Elucidation of subfamily segregation and intramolecular coevolution of the olfactomedin-like proteins by comprehensive phylogenetic analysis and gene expression pattern assessment.

The categorization of genes by structural distinctions relevant to biological characteristics is very important for understanding of gene functions and predicting functional implications of uncharacterized genes. It was absolutely necessary to deploy an effective and efficient strategy to deal with the complexity of the large olfactomedin-like (OLF) gene family sharing sequence similarity but playing diversified roles in many important biological processes, as the simple highest-hit homology analysis gave incomprehensive results and led to inappropriate annotation for some uncharacterized OLF members. In light of evolutionary information that may facilitate the classification of the OLF family and proper association of novel OLF genes with characterized homologs, we performed phylogenetic analysis on all 116 OLF proteins currently available, including two novel members cloned by our group.

Wnt pathway is involved in pleomorphic adenomas induced by overexpression of PLAG1 in transgenic mice.

Pleomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) was found frequently rearranged and activated in human salivary gland pleomorphic adenomas. It encodes a developmentally regulated transcription factor. Ectopic overexpression of PLAG1 has been proposed to play a crucial role in tumorigenesis of salivary gland pleomorphic adenomas.

The existence of a putative regulatory element in 3'-untranslated region of proto-oncogene HOX11's mRNA.

HOX11 encodes a homeodomain-containing transcription factor which directs the development of the spleen during embryogenesis. While HOX11 expression is normally silenced through an unknown mechanism in all tissues by adulthood, the deregulation of HOX11 expression is associated with leukemia, such as T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The elucidation of regulatory elements contributing to the molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of HOX11 gene expression is of great importance.

Identification of a new target region by loss of heterozygosity at 5p15.33 in sporadic gastric carcinomas: genotype and phenotype related.

Chromosome 5p, especially 5p15, involves in several cancers. To investigate its role in gastric cancer, we analyzed 46 intestinal-type and 34 diffuse-type gastric cancers by Loss of heterozygosity (LOH). We found a high frequent LOH at 5p15.

Induction of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells by copolymer-I through activation of transcription factor Foxp3.

Copolymer-I (COP-I) has unique immune regulatory properties and is a treatment option for multiple sclerosis (MS). This study revealed that COP-I induced the conversion of peripheral CD4+CD25- to CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells through the activation of transcription factor Foxp3. COP-I treatment led to a significant increase in Foxp3 expression in CD4+ T cells in MS patients whose Foxp3 expression was reduced at baseline.

Intermittent high altitude hypoxia protects the heart against lethal Ca2+ overload injury.

Adaptation to intermittent high altitude (IHA) hypoxia can protect the heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury. In view of the fact that both Ca2+ paradox and ischemia-reperfusion injury are associated with the intracellular Ca2+ overload, we tested the hypothesis that IHA hypoxia may protect hearts against Ca2+ paradox-induced lethal injury if its cardioprotection bases on preventing the development of intracellular Ca2+ overload. Langendorff-perfused hearts from normoxic and IHA hypoxic rats were subjected to Ca2+ paradox (5 min of Ca2+ depletion followed by 30 min of Ca2+ repletion) and the functional, biochemical and pathological changes were investigated.

hOLF44, a secreted glycoprotein with distinct expression pattern, belongs to an uncharacterized olfactomedin-like subfamily newly identified by phylogenetic analysis.

Secreted proteins are indispensable for the development and differentiation of multicellular organisms. Cloning and characterization of novel or hypothetical genes encoding these proteins are therefore inviting great incentives. Using bioinformatics tools and experimental approaches, we isolated and characterized a human secreted glycoprotein, hOLF44, which contains a highly conserved olfactomedin-like (OLF) domain in the C-terminal.

Scd1ab-Xyk: a new asebia allele characterized by a CCC trinucleotide insertion in exon 5 of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 gene in mouse.

We describe here a spontaneous, autosomal recessive mutant mouse suffering from skin and hair defects, which arose in the outbred Kunming strain. By haplotype analysis and direct sequencing of PCR products, we show that this mutation is a new allele of the asebia locus with a naturally occurring mutation in the Scd1 gene (a CCC insertion at nucleotide position 835 in exon 5), which codes for stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1. This mutation introduces an extra proline residue at position 279 in the Scd1 protein.

The existence of a putative post-transcriptional regulatory element in 3'-UTR of Drosophila antibacterial peptide diptericin's mRNA.

Antibacterial peptides' genes are rapidly and transiently expressed on immune stimulation, which is the characteristic of immediate early genes. It implies post-transcriptional regulation is an important pathway in antibacterial peptides' gene expression. In a search of putative post-transcriptional regulatory elements, we found a segment of an AU-rich sequence in 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of drosophila diptericin mRNA.

A 3-nucleotide deletion in the polypyrimidine tract of intron 7 of the DFNA5 gene causes nonsyndromic hearing impairment in a Chinese family.

Nonsyndromic inherited hearing impairment is genetically heterogeneous. Up to now, approximately 51 autosomal dominant loci implicated in nonsyndromic forms of hearing impairment have been reported in humans and 17 causative genes have been identified. Skipping of exon 8 in the DFNA5 gene has been shown to cause hearing impairment in a Dutch family.

Mutation analysis of 20 SARS virus genome sequences: evidence for negative selection in replicase ORF1b and spike gene.

Aim: Recently, more SARS-CoV virus genome sequences are released to the GenBank database. The aim of this study is to reveal the evolution forces of SARS-CoV virus by analyzing the nucleotide mutations in these sequences.

Methods: We obtained 20 SARS-CoV virus genome sequences from NCBI database, and calculated the ratio of non-synonymous nucleotide substitution per non-synonymous site (Ka) and synonymous nucleotide substitution per synonymous site (Ks) for SARS-CoV virus genes.