28 February 2023, Volume 27 Issue 1
    

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  • LI Jianming, TANG Liang, XIANG Qin, YANG Dawei, XIANG Ju
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 1-8.
    Abstract ( 457 ) Download PDF ( 1479 )   Knowledge map   Save
    Abstract: Cerebral ischemia and hypoxia can cause the change of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression. To investigate the expression and localization of lncRNA BDNF-AS and its interacting proteins under the con-dition of oxygen and glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R), SH-SY5Y cells were treated with hypoxia for 8 h and reoxygenation (R) for 24 h to establish a OGD/R cell model. The cell viability was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The expression level of lncRNA-BDNF-AS was detected by qRT-PCR in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. The interacting proteins of lncRNA BDNF-AS were analyzed by using pull-down method and mass spectrometry. Functional analysis of interacting proteins was performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. The protein-protein interac-tion network was analyzed using STRING database. Under OGD/R condition, the expression of lncRNA BDNF-AS was significantly increased, and was significantly higher in the cytoplasm than in the nucleus. In the OGD/R group, there were 120 kinds of specific proteins expressed in SH-SY5Y cells. Bioinformatic analysis showed that lncRNA BDNF-AS might interact with proteins including UBA52, NKAP, TBK1, RAB1A and RPL38. The-refore, lncRNA BDNF-AS may affect neuronal function by binding autophagy- and apoptosis-associated proteins.
  • WANG Zehua, ZHANG Liyun, ZHANG Haolan, HU Chengbo, MA Chunyan
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 9-15.
    Abstract ( 515 ) Download PDF ( 1637 )   Knowledge map   Save
    Exosomes are nano-sized lipid bilayer vesicles that are fused by the cell membrane and multi-vesicles and released into the extracellular space by exocytosis. Exosomes play an important role in intercel-lular communication. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous non-coding RNAs consisting of 18~24 nucleotides. miRNAs play an important role in the regulation of post-transcriptional gene expression. Pul-monary fibrosis is an irreversible and progressive chronic lung disease. Many studies have shown that abnor-mal expression of exosomal miRNAs is closely related to the development of pulmonary fibrosis. This review focuses on the biological characteristics of exosomes and miRNAs, and discusses the important roles of exo-somal miRNAs in pulmonary fibrosis and their potential as a novel biomarker in this disease.
  • GAO Xiangming, ZHOU Mingwang, WANG Xiaoping, XIAO Zhen, ZHENG Haotian, HUANG Kesong, FU Zhibin
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 16-22.
    Abstract ( 439 ) Download PDF ( 1491 )   Knowledge map   Save
    Steroid-induced necrosis of the femoral head (SANFH) is a common disease of the hip joints, and its early diagnosis and treatment are difficult. Finding molecular biomarkers of SANFH is of great signifi-cance for its early diagnosis. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a kind of closed circular non-coding RNAs (nc-RNAs), which are involved in the occurrence and development of many diseases by adsorbing microRNAs (miRNAs) like sponges, binding RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), directly translating proteins, regulating gene expression and so on. They are important regulatory factors in the body. In recent years, many studies have explored the pathogenesis of SANFH based on circRNAs. This article reviews the biological characteristics, functions, and regulatory roles of circRNAs in vascular microcirculation, lipid metabolism, and bone meta-bolism related to pathogenesis of SANFH, and discusses the potential roles of circRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosing early-stage SANFH.
  • ZHAO Gang, WU Simeng, ZHANG Yue, HUANG Shuqi, CAI Hong, WEN Jing
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 23-30.
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    Recent studies have found that early nodulin-like (ENODL) genes play a vital role in the formation and development of underground storage organs in plants. Our previous study found that some ENODL genes were expressed abundantly during the root formation and tuber expansion stages of Tetrastigma hemsleya-num. In this study, two ENODL genes ThENODL1 and ThENODL2 from T. hemsleyanum were cloned. Preliminary bioinformatics analysis showed that the open reading frame (ORF) for ThENODL1 is 528 bp, enco-ding 175 amino acids, and the ORF for ThENODL2 is 651 bp, encoding 217 amino acids. Both ThENODL1 and ThENODL2 have the conserved domain of rice ENODL gene (OsENODL1_like), and possess the basic molecular structure characteristics of ENODL gene. Relative fluorescence quantitation PCR revealed that the expression level of ThENODL1 was significantly higher in tuberous roots than in other organs, and signifi-cantly increased in the initial development stage and expansion stage of root tuber, while the expression level of ThENODL2 was the lowest in tuberous roots and there was no significant difference in expression profiles at different development stages of root tuber. Furthermore, the proteins encoded by cloned cDNAs of both ThENODL1 and ThENODL2 were expressed with the expected size using E. coli prokaryotic expression sys-tem. This study lays a basic molecular biology foundation for further ascertaining the functions of ThENODL genes in tuber development.
  • WANG Dantong, CHEN Cheng
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 31-41.
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    NKX proteins are the most important type of NKL homeobox transcription factor subclass and have been found to be widely involved in regulating cell fate and body pattern formation during embryonic development, especially embryonic development of nervous system, and involved in the occurrence of thyroid cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and other tumors. In view of the important roles of NKX proteins in embryonic development and tumorigenesis, the research progress of the structural properties, physiological mechanisms, and disease correlation of 17 proteins in the 7 NKX homeobox protein families were systemati-cally summarized, which would provide helpful information on gene targeted therapy of related diseases. In addition, the lack of genomics research and animal model construction of diseases related to some NKX genes were also discussed, which should be directions for future research.
  • LI Shaozhuang, MO Yifan, HAO Xiaohua, ZHAO Dan, HU Shuang, LEI Han
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 42-48.
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    Manganese (Mn) is an essential mineral nutrient element for plant growth and development. Seve-ral members of natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (OsNramp) family in rice have shown Mn2+ transport activity, among which OsNramp4 has been identified as an aluminum transporter, but it is still un-known whether OsNramp4 has Mn2+ transport activity. This paper utilized Mn2+ absorption mutant strain Δsmf1 to perform OsNramp4 functional complementation analysis, analyzed response of OsNramp4 to Mn2+, and studied the effects of environmental Mn2+ stress on the growth and Mn2+ uptake and transport of nramp4 knockout mutant. The results showed that OsNramp4 can complement Mn2+ uptake defect phenotype in Δsmf1 yeasts. The expression of OsNramp4 in root of rice was induced by Mn2+. The growth of nramp4 under high Mn2+ stress was significantly better than that of the wild-type control. Meanwhile, both the content of Mn2+ in the shoot of nramp4 mutant and the root-to-shoot translocation ration of Mn2+ were significantly lower than those of the wild type. These data suggested that OsNramp4 might function as a low-affinity Mn2+ transporter with activity of Mn2+ uptake under high Mn2+ stress and capacity of Mn2+ transport from root to aboveground tissue. These results are of great significance for further exploring the molecular mechanisms of Mn2+ uptake, transport and distribution in plants.
  • XIA Qingde, ZHAO Qiang, GUO Fengxia
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 49-55.
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    To investigate protective effects and mechanism of grape seed proanthocyanidin (GSP) on H9c2 car-diomyocyte, CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate cell viability, Western-blot was used to evaluate the effects of GSP on apoptosis-related proteins (cleaved caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2) and PI3K/Akt pathway-related pro-teins (p-PI3K, PI3K, p-Akt and Akt), and TUNEL and Hoechst 33258 stainings were used to evaluate the apoptosis of H9c2 cardiomyocytes. The results showed that GSP can prevent the cytotoxicity and apoptosis of H9c2 cardiomyocytes induced by H2O2. GSP decreased the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins cleaved cas-pase-3 and Bax, and increased the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. When GSP acted on H9c2 cells, the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt increased, leading to activation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The experiments preliminarily demonstrated that GSP can inhibit H9c2 cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by oxidative stress, and its mechanism of action may be related to PI3K/Akt signaling pathway ac-tivation.
  • TAN Xiansheng, DUAN Renyan, ZOU Le, ZHANG Han, HU Wei
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 56-62.
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    Ilex kaushue, a tree species with an extremely small population, is uniquely distributed in southern China and is vulnerable to climate change. In order to strengthen the protection of I. kaushue, it is necessary to study its habitat suitability range in the background of climate warming. Based on the current bioclimatic data and future climate prediction, 10 species distribution models were used to predict the potential distri-bution of I. kaushue. Among them, 3 species distribution models (GBM, MaxEnt and RF) with good prediction performance were selected out to evaluate the impact of climate warming on the habitat suitability of I. kaushue. In the current climate, the distribution range of I. kaushue was predicted to be relatively concen-trated. The lowest temperature in the coldest month (bio6), the seasonal variation of precipitation (bio15) and the precipitation in the driest month (bio14) contributed the most to the models, indicating that I. kaushue should be more sensitive to the temperature and precipitation. Under the future climate conditions, the habi-tat suitable area of I. kaushue would move northward and its habitat suitability range would decrease. The suitable growth range of I. kaushue may be reduced from 92.70% in RCP2.6 scenario to 51.52% in RCP8.5 scenario in 2070, with increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. Especially in the low-latitude Hainan Province, the average suitable habitat under the 4 scenarios decreased by 93.67%. Therefore, the influence of climate change should be taken into account in protection strategies for plant species with extremely small populations like I. kaushue.
  • SHU Huijuan, LIANG Xiaoli, KUANG Renping
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 63-69.
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    A preliminary investigation of the species, distribution and floristic characteristics of Impatiens in Guizhou Province has been carried out for more than ten years through field investigation, relevant literature review and specimen research. The results obtained are as follows: 1) There are 69 species (including one variety) of Impatiens L. in Guizhou. They are obviously distributed in narrow range with endemism, and grow more in the south of Guizhou than the north; 2) In terms of geographical composition, most of the Impatiens plants in Guizhou Province are region-specific and belong to tropical Asia and temperate Asia distribution types. Among them, 62 species are endemic to China (89.86%), 10 endemic to Southwest China (14.49%) and 10 endemic to Guizhou (14.49%); 3) Due to their primitive and evolutionary taxa and the characteristics of transition from tropical to temperate zones, the Impatiens plants in Guizhou are probably parts of the evolu-tionary center of Balsaminaceae in China. This investigation is beneficial to understanding the species, geo-graphical distribution pattern and floristic components and characteristics of Impatiens in Guizhou. It also provides reference for studying plant diversity in this province.
  • CHENG Zhuo, LU Xiaoping, HU Xian, FAN Yanxiao, LUO Binsheng, MAO Wenhui, LONG Chunlin
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 70-79.
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    Folk taxonomy is a dialect naming system based on local culture. It refers to the method and pro-cess of categorizing organisms that exist in the folk in addition to scientific taxonomy. Many studies have proven that folk taxonomy is very similar to scientific taxonomy, and it plays an indispensable role in the in-vestigation and documentation of biodiversity, conservation of biocultural diversity, and sustainable use of bioresources. With the increasing cultural homogeneity and biodiversity loss, much precious traditional know-ledge associated with folk taxonomy has been lost before it is recorded and revealed. Thus, it is urgent to save traditional folk taxonomic knowledge. Herein, the concept, main research contents and progress of folk taxonomy were reviewed, and the existing problems in folk taxonomy were prospected, hoping to provide help in fully understanding folk taxonomy and in doing related research.
  • WANG Jiuli, ZHANG Xin, WANG Xuqian, WANG Lirong
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 80-85.
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    Sinoswertia tetraptera (Maximowicz) T. N. Ho, S. W. Liu & J. Q. Liu is an annual herb endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Here, microsatellite (simple sequence repeat, SSR) markers for S. tetraptera were developed in order to better utilize and protect this essential medicinal plant resource. Primers for 14 polymorphic and 2 monomorphic microsatellite loci were obtained based on restriction site-associated DNA se-quencing (RAD-seq). The 14 polymorphic loci were further investigated in 57 individuals from three natural populations of S. tetraptera. The number of alleles observed for these 14 loci ranged from 4 to 7 (mean: 5.071). The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.003 to 0.312 (mean: 0.194), while the observed heterozy-gosity ranged from 0 to 0.281 (mean: 0.047). Three primers showed transferability to Halenia elliptica, a mem-ber of the subtribe Swertiinae (Gentianaceae). These polymorphic markers will be useful in future research on the population structure and genetic diversity of S. tetraptera.
  • LONG Yutong, WAN Li, ZHAO Guojie
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(1): 86-94.
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    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNA molecules that are involved in numerous cellular processes and play a key role in the growth and development of living organisms. Given the importance and structural specificity of miRNAs, they have profound implications for the prediction and assessment of di-seases. In the rapid development of miRNA detection methods, catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) is a novel thermostatic nucleic acid amplification technology, with high sensitivity, high specificity, simple and conve-nient operation, and no enzyme catalysis in the reaction process. Therefore, it has great potential in miRNA detection. Herein, the principle of CHA technology, and the CHA-based miRNA detection strategy in target identification, signal amplification and signal output were introduced, and the current challenges and pros-pects of this technology were also discussed, aiming to provide some ideas and reference for related research.