RESULTS: ARG2 promotes tumorigenesis by increasing cellular proliferation, migration, invasion and vasculogenic mimicry in GBM cells, at least in part due to overexpression of MMP2/9. The nor-NOHA significantly reduced migration and tube formation of ARG2-overexpressing cells. HCMV immediate-early proteins (IE1/2) or its downstream pathways upregulated the expression of ARG2 in U-251 MG cells. Immunostaining of GBM tissue sections confirmed the overexpression of ARG2, consistent with data from subsets of Gene Expression Omnibus. Moreover, higher levels of ARG2 expression tended to be associated with poorer survival in GBM patient by analyzing data from TCGA.
METHODS: The role of ARG2 in tumorigenesis was examined by proliferation-, migration-, invasion-, wound healing- and tube formation assays using an ARG2-overexpressing cell line and ARG inhibitor, N (omega)-hydroxy-nor-L-arginine (nor-NOHA) and siRNA against ARG2 coupled with functional assays measuring MMP2/9 activity, VEGF levels and nitric oxide synthase activity. Association between HCMV and ARG2 were examined in vitro with 3 different GBM cell lines, and ex vivo with immunostaining on GBM tissue sections. The viral mechanism mediating ARG2 induction was examined by siRNA approach. Correlation between ARG2 expression and patient survival was extrapolated from bioinformatics analysis on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
CONCLUSIONS: ARG2 promotes tumorigenesis, and HCMV may contribute to GBM pathogenesis by upregulating ARG2.
RESULTS: Here, we present draft genome information for five agriculturally, biologically, medicinally, and economically important underutilized plants native to Africa: Vigna subterranea, Lablab purpureus, Faidherbia albida, Sclerocarya birrea, and Moringa oleifera. Assembled genomes range in size from 217 to 654 Mb. In V. subterranea, L. purpureus, F. albida, S. birrea, and M. oleifera, we have predicted 31,707, 20,946, 28,979, 18,937, and 18,451 protein-coding genes, respectively. By further analyzing the expansion and contraction of selected gene families, we have characterized root nodule symbiosis genes, transcription factors, and starch biosynthesis-related genes in these genomes.
CONCLUSIONS: These genome data will be useful to identify and characterize agronomically important genes and understand their modes of action, enabling genomics-based, evolutionary studies, and breeding strategies to design faster, more focused, and predictable crop improvement programs.
RESULTS: We used 43,310 SNPs to infer the population structure, evidence of local adaptation and sources of introduction. The overall genetic differentiation of this species was low. The native populations were differentiated into three genetic clusters, corresponding to the Yangtze, Pearl and Heilongjiang River Systems, respectively. The populations in Malaysia, India and Nepal were introduced from both the Yangtze and Pearl River Systems. Loci and genes involved in putative local selection for native locations were identified. Evidence of both positive and balancing selection was found in the introduced locations. Genes associated with loci under putative selection were involved in many biological functions. Outlier loci were grouped into clusters as genomic islands within some specific genomic regions, which likely agrees with the divergence hitchhiking scenario of divergence-with-gene-flow.
CONCLUSIONS: This study, for the first time, sheds novel insights on the population differentiation of the grass carp, genetics of its strong ability in adaption to diverse environments and sources of some introduced grass carp populations. Our data also suggests that the natural populations of the grass carp have been affected by the aquaculture besides neutral and adaptive forces.