Denitrification effect and strengthening mechanism of SAD/A system at low temperature by gel-immobilization technology.

Sulfur autotrophic denitrification coupled anaerobic ammonia oxidation (SAD/A) has several advantages over other denitrification processes; for example, it does not consume the organic carbon source, has low operation costs, and produces less excess sludge; however, it has certain disadvantages as well, such as a long start-up time, easy loss of bacteria, and low microbial activity at low temperature. The use of microbial immobilization technology to embed functional bacteria provides a feasible method of resolving the above problems. In this study polyvinyl alcohol­sodium alginate was used to prepare a composite carrier for fixing anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AAOB) and sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB), and the structure and morphology of the encapsulated bodies were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Subsequently, the nitrogen removal performance of the immobilized microbial carriers in the gradient cooling process (30 °C to 10 °C) was determined, and the corresponding mechanism was discussed. The results showed that the nitrate-removal efficiencies observed with granular sludge and gel embedding were at 10 °C 21.44 % and 14.31 % lower, than those at 30 °C, respectively, whereas the ammonia-removal efficiency decreased by up to approximately three-fold. The main mechanism was the 'insulation' provided by the external gel composed of PVA and SA for the internal sludge and subsequent improvement of its low temperature resistance, while protecting AAOB and SOB from oxygen inhibition, which is conducive to enriching denitrifying bacteria. In addition, the gel does not change the internal sludge species, it can shift the dominance of specific microorganisms and improve the removal efficiency of nitrogen. In summary, the immobilization of AAOB and SOB by the gel can achieve effectively mitigate nitrogen pollution in low temperature environments, thus indicating that the SAD/A process has broad engineering application prospects.

Systematic Analysis of Gene Expression in Lung Adenocarcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma with a Case Study of FAM83A and FAM83B.

INTRODUCTION: In our previous study, we constructed a Lung Cancer Explorer (LCE) database housing lung cancer-specific expression data and clinical data from over 6700 patients in 56 studies. METHODS: Using this dataset of the largest collection of lung cancer gene expression along with our meta-analysis method, we systematically interrogated the association between gene expression and overall survival as well as the expression difference between tumor and normal (adjacent non-malignant tissue) samples in lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC). A case study for FAM83A and FAM83B was performed as a demonstration for hypothesis testing with our database. RESULTS: We showed that the reproducibility of results across studies varied by histological subtype and analysis type. Genes and pathways unique or common to the two histological subtypes were identified and the results were integrated into LCE to facilitate user exploration. In our case study, we verified the findings from a previous study on FAM83A and FAM83B in non-small cell lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: This study used gene expression data from a large cohort of patients to explore the molecular differences between lung ADC and SQCC.

De novo Assembly and Transcriptome Characterization of Opisthopappus (Asteraceae) for Population Differentiation and Adaption.

Opisthopappus Shih (Asteraceae), an endangered genus endemic to the Taihang Mountains of China, is a high-value ornamental and medicinal plant consisting of two species, Opisthopappus longilobus shih and Opisthopappus taihangensis (Ling) Shih. However, the evolutionary relationships and the taxonomic characteristics between the two species remain unknown. In this study, high-throughput transcriptome sequencing was used to analyze the differential metabolic activity and gene expression and screened special molecular markers for exploring the genetic variation and species differentiation in Opisthopappus Shih. The results showed that 33,974 unigenes with an average size of 801 bp were obtained with optimization of de novo assembly. The comprehensive functional annotation based on Gene Ontology (GO), Cluster of Orthologous Group (COG) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database (KEGG) revealed that these unigenes were mainly related to many physiological, metabolic, and molecular processes. Furthermore, the comparative transcriptome analysis indicated that 3,410 differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in lipid, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism as well as environment adaptation via KEGG. Such as the CYP710A, GST, HSP90A and so on, could be the potential candidate genes for further investigating the molecular mechanism of physiological variations between O. taihangensis and O. longilobus. In addition, the potential 71,804 high quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 1,444 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were estimated. Based on the predicted SNP, we have developed eight SNP markers for population genetic analysis in Opisthopappus Shih. A significantly high level of genetic differentiation between the populations of O. longilobus and O. taihangensis were found, and they were clearly grouped into two distinct genetic clusters. These results conformed to the record of Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS) and unsupported the taxonomic status in the Flora of China. The transcriptome analysis of Opisthopappus Shih can contribute to in-depth exploring of internal mechanisms in species variation and differentiation based on molecular evidence. With the rich and valuable data resources, the more novel structural, functional, and comparative genomic studies will provide comprehensive insights into the evolutionary relationships between O. taihangensis and O. longilobus.

Screening of Stilbene Glucosides Biosynthesis-related Genes in Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. by mRNA Differential Display Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To screen and clone the genes related to stilbene glucosides biosynthesis in Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. Methods The differentially expressed genes in the root, stem and leaf of Polygonum multiflorum which have different contents of stilbene glucosides were screened by differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). After pMD19-T carrier was inserted into the obtained differential genes for sequencing and comparison, the gene function was analyzed. Results Fifty-one differentially expressed cDNA fragments were found. Of them, 9 were used for the identification by semi-quantitative PCR. The identification results presented 3 positive fragments, one fragment was specifically expressed in the stem and leaf of Polygon-um multiflorum Thunb., sharing high homology with glycine dehydrogenase, and 2 were specifically expressed in the root of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb., having high homology with enoyl-CoA hydratase and aminopeptidase N, respectively. Conclusion Three homologous gene sequences obtained through DDRT-PCR provide a basis for the further study of biosynthetic pathway of stilbene glucoside from Polygonum multiflorum Thunb..

Cloning aged-related gene of mouse thymus / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:Differential expression analysis and cloning aged related genes of mouse thymus Methods:Different expressions of thymus mRNAs from 1 and 10 month old mouse were analyzed by DDRT PCR and different expression sequence tags (ESTs) were obtained One EST that represented high expressed level in one month mouse thymus was probed to screen mouse thymus cDNA library One 827 bp cDNA fragment was obtained and was extended to 1 406 bp by PCR Results:Homology analysis showed that mt22 1406 contained one 438AA coding region and showed high similarity with human elongation factor1?(EF1?) The Genbank accession number is BE241062 Conclusion:Cloning one gene related with mouse thymus aging

Gene technique and modern Chinese materia medica / 中草药

Chinese materia medica (CMM) has double complexity in bioactive ingredient and its mechanism. It is difficult to explain by the modern biomedicine theory So it seriously restricts the modernization of CMM The modern CMM should have the high quality standard to meet the needs of international standard It can be guaranteed by spreading the GAP for Chinese medicinal materials and GMP for standard production The mechanism depends on using the DNA microarray to set up “the gene expression difference chart”, to study on the combination of CMM and gene expression difference chart Meanwhile, we can establish a totally new method of screening modern CMM based on the gene expression difference chart, it can really make the modernization and internationalization of CMM