A specific hybridisation internalisation probe (SHIP) enables precise live-cell and super-resolution imaging of internalized cargo

Facilitated by the advancements in microscopy, our understanding of the complexity of intracellular vesicle traffic has dramatically increased in recent years. However, distinguishing between plasma membrane-bound or internalised ligands remains a major challenge for the studies of cargo sorting to endosomal compartments, especially in small and round cells such as lymphocytes. The specific hybridization internalisation probe (SHIP) assay, developed for flow cytometry studies, employs a ssDNA fluorescence internalisation probe and a complementary ssDNA quenching probe to unambiguously detect the internalized receptors/cargo. Here, we adopted the SHIP assay to study the trafficking of receptor/ligand complexes using B lymphocytes and B cell receptor-mediated antigen internalization as a model system. Our study demonstrates the potential of the SHIP assay for improving the imaging of internalized receptor/ligand complexes and establishes the compatibility of this assay with multiple imaging modalities, including live-cell imaging and super-resolution microscopy.

Prevalence and distribution of human papillomavirus genotypes among women attending gynecology clinics in northern Henan Province of China

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection can cause cervical and other cancers, including vulva, vagina, penis, anus, or oropharynx. However, in China's northern Henan Province, data on the prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV among women attending gynecology clinics is limited. This study aimed to investigate the current prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV among women attending gynecology clinics in northern Henan Province. Methods This study included 15,616 women aged 16–81 years old who visited the Xinxiang central hospital's gynecology department between January 2018 and December 2019. HPV DNA was detected by a conventional PCR method followed by HPV type-specific hybridization, which was designed to detect 17 high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes and 20 low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) genotypes. HPV prevalence and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using SPSS 18.0. Results The overall HPV prevalence was 19.7% among women in northern Henan Province. Single, double, and multiple HPV infections accounted for 13.7%, 4.3%, and 1.8% of the total cases. Most infections were caused by HR-HPV (71.8%), and single genotype HPV infection (13.7%) was the most common pattern. The most common HR-HPV genotype was HPV16 (4.3%), followed by HPV52 (3.5%) and HPV58 (2.0%). The most common LR-HPV genotype was HPV6 (1.4%), followed by HPV61 (1.1%) and HPV81 (1.1%). Conclusions HPV infection is high among women attending gynecology clinics in northern Henan Province. The highest prevalence was found in women less than 20 years old. In northern Henan Province, the 9-valent HPV vaccine is strongly recommended for regular immunization.

Molecular cytogenetic study of Eranthis (Ranunculaceae)

45S and 5S ribosomal DNA were originally localized on chromosomes of five species of winter aconits,namely, Eranthis cilicica, E. hyemalis (section Eranthis), E. pinnatifida, E. stellata и E. tanhoensis (section Shibateranthis).Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed with oligonucleotide DNA probes Oligo-pTa71-2 and Oligo-5S rDNAof wheat that are complementary to 45S and 5S ribosomal DNA. In addition, oligonucleotide DNA probe (Oligo-5.8SrDNA-Ran, 50 b) for localization of 45S rDNA was designed and tested. This probe is based on the 5.8S rDNA sequencesof some species of fam. Ranunculaceae taken from GenBank. A specific hybridization of the Oligo-5S rDNA and Oligo5.8S rDNA-Ran probes with the chromosomes of Eranthis was shown. The use of the Oligo-pTa71-2 probe did not localizeclusters of 45S rDNA on chromosomes of studied species.

Prevalence and distribution of human papillomavirus genotypes among women in northern Henan Province of China

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection can cause cervical and other cancers including cancer of vulva, vagina, penis, anus, or oropharynx. However, data concerning the prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV among women are limited in northern Henan Province of China. This study aimed to make an investigation on the current prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV among women and provided comprehensive data to guide HPV-based cervical cancer prevention in northern Henan Province. Methods A total of 15616 women aged 16 to 81 years who attended the department of gynecology of Xinxiang central hospital between January 2018 and December 2019 were enrolled in this study. HPV DNA was detected by PCR method followed by HPV type-specific hybridization. The overall prevalence, age-specific prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV were investigated. Results The overall HPV prevalence was 19.7% among women in northern Henan Province. Single, double and multiple HPV infections accounted for 13.7%, 4.3% and 1.8% of the total cases, respectively. HPV prevalence was 41.8% among women aged 16 to 19 years, 21.1% among women aged 20 to 29 years, 18.1% among women aged 30 to 39 years, 17.7% among women aged 40 to 49 years, 20.8% among women aged 50 to 59 years, 22.9% among women more than 60 years. HPV infection rates differed significantly across different age groups. Most infections were caused by high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and single genotype HPV infection was the most common pattern. The most common HR-HPV genotype was HPV16, followed by HPV52, HPV58, HPV53 and HPV39. The most common low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) genotype was HPV6, followed by HPV61, HPV81, HPV54 and HPV11. Conclusions HPV infection is common among women in northern Henan Province. The highest infection prevalence was found in women less than 20 years old. The 9-valent HPV vaccine for routine vaccination is strongly recommended in northern Henan Province.

Advances and Milestones of Radish Breeding: An Update

Radish is an annual herbaceous root crop, fruit, and oil crop plant belonging to the Cruciferae family. The important traits for radish breeding include high yield, early maturity, late bolting, pungency, cold-hardiness, drought resistance, heat tolerance, and soil adaptability. For successful radish production, need to the understand nature and behavior of the flower, and very important to identify the S haplotypes of parental lines to produce F1 hybrids based on self-incompatibility to get rid of laborious hand emasculation in radish. In radish some desirable genes are not present within varieties. Therefore, further breeding programmes depend on inter-specific and intra-specific hybridization, which has a vital role in genomic studies and crop improvement by introducing desirable agronomic characters. It is essential to acquire detailed genetic information on chromosomes and information on inheritance. Genomics is now at the core of crop improvement, and radish crop is exploited to study the underlying differences in genotypes. But some monogenic characters are improved by genetic engineering. A three-decade span following the first documented instance of genetic engineering has witnessed its application's unprecedented growth. Researchers have successfully produced transgenic radishes with various agronomic characteristics over the last decade.

Pre-fertilization Barrier, Crossability and Meiotic Behavior of Interspecific Hybrids Among Brassica Species

Inter-specific hybridization is an important driving force in plant evolution, speciation and creation of novel genetic variations those are not available with the naturally occurring species. Present investigation includes study of pre-fertilization barriers, phenotypic characterization and the meiotic abnormalities during microsporogenesis in the interspecific hybrids. Mean pollen tube germination percent in interspecific hybrids was recorded to be highest in case of B. carinata x B. nigra (33.67±11.35) and lowest between B. carinata x B. napus (18.68±6.62) whereas in the reciprocal crosses it was highest for B. napus x B. carinata (33.06±13.41). Siliqua set ranged from 33% in B. carinata x B. napus to 72% in selfedB. carinata. Seed set % ranged from 0% in B. rapa x B. carinata and B.nigra x B.carinatato 25.64 % for B. carinata x B.nigra. Mean pollen tube growth was recorded highest in B. carinata x B. nigra (21.23±5.33) while was lowest in B. carinata x B. napus (10.18±3.17) and among reciprocals it was highest for B. nigra x B. carinata (21.39±7.53). Pollen tube abnormalities viz., coiling and bending of pollen tube, hairpin shaped pollen tube, swelling of tube tip, tube bifurcation, more than one tube emerging from pollen, tubes growing in wrong direction were observed. B. carinata as pollen parent showed highest mean pollen tube abnormality percent with B. napus (36.32±8.62) whereas lowest with B. nigra (18.09±6.73). It was observed highest with B. rapa (49.170 ±13.55) when B. carinata was used as pollen parent. Some of the pre fertilization barriers related to stylar and ovule region can also be observed through fluroscent microscopy. As per the observations B. carinata performed better as a seed parent with B. nigra, B. juncea and B. rapa whereas, with B. napus it performed good as a pollen parent. Correlation study gave the association the above traits with each other. The meiotic abnormalities showed improper alignment at M-I, M-II, A-I, A-II and Telophase.

Combinatorial constraint coding based on the EORS algorithm in DNA storage

The development of information technology has produced massive amounts of data, which has brought severe challenges to information storage. Traditional electronic storage media cannot keep up with the ever-increasing demand for data storage, but in its place DNA has emerged as a feasible storage medium with high density, large storage capacity and strong durability. In DNA data storage, many different approaches can be used to encode data into codewords. DNA coding is a key step in DNA storage and can directly affect storage performance and data integrity. However, since errors are prone to occur in DNA synthesis and sequencing, and non-specific hybridization is prone to occur in the solution, how to effectively encode DNA has become an urgent problem to be solved. In this article, we propose a DNA storage coding method based on the equilibrium optimization random search (EORS) algorithm, which meets the Hamming distance, GC content and no-runlength constraints and can reduce the error rate in storage. Simulation experiments have shown that the size of the DNA storage code set constructed by the EORS algorithm that meets the combination constraints has increased by an average of 11% compared with previous work. The increase in the code set means that shorter DNA chains can be used to store more data.

Cytological and Molecular Characterization for Ploidy Determination in Yams (Dioscorea spp.)

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is a monocotyledonous herbaceous vine plant grown in the tropics and subtropics. It is a multi-species plant with varied intra- and interspecific ploidy levels. Of the 600 species, 11 are cultivated staple supporting the livelihood of over 300 million people. The paucity of information on ploidy and the genomic constitution is a significant challenge to the crop’s genetic improvement through crossbreeding. The objective of this study was to investigate the ploidy levels of 236 accessions across six cultivated and two wild species using chromosome counting, flow cytometry and genotyping-based ploidy determination methods. Results obtained from chromosome counting and genotyping-based ploidy determination were in agreement. In majority of the accessions, chromosome counting and flow cytometry were congruent, allowing future rapid screening of ploidy levels using flow cytometry. Among cultivated accessions, 168 (71%) were diploid, 50 (21%) were triploid, and 12 (5%) were tetraploid. Two wild species included in the study were diploids. Resolution of ploidy level in yams offers opportunities for implementing successful breeding programmes through intra- and inter-specific hybridization.

Accounting in and for hybrids. Observations of the power of disentanglements

PurposeThe authors argue that the mainstream scholarly discourse on hybridity and accounting is thus far primarily interested in the use and effects of accounting “in” hybrid organizations. Consequently, the literature has to a lesser extent explored how accounting mediates hybrid settings (while also being mediated), and the role of disentanglements in such processes. In hybrid settings, objects are difficult to define, and measures and tools difficult to agree upon. However, the literature on hybrid accounting is inconclusive and indicates that accounting can potentially both stabilize and de-stabilize relations in a hybrid setting. The authors address the research question of how accounting emerges and manifests itself in a process of entangling and disentangling in a heterogeneous emerging hybrid setting.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a longitudinal qualitative case study of the implementation of social investments, a public sector calculative framework based on the logic of measuring long term and social and economic impact of prevention. Methodologically, the study was guided by actor-network theory. In total, 18 observations and 48 interviews were conducted.FindingsThe observation the authors make in their case study is that much effort was spent on both keeping things apart and tying elements together. What the authors add to the literature is an illumination of how the interplay between entanglements and disentanglements facilitated the design idea of social investments to be enacted as multiple semi-integrated and purified hybridizations. The authors describe different translation points, each representing a specific hybridization where elements were added, recombined and disentangled. Still, the translation points were not completely compartmentalized, but rather semi-integrated where associations were facilitated through active mediation, likeness and productiveness for each other.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation is the single case approach. A second limitation arises from the ANT approach to hybridity.Practical implicationsA practical implication of this paper is that in hybrid settings, the semi-integrated character may be interpreted as a strength because it allows the mobilization of heterogenous actors. However, this may also come at the cost of governability and raises further questions of managerial practices in hybrid settings.Social implicationsThe paper suggests the potentially productive role of disentanglements in allowing multiple hybridizations to evolve in hybrid accounting settings.Originality/valueThe paper suggests the potentially productive role of disentanglements in allowing multiple stabilized hybridizations to evolve in hybrid accounting settings.