring the functions of WRKY proteins in eggplant response to stresses and eggplant genetic improvement in stresses. ©2020 Yang et al.Background The aims of this systematic review and meta-analyses were to determine if there is a statistically reliable association between poor reading and poor self-concept, and if such an association is moderated by domain of self-concept, type of reading impairment, or contextual factors including age, gender, reading instruction, and school environment. Methodology We searched 10 key databases for published and unpublished studies, as well as reference lists of included studies, and studies that cited included studies. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals for one primary outcome (average self-concept) and 10 secondary outcomes (10 domains of self-concept). We assessed the data for risk of bias, heterogeneity, sensitivity, reporting bias, and quality of evidence. Results Thirteen studies with 3,348 participants met our selection criteria. Meta-analyses revealed statistically significant SMDs for average self-concept (-0.57) and five domains of self-concept (reading/writing/spelling -1.03; academic -0.67; math -0.64; behaviour -0.32; physical appearance -0.28). The quality of evidence for the primary outcome was moderate, and for secondary outcomes was low, due to lack of data. Conclusions These outcomes suggest a probable moderate association between poor reading and average self-concept; a possible strong association between poor reading and reading-writing-spelling self-concept; and possible moderate associations between poor reading and self-concept in the self-concept domains of academia, mathematics, behaviour, and physical appearance. ©2020 McArthur et al.In light chain (LC) diseases, monoclonal immunoglobulin LCs are abundantly produced with the consequence in some cases to form deposits of a fibrillar or amorphous nature affecting various organs, such as heart and kidney. The factors that determine the solubility of any given LC in vivo are still not well understood. We hypothesize that some of the biochemical properties of the LCs that have been shown to correlate with amyloid fibril formation in patients also can be used as predictors for the degree of kidney damage in a patient group that is only biased by protein availability. We performed detailed biochemical and biophysical investigations of light chains extracted and purified from the urine of a group of 20 patients with light chain disease. For all samples that contained a sufficiently high concentration of LC, we quantified the unfolding temperature of the LCs, the monomer-dimer distribution, the digestibility by trypsin and the formation of amyloid fibrils under various conditions of pH and reducing agent.
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