Stabilization of TGF-β Receptor 1 by a Receptor-Associated Adaptor Dictates Feedback Activation of the TGF-β Signaling Pathway to Maintain Liver Cancer Stemness and Drug Resistance.

Dysregulation of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway regulates cancer stem cells (CSCs) and drug sensitivity, whereas it remains largely unknown how feedback regulatory mechanisms are hijacked to fuel drug-resistant CSCs. Through a genome-wide CRISPR activation screen utilizing stem-like drug-resistant properties as a readout, the TGF-β receptor-associated binding protein 1 (TGFBRAP1) is identified as a TGF-β-inducible positive feedback regulator that governs sensitivity to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and promotes liver cancer stemness. By interacting with and stabilizing the TGF-β receptor type 1 (TGFBR1), TGFBRAP1 plays an important role in potentiating TGF-β signaling.

Accessing previously uncultured marine microbial resources by a combination of alternative cultivation methods.

Few microbes can grow under laboratory conditions, highlighting the fact that the majority of microbes in environment are still uncultured and untapped resources. This study used alternative cultivation methods, diffusion chambers (DC), dilution-to-extinction culture (DTE) and modified agar preparation step (PS media) to cultivate previously uncultured marine bacterial species. These methods were applied to samples from a coastal intertidal zone, and the results were compared with those from standard direct plating (SDP) cultivation.

Complete Genome Sequence of Saccharospirillum mangrovi HK-33 Sheds Light on the Ecological Role of a Bacterium in Mangrove Sediment Environment.

We present the genome sequence of Saccharospirillum mangrovi HK-33, isolated from a mangrove sediment sample in Haikou, China. The complete genome of S. mangrovi HK-33 consisted of a single-circular chromosome with the size of 3,686,911 bp as well as an average G + C content of 57.