Analyses of molecular markers and leaf morphology of two rare birches, Betula obscura and B. pendula var. carelica

Trees and shrubs belonging to the Betula L. genus seem to represent one of the most confused interspecific relationships, and hybridization is considered to be one of the main factors responsible for the substantial genetic and morphological variation of birches. In the present investigation, the internal transcribed spacer ITS1 and ITS2 regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA, nuclear alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene sequences and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) as well as the Atkinson discriminant function (ADF) of leaf morphology were used to verify hypotheses concerning the origin of the dark barked Betula obscura and B. pendula var. carelica with the patterned wood. Both plants were considered by different authors to be distinct species, intraspecific forms of common B. pendula or B. pubescens, or hybrid taxa between B. pendula and B. pubescens. In the phylogenetic trees, the ITS and ADH gene sequences of both B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica clustered with those of B. pendula, whereas B. pubescens trees were somewhat distinct. In turn, the AFLPs revealed genetic similarity of B. pendula var. carelica to both frequent species, whereas B. obscura was clearly distinct from other birches. Values of the ADF indices of the rare birches were typical for B. pendula. In the light of the results obtained, we imply that B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica represent an intraspecific variation of B. pendula, they are neither intraspecific taxa of B. pubescens nor hybrid species between the common birches. Different grouping of B. obscura in the AFLPs and DNA sequences analyses is likely a result of an unreliable phylogenetic signal of the former molecular markers.

Expression profile and co-expression analysis of ADH1A in human solid tumors.

e13533 Background: The human alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene family is associated with various solid cancers. It seems that the ADH1 gene cluster plays an important role in various solid tumors, so it aroused our interest in studying these genes to find out their functions and biological process within different solid tumors. Methods: Paired tumor and normal tissues gathered from 38 tumor patients, and 5 male BALB/c mice tissues were collected and Immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay was performed. The expression of ADH1A at RNA level in normal tissues and pan-solid tumors and the main functions of ADH1A in different solid tumors were analyzed by Bioinformatics mining. Results: At the RNA level, ADH1A was highly expressed in normal hepatocytes and was expressed lower in the tumor tissues than in the adjacent normal tissues or the corresponding normal tissues, suggesting the At the protein level, ADH1A was expressed to varying degrees in human alveoli, kidney, stomach, colon, and rectum. We predicted three major conserved functions of ADH1A, including angiogenesis, cell adhesion, and leukocyte migration function which might influence the prognosis of the immunotherapy and the immune response, and constructed an upstream regulation network of ADH1A and a downstream protein network. Besides, we also explored the functional differences of ADH1A in lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma and its effect on overall survival. And for investigating ADH1A, the BALB/c mice might be an option to consider in constructing an animal model of gastric cancer (GC), esophageal carcinoma (ESCA), liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD). Conclusions: ADH1A has potential diagnostic and prognostic value in various solid tumors. Our findings highlight new avenues for further investigation of ADH1A biology process and provide a novel potential prognostic biomarker of immunotherapy.

Recurrent single-gene duplication drives the expansion and expression diversification of the ADH gene family in pear and other Rosaceae species

Background Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) are essential to plant growth and the formation of aromatic compounds in fruits. However, the evolutionary history and characteristics of ADH gene expression remain largely unclear in Chinese white pear ( Pyrus bretschneideri ) and other fruit species from the family Rosaceae.Results In this study, 464 ADH genes were identified in eight Rosaceae fruit species and 68 of the genes were from pear. Based on the analyses of phylogeny and conserved motifs, the pear ADH genes were classified into four subgroups (I, II, III, and IV). The chromosomal distribution of the genes was found to be uneven and numerous clusters of physically linked ADH genes were detected. Frequent single-gene duplication events were found to have contributed to the formation of ADH gene clusters and the expansion of the ADH gene family in these eight Rosaceae species. Purifying selection was the major force in ADH gene evolution. The younger genes derived from tandem and proximal duplications had evolved faster than those that derived from other types of duplication. RNA-sequencing and quantitative-real time-PCR analysis revealed that the expression levels of three ADH genes were closely correlated with the content of aromatic compounds that are found during fruit development.Conclusion Comprehensive analyses were conducted in eight Rosaceae species and 464 ADH genes were identified. The results of this study provide new insights into the evolution and expression characteristics of ADH family genes in pear and other Rosaceae species.

Fitness effects but no temperature-mediated balancing selection at the polymorphic Adh gene of Drosophila melanogaster

Polymorphism in the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) protein of Drosophila melanogaster, like genetic variation in many other enzymes, has long been hypothesized to be maintained by a selective trade-off between thermostability and enzyme activity. Two major Adh variants, named Fast and Slow, are distributed along latitudinal clines on several continents. The balancing selection trade-off hypothesis posits that Fast is favored at high latitudes because it metabolizes alcohol faster, whereas Slow is favored at low latitudes because it is more stable at high temperatures. Here we use biochemical and physiological assays of precisely engineered genetic variants to directly test this hypothesis. As predicted, the Fast protein has higher catalytic activity than Slow, and both the Fast protein and regulatory variants linked to it confer greater ethanol tolerance on transgenic animals. But we found no evidence of a temperature-mediated trade-off: The Fast protein is not less stable or active at high temperatures, and Fast alleles increase ethanol tolerance and survivorship at all temperatures tested. Further, analysis of a population genomic dataset reveals no signature of balancing selection in the Adh gene. These results provide strong evidence against balancing selection driven by a stability/activity trade-off in Adh, and they justify caution about this hypothesis for other enzymes except those for which it has been directly tested. Our findings tentatively suggest that environment-specific selection for the Fast allele, coupled with demographic history, may have produced the observed pattern of Adh variation.

Gene Cloning and Gene Expression Characteristics of Alcohol Dehydrogenase in Osmanthus fragrans var. semperflorens

Because of a lot of aroma components in the flowers, Osmanthus fragrans is widely used as ornamental tree species and its flowers is used as materials of spices and food additives. Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) plays an important regulation role in growth, development, stress resistance and aroma synthesis of plants. Using the flowers of O fragrans var. semperflorens as materials, the full-length cDNA of ADH gene (termed OfADH) was successfully cloned through rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), which has the 1128 bp open reading frame (ORF) in length and codes 375 amino acids. The results of conserved domain analysis show that the OfADH belongs to the zinc-dependent medium-chain dehydrogenase /reductase (MDR) superfamily, contains 22 NAD(P) binding sites in the liver_alcohol_DH_like conserved domains, and also has the PLN02740 (Alcohol dehydrogenase-like) domain. The results of semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicate that the expression level of OfADH in O. fragrans flowers is consistent with the rule of aroma formation and release, while the expression of OfADH in leaves is positively correlated with high temperature stress, suggesting that OfADH has obvious functional diversity in regulation of aroma synthesis and response to high temperature stress.