Identification of aptamer-binding sites in hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein e2.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) encodes two envelope glycoproteins, E1 and E2. Our previous work selected a specific aptamer ZE2, which could bind to E2 with high affinity, with a great potential for developing new molecular probes as an early diagnostic reagents or therapeutic drugs targeting HCV. In this study, the binding sites between E2 and aptamer ZE2 were further explored. E2 was truncated to 15 peptides (P1 to P15) and these peptides were used to detect the affinity with ZE2 by ELISA respectively. The peptide with high affinity was then further truncated, detected and compared with six kinds of HCV genotypes. The basic amino acid in 500 aa bound to ZE2 with high affinity, while acidic amino acid in 501 aa reduced the reaction between E2 and ZE2. The results showed the 500 aa and 501 aa of E2 were the key sites that bound to ZE2.

Value of needle confocal laser microendoscopy combined with endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopy in the diagnosis of hilar and mediastinal lymph node lesions.

Endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopy (EBUS) and needle confocal laser endomicroscopy (nCLE) are techniques for screening benign and malignant lesions of the hilar and mediastinal lymph node (HMLN). This study investigated the diagnostic potential of EBUS, nCLE, and combined EBUS and nCLE in HMLN lesions. We recruited 107 patients with HMLN lesions who were examined by EBUS and nCLE. A pathological examination was performed, and the diagnostic potential of EBUS, nCLE, and combined EBUS-nCLE approach was analyzed according to the results. Among the 107 cases of HMLN lesions, 43 cases were benign and 64 cases were malignant on pathological examination, 41 cases were benign and 66 cases were malignant on EBUS examination; 42 cases were benign and 65 cases were malignant on nCLE examination; 43 cases were benign and 64 cases were malignant on combined EBUS-nCLE examination. The combination approach had 93.8% sensitivity, 90.7% specificity, and 0.922 area under the curve, which was higher than those of EBUS (84.4%, 72.1%, and 0.782, respectively) and nCLE diagnosis (90.6%, 83.7%, and 0.872, respectively). The combination approach had a higher positive predictive value (0.908), negative predictive value (0.881), and positive likelihood ratio (10.09) than that of EBUS (0.813, 0.721, and 3.03, respectively) and nCLE (0.892, 0.857, and 5.56, respectively), whereas, the negative likelihood ratio was lower than that for EBUS (0.22) and nCLE (0.11). No serious complications occurred in patients with HMLN lesions. To summarize, the diagnostic efficacy of nCLE was better than EBUS. The EBUS-nCLE combination is a suitable approach for diagnosing HMLN lesions.

[Mapping of QTLs of Cd2+ content in brown rice under Cd2+ stress in rice].

A population of F8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from a cross between IR26 (Oryza sativa L. spp. indica) and Jiucaiqing (japonica), were used to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for Cd2+ content in brown rice under 5 mg/kg Cd2+ stress. Two QTLs, qCCBR-11a and qCCBR-11b, associated with the Cd2+ content in brown rice, were detected on chromosome 11. qCCBR-11a was located at the position between markers RM6288 and RM6544, accounting for 11.17% of the phenotypic variance with an additive effect value of 0.089. qCCBR-11b at the interval between markers RM167 and RM5704 explained 7.66% of the phenotypic variance with an additive effect value of 0.075. In addition, the correlation coefficients between Cd2+ content of brown rice and plant height, spikelets per panicle, filled grains per panicle, seed setting rate, and 1 000-grain weight were not significant. This suggested that the Cd2+ content in brown rice under Cd2+ stress was an independent genetic trait.