Naked cuticle inhibits wingless signaling in Drosophila wing development.

Wnt signaling is one of the major signaling pathways that regulate cell differentiation, tissue patterning and stem cell homeostasis and its dysfunction causes many human diseases, such as cancer. It is of tremendous interests to understand how Wnt signaling is regulated in a precise manner both temporally and spatially. Naked cuticle (Nkd) acts as a negative-feedback inhibitor for Wingless (Wg, a fly Wnt) signaling in Drosophila embryonic development. However, the role of Nkd remains controversial in later fly development, particularly on the canonical Wg pathway. In the present study, we show that nkd is essential for wing pattern formation, such that both gain and loss of nkd result in the disruption of Wg target expression in larvae stage and abnormal adult wing morphologies. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a thirty amino acid fragment in Nkd, identified previously in Wharton lab, is critical for the canonical Wg signaling, but is dispensable for Wg/planar cell polarity pathway. Putting aside the pleiotropic nature of nkd function, i.e. its role in the Decapentaplegic signaling, we conclude that Nkd universally inhibits the canonical Wg pathway across a life span of Drosophila development.

Long non-coding RNA HOTAIR modulates c-KIT expression through sponging miR-193a in acute myeloid leukemia.

HOTAIR is significantly overexpressed in various cancers and facilitates tumor invasion and metastasis. However, whether HOTAIR plays oncogenic roles in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still unknown. Here, we report that HOTAIR expression was obviously increased in leukemic cell lines and primary AML blasts. Clinically, AML patients with higher HOTAIR predicted worse clinical outcome compared with those with lower HOTAIR. Importantly, HOTAIR knockdown by small hairpin RNA inhibited cell growth, induced apoptosis, and decreased number of colony formation. Finally, HOTAIR modulated c-KIT expression by competitively binding miR-193a. Collectively, our data suggest that HOTAIR plays an important oncogenic role in AML and might serve as a marker for AML prognosis and a potential target for therapeutic intervention.

2,5-di-[2-(3,5-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine -4-hydroxy-phenyl) ethylene] pyrazine zinc complex as fluorescent probe for labeling proteins.

The binding characteristics between 2,5-di-[2-(3,5-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine -4-hydroxy-phenyl) ethylene] pyrazine (1) or its complex (1-Zn) and serum albumins were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy in pH 7.4 aqueous solution. 1-Zn emitted weak fluorescence at 580 nm in a pH 7.4 Tris-HCl buffer solution when excited at 435 nm, however, the fluorescence intensity increased upon addition of serum albumins with the blue shift of emission peak to 524 nm. The binding constants were estimated as 8.40 x 10(7) and 3.03 x 10(6)mol(-1)L for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) respectively, and the number of binding sites was 1 for each. The quenching mechanism of fluorescence of serum albumins by 1-Zn was considered as a static quenching process. The binding distance between 1-Zn and serum albumins and the energy transfer efficiency were obtained based on the theory of Förester spectroscopy energy transfer. The effect of 1-Zn on the conformation of serum albumins was further analyzed using synchronous fluorescence spectrometry. The experiment results clearly showed that 1-Zn is a highly sensitive protein sensor.

Interaction of a new fluorescent probe with DNA and its use in determination of DNA.

In this paper we reported a metal complex 1-Zn (2,5-di-[2-(3,5-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine-4-hydroxy-phenyl)-ethylene]-pyrazine-Zn) as a fluorescent probe sensing DNA. The result of the competitive experiment of the probe with ethidium bromide (EB) to bind DNA, absorption spectral change and polarization change in the presence and absence of DNA revealed that interaction between the probe and DNA was via intercalation. Ionic strength experiment showed the existence of electrostatic interaction as well. Scatchard plots also confirmed the combined binding modes. The fluorescence enhancement of the probe was ascribed to highly hydrophobic environment when it bound the macromolecules such as DNA, RNA or denatured DNA. The binding constant between the probe and DNA was estimated as 3.13 x 10(7) mol(-1) L. The emission intensity increase was proportional to the concentration of DNA. Based on this, the probe was used to determine the concentration of calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA). The corresponding linear response ranged from 2.50 x 10(-7) to 4.75 x 10(-6) mol L(-1), and detection limit was 1.93 x 10(-8) mol L(-1) for ct-DNA.