Immobilization of foreign protein into polyhedra of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV).

In the late phase of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) infection, a large amount of polyhedra appear in the infected cell nucleolus, these polyhedra being dense protein crystals protecting the incorporated virions from the harsh environment. To investigate whether the foreign protein could be immobilized into the polyhedra of BmNPV, two recombinant baculoviruses were generated by a novel BmNPV polyhedrin-plus (polh(+)) Bac-to-Bac system, designated as vBmBac(polh(+))-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and vBmBac(polh(+))-LacZ, which can express the polyhedrin and foreign protein simultaneously. Light microscopy analysis showed that all viruses produced polyhedra of normal appearance.

Ghrelin modulates insulin sensitivity and tau phosphorylation in high glucose-induced hippocampal neurons.

Ghrelin, a 28-amino acid brain-gut peptide expressed in periphery tissues and the central nervous system, has been demonstrated to increase insulin sensitivity in adipocytes. Recent data have indicated that insulin resistance exists in the brain and is related to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The aim of this study was to investigate whether ghrelin increased high glucose-induced hippocampal neuron insulin sensitivity, and further modulated tau phosphorylation.

Gene analysis of an antiviral protein SP-2 from Chinese wild silkworm, Bombyx mandarina Moore and its bioactivity assay.

The cDNA encoding an antiviral protein SP-2 against BmNPV was cloned from the midgut of Chinese wild silkworm, Bombyx mandarina Moore (GenBank access AY945210) based on the available information of the domesticated silkworm. Its cDNA was 855 bp encoding 284 amino acids with predicted molecular weight of 29.6 kDa.

[A novel application of baculovirus in mammalian gene therapy].

Baculovirus has been widely used for the production of recombinant proteins in insect cells. The extremely high yield by baculovirus-infected insect cells or larvae makes it an attractive tool for pharmaceutical protein production. Since the finding that baculovirus can efficiently transduce mammalian cells, the applications of baculovirus have been greatly expanded.

Genetic variation at AFLPs for the Dipterocarpaceae and its relation to molecular phylogenies and taxonomic subdivisions.

Genetic differentiation was investigated among 54 Indonesian species of Dipterocarpaceae, a dominant tree family in Asian tropical rainforests, using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. The tree developed from the resultant unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages clearly separated all investigated dipterocarps into two major groups that corresponded to tribe Dipterocarpeae and tribe Shoreae, respectively. These results are in accordance with the topology of molecular phylogenetic trees derived from PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of chloroplast DNA and generally support the traditional taxonomic assessments.

[The inhibitory effect of vascular endothelial growth factor antisense oligonucleotides in angiogenesis of thyroid carcinoma].

Objective: To investigate the inhibitive effect of antisense oligonucleotide (ASODN) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and endothelial cell growth in thyroid carcinoma.

Methods: Targeted ASODN of VEGF was designed and synthesized, then transfected to TT (medullary thyroid carcinoma) cell line and the culture supernatant was collected in which ECV304 (endothelial cell line) was seeded. At the same time positive control [sense oligonucleotides (SODN) group] and normal control were set for comparison.

Targeting of human aFGF gene into silkworm, Bombyx mori L. through homologous recombination.

The long-arm and short-arm genes of fibroin light chain (L-chain) of silkworm, Bombyx Mori L., and the gene of human acidic fibroblast growth factor were cloned respectively and subsequently inserted into a transfer vector pVL1392 used as a tool to target the L-chain region of the silkworm genome. Genomic DNA from their offsprings was extracted and the expected targeting was detected using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing, as well as protein analysis.