Novel genetic associations with five aesthetic facial traits: A genome-wide association study in the Chinese population.

The aesthetic facial traits are closely related to life quality and strongly influenced by genetic factors, but the genetic predispositions in the Chinese population remain poorly understood. A genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and subsequent validations were performed in 26,806 Chinese on five facial traits: widow's peak, unibrow, double eyelid, earlobe attachment, and freckles. Functional annotation was performed based on the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) variants, genome-wide polygenic scores (GPSs) were developed to represent the combined polygenic effects, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability was presented to evaluate the contributions of the variants.

A genome-wide association study on photic sneeze reflex in the Chinese population.

Photic sneeze reflex (PSR) is an interesting but yet mysterious phenotype featured by individuals' response of sneezing in exposure to bright light. To uncover the underlying genetic markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs), a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted exclusively in a Chinese population of 3417 individuals (PSR prevalence at 25.6%), and reproducibly identified both a replicative rs10427255 on 2q22.

Fluorophore Absorption Size Exclusion Chromatography (FA-SEC): An Alternative Method for High-Throughput Detergent Screening of Membrane Proteins.

Membrane proteins play key roles in many fundamental functions in cells including ATP synthesis, ion and molecule transporter, cell signalling and enzymatic reactions, accounting for ~30% genes of whole genomes. However, the hydrophobic nature of membrane proteins frequently hampers the progress of structure determination. Detergent screening is the critical step in obtaining stable detergent-solubilized membrane proteins and well-diffracting protein crystals.

Structural Insights into the Distinct Binding Mode of Cyclic Di-AMP with SaCpaA_RCK.

Cyclic di-AMP (c-di-AMP) is a relatively new member of the family of bacterial cyclic dinucleotide second messengers. It has attracted significant attention in recent years because of the abundant roles it plays in a variety of Gram-positive bacteria. The structural features that allow diverse bacterial proteins to bind c-di-AMP are not fully understood.