Experimental study of soil erosion on moraine-consolidated slopes under heavy rainfall.

Surface subsidence pits formed by mining disturbance are highly susceptible to slope instability under rainfall erosion, inducing underground debris flow disasters. To prevent and control underground debris flow disasters in a subsidence area, a test model of subsidence pit slope was established in accordance with the principle of similar simulation, and the erosion-resistant performance of moraine-cured slopes with different soil-slurry ratios and the law of runoff and sand production were investigated through the simulation of artificial rainfall and a simulation test of grouting. Results show that the initial rainfall production time increases exponentially with increasing soil-slurry ratio, while sediment production intensity decreases linearly with increasing rainfall duration. The evolution of soil erosion can be divided into five stages: impact infiltration, water-filled softening, stripping cutting, migration crossing, and steady flow equilibrium. Compared with in situ moraine, moraine particles after grouting between the generation of large amounts of Si-O-Si and Si-OH hydration products become loose and porous soil medium is transformed into a dense cemented structure. The soil-slurry ratio is 5:1, the sand-fixing effect increases by 28.8 times, the resistance of permeability increases by 11.3 times, and the grouting curing effect is remarkable. This study can provide technical support for the prevention and control of geological disasters in subsidence pits.

Establishment and application of a human osteosarcoma U-2OS cell line that can stably express Cas9 protein.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor, and U-2OS is a common osteosarcoma cell model. The study obtained a human osteosarcoma U-2OS tool cell line which could stably express Cas9 protein, and we reported its production method and application. Firstly, we introduced a Cas9 protein expression gene and an antibiotic screening marker gene through CRISPR/Cas9 system to construct a human osteosarcoma U-2OS tool cell line which could stably express Cas9 protein. Secondly, as the cell line could stably express Cas9 protein, it was only transfected alone a small sgRNA fragment for related gene editing, we then transfected, respectively, a small ETV4 and MALAT1 sgRNA fragment to U-2OS tool cell line for gene editing. Lastly, the Q-PCR results showed that the transcription levels of ETV4 and MALAT1 were significantly decreased, and western blotting result showed that the translation level of ETV4 was significantly decreased, these results indicated that the constructed U-2OS tool cell line could effectively edit protein-coding gene (ETV4) and long non-coding RNA gene (MALAT1). The results of this study also indicated that the constructed U-2OS tool cell line could greatly improve the efficiency of gene editing. Therefore, the genetic engineering cell line provided by the study is of great significance for studying the pathogenesis and regulatory network of osteosarcoma, and for preventing and treating bone tumor as soon as possible.

Generation of Stable Induced Pluripotent Stem-like Cells from Adult Zebra Fish Fibroblasts.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells provide a powerful platform for the study of development, regeneration, and disease. Although many stable iPS cell lines have been established for mammals, few attempts have been made to induce iPS cells in nonmammalian species. Because of technical advantages over other vertebrates on stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells from fish could be of value for research. In this paper, stable iPS-like cell lines were generated from adult zebra fish fibroblasts by combining the doxycycline inducible lentiviral delivery system and chemical treatment. RT-PCR analysis, alkaline phosphatase staining, and immunofluorescence indicated that adult zebra fish fibroblasts were successfully reprogrammed into iPS-like cells (ziPSCs). The ziPSCs exhibited stable growth and manifested many features of fish embryonic stem cells with pluripotency in vitro and in vivo. Because of easy maintenance, the developed technology in this study for generating zebra fish iPS-like cells could be extended to investigating other genera of fish.

ATG3-dependent autophagy mediates mitochondrial homeostasis in pluripotency acquirement and maintenance.

Pluripotent stem cells, including induced pluripotent and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), have less developed mitochondria than somatic cells and, therefore, rely more heavily on glycolysis for energy production. 1-3 However, how mitochondrial homeostasis matches the demands of nuclear reprogramming and regulates pluripotency in ESCs is largely unknown. Here, we identified ATG3-dependent autophagy as an executor for both mitochondrial remodeling during somatic cell reprogramming and mitochondrial homeostasis regulation in ESCs. Dysfunctional autophagy by Atg3 deletion inhibited mitochondrial removal during pluripotency induction, resulting in decreased reprogramming efficiency and accumulation of abnormal mitochondria in established iPSCs. In Atg3 null mouse ESCs, accumulation of aberrant mitochondria was accompanied by enhanced ROS generation, defective ATP production and attenuated pluripotency gene expression, leading to abnormal self-renewal and differentiation. These defects were rescued by reacquisition of wild-type but not lipidation-deficient Atg3 expression. Taken together, our findings highlight a critical role of ATG3-dependent autophagy for mitochondrial homeostasis regulation in both pluripotency acquirement and maintenance.

Autotetraploid cell line induced by SP600125 from crucian carp and its developmental potentiality.

Polyploidy has many advantages over diploidy, such as rapid growth, sterility, and disease resistance, and has been extensively applied in agriculture and aquaculture. Though generation of new polyploids via polyploidization has been achieved in plants by different ways, it is comparatively rare in animals. In this article, by a chemical compound, SP600125, polyploidization is induced in fish cells in vitro, and a stable autotetraploid cell line has been generated from diploid fibroblast cells of crucian carp. As a c-Jun N-terminal kinase (Jnk) inhibitor, SP600125 does not function during the induction process of polyploidization. Instead, the p53 signal pathway might be involved. Using the SP600125-induced tetraploid cells and eggs of crucian carp as the donors and recipients, respectively, nuclear transplantation was conducted such that tetraploid embryos were obtained. It suggests that combining polyploidization and the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique (SCNT) is an efficient way to generate polyploidy, and the presented method in this research for generating the tetraploid fish from diploid fish can provide a useful platform for polyploid breeding.

Genetic modification and screening in rat using haploid embryonic stem cells.

The rat is an important animal model in biomedical research, but practical limitations to genetic manipulation have restricted the application of genetic analysis. Here we report the derivation of rat androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cells (RahESCs) as a tool to facilitate such studies. Our approach is based on removal of the maternal pronucleus from zygotes to generate androgenetic embryos followed by derivation of ESCs. The resulting RahESCs have 21 chromosomes, express pluripotency markers, differentiate into three germ layer cells, and contribute to the germline. Homozygous mutations can be introduced by both large-scale gene trapping and precise gene targeting via homologous recombination or the CRISPR-Cas system. RahESCs can also produce fertile rats after intracytoplasmic injection into oocytes and are therefore able to transmit genetic modifications to offspring. Overall, RahESCs represent a practical tool for functional genetic studies and production of transgenic lines in rat.

Generation of transgenic rats through induced pluripotent stem cells.

The rat is an important animal model for human disease research. Using inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase 3 and MAPK signaling pathways, rat embryonic stem cells and rat induced pluripotent stem cells (riPSCs) have been derived. However, unlike rat embryonic stem cells, germ line competent riPSCs have only been derived from Wistar rats at low efficiency. Here, we found that an optimized induction medium containing knock-out serum replacement and vitamin C improved the rate and efficiency of riPSCs generation from Dark Agouti rat fibroblasts and Sertoli cells. riPSCs maintained an undifferentiated status for >30 passages and could differentiate into various cells types including germ cells when injected into rat blastocysts. Moreover, transgenic riPSCs could be generated through the PiggyBac transposon, which could be used to generate transgenic rats through germ line transmission. riPSCs can be used as a novel tool in genetic and genomic studies of the rat.

Involvement of JNK in the embryonic development and organogenesis in zebrafish.

c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is one of the mitogen-activated protein kinases. Previous studies showed that the JNK is involved in signaling pathways initiating cell cycle, and eventually, causing apoptosis through persistent activation in mammals. In this article, it is further revealed that the jnk1 gene is closely related with the embryonic development and organogenesis in zebrafish. RT-PCR and Western blot analysis show that there were distinct expression patterns of JNK at the different developmental stages as well as in the various tissues in zebrafish. Knockdown of jnk1 by RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in high lethal, serious retardation and malformations of embryos in zebrafish. SP600125, a JNK-specific inhibitor, gives rise to high mortality in zebrafish, similar to that caused by the jnk1 RNA interference. SP600125 is also responsible for the severe abnormality of organs, especially the skeletal system, such as skull, mandible deficiency, and cyrtosis heterauxesis. The results also indicate that the inhibition of JNK by SP600125 suppresses the ovarian differentiation during the embryo development in zebrafish. Overall, our study demonstrates that the jnk1 gene is required for ovary differentiation and development in the zebrafish, and down-regulated JNK directly inhibits ovary differentiation during early ontogenetic stages.