Project description:Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) of pancreatic islets have reported on α- and β-cell gene expression in mice and subjects of predominantly European ancestry. We aimed to assess these findings in East-Asian islet-cells. 448 islet-cells were captured from three East-Asian non-diabetic subjects for scRNA-seq. Hierarchical clustering using pancreatic cell lineage genes was used to assign cells into cell-types. Differentially expressed transcripts between α- and β-cells were detected using ANOVA and in silico replications of mouse and human islet cell genes were performed. We identified 118 α, 105 β, 6 δ endocrine cells and 47 exocrine cells. Besides INS and GCG, 26 genes showed differential expression between α- and β-cells. 10 genes showed concordant expression as reported in rodents, while FAM46A was significantly discordant. Comparing our East-Asian data with data from primarily European subjects, we replicated several genes implicated in nuclear receptor activations, acute phase response pathway, glutaryl-CoA/tryptophan degradations and EIF2/AMPK/mTOR signaling. Additionally, we identified protein ubiquitination to be associated among East-Asian β-cells. We report on East-Asian α- and β-cell gene signatures and substantiate several genes/pathways. We identify expression signatures in East-Asian β-cells that perhaps reflects increased susceptibility to cell-death and warrants future validations to fully appreciate their role in East-Asian diabetes pathogenesis.
Project description:While comparatively few amphibian species have been described on the North East Asian mainland in the last decades, several species have been the subject of taxonomical debates in relation to the Yellow sea. Here, we sampled Dryophytes sp. treefrogs from the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China to clarify the status of this clade around the Yellow sea and determine the impact of sea level change on treefrogs' phylogenetic relationships. Based on genetics, call properties, adult morphology, tadpole morphology and niche modelling, we determined the segregated status species of D. suweonensis and D. immaculatus. We then proceeded to describe a new treefrog species, D. flaviventris sp. nov., from the central lowlands of the Republic of Korea. The new species is geographically segregated from D. suweonensis by the Chilgap mountain range and known to occur only in the area of Buyeo, Nonsan and Iksan in the Republic of Korea. While the Yellow sea is the principal element to the current isolation of the three clades, the paleorivers of the Yellow sea basin are likely to have been the major factor for the divergences within this clade. We recommend conducting rapid conservation assessments as these species are present on very narrow and declining ranges.
Project description:Transcriptional profile comparison among Beijing and non-Beijing M. tuberculosis isolates. Three M. tuberculosis strains were compared. The laboratory reference strain, H37Rv, belongs to the Euro-American or lineage 4. Two clinical isolates of the East-Asian or lineage 2: 98_1663 is a pre-Beijing or Group 1 isolate, and HN878 is a Beijing or Group 5 isolate. Three replicates were performed for each comparison using two different biological samples.
Project description:We used massively parallel DNA sequencing of paired-end ditags (DNA-PET) to identify structural genetic factors associated with disease progression and drug-resistance in representative samples from four CML patients and one CML cell line. The functional consequences of our genetic findings were evaluated in primary CML cells and cell lines, and validated in a larger CML cohort. We discovered a novel intronic deletion that correlated with imatinib-resistance, and was subsequently confirmed to be a polymorphism in normal East-Asian, but not African or Caucasian, populations. We found that the polymorphism favored expression of transcripts lacking a pro-apoptotic domain, which is critical for imatinib-induced cell death. A CML cell line containing the polymorphism also exhibited BCR-ABL-independent imatinib-resistance.
Project description:Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the only extant species of the genus Crocuta, which once occupied a much wider range during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, its origin and evolutionary history is somewhat contentious due to discordances being found between morphological, nuclear, and mitochondrial data. Due to the limited molecular data from east Asian Crocuta, and the difficulty of extracting ancient DNA from this area, here we present proteomic analysis of cave hyenas from three locations in northern China. This marks the first proteomic data generated from cave hyenas, adding new molecular data to the east Asian populations. Phylogenetic analysis based on these protein sequences reveals two different groups of cave hyenas in east Asia, one of which could not be distinguished from modern spotted hyenas from northern Africa, tentatively the result of previously suggested gene flow between these lineages. With developments of instrumentation and analytical methods, proteomics holds promising potential for the phylogenetic reconstruction of ancient fauna previously thought to be unreachable using ancient DNA.
Project description:We used massively parallel DNA sequencing of paired-end ditags (DNA-PET) to identify structural genetic factors associated with disease progression and drug-resistance in representative samples from four CML patients and one CML cell line. The functional consequences of our genetic findings were evaluated in primary CML cells and cell lines, and validated in a larger CML cohort. We discovered a novel intronic deletion that correlated with imatinib-resistance, and was subsequently confirmed to be a polymorphism in normal East-Asian, but not African or Caucasian, populations. We found that the polymorphism favored expression of transcripts lacking a pro-apoptotic domain, which is critical for imatinib-induced cell death. A CML cell line containing the polymorphism also exhibited BCR-ABL-independent imatinib-resistance. Structural variations of 5 human CML samples were identified by long span paired-end sequencing
Project description:Asian salamander Hynobiidae is commonly observed in the Far East Asia regions, including Korea, Japan, China, and the eastern region of Russia. In Korea, there are four Hynobiidae species known to be lived: Hynobius leechii, Hynobius quelpaertensis, Hynobius yangi, and recently reported Hynobius unisacculus. However, even H. leechii which is broadly colonized in Korea peninsula seems to have a new species candidate, which has distinctive genetic and phenotypic characteristics. Genomic resources are essential to understand the current status of these species, but due to the large size of their genomes (about 16 to 20 Gb), it is not easy to analyze. To reveal the genomic characteristics of these species, we constructed more than ten thousands of protein-coding gene sequences from multiple samples of each species, using the de novo transcriptome assembly approach from RNA-Seq data, confirming their taxonomic relationship which was reported based on mitochondrial DNA and marker genes. Also, by comparing previously reported transcriptome of Hynobius chinensis and Hynobius retardatus, lived in China and Japan, respectively, we found that Korean species have unique genetic signatures. By comparing vertebrate model organism genes, we reported Hynobidaii specific proteins. These data would be a useful resource to study other Caudata species in the future. This research was supported by the National Institute of Biological Resources, Republic of Korea, under the project "Genetic diversity of animal resources” (NIBR201703203 and NIBR201803101).