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Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a type of eye disease that can cause vision loss. In recent years, many studies have attempted to investigate the major pathological processes and molecular pathogenic mechanisms of CNV. Because many diseases are related to genes, the genes associated with CNV need to be identified. In this study, we proposed a network-based approach for identifying novel CNV-associated genes. To execute such method, we first employed a protein-protein interaction network reported in STRING. Then, we applied a network diffusion algorithm, Laplacian heat diffusion, on this network by selecting validated CNV-related genes as the seed nodes. As a result, some novel genes that had unknown but strong relationships with validated genes were identified. Furthermore, we used a screening procedure to extract the most essential genes. Eleven latent CNV-related genes were finally obtained. Extensive analyses were performed to confirm that these genes are novel CNV-related genes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Minjie Sheng et al.)

Pinus massoniana (Masson's pine) is a widespread tree species in central and southern China and northern Vietnam; it is valued for rosin and paper production. Despite the significant economic value of Masson's pine, little work has been done on its molecular genetics. We developed 318 SSR primers from genome sequences of P. massoniana, and we identified 10 polymorphic markers. The number of alleles in the population of P. massoniana that we examined ranged from two to four, and the Shannon diversity index ranged from 0.150 to 1.133. Cross-species transferability of the 318 SSRs was also analyzed in the slash pine (Pinus elliottii), the Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea) and the Yunnan pine (Pinus yunnanensis); 15, 10, and 10 primer pairs generated polymorphic amplification, respectively. These sets of polymorphic SSR markers will be useful for population genetics studies of P. massoniana, for genetic identification of interspecific hybridization, and for phylogeographic studies of Pinus spp.

Herb Genome Program (HerbGP) includes a series of projects on whole genome sequencing (WGS) and post-genomics research of medicinal plants with unique secondary metabolism pathways or/and those of great medical and pharmaceutical importance. In this paper, we systematically discussed the strategy of HerbGP, from species selection, whole-genome sequencing, assembly and bioinformatics analysis, to postgenomics research. HerbGP will push study on Chinese traditional medicines into the front field of life science, by selecting a series of plants with unique secondary metabolism pathways as models and introducing "omics" methods into the research of these medicinal plants. HerbGP will provide great opportunities for China to be the leader in the basic research field of traditional Chinese medicine. HerbGP shall also have significant impacts on the R&D of natural medicines and the development of medicinal farming by analysis of secondary metabolic pathways and selection of cultivars with good agricultural traits.

Objective: This paper was designed to evaluate 6 short tandem repeats(STR) loci for their use in forensic personal identification., Methods: The allele frequencies and genotype frequencies at 6 tetranucleotide STR loci were determined in a sample of 132 unrelated individuals from a Chinese population of Han nationality in Guangzhou. The PCR products were analysed on 4% denaturing PAGE and detected using fluorescently labeled primers in an automated 377 sequencer(PE). The resultant allele frequencies were compared with other population or race databases., Results: All the 6 loci (vWA31A, TH01, F13A01,FES, TPOX, CSF1PO) met Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No random association of alleles among the 6 loci was noted. Except locus vWA31A, the observed heterozygosities at other 5 loci were significantly lower than those reported in Caucasian and Black population studies. The calculated DP=0.99999,PE=0.9708,pM=1.059 times 10(-5)., Conclusion: The data obtained can be used in human identity and paternity testing, and in other genetic researches and population investigation.