Identification of candidate odorant‐degrading enzyme genes in the antennal transcriptome of Aphidius gifuensis

Kang Zhi‐Wei,Liu Fang‐Hua,Xu Yong‐Yu,Cheng Jia‐Hui,Lin Xiao‐Li,Jing Xiang‐Feng,Tian Hong‐Gang,Liu Tong‐Xian 한국곤충학회 2021 Entomological Research Vol.51 No.1

Odorant‐degrading enzymes (ODEs) have been found in insect antennae and play a critical role in signal chemical degradation once the message is conveyed. Significant progress has been made in characterizing ODEs in a variety of pests but very little is known in their natural enemies. We have carried out an antennae‐ and sex‐specific transcriptome of Aphidius gifuensis, a natural enemy of aphid, to identify the candidate ODEs. Based on the antennae‐ and sex‐specific transcriptome, a total of 100 putative ODEs were identified including one aldehyde oxidase (AOX), four alcohol dehydrogenases (ADs), eight UDP‐glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), 45 cytochrome P450 (P450s), nine glutathione S‐transferases (GSTs) and 40 carboxylesterases (CCEs or CXEs). Additionally, we used RT‐qPCR to determine the expression profiles of these genes in tissues of both sexes. Based on the phylogenic analysis and tissue‐expression patterns, AgifEstE4, AgifCXE3, AgifCCE4, AgifCCE7, and AgifCCE18 were suggested as key ODEs in A. gifuensis. In addition, the female or male specifically enriched genes, such as AgifCCE17, AgifEstB1, AgifCYP18a1, AgifUGT2C2, were also considered to involve in the chemosensory processing in A. gifuensis. This study not only identified the candidate ODEs in A. gifuensis but also provided source for further exploration of the molecular mechanisms of chemical signal transductions in A. gifuensis, as well as other hymenopteran species.

A chloroplast variation map generated using whole genome re-sequencing of Korean landrace rice reveals phylogenetic relationships among Oryza sativa subspecies

Wei Tong,Qiang He,Xiao-Qiang Wang,Min-Young Yoon,Won-Hee Ra,Feng Peng Li,Jie Yu,Win Htet Oo,Sun-Kyung Min,Buung Choi,Eun-Beom Heo,Byoung-Kook Yun,Kyu-Won Kim,Tae-Sung Kim,Chang-Yong Lee,Yong-Jin Park 한국육종학회 2015 한국육종학회 심포지엄 Vol.2015 No.07

Although the overall structure of the chloroplast genome is generally conserved, a number of sequence variations have been identified, which are valuable for plant population and evolutionary studies. Here, we constructed a chloroplast variation map of 30 landrace rice strains of Korean origin, using the Oryza rufipogon chloroplast genome (Genbank: NC_017835) as a reference. Differential distribution of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels across the rice chloroplast genome is suggestive of a region-specific variation. Population structure clustering revealed the existence of two clear subgroups (indica and japonica) and an admixture group (aus). Phylogenetic analysis of the 30 landrace rice strains and six rice chloroplast references suggested and supported independent evolution of O. sativa indica and japonica. Interestingly, two “aus” type accessions, which were thought to be indica type, shared a closer relationship with the japonica type. One hypothesis is that “Korean aus” was intentionally introduced and may have obtained japonica chloroplasts during cultivation. We also calculated the nucleotide diversity of 30 accessions and compared to six rice chloroplast references, which shown a higher diversity in the indica and aus groups than in the japonica group in lower level substitution diversity.

Association study of vitamin E content in rice using whole genome re-sequencing

Xiao-Qiang Wang,Qiang He,Wei Tong,Byung-Kook Yun,Young-Sang Lee,Tae-Sung Kim,Chang-Yong Lee,Yong-Jin Park 한국육종학회 2014 한국육종학회 심포지엄 Vol.2014 No.07

Rice is the major food for half of the world population. The nutrition component in rice is critical for improvement of people’s health. Vitamin E serves as important antioxidant by quenching the free radical intermediates and thus protects the cell membrane. Because of the high nutritional value and the benefits of vitamin E in human health, increasing the tocochromanol content of major agricultural crops has long been in the focus of breeding programs and genetic engineering approaches. The key genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis have been elucidated in Arabidopsis and other model organisms. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) study performed in Arabidopsis suggested that some of these key genes and a few additional loci contribute to natural tocopherol variations. Identifying such genetic variations in rice, enrich our understanding of the genetic mechanisms controlling tocopherol variation, which can be directly applied to rice breeding programs. In this study, we used genome-wide association mapping with high-resolution density SNPs of rice core set to identify natural allelic variations, which contribute to tocopherol increase in rice

Arabidopsis thaliana Metallothionein, AtMT2a, Mediates ROS Balance during Oxidative Stress

Wei Zhu,Dong-Xiao Zhao,Qing Miao,Tong-Tong Xue,Xin-Zheng Li,Cheng-Chao Zheng 한국식물학회 2009 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.52 No.6

Cold stress has been shown to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can elicit a potentially damaging oxidative burden on cellular metabolism. Here, the expression of a metallothionein gene (AtMT2a) was upregulated under low temperature and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) stresses. The Arabidopsis T-DNA insertion mutant, mt2a, exhibited more sensitivity to cold stress compared to WT plants during the seed germination, and H2O2 levels in mt2a mutant were higher than that in WT plants during the cold stress. Synthetic GFP fused to AtMT2a was observed to be localized in cytosol. These results indicated that AtMT2a functions in tolerance against cold stress by mediating the ROS balance in the cytosol. Interestingly, mRNA level of AtMT2a was increased in seedlings of Arabidopsis cat2 mutant after cold treatment compared to WT seedlings, and overexpression of AtMT2a in cat2 could improve CAT activity under chilling stress. Moreover, the enzymatic activity of CAT in mt2a was higher than that in WT plants after cold treatment, suggesting that AtMT2a and CAT might complement each other in antioxidative process potentially in Arabidopsis. Taken together, our results provided a novel insight into the relationship between MTs and antioxidative enzymes in the ROS-scavenging system in plants.

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate induced oxidative damage involving FasL-associated apoptotic pathway in mouse spermatogenic GC-2spd cells

Xiao Tang,Kun Tong,Lishan Zhu,Guoqing Fu,Wei Chang,Ting Zhou,Zhibing Zhang,Ling Tong,Ling Zhang,Yuqin Shi,Ling Zhang,Yuqin Shi 대한독성 유전단백체 학회 2016 Molecular & cellular toxicology Vol.12 No.4

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) which belongs to phthalatic-acid esters, is a kind of harmful, global environmental pollutants. It is a known endocrine disrupting chemical and male reproductive toxicant. However, the mechanism by which DEHP exposure result in male reproductive toxicity is still unclear. To elucidate the productive toxicity mechanism of DEHP, we attemptted to investigate oxidative stress, apoptotic effects, mRNA and protein expression of apoptosis-associated genes including FasL, caspase-3, and caspase-8 in GC-2spd (mouse spermatogenic cells). The results showed that, with the increase of DEHP concentration, cell apoptosis rate increased; the activities of relation index of oxidative stress such as malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutatione peroxidase (GSH-PX) changed significantly; the mRNA and protein expression levels of FasL, caspase-3, -8, altered obviously. These results suggested that DEHP could induce apoptosis of GC-2spd cells through oxidative stress and FasL-dependent pathway.

Clinical Features and Survival Analysis of Very Young (Age<35) Breast Cancer Patients

Wei, Xue-Qing,Li, Xing,Xin, Xiao-Jie,Tong, Zhong-Sheng,Zhang, Sheng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.10

Objectives: To compare the clinicalpathological features and prognosis between premenopausal breast cancer patients aged of <35 and ${\geq}35$ years old. Methods: The clinical data and survival status of 1498 cases premenopausal operable breast cancer treated in our hospital from 2002.1 to 2004. 12 were collected, 118 cases were aged <35. They were divided into 4 groups: Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-positive, Triple-negative. The disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were identified. Results: The 5-year DFS and OS rates were significantly lower in age<35 than in $age{\geq}35$ patients. In the Luminal B, HER2-positive, Triple-negative group, the 5-year recurrence risk was higher in age<35 than in $age{\geq}35$ patients, and age<35 patients' 5-year death risk was higher only in Luminal B, Triple-negative group. Regardless of whether lymph node involved, age<35 patients had a bad prognosis in both DFS and OS. Conclusions: Compared with premenopausal age ${\geq}35$ breast cancer, age<35 patients had a worse outcome.

A Whole-Tumor Histogram Analysis of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Maps for Differentiating Thymic Carcinoma from Lymphoma

Wei Zhang,Yue Zhou,Xiao-Quan Xu,Ling-Yan Kong,Hai Xu,Tong-Fu Yu,Hai-Bin Shi,Qing Feng 대한영상의학회 2018 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.19 No.2

Objective: To assess the performance of a whole-tumor histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps in differentiating thymic carcinoma from lymphoma, and compare it with that of a commonly used hot-spot region-of-interest (ROI)-based ADC measurement. Materials and Methods: Diffusion weighted imaging data of 15 patients with thymic carcinoma and 13 patients with lymphoma were retrospectively collected and processed with a mono-exponential model. ADC measurements were performed by using a histogram-based and hot-spot-ROI-based approach. In the histogram-based approach, the following parameters were generated: mean ADC (ADCmean), median ADC (ADCmedian), 10th and 90th percentile of ADC (ADC10 and ADC90), kurtosis, and skewness. The difference in ADCs between thymic carcinoma and lymphoma was compared using a t test. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were conducted to determine and compare the differentiating performance of ADCs. Results: Lymphoma demonstrated significantly lower ADCmean, ADCmedian, ADC10, ADC90, and hot-spot-ROI-based mean ADC than those found in thymic carcinoma (all p values < 0.05). There were no differences found in the kurtosis (p = 0.412) and skewness (p = 0.273). The ADC10 demonstrated optimal differentiating performance (cut-off value, 0.403 x 10-3 mm2/s; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.977; sensitivity, 92.3%; specificity, 93.3%), followed by the ADCmean, ADCmedian, ADC90, and hot-spot-ROI-based mean ADC. The AUC of ADC10 was significantly higher than that of the hot spot ROI based ADC (0.977 vs. 0.797, p = 0.036). Conclusion: Compared with the commonly used hot spot ROI based ADC measurement, a histogram analysis of ADC maps can improve the differentiating performance between thymic carcinoma and lymphoma.

Labdane-type Diterpenoids from the Fruits of Vitex rotundifolia

Xiao-Qiang Wang,Teng Zhang,Bin Zheng,Wei-Dong Xie,Tong Shen 대한화학회 2014 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.35 No.2

The Prognostic Impact of Heat Shock Proteins Expression in Patients with Esophageal Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Xiao-wei Wang,Xiu-feng Cao,Xin-hui Shi,Yu-suo Tong 연세대학교의과대학 2015 Yonsei medical journal Vol.56 No.6

Purpose: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are highly conserved molecular chaperones. There are various studies that assess the prognosticvalue of HSPs in patients with esophageal cancer, but the conclusion remains controversial. This is the first meta-analysisstudy aiming to summarize the evidence on the suitability of HSPs to predict patients’ survival. Materials and Methods: Searching PubMed, Web of science and Medline until May 31, 2014, data were compared for overall survivalin patients with down-regulated HSPs level with those with up-regulated level. We conducted a meta-analysis of 9 studies(801 patients) that correlated HSPs levels with overall survival. Data were synthesized with hazard ratios (HRs). Results: The estimated risk of death was 2.93-fold greater in HSP27 negative patients than HSP27 positive patients [95% confidenceinterval (CI), 1.12–7.62]. When limited to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), the risk of death in HSP27 negativepatients seemed more significant (HR, 3.90; 95% CI, 2.35–6.49). Decreased expression of HSP70 was also associated with worsesurvival in esophageal cancer (HR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.90–4.23) and, when limited to ESCC, HR was 3.21 (95% CI, 1.94–5.30). Data collected,however, were not sufficient to determine the prognostic value of HSP90 in patients with ESCC nor esophageal adenocarcinomas(EADC). Conclusion: In this meta-analysis, reduced HSP27 and HSP70 expressions were associated with poor survival in patients withesophageal cancer, especially esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Overcoming 5-Fu Resistance of Colon Cells through Inhibition of Glut1 by the Specific Inhibitor WZB117

Liu, Wei,Fang, Yong,Wang, Xiao-Tong,Liu, Ju,Dan, Xing,Sun, Lu-Lu Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.17

Background: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is the most commonly used drug in colon cancer therapy. However, despite impressive clinical responses initially, development of drug resistance to 5-Fu in human tumor cells is the primary cause of failure of chemotherapy. In this study, we established a 5-Fu-resistant human colon cancer cell line for comparative chemosensitivity studies. Materials and Methods: Real time PCR and Western blotting were used to determine gene expression levels. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Glucose uptake was assess using an Amplex Red Glucose/Glucose Oxidase assay kit. Results: We found that 5-Fu resistance was associated with the overexpression of Glut1 in colon cancer cells. 5-Fu treatment at low toxic concentration induced Glut1 expression. At the same time, upregulation of Glut1 was detected in 5-Fu resistant cells when compared with their parental cells. Importantly, inhibition of Glut1 by a specific inhibitor, WZB117, significantly increased the sensitivity of 5-Fu resistant cells to the drug. Conclusions: This study provides novel information for the future development of targeted therapies for the treatment of chemo-resistant colon cancer patients. In particular it demonstrated that Glut1 inhibitors such as WZB117 may be considered an additional treatment options for patients with 5-Fu resistant colon cancers.