31 October 2023, Volume 27 Issue 5
    

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  • MO Xiang, SHENG Lili, LUO Jia, XU Tiantian, XU Mengliang
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 377-384.
    Abstract ( 487 ) Download PDF ( 1706 )   Knowledge map   Save
    In order to identify novel cold-tolerance genes in rice, genome-wide gene expression profiling of Chaling common wild rice (CWR) and the cultivar indica rice Peiai 64S subjected to cold stress was perfor-med at the seedling stage using the GeneChip Rice Genome Array. A gene, designated OrCrGHl (Oryza rufi-pogon cold responsive glucan hydrolase-like), was screened from Chaling CWR as a cold-tolerance candi-date, which was highly responsive to cold stress in Chaling CWR but not in Peiai 64S. The expression pro-file of OrCrGHl obtained by the microarray analysis was confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR, suggesting that OrCrGHl is a cold-responsive gene in Chaling CWR. Its full open reading frame (ORF)-containing cD-NA clone was obtained by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Its sequence analysis showed that it encodes a glucan hydrolase-like protein of 558 amino acid residues, with a molecular weight of 59.252 kD and pI value of 5.81. The deduced amino acid sequence was completely identical with that of the glucan endo-1,3-beta-glucosidase GII isoform X2 of japonica rice Nipponbare, and was 99.28% identical with that of hypo-thetical protein OsI_26347 of indica rice 93-11. Analysis of the putative promoter region revealed several cis-acing regulatory elements that may be related to stress or stress hormone responses. The results indicated that OrCrGHl is a novel candidate gene associated with cold tolerance in wild rice. Further study is in progress to understand more about the gene.
  • CHEN Xu, XING Xiumei, LIU Xin
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 385-391.
    Abstract ( 479 ) Download PDF ( 1863 )   Knowledge map   Save
    The OCA2 gene is an important mammalian pigment gene that is involved in the melanin synthe-sis reaction, and is also a main regulator of human eye color. It encodes a 110 kD-sized transmembrane protein, which is located at the melanosome vesicle membrane. Studies have shown that OCA2 affects the melanin synthesis through regulating maturation and pH value of melanosomes, and participating in the first step of the melanin synthesis pathway. The rs12913832 enhancer of the adjacent gene HERC2 modulates the expression level of OCA2 to ultimately control human eye color. In addition, OCA2 is also the causative gene for oculocutaneous albinism typeⅡ(OCA2) and has indirect effects on diseases including Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), Angelman syndrome (AS) and melanoma, with which patients usually show hypopigmenta-tion of skin or hair. Herein, the research progress of the OCA2 gene from the perspectives of molecular bio-logy, cell biology and genetics is reviewed, so as to provide novel ideas for further exploring the molecular mechanisms of OCA2 and the diagnosis and treatment of the related diseases.
  • XIE Meiying, HOU Lianjie
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 392-398.
    Abstract ( 404 ) Download PDF ( 1673 )   Knowledge map   Save
    The spatiotemporal specific expression of genes plays an important regulatory role in organism development and disease occurrence. N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is the most common epigenetic modification in eukaryotic RNAs. The m6A modification ensures timely and accurate gene expression by changing RNA structure and the interaction between RNAs and RNA-binding proteins, and regulating RNA splicing, sub-cellular localization, translation and stability. Recent studies have shown that m6A not only plays an impor-tant role in the development of organisms, but also is involved in the occurrence of various diseases by changing cell functions. This review focused on the function and mechanism of m6A modification in mam-malian physiological development and disease occurrence, hoping to provide a theoretical basis for using m6A modification in clinical treatment.
  • LIN Aixin, GUO Xudong, KANG Jihe, WANG Zhaoheng, LIU Wenzhao, CHEN Haiwei, KANG Xuewen
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 399-407.
    Abstract ( 465 ) Download PDF ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Melatonin (MT) is a neurohormone released by the body. It has anti-infection, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, and regulates the body’s normal sleep cycle. As an effective free radical scavenger and immune enhancer, it plays an important role in maintaining the normal physiological functions by acting on all systems and tissues of the body. Pyroptosis is a type of programmed cell death, in which the inflam-masomes and GSDMD (gasdermin D) family are the most important components. When the inflammasomes and the GSDMD protein are activated, membrane pores in the cell surface are generated, and a large amount of cellular fluid and intracellular substances are released, leading to a series of inflammatory cascade reactions, followed by secondary cell damage. Pyroptosis is closely related to the occurrence of many diseases. Mela-tonin, as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory neurohormone, can cope with occurrence and development of myocardial damage, diabetes, central nervous system disease, obesity and degenerative disease by inhibiting pyroptosis. Herein, the effects of melatonin on pyroptosis in different diseases are reviewed.
  • FENG Jiangpeng, LI Shenghua
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 408-413.
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    Cognitive functions include learning, memory, attention, and reaction abilities. Learning and memory abilities are easily damaged under low oxygen conditions. Neurons are basic working units for trans-mission of various signals, and synapses are critical parts in signal transmission. If neuroplasticity is im-paired, the integrity and accuracy of neuronal information transmission will be affected, thereby affecting cognitive function. In various low oxygen environments, the production and accumulation of hypoxia-in-ducible factor 1 (HIF-1) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the abnormality of apoptosis-related fac-tors, tau proteins and amyloid β-protein (Aβ), can all cause damage to the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, affecting neural plasticity and leading to learning and memory impairments. Currently, the mechanism of low oxygen-induced learning and memory impairment is not yet clear. Herein, the research progress in the mechanism of hypoxia-induced learning and memory impairments and the impact of low oxygen on neural plasticity are reviewed, so as to reveal the possible influencing factors of hypoxia-induced learning and memory dysfunction and provide new ideas for related research.
  • LIU Shaoying, ZHANG Xiaoou, CAO Congcong, WANG Ruiyan
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 414-425.
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    The hair color comes from melanin. Hair pigmentation can be divided into 3 relatively indepen-dent stages: proliferation and differentiation of melanocytes, synthesis of melanin in melanocytes, and mela-nin transportation. The regulation mechanisms of these 3 stages are different. At present, the substances that promote the generation of hair melanin mainly include hormones, nutrients, antioxidants, and other drugs with various action mechanisms. This paper reviews the research progress of the mechanism of melanin syn-thesis and drugs for treating premature gray hair, analyzes some unclear and important problems involved in hair color formation, and the prospects of related drugs, in order to provide better understanding of mecha-nism of hair color formation and find more effective measures for preventing premature gray hair.
  • JIA Shouning, LI Xiang, BAO Haijuan, LI Shengxin, CHEN Wenjuan, ZHAO Guofu, WANG Shuangxi, XU Zhiwei, WANG Jiuli, LI Qien
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 426-434.
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    Veronica polita Fr. is an important Tibetan medicinal herb. Herein, the chloroplast genome of V. polita was sequenced based on high-throughput sequencing, and its basic characteristics were analyzed using bioinformatics methods. The phylogeny of V. polita was studied using the protein coding sequences of chlo-roplast genomes. The results were as follows: 1) The complete chloroplast genome of V. polita is 150 191 bp in length, with a GC content of 37.9%. The lengths of large single copy (LSC), small single copy (SSC) and inverted repeat (IR) regions are 81 847 bp, 17 414 bp and 25 456 bp, respectively; 2) The chloroplast genome contains 134 genes, including 88 protein coding genes (PCGs), 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and 38 trans-port RNA (tRNA) genes, including 2 pseudogenes; 3) A total of 26 529 codons were detected in the chloro-plast genome. Among them, 32 types of single codons have relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) values less than 1, 30 types have RSCU values greater than 1, and 2 types have RSCU values equal to 1; 4) The IR boundary regions of Veronica are highly conservative, without obvious contraction or expansion; 5) Most varia-tions in chloroplast genomes of Veronica plants exist in intergenic regions; 6) V. polita is most closely related to V. persica. This study laid the foundation for species identification and genetic diversity research of the genus Veronica.
  • CHEN Wenjie, XIAO Jun, XIONG Xinhai, WANG Zhaojun, WU Qi, HE Chaopeng, CHEN Cheng
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 435-446.
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    To screen immune infiltration related genes in osteoarthritis (OA), multiple microarray data were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and divided into a training set and a validation set to screen out the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Then all genes in the training set were analyzed using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) software for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. Subsequently, GO and KEGG analyses of DEGs were performed, and a pro-tein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the DEGs was constructed to screen hub genes. The validation set was used for differential validation of hub genes and determination of their diagnostic value. The content and proportion of 28 immune cells in the OA samples were obtained using the single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) algorithm, and the correlation between key gene expression and immune cell infiltration was calculated by Spearman’s correlation analysis. There were 27 DEGs found between the OA and normal car-tilage tissues. The GSEA results showed that gene expression changes in the OA samples were mainly in-volved in the processes such as humoral immune responses and histidine metabolic signaling pathways. GO and KEGG analyses of DEGs showed that the DEGs were associated with signaling pathways related to Staphylococcus aureus infection and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways. Four hub genes CAMP, S100A8, DEFA3, and COL5A2 were screened out from the DEGs, and their abnormal expressions in the OA tissues and high diagnostic value were confirmed. Further analysis of immune cell infiltration showed that obvious changes occurred in activated B cells and other immune cells in the OA cartilage tissues, and the four hub genes were significantly correlated with immune infiltration. The results indicated that activated B cells and other immune cells play an important role in the occurrence and development of OA, and CAMP, S100A8, DEFA3, and COL5A2 are hub genes associated with immune infiltration, which are closely related to the occurrence and development of OA.
  • GUO Zhiqiang, ZHANG Liyou, XU Lijuan, GONG Meina, HAN Xiao
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 447-454.
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    A cataract prediction model was established and evaluated by screening differential genes based on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Firstly, the microarray data related to cataract were scree-ned from GEO by bioinformatics method and analyzed by GEO2R and NetworkAnalyst software to obtain the most significant differentially expressed genes. Then, based on the cataract screening cohort of the Health Management Center of our hospital, a cataract risk prediction model was constructed and the nomogram was drawn by using Cox proportional hazards regression. The degrees of differentiation and calibration, predictive ability and benefit of the model were evaluated through C-index, calibration curve, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and decision curve analysis (DCA). In GSE5645, GSE193629 and GSE161701 da-tasets, protamine 1 (PRM1) is a high expression gene, and serotonin 2C receptor (HTR2C) a low expression gene. There were statistically significant differences (P<0.05) between the cataract and non-cataract groups in the age, body mass, systolic blood pressure, contrast sensitivity (CS), objective scatter index (OSI), modulation transfer function (MTF) cut off, Strehl ratio (SR), dynamic vision, PRM1, HTR2C and CX46. Five variables including age, OSI, MTF cut off, PRM1 and HTR2C were finally included in the prediction model (P<0.05). The final prediction model was log[h(t)/h0(t)]=2.689 2+0.012×age+1.320×OSI-0.041×MTF cut off+0.029×PRM1-6.549×HTR2C. The C-index of the model was 0.875, confidence interval (CI) was 0.862~0.886, and the predicted probability was close to the actual probability. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.904 (95% CI: 0.884~0.923), and the sensitivity and specificity were 82.4% and 92.3%, respectively. The average AUC by the ten-fold crossover method was 0.911. The DCA diagram showed that, when the high risk threshold of the model was 0.25~0.75, the net return rate would be greater than 0. The cataract clinical prediction model established in this study proved to have good differentiation, calibration, prediction ability, internal effective-ness and clinical benefit, and would possess high clinical application value.
  • LI Weiping, LIU Huimin, LIU Li
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 455-462.
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    Expression of an ideal botanical term and its concept should be clear and precise. Ambiguous statements in plant terminology would become barriers to botanical progress and teaching. The structures of flowers are very complex and diverse, and there are many doubtful terms and concepts about the structures in botany textbooks. Herein, many issues on flower structures are discussed, including the origin, diversity and Chinese name of the hypanthium, the concept hierarchy of the perianth, the evolution of flower structure lobes, the name confusion of some corolla types, the spatial position relationship between stamens and corolla, the difference between petaloid stamens and petaloid staminodes, the conceptive relationship between posi-tion of ovary and flower, and the origin and growth of gynophore. Among these problems, our description on gynophore mostly comes from speculation and needs to be verified by experiments.
  • WU Yanyang, ZHANG Chunyan, LIU Yang, SHEN Qingwu
    Life Science Research. 2023, 27(5): 463-470.
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    The goal of moving faster to build a powerful agricultural country is proposed in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. For agricultural colleges and universities, it is im-portant to make sure that the students are well qualified for modern food industry. Food biochemistry is one of the basic professional courses of food science and technology. However, there are problems in the teaching process, such as lack of close connection between courses, insufficient ability for students to transfer know-ledge, disconnection between teaching and engineering education, a low growth value for students and so on. To overcome these weaknesses in teaching and to carry out the engineering education professional certifica-tion, the course content and a new curriculum system were restructured. The teaching reform included inte-grated ideological and political education, innovated teaching models and methods, and diversified assess-ment and evaluation system. These measures proved to bring benefits to students in improving their innova-tion skills, establishing correct scientific emotions and sense of value. In conclusion, the attempts that made in teaching the course have raised the teaching quality, and may provide reference for other course reforms.