Two-sex life table of Nasonia vitripennis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and the effects of Wolbachia on its reproduction and parasitism of Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Yang Wenwen,Chu Xu,Li Jie,Wang Ningxin 한국응용곤충학회 2021 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.24 No.1

Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is now emerging as genetic model organism for development and genetics research. As a parasitic insect, the egg, larval, pupal, and early adult developmental stages of N. vitripennis occur within the enclosed fly pupae, which differ a lot from the life cycle of other insects that undergo complete metamorphosis. Previous report on the life table of N. vitripennis was based on females only. In this study, the two-sex life table approach was used to examine the parasitic efficiency of N. vitripennis within the pupae of Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), and the influence of low temperature and the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia on wasp population growth were investigated. Wolbachia could improve the fecundity of N. vitripennis and prolong the host life history. We propose the preservation of M. domestica pupae at 4 ◦ C for 15 days is suitable in practical use. Age-stage, two-sex life table analysis revealed the stage structure and variability of N. vitripennis population growth, and also provide useful information about the effects of Wolbachia on its reproduction and parasitism of M. domestica.

A post-genome-wide association study validating the association of the glycophorin C gene with serum hemoglobin level in pig

Yang Liu,Zhengzheng Hu,Chen Yang,Shiwei Wang,Wenwen Wang,Qin Zhang 아세아·태평양축산학회 2017 Animal Bioscience Vol.30 No.5

Objective: This study aimed to validate the statistical evidence from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) as true-positive and to better understand the effects of the glycophorin C (GYPC) gene on serum hemoglobin traits. Methods: Our initial GWAS revealed the presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (ASGA0069038 and ALGA0084612) for the hemoglobin concentration trait (HGB) in the 2.48 Mb region of SSC15. From this target region, GYPC was selected as a promising gene that associated with serum HGB traits in pigs. SNPs within the GYPC gene were detected by sequencing. Thereafter, we performed association analysis of the variant with the serum hemoglobin level in three pig populations. Results: We identified one SNP (g.29625094 T>C) in exon 3 of the GYPC gene. Statistical analysis showed a significant association of the SNP with the serum hemoglobin level on day 20 (p<0.05). By quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, the GYPC gene was expressed in eight different tissues. Conclusion: These results might improve our understanding of GYPC function and provide evidence for its association with serum hemoglobin traits in the pig. These results also indicate that the GYPC gene might serve as a useful marker in pig breeding programs.

The potential of therapeutic strategies targeting mitochondrial biogenesis for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Wenwen Ding,Xiaoxue Yang,Kaiyi Lai,Yu Jiang,Ying Liu 대한약학회 2024 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.47 No.3

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a persistent metabolic disorder marked by defi ciencies in insulin secretion and/orfunction, aff ecting various tissues and organs and leading to numerous complications. Mitochondrial biogenesis, the processby which cells generate new mitochondria utilizing existing ones plays a crucial role in energy homeostasis, glucosemetabolism, and lipid handling. Recent evidence suggests that promoting mitochondrial biogenesis can alleviate insulinresistance in the liver, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle while improving pancreatic β -cell function. Moreover, enhancedmitochondrial biogenesis has been shown to ameliorate T2DM symptoms and may contribute to therapeutic eff ects for thetreatment of diabetic nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy. This review summarizes the intricate connectionbetween mitochondrial biogenesis and T2DM, highlighting the potential of novel therapeutic strategies targetingmitochondrial biogenesis for T2DM treatment and its associated complications. It also discusses several natural productsthat exhibit benefi cial eff ects on T2DM by promoting mitochondrial biogenesis.

Tissues Expression, Polymorphisms Identification of FcRn Gene and Its Relationship with Serum Classical Swine Fever Virus Antibody Level in Pigs

Liu, Yang,Wang, Chonglong,Liu, Zhengzhu,Xu, Jingen,Fu, Weixuan,Wang, Wenwen,Ding, Xiangdong,Liu, Jianfeng,Zhang, Qin Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2012 Animal Bioscience Vol.25 No.8

Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) gene encodes a receptor that binds the Fc region of monomeric immunoglobulin G (IgG) and is responsible for IgG transport and stabilization. In this report, the 8,900 bp porcine FcRn genomic DNA structure was identified and putative FcRn protein included 356 amino acids. Alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the porcine FcRn amino acid sequences with their homologies of other species showed high identity. Tissues expression of FcRn mRNA was detected by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR), the results revealed FcRn expressed widely in ten analyzed tissues. One single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (HQ026019:g.8526 C>T) in exon6 region of porcine FcRn gene was demonstrated by DNA sequencing analysis. A further analysis of SNP genotypes associated with serum Classical Swine Fever Virus antibody (anti-CSFV) concentration was performed in three pig populations including Large White, Landrace and Songliao Black pig (a Chinese indigenous breed). Our results of statistical analysis showed that the SNP had a highly significant association with the level of anti-CSFV antibody (At d 20; At d 35) in serum (p = 0.008; p = 0.0001). Investigation of expression and polymorphisms of the porcine FcRn gene will help us in further understanding the molecular basis of the antibody regulation pathway in the porcine immune response. All these results indicate that FcRn gene might be regarded as a molecular marker for genetic selection of anti-CSFV antibody level in pig disease resistance breeding programmes.

TAp73 and ΔNp73 Have Opposing Roles in 5-aza-2'-Deoxycytidine-Induced Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells

Lai, Jing,Yang, Fang,Zhang, Wenwen,Wang, Yanru,Xu, Jing,Song, Wei,Huang, Guichun,Gu, Jun,Guan, Xiaoxiang Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 2014 Molecules and cells Vol.37 No.8

The p73 gene contains an extrinsic P1 promoter and an intrinsic P2 promoter, controlling the transcription of the pro-apoptotic TAp73 isoform and the anti-apoptotic ${\Delta}Np73$ isoform, respectively. The DNA methylation status of both promoters act equally in the epigenetic transcriptional regulation of their relevant isoforms. The aim of this study was to analyze the different effects of these p73 isoforms in 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC)-induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. We investigated the effects of the DNA demethylation agent, 5-aza-dC, on the T-47D breast cancer cell line, and evaluated the methylation status of the p73 promoters and expression of TAp73 and ${\Delta}Np73$. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of p53 and p73 isoforms in 5-aza-dC-treated T-47D cells and p53 knockout cells. 5-aza-dC induced significant anti-tumor effects in T-47D cells, including inhibition of cell viability, G1 phase arrest and apoptosis. This was associated with p73 promoter demethylation and a concomitant increase in TAp73 mRNA and protein expression. In contrast, the methylation status of promoter P2 was not associated with ${\Delta}Np73$ mRNA or protein levels. Furthermore, demethylation of P2 failed to inhibit the expression of ${\Delta}Np73$ with 5-aza-dC in the p53 knockdown cell model. Our study suggests that demethylation of the P1 and P2 promoters has opposite effects on the expression of p73 isoforms, namely up-regulation of TAp73 and down-regulation of ${\Delta}Np73$. We also demonstrate that p53 likely contributes to 5-aza-dC-induced ${\Delta}Np73$ transcriptional inactivation in breast cancer cells.

Stability of phenolic acids and the effect on weed control activity

Jiayu Li,Qi Zhang,Wenwen Hu,Xiaoyan Yang,Haibin He 한국응용생명화학회 2015 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.58 No.6

Phenolic acid is a very important class of allelochemicals with allelopathic weed control activity. In this study, three benzoic acid derivatives (syringic, 4-hydroxybenzoic, and vanillic acids), three cinnamic acid derivatives (cinnamic, 4-hydroxycinnamic, and ferulic acids) were tested, and high-performance liquid chromatography was used to conduct a dynamic analysis on the changes in the concentration of phenolic acids in a bioassay based on the initial concentration and test time. The results showed that the concentration of individual phenolic acids and a solution of mixed phenolic acids decreased to a certain extent irrespective of environment, i.e., bioassay (4–7 days) or a ricegrowing environment, and a significant decrease in concentration was measured after 48 h. Based on the above results, the laboratory bioassay was conducted using a fresh solution of phenolic acids every 48 h. The results showed that the instability of phenolic acid could affect its weed control activity, and this effect was more significant for high concentrations of phenolic acids. On the other hand, changing the solution did not have a significant impact on the weed control activity of phenolic acids in the natural environment (pH 6.50), in which allelopathic rice release phenolic acids. These results reveal the instability of phenolic acids could significantly reduce the inhibition rate on the growth index for receptor plants in an indoor bioassay.

Tensile Behavior of High-Strength Stainless Steel Wire Rope (HSSSWR)-Reinforced ECC

Xinling Wang,Guanghua Yang,Wenwen Qian,Ke Li,Juntao Zhu 한국콘크리트학회 2021 International Journal of Concrete Structures and M Vol.15 No.6

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) show the distinguished characteristics of high post-cracking resistance and ductility. High-strength stainless steel wire rope (HSSSWR) has been successfully used for restoring or strengthening of existing structures. By combining the advantages of these two materials, a new composite system formed by embedding HSSSWR into ECC was proposed and expected to be a promising engineering material for repair or strengthening of structures. To investigate the tensile failure mechanism and mechanical properties of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC, an experimental study on 27 HSSSWR-reinforced ECC plates was conducted considering the effects of the reinforcement ratio of longitudinal HSSSWRs, formula of ECC and width of the plate. Test results revealed that HSSSWR-reinforced ECC exhibit superior post-cracking resistance, deformation capacity and crack-width control capacity. Increasing the reinforcement ratio of longitudinal HSSSWRs can effectively enhance the tensile strength, crack-width control capacity, deformation capacity and tensile toughness of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC. Adding thickener in ECC can significantly improve the crack-width control capacity and deformation capacity of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC due to enhancing uniform distribution of polyvinyl alcohol fibers, but would slightly reduce the cracking stress and maximum tensile stress by bringing small bubbles in the matrix. The tensile properties of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC plates are almost not affected by varying the plate width. Besides, a tensile constitutive model was developed for charactering the stress-strain relationship of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC in tension. Based on mechanical theories and failure characteristics of HSSSWR-reinforced ECC, the model parameters were determined, and calculation equations of cracking stress and tensile strength were proposed. The accuracy of the developed model and calculation equations was verified by test results.

TAp73 and ΔNp73 Have Opposing Roles in 5-aza-2'-Deoxycytidine-Induced Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells

Jing Lai,Fang Yang,Wenwen Zhang,Yanru Wang,Jing Xu,Wei Song,Guichun Huang,Jun Gu,Xiaoxiang Guan 한국분자세포생물학회 2014 Molecules and cells Vol.37 No.8

The p73 gene contains an extrinsic P1 promoter and an intrinsic P2 promoter, controlling the transcription of the pro-apoptotic TAp73 isoform and the anti-apoptotic ΔΝp73 isoform, respectively. The DNA methylation status of both promoters act equally in the epigenetic transcriptional regulation of their relevant isoforms. The aim of this study was to analyze the different effects of these p73 isoforms in 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC)-induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. We investigated the effects of the DNA demethylation agent, 5-aza-dC, on the T-47D breast cancer cell line, and evaluated the methylation status of the p73 promoters and expression of TAp73 and ΔNp73. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of p53 and p73 isoforms in 5-aza-dC-treated T-47D cells and p53 knockout cells. 5-aza-dC induced significant anti-tumor effects in T-47D cells, including inhibition of cell viability, G1 phase arrest and apoptosis. This was associated with p73 promoter demethylation and a concomitant increase in TAp73 mRNA and protein expression. In contrast, the methylation status of promoter P2 was not associated with ΔNp73 mRNA or protein levels. Furthermore, demethylation of P2 failed to inhibit the expression of ΔNp73 with 5-aza-dC in the p53 knockdown cell model. Our study suggests that demethylation of the P1 and P2 promoters has opposite effects on the expression of p73 isoforms, namely up-regulation of TAp73 and down-regulation of ΔΝp73. We also demonstrate that p53 likely contributes to 5-aza-dC-induced ΔNp73 transcriptional inactivation in breast cancer cells.

Association of the Porcine Cluster of Differentiation 4 Gene with T Lymphocyte Subpopulations and Its Expression in Immune Tissues

Xu, Jingen,Liu, Yang,Fu, Weixuan,Wang, Jiying,Wang, Wenwen,Wang, Haifei,Liu, Jianfeng,Ding, Xiangdong,Zhang, Qin Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2013 Animal Bioscience Vol.26 No.4

Cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) is mainly expressed on $CD4^+$ T cells, which plays an important role in immune response. The aim of this study was to detect the association between polymorphisms of the CD4 gene and T lymphocyte subpopulations in pigs, and to investigate the effects of genetic variation on the CD4 gene expression level in immune tissues. Five missense mutations in the CD4 gene were identified using DNA pooling sequencing assays, and two main haplotypes (CCTCC and AGCTG) in strong linkage disequilibrium (with frequencies of 50.26% and 46.34%, respectively) were detected in the population of Large White pigs. Our results indicated that the five SNPs and the two haplotypes were significantly associated with the proportions of $CD4^-CD8^-$, $CD4^+CD8^+$, $CD4^+CD8^-$, $CD4^+$ and $CD4^+/CD8^+$ in peripheral blood (p<0.05). Gene expression analysis showed the mRNA level of the CD4 gene in thymus was significantly higher than that in lymph node and spleen (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between animals with CCTCC/CCTCC genotype and animals with AGCTG/AGCTG genotype in the three immune tissues (p>0.05). These results indicate that the CD4 gene may influence T lymphocyte subpopulations and can be considered as a candidate gene affecting immunity in pigs.

PVDF membrane with tea powder adhered for efficient separation of emulsified oil

Zhang Junshuang,Wu Yue,Xia Mengsheng,Yang Qijiang,Xu Qinyao,Feng Wenwen 한국화학공학회 2023 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.40 No.10

Conventional oily wastewater treatment can remove slick oil and dispersed oil well, but it is difficult for it to remove emulsified oil. Nonetheless, the development of super wetting materials provides a key role in treating the emulsified oil, but there are some problems, such as expensive raw materials, complicated processes, as well as secondary pollution. In order to treat these problems, a brand-new oil/water separation membrane (TEA/PVDF membrane) was developed by combining the viscosity of sodium alginate (SA) and the filter tea powder (TEA) onto the surface of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane by a vacuum pump. Furthermore, the underwater oleophobic angle reached 135o. Moreover, the oil-water separation experiments of oil-in-water emulsion utilizing TEA/PVDF membrane demonstrated excellent separation efficiency (99.6%) and good flux (254 L m−2 h−1 bar−1). Notably, upon ten cycles, the oil removal rate was still as high as 99.2%. Moreover, the TEA/PVDF membrane was able to separate oil-in-water emulsions in environments with strong acids, strong bases, and high salt concentrations, with a separation efficiency of over 95.9%. Such a novel oil/water separation membrane is economic, environmentally protective, and simple production process, which exhibits overwhelming potential in practical life for treating oily wastewater.