Teaching practice in human genetics integrated into general education.

General education is an important part in higher education, which emphasizes the educational idea of integration of generality with specialty, and practices people-oriented education concept. However, there are some difficulties and puzzles in general education. Now the general education system with Chinese characteristics is needed to be established through practice and development.

[Molecular mechanisms and functions of autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway].

All proteins in eukaryotic cells are continually being degraded and replaced. Autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome system are two mechanisms for intracellular protein degradation. Autophagy is mediated by lysosome, and is further divided into chaperone-mediated autophagy, microautophagy and macroautophagy.

[Alternative development of early embryogenesis: sex determination].

Sex determination is a complex regulatory process of early embryogenesis. Embryo must make a developmental decision to develop as a male or female during gonadogenesis. This paper reviews genetic systems of sex determination, gonadogenesis, key genes involved in sex determination of vertebrates.

[Analysis of regulatory regions of mammalian DMRT1 genes].

Dmrt1 gene is the first sex differentiation gene found conserved across animal phyla. It plays an important role in mammalian sexual differentiation. Sequence analysis of mammalian dmrt1 5' and 3' flanking regions showed that there were three and seven conserved regions (>60% homology), respectively.

[Molecular cloning and expression analysis of swamp eel (Monopterus albus) Hprt].

The enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) plays an important role in the purine salvage pathways. Full-length cDNA of swamp eel (Monopterus albus, the rice field eel) Hprt gene was obtained by the RACE method. The cDNA sequence was 1452 bp in length, which encoded a protein of 218 amino acids.

Transcriptional diversity of DMRT1 (dsx- and mab3-related transcription factor 1) in human testis.

Recent advances in the evolutionary genetics of sex determination indicate that the only molecular similarity in sex determination found so far among phyla is between the fly doublesex, worm mab-3 and vertebrate DMRT1(dsx- and mab3-related transcription factor 1) /DMY genes. Each of these factors encodes a zinc-finger-like DNA-binding motif, DM domain. Insights into the evolution and functions of human DMRT1 gene could reveal evolutionary mechanisms of sexual development.

[Inhibitory effect of human brain myelin basic protein on H2O2-induced apoptosis of human lung cancer cell line YTLMC-90].

Background & Objective: Human brain myelin basic protein (MBP) distributes in nervous system and other tissues extensively, and can be detected in many kinds of tumor cells, such as lung cancer, breast cancer, and neuroglioma. However, it has not been reported whether MBP is relevant to the activity of neural invasion of tumors and whether MBP plays a role in biological behaviors of human lung cancer cells. This study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of MBP on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced apoptosis of human lung cancer cell line YTLMC-90.

Molecular cloning of the rice field eel Nup93 with predominant expression in gonad and kidney.

Nucleoporins (Nups) are important components of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). NPCs control gene expression, cells proliferation and differentiation by mediating exchange of cellular signal molecules on both nuclear and cytoplasmic sides. Using subtractive screening, 3'end fragment of Nup93 from the testis cDNA library of the rice field eel was obtained.

Characterization of the beta-actin gene of the rice field eel and its phylogeny in fish.

Beta-actin is a member of the actin family of genes,which play important roles in maintaining cytoskeletal structure, cell motility, cell division, intracellular movements and contractile processes. We report here the identification of a beta-actin cDNA of the rice field eel,a teleost fish with a characteristic of natural sex reversal. The cDNA sequence of this gene was 1860 bp in length,encoding a 375 amino acid protein.

[Ribosomal protein genes highly expressed in swamp eel gonads].

8 cDNA clones have been isolated from a cDNA library prepared from swamp eel testies by macroarray. DNA sequence analysis and database search showed that they encode 8 proteins which are highly homologous to 40S ribosomal proteins S4,S9,S16,S17,S20 and 60S riobosomal proteins L7, L18a,L29. Phylogenetic trees (ML) based on ribosomal protein genes from swamp eel and other organisms has been reconstructed, which showed that ribosomal protein genes were highly conserved during evolution.

[Phylogenetic tree and synteny of DMRT genes family of vertebrates].

Vertebrates contain a family of genes related to the Drosophila doublesex and C. elegans mab-3 genes, which encode transcription factors including a DNA-binding motif, DM domain. Evolution and function of different DMRT genes of vertebrates have not been understood yet,although some DM proteins are involved in sex determination, sexual differentiation and early embryonic development among different phyla.

[Cloning of four members of giant panda Dmrt genes].

Sex determining genes Mab-3 of C. elegans and Doublesex of Drosophila contain a common DNA binding motif called DM (Doublesex and Mab-3) domain, both of which regulate similar aspects of sexual development. Human Doublesex-related gene DMRT1 has been identified, which also contains the conserved DM-related DNA-binding domain and plays an essential role in gonadal differentiation.

[Phylogenic analysis of the Sox gene family of vertebrate].

Sox genes of vertebrate are highly evolutionarily conserved, which encode different transcriptional factors involved in various developmental processes. Sox family is characterized by a sequence-specific DNA binding HMG-box containing about 79 amino acids. To realize the complexity of genes of the Sox family in the structures, functions and their evolutionary relationships, in the present study by utilizing all available complete nucleotide/protein sequence data of vertebrate Sox genes, we performed multi-sequence comparison and construction of phylogenic tree, and the grouping of Sox family members and the pattern of their molecular evolution was also analyzed.