Heterologous expressing melittin in a probiotic yeast to evaluate its function for promoting NSC-34 regeneration.

Melittin is a bioactive peptide and the predominant component in bee venom (BV), studied for its many medical properties, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritis, nerve damage reduction, and muscle cell regeneration. Melittin is primarily obtained through natural extraction and chemical synthesis; however, both methods have limitations and cannot be used for mass production. This study established a heterologous melittin expression system in the probiotic yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus.

Interaction and assembly of the DNA replication core proteins of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

Eukaryotic DNA replication is a highly regulated process that requires multiple replication enzymes assembled onto DNA replication origins. Due to the complexity of the cell's DNA replication machinery, most of what we know about cellular DNA replication has come from the study of viral systems. Herein, we focus our study on the assembly of the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus core replication complex and propose a pairwise protein-protein interaction network of six highly conserved viral core replication proteins.

Stock Market Forecasting Based on Spatiotemporal Deep Learning.

This study introduces the Spacetimeformer model, a novel approach for predicting stock prices, leveraging the Transformer architecture with a time-space mechanism to capture both spatial and temporal interactions among stocks. Traditional Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) and recent Transformer models lack the ability to directly incorporate spatial information, making the Spacetimeformer model a valuable addition to stock price prediction. This article uses the ten minute stock prices of the constituent stocks of the Taiwan 50 Index and the intraday data of individual stock on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Enzymatic reactions of AGO4 in RNA-directed DNA methylation: siRNA duplex loading, passenger strand elimination, target RNA slicing, and sliced target retention.

RNA-directed DNA methylation in plants is guided by 24-nt siRNAs generated in parallel with 23-nt RNAs of unknown function. We show that 23-nt RNAs function as passenger strands during 24-nt siRNA incorporation into AGO4. The 23-nt RNAs are then sliced into 11- and 12-nt fragments, with 12-nt fragments remaining associated with AGO4.

Ranking the environmental factors of indoor air quality of metropolitan independent coffee shops by Random Forests model.

Independent coffee shops are the alternative workplaces for people working remotely from traditional offices but are not concerned about their indoor air quality (IAQ). This study aimed to rank the environmental factors in affecting the IAQ by Random Forests (RFs) models. The indoor environments and human activities of participated independent coffee shops were observed and recorded for 3 consecutive days including weekdays and weekend during the business hours.

Reaction Mechanisms of Pol IV, RDR2, and DCL3 Drive RNA Channeling in the siRNA-Directed DNA Methylation Pathway.

In eukaryotes with multiple small RNA pathways, the mechanisms that channel RNAs within specific pathways are unclear. Here, we reveal the reactions that account for channeling in the small interfering RNA (siRNA) biogenesis phase of the Arabidopsis RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway. The process begins with template DNA transcription by NUCLEAR RNA POLYMERASE IV (Pol IV), whose atypical termination mechanism, induced by nontemplate DNA base-pairing, channels transcripts to the associated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase RDR2.

Sharing the load: Mex67-Mtr2 cofunctions with Los1 in primary tRNA nuclear export.

Eukaryotic transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are exported from the nucleus, their site of synthesis, to the cytoplasm, their site of function for protein synthesis. The evolutionarily conserved β-importin family member Los1 (Exportin-t) has been the only exporter known to execute nuclear export of newly transcribed intron-containing pre-tRNAs. Interestingly, is unessential in all tested organisms.

Multiple Layers of Stress-Induced Regulation in tRNA Biology.

tRNAs are the fundamental components of the translation machinery as they deliver amino acids to the ribosomes during protein synthesis. Beyond their essential function in translation, tRNAs also function in regulating gene expression, modulating apoptosis and several other biological processes. There are multiple layers of regulatory mechanisms in each step of tRNA biogenesis.

Quality Control Pathways for Nucleus-Encoded Eukaryotic tRNA Biosynthesis and Subcellular Trafficking.

tRNAs perform an essential role in translating the genetic code. They are long-lived RNAs that are generated via numerous posttranscriptional steps. Eukaryotic cells have evolved numerous layers of quality control mechanisms to ensure that the tRNAs are appropriately structured, processed, and modified.

In vivo biochemical analyses reveal distinct roles of β-importins and eEF1A in tRNA subcellular traffic.

Bidirectional tRNA movement between the nucleus and the cytoplasm serves multiple biological functions. To gain a biochemical understanding of the mechanisms for tRNA subcellular dynamics, we developed in vivo β-importin complex coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays using budding yeast. Our studies provide the first in vivo biochemical evidence that two β-importin family members, Los1 (exportin-t) and Msn5 (exportin-5), serve overlapping but distinct roles in tRNA nuclear export.

Separate responses of karyopherins to glucose and amino acid availability regulate nucleocytoplasmic transport.

The importin-β family members (karyopherins) mediate the majority of nucleocytoplasmic transport. Msn5 and Los1, members of the importin-β family, function in tRNA nuclear export. tRNAs move bidirectionally between the nucleus and the cytoplasm.

Identification and characterization of two novel spliced genes located in the orf47-orf46-orf45 gene locus of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

Unlabelled: The orf47-orf46-orf45 gene cluster of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is known to serially encode glycoprotein L (gL), uracil DNA glycosylase, and a viral tegument protein. Here, we identify two novel mRNA variants, orf47/45-A and orf47/45-B, alternatively spliced from a tricistronic orf47-orf46-orf45 mRNA that is expressed in the orf47-orf46-orf45 gene locus during the early stages of viral reactivation. The spliced gene products, ORF47/45-A and ORF47/45-B, consist of only a partial region of gL (ORF47), a unique 7-amino-acid motif, and the complete tegument protein ORF45.

ORF50-dependent and ORF50-independent activation of the ORF45 gene of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

The ORF45 gene of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) encodes a multifunctional tegument protein. Here, we characterize the transcriptional control of the ORF45 gene and show that its promoter can be activated by ORF50 protein, a latent-lytic switch transactivator. The ORF45 promoter can also be induced by sodium butyrate (SB), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, in the absence of ORF50 protein.

A rapid and sensitive non-radioactive method applicable for genome-wide analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes involved in small RNA biology.

Conventional isolation and detection methods for small RNAs from yeast cells have been designed for a limited number of samples. In order to be able to conduct a genome-wide assessment of how each gene product impacts upon small RNAs, we developed a rapid method for analysing small RNAs from Saccharomyces cerevisiae wild-type (wt) and mutants cells in the deletion and temperature-sensitive (ts) collections. Our method implements three optimized techniques: a procedure for growing small yeast cultures in 96-deepwell plates, a fast procedure for small RNA isolation from the plates, and a sensitive non-radioactive northern method for RNA detection.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses a stress-inducible glycyl-tRNA synthetase gene.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are a large family of housekeeping enzymes that are pivotal in protein translation and other vital cellular processes. Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses two distinct nuclear glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GlyRS) genes, GRS1 and GRS2. GRS1 encodes both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial activities, while GRS2 is essentially silent and dispensable under normal conditions.

Rapid and economic DNA extraction from a single salmon egg for real-time PCR amplification.

Salmon eggs are common in Japanese sushi and other seafood products; however, certain fish eggs are used as counterfeit salmon eggs which are found in foods and processed products. This study develops a simple, rapid, and cost-effective method for DNA extraction, filtration (FT) and dilution (DL) protocols from a single salmon egg with good DNA quality for real-time PCR amplification. The DNA amount, DNA quality, and real-time PCR performance for different dilutions and different lengths of PCR amplicons were evaluated and compared with the common Qiagen tissue kit (QTK) and Chelex-100-based (CX) protocols.

The effect of a simple traditional exercise programme (Baduanjin exercise) on sleep quality of older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Sleep disturbance is a major problem for older adults, calling for the development of alternative medicine techniques to help improve sleep quality in this population.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a Baduanjin exercise program on sleep quality in Taiwanese elderly.

Design: A randomized controlled trial, longitudinal research design was employed.

Regulation of tRNA bidirectional nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

tRNAs in yeast and vertebrate cells move bidirectionally and reversibly between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. We investigated roles of members of the beta-importin family in tRNA subcellular dynamics. Retrograde import of tRNA into the nucleus is dependent, directly or indirectly, upon Mtr10.

Disability and pain management methods of Taiwanese arthritic older patients.

Aim: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of disability, factors influencing disability and pain self-management techniques employed by older arthritis patients in Taiwan.

Background: Arthritis is the most common chronic disease in older people. It may result in pain, stiffness and joint deformity, which ultimately lead to disability.

A novel growth hormone 1 gene-derived probe for Oncorhynchus masou formosanus distinguished from the Oncorhynchus subspecies.

Traditional mitochondrial 16S rRNA is commonly used in many species identification studies. However, it is difficult to apply to the phylogenetic studies among the Oncorhynchus subspecies, which is a crucial need for management purposes for Oncorhynchus masou formosanus, Taiwan salmon. In this study, we have developed an improved species identification method for Taiwan salmon distinguished with other Oncorhynchus subspecies tested by exploiting PCR for growth hormone (GH) 1 gene.

Forecasting the declining rate of chronic hepatitis-B carrier status at a Taiwanese university: twenty years after implementation of an universal HBV vaccination program in Taiwan.

Background: Prior to the introduction of universal hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination in Taiwan in 1984, 15-20% of the general population were chronic HBV carriers.

Methods: We forecasted and quantified the declining HBV carrier rate 20 years subsequent to the implementation of universal HBV vaccination in Taiwan. At a Taiwanese university, 28,763 freshmen tested for serum HBsAg level were divided into ten age cohorts by date of birth, from July 1976 to June 1986 inclusive.

Cross-species and cross-compartmental aminoacylation of isoaccepting tRNAs by a class II tRNA synthetase.

It was previously shown that ALA1, the only alanyl-tRNA synthetase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, codes for two functionally exclusive protein isoforms through alternative initiation at two consecutive ACG codons and an in-frame downstream AUG. We reported here the cloning and characterization of a homologous gene from Candida albicans. Functional assays show that this gene can substitute for both the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial functions of ALA1 in S.

An unusual pattern of protein expression and localization of yeast alanyl-tRNA synthetase isoforms.

Previous studies have shown that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae the mitochondrial and cytoplasmic forms of alanyl-tRNA synthetase are encoded by a single nuclear gene, ALA1, through alternative use of in-frame successive ACG triplets and a downstream AUG triplet. Here we show that despite the obvious participation of the non-AUG-initiated leader peptide in mitochondrial localization, the leader peptide per se cannot target a cytoplasmic passenger protein into mitochondria under normal conditions. Functional mapping further shows that an efficient targeting signal is composed of the leader peptide and an 18-residue sequence downstream of Met1.