Animals ; Endothelium, Vascular ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; physiology

microRNAs function as effective molecules in regulation of many biological functions of organisms; in most case they regulate gene expression moderately. Emerging evidence suggests that microRNAs play a key role in the regulation of immunological functions including innate and adaptive immune responses. The research on microRNAs would be helpful in elucidation of the mechanisms of human immune system and in development of potential therapies based on microRNAs.
Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Immune System ; physiology ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; physiology

Interleukin-8 (IL-8), which is a member of C-X-C chemokine subfamily, is an important activator and chemoattractant for neutrophils and has been implicated in a variety of inflammatory diseases. Numerous reports show that various cells express IL-8 mRNA and produce IL-8 protein rapidly, including monocytes, T lymphocytes, neutrophils, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and epithelial cells. The human IL-8 gene has a length of 5191 bp and contains four exons separated by three introns. It maps to human chromosome 4q12-q21. The mRNA consists of a 101 bases 5' untranslated region, an open reading frame of 297 bases, and a long 3' untranslated region of 1.2 kb. The 5' flanking region of the IL-8 gene contains potential binding sites for several nuclear factors including activated protein-1 (AP-1), activated protein-2 (AP-2), nuclear factor-gene binding (NF-kappa B), nuclear factor-interleukin-6 (NF-IL-6, also calls CAAT/enhancer-binding proteins, C/EBP), IFN regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1), hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 (HNF-1), and so on. IL-8 gene expression is regulated initially at the level of gene transcription. The rapid induction of IL-8 gene expression is likely mediated by latent transcription factors that bind the IL-8 promoter. AP-1 and NF-IL-6 physically interact with NF-kappa B, and functional cooperativity among these factors appears to be critical for optimal IL-8 promoter activity in different cell types. The IL-8 receptor (IL-8R) is a dimeric glycoprotein consisting of a 59 KDa and a 67 KDa subunit. It has been given the name CDw128. It is expressed in many different cell types including those not responding to IL-8. The receptor density is approximately 20,000/cell in neutrophils, 1,040/cell in monocytes, and 300/cell in T-lymphocytes. The IL-8R is a member of the family of G-protein-coupled receptors. There are at least two different IL-8 receptor types (CXCR1 and CXCR2). The activities of IL-8 are not species-specific. IL-8 affects the adhesion of neutrophils to the endothelium and induces the transendothelial migration of neutrophils. IL-8 also exhibits in vitro chemotactic activities against of T-lymphocytes and basophils. IL-8 gene expression can be regulated by fluid shear stress, which may play an important role in the genesis and development of both inflammation and arterosclerosis.
Gene Expression Regulation ; Interleukin-8 ; chemistry ; genetics ; physiology ; Receptors, Interleukin

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of highly conserved small noncoding RNAs which can regulate gene expression by post-transcriptional degradation or translational repression. miRNAs are involved in the regulation of cell apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation and other physiological processes, and are closely related with development of cancer. More recently, it has been proposed that the presence of genetic variations in microRNA genes, their biogenesis pathway and target binding sites can affect the miRNA processing machinery and targeting, therefore have a significant genetic effect. Since polymorphisms in a miRNA regulatory pathway can result in the loss or gain of a miRNA function and can affect the expression of hundreds of genes, more and more evidence suggested a strong association of miRNA polymorphisms with disease progression, diagnosis and prognosis. Whether in the pathogenesis research of complex diseases or finding biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, polymorphisms in the miRNA regulatory pathway have an extremely important value for research.
Animals ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genetic Variation ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; physiology

Flowering, the floral transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, is induced by diverse endogenous and exogenous cues, such as photoperiod, temperature, hormones and age. Precise flowering time is critical to plant growth and evolution of species. The numerous renewal molecular and genetic results have revealed five flowering time pathways, including classical photoperiod pathway, vernalization pathway, autonomous pathway, gibberellins (GA) pathway and newly identified age pathway. These pathways take on relatively independent role, and involve extensive crosstalks and feedback loops. This review describes the complicated regulatory network of this floral transition to understand the molecular mechanism of flowering and provide references for further research in more plants.
Arabidopsis ; physiology ; Flowers ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Gene Regulatory Networks

In the past decade, the focus of nutritional study shifted from epidemiology and physiology to molecular biology. Advanced research strategies and technologies including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and system biology have been gradually applied in clinical nutrition. This article reviews the effects of nutrients on gene expressions, application of modern molecular biology in clinical nutrition, as well as the advances and challenges in recent years..
Amino Acids ; physiology ; Carbohydrates ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genomics ; Humans ; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Proteomics ; Vitamins ; physiology

Brassinosteroid (BR) and gibberellin (GA) are two groups of plant growth regulators essential for normal plant growth and development. To gain insight into the molecular mechanism by which BR and GA regulate the growth and development of plants, especially the monocot plant rice, it is necessary to identify and analyze more genes and proteins that are regulated by them. With the availability of draft sequences of two major types, japonica and indica rice, it has become possible to analyze expression changes of genes and proteins at genome scale. In this review, we summarize rice functional genomic research by using microarray and proteomic approaches and our recent research results focusing on the comparison of cDNA microarray and proteomic analyses of BR- and GA-regulated gene and protein expression in rice. We believe our findings have important implications for understanding the mechanism by which BR and GA regulate the growth and development of rice.
Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; physiology ; Gibberellins ; metabolism ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Oryza ; genetics ; physiology ; Proteomics

Salinity affects more than 6% of the world's total land area, causing massive losses in crop yield. Salinity inhibits plant growth and development through osmotic and ionic stresses; however, some plants exhibit adaptations through osmotic regulation, exclusion, and translocation of accumulated Na+ or Cl-. Currently, there are no practical, economically viable methods for managing salinity, so the best practice is to grow crops with improved tolerance. Germination is the stage in a plant's life cycle most adversely affected by salinity. Barley, the fourth most important cereal crop in the world, has outstanding salinity tolerance, relative to other cereal crops. Here, we review the genetics of salinity tolerance in barley during germination by summarizing reported quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and functional genes. The homologs of candidate genes for salinity tolerance in Arabidopsis, soybean, maize, wheat, and rice have been blasted and mapped on the barley reference genome. The genetic diversity of three reported functional gene families for salt tolerance during barley germination, namely dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB) protein, somatic embryogenesis receptor-like kinase and aquaporin genes, is discussed. While all three gene families show great diversity in most plant species, the DREB gene family is more diverse in barley than in wheat and rice. Further to this review, a convenient method for screening for salinity tolerance at germination is needed, and the mechanisms of action of the genes involved in salt tolerance need to be identified, validated, and transferred to commercial cultivars for field production in saline soil.
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Genetic Variation ; Germination/physiology* ; Hordeum/physiology* ; Salt Tolerance/genetics*

Plant cells response to water deficit through a variety of physiological processes. In this work, we studied the function of microtubule cytoskeleton during dehydration/rehydration cycle in moss (Atrichum undulatum) protonemal cells as a model system. The morphological and cytological change of protonemal cells during dehydration and rehydration cycle were first investigated. Under normal conditions, protonemal cells showed bright green colour and appeared wet and fresh. Numerous chloroplasts distributed regularly throughout the cytoplasm in each cell. After dehydration treatment, protonemal cells lost most of their chlorophylls and turned to look yellow and dry. In addition, dehydration caused plasmolysis in these cells. Upon rehydration, the cells could recover completely from the dehydrated state. These results indicated that moss had a remarkable intrinsic ability to survive from the extreme drought stress. Microtubule, an important component of cytoskeleton, is considered to play crucial roles in the responses to some environmental stresses such as cold and light. To see if it is also involved in the drought tolerance, dynamic organization of microtubules in protonemal cells of Atrichum undulatum subjected to drought and rehydration were examined by indirect immunofluorescence combined with confocal lasersharp scanning microscopy. The cortical microtubules were arranged into a fine structure with a predominant orientation parallel to the long axis of the cells in the control cells. After dehydration, the microtubule organization was remarkablly altered and the fine microtubule structure disappeared whereas some thicker cables formed. When the cells were grown under rehydration conditions, the fine microtubule arrays reappeared. These results provided a piece of evidence that microtubules play a role in the cellular responses to drought stress in moss. Furthermore, we analyzed the effects of the microtubule-disrupting agent colchicine on the morphology recovery of the protonemal cells during rehydration process. The cells were incubated with colchicine, followed by drought stress treatment and rehydration in the presence of colchicine to prevent recovery of microtubule organization. Results from immunofluorescence showed that microtubule arrays were broken down into smaller fragments. Compared to the cells treated with drought stress alone, the cells treated with drought stress in the presence of colchicine could not recover after rehydration treatment. The morphology resembled those of the drought treated cells, with obvious plasmolysis phenomena and loss of chlorophyll content. These results support the notion that microtubules were involved in the deccication tolerance mechanism in Atrichum undulatum.
Bryophyta ; metabolism ; physiology ; Droughts ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; physiology ; Microscopy ; Microtubules ; metabolism

Death domain-associated protein (DAXX) as a multifunctional nuclear protein widely resides in nucleolus, nucleoplasm, chromatin, promyelocytic leukaemia nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) and cytoplasm. It plays significant roles in transcriptional regulation, apoptosis, cell cycle and other biological activities. Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is required for SUMOylation which is a highly conserved post-translational modification in a wide variety of cellular processes. Numerous studies demonstrated that SUMOylation has a great effect on the subcellular localization and functional regulation of DAXX. This review will provide a summary for SUMOylation of DAXX.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Nuclear Proteins ; physiology ; Sumoylation