Global potential distribution of mangroves: Taking into account salt marsh interactions along latitudinal gradients.

Mangrove is one of the most productive and sensitive ecosystems in the world. Due to the complexity and specificity of mangrove habitat, the development of mangrove is regulated by several factors. Species distribution models (SDMs) are effective tools to identify the potential habitats for establishing and regenerating the ecosystem. Such models usually include exclusively environmental factors. Nevertheless, recent studies have challenged this notion and highlight the importance of including biotic interactions. Both factors are necessary for a mechanistic understanding of the mangrove distribution in order to promote the protection and restoration of mangroves. Thus, we present a novel approach of combining environmental factors and interactions with salt marsh for projecting mangrove distributions at the global level and within latitudinal zones. To test the salt marsh interaction, we fit the MaxEnt model with two predicting sets: (1) environments only and (2) environments + salt marsh interaction index (SII). We found that both sets of models had good predictive ability, although the SII improved model performance slightly. Potential distribution areas of mangrove decrease with latitudes, and are controlled by biotic and abiotic factors. Temperature, precipitation and wind speed are generally critical at both global scale and ecotones along latitudes. SII is important on global scale, with a contribution of 5.9%, ranking 6th, and is particularly critical in the 10-30°S and 20-30°N zone. Interactions with salt marsh, including facilitation and competition, are shown to affect the distribution of mangroves at the zone of coastal ecotone, especially in the latitudinal range from 10° - 30°. The contribution of SII to mangrove distribution increases with latitudes due to the difference in the adaptive capacity of salt marsh plants and mangroves to environments. Totally, this study identified and quantified the effects of salt marsh on mangrove distribution by establishing the SII. The results not only facilitate to establish a more accurate mangrove distribution map, but also improve the efficiency of mangrove restoration by considering the salt marsh interaction in the mangrove management projects. In addition, the method of incorporating biotic interaction into SDMs through establish the biotic interaction index has contributed to the development of SDMs.

The roles of tissue resident macrophages in health and cancer.

As integral components of the immune microenvironment, tissue resident macrophages (TRMs) represent a self-renewing and long-lived cell population that plays crucial roles in maintaining homeostasis, promoting tissue remodeling after damage, defending against inflammation and even orchestrating cancer progression. However, the exact functions and roles of TRMs in cancer are not yet well understood. TRMs exhibit either pro-tumorigenic or anti-tumorigenic effects by engaging in phagocytosis and secreting diverse cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors to modulate the adaptive immune system. The life-span, turnover kinetics and monocyte replenishment of TRMs vary among different organs, adding to the complexity and controversial findings in TRMs studies. Considering the complexity of tissue associated macrophage origin, macrophages targeting strategy of each ontogeny should be carefully evaluated. Consequently, acquiring a comprehensive understanding of TRMs' origin, function, homeostasis, characteristics, and their roles in cancer for each specific organ holds significant research value. In this review, we aim to provide an outline of homeostasis and characteristics of resident macrophages in the lung, liver, brain, skin and intestinal, as well as their roles in modulating primary and metastatic cancer, which may inform and serve the future design of targeted therapies.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphal respiration makes a large contribution to soil respiration in a subtropical forest under various N input rates.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are widespread in subtropical forests and play a crucial role in belowground carbon (C) dynamics. Nitrogen (N) deposition or fertilization may affect AMF and thus the flux of plant-derived C back to the atmosphere via AMF hyphae. However, the contribution of AMF hyphal respiration to soil respiration and the response AMF hyphal respiration to increased soil N availability remain unknown. We studied the effect of N fertilization (0, 50, 100 and 200 kg N ha-1 yr-1) on AMF hyphal respiration, root respiration and heterotrophic (microbial) respiration in a subtropical Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) plantation. We found that short-term N addition did not affect root, AMF hyphal and soil microbial respiration, because soil N availability and extraradical hyphae were not affected by N addition. The AMF hyphal respiration contributed 12 % of total soil respiration and 25 % of the autotrophic respiration. Root, AMF hyphal and soil microbial respiration were positively correlated with soil moisture content but not with soil temperature. Our results indicate that AMF hyphal respiration is a large source of soil respiration, and should be considered in partitioning soil respiration into different components in future studies to better understand the response of soil respiration to N addition.

CTEN Inhibits Tumor Angiogenesis and Growth by Targeting VEGFA Through Down-Regulation of ß-Catenin in Breast Cancer.

C-terminal tensin-like (CTEN) belongs to the tensin gene family, which encodes proteins that localize to focal adhesions and modulate integrin function. Accumulating studies have reported that CTEN expression can be upregulated or downregulated in different types of cancers, suggesting that CTEN has both oncogenic and tumor suppressor functions. In this study, by analyzing the expression level of CTEN in the human breast cancer (BRCA) samples from the clinically annotated genomic database, The Cancer Genome Atlas, we found that CTEN was downregulated in different BRCA subclasses, including luminal, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive and triple-negative BRCA. Consistently, the protein level of CTEN was also reduced in BRCA based on the Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium. In contrast, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), a signal protein that stimulates the formation of blood vessels, was upregulated in BRCA. CTEN overexpression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and MCF7 significantly suppressed the expression of VEGFA, inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation in vitro. Mechanistically, CTEN bind to casitas B-lineage lymphoma (c-Cbl), an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase, and decreased the ß-catenin expression. In turn, the downregulation of ß-catenin reduced the expression of VEGFA. Rescuing ß-catenin expression effectively ameliorated the effect of CTEN overexpression in cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation. In conclusion, CTEN inhibited tumor angiogenesis by targeting VEGFA through c-Cbl-mediated down-regulation of ß-catenin and may serve as a tumor suppressor in BRCA.

Three plasma-based microRNAs as potent diagnostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), with noticeable stability and unique expression pattern in plasma of patients with various diseases, are powerful non-invasive biomarkers for cancer detection including endometrial cancer (EC). OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify promising miRNA biomarkers in plasma to assist the clinical screening of EC. METHODS: A total of 93 EC and 79 normal control (NC) plasma samples were analyzed using Quantitative Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) in this four-stage experiment. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic value. Additionally, the expression features of the identified miRNAs were further explored in tissues and plasma exosomes samples. RESULTS: The expression of miR-142-3p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-151a-5p was significantly overexpressed in the plasma of EC patients compared with NCs. Areas under the ROC curve of the 3-miRNA signature were 0.729, 0.751, and 0.789 for the training, testing, and external validation phases, respectively. The diagnostic performance of the identified signature proved to be stable in the three public datasets and superior to the other miRNA biomarkers in EC diagnosis. Moreover, the expression of miR-151a-5p was significantly elevated in EC plasma exosomes. CONCLUSIONS: A signature consisting of 3 plasma miRNAs was identified and showed potential for the non-invasive diagnosis of EC.

Effects of Spartina alterniflora Invasion on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Functions.

It has been reported that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changed the soil microbial community in the mangrove ecosystem in China, especially the bacterial community, although the response of soil fungal communities and soil microbial ecological functions to the invasion of Spartina alterniflora remains unclear. In this study, we selected three different communities (i.e., Spartina alterniflora community (SC), Spartina alterniflora-mangrove mixed community (TC), and mangrove community (MC)) in the Zhangjiangkou Mangrove Nature Reserve in China. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the impact of Spartina alterniflora invasion on mangrove soil microbial communities. Our results indicate that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora does not cause significant changes in microbial diversity, but it can alter the community structure of soil bacteria. The results of the LEfSe (LDA Effect Size) analysis show that the relative abundance of some bacterial taxa is not significantly different between the MC and SC communities, but different changes have occurred during the invasion process (i.e., TC community). Different from the results of the bacterial community, the invasion of Spartina alterniflora only cause a significant increase in few fungal taxa during the invasion process, and these taxa are at some lower levels (such as family, genus, and species) and classified into the phylum Ascomycota. Although the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changes the taxa with certain ecological functions, it may not change the potential ecological functions of soil microorganisms (i.e., the potential metabolic pathways of bacteria, nutritional patterns, and fungal associations). In general, the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changes the community structure of soil microorganisms, but it may not affect the potential ecological functions of soil microorganisms.

Overexpression of CTEN is associated with gefitinib resistance in non-small cell lung cancer.

COOH-terminus tensin-like molecule (CTEN) is a member of the tensin family, which is considered to be one of the novel proto-oncogenes involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the mechanisms of CTEN in acquired resistance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain relatively unknown. The aim of the present study was to understand the roles of CTEN in acquired gefitinib resistance of NSCLC. The present study investigated the expression level of CTEN using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. Cell Counting kit-8 and colony-formation assays were performed to evaluate the proliferative and colony-formative abilities of PC9 and PC9/GR cells in vitro. Mouse xenograft models were used to assess the growth of PC9/GR cells in vivo. A gefitinib-resistant NSCLC cell line (PC9/GR) was established, and the protein and mRNA expression levels of CTEN were observed to be higher in PC9/GR cells than in PC9 cells. Notably, the sensitivity of PC9/GR cells to gefitinib was observed to be decreased when CTEN was overexpressed, while PC9/GR cells with CTEN-downregulation showed markedly enhanced sensitivity to gefitinib. In vitro proliferation and colony formation assays revealed that increased CTEN markedly promoted the cell proliferative and colony-forming capacities of PC9 and PC9/GR cells, and CTEN-silencing inhibited the cell proliferative and colony-forming abilities of the PC9 and PC9/GR cells. Notably, deficient expression of CTEN notably retarded the growth of PC9/GR xenografts in vivo. In addition, the plasma mRNA expression of CTEN was notably elevated in patients with NSCLC with acquired gefitinib resistance. Overexpression of CTEN is associated with acquired gefitinib resistance in NSCLC. CTEN may be investigated as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with NSCLC with acquired gefitinib resistance.

Phenylacetonitrile in locusts facilitates an antipredator defense by acting as an olfactory aposematic signal and cyanide precursor.

Many aggregating animals use aposematic signals to advertise their toxicity to predators. However, the coordination between aposematic signals and toxins is poorly understood. Here, we reveal that phenylacetonitrile (PAN) acts as an olfactory aposematic signal and precursor of hypertoxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to protect gregarious locusts from predation. We found that PAN biosynthesis from phenylalanine is catalyzed by CYP305M2, a novel gene encoding a cytochrome P450 enzyme in gregarious locusts. The RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of CYP305M2 increases the vulnerability of gregarious locusts to bird predation. By contrast, the elevation of PAN levels through supplementation with synthetic PAN increases the resistance of solitary locusts to predation. When locusts are attacked by birds, PAN is converted to HCN, which causes food poisoning in birds. Our results indicate that locusts develop a defense mechanism wherein an aposematic compound is converted to hypertoxic cyanide in resistance to predation by natural enemies.

Extrarenal Wilms' Tumor of the Female Genital System: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Extrarenal Wilms' Tumors (ERWTs) are rare. There have been only 25 cases of ERWT arising from the female genital system reported in the literature. In this paper, we report a 60-year-old woman with a complaint of vaginal bleeding and a polypoid mass in the uterine cavity by sonography that was demonstrated as ERWT by pathology after resection. The pathological characteristics, histological origination, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of ERWT in female reproductive system are discussed in this paper in the purpose of improving the diagnosis and therapy of this rare tumor.

CDH1 rs9929218 variant at 16q22.1 contributes to colorectal cancer susceptibility.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer. Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed and reported some novel CRC susceptibility variants in European ancestry including the CDH1 rs9929218. Following GWAS and candidate studies evaluated the association between the CDH1 rs9929218 polymorphism and CRC in European, Asian and American populations. However, these studies reported inconsistent associations. Evidence shows that rs9929218 may regulate different gene expressions in different human tissues. Here, we reevaluated this association using large-scale samples from 16 studies (n=131768) using a meta-analysis method. In heterogeneity test, we did not identify significant heterogeneity among these studies. Meta-analysis using fixed effect model showed significant association between rs9929218 and CRC (P=6.16E-21, odds ratio (OR) =0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.91-0.94). In order to validate the effect of rs9929218 variant on CDH1 expression, we further performed a functional analysis using two large-scale expression datasets. We identified significant regulation relation between rs9929218 variant and the expression of CDH1, ZFP90, RP11-354M1.2 and MCOLN2 by both cis-effect and trans-effect. In summary, our analysis highlights significant association between rs9929218 polymorphism and CRC susceptibility.

[Analysis of volatile oil in Fructus Aurantii processed with Zhangband method by GC-MS].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the chemical components of the volatile oil in processed pieces of Fructus Aurantii (PPFA) with JiangXi Zhangband methods by GC-MS. METHODS: The volatile oil was obtained from PPFA by steam distillation. The amount of the components from the volatile oil were determinated by area normalization method. The separated components were identified by GC-MS. RESULTS: Composed of the total volatile oil over 90% , 70 components were separated and identified. All of the processed Fructus Aurantii produced new chemical composition, in the meantime,the contents were changed in some chemical composition after processed. CONCLUSION: The method is reliable, stable and has good repeatability. This method can be applied to the analysis of volatile oil components in PPFA. It will provide the certain scientific methods for further evaluating of PPFA quality.