Project description:The goal was to find genes which are differentially expressed between the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) and the wild-type mice liver tissue. The genes which are most differentially expressed may provide a clue for the remarkable differences between naked mole-rat and mouse in terms of longevity, cancer resistance and adaptation to subterranean environments.
Project description:The goal was to find genes which are differentially expressed between the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) and the wild-type mice liver tissue. The genes which are most differentially expressed may provide a clue for the remarkable differences between naked mole-rat and mouse in terms of longevity, cancer resistance and adaptation to subterranean environments. Analysis of 2 mRNA samples, one pooled from 3 wild-type mice liver tissue and another pooled from 3 naked mole-rat liver tissue.
Project description:Bio-augmentation could be a promising strategy to improve processes for treatment and resource recovery from wastewater. In this study, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis was co-cultured with the microbial communities present in wastewater samples with high concentrations of nitrate or ammonium. Glucose supplementation (1%) was used to boost biomass growth in all wastewater samples. In anaerobic conditions, the indigenous microbial community bio-augmented with B. subtilis was able to rapidly remove nitrate from wastewater. In these conditions, B. subtilis overexpressed nitrogen assimilatory and respiratory genes including NasD, NasE, NarG, NarH, and NarI, which arguably accounted for the observed boost in denitrification. Next, we attempted to use the the ammonium- and nitrate-enriched wastewater samples bio-augmented with B. subtilis in the cathodic compartment of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) operated in anaerobic condition. B. subtilis only had low relative abundance in the microbial community, but bio-augmentation promoted the growth of Clostridium butyricum and C. beijerinckii, which became the dominant species. Both bio-augmentation with B. subtilis and electrical current from the cathode in the BES promoted butyrate production during fermentation of glucose. A concentration of 3.4 g/L butyrate was reached with a combination of cathodic current and bio-augmentation in ammonium-enriched wastewater. With nitrate-enriched wastewater, the BES effectively removed nitrate reaching 3.2 mg/L after 48 h. In addition, 3.9 g/L butyrate was produced. We propose that bio-augmentation of wastewater with B. subtilis in combination with bioelectrochemical processes could both boost denitrification in nitrate-containing wastewater and enable commercial production of butyrate from carbohydrate- containing wastewater, e.g. dairy industry discharges. These results suggest that B. subtilis bio-augmentation in our BES promotes simultaneous wastewater treatment and butyrate production.
Project description:Many small molecular compounds reported were involved in improving reprogramming efficiency during inducing pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) or maintain a blastocyst-like state in embryonic stem cells (ESC), including BIO, CHIR99021 (CHIR), and vitamin C et al. However, the knowledge about these small molecules regulating miRNAs in ESC was limited. To understand the role of miRNAs during small molecules induced ESC maintenance and gain an insight how these small molecules regulates miRNAs expression; we performed small RNA sequencing using Illumina HiSeq 2000 under the compounds treatment. Retinoic acid (RA), a stimulus molecule for cellular differentiation, is set as negative control. The data show the miRNAs regulated by BIO, CHIR, vitamin C and RA.
Project description:Study the transcriptional response of S. cerevisiae and Y. lipolytica under the exposure of 3 different compounds: p-coumaric acid, cinnamic acid and ferulic acid. These aromatic acids are present in microbial cell factories to produce natural compounds such as flavonoids. The aim of this project is to detect differentially expressed genes that help to increase the tolerance of these 3 compounds.
Project description:The pyrite mine of Lousal, Grândola, Portugal, was discovered in 1882 and extensively exploited from 1900 until its closure in 1988 when the mining ores were not viable economically. Aiming at becoming a cultural-touristic center, the mining area was rehabilitated raising a Mining Museum and a Science Centre along with the reopening of a mining gallery for public access. In recent times, aerobiological studies on subterranean environments such as caves, mines and archeological necropolis revealed to be an important source of novel bacteria, from which their biotechnological potential are under study. Here we present a Pseudomonas sp. isolated from the mine air with potential secondary metabolite biosynthesis, resistance to antibiotics and virulence factors.
Project description:Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common subtype of dementia, followed by Vascular Dementia (VaD), and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have received a lot of attention as the novel biomarkers for dementia. Here, using serum miRNA expression of 1,601 Japanese individuals, we investigated potential miRNA bio- markers and constructed risk prediction models, based on a supervised principal component analysis (PCA) logistic regression method, according to the subtype of dementia. The final risk prediction model achieved a high accuracy of 0.873 on a validation cohort in AD, when using 78 miRNAs: Accuracy = 0.836 with 86 miRNAs in VaD; Accuracy = 0.825 with 110 miRNAs in DLB. To our knowledge, this is the first report applying miRNA-based risk pre- diction models to a dementia prospective cohort. Our study demonstrates our models to be effective in prospective disease risk prediction; and with further improvement may contribute to practical clinical use in dementia.
Project description:Many small molecular compounds reported were involved in improving reprogramming efficiency during inducing pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) or maintain a blastocyst-like state in embryonic stem cells (ESC), including BIO, CHIR99021 (CHIR), and vitamin C et al. However, the knowledge about these small molecules regulating miRNAs in ESC was limited. To understand the role of miRNAs during small molecules induced ESC maintenance and gain an insight how these small molecules regulates miRNAs expression; we performed small RNA sequencing using Illumina HiSeq 2000 under the compounds treatment.The data show the miRNAs regulated by SB431542