Project description:Ligularia biceps is a plant belonging to Ligularia Cass., most of which have certain medicinal value. In this study, the chloroplast (cp) genome of L. biceps was sequenced for the first time. The L. biceps cp genome sequence length was 151,153 bp, with an large single-copy (LSC) region length of 83,259 bp, an small single-copy (SSC) region length of 18,234 bp, a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs) length of 24,830 bp and GC content of 37.5%. In total, 131 genes were annotated, including 86 protein-coding genes, eight rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. The phylogenetic tree was built based on 23 species, using the maximum-likelihood method. The results showed that the species clustered with other Ligularia Cass. species. This study provides a theoretical basis for establishing a classification system.
Project description:We have previously shown in sheep that 10 days of modest chronic increase in maternal cortisol result in fetal heart enlargement and Purkinje cell apoptosis. In subsequent studies in which we extended the duration of cortisol infusion (1mg/kg/d) to term, we found a dramatic incidence of stillbirth in the pregnancies with chronically increased cortisol and associated maternal hyperglycemia. In previous studies of the intraventricular septum from these fetuses we found significantly differentially regulated genes in the term fetuses (ie after ~25 days of cortisol) in pathways consistent with altered metabolism in the heart, particularly in mitochondria, associated with responses to hypoxia and to nutrient. Analysis of mitochondrial number by quantitative real-time PCR confirmed a significant decrease. To investigate the effects on skeletal muscle, we extended the transcriptomic analyses to biceps femoralis. Transcriptomic modelling revealed that pathways related to mitochondrial metabolism were downregulated, whereas pathways suggestive of positive regulation of reactive oxygen species and activation of the apoptotic cascade were upregulated. Mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) and the protein levels of cytochrome C was significantly decreased in the biceps. RT- PCR validation of the pathways showed significant decrease in SLC2A4 mRNA levels, and a significant increase in PDK4, TXNIP, ANGPTL4 mRNA levels, consistent with reduced insulin sensitivity of the bicep muscles. Comparison of the change in gene expression in biceps to that in cardiac intraventricular septum and left ventricle showed few common genes with little overlap in specific metabolic or signaling pathways, despite reduction in mitochondria in both heart and biceps. Our results suggest that glucocorticoid exposure affects nuclear genes important to mitochondrial activity and reactive oxygen in both cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues in a tissue specific manner.
Project description:Iberian ham production includes both purebred (IB) and Duroc-crossbred (IBxDU) Iberian pigs, which show important differences in meat quality and production traits, such as muscle growth and fatness. This experiment was conducted to investigate gene expression differences, transcriptional regulation and genetic polymorphisms that could be associated with the observed phenotypic differences between IB and IBxDU pigs. Nine IB and 10 IBxDU pigs were slaughtered at birth. Morphometric measures and blood samples were obtained and samples from Biceps femoris muscle were employed for compositional and transcriptome analysis by RNA-Seq technology. Phenotypic differences were evident at this early age, including greater body size and weight in IBxDU and greater Biceps femoris intramuscular fat and plasma cholesterol content in IB newborns. We detected 150 differentially expressed genes between IB and IBxDU neonates (p < 0.01 and Fold-Change > 1. 5). Several were related to adipose and muscle tissues development (DLK1, FGF21 or UBC). The functional interpretation of the transcriptomic differences revealed enrichment of functions and pathways related to lipid metabolism in IB and to cellular and muscle growth in IBxDU. Protein catabolism, cholesterol biosynthesis and immune system were functions enriched in both genotypes. We identified transcription factors potentially affecting the observed gene expression differences. Some of them have known functions on adipogenesis (CEBPA, EGRs), lipid metabolism (PPARGC1B) and myogenesis (FOXOs, MEF2D, MYOD1), which suggest a key role in the meat quality differences existing between IB and IBxDU hams. We also identified several polymorphisms showing differential segregation between IB and IBxDU pigs. Among them, non-synonymous variants were detected in several transcription factors as PPARGC1B gene, which could be associated to altered gene function. Taken together, these results provide information about candidate genes, metabolic pathways and genetic polymorphisms potentially involved in phenotypic differences between IB and IBxDU associated to meat quality and production traits.