Project description:Background: Deep venous thrombosis is one of the most common peripheral vascular diseases that lead to major morbidity and mortality. We aimed to identify potential differentially expressed miRNAs and target mRNAs, which were helpful in understanding the potential molecule mechanism of deep venous thrombosis.
Project description:In recent years, a critical clinical problem that cannot be ignored is the incidence of venous thrombosis gradually increasing. Although many animal models of thrombosis have been established, the complex mechanism of thrombosis has not been elucidated. We successfully established a new animal model of venous thrombosis by infrared-pulse laser selectively targeting damage to the venous endothelium of zebrafish tail, resulting in the aggregation of red blood cells and platelets at the site of injury, forming a thrombus, like the formation of thrombi caused by damaged human venous endothelium. o-Dianisidine staining showed increased hemoglobin density at the injury site and decreased hemoglobin density at the heart site. Utilizing laser microdissection technology, we targeted the acquisition of localized thrombus cell clusters for high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. The data were further analyzed through gene set variation analysis (GSVA) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), with the transcriptome data being examined against backgrounds of GO, KEGG, Reactome, and WP databases. Combining these analyses with molecular biology techniques such as RT-qPCR, WISH, and Western Blot, we observed that, compared to the normal group, macrophages were activated, and erythrocyte differentiation was more vigorous post-thrombus formation. Signaling pathways related to cell adhesion and leukocyte migration were activated, and the expression of inflammatory cytokines increased. Notably, IL-6 and TNF-α significantly increased at the thrombus site, while other cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-10, P-selectin, STAT3, phosphorylated STAT3, p65, and phosphorylated p65 were major players in the inflammatory response during venous thrombosis. The venous thrombosis model established in this study allows a high degree of visualization of thrombosis and provides a feasible and powerful protocol for studying the mechanism of thrombosis. This study may serve as a new venous thrombosis model for exploring the detailed kinetics and underlying mechanisms of thrombosis formation.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:As the evolution of miRNA genes has been found to be one of the important factors in formation of the modern type of man, we performed a comparative analysis of the evolution of miRNA genes in two archaic hominines, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova, and elucidated the expression of their target mRNAs in bain.A comparative analysis of the genomes of primates, including species in the genus Homo, identified a group of miRNA genes having fixed substitutions with important implications for the evolution of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova. The mRNAs targeted by miRNAs with mutations specific for Homo sapiens denisova exhibited enhanced expression during postnatal brain development in modern humans. By contrast, the expression of mRNAs targeted by miRNAs bearing variations specific for Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was shown to be enhanced in prenatal brain development.Our results highlight the importance of changes in miRNA gene sequences in the course of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis evolution. The genetic alterations of miRNAs regulating the spatiotemporal expression of multiple genes in the prenatal and postnatal brain may contribute to the progressive evolution of brain function, which is consistent with the observations of fine technical and typological properties of tools and decorative items reported from archaeological Denisovan sites. The data also suggest that differential spatial-temporal regulation of gene products promoted by the subspecies-specific mutations in the miRNA genes might have occurred in the brains of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, potentially contributing to the cultural differences between these two archaic hominines.