The novel long non-coding RNA CRG regulates Drosophila locomotor behavior.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have no protein-coding capacity make up a large proportion of the transcriptome of various species. Many lncRNAs are expressed within the animal central nervous system in spatial- and temporal-specific patterns, indicating that lncRNAs play important roles in cellular processes, neural development, and even in cognitive and behavioral processes. However, relatively little is known about their in vivo functions and underlying molecular mechanisms in the nervous system. Here, we report a neural-specific Drosophila lncRNA, CASK regulatory gene (CRG), which participates in locomotor activity and climbing ability by positively regulating its neighboring gene CASK (Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase). CRG deficiency led to reduced locomotor activity and a defective climbing ability-phenotypes that are often seen in CASK mutant. CRG mutant also showed reduced CASK expression level while CASK over-expression could rescue the CRG mutant phenotypes in reciprocal. At the molecular level, CRG was required for the recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the CASK promoter regions, which in turn enhanced CASK expression. Our work has revealed new functional roles of lncRNAs and has provided insights to explore the pathogenesis of neurological diseases associated with movement disorders.

Histamine Fish Poisoning and Histamine Production by Raoultella ornithinolytica in Milkfish Surimi.

ABSTRACT: In April 2017, an outbreak of histamine fish poisoning causing illness in nine victims associated with consumption of milkfish surimi products (fish ball) occurred in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan. Of the two suspected frozen milkfish surimi samples, one sample contained 91.06 mg/100 g of histamine, levels that are greater than the potential hazard action level (50 mg/100 g) in most illness cases. Moreover, 28 frozen milkfish surimi samples from retail stores were collected and tested to determine the occurrence of histamine. One (3.6%) of 28 commercial surimi samples had histamine levels greater than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guideline for decomposition of 5 mg/100 g for scombroid fish and/or products. Thirteen histamine-producing bacterial strains isolated from suspected and commercial surimi samples were identified as prolific histamine formers, able to produce 98.4 to 121.8 mg/100 mL of histamine in Trypticase soy broth supplemented with 1.0% l-histidine. In addition, milkfish surimi was inoculated with Raoultella ornithinolytica at 5.0 log CFU/g and stored at 4, 15, 25, and 37°C to investigate bacterial growth and formation of histamine. The histamine contents quickly increased to more than 50 mg/100 g in samples stored at 37 and 25°C within 12 and 24 h, respectively, as well those stored at 15°C within 96 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report in Taiwan to demonstrate that milkfish surimi products could cause histamine intoxication.

Identification of isochore boundaries in the human genome using the technique of wavelet multiresolution analysis.

Incorporated with the Z curve method, the technique of wavelet multiresolution (also known as multiscale) analysis has been proposed to identify the boundaries of isochores in the human genome. The human MHC sequence and the longest contigs of human chromosomes 21 and 22 are used as examples. The boundary between the isochores of Class III and Class II in the MHC sequence has been detected and found to be situated at the position 2,490,368bp. This result is in good agreement with the experimental evidence. An isochore with a length of about 7Mb in chromosome 21 has been identified and found to be gene- and Alu-poor. We have also found that the G+C content of chromosome 21 is more homogeneous than that of chromosome 22. Compared with the window-based methods, the present method has the highest resolution for identifying the boundaries of isochores, even at a scale of single base. Compared with the entropic segmentation method, the present method has the merits of more intuitiveness and less calculations. The important conclusion drawn in this study is that the segmentation points, at which the G+C content undergoes relatively dramatic changes, do exist in the human genome. These 'singularity' points may be considered to be candidates of isochore boundaries in the human genome. The method presented is a general one and can be used to analyze any other genomes.