Genetic diversity of 23 Y-STR loci of the Lisu ethnic minority residing in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, Southwest China.

BACKGROUND: The Lisu group is a unique minority in Yunnan province. However, there is a lack of Y-STR population data for Chinese Lisu and the genetic structure of the Lisu group and other populations is unclear. AIM: To provide genetic data for 23 Y-STRs in the Chinese Lisu population from Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, as well as to analyse population genetic relationships between Chinese Lisu ethnic minority and other reference groups. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 423 unrelated healthy Lisu males were genotyped using the PowerPlex® Y23 system. Forensic parameters were calculated according to the previously published studies. Genetic structure analysis among Chinese Lisu and other populations was conducted using the YHRD's AMOVA tools. RESULTS: Gene diversity (GD) ranged from 0.2,466 (DYS438) to 0.8,945 (DYS385a/b) among the 23 Y-STR loci. According to haplotype analysis, 323 different haplotypes were obtained, out of which 271 were unique. The haplotype diversity (HD) and discrimination capacity (DC) were 0.9,977 and 0.7,636, respectively. MDS plot indicated that the Chuxiong Lisu group is genetically related to the Yunnan Yi group. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report on Y-STR population data for the Chinese Lisu population. These data would be valuable for forensic applications.

[Influence of landscape pattern on elevation effect of δ18O in surface water in Hani Terrace]. / å“ˆå°¼æ¢¯ç”°æ™¯è§‚æ ¼å±€å¯¹åœ°è¡¨æ°´Î´18O海拔效应的影响.

With the Quanfuzhuang River basin located at Hani Rice Terrace core region as study area, we analyzed the isotopic composition and the effects of 12 surface water sampling sites for the forest landscape type and terrace landscape type from May 2015 to April 2016. The results showed that: 1) For the variation of isotope composition, both the average value and the variation range of δ18O in surface water under forest patches were smaller than that under terrace patches. 2) The overall elevation effect of the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in surface water was obvious, except that in August and March, which could be expressed as the linear regression equation δ18O=-0.012H+13.84 (r=-0.83, n=12). 3) The altitude gradient of δ18O in surface water was -1.2‰·(100 m)-1, which was not the true altitude gradient affected by precipitation but by landscape gradient of δ18O in surface water between forest patches and terrace patches. 4) Under the "Forest-Terrace" landscape pattern, the δ18O differences in surface water between forest patches and terrace patches enhanced the elevation effect. Therefore, when landscape heterogeneity was strong, isotopic effect was strengthened, even with opposite isotope effect.

Mouse Ptchd3 is a non-essential gene.

Mouse Ptchd3 (patched domain containing 3) was previously identified as a male germ-cell specific gene. The protein product of this gene has been found on the surface of mouse, rat and human sperm. Since Ptchd3 contains a conserved patched domain, we hypothesize that it functions as a membrane receptor for the hedgehog ligand. Herein, we used a Ptchd3 knockout mouse model to study its function in mouse development and spermatogenesis. We found that Ptchd3 knockout mice were born and lived normally. The fertility and sperm production of knockout males were not changed. Moreover, our data indicated that the expression levels of several hedgehog signaling genes were not affected in mutant testis. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that Ptchd3 is a non-essential gene in mouse development and spermatogenesis.

Mouse Ptchd3 is a non-essential gene.

Mouse Ptchd3 (patched domain containing 3) was previously identified as a male germ-cell specific gene. The protein product of this gene has been found on the surface of mouse, rat and human sperm. Since Ptchd3 contains a conserved patched domain, we hypothesize that it functions as a membrane receptor for the hedgehog ligand. Herein, we used a Ptchd3 knockout mouse model to study its function in mouse development and spermatogenesis. We found that Ptchd3 knockout mice were born and lived normally. The fertility and sperm production of knockout males were not changed. Moreover, our data indicated that the expression levels of several hedgehog signaling genes were not affected in mutant testis. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that Ptchd3 is a non-essential gene in mouse development and spermatogenesis.

Transferrin epitope-CD19-CAR-T cells effectively kill lymphoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy has demonstrated clinical success in treatment of B-cell hematologic cancers. In this study, we compared human Transferrin epitope tagged CAR-T cells with non-tagged CAR-T cells for cytotoxicity, IFN-gamma secretion and tumor clearance in NSG mice. CD19-TF-CAR-T cells had similar cytotoxicity in vitro to CD19-CAR-T cells against cells expressing CD19 antigen: exogenously CD19+ Hela cells and endogenously CD19+ Raji cells. In addition, CD22-TF CAR-T cells were similarly cytotoxic against CD22+ CHO cells and CD22+  Raji cells. Both CD19-TF or CD22-TF-CAR-T cells secreted less IFN-gamma as compared to non-tagged CAR-T cells. In a Raji xenograft NSG mouse model, CD19-TF-CAR-T cells were as effective as CD19-CAR-T cells in reducing tumor growth and extending mouse survival. The results show that CD19-TF-CAR-T cells can be monitored using TF antibody in vitro and ex vivo, and that these cells effectively killed Raji cells in vitro and in vivo with reduced secretion of IFN-gamma. Thus, these TF-tagged CAR-T cells might have improved safety and provide a basis for future clinical studies.

Impacts of moisture sources on the isotopic inverse altitude effect and amount of precipitation in the Hani Rice Terraces region of the Ailao Mountains.

Generally, the isotopic composition of precipitation on the windward side of gigantic mountains has a negative altitude gradient. However, an inverse isotopic altitude effect occurs when there are diverse vapor sources. This paper takes the Quanfuzhuang River Basin (QRB), which lies in the Hani Rice Terraces region of the southern Ailao Mountains in southwest China, as the study area. The study analyzes the isotopic data of 42 precipitation samples collected between an elevation range from 1500 m to 2024 m a.s.l. during the rainy season (from May to October) of 2015. The results indicate that there is an inverse isotopic altitude effect of precipitation with a positive isotope altitude gradient of 0.47‰/100 m and 1.10‰/100 m for δ18O and δ2H, respectively, at the mountaintop, while the precipitation amount increases at related elevations. A mixture of over peak airflow and recycled vapor is responsible for the inverse altitude effect as well as increasing rainfall amount. The positive precipitation isotopic altitude gradient is primarily caused by the local water cycle, and the increased precipitation amount is mainly caused by over peak airflow. The inverse isotopic altitude effect is also found in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Central Hindu Kush Mountains and the Tianshan Mountains, and findings from those mountains support these findings on the influence of mixed moisture sources on isotopic inverse altitude effects.

Forensic features for Yunnan Lisu ethnic minority and phylogenetic structure exploration among 26 Chinese populations.

The genetic polymorphisms of 15 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci included in the AmpFlSTR®Sinofiler™ kit were evaluated from 508 unrelated healthy individuals of the Lisu ethnic minority living in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, southwest of China. Fourteen of the 15 loci reached the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction. These loci were examined to determine allele frequencies and forensic statistical parameters. The genetic relationship between the Lisu population and other Chinese populations were also estimated. The combined discrimination power and probability of excluding paternity of the 15 STR loci were 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 654 and 0.999 998 882, respectively. These results suggest that the 15 STR loci are highly polymorphic, which is suitable for forensic personal identification and paternity testing.

Detection of the pandemic H1N1/2009 influenza A virus by a highly sensitive quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assay.

A quantitative real time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay with specific primers recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) has been widely used successfully for detection and monitoring of the pandemic H1N1/2009 influenza A virus. In this study, we report the design and characterization of a novel set of primers to be used in a qRT-PCR assay for detecting the pandemic H1N1/2009 virus. The newly designed primers target three regions that are highly conserved among the hemagglutinin (HA) genes of the pandemic H1N1/2009 viruses and are different from those targeted by the WHO-recommended primers. The qRT-PCR assays with the newly designed primers are highly specific, and as specific as the WHO-recommended primers for detecting pandemic H1N1/2009 viruses and other influenza viruses including influenza B viruses and influenza A viruses of human, swine, and raccoon dog origin. Furthermore, the qRT-PCR assays with the newly designed primers appeared to be at least 10-fold more sensitive than those with the WHO-recommended primers as the detection limits of the assays with our primers and the WHO-recommended primers were 2.5 and 25 copies of target RNA per reaction, respectively. When tested with 83 clinical samples, 32 were detected to be positive using the qRT-PCR assays with our designed primers, while only 25 were positive by the assays with the WHO-recommended primers. These results suggest that the qRT-PCR system with the newly designed primers represent a highly sensitive assay for diagnosis of the pandemic H1N1/2009 virus infection.