Adaptive polymorphism of tetrameric alpha-amylase inhibitors in wild emmer wheat

Ji-Rui Wang,Mei Deng,Ya-Xi Liu,Xin Qiao,Zhen-Hong Chen,Qian-Tao Jiang,Zhi-En Pu,Yu-Ming Wei,Eviatar Nevo,You-Liang Zheng 한국유전학회 2011 Genes & Genomics Vol.33 No.4

α-Amylase inhibitors are attractive candidates for the control of seed weevils as these insects are highly dependent on starch as an energy source. Wheat tetrameric α-amylase inhibitor (WTAI) is a mixture (60 kDa) of 3 units: WTAI-CM2 plus 2 WTAI-CM3 plus WTAI-CM16, where none of the subunits is active on its own. A total of 334 gene sequences were obtained from 14 populations (131 accessions= genotypes) of wild emmer wheat. The frequencies of SNPs in WTAI-CM2,WTAI-CM3 and WTAI-CM16 were 1 out of 87.6, 101.4, and 108.0 bases, where 5, 5 and 4 SNPs were detected in the coding sequence, respectively. The nucleotide sequence of each unit of tetrameric α-amylase inhibitors were much more conserved than that of dimeric or monomeric inhibitors. The wild emmer wheat populations showed diversity on three WTAI loci,both between and within populations. It was revealed that WTAI were naturally selected for across populations by a ratio of dN/dS as expected. The results of purifying and positive selection hypothesis (p<0.05) also showed that the sequences of WTAI were contributed by natural selection, which ensures the protein function conservation as well as the inhibition diversity with insects amylase enzyme. Ecological factors, singly or in combination, explained a significant proportion of the variations in the SNPs. Ecological factors have an important evolutionary role in gene differentiation at these loci, and tetrameric α-amylase inhibitors are obviously adaptively selected under different environments.

Studies on the Distribution Characteristic and Assessment of the Soil Nutrition in the Yellow River Delta New-born Wetlands

( Wei Feng Chen ),( Yan Xi Shi ),( Yong Ji Piao ) 한국녹지환경디자인학회 2005 녹지환경학회지 Vol.1 No.1

This paper investigates preliminarily spatial distribution soil organic matter(SOM), nitrogen(N) and phosphorus(P) and its environmental influence in wetland soil of different vegetation landscape in the Yellow River Mouth. The result shows the SOM and TN, efficient N, efficient P in top layer soils of different vegetation district have significantly different content, The SOM is shown as Calamagrostis epigeios wetlands>Phragmites communis wetlands>Tamarix chinensis wetlands above tidal>Suaeda salsa wetlands in high tidal>Tamarix chinensis wetlands in high tidal>tidal flats, the arrange of the TN and efficient N content is the same except that the content in Suaeda salsa wetlands in high tidal is heavier than Tamarix chinensis wetlands in high tidal. But the difference obvious regularity of soil nutrient of ground floor. In different vegetation landscape wetland types the vertical change of soil nutrients are obvious except for P, gradually decrease from the upper to the lower. This case reflects the function of the vegetation on the wetland development of soil, and proves the wetland soil has the Characteristic of new-born and bad degree of development. SOM, total nitrogen (TN), efficient N and efficient P content in wetland soils have significantly positive correlation, but TP have no correlation with them but efficient P. The contents of TN in wetland soils range from 58~1,480mg/kg, total average content 408mg/kg, average content of above 30cm is 625mg/kg, The range of TP content in the soil is 372~1,042mg/kg, total average is 569mg/kg, average content of above 20cm is 611 mg/kg. According the P It occurs mainly ascalcium phosphates, and the validity is lower, therefore, N and P in the new-born wetlands cannot produce serious impact on the environments at present.

Coumarins and Lignans from Zanthoxylum schinifolium and Their Anticancer Activities

Li, Wei,Sun, Ya Nan,Yan, Xi Tao,Yang, Seo Young,Kim, Eun-Ji,Kang, Hee Kyoung,Kim, Young Ho American Chemical Society 2013 Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol.61 No.45

<P>Zanthoxylum schinifolium is an aromatic shrub, and its pericarp and leaves are widely used in culinary applications in East Asian countries. It has also long been used in traditional Oriental medicine for treating the common cold, stomach ache, diarrhea, and jaundice. In this study, we identified two new compounds, zanthoxyloside (<B>1</B>) and schinifolisatin A (<B>13</B>), along with 23 known coumarins (<B>2</B>–<B>12</B>) and lignans (<B>14</B>–<B>25</B>), from a methanol extract of the stems of Z. schinifolium. The chemical structures of the compounds were determined by mass, 1D-, and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The anticancer effects of the isolated compounds were examined in three human cancer cell lines. Compounds <B>10</B>–<B>12</B> significantly reduced the proliferation of HL-60 human acute promyelocytic leukemia cells with IC<SUB>50</SUB> values of 4.62–5.12 μM. Treatment of PC-3 prostate cancer cells and SNU-C5 colorectal cancer cells with compound <B>10</B> resulted in potent antiproliferative activity, with IC<SUB>50</SUB> values of 4.39 and 6.26 μM, respectively. Also, compounds <B>10</B>–<B>12</B> induced the apoptosis of three cancer cells. Furthermore, the induction of apoptosis was accompanied by down-regulation of p-ERK1/2 MAPK, p-AKT, and c-myc levels, in a time-dependent manner. These data suggested that compounds <B>10</B>–<B>12</B> from Z. schinifolium have potential in cancer treatment.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/jafcau/2013/jafcau.2013.61.issue-45/jf403479c/production/images/medium/jf-2013-03479c_0007.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/jf403479c'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

method for vibration isolation of a vertical axis automatic washing machine with a hydraulic balancer

Hai-Wei Chen,Wei-Xi Ji,Qiu-Ju Zhang,Yi Cao,Sheng-Yao Fan 대한기계학회 2012 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.26 No.2

This paper discusses a method for vibration isolation of a vertical axis automatic washing machine with a hydraulic balancer. First, a way to isolate vibration through a small amplitude of the suspension rod’s axial force is proposed, and a base circle of a cone along which the lower joint of a suspension rod moves is discussed. Based on the circle, a geometric constraint involving the slant angle of the suspension rod, the deflection angle of the washing/spinning assembly, the suspension radius of the tub and the eccentricity of the system at the steady state is derived. Considering that the trace along which the suspension rod moves is also affected by the dynamics of the system, a governing equation satisfying the equilibrium conditions of the centrifugal forces and torques is obtained. Combing the geometric constraint and governing equation together achieves a general governing equation for vibration isolation of the system. Finally, the general governing equation is proven by simulations, and the relations between the optimal installing height and several parameters are discussed.

LncRNA SNHG6 promotes glycolysis reprogramming in hepatocellular carcinoma by stabilizing the BOP1 protein

Kai Chen,Xi Wang,Bowen Wei,Rongcun Sun,Chunlin Wu,Hong-ji Yang 한국통합생물학회 2022 Animal cells and systems Vol.26 No.6

Metabolic reprogramming is an important feature in tumor progression. Long noncoding RNA’s (lncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6) acts as a proto-oncogene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but its role in glycolysis is mostly unknown. The role of SNHG6 and Block of proliferation 1 (BOP1) on glycolysis is assessed by glucose uptake, lactate production, oxygen consumptive rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) and glycolytic enzyme levels. The regulatory effect of SNHG6 on BOP1 protein was confirmed by Western blotting, MS2 pulldown, RNA pull-down, and RIP assay. SNHG6 and BOP1 levels were increased in HCC tissues and cells. SNHG6 and BOP1 were prognostic factors in HCC patients and significantly correlated to TP53 mutant and tumor grade. SNHG6 promoted proliferation, inhibited apoptosis, enhanced glucose uptake and lactate production, decreased OCR, and increased ECAR in HCC cell lines. SNHG6 could bind the BOP1 protein and enhance its stability. BOP1 overexpression rescued the change of proliferation, apoptosis, and glycolysis in HCCLM3 and SMMC-7721 cells. Our data indicate that SNHG6 accelerates proliferation and glycolysis and inhibits the apoptosis of HCC cell lines by binding the BOP1 protein and enhancing its stability. Both SNHG6 and BOP1 are promising prognostic and therapeutic markers in HCC.

Simultaneous identification of bearing dynamic coefficients in a water-gas lubricated hydrostatic spindle with a big thrust disc

Feng Cheng,Wei-Xi Ji 대한기계학회 2016 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.30 No.9

A water-gas lubricated hydrostatic spindle system with big thrust disc, supported by a water-lubricated journal bearing and a gaslubricated thrust bearing, is developed to improve spindle stiffness and to reduce friction power of spindle. A new identification algorithm is derivated to identify simultaneously the eighteen dynamic coefficients of the coupled journal and thrust bearings. A comparison with the available experimental results reveals that the bearing coefficients is well estimated by the present theoretical model. The results also indicate that, the estimated bearing parameters by regularization solution are in good agreement with the assumed values; while it has opposite effect by directed solution for discrete ill-posed problems. It is concluded that, the identification accuracy of bearing parameters is govern by the measured errors; contrast to unbalance mass error and unbalance phase error, the displacement error leads the maximal percentage deviations of estimated coefficients.

Variable step adaptive kurtogram method based on empirical wavelet transform for rolling bearing fault diagnosis

Keqin Zhao,Feng Cheng,Wei-Xi Ji 대한기계학회 2022 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.36 No.6

Envelope analysis is one of the most effective methods in rolling element bearing diagnostics, but finding an optomal frequency band (OFB) has been a challenge for a long time. In this study, a variable-step adaptive kurtogram (VSAK) method based on empirical wavelet transform (EWT) was proposed to select the OFB and apply it in fault detection of rolling element bearings. The VSAK method mainly contains signal reconstruction based on EWT and detection of the appropriate demodulation frequency band based on RK. A new weighted kurtosis-RK was applied in this VSAK method to reduce the influence of high gaussian noise. According to simulation and experimental studies, the results showed that, VSAK was superior over those traditional methods, such as FK and autogram, for the diagnosis of rolling element bearing. It was also concluded that, the sum of amplitude corresponding to the first five fault harmonic frequencies based on VSAK was larger than the sum of amplitude based on FK as well as autogram method.

Association of Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen-4 Polymorphisms with Malignant Bone Tumors Risk: A Meta-analysis

Zhang, Chao,Hou, Wei-Hua,Ding, Xuan-Xi,Wang, Xiong,Zhao, Hui,Han, Xing-Wen,Wang, Wen-Ji Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.8

Background: Previous studies have assessed the association between the Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen-4(CTLA-4) polymorphism with the risk of malignant bone tumor, but the conclusions were inconsistent. We aimed to clarify association of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 polymorphisms with malignant bone tumors risk by performing a meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: The databases including PubMed, EMBase databases and the Cochrane Library were searched to identify the eligible studies prior to January 30 2016. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to estimate the strengths of the association between the CTLA-4 polymorphism and the malignant bone tumor risks. The meta-analysis was performed by STATA 12.0. Results: Four individual studies with a total of 1003 cases with malignant bone tumor and 1162 controls were included in our meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis on those data demonstrated that CTLA-4 +49G>A polymorphism was associated with the risk of Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma strongly (A vs. G: OR=1.36, 95%CI:1.20-1.54, p=0.000; AA+AG vs. GG: OR=1.35, 95%CI:1.14-1.61, p=0.001; AA vs. GG: OR=2.24, 95%CI:1.67-2.99, p=0.000; AA vs. AG+GG: OR=2.00, 95%CI:1.53-2.62, p=0.000), but CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism was not associated with the risk of malignant bone tumor (C vs. T: OR=0.76, 95%CI:0.76-1.08, p= 0.262; CC+CT vs. TT: OR=0.70, 95%CI:0.41-1.20, p= 0.198; CC vs. TT: OR=0.69, 95%CI:0.40-1.19, p= 0.183; CC vs. CT+TT: OR=0.92, 95%CI:0.75-1.13, p= 0.419). Subgroup analysis showed that there are significantly positive correlations between CTLA-4 +49G>A polymorphism and increased risks of malignant bone tumors in large size of sample (A vs. G: OR=1.347, 95%CI: 1.172,1.548, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.228, 95%CI: 1.608,3.085, p=0.000), Ewing's Sarcoma or Osteosarcoma (A vs. G: OR=1.361, 95%CI: 1.201,1.540, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.236, 95%CI: 1.674,2.986, p=0.000), and PCR-RFLP or Sequencing(A vs. G: OR=1.361, 95%CI: 1.201,1.540, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.236, 95%CI: 1.674,2.986, p=0.000), but CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism was not associated with the risk of malignant bone tumors in diagnosis, genotype method, and sample size (all p>0.05). Conclusions: CTLA-4 +49A/G variant was associated with an increased risk of developing the malignant bone tumors, such as Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma. However, it failed to show the association between CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism and the risk of malignant bone tumors. Future large-scale studies remain to be done to confirm our conclusions.

miR167c is Induced by High Alkaline Stress and Inhibits Two Auxin Response Factors in Glycine soja

Dekang Lv,Ying Ge,Bei Jia,Xi Bai,Peihua Bao,Hua Cai,Wei Ji,Yanming Zhu 한국식물학회 2012 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.55 No.5

Soil alkalinity is one of the major environmental factors limiting crop productivity worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (21-25 nucleotides) single-stranded non-coding RNAs that regulate developmental and stress responses in plants by cleaving target mRNAs. However,little is known about the role of miRNAs in the response to alkaline stress. In this study, we identified the miR167c as a high alkaline-responsive miRNAs in wild soybean based on genome microarray and RNA gel blot. The presence of a cisacting abscisic acid (ABA) responsive element (ABRE) in the upstream region and the ABA inducement of primiR167c suggested that miR167c might be regulated by ABA. We also showed that two auxin response factors (ARF),Gs14g03650 and Gs18g05330, were target genes of the alkaline-inducible miR167c and rapidly down-regulated following alkaline treatment. Our results reveal that miR167c regulated the expression pattern of ARFs, which could be vital for both development and stress adaptation.

Chemosensitizing effect and mechanism of imperatorin on the anti-tumor activity of doxorubicin in tumor cells and transplantation tumor model

Xin-li Liang,Miao-miao Ji,Zheng-gen Liao,Guo-wei Zhao,Xi-lan Tang,Wei Dong 대한약리학회 2022 The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology Vol.26 No.3

Multidrug resistance of tumors has been a severe obstacle to the success of cancer chemotherapy. The study wants to investigate the reversal effects of imperatorin (IMP) on doxorubicin (DOX) resistance in K562/DOX leukemia cells, A2780/Taxol cells and in NOD/SCID mice, to explore the possible molecular mechanisms. K562/ DOX and A2780/Taxol cells were treated with various concentrations of DOX and Taol with or without different concentrations of IMP, respectively. K562/DOX xenograft model was used to assess anti-tumor effect of IMP combined with DOX. MTT assay, Rhodamine 123 efflux assay, RT-PCR, and Western blot analysis were determined in vivo and in vitro. Results showed that IMP significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of DOX and Taxol toward corresponding resistance cells. In vivo results illustrated both the tumor volume and tumor weight were significantly decreased after 2-week treatment with IMP combined with DOX compared to the DOX alone group. Western blotting and RT-PCR analyses indicated that IMP downregulated the expression of P-gp in K562/DOX xenograft tumors in NOD/SCID mice. We also evaluated glycolysis and glutamine metabolism in K562/DOX cells by measuring glucose consumption and lactate production. The results revealed that IMP could significantly reduce the glucose consumption and lactate production of K562/DOX cells. Furthermore, IMP could also remarkably repress the glutamine consumption, α-KG and ATP production of K562/DOX cells. Thus, IMP may sensitize K562/DOX cells to DOX and enhance the antitumor effect of DOX in K562/DOX xenograft tumors in NOD/SCID mice. IMP may be an adjuvant therapy to mitigate the multidrug resistance in leukemia chemotherapy.