Project description:This study aimed to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of liver regeneration in sharks and to identify the microRNAs that participate in liver regeneration and other liver-related diseases. To this end, normal and regenerating liver tissues from C. plagiosum were harvested 0, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h after partial hepatectomy (PH) and were sequenced using the Illumina/Solexa platform. In total, 309 known microRNAs and 590 novel microRNAs were identified in C. plagiosum. There were 368 microRNAs differentially expressed between the normal and regenerating livers. Using target prediction and GO analysis, most of the differentially expressed microRNAs were assigned to functional categories that may be involved in regulating liver regeneration, such as cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Additionally, this study adds several novel microRNAs to the database, which will help identify microRNAs in other genetically related species and provides a starting point for future studies aimed at understanding the roles of microRNAs in liver regeneration and other liver diseases.
Project description:IgNAR exhibits significant promise in the fields of cancer and anti-virus biotherapies. Notably, the variable regions of IgNAR (VNAR) possess comparable antigen binding affinity with much smaller molecular weight (~12 kDa) compared to IgNAR. Antigen specific VNAR screening is a changeling work, which limits its application in medicine and therapy fields. Though phage display is a powerful tool for VNAR screening, it has a lot of drawbacks, such as small library coverage, low expression levels, unstable target protein, complicating and time-consuming procedures. Here we report VNAR screening with next generation sequencing (NGS) could effectively overcome the limitations of phage display, and we successfully identified approximately 3000 BAFF-specific VNARs in Chiloscyllium plagiosum vaccinated with the BAFF antigen. The results of modelling and molecular dynamics simulation and ELISA assay demonstrated that one out of the top five abundant specific VNARs exhibited higher binding affinity to the BAFF antigen than those obtained through phage display screening. Our data indicates NGS would be an alternative way for VNAR screening with plenty of advantages.
