Project description:Characterization of a metagenomic regulatory sequence library derived from M. xanthus, E. coli, and O. urethralis genomes in strains expressing different RpoD ortholog variants. Targeted DNA and RNA seq used to profile relative DNA and RNA abundances, respectively of each regulatory sequence construct in the library.
Project description:We investigated the biological effects of ZEA exposure on donkey granulosa cells by using RNA-seq analysis. ZEA at 10 and 30 μM were administered to granulosa cells within 72 hours of in vitro culture. ZEA at 10 μM significantly altered the tumorigenesis associated genes in donkey granulosa cells. Exposure to 10 and 30 μM ZEA treatment significantly reduced mRNA expression of PTEN, TGFβ, ATM, and CDK2 genes, particularly, the ZEA treatment significantly increased the expression of PI3K and AKT genes. Furthermore, immunofluorescence, RT-qPCR, and Western blot analysis verified the gene expression of ZEA-exposed granulosa cells. Collectively, these results demonstrated the deleterious effect of ZEA exposure on the induction of ovarian cancer related genes via the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in donkey granulosa cells in vitro.
Project description:Background: milk is considered an important source of bioactive peptides, which can be produced by endogenous or starter bacteria, such as lactic acid bacteria, that are considered effective and safe producers of food-grade bioactive peptides. Among the various types of milk, donkey milk has been gaining more and more attention for its nutraceutical properties. Methods: Lactobacillus rhamnosus 17D10 and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris 40FEL3 were selected for their ability to produce peptides from donkey milk. The endogenous peptides and those obtained after bacterial fermentation were assayed for their antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral activities. The peptide mixtures were characterized by means of LC-MS/MS, and then analyzed in silico using the Milk Bioactive Peptide DataBase. Results: the peptides produced by the two selected bacteria enhanced the antioxidant activity and reduced E. coli growth. Only the peptides produced by L. rhamnosus 17D10 were able to reduce S. aureus growth. All the peptide mixtures were able to inhibit the replication of HSV-1 by more than 50%. Seventeen peptides were found to have 60% sequence similarity with already known bioactive peptides. Conclusion: a lactic acid bacterium fermentation process is able to enhance the value of donkey milk through bioactivities that are important for human health.
Project description:In this study, 3,869 donkey skeletal muscle lncRNAs were identified using RNA-Seq along with a stringent screening procedure in the longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteal (G) muscles. These lncRNAs share many characteristics with other mammalian lncRNAs, such as shorter open reading frames (ORFs) and lower expression levels than mRNAs. Furthermore, in pairwise comparisons between libraries of the same stage for two genetic types of male Dezhou donkey, 73 differentially expressed lncRNAs were common to all muscle tissues.
Project description:A comprehensive glycosylation profile of donkey lactoferrin, isolated by ion exchange chromatography from an individual milk sample, was obtained by means of chymotryptic digestion, TiO2 and HILIC enrichment, reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography, electrospray mass spectrometry, and high collision dissociation fragmentation. The results obtained allowed the identification of 26 different glycan structures, including high mannose, complex and hybrid N-glycans, linked to the protein backbone via an amide bond to asparagine residues located at the positions 137, 281 and 476. Altogether, the N-glycan structures determined revealed that in donkey milk lactoferrin most of the N-glycans identified are neutral complex/hybrid. Actually, 10 neutral non-fucosylated complex/hybrid N-glycans and 4 neutral fucosylated complex/hybrid N-glycans were found. In addition, 2 high mannose N-glycans, 4 sialylated fucosylated complex/hybrid N-glycans and 6 sialylated non-fucosylatedN-glycans, one of which containing N-glycolylneuramin acid (Neu5Gc), were found. A comparison of the glycosylation profile of donkey milk lactoferrin with respect to that of human, bovine and goat milk lactoferrin is reported.
Project description:Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) technologies have led to important improvement in the detection of new or unrecognized infective agents, related to infectious diseases. In this context, NGS high-throughput technology can be used to achieve a comprehensive and unbiased sequencing of the nucleic acids present in a clinical sample (i.e. tissues). Metagenomic shotgun sequencing has emerged as powerful high-throughput approaches to analyze and survey microbial composition in the field of infectious diseases. By directly sequencing millions of nucleic acid molecules in a sample and matching the sequences to those available in databases, pathogens of an infectious disease can be inferred. Despite the large amount of metagenomic shotgun data produced, there is a lack of a comprehensive and easy-use pipeline for data analysis that avoid annoying and complicated bioinformatics steps. Here we present HOME-BIO, a modular and exhaustive pipeline for analysis of biological entity estimation, specific designed for shotgun sequenced clinical samples. HOME-BIO analysis provides comprehensive taxonomy classification by querying different source database and carry out main steps in metagenomic investigation. HOME-BIO is a powerful tool in the hand of biologist without computational experience, which are focused on metagenomic analysis. Its easy-to-use intrinsic characteristic allows users to simply import raw sequenced reads file and obtain taxonomy profile of their samples.