Ribocentre: a database of ribozymes.

Ribozymes are excellent systems in which to study 'sequence - structure - function' relationships in RNA molecules. Understanding these relationships may greatly help structural modeling and design of functional RNA structures and some functional structural modules could be repurposed in molecular design. At present, there is no comprehensive database summarising all the natural ribozyme families. We have therefore created Ribocentre, a database that collects together sequence, structure and mechanistic data on 21 ribozyme families. This includes available information on timelines, sequence families, secondary and tertiary structures, catalytic mechanisms, applications of the ribozymes together with key publications. The database is publicly available at https://www.ribocentre.org.

Chromatin assembly factor 1B critically controls the early development but not function acquisition of invariant natural killer T cells in mice.

CD4+ CD8+ double-positive thymocytes give rise to both conventional TCRαß+ T cells and invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells), but these two kinds of cells display different characteristics. The molecular mechanism underlying iNKT cell lineage development and function acquisition remain to be elucidated. We show that the loss of chromatin assembly factor 1B (CHAF1b) maintains the normal development of conventional TCRαß+ T cells but severely impairs early development of iNKT cells. This dysregulation is accompanied by the impairment in chromatin activation and gene transcription at Vα14-Jα18 locus. Notably, ectopic expression of a Vα14-Jα18 TCR rescues Chaf1b-deficient iNKT cell developmental defects. Moreover, cytokine secretion and antitumor activity are substantially maintained in Vα14-Jα18 TCR transgene-rescued Chaf1b-deficient iNKT cells. Our study identifies CHAF1b as a critical factor that controls the early development but not function acquisition of iNKT cells via lineage- and stage-specific regulation.

The evolution of zebrafish RAG2 protein is required for adapting to the elevated body temperature of the higher endothermic vertebrates.

The recombination activating gene (RAG or RAG1/RAG2 complex)-mediated adaptive immune system is a hallmark of jawed vertebrates. It has been reported that RAG originated in invertebrates. However, whether RAG further evolved once it arose in jawed vertebrates remains largely unknown. Here, we found that zebrafish RAG (zRAG) had a lower activity than mouse RAG (mRAG). Intriguingly, the attenuated stability of zebrafish RAG2 (zRAG2), but not zebrafish RAG1, caused the reduced V(D)J recombination efficiency compared to mRAG at 37 °C which are the body temperature of most endotherms except birds. Importantly, the lower temperature 28 °C, which is the best temperature for zebrafish growth, made the recombination efficiency of zRAG similar to that of mRAG by improving the stability of zRAG2. Consistent with the prementioned observation, the V(D)J recombination of Rag2KI/KI mice, which zRAG2 was substituted for mRAG2, was also severely impaired. Unexpectedly, Rag2KI/KI mice developed cachexia syndromes accompanied by premature death. Taken together, our findings illustrate that the evolution of zebrafish RAG2 protein is required for adapting to the elevated body temperature of the higher endothermic vertebrates.

Comparative analysis of regulatory roles of P38 signaling pathway in 8 types liver cell during liver regeneration.

P38MAPK signaling pathway was closely related to cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell differentiation, cell survival, cell death, and so on. However, the regulatory mechanism of P38MAPK signaling pathway in liver regeneration (LR) was unclear. In order to further reveal the roles of P38MAPK signaling pathway in rat liver regeneration, Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software and related data sites were used to construct P38MAPK signaling pathway, and the pathway was confirmed by relevant documents literature. The expression changes of P38MAPK signaling pathway-related gene in eight type cells were further analyzed by Rat Genome 230 2.0 Array, and the results showed that 95 genes in P38MAPK signaling pathway had significant changes. H-cluster analysis showed that hepatocyte cell (HC), pit cell (PC), oval cell (OC) and biliary epithelial cell (BEC) are clustered together; and the same as Kupffer cell (KC), sinusoidal endothelial cell (SEC), dendritic cell (DC) and hepatic stellate cell (HSC). IPA software and expression analysis systematic explorer (EASE) were applied to functional enrichment analysis, and the results showed that P38MAPK signaling pathway was mainly involved in apoptosis, cell death, cell proliferation, cell survival, cell viability, activation, cell cycle progression, necrosis, synthesis of DNA and other physical activity during LR. In conclusion, P38MAPK signaling pathway regulated various physiological activities of LR through multiple signaling pathways.