An in vitro Actinidia Bioassay to Evaluate the Resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae

Wang, Faming,Li, Jiewei,Ye, Kaiyu,Liu, Pingping,Gong, Hongjuan,Jiang, Qiaosheng,Qi, Beibei,Mo, Quanhui The Korean Society of Plant Pathology 2019 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.35 No.4

Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is by far the most important pathogen of kiwifruit. Sustainable expansion of the kiwifruit industry requires the use of Psa-tolerant or resistant genotypes for the breeding of tolerant cultivars. However, the resistance of most existing kiwifruit cultivars and wild genotypes is poorly understood, and suitable evaluation methods of Psa resistance in Actinidia have not been established. A unique in vitro method to evaluate Psa resistance has been developed with 18 selected Actinidia genotypes. The assay involved debarking and measuring the lesions of cane pieces inoculated with the bacterium in combination with the observation of symptoms such as callus formation, sprouting of buds, and the extent to which Psa invaded xylem. Relative Psa resistance or tolerance was divided into four categories. The division results were consistent with field observations. This is the first report of an in vitro assay capable of large-scale screening of Psa-resistance in Actinidia germplasm with high accuracy and reproducibility. The assay would considerably facilitate the breeding of Psa-resistant cultivars and provide a valuable reference and inspiration for the resistance evaluation of other plants to different pathogens.

An in vitro Actinidia Bioassay to Evaluate the Resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae

Faming Wang,Jiewei Li,Kaiyu Ye,Pingping Liu,Hongjuan Gong,Qiaosheng Jiang,Beibei Qi,Quanhui Mo 한국식물병리학회 2019 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.35 No.4

Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is by far the most important pathogen of kiwifruit. Sustainable expansion of the kiwifruit industry requires the use of Psa-tolerant or resistant genotypes for the breeding of tolerant cultivars. However, the resistance of most existing kiwifruit cultivars and wild genotypes is poorly understood, and suitable evaluation methods of Psa resistance in Actinidia have not been established. A unique in vitro method to evaluate Psa resistance has been developed with 18 selected Actinidia genotypes. The assay involved debarking and measuring the lesions of cane pieces inoculated with the bacterium in combination with the observation of symptoms such as callus formation, sprouting of buds, and the extent to which Psa invaded xylem. Relative Psa resistance or tolerance was divided into four categories. The division results were consistent with field observations. This is the first report of an in vitro assay capable of large-scale screening of Psa-resistance in Actinidia germplasm with high accuracy and reproducibility. The assay would considerably facilitate the breeding of Psa-resistant cultivars and provide a valuable reference and inspiration for the resistance evaluation of other plants to different pathogens.

Poly(2-oxazoline)s: synthesis and biomedical applications

Liuxin Yang,Faming Wang,Pengfei Ren,Tianzhu Zhang,Qianli Zhang 한국고분자학회 2023 Macromolecular Research Vol.31 No.5

With the advancement of medical technology, the previous biomedical material platforms have been unable to meet the increasingly diverse application requirements, and the emergence of poly(2-oxazoline)s provides an opportunity to develop the next generation of biomedical materials. The highly tunable structure and function of poly(2-oxazoline)s, with excellent physical and biological properties, have shown great potential for application in the initial exploratory work. Currently, there are a lot of applied studies related to the water solubility, invisibility, and thermoresponsive of poly(2-oxazoline)s, mainly focused on drug delivery, protein modification, gene carriers, anti-fouling interface, cell sheet engineering, and hydrogel. This paper describes the preparation and physicochemical properties of poly(2-oxazoline)s and reviews the recent applications of poly(2-oxazoline)s in the biomedical field.

The Effect of Flow Rate of a Short Sleeve Air Ventilation Garment on Torso Thermal Comfort in a Moderate Environment

Mengmeng Zhao,Faming Wang,Chuansi Gao,Zhaoli Wang,Jun Li 한국섬유공학회 2022 Fibers and polymers Vol.23 No.2

In recent years, air ventilation garments (AVG) have been reported effective to improve thermal comfort. In thisstudy, an AVG incorporated with small fans was investigated on torso thermal comfort in moderate environment (Ta=25 oC,RH=50 %). Eight female subjects walked on the treadmill at a speed of 4 km·h-1 for 30 min and then rested for another30 min. During the whole test protocol, the AVG was worn in three conditions of flow rates to examine which flow rate wasthe best choice to keep thermal comfort: fans off with no air ventilation (a controlled condition, CON), low flow rate (12 l/s,LOW) and high flow rate (20 l/s, HIGH). Results showed that HIGH made significantly lowered local skin temperature of theabdomen, scapula and the lower back (p<0.05). The mean torso skin temperature in CON, LOW and HIGH in the last 5 minin the exercising stage was 32.3, 30.2 and 29.2 oC, respectively and it was 32.1, 29.5 and 28.2 oC, respectively in the restingstage. HIGH significantly mitigated thermal sensation in the 40 and 50th min (p<0.05), whereas it produced cool andunpleasant thermal sensation in the resting stage. In the whole test scenario, LOW produced the best torso thermal comfort. The low flow rate of ventilation (12 l/s) should be recommend and used in such a moderate environment to maintain torsothermal comfort.

Enhanced construction of gene regulatory networks using hub gene information

Yu, Donghyeon,Lim, Johan,Wang, Xinlei,Liang, Faming,Xiao, Guanghua BioMed Central 2017 BMC bioinformatics Vol.18 No.1

<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Gene regulatory networks reveal how genes work together to carry out their biological functions. Reconstructions of gene networks from gene expression data greatly facilitate our understanding of underlying biological mechanisms and provide new opportunities for biomarker and drug discoveries. In gene networks, a gene that has many interactions with other genes is called a hub gene, which usually plays an essential role in gene regulation and biological processes. In this study, we developed a method for reconstructing gene networks using a partial correlation-based approach that incorporates prior information about hub genes. Through simulation studies and two real-data examples, we compare the performance in estimating the network structures between the existing methods and the proposed method.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>In simulation studies, we show that the proposed strategy reduces errors in estimating network structures compared to the existing methods. When applied to <I>Escherichia coli</I>, the regulation network constructed by our proposed ESPACE method is more consistent with current biological knowledge than the SPACE method. Furthermore, application of the proposed method in lung cancer has identified hub genes whose mRNA expression predicts cancer progress and patient response to treatment.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>We have demonstrated that incorporating hub gene information in estimating network structures can improve the performance of the existing methods.</P>

Controlled Synthesis of Pt–Pd Nanoparticle Chains with High Electrocatalytic Activity Based on Insulin Amyloid Fibrils

LI HOU,Yunfeng Niu,Yan Wang,YANG JIANG,Rongna Chen,Tianran Ma,FAMING GAO 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2016 NANO Vol.11 No.6

Here, we present a simple and novel method based on using insulin amyloid fibrils (INSAFs) as sacrificial templates for the construction of Pt–Pd nanoparticle chains (Pt–PdNPCs) under mild conditions. By incubating INSAFs in metal salt solution and then reduction, Pt–Pd nanoparticles with an uniform particle size of around 2.5 nm nucleated and grew along the axial direction of INSAFs, and thus formed a long chain structure with length up to several micrometers. The as-prepared Pt–PdNPCs exhibit an improved catalytic activity for lowtemperature CO and methanol oxidation and possess greater CO tolerance compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst, which makes them promising for a variety of possible catalytic applications.

ETV4 facilitates proliferation, migration, and invasion of liver cancer by mediating TGF-β signal transduction through activation of B3GNT3

Zhou Zhongcheng,Wu Bin,Chen Jing,Shen Yiyu,Wang Jing,Chen Xujian,Fei Faming,Li Liang 한국유전학회 2023 Genes & Genomics Vol.45 No.11

Background Metastasis of liver cancer (LC) is the main cause of its high mortality. ETV4 is a critical regulatory factor in promoting LC progression, but the mechanism that ETV4 impacts LC proliferation, migration, and invasion is poorly understood. Objective Investigation of the molecular mechanism of LC metastasis is conducive to developing effective drugs that prevent LC metastasis. Methods Expression of ETV4 and its target gene B3GNT3 in LC tissue was analyzed by bioinformatics, and the result was further verified in LC cells by qRT-PCR. In vitro cellular assays evaluated the impact of ETV4 on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LC cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay were conducted to analyze the interaction between B3GNT3 and ETV4. SB525334 suppressor was used to treat and access the activation of ETV4 on the TGF-β pathway. Results We discovered that ETV4 and B3GNT3 were evidently up-regulated in LC, and high expression of ETV4 was coupled to the increase of proliferation, migration, and invasion of LC cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition ability. Besides, ETV4 could bind to the B3GNT3 promoter and activate its transcription. Knockdown of B3GNT3 could prominently suppress the effect of up-regulated ETV4 on LC cells. Meanwhile, ETV4 could activate the TGF-β signaling pathway via B3GNT3, while SB525334 treatment notably repressed the functions of ETV4. Conclusion ETV4 emerges as a driven oncogene in LC, and the ETV4/B3GNT3-TGF-β pathway promotes proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition progress of LC. Inhibition of the pathway may provide an underlying method for the prevention and treatment of LC metastasis.

Keratin/PEO/hydroxyapatite Nanofiber Membrane with Improved Mechanical Property for Potential Burn Dressing Application

Jie Fan,Tong-da Lei,Meng-Yan Yu,Yong-Heng Wang,Fu-Yuan Cao,Qingqi Yang,Faming Tian,Yong Liu 한국섬유공학회 2020 Fibers and polymers Vol.21 No.2

Keratin, as a promising substitute for tissue engineering due to its excellent biocompatibility and bioactivity, is used to combine one or more other polymers together. However, compound nanofibers with high keratin content (normally>90 wt.%) may result in the poor elongation of nanofiber membranes such as wound dressing. In this work, different ratios of hydroxyapatites (HA) modified by sodium hexametaphosphate were blended with keratin/polyethylene oxide (PEO) spinning solution to produce reinforced keratin blend nanofiber nonwoven membranes as a potential candidate wound dressing. The tensile strength of keratin blend nanofiber membrane with 15 % modified HA addition was two times higher than that without HA. The morphologies and chemical structure of keratin/PEO/HA nanofiber membranes were investigated using SEM, FTIR, and TG. The biocompatibility and the burn repairing performance of keratin/PEO/HA nanofiber mat were also investigated by cell culture and animal burn model. The results showed that the Keratin/PEO/HA nanofiber membranewas beneficial to enhance the proliferation of L929 cell, exhibiting an advantages in reducing inflammatory response in the infective stage and enhancing skin repairing process in the following recover stages. Our data suggested that keratin/PEO/HA nanofiber membrane could serve as a promising burn dressing for treatment of the skin burn.

Effects of different amylose to amylopectin ratios on rumen fermentation and development in fattening lambs

Zhao, Fangfang,Ren, Wen,Zhang, Aizhong,Jiang, Ning,Liu, Wen,Wang, Faming Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2018 Animal Bioscience Vol.31 No.10

Objective: The objective of this experiment was to examine the effects of different amylose/amylopectin ratios on rumen fermentation and development of fattening lambs. Methods: Forty-eight 7-day-old male Small-tailed Han sheep${\times}$Northeast fine wool sheep were randomly assigned to four treatments of dietary amylose/amylopectin ratios (0.12, 0.23, 0.24, and 0.48 in tapioca starch, corn starch, wheat starch and pea starch diets, respectively). Three lambs from each treatment were slaughtered at 21, 35, 56, and 77 days of age to determine the rumen fermentation and development. Results: Compared with tapioca starch diet, the pea starch diet significantly increased the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the ruminal fluid of lambs but significantly decreased the bacterial protein content. At 56 and 77 d, the rumen propionate concentration tended to be greatest in the tapioca starch group than in other groups. The rumen butyrate concentration was the greatest in lambs fed on pea starch compared with those fed on other starch diets. Furthermore, the pea starch diet significantly stimulated rumen development by increasing the papillae height, width and surface area in the rumen ventral or dorsal locations in lambs. However, different amylose/amylopectin ratios diets did not significantly affect the feed intake, body weight, average daily gain, the relative weight and capacity of the rumen in lambs with increasing length of trial periods. Conclusion: Lambs early supplemented with a high amylose/amylopectin ratio diet had favourable morphological development of rumen epithelium, which was not conducive to bacterial protein synthesis.