Project description:Here, we profiled the transcriptional capacity of a library of regulatory sequences mined from diverse Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in S. albidoflavus (S. albus J1074) to investigate BGC gene regulation.
Project description:Germinal centers (GCs) are the engines of antibody evolution. Using HIV Env protein immunogen priming in rhesus monkeys (RM) followed by a long period without further immunization, we demonstrate GC B cells (BGC) lasted at least 6 months. A 186-fold BGC cell increase was present by week 10 compared to a conventional immunization. Single cell transcriptional profiling revealed both light and dark zone GC states were sustained. Antibody somatic hypermutation (SHM) of BGC cells continued to accumulate throughout the 29-week priming period, with evidence of selective pressure. Env-binding BGC cells were still 49-fold above baseline at 29 weeks, suggesting they could be active for even longer periods of time. High HIV neutralizing antibody titers were generated after a single booster immunization. Fully glycosylated HIV trimer protein is a complex antigen, posing significant immunodominance challenges for B cells. Memory B cells (BMem) generated under these long priming conditions had higher levels of SHM, and both BMem cells and antibodies were more likely to recognize non-immunodominant epitopes. Numerous BGC cell lineage phylogenies spanning the >6-month GC period were identified, demonstrating continuous GC activity and selection for at least 191 days with no additional antigen exposure. A long prime, slow delivery (12-day) immunization approach holds promise for difficult vaccine targets, and suggests that patience can have great value for tuning GCs to maximize antibody responses.
Project description:Metastasis associated 1 family, member 2 (MTA2) gene is classified to metastasis associated gene family. We have previously reported that MTA2 gene was overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues, correlating with tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and advanced TNM stage. MTA2 knockdown significantly inhibited gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Yet, its molecular mechanisms are still unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the molecular mechanisms of MTA2 in regulating malignant behaviors of gastric cancer. This experiment captures the expression data between BGC-823/NC and BGC-823/MTA2, SGC-7901/NC and SGC-7901/shMTA2 cells using Whole human genome microarray 4×44K (Design ID: 014850, Agilent technologies).
Project description:In the quest to discover novel antifungal agents and new antifungal production processes, we investigated the biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) for ilicicolin H in the fungus Trichoderma reesei. While the BGC is silent under standard cultivation conditions, we achieved to activate it by over-expressing its transcription factor TriliR. Successful BGC activation was confirmed by RT-qPCR, proteomic and metabolomic analyses. Metabolomic profiling upon BGC expression revealed high-yield production of the supposed main product ilicicolin H. To elucidate the functionality of this BGC, we employed a combination of overexpression and deletions of individual biosynthetic gene cluster constituents. Deletion of triliA, encoding for the core polyketide synthase TriliA, completely ceased product formation, as expected. In contrast to previous heterologous expression experiments, we could demonstrate that the epimerase TriliE is necessary for the formation of ilicicolin H in the native host. While we hardly observed any of the previously reported side- or shunt products associated with heterologous ilicicolin H expression, we discovered a novel member of the ilicicolin family using a metabolomic molecular networking approach. This new compound, which we termed ilicicolin K, is expressed in substantial amounts in the genetically engineered Trichoderma reesei, enabling us to elucidate its structure by NMR. The structure of ilicicolin K is similar to that of ilicicolin H but differs by an additional hydroxylation and an intramolecular etherification of the hydroxyl group at the pyridone towards the tyrosine moiety of the molecule. Initial tests of ilicicolin K showed antifungal activity against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus nidulans with a similar minimum inhibitory concentration as ilicicolin H.
Project description:The goal of this study is to analyze the expression data from Human gastric cancer cells (BGC‐823) followed by PGRN-downregulation and search potential therapeutic targets of diseases associated with Helicobacter pylori infection
Project description:An improved understanding of the genome-wide regulation of natural compound biosynthesis in bacterial producers may accelerate the discovery of novel biologically active molecules and facilitate their production. To this end, we have investigated the time course of genome-wide transcription in the myxobacterium Sorangium sp. So ce836 in relation to its production of natural compounds. Time-resolved RNA sequencing revealed the dynamic temporal variation of transcriptional activity, indicating that core biosynthesis genes from 48 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs; 92% of all BGCs encoded in the genome) were actively transcribed at specific time points in a batch culture. The majority (80%) of polyketide synthase and nonribosomal peptide synthetase genes displayed distinct peaks of transcription during exponential bacterial growth. Strikingly, these surges in BGC transcriptional activity were associated with boosts in the production of known natural compounds, indicating that their biosynthesis was crucially regulated at the transcriptional level. In contrast, BGC read counts from single time points had limited predictive value about biosynthetic activity, since transcription levels varied >100-fold among BGCs with detected natural products. Taken together, our time-course data provided unique insights into the dynamics of natural compound biosynthesis and its regulation in a wild-type myxobacterium, challenging the commonly cited notion of preferential BGC expression under meager conditions for bacterial growth. The close association between BGC transcription and compound production suggested that the molecular manipulation of transcriptional activity may be a viable strategy to increase compound yields from myxobacterial producer strains, warranting increased efforts to develop genetic engineering tools for these organisms.
Project description:Analysis of BGC-823 gastric cancer cells with SIRT1 overexpression or knockdown. SIRT1, a NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase, exerts inhibitory effects on migration and invasion of gastric cancer. Results provide insight into the role of SIRT1 in the metastasis of gastric cancer.
Project description:Cisplatin is the first-line agent utilized for the clinical treatment of a wide variety of solid tumors including gastric cancer. However, the intrinsic or acquired cisplatin resistance is often occurred in patients with gastric cancer and resulted in failure of cisplatin therapy. In order to investigate if miRNA involves in cisplatin resistance of human gastric cancer, we first screened and compared the expression of miRNAs between cisplatin resistant gastric cancer cell lines SGC-7901/DDP and BGC-823/DDP and their sensitive parental cells by miRNAs microarray.