LncRNA SNHG16 Drives PD-L1-Mediated Immune Escape in Colorectal Cancer through Regulating miR-324-3p/ELK4 Signaling.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy that claims the life of many patients. Nucleolar RNA host gene 16 (SNHG16) has been identified as an oncogene in CRC development. However, the role and mechanism of SNHG16 in CRC remain unclear.

Evaluation of osteogenic properties of a novel injectable bone-repair material containing strontium and .

This study aims to develop and evaluate the biocompatibility and osteogenic potential of a novel injectable strontium-doped hydroxyapatite bone-repair material. The properties of strontium-doped hydroxyapatite/chitosan (Sr-HA/CS), hydroxyapatite/chitosan (HA/CS) and calcium phosphate/chitosan (CAP/CS) were assessed following their preparation via physical cross-linking and a one-step simplified method. Petri dishes containing and were inoculated with the material for investigations.

Proteomics analysis of enzyme systems and pathway changes during the moromi fermentation of soy sauce mash.

Background: During the brewing of soy sauce, the conversion of multiple substances is driven by various microorganisms and their secreted enzyme systems. Soy sauce mash is an important source of enzyme systems during moromi fermentation, but the changes of enzyme systems in soy sauce mash during moromi fermentation are poorly understood. In order to explore the predominant enzyme systems existing during moromi fermentation and to explain the characteristics of the enzyme system changes, an enzymatic activities assay and 4D-label-free proteomics analysis were conducted on soy sauce mash at different stages of fermentation.

Large-scale genomic rearrangements boost SCRaMbLE in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Synthetic Chromosome Rearrangement and Modification by LoxP-mediated Evolution (SCRaMbLE) is a promising tool to study genomic rearrangements. However, the potential of SCRaMbLE to study genomic rearrangements is currently hindered, because a strain containing all 16 synthetic chromosomes is not yet available. Here, we construct SparLox83R, a yeast strain containing 83 loxPsym sites distributed across all 16 chromosomes.

Decoding temperature-driven microbial community changes and flavor regulation mechanism during winter fermentation of soy sauce.

The flavor regulation of soy sauce fermented in winter is imminent challenge for the industry, while fermentation temperature is considered as an effective method to fortify soy sauce flavor. Thus, industrial-level fermentation systems with controlled temperature at 30°C (SSCT) and regular temperature (SSRT) in winter were designed to elucidate molecular basis and microbial regulatory mechanism of temperature-controlled flavor enhancement of soy sauce. Sensory evaluation suggested 30°C fermentation enhanced caramel-like, floral, fruity, roasted nut and smoky aroma.

[Research progress on biocomposites based on bioactive glass].

Bioactive glass (BG) has been widely used in the preparation of artificial bone scaffolds due to its excellent biological properties and non-cytotoxicity, which can promote bone and soft tissue regeneration. However, due to the brittleness, poor mechanical strength, easy agglomeration and uncontrollable structure of glass material, its application in various fields is limited. In this regard, most current researches mainly focus on mixing BG with organic or inorganic materials by freeze-drying method, sol-gel method, .

Flavor differences of soybean and defatted soybean fermented soy sauce and its correlation with the enzyme profiles of the kojis.

Background: Soybeans and defatted soybeans, commonly used as protein ingredients, have different flavors of their fermented soy sauce. Clarifying the differences between the two soy sauces, as well as the formation mechanism, is an important prerequisite for improving the flavor of defatted soybean soy sauce. To this goal, the aroma characteristics of two soy sauces and their volatile profiles were compared by sensory evaluation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and eight enzyme activities and volatile profiles of matured koji were determined.

The Relationship between Osteoinduction and Vascularization: Comparing the Ectopic Bone Formation of Five Different Calcium Phosphate Biomaterials.

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the bone induction of five kinds of calcium phosphate (Ca-P) biomaterials implanted in mice and explore the vascularization and particle-size-related osteoinductive mechanism. Methods: The following five kinds of Ca-P biomaterials including hydroxyapatite (HA) and/or tricalcium phosphate (TCP) were implanted in the muscle of 30 BALB/c mice (n = 6): 20 nm HA (20HA), 60 nm HA (60HA), 12 µm HA (12HA), 100 nm TCP (100TCP) and 12 µm HA + 100 nm TCP (HATCP). Then, all animals were put on a treadmill to run 30 min at a 6 m/h speed each day.

Wicket: A Versatile Tool for the Integration and Optimization of Exogenous Pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Yeast can be used as a microbial cell factory to produce valuable chemicals. However, introducing an exogenous pathway into particular or different chromosomal locations for stable expression is still a daunting task. To address this issue, we designed a DNA cassette called a "wicket", which can be integrated into the yeast genome at designated loci to accept exogenous DNA upon excision by a nuclease.

Engineering the ribosomal DNA in a megabase synthetic chromosome.

We designed and synthesized a 976,067-base pair linear chromosome, synXII, based on native chromosome XII in SynXII was assembled using a two-step method, specified by successive megachunk integration and meiotic recombination-mediated assembly, producing a functional chromosome in Minor growth defect "bugs" detected in synXII, caused by deletion of tRNA genes, were rescued by introducing an ectopic copy of a single tRNA gene. The ribosomal gene cluster (rDNA) on synXII was left intact during the assembly process and subsequently replaced by a modified rDNA unit used to regenerate rDNA at three distinct chromosomal locations. The signature sequences within rDNA, which can be used to determine species identity, were swapped to generate a synXII strain that would be identified as by standard DNA barcoding procedures.

PyMut: A Web Tool for Overlapping Gene Loss-of-Function Mutation Design.

Loss-of-function study is an effective approach to research gene functions. However, currently most of such studies have ignored an important problem (in this paper, we call it "off-target" problem), that is, if the target gene is an overlapping gene (A gene whose expressible nucleotides overlaps with that of another one), loss-of-function mutation by deleting the complete open reading frame (ORF) may also cause the gene it overlaps lose function, resulting a phenotype which may be rather different from that of single gene deletion. Therefore, when doing such studies, the loss-of-function mutations should be carefully designed to guarantee only the function of the target gene will be abolished.

Engineered TAL Effector modulators for the large-scale gain-of-function screening.

Recent effective use of TAL Effectors (TALEs) has provided an important approach to the design and synthesis of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. However, it is still a challenging task to design and manufacture effective TALE modulators because of the limited knowledge of TALE-DNA interactions. Here we synthesized more than 200 TALE modulators and identified two determining factors of transcription activity in vivo: chromatin accessibility and the distance from the transcription start site.