Transcriptome analysis of Nelumbo nucifera in response to antimony stress

To explore the probable mechanism of antimony stress resistance by Nelumbo nucifera and screen out relevant antimony-resistant genes, we conducted transcriptome sequencing of Nelumbo nucifera seeds treated by antimony at low, medium, and high concentrations (100, 500, 1000 mg/L respectively), screened differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and analyzed gene ontology classification and KEGG enrichment.Totally 18078 DEGs between antimony stress treatments and the control were identified, and 4192, 5850 and 8036 DEGs were found respectively.The pathways underlying the degradation of phosphopentose, limonene and pinene, the biosynthesis of flavonoid and ubiquinone, and the biosynthesis of terpenoids play critical roles in this responding process. The expressions of 7 genes validated by qPCR were consistent with the RNA-Seq results, which confirms the reliability of RNA-Seq results.This study on transcriptome analysis of Nelumbo nucifera under antimony stress provides a genetic resource and a theoretical basis for research on plant restoration of antimony pollution.

Pregnancy-associated changes in cervical noncoding RNA

Aim: To identify pregnancy-associated changes in cervical noncoding RNA (ncRNA), including miRNA and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), and their potential effects on biologic processes. Materials & methods: We enrolled 21 pregnant women with term deliveries (≥37 weeks’ gestation) in a prospective cohort and collected cervical swabs before 28 weeks’ gestation. We enrolled 21 nonpregnant controls. We analyzed miRNA, lncRNA and mRNA expression, applying a Bonferroni correction. Results: Five miRNA and three lncRNA were significantly differentially (>twofold change) expressed. Putative miRNA targets are enriched in genes mediating organogenesis, glucocorticoid signaling, cell adhesion and ncRNA machinery. Conclusion: Differential cervical ncRNA expression occurs in the setting of pregnancy. Gene ontology classification reveals biological pathways through which miRNA may play a biologic role in normal pregnancy physiology.

Effect of Transgenesis on mRNA and miRNA Profiles in Cucumber Fruits Expressing Thaumatin II

Transgenic plants are commonly used in breeding programs because of the various features that can be introduced. However, unintended effects caused by genetic transformation are still a topic of concern. This makes research on the nutritional safety of transgenic crop plants extremely interesting. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a crop that is grown worldwide. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize differentially expressed genes and regulatory miRNAs in transgenic cucumber fruits that contain the thaumatin II gene, which encodes the sweet-tasting protein thaumatin II, by NGS sequencing. We compared the fruit transcriptomes and miRNomes of three transgenic cucumber lines with wild-type cucumber. In total, we found 47 differentially expressed genes between control and all three transgenic lines. We performed the bioinformatic functional analysis and gene ontology classification. We also identified 12 differentially regulated miRNAs, from which three can influence the two targets (assigned as DEGs) in one of the studied transgenic lines (line 224). We found that the transformation of cucumber with thaumatin II and expression of the transgene had minimal impact on gene expression and epigenetic regulation by miRNA, in the cucumber fruits.

Introducing high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system

We present a tutorial that introduces high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system which is widely used in genomics and systems biology studies to characterize large sets of genes based on functional and structural information. This classification system is a valuable and standardized method used to identify genes that act in similar processes and pathways and also provides insight into the overall architecture and distribution of genes and gene families associated with a particular tissue or disease. By means of this tutorial, students learn how the classification system works through analyzing a gene set using DAVID the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery that incorporates the Gene Ontology system into its suite of analysis tools. This method of analyzing genes is used by our high school student interns to categorize gene expression data related to behavioral neuroscience. Students will get a feel for working with genes and gene sets, acquire vocabulary, obtain an understanding of how a database is structured and gain an awareness of the vast amount of information that is known about genes as well as the online analysis tools to manage this information that is nowadays available. Based on survey responses, students intellectually benefit from learning about the Gene Ontology System and using the DAVID tools, they are better prepared for future database use and they also find it enjoyable.

Identifying the Potential Substrates of the Depalmitoylation Enzyme Acyl-protein Thioesterase 1

Background:The homeostasis of palmitoylation and depalmitoylation is involved in various cellular processes, the disruption of which induces severe physiological consequences. Acyl-protein thioesterase (APT) and palmitoyl-protein thioesterases (PPT) catalyze the depalmitoylation process. The natural mutation in human PPT1 caused neurodegenerative disease, yet the understanding of APT1 remains to be elucidated. While the deletion of APT1 in mice turned out to be potentially embryonically lethal, the decoding of its function strictly relied on the identification of its substrates.Objective:To determine the potential substrates of APT1 by using the generated human APT1 knockout cell line.Methods :The combined techniques of palmitoyl-protein enrichment and massspectrometry were used to analyze the different proteins. Palmitoyl-proteins both in HEK293T and APT1-KO cells were extracted by resin-assisted capture (RAC) and data independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative method of proteomics for data collection.Results:In total, 382 proteins were identified. The gene ontology classification segregated these proteins into diverse biological pathways e.g. endoplasmic reticulum process and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. A few potential substrates were selected for verification; indeed, major proteins were palmitoylated. Importantly, their levels of palmitoylation were clearly changed in APT1-KO cells. Interestingly, the proliferation of APT1-KO cells escalated dramatically as compared to that of the WT cells, which could be rescued by APT1 overexpression.Conclusion:Our study provides a large scale of potential substrates of APT1, thus facilitating the understanding of its intervened molecular functions.

Introducing high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system

We present a tutorial that introduces high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system which is widely used in genomics and systems biology studies to characterize large sets of genes based on functional and structural information. This classification system is a valuable and standardized method used to identify genes that act in similar processes and pathways and also provides insight into the overall architecture and distribution of genes and gene families associated with a particular tissue or disease. By means of this tutorial, students learn how the classification system works through analyzing a gene set using DAVID the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery that incorporates the Gene Ontology system into its suite of analysis tools. This method of profiling genes is used by our high school student interns to categorize gene expression data related to behavioral neuroscience. Students will get a feel for working with genes and gene sets, acquire vocabulary, obtain an understanding of how a database is structured and gain an awareness of the vast amount of information that is known about genes as well as the online analysis tools to manage this information that is nowadays available. Based on survey responses, students intellectually benefit from learning about the Gene Ontology System and using the DAVID tools, they are better prepared for future database use and they also find it enjoyable.

An ”omic“ approach to Pyrocystis lunula: New insights related with this bioluminescent dinoflagellate

Background: Pyrocystis lunula (Schutt) is a photoautotrophic dinoflagellate without armored, frequently found in marine environments. Today, there are several biotechnological applications derived from the bioluminescent system of this species. From a post-genomic perspective, in order to study the whole proteome of P. lunula, an ”omic“ approach (transcriptomic-proteomic analysis) was assessed using fresh microalgae samples. Results: A total of 80,874,825 raw reads were generated (11,292,087,505 pb; 55.82 % GC) by mRNA sequencing. Very high quality sequences were assembled into 414,295 contigs (219,203,407 pb; 55.38 % GC) by the Trinity software, generating a comprehensive reference transcriptome for this species. Then, a P. lunula proteome was predicted and further employed through the first proteomic analysis on this species. A total of 17,461 peptides were identified, yielding 3,182 protein identification hits. The identified proteins were further categorized according to functional description and gene ontology classification. Conclusions: The first comprehensive molecular analysis of the microalgae P. lunula using both, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches, has been reported. Proteomic results represent a valuable piece in the understanding of this microalgae regulation at molecular level, and shed light on the identification of important factors involved in gene expression regulation. Indeed, the presence of the luciferin-binding protein (LBP), which had not been described so far in the genus Pyrocystis has been highlighted.

Introducing high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system

We present a tutorial that introduces high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system which is widely used in genomics and systems biology studies to characterize large sets of genes based on functional and structural information. This classification system is a valuable and standardized method used to identify genes that act in similar processes and pathways and also provides insight into the overall architecture and distribution of genes and gene families associated with a particular tissue or disease. By means of this tutorial, students learn how the classification system works through analyzing a gene set using DAVID the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery that incorporates the Gene Ontology system into its suite of analysis tools. This method of profiling genes is used by our high school student interns to categorize gene expression data related to behavioral neuroscience. Students will get a feel for working with genes and gene sets, acquire vocabulary, obtain an understanding of how a database is structured and gain an awareness of the vast amount of information that is known about genes as well as the online analysis tools to manage this information that is nowadays available. Based on survey responses, students intellectually benefit from learning about the Gene Ontology System and using the DAVID tools, they are better prepared for future database use and they also find it enjoyable.

Introducing high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system

We present an activity that introduces high school students to the Gene Ontology classification system which is widely used in genomics and systems biology studies to characterize large sets of genes based on functional and structural information. This is a valuable and standardized method used to identify genes that act in similar processes and pathways and also to gain insight into the overall architecture and distribution of genes and gene families associated with a particular tissue or disease. Through this exercise, students will learn how the classification system works by analyzing a list of genes using DAVID the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery that incorporates the Gene Ontology system into its suite of analysis tools. This method of profiling genes is used by our high school student interns to categorize gene expression data related to behavioral neuroscience. Students will get a feel for working with genes and gene sets, gain vocabulary, obtain an understanding of how a database is structured and gain an awareness of the vast amount of information that is known about genes as well as the online analysis tools that are available.