Publications by authors named "ZhiGuo Wei"

Carbohydrates are the main source of nutrition for , supplying energy for cell growth and development. The research aimed at investigating the mechanism of starch on the growth and replication of . Single-cell separation was used to isolate single trophozoites of under a stereomicroscope, transcriptomic profiling was conducted based on the SMART-seq2 single-cell RNA-seq method.

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Background: Melanoma is a malignant tumor with a high mortality rate. Some microorganisms have been shown to activate the immune system and limit cancer progression. The objective of this study is to evaluate the anti-melanoma effect of Neospora caninum, a livestock pathogen with no pathogenic activity in humans.

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Acute ischemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced brain injury is further exacerbated by a series of slower secondary pathogenic events, including delayed apoptosis due to neurotrophic factor deficiency. Neuritin, a neurotrophic factor regulating nervous system development and plasticity, is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of IR injury. In this study, Neuritin-overexpressing transgenic (Tg) mice were produced by pronuclear injection and offspring with high overexpression used to generate a line with stable inheritance for testing the neuroprotective capacity of Neuritin against transient global ischemia (TGI).

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Article Synopsis
  • Balantioides coli is the only ciliate known to infect humans and is mainly found in swine but has also been detected in other mammals, including guinea pigs.
  • A study examined 32 guinea pigs from pet markets in Luoyang, China, finding ciliate-like cysts in their feces with a 62.5% prevalence.
  • Molecular analysis revealed that these cysts belonged to B. coli with two genetic variants, with variant A being more prevalent, marking the first identification of this pathogen in guinea pigs.
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Macrophage polarization contributes to obesity-induced insulin resistance. Glucose-regulated protein 94 (GRP94) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone specialized for folding and quality control of secreted and membrane proteins. To determine the role of GRP94 in macrophage polarization and insulin resistance, macrophage-specific GRP94 conditional knockout (KO) mice were challenged with a high-fat diet (HFD).

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and infections can cause reproductive failure in animals, including goats, and toxoplasmosis is one of the most important foodborne diseases. However, information on the molecular prevalence and genetic characterization of and in the tissues of goats in China is limited. In this study, brain samples of 422 slaughtered goats were collected from slaughterhouses in Henan and Anhui provinces, Central China, and examined for the presence of and by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on and genes, respectively.

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Based on the latest assembly of the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) genome sequence, we characterized the detailed genomic organization of the T cell receptor beta (TCRβ) locus of chicken. The chicken TCRβ locus spans approximately 210 kb, and is organized in a typical translocon organization as previously reported. Within this locus, a total of 16 germline Vβ gene segments were classified into three subgroups, containing 11, four, and one members, respectively.

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Our previous study has discovered the positive effect of phospholipase Cγ 2 (PLCγ2) on the growth of hepatocarcinoma cells; however, the underlying mechanism is far from being understood. For this reason, this study attempts to identify the differently expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in PLCγ2-overexpressing hepatocarcinoma cells. The results showed that totally 596 differently-expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in PLCγ2-expressed cells, including 314 upregulated and 282 downregulated ones; according to gene ontology analysis, these DEGs were involved in different cellular processes.

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A novel multi-stage-constant-current (MS-CC) charging protocol, which charges high-energy-density lithium-ion cells (LICs) at a faster rate, is presented herein. In this work, the 0-80% state of charge (SoC), according to the maximum charging rate, yields acceptable results for different SoCs, and the charging process is divided into three parts. Twelve groups of experiments are designed under the desired conditions of avoiding lithium plating and using a charging time of less than 36 min, and 1.

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Cattle are the intermediate hosts for five Sarcocystis species including S. hominis and S. heydorni, which also infect humans.

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Buxtonella species are large cyst-forming ciliates that infect ruminants and monkeys, and are morphologically similar to Balantidium coli ciliates that infect pigs, humans, monkeys, and other animals. In this study, we isolated spherical cysts of ciliates that were similar to those of Balantidium and Buxtonella species within collared mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) from the Wangcheng Zoo of Luoyang in the Henan Province of central China. The cysts were further identified and designated as belonging to the Buxtonella monkey genotype based on molecular analyses of 18S rRNA, 5.

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Resistin is associated with metabolic syndrome and deciphering its developmental and molecular mechanisms may help the development of new treatments. MiRNAs serve as negative regulators in many physiological and pathological processes. Here, miRNA microarrays were used to detect differences in expression between resistin-treated and control mice, and results showed miR-34a to be upregulated by resistin.

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Lungfish (Dipnoi) are the closest living relatives to tetrapods, and they represent the transition from water to land during vertebrate evolution. Lungfish are armed with immunoglobulins (Igs), one of the hallmarks of the adaptive immune system of jawed vertebrates, but only three Ig forms have been characterized in Dipnoi to date. We report here a new diversity of Ig molecules in two African lungfish species (Protopterus dolloi and Protopterus annectens).

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Crocodilians are a group of reptiles that are closely related to birds and are thought to possess a strong immune system. Here we report that the IgH locus in the Siamese crocodile and the Chinese alligator contains multiple μ genes, in contrast to other tetrapods. Both the μ2 and μ3 genes are expressed through class-switch recombination involving the switch region and germline transcription.

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For decades, it has remained unknown whether artiodactyls, such as cattle, pigs, and sheep, express immunoglobulin D (IgD), although the δ gene was identified in these species nearly 10 years ago. By developing a mouse anti-bovine IgD heavy chain monoclonal antibody (13C2), we show that secreted bovine IgD was present mainly as a monomer in serum and was heavily glycosylated by N-linked saccharides. Nonetheless, IgD was detectable in some but not all of the Holstein cattle examined.

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IgY(ΔFc), containing only CH1 and CH2 domains, is expressed in the serum of some birds and reptiles, such as ducks and turtles. The duck IgY(ΔFc) is produced by the same υ gene that expresses the intact IgY form (CH1-4) using different transcriptional termination sites. In this study, we show that intact IgY and IgY(ΔFc) are encoded by distinct genes in the red-eared turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans).

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This review focuses on the diversity of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes and Ig isotypes that are expressed in domestic animals. Four livestock species-cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses-express a full range of Ig heavy chains (IgHs), including μ, δ, γ, ϵ, and α. Two poultry species (chickens and ducks) express three IgH isotypes, μ, υ, and α, but not δ.

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Mutation of mevalonate kinase (MVK) is thought to account for most cases of hyperimmunoglobulinemia D syndrome (HIDS) with recurrent fever. However, its mechanism and the relationship between elevated serum immunoglobulin D (IgD) and the clinical features of HIDS are unclear. In this study, we generated by fusion PCR a vector to express high levels of chimeric secretory IgD (csIgD) specifically in the liver.

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Previous studies on the immunoglobulin (Ig) genes in avian species are limited (mainly to galliformes and anseriformes) but have revealed several interesting features, including the absence of the IgD and Igκ encoding genes, inversion of the IgA encoding gene and the use of gene conversion as the primary mechanism to generate an antibody repertoire. To better understand the Ig genes and their evolutionary development in birds, we analyzed the Ig genes in the ostrich (Struthio camelus), which is one of the most primitive birds. Similar to the chicken and duck, the ostrich expressed only three IgH chain isotypes (IgM, IgA and IgY) and λ light chains.

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In the past several decades, immunoglobulin (Ig) genes have been extensively characterized in many tetrapod species. This review focuses on the expressed Ig isotypes and the diversity of Ig genes in mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. With regard to heavy chains, five Ig isotypes - IgM, IgD, IgG, IgA, and IgE - have been reported in mammals.

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Pyrolytic characteristics of acid hydrolysis residue (AHR) of corncob and pinewood (CAHR, WAHR) were investigated using a thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and a self-designed pyrolysis apparatus. Gasification reactivity of CAHR char was then examined using TGA and X-ray diffractometer. Result of TGA showed that thermal degradation curves of AHR descended smoothly along with temperature increasing from 150 °C to 850 °C, while a "sharp mass loss stage" for original biomass feedstock (OBF) was observed.

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Immunoglobulin D (IgD) was recently suggested to be an ancient Ig class, as old as IgM, arising approximately 500 million years ago. Its encoding gene has now been identified in nearly all classes of jawed vertebrates (except birds). Variance in the number of CH encoding exons and alternative RNA splicing confers this Ig class a marked structural plasticity, which differs substantially from IgM.

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The reptiles are the last major taxon of jawed vertebrates in which immunoglobulin light chain isotypes have not been well characterized. Using the recently released genome sequencing data, we show in this study that the reptile Anolis carolinensis expresses both lambda and kappa light chain genes. The genomic organization of both gene loci is structurally similar to their respective counterparts in mammals.

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The reptiles are the last major group of jawed vertebrates in which the organization of the IGH locus and its encoded Ig H chain isotypes have not been well characterized. In this study, we show that the green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis) expresses three Ig H chain isotypes (IgM, IgD, and IgY) but no IgA. The presence of the delta gene in the lizard demonstrates an evolutionary continuity of IgD from fishes to mammals.

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The evolutionary origins of mammalian immunoglobulin H chain isotypes (IgM, IgD, IgG, IgE, and IgA) are still incompletely understood as these isotypes differ considerably in structure and number from their counterparts in nonmammalian tetrapods. We report in this study that the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) Ig H chain constant region gene locus contains eight Ig encoding genes, which are arranged in an mu-delta-omicron-gamma2-gamma1-alpha1-epsilon-alpha2 order, spanning a total of approximately 200 kb DNA, encoding six distinct isotypes. The omicron (omicron for Ornithorhynchus) gene encodes a novel Ig H chain isotype that consists of four constant region domains and a hinge, and is structurally different from any of the five known mammalian Ig classes.

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