5.9
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5.9
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2009 Vol. 36, No. 7

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Research article
Advances in chloroplast engineering
Huan-Huan Wang, Wei-Bo Yin, Zan-Min Hu
2009, 36(7): 387-398. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60128-9
Abstract (70) HTML PDF (1)
Abstract:
The chloroplast is a pivotal organelle in plant cells and eukaryotic algae to carry out photosynthesis, which provides the primary source of the world's food. The expression of foreign genes in chloroplasts offers several advantages over their expression in the nucleus: high-level expression, transgene stacking in operons and a lack of epigenetic interference allowing stable transgene expression. In addition, transgenic chloroplasts are generally not transmitted through pollen grains because of the cytoplasmic localization. In the past two decades, great progress in chloroplast engineering has been made. In this paper, we review and highlight recent studies of chloroplast engineering, including chloroplast transformation procedures, controlled expression of plastid transgenes in plants, the expression of foreign genes for improvement of plant traits, the production of biopharmaceuticals, metabolic pathway engineering in plants, plastid transformation to study RNA editing, and marker gene excision system.
Effects of basic fibroblast growth factor on angiogenin expression and cell proliferation in H7402 human hepatoma cells
Ji Wang, Jianli Yang, Dawei Yuan, Jun Wang, Jia Zhao, Li Wang
2009, 36(7): 399-407. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60129-0
Abstract (77) HTML PDF (0)
Abstract:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), which is highly expressed in developing tissues and malignant cells, regulates cell growth, differentiation, and migration. Its expression is essential for the progression and metastasis of HCC. This study aims to investigate the effects of bFGF on the expression of angiogenin, another growth factor, which plays an important role in tumor angiogenesis, and on cell proliferation in H7402 human hepatoma cells. The bFGF sense cDNA or antisense cDNA was stably transfected into H7402 cells. Genomic DNA PCR analysis demonstrated that human bFGF sense cDNA or antisense cDNA was inserted into the genome. Furthermore, the expression of bFGF and angiogenin was examined by RT-PCR and Western blot assays. MTT and colony formation assays were employed to determine cell proliferation. Stable bFGF over-expressing and under-expressing transfectants were successfully established. Expression of angiogenin was decreased in the over-expressing bFGF cells (sense transfectants) and was increased in the under-expressing bFGF cells (antisense transfectants). Cell proliferation increased in the bFGF sense transfectants and decreased in the bFGF antisense transfectants. These results demonstrated that the endogenous bFGF may not only negatively regulate the angiogenin expression but also contribute to the overall cell proliferation in H7402 human hepatoma cells. This study may be helpful in finding a potential therapeutic approach to HCC.
Multi-class cancer classification through gene expression profiles: microRNA versus mRNA
Sihua Peng, Xiaomin Zeng, Xiaobo Li, Xiaoning Peng, Liangbiao Chen
2009, 36(7): 409-416. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60130-7
Abstract (115) HTML PDF (0)
Abstract:
Both microRNA (miRNA) and mRNA expression profiles are important methods for cancer type classification. A comparative study of their classification performance will be helpful in choosing the means of classification. Here we evaluated the classification performance of miRNA and mRNA profiles using a new data mining approach based on a novel SVM (Support Vector Machines) based recursive feature elimination (nRFE) algorithm. Computational experiments showed that information encoded in miRNAs is not sufficient to classify cancers; gut-derived samples cluster more accurately when using mRNA expression profiles compared with using miRNA profiles; and poorly differentiated tumors (PDT) could be classified by mRNA expression profiles at the accuracy of 100% versus 93.8% when using miRNA profiles. Furthermore, we showed that mRNA expression profiles have higher capacity in normal tissue classifications than miRNA. We concluded that classification performance using mRNA profiles is superior to that of miRNA profiles in multiple-class cancer classifications.
Association study of the single nucleotide polymorphisms in adiponectin-associated genes with type 2 diabetes in Han Chinese
Yabing Wang, Di Zhang, Yun Liu, Yifeng Yang, Teng Zhao, Jie Xu, Sheng Li, Zuofeng Zhang, Guoyin Feng, Lin He, He Xu
2009, 36(7): 417-423. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60131-9
Abstract (86) HTML PDF (0)
Abstract:
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ADIPOQ, ADIPOR1, and ADIPOR2 have been associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but there are many conflicting results especially in Chinese populations. To investigate the contribution of the adiponectin genes and their receptors to T2DM, a case-control study was performed and 11 SNPs ofADIPOQ, ADIPOR1, and ADIPOR2 were genotyped in 985 T2DM and 1,050 control subjects. rs16861194 (−11426 A>G) in the putative promoter ofADIPOQ was associated with T2DM (P = 0.007; OR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.08–1.55). None of the other 10 SNPs were associated with T2DM in this study, although rs2241766 and rs1501299 were reported to be associated with T2DM in previous Chinese studies. There was also no significant difference found from the ADIPOQ haplotype analysis, which contains rs16861194. In addition, we also assessed potential gene-gene interactions in three genes and no interactions were found. In conclusion, our results supported the ADIPOQ gene as a possible risk factor for type 2 diabetes in Han Chinese population.
Mitochondrial haplogroups associated with Japanese centenarians, Alzheimer's patients, Parkinson's patients, type 2 diabetic patients and healthy non-obese young males
Shigeru Takasaki
2009, 36(7): 425-434. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60132-0
Abstract (106) HTML PDF (2)
Abstract:
The relationships between five classes of Japanese people (i.e., 96 centenarians, 96 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, 96 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, 96 type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients, and 96 healthy non-obese young males) and their mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphism (mtSNP) frequencies at individual mtDNA positions of the entire mitochondrial genome were examined using the radial basis function (RBF) network and the modified method. New findings of mitochondrial haplogroups were obtained for individual classes. The five classes of people were associated with the following haplogroups: Japanese centenarians—M7b2, D4b2a, and B5b; Japanese AD patients—G2a, B4c1, and N9b1; Japanese PD patients—M7b2, B4e, and B5b; Japanese T2D patients—B5b, M8a1, G, D4, and F1; and Japanese healthy non-obese young males— D4g and D4b1b. From the points of common haplogroups among the five classes, the centenarians have the common haplogroups M7b2 and B5b with the PD patients and common haplogroup B5b with the T2D patients. In addition, the 112 Japanese semi-supercentenarians (over 105 years old) recently reported were also examined by the method proposed. The results obtained were the haplogroups D4a, B4c1a, M7b2, F1, M1, and B5b. These results are different from the previously reported haplogroup classifications. As the proposed analysis method can predict a person's mtSNP constitution and the probabilities of becoming a centenarian, AD patient, PD patient, or T2D patient, it may be useful in initial diagnosis of various diseases.
Subspecies-specific intron length polymorphism markers reveal clear genetic differentiation in common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon L.) in relation to the domestication of cultivated rice (O. sativa L.)
Xiangqian Zhao, Long Yang, Yan Zheng, Zhaohua Xu, Weiren Wu
2009, 36(7): 435-442. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(08)60133-2
Abstract (88) HTML PDF (0)
Abstract:
It is generally accepted that Oryza rufipogon is the progenitor of Asian cultivated rice (O. sativa). However, how the two subspecies of O. sativa (indica and japonica) were domesticated has long been debated. To investigate the genetic differentiation in O. rufipogon in relation to the domestication of O. sativa, we developed 57 subspecies-specific intron length polymorphism (SSILP) markers by comparison between 10 indica cultivars and 10 japonica cultivars and defined a standard indica rice and a standard japonica rice based on these SSILP markers. Using these SSILP markers to genotype 73 O. rufipogon accessions, we found that the indica alleles and japonica alleles of the SSILP markers were predominant in the O. rufipogon accessions, suggesting that SSILPs were highly conserved during the evolution of O. sativa. Cluster analysis based on these markers yielded a dendrogram consisting of two distinct groups: one group (Group I) comprises all the O. rufipogon accesions from tropical (South and Southeast) Asia as well as the standard indica rice; the other group (Group II) comprises all the O. rufipogon accessions from Southern China as well as the standard japonica rice. Further analysis showed that the two groups have significantly higher frequencies of indica alleles and japonica alleles, respectively. These results support the hypothesis that indica rice and japonica rice were domesticated from the O. rufipogon of tropical Asia and from that of Southern China, respectively, and suggest that the indica-japonica differentiation should have formed in O. rufipogon long before the beginning of domestication. Furthermore, with an O. glaberrima accession as an outgroup, it is suggested that the indica-japonica differentiation in O. rufipogon might occur after its speciation from other AA-genome species.
Instructions for authors
2009, 36(7): 443-446. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(09)60018-7
Abstract (49) HTML PDF (0)
Abstract: