甲基乙二醛诱导牙周膜成纤维细胞基因表达与分析

运用基因芯片研究甲基乙二醛诱导人牙周膜成纤维细胞基因表达谱的变化。原代培养人牙周膜成纤维细胞,诱导组以终质量浓度为0.1 g/L的甲基乙二醛刺激培养细胞,对照组不含甲基乙二醛。24 h后收获细胞,提取mRNA,逆转录cDNA时用Cy3和Cy5荧光染料标记,制备成cDNA探针,与表达谱芯片进行杂交、扫描和分析。芯片检测结果用实时定量聚合酶链反应验证和生物信息学分析。结果共有18条基因显著差异表达,其中上调基因有11条,下调基因有7条,差异性表达的基因按功能可分为程序性细胞死亡、信号转导、细胞因子、代谢酶类、载体蛋白和未知基因等。与程序性细胞死亡、信号转导和细胞因子相关基因的差异表达可能是甲基乙二醛通过线粒体信号通路,诱导人牙周膜成纤维程序性细胞死亡,破坏牙周组织增生,从而导致牙周病发生的机制。     

A support for the identification of non-tryptic peptides based on low resolution tandem and sequential mass spectrometry data: The INSPIRE software

A simple software, to be used as an aid in the identification of non-tryptic peptides based on low resolution (3D-ion trap) tandem (MS/MS) and sequential (MS³) mass spectrometry data, is presented.     

Bioinformatics analysis of a non-specific nuclease from Yersinia enterocolitica subsp. palearctica

In this paper, the physical and chemical characteristics, biological structure and function of a non-specific nuclease from Yersinia enterocolitica subsp. palearctica (Y. NSN) found in our group were studied using multiple bioinformatics approaches. The results showed that Y. NSN had 283 amino acids, a weight of 30,692.5 ku and a certain hydrophilic property. Y. NSN had a signal peptide, no transmembrane domains and disulphide bonds. Cleavage site in Y. NSN was between pos. 23 and 24. The prediction result of the secondary structure showed Y. NSN was a coil structure-based protein. The ratio of α-helix, β-folded and random coil were 18.73%, 16.96% and 64.31%, respectively. Active sites were pos. 124, 125, 127, 157, 165 and 169. Mg²⁺ binding site was pos. 157. Substrate binding sites were pos. 124, 125 and 169. The analysis of multisequencing alignment and phylogenetic tree indicated that Y. NSN shared high similarity with the nuclease from Y. enterocolitica subsp. enterocolitica 8081. The enzyme activity results showed that Y. NSN was a nuclease with good thermostability.     

Identification of key genes of hesperidin in inhibition of breast cancer stem cells by functional network analysis

Breast cancer therapy with classical chemotherapy is unable to eradicate breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs). Loss of p53 function causes growth and differentiation in cancer stem cells (CSCs); therefore, p53-targeted compounds can be developed for BCSCs-targeted drugs. Previously, hesperidin (HES), a citrus flavonoid, showed anticancer activities and increased efficacy of chemotherapy in several types of cancer in vitro and in vivo. This study was aimed to explore the key protein and molecular mechanism of hesperidin in the inhibition of BCSCs using bioinformatics and in vitro study. Bioinformatics analysis revealed about 75 potential therapeutic target proteins of HES in BCSCs (TH), in which TP53 was the only direct target protein (DTP) with a high degree score. Furthermore, the results of GO enrichment analysis showed that TH was taken part in the biological process of regulation of apoptosis and cell cycle. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis also showed that TH is involved in several pathways, including cell cycle, p53 signaling pathway. In vitro experiment results showed that HES inhibited cell proliferation, mammosphere, and a colony formation, and migration in on MCF-7 3D cells (mammospheres). HES induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in MCF-7 cells 3D. In addition, HES treatment reduced the mRNA level of p21 but increased the mRNA level of cyclin D1 and p53 in the mammosphere. HES inhibits BCSCs in mammospheres. More importantly, this study highlighted p53 as a key protein in inhibition of BCSCs by HES. Future studies on the molecular mechanism are needed to validate the results of this study.     

In silico analysis of proteins and microRNAs related to human African trypanosomiasis in tsetse fly

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, causes millions of deaths worldwide. HAT is primarily transmitted by the vector tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans). Early diagnosis remains a key objective for treating this disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved small non-coding RNAs that play key roles in vector-borne diseases. To date, the roles of proteins and miRNAs in HAT disease have not been thoroughly elucidated. In this study, we have re-annotated the function of protein-coding genes and identified several miRNAs based on a series of bioinformatics tools. A batch of 81.1 % of tsetse fly proteins could be determined homology in mosquito genome, suggesting their probable similar mechanisms in vector-borne diseases. A set of 11 novel salivary proteins and 14 midgut proteins were observed in the tsetse fly, which could be applied to the development of vaccine candidates for the control of HAT disease. In addition, 35 novel miRNAs were identified, among which 10 miRNAs were found to be unique in tsetse fly. Pathway analysis of these 10 miRNAs indicated that targets of miR-15a-5p were significantly enriched in the HAT-related neurotrophin signaling pathway. Besides, topological analysis of the miRNA-gene network indicated that miR-619-5p and miR-2490-3p targeted several genes that respond to trypanosome infection, including thioester-containing protein Tep1 and heat shock protein Hsp60a. In conclusion, our work helps to elucidate the function of miRNAs in tsetse fly and establishes a foundation for further investigations into the molecular regulatory mechanisms of HAT disease.     

Bow-tie topological features of metabolic networks and the functional significance

Exploring the structural topology of genome-based large-scale metabolic network is essential for in- vestigating possible relations between structure and functionality.Visualization would be helpful for obtaining immediate information about structural organization.In this work,metabolic networks of 75 organisms were investigated from a topological point of view.A spread bow-tie model was proposed to give a clear visualization of the bow-tie structure for metabolic networks.The revealed topological pattern helps to design more efficient algorithm specifically for metabolic networks.This coarse- grained graph also visualizes the vulnerable connections in the network,and thus could have important implication for disease studies and drug target identifications.In addition,analysis on the reciprocal links and main cores in the GSC part of bow-tie also reveals that the bow-tie structure of metabolic networks has its own intrinsic and significant features which are significantly different from those of random networks.     

A C + + computational environment for biomolecular sequence management

The wide production of biomolecular data of the last 30 years, mainly due to the rapid evolving of technologies as well as to the accomplishment of the Genome Projects, led to the necessity of appropriate computational approaches for data storage, manipulation and analyses, giving place to a fast evolving area of Biology: Computational Biology or Bioinformatics.We propose here a new method for the storage of the sequences and their analyses using the C + + programming language, checking the effectiveness of an object oriented approach for new models, suitable to manage data representation and analyses, to improve the efficiency of computational methodologies to solve problems of general interest in bioinformatics. We developed a framework with the aim to decrease the computational costs for the storage and some basic manipulations of nucleic acid sequences. The remarkable reduction of memory requirements with no loss of efficiency makes this approach a first well promising step in order to get a more efficient environment for the manipulation and the management of nucleic acid data sets, in a field of research with hard challenges for Computer and Life Sciences.Mathematics Subject Classification: 68U99G. Toraldo, via Universita’ 100, 80055 Portici, Napoli, Italy     

面向Yarn规范的蛋白质折叠模拟计算并行化算法

为了提高生物信息学中蛋白质折叠模拟计算的速度,提出了面向Yarn(Yet Another Resource Negotiator)规范的蛋白质折叠模拟计算并行化算法Yarn_PERM。分析了蛋白质折叠的格点模型PERM算法的运行流程及其面向Map-Reduce的子任务划分方式。Yarn_PERM算法实现采用Hadoop2.0的Yarn框架作为工作平台,其资源的分配与调度、应用子任务的申请和子任务的具体执行都由Yarn来透明的完成;描述了Yarn_PERM算法的Map程序与Reduce程序及主控程序的功能实现。选择了一个有代表性的蛋白质序列数据作为案例程序进行了测试。实验结果表明：在相同的时间内Yarn_PERM比PERM串行计算、Map-Reduce的PERMS计算在能量最低寻优的吞吐量上明显增加,加速比和可扩展性上也有明显的优势。     

光谱法研究鸡蛋溶菌酶热变性与免疫原性的关系

利用圆二色性光谱和荧光光谱对鸡蛋溶菌酶的热变性过程进行了系统的光谱学研究,得到了鸡蛋溶菌酶热变性过程的光谱学特征;通过酶联免疫吸附实验测定鸡蛋溶菌酶热变性过程的免疫原性变化;结合生物信息学方法,分析了热变性过程中鸡蛋溶菌酶蛋白结构改变与其免疫原性变化之间的关系,建立研究食品过敏原蛋白热变性的光谱学方法.