Summary
Topological cytonuclear discordance is commonly observed in plant phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies, yet few studies have attempted to detect two other forms of cytonuclear discordance ...(branch length and geographical) and to uncover the causes of the discordance.
We used the whole nuclear and chloroplast genome data from 80 individual Asian butternuts to reveal the pattern and processes of cytonuclear discordance.
Our findings indicate that the chloroplast genome had substantially deeper divergence (branch‐length discordance) and a steeper cline in the contact zone (geographic discordance) compared with the nuclear genome. After various hypothesis have been tested, the results suggest that incomplete lineage sorting, positive selection and cytonuclear incompatibility are probably insufficient to explain this pattern. However, isolation‐by‐distance analysis and gene flow estimation point to a much higher level of gene flow by pollen compared with by seeds, which may have slowed down lineage divergence and mediated wider contact for nuclear genome compared with the chloroplast genome.
Altogether, this study highlights a critical role of sex‐biased dispersal in causing discordance between the nuclear and plastid genome of Asian butternuts. Given its ubiquity among plants, asymmetric gene flow should be given a high priority in future studies of cytonuclear discordance.
Blocking the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2) protein serves as a therapeutic strategy for treating COVID-19. Traditional ...Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments containing bioactive products could alleviate the symptoms of severe COVID-19. However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has complicated the process of developing broad-spectrum drugs. As such, the aim of this study was to explore the efficacy of TCM treatments against SARS-CoV-2 variants through targeting the interaction of the viral spike protein with the hACE2 receptor. Antiviral activity was systematically evaluated using a pseudovirus system.
(
) was found to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection, as it mediated the interaction between the viral spike protein and the hACE2 protein. Moreover, the active molecules of
were identified and analyzed. Baicalein and baicalin, a flavone and a flavone glycoside found in
, respectively, exhibited strong inhibitory activities targeting the viral spike protein and the hACE2 protein, respectively. Under optimized conditions, virus infection was inhibited by 98% via baicalein-treated pseudovirus and baicalin-treated hACE2. In summary, we identified the potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors from
that mediate the interaction between the Omicron spike protein and the hACE2 receptor. Future studies on the therapeutic application of baicalein and baicalin against SARS-CoV-2 variants are needed.
Background
Esophageal neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) is a rare malignant tumor. The role of surgery in resectable limited disease of esophageal NEC remains unclear. How to select a specific group of ...limited disease of esophageal NEC who might benefit from surgery remains to be answered.
Methods
Patients undergoing esophagectomy for resectable limited disease of esophageal NEC in our department from January 2007 to June 2015 were analyzed. TNM staging system was applied to describe those patients, and according to their different long-term prognosis after surgery, those patients were subgrouped into surgery response limited disease (SRLD) group and surgery non-response limited disease (SNRLD) group. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were applied to identify potential prognostic factors.
Results
A total of 72 patients with resectable limited disease of esophageal NEC were identified for analysis. The median survival time of those patients was 21.5 months. There was no significant survival differences among stage I, stage IIA, and stage IIB patients, but all these patients had significantly longer survival than stage III patients. Therefore, stage I, stage IIA, and stage IIB patients were aggregated together as SRLD group, and stage III patients were aggregated as SNRLD group. SRLD patients obtained significantly longer survival than SNRLD patients in both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Moreover, adjuvant therapy could significantly benefit SRLD patients (
P
= 0.004) but could not benefit SNRLD patients (
P
= 0.136).
Conclusions
Different responses to surgery existed in resectable limited disease of esophageal NEC indicating the need of further subgrouping for those patients. The resectable limited disease of esophageal NEC could be further subgrouped into SRLD group and SNRLD group according to the TNM staging system.
Over the past decade, lncRNAs have been widely reported in human malignant tumors, including papillary thyroid carcinoma. LncRNA SNHG15 has been validated to be a tumor facilitator in several types ...of malignancies. The present study focused on the biological role of SNHG15 in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Based on the result of qPCR analysis, we identified the strong expression of SNHG15 in human papillary thyroid carcinoma tissues and cell lines. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier method was utilized to analyze the internal relevance between SNHG15 expression and overall survival rate of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Loss-of-function assays were designed and conducted to determine the inhibitory effects of silenced SNHG15 on the cell growth and migration in papillary thyroid carcinoma. The mechanical investigation indicated that SNHG15 upregulated YAP1 by sponging miR-200a-3p. Moreover, results of gain-of-function assays validated the anti-oncogenic function of miR-200a-3p in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Finally, results of rescue assays validated the function of SNHG15-miR-200a-3p-YAP1 axis in papillary thyroid carcinoma. YAP1 is known as an oncogene and a core factor of Hippo pathway. Here, we demonstrated that SNHG15 inactivated Hippo signaling pathway in papillary thyroid carcinoma. In summary, our findings demonstrated that SNHG15 serves as a competitively endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to regulate YAP1-Hippo signaling pathway by sponging miR-200a-3p in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Hole mobility is critical to the power conversion efficiencies of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Organic small‐molecule hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) have attracted considerable interest in PSCs ...due to their structural flexibility and operational durability, but they suffer from modest hole mobility. On the other hand, inorganic HTMs with good hole mobility are inflexible in structural variation and exhibit unsatisfactory cell efficiency. In this study, a ligand BT28 and its zinc‐based coordination complex BTZ30 were synthesized, characterized, and investigated as HTMs for PSC applications. The mixed‐halide perovskites can be grown uniformly with large crystalline grains on both HTMs, which exhibit similar optical and electrochemical properties. However, it was discovered that the BTZ30‐based solar cell exhibited an open‐circuit voltage of 1.0817 V and a high short‐circuit current density of 23.1392 mA cm−2 with a champion power conversion efficiency of close to 20 %. The performance difference between the two HTMs can be attributed to the difference in their hole mobilities, which is 63.31 % higher for BTZ30 than BT28. The comparison of non‐metal and metal HTMs revealed the importance of considering hybrid structures to overcome some shortcomings associated with organic and inorganic HTMs and achieve high‐performance PSCs.
A new hybrid organic‐inorganic structured hole‐transporting material for perovskite solar cells application has been developed. The Zn‐metal based complex, BTZ30, achieved impressive close to 20 % efficiency. The good performance is attributed to its high hole mobility, enabling higher short‐circuit current density and efficiency.
This study was designed to explore the relationship between miR‐1275 and SERPINE1 and its effects on glioma cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis. Differentially expressed miRNAs and ...mRNAs in glioma tissues were screened out by bioinformatic analysis. Dual‐luciferase reporter gene assay was used to validate the targeted relationship between miR‐1275 and SERPINE1. qRT‐PCR was used to detect the expression of miR‐1275 and SERPINE1 in glioma tissues. The expressions of SERPINE1 and p53 pathway‐related proteins in glioma cells were detected by western blot. Glioma cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion were respectively detected by CCK‐8 assay, flow cytometry, wound healing assay and transwell assay. Tumour xenograft model was developed to study the influence of miR‐1275 and SERPINE1 on glioma growth in vivo. The results of microarray analysis, qRT‐PCR and western blot showed that miR‐1275 was low‐expressed while SERPINE1 was high‐expressed in glioma. Dual‐luciferase assay showed that miR‐1275 could bind to SERPINE1. Overexpression of miR‐1275 could promote the p53 pathway‐related proteins’ expression. Highly expressed miR‐1275 could repress the migration, proliferation and invasion of glioma cells while highly expressed SERPINE1 had inverse effects. Tumour xenograft showed that up‐regulated miR‐1275 or down‐regulated SERPINE1 could repress glioma growth in vivo. Up‐regulation of miR‐1275 activated p53 signalling pathway via regulating SERPINE1 and therefore suppressed glioma cell proliferation, invasion and migration, whereas promoted cell apoptosis.
Aims: We aimed to explore the impact of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) on cell proliferation, invasion, and migration of glioma.
Methods: Differentially ...expressed genes were screened out from Gene Expression Omnibus data set based on the microarray analysis. The expression levels of lncRNA NEAT1, miR‐139‐5p, and CDK6 in glioma cells and tissues were examined by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and the protein level of CDK6 in glioma cells was determined by western blot and immunohistochemistry. Glioma cell viability, cell cycle, and apoptosis were detected by 3‐(4,5‐Dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) and flow cytometry, respectively, whereas cell invasion and migration were analyzed by transwell assay. The target relationships among NEAT1, miR‐139‐5p, and CDK6 were confirmed by dual‐luciferase reporter gene assay. The effects of lncRNA NEAT1 on tumor growth were further testified through glioma xenografts in nude mice.
Results: LncRNA NEAT1 and CDK6 were highly expressed in glioma tissues and cells, whereas miR‐139‐5p was lowly expressed. There were target relationships and correlations on expressions between miR‐139‐5p and NEAT1/ CDK6. NEAT1 and CDK6 could promote cell proliferation and metastasis of glioma cells and impeded cell apoptosis, whereas miR‐139‐5p exerted suppressive effects on the biological functions of glioma cells. NEAT1 regulated CDK6 to affect glioma growth through sponging miR‐139‐5p.
Conclusions: LncRNA NEAT1 promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and migration of glioma through regulating miR‐139‐5p/CDK6 pathway.
Graphical
We aimed to explore the impact of long noncoding RNA (LncRNA) nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) on cell proliferation, invasion, and migration of glioma. The results of our study showed that LncRNA NEAT1 promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and migration of glioma through regulating miR‐139‐5p/CDK6 pathway.
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