SNP Fingerprinting for Germplasm Identification of the Fast-Growing Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) "Haida No. 1" Variety.

The Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is a global aquaculture species of economic significance. Selective breeding programs have been conducted to produce multiple strains with fast growth as well as other desirable traits. However, due to the phenotypic plasticity of oysters, challenges existed for precise germplasm identification among selectively bred strains.

Integrative proteome and metabolome analyses reveal molecular basis underlying growth and nutrient composition in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

In order to comprehend the molecular basis of growth, nutrient composition, and color pigmentation in oysters, comparative proteome and metabolome analyses of two selectively bred oyster strains with contrasting growth rate and shell color were used in this study. A total of 289 proteins and 224 metabolites were identified differentially expressed between the two strains. We identified a series of specifically enriched functional clusters implicated in protein biosynthesis (RPL4, MRPS7, and CARS), fatty acid metabolism (ACSL5, PEX3, ACOXI, CPTIA, FABP6, and HSD17B12), energy metabolism (FH, PPP1R7, CLAM2, and RGN), cell proliferation (MYB, NFYC, DOHH, TOP2a, SMARCA5, and SMARCC2), material transport (ABCB1, ABCB8, VPS16, and VPS33a), and pigmentation (RDH7, RDH13, Retsat, COX15, and Cyp3a9).

Integrated analysis of mRNAs and lncRNAs reveals candidate marker genes and potential hub lncRNAs associated with growth regulation of the Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

Background: The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, is an economically important shellfish around the world. Great efforts have been made to improve its growth rate through genetic breeding. However, the candidate marker genes, pathways, and potential lncRNAs involved in oyster growth regulation remain largely unknown.

Structural and expression analysis of the dopamine receptors reveals their crucial roles in regulating the insulin signaling pathway in oysters.

Dopamine performs its critical role upon binding to receptors. Since dopamine receptors are numerous and versatile, understanding their protein structures and evolution status, and identifying the key receptors involved in the modulation of insulin signaling will provide essential clues to investigate the molecular mechanism of neuroendocrine regulating the growth in invertebrates. In this study, seven dopamine receptors were identified in the Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and were classified into four subtypes according to their protein secondary and tertiary structures, and ligand-binding activities.

Comparative Methylome Analysis Reveals Epigenetic Signatures Associated with Growth and Shell Color in the Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

Fast growth is one of the most important breeding goals for all economic species such as the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), an aquaculture mollusk with top global production. Although the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of growth-related traits have been widely investigated in the oyster, the role of DNA methylation involved in growth regulation remains largely unexplored. In this study, we performed a comparative DNA methylome analysis of two selectively bred C.

Silver nanoclusters show advantages in macrophage tracing in vivo and modulation of anti-tumor immuno-microenvironment.

Macrophage-based nanomedicine represents an emerging powerful strategy for cancer therapy. Unfortunately, some obstacles and challenges limit the translational applications of macrophage-mediated nanodrug delivery system. For instance, tracking and effective cell delivery for targeted tumor sites remain to be overcome, and controlling the states of macrophages is still rather difficult due to their plastic nature in response to external stimuli.

Palladium Nanoplate-Based IL-6 Receptor Antagonists Ameliorate Cancer-Related Anemia and Simultaneously Inhibit Cancer Progression.

In recent years, targeted therapies and immunotherapeutics, along with conventional chemo- and radiotherapy, have greatly improved cancer treatments. Unfortunately, in cancer patients, anemia, either as a complication of cancer progression or as the result of cancer treatment, undermines the expected therapeutic efficacy. Here, we developed a smart nanosystem based on the palladium nanoplates (PdPLs) to deliver tocilizumab (TCZ, a widely used IL-6R antibody) to the liver for specific blockade of IL-6/IL-6R signaling to correct anemia.

Profiling CD8 T cell epitopes of COVID-19 convalescents reveals reduced cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Cellular immunity is important in determining the disease severity of COVID-19 patients. However, current understanding of SARS-CoV-2 epitopes mediating cellular immunity is limited. Here we apply T-Scan, a recently developed method, to identify CD8 T cell epitopes from COVID-19 patients of four major HLA-A alleles.

Crosstalk between dopamine and insulin signaling in growth control of the oyster.

Neuroendocrine hormones such as dopamine and insulin/insulin-like peptides play indispensable roles in growth regulation of animals, while the interplay between dopamine and insulin signaling pathways remains largely unknown in invertebrates. In the present study, we showed that tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme of dopamine synthesis, was highly expressed in all tissues of the fast-growing oysters, and gradually increased with the development, which indicated the potential role of dopamine in growth regulation. Incubated with dopamine hydrochloride and insulin-like peptide recombinant proteins in vitro induced the expression of TH, suggesting a mutual regulatory relationship between insulin and dopamine signaling.

Physiological role of CYP17A1-like in cadmium detoxification and its transcriptional regulation in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most harmful heavy metals due to its persistence and bioaccumulation through the food chains, posing health risks to human. Oysters can bioaccumulate and tolerate high concentrations of Cd, providing a great model for studying molecular mechanism of Cd detoxification. In a previous study, we identified two CYP genes, CYP17A1-like and CYP2C50, that were potentially involved in Cd detoxification in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

Insulin-Like Peptide Receptor-Mediated Signaling Pathways Orchestrate Regulation of Growth in the Pacific Oyster (), as Revealed by Gene Expression Profiles.

The involvement of insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathways in the growth regulation of marine invertebrates remains largely unexplored. In this study, we used a fast-growing Pacific oyster () variety "Haida No.1" as the material with which to unravel the role of IIS systems in growth regulation in oysters.

Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) Channels in the Pacific Oyster (): Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Profiling after Heat Stress between and .

Transmembrane proteins are involved in an array of stress responses, particularly in thermo-sensation and thermo-regulation. In this study, we performed a genome-wide identification and characterization of the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) genes in the Pacific oyster () and investigated their expression profiles after heat stress to identify critical TRPs potentially associated with thermal regulation. A total of 66 TRP genes were identified in the , which showed significant gene expansion and tandem duplication.

Identification, characterization, and expression profiles of insulin-like peptides suggest their critical roles in growth regulation of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathway is well-known in regulation of cell growth and proliferation in vertebrates, while its role in invertebrates such as mollusks remains largely unknown. In this study, we performed an extensive multi-omics data mining and identified four insulin-like peptide genes, including ILP, MIRP3, MIRP3-like and ILP7, in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Their potential roles in growth regulation were further investigated using the selectively bred fast-growing C.

Carbon Monoxide Promotes the Catalytic Hydrogenation on Metal Cluster Catalysts.

Size effect plays a crucial role in catalytic hydrogenation. The highly dispersed ultrasmall clusters with a limited number of metal atoms are one candidate of the next generation catalysts that bridge the single-atom metal catalysts and metal nanoparticles. However, for the unfavorable electronic property and their interaction with the substrates, they usually exhibit sluggish activity.

Diethyldithiocarbamate-copper nanocomplex reinforces disulfiram chemotherapeutic efficacy through light-triggered nuclear targeting.

To circumvent the huge cost, long R&D time and the difficulty to identify the targets of new drugs, repurposing the ones that have been clinically approved has been considered as a viable strategy to treat different diseases. In the current study, we outlined the rationale for repurposing disulfiram (DSF, an old alcohol-aversion drug) to treat primary breast cancer and its metastases. To overcome a few shortcomings of the individual administration of DSF, such as the dependence on copper ions (Cu) and limited capability in selective targeting, we here artificially synthesized the active form of DSF, diethyldithiocarbamate (DTC)-Cu complex (CuET) for cancer therapeutics.

Fractal Patterns in Nucleation and Growth of Icosahedral Core of [Au Ag(SCHF)] ( n = 0-12) via ab Initio Synthesis: Continuously Tunable Composition Control.

An ab initio one-pot synthesis of the bimetallic clusters [Au Ag(SCHF)] (abbreviated (AuAg); n ≤ 12) is reported. The mixed-metal (AuAg) clusters, synthesized with different reactant Au/Ag ratios, exhibit a fractal-like distribution, suggesting that nucleation of the icosahedral core is a fractal growth process. X-ray crystallographic studies provided unambiguous evidence that the doped Au atoms occupy the icosahedral sites and the maximal doping is 12.

Bulky Surface Ligands Promote Surface Reactivities of [AgX(S-Adm)] (X = Cl, Br, I) Nanoclusters: Models for Multiple-Twinned Nanoparticles.

Surface ligands play important roles in controlling the size and shape of metal nanoparticles and their surface properties. In this work, we demonstrate that the use of bulky thiolate ligands, along with halides, as the surface capping agent promotes the formation of plasmonic multiple-twinned Ag nanoparticles with high surface reactivities. The title nanocluster [AgX(S-Adm)] (where X = Cl, Br, I; S-Adm = 1-adamantanethiolate) has a multiple-shell structure with an Ag core protected by a shell of AgX(S-Adm).

Peculiar holes on checkerboard facets of a trigonal prismatic AuAg(SPhCl)(PPh) cluster caused by steric hindrance and magic electron count.

We report herein the synthesis and structure of a 45-atom trigonal-prismatic Au-Ag bimetallic nanocluster, formulated as AuAg(SPhCl)(PPh), based on single-crystal X-ray crystallographic determination. The structure can be described as a core-shell structure with a tricapped trigonal prismatic (ttp1) Au core encaged in a larger (frequency-two) tricapped trigonal prismatic (ttp2) Ag shell. The cluster is terminated by six Ag(PPh) moieties which, along with ttp2 and 27 thiolates, constitute the outer trigonal-prismatic (TP) shell.

Site Preference in Multimetallic Nanoclusters: Incorporation of Alkali Metal Ions or Copper Atoms into the Alkynyl-Protected Body-Centered Cubic Cluster [Au Ag (C≡C Bu) ].

The synthesis, structure, substitution chemistry, and optical properties of the gold-centered cubic monocationic cluster [Au@Ag @Au (C≡C Bu) ] are reported. The metal framework of this cluster can be described as a fragment of a body-centered cubic (bcc) lattice with the silver and gold atoms occupying the vertices and the body center of the cube, respectively. The incorporation of alkali metal atoms gave rise to [M Ag Au (C≡C Bu) ] clusters (n=1 for M=Na, K, Rb, Cs and n=2 for M=K, Rb), with the alkali metal ion(s) presumably occupying the vertex site(s), whereas the incorporation of copper atoms produced [Cu Ag Au (C≡C Bu) ] clusters (n=1-6), with the Cu atom(s) presumably occupying the capping site(s).

Atomically Precise Alkynyl-Protected Metal Nanoclusters as a Model Catalyst: Observation of Promoting Effect of Surface Ligands on Catalysis by Metal Nanoparticles.

Metal nanoclusters whose surface ligands are removable while keeping their metal framework structures intact are an ideal system for investigating the influence of surface ligands on catalysis of metal nanoparticles. We report in this work an intermetallic nanocluster containing 62 metal atoms, Au34Ag28(PhC≡C)34, and its use as a model catalyst to explore the importance of surface ligands in promoting catalysis. As revealed by single-crystal diffraction, the 62 metal atoms in the cluster are arranged as a four-concentric-shell Ag@Au17@Ag27@Au17 structure.