Project description:Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant primary tumor. Camels have high economic and social values, but their potential medical value has not been studied. This study aimed to investigate the effects of thin and normal camel plasma-derived exosomes on HCC. Methods: Plasma was obtained from thin and normal camels, and used to isolate exosomes by ultracentrifugation. The exosomes were then characterized by transmission electron microscopy and Nano particle tracking analyzer. In vivo imaging of nude mice and hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining of liver tissues were used to explore the effects of the exosomes on tumor growth. Finally, the differences of the two exosomes were further analyzed using small RNA sequencing and proteomics. Results: In vivo imaging and HE staining showed that no significant differences were found in fluorescence value and liver tissue morphology between the control mice and the mice treated with the exosomes from thin camels; while the fluorescence value and the live histology changes were alleviated in the mice with the exosomes from normal camels. After sequencing and proteomic analysis, 40 DE-miRNAs (15 down-regulated and 25 up-regulated) and 172 DEPs (77 up-regulated and 95 down-regulated) were identified in the plasma-derived exosomes from normal camels. These identified DE-miRNAs and DEPs were significantly enriched in many signaling pathways. Conclusions: Normal camel plasma-derived exosomes may inhibit the growth of HCC cells through regulating pathways of Ras, Rap1, PI3K-Akt, MAPK, AMPK, and canonical Wnt signaling pathways.
Project description:The genetic structure of some native Bolivians has been substantially influenced by admixture from Europeans, which we estimate to have occurred approximately 360 – 384 years ago. Consistent with historical accounts of male admixture, Y-chromosome haplogroups typical of Europeans were found in 39% of our Bolivian samples. No evidence of African admixture was found in native Bolivians. The Mesoamerican Totonacs have little evidence of European or African admixture. Our analysis indicates that some admixed Bolivians have Native American mtDNA and Y-chromosomes but harbor up to 30% European autosomal ancestry, demonstrating the need for autosomal markers to assess ancestry in admixed populations. From a dense genome-wide panel of 815,377 markers, we developed a set of 324 AIMs, specific for Native American ancestry. As few a 40-50 of these markers successfully predict New World ancestry in the ascertainment panel of Bolivians and Totonacs. The markers easily distinguish New World from Old World ancestry, even for populations more closely related to the Americas such as central and eastern Asians, and were effective for New World vs. Old World comparisons in five other geographically and culturally distinct populations of the Americas. SNPs demonstrating very high divergence between the two Native American populations and major Old World populations are found on haplotypes that are shared and occur at similar frequencies in other indigenous low-admixture American populations examined here (i.e. Pima, Maya, Colombian, Karitiana, and Surui). After excluding the possibility of recent relatedness, our results indicate that native Bolivians and Totonacs share ancestry with other American populations through a substantial contribution from a common founding population, population bottlenecks, and possible natural selection on functional variation.
Project description:The neck gland, an exclusive gland found in male camels, has been proven to secrete an amber-colored fluid and volatile substances during the mating season, exhibiting the capability to induce estrus in female camels. In this study, data-independent acquisition (DIA) proteomics was utilized to analyze differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the neck gland tissue of male Bactrian camels
Project description:Camelids are capable of producing both conventional tetrameric antibodies (Abs) and dimeric heavy-chain antibodies (HCAbs). While B cells generating these two types of Abs exhibit distinct B-cell receptors (BCRs), it remains unclear whether these two B cell populations differ in their phenotypes and developmental processes. Here, we collected eight PBMC samples before and after immunization from four Bactrian camels and conducted single-cell 5’ RNA sequencing. We characterized the functional subtypes and differentiation trajectories of circulating B cells in camels, including native B cells, memory B cells, intermediate B cells, atypical B cells, and plasma cells. Additionally, we reconstructed single-cell BCR sequences and revealed the IGHV and IGHC gene types. We found that B cells with variable genes of HACbs (VHH) were widely present in various functional subtypes and showed highly overlapping differentiation trajectories to B cells with variable genes of conventional Abs (VH). After immunization, the transcriptional changes in VHH+ and VH+ B cells were also largely consistent. Our study not only elucidates the cellular context of HCAb production in camels, but also lays the foundation for the development of single B cell-based nanobody screening.
Project description:Whole-genome resequencing of eight transcription factor mutants and one wild-type, in order to verify the T-DNA insertion site and its uniqueness.