Comparative Phylogenetic Relationships and Genetic Structure of the Caterpillar Fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis and Its Host Insects Inferred from Multiple Gene Sequences

Qing-Mei Quan,Qing-Xia Wang,Xue-Li Zhou,Shan Li,Xiao-Ling Yang,Yun-Guo Zhu,Zhou Cheng 한국미생물학회 2014 The journal of microbiology Vol.52 No.2

Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Ascomycota: Ophiocordycipitaceae)is a native fungal parasite of Hepialidae caterpillars and oneof the most economically important medicinal caterpillarfungi in China. However, little is known about the phylogeneticand evolutionary relationships between O. sinensis andits host insects. In this study, nuclear ITS and β-tubulin sequencesfrom O. sinensis and mitochondrial COI, COII, andCytb sequences from its hosts were analyzed across 33 populationssampled from five regions in China. Phylogenetically,both O. sinensis and its hosts were divided into three geographicallycorrelated clades, and their phylogenies were congruent. Analysis of molecular variance and calculated coefficientsof genetic differentiation revealed significant geneticdivergence among the clades within both O. sinensis (FST=0.878, NST=0.842) and its hosts (FST=0.861, NST=0.816). Estimatedgene flow was very low for O. sinensis (Nm=0.04) andthe host insects (Nm=0.04) among these three clades. Manteltests demonstrated a significant correlation (P<0.01) betweenthe genetic distances for O. sinensis and its hosts, as well as asignificant association (P<0.05) between geographic and geneticdistances in both. The similar phylogenetic relationships,geographic distributions, and genetic structure and differentiationbetween O. sinensis and its hosts imply that they have coevolved.

Study of the Synthesis and Properties of Ir(III) Complexes Based on Phosphine Carbonylimide Derivative as Auxiliary Ligand

Qing-Mei Guo,Guoli Huang,Xin-Ying Yin,Jian-Jian Bian,Xiao-Mei Li,Ming-Yu Teng 대한화학회 2020 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.41 No.12

Three iridium complexes of (dfppy)2Ir(DAPB), (dfppy)2Ir(DAPB), and (dfppy)2Ir(DAPB) were synthesized by using phosphine carbonylimide derivative as auxiliary ligand and fluoro?/trifluoromethyl substituted 2-phenylpyridine derivatives as primary ligands. Their quantum efficiency range from 19.4% to 38.5%, and show strong rigidochromic effect. The maximum emission wavelengths of solid-state fluorescence have remarkable red shifts from 39 to 55?nm compared with these in CH2Cl2.

MAGED4 Expression in Glioma and Upregulation in Glioma Cell Lines with 5-Aza-2'-Deoxycytidine Treatment

Zhang, Qing-Mei,Shen, Ning,Xie, Sha,Bi, Shui-Qing,Luo, Bin,Lin, Yong-Da,Fu, Jun,Zhou, Su-Fang,Luo, Guo-Rong,Xie, Xiao-Xun,Xiao, Shao-Wen Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.8

Melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE) family genes have been considered as potentially promising targets for anticancer immunotherapy. MAGED4 was originally identified as a glioma-specific antigen. Current knowledge about MAGED4 expression in glioma is only based on mRNA analysis and MAGED4 protein expression has not been elucidated. In the present study, we investigated this point and found that MAGED4 mRNA and protein were absent or very lowly expressed in various normal tissues and glioma cell line SHG44, but overexpressed in glioma cell lines A172,U251,U87-MG as well as glioma tissues, with significant heterogeneity. Furthermore, MAGED4 protein expression was positively correlated with the glioma type and grade. We also found that the expression of MAGED4 inversely correlated with the overall methylation status of the MAGED4 promoter CpG island. Furthermore, when SHG44 and A172 with higher methylation were treated with the DNA demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-AZA-CdR) reactivation of MAGED4 mRNA was mediated by significant demethylation in SHG44 instead of A172. However, 5-AZA-CdR treatment had no effect on MAGED4 protein in both SHG44 and A172 cells. In conclusion, MAGED4 is frequently and highly expressed in glioma and is partly regulated by DNA methylation. The results suggest that MAGED4 might be a promising target for glioma immunotherapy combined with 5-AZA-CdR to enhance its expression and eliminate intratumor heterogeneity.

Factors that Influence the Presciption of Antipsychotics for Patients with Schizophrenia in China

Tian-Mei Si,Liang Shu,Ke-Qing Li,Xie-He Liu,Qi-Yi Mei,Gao-Hua Wang,Pei-Shen Bai,Li-Ping Ji,Xian-Sheng Chen,Cui Ma,Jian-Guo Shi,Hong-Yan Zhang,Hong Ma,Xin Yu 대한정신약물학회 2011 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.9 No.3

Objective: To investigate the patterns of antipsychotic use in China and to analyze the factors that influence antipsychotic prescriptions. Methods: A standardized survey was conducted from May 20 to 24 2002 in five different regions of China with varying economic levels. The patterns of antipsychotic medication use were analyzed in a sample of 4,779 patients with schizophrenia. The survey gathered information on demographic characteristics, clinical profiles, and antipsychotic medications prescribed. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze factors related to patterns of antipsychotic medication use. Results: A plurality of patients with schizophrenia was treated with clozapine (39%); this was followed by risperidone, sulpride,chlorpromazine, perphenazine, and haloperidol. More than 56.3% of patients were treated with only one atypical antipsychotic. The mean daily dose of chlorpromazine was 365±253 mg (mean±standard deviation), and 6.5% of patients were treated with depot injections of typical antipsychotic medications. A total of 73.7% (n=3,523) of patients with schizophrenia received monotherapy,24.8% (n=1,183) received two antipsychotics, 1.1% (n=52) received three antipsychotics, and one received four different antipsychotics. Patients often simultaneously received other classes of medications including anticholinergic agents, benzodiazepines,β-blockers, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. Economic status and clinical symptoms were the main factors that contributed to the patterns of antipsychotic prescription. Conclusion: The present study suggests that atypical antipsychotic medications, especially clozapine, are the primary psychiatric treatments of choice in the management of schizophrenia in China. Moreover, the economic status and clinical profile of the patient are the major factors affecting the prescription of antipsychotic medication.

Plasma Post-operative miR-21 Expression in the Prognosis of Gastric Cancers

Ma, Guo-Jian,Gu, Rong-Min,Zhu, Ming,Wen, Xu,Li, Jin-Tian,Zhang, Yuan-Ying,Zhang, Xiao-Mei,Chen, Sen-Qing Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.12

Tumor-associated microRNAs have been detected in serum or plasma, but whether plasma microRNA-21 (miR-21) could be a potential circulating biomarker for gastric cancer (GC) prognosis in Chinese is still uncertain. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was employed in this study to compare the relative expression of miR-21 between pre-operative and post-operative paired plasmas from 42 patients with primary GCs. The results showed that the expression levels of miR-21 in the post-operative plasmas were significantly reduced by an average of 18.2 times in all patients when compared to the pre-operative plasmas, and by 22.1 times in the subgroup of patients without family history, while only 1.76 times in the subgroup of patients with a family history. With respect of clinicopathological characteristics, the plasma miR-21 expression was highly associated with differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis rate. The results suggested plasma miR-21 could be a novel potential biomarker for GC prognosis and evaluation of surgery outcomes, especially in patients without a family history.

Molecular cloning and characterization of two alanine aminotransferase genes in the white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera

Jin-Mei Fan,Pin-JunWan,Qiang Fu,Na Li,Li-Li Mu,Guo-Qing Li 한국응용곤충학회 2014 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.17 No.3

Sogatella furcifera is a serious phloem-feeding pest of rice. Rice phloem sap cannot meet its nutrition requirementfor some essential amino acids. The yeast-like symbionts (YLSs) have been hypothesized to aid S. furcifera inamino acid metabolism to compensate for the unbalanced amino acid composition in the rice phloem. In thepresent paper, two full-length cDNAs of putative alanine aminotransferases (ALTs) were obtained fromS. furcifera. Sequence similarity and phylogenetic analysis suggested that one ALT came from the YLSs (SfylsALT)whereas the other ALT originated from S. furcifera (SfALT1). Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chainreaction revealed that SfylsALT clearly had a high transcript level in the abdomen. In contrast, SfALT1 was broadlyexpressed in the head, wings, legs, thorax and abdomen. Since YLSs were distributed in the abdominal fat body,ovary and eggs, and were not located in the head, leg, thorax and wing, the tissue expression patterns alsosuggested that SfylsALT came fromthe YLSs' genome and SfALT1 was from the host.Moreover, the enzyme activitiesof Sf9 cell-expressed SfALT1 and SfylsALT proteins were tested in vitro. The isolated suspensions containingeither of the two proteins showed higher ALT activities than that fromblank cells or egfp-expressed cells. It seemsthat SfALT1 and SfylsALT encode functional alanine aminotransferases.

An Aqueous Extract of Yunnan Baiyao Inhibits the Quorum-Sensing-Related Virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Zu-Guo Zhao,Shuang-Shuang Yan,Yun-Mei Yu,Na Mi,La-Xi Zhang,Jun Liu,Xiao-Ling Li,Fang Liu,Jun-Fa Xu,Wei-Qing Yang,Guo-Ming Li 한국미생물학회 2013 The journal of microbiology Vol.51 No.2

Yunnan Baiyao is a famous Chinese medicine that has long been directly applied to wounds to reduce bleeding, pain, and swelling without causing infection. However, little is known about its ability to prevent infection. The present study aimed to assess in vitro the anti-virulence activity of an aqueous extract of Yunnan Baiyao (YBX) using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a pathogenic model. We found that a sub-MIC (2.5 mg/ml) of YBX can efficiently interfere with the quorum-sensing (QS) signaling circuit. Real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that a sub-MIC of YBX downregulated the transcriptions of lasR, lasI, rhlR, and rhlI,which resulted in global attenuation of QS-regulated virulence activities, such as biofilm formation, and secretion of LasA protease, LasB elastase and pyocyanin. Further, YBX reduced the motility of P. aeruginosa related to QS, and impaired the formation of biofilms. These results suggest that YBX may possess global inhibitory activity against the virulence of P. aeruginosa and that YBX may also exhibit antimicrobial activity in vivo. The present study suggests that Yunnan Baiyao represents a potential source for isolating novel, safe, and efficacious antimicrobial agents.

Effect of Trichostatin A on Anti HepG2 Liver Carcinoma Cells: Inhibition of HDAC Activity and Activation of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling

Shi, Qing-Qiang,Zuo, Guo-Wei,Feng, Zi-Qiang,Zhao, Lv-Cui,Luo, Lian,You, Zhi-Mei,Li, Dang-Yang,Xia, Jing,Li, Jing,Chen, Di-Long Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.18

Purpose: To investigate the effect of deacetylase inhibitory trichostatin A (TSA) on anti HepG2 liver carcinoma cells and explore the underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: HepG2 cells exposed to different concentrations of TSA for 24, 48, or 72h were examined for cell growth inhibition using CCK8, changes in cell cycle distribution with flow cytometry, cell apoptosis with annexin V-FTIC/PI double staining, and cell morphology changes under an inverted microscope. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin, HDAC1, HDAC3, H3K9, CyclinD1 and Bax proteins was tested by Western blotting. Gene expression for ${\beta}$-catenin, HDAC1and HDAC3 was tested by q-PCR. ${\beta}$-catenin and H3K9 proteins were also tested by immunofluorescence. Activity of Renilla luciferase (pTCF/LEF-luc) was assessed using the Luciferase Reporter Assay system reagent. The activity of total HDACs was detected with a HDACs colorimetric kit. Results: Exposure to TSA caused significant dose-and time-dependent inhibition of HepG2 cell proliferation (p<0.05) and resulted in increased cell percentages in G0/G1 and G2/M phases and decrease in the S phase. The apoptotic index in the control group was $6.22{\pm}0.25%$, which increased to $7.17{\pm}0.20%$ and $18.1{\pm}0.42%$ in the treatment group. Exposure to 250 and 500nmol/L TSA also caused cell morphology changes with numerous floating cells. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin, H3K9and Bax proteins was significantly increased, expression levels of CyclinD1, HDAC1, HDAC3 were decreased. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin at the genetic level was significantly increased, with no significant difference in HDAC1and HDAC3 genes. In the cytoplasm, expression of ${\beta}$-catenin fluorescence protein was not obvious changed and in the nucleus, small amounts of green fluorescence were observed. H3K9 fluorescence protein were increased. Expression levels of the transcription factor TCF werealso increased in HepG2 cells following induction by TSA, whikle the activity of total HDACs was decreased. Conclusions: TSA inhibits HDAC activity, promotes histone acetylation, and activates Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling to inhibit proliferation of HepG2 cell, arrest cell cycling and induce apoptosis.

CD4⁺, IL17 and Foxp3 Expression in Different pTNM Stages of Operable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Effects on Disease Prognosis

Zhang, Guo-Qing,Han, Feng,Fang, Xin-Zhi,Ma, Xiao-Mei Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.8

Objective: To investigate the effects of $CD4^+$, IL17 and Foxp3 expression on prognosis of operable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with different pTNM stages. Methods: Expression of $CD4^+$, IL17 and Foxp3 in 102 cases of NSCLC tissues and adjacent cancer tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry and associations with prognosis with different pTNM stages were analyzed. The Chi-square test was used to compare count data. Survival differences were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier single factor analysis and the COX regression model was used to analyze the relationship between influential factors and the disease prognosis. The significance level was ${\alpha}$=0.05. Results: Expression of CD4, IL-17 and Foxp3 significantly varied in different pTNM stages of NSCLC tissues (P < 0.05). The same was true for CD4 expression (P < 0.05). The median survival time (MST) in the positive CD4 expression group was evidently higher than that in the negative group (25.8/23.9 months). Compared with stage III, the MST difference of stages I and II in the positive CD4 expression group were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The MST in positive IL-17 and Foxp3 expression groups was obviously lower than that in the corresponding negative group (P < 0.05) (25.6/35.1 months and 24/35.3 months, respectively). There was a significant difference of MST between any two of three stages of positive IL-17 expression group (P < 0.05), and it was the same with positive Foxp3 expression group. TNM stage, negative CD4 expression, and positive IL-17 and Foxp3 expression were the main risk factors for the prognosis of NSCLC. Conclusion: Surgical prognosis of NSCLC can be better assessed by the combination of clinical staging and expression of IL17 and Foxp3.

Use of Clozapine for the Treatment of Schizophrenia: Findings of the 2006 Research on the China Psychotropic Prescription Studies

Tian-Mei Si,Yun-shu Zhang,Liang Shu,Ke-Qing Li,Xie-He Liu,Qi-Yi Mei,Gao-Hua Wang,Pei-Shen Bai,Li-Ping Ji,Xian-Sheng Cheng,Cui Ma,Jian-Guo Shi,Hong-Yan Zhang,Hong Ma,Xin Yu 대한정신약물학회 2012 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.10 No.2

Objective: Clozapine is one of the most commonly used antipsychotic drugs in China. To date, few studies have investigated the patterns the prescription of clozapine nationwide. The present study examined these patterns in China in 2006 and identified the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with the use of clozapine. Methods: Using a standardized protocol and data collection procedure, we surveyed 5,898 patients with schizophrenia in 10provinces with differing levels of economic development. Results: Overall, clozapine had been prescribed for 31.9% (n=1,883) of the patients; however we found considerable variation among the 10 provinces. The frequency of clozapine use was highest in Sichuan (39.3%) and lowest in Beijing (17.3%). The mean daily dose of clozapine was 210.36±128.72 mg/day, and 25.1% of the patients were treated with clozapine in combination with other antipsychotics. Compared with the group not receiving clozapine, clozapine-user had been treated for longer durations and had experienced a greater number of relapses and hospitalizations. Furthermore, those in the clozapine-user had lower family incomes, were less able to seek psychiatric services, and more likely to be male and have a positive family history of schizophrenia. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age, sex, professional help-seeking behaviors, duration of illness, economic status, educational level, and clinical manifestations were associated with the use of clozapine. Conclusion: Clozapine use is common in China. However, use of the antipsychotic varies among provinces, and demographic and clinical factors play important roles in the prescription of clozapine.