HAGLR promotes neuron differentiation through the miR-130a-3p-MeCP2 axis.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease. Currently, the molecular mechanisms underlying the progressions of PD are not fully understood. The human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y has been widely used as an in vitro model for PD. This study aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the non-coding RNA-mediated SH-SY5Y differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA). By microArray analysis, lncRNA HAGLR was observed to be significantly upregulated during the RA-induced SH-SY5Y differentiation. Silencing HAGLR blocked the RA-induced SH-SY5Y differentiation. Moreover, bioinformatical analysis illustrated that miR-130a-3p contains binding sites for HAGLR. The RNA-pull down assay and luciferase assay demonstrated that HAGLR functioned as a ceRNA of miR-130a-3p in SH-SY5Y cells. Overexpression of miR-130a-3p effectively inhibited SH-SY5Y differentiation. We identified MeCP2, a vital molecule in neuronal diseases, to be a direct target of miR-130a-3p in SH-SY5Y cells by western blot and luciferase assays. The rescue experiments verified that recovery of miR-130a-3p in HAGLR-overexpressing SH-SY5Y cells could successfully overcome the RA-induced SH-SY5Y differentiation by targeting MeCP2. In summary, this study reveals a potential molecular mechanism for the lncRNA-HAGLR-promoted in vitro neuron differentiation by targeting the miR-130a-3p-MeCP2 axis, contributing to the understanding of the pathogenesis and progression of PD.

Overexpression of LACTB, a Mitochondrial Protein That Inhibits Proliferation and Invasion in Glioma Cells.

LACTB, a mitochondrial protein, was ubiquitously expressed in different mammalian tissues, such as liver, heart, and skeletal muscle. It has been shown that LACTB is downexpressed in breast cancers, and it suppresses the proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of breast cancers. However, its role in the progression and prognosis of glioma remains unknown. In this study, we analyzed the clinicopathological features and outcomes of LACTB expression in 98 glioma patients and investigated the effects of LACTB overexpression on the proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis of glioma cells in vitro. We observed a significant decrease in LACTB expression in glioma, and downexpression of LACTB is correlated with a poor prognosis of glioma patients. Moreover, Cox regression analysis reveals that the LACTB is an independent prognostic indicator for glioma patients. Overexpression of LACTB could suppress the proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis of glioma cells. In addition, overexpression of LACTB could inhibit the expression of PCNA, MMP2, MMP9, and VEGF. Taken together, these data indicate that LACTB may serve as a promising therapeutic target for gliomas.

Global transcriptome analysis profiles metabolic pathways in traditional herb Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao.

BACKGROUND: Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao (A. mongolicus, family Leguminosae) is one of the most important traditional Chinese herbs. Among many secondary metabolites it produces, the effective bioactive constituents include isoflavonoids and triterpene saponins. The genomic resources regarding the biosynthesis of these metabolites in A. mongolicus are limited. Although roots are the primary material harvested for medical use, the biosynthesis of the bioactive compounds and its regulation in A. mongolicus are not well understood. Therefore, a global transcriptome analysis on A. mongolicus tissues was performed to identify the genes essential for the metabolism and to profile their expression patterns in greater details. RESULTS: RNA-sequencing was performed for three different A. mongolicus tissues: leaf, stem, and root, using the Illumina Hiseq2000 platform. A total of 159.5 million raw sequence reads were generated, and assembled into 186,324 unigenes with an N50 of 1,524bp. Among them, 129,966 unigenes (~69.7%) were annotated using four public databases (Swiss-Prot, TrEMBL, CDD, Pfam), and 90,202, 63,946, and 78,326 unigenes were found to express in leaves, roots, and stems, respectively. A total of 8,025 transcription factors (TFs) were identified, in which the four largest families, bHLH, MYB, C3H, and WRKY, were implicated in regulation of tissue development, metabolisms, stress response, etc. Unigenes associated with secondary metabolism, especially those with isolavonoids and triterpene saponins biosynthesis were characterized and profiled. Most genes involved in the isoflavonoids biosynthesis had the lowest expression in the leaves, and the highest in the stems. For triterpene saponin biosynthesis, we found the genes in MVA and non-MVA pathways were differentially expressed among three examined tissues, indicating the parallel but compartmentally separated biosynthesis pathways of IPP and DMAPP in A. mongolicus. The first committed enzyme in triterpene saponin biosynthesis from A. mongolicus, cycloartenol synthase (AmCAS), which belongs to the oxidosqualene cyclase family, was cloned by us to study the astragalosides biosynthesis. Further co-expression analysis indicated the candidate CYP450s and glycosyltransferases (GTs) in the cascade of triterpene saponins biosynthesis. The presence of the large CYP450 families in A. mongolicus was further compared with those from Medicago truncatula and Arabidopsis thaliana, and the diversity and phylegenetic relationships of the CYP450 families were established. CONCLUSION: A transcriptome study was performed for A. mongolicus tissues to construct and profile their metabolic pathways, especially for the important bioactive molecules. The results revealed a comprehensive profile for metabolic activities among tissues, pointing to the equal importance of leaf, stem, and root in A. mongolicus for the production of bioactive compounds. This work provides valuable resources for bioengineering and in vitro synthesis of the natural compounds for medical research and for potential drug development.

[Preparation and luminescent properties of light scattering fluorescent resin].

With the methods of compound-melting and high-temperature molding, PC/YAG:Ce fluorescent resin pieces were prepared. The transmittance of the prepared PC/YAG:Ce fluorescent resin in 500~800 nm reaches approximately 65% (0.71 mm thick, double sides polished). The fluorescent resin was characterized by XRD, SEM and PL. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns demonstrated that the fluorescent resin was pure Y3Al5O12 phase. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that YAG phosphor was distributed evenly in the fluorescent resin. The excitation spectra had a weak peak at 342 nm and a strong band at 448 nm. The broad emission peaks at about 532 nm can be attributed to 5d-->4f transition of Ce3+ ions. Decay curves for the fluorescence of PC/YAG:Ce fluorescent resin show that the lifetime of the fluorescent resin was 61.5 ns. The luminous efficacy of the white LED packaged by the fluorescent resin and blue LED chip was 81.12 lm · W(-1) at 100 mA. All results above of PC/YAG:Ce fluorescent resin indicate a promising fluorescent material for white LEDs.