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Recent studies have shown that N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) and arginine (ARG) supplementation improves reproductive performance in livestock. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of NCG and ARG on GT1-7 cell gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion, gene expression and cell proliferation. GT1-7 cells were treated in vitro with different concentrations of NCG (0-1.0mM) or ARG (0-4.0mM) in serum-free medium for 12 or 24h. For GnRH secretion and cell proliferation, GT1-7 cells were more sensitive to NCG than ARG. NCG treatment after 12h increased cell numbers and inhibited GnRH secretion in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), although there was no significant effect of NCG on these parameters after 24h culture. ARG treatment decreased GnRH secretion after 24h (P<0.05), whereas it had no effect after 12h. GT1-7 cells express GnRH, Kiss-1 metastasis-suppressor (Kiss1), G-protein coupled receptor 54 (GPR54), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and estrogen receptor α (ERα) genes. High concentrations of NCG (1.0mM) and ARG (4.0mM) inhibited (P<0.05) GnRH and nNOS mRNA abundance in GT1-7 cells. ARG treatment decreased Kiss1 and increased ERα mRNA abundance. Thus, high concentrations of NCG (1.0mM) and ARG (4.0mM) may act both directly and indirectly to regulate GnRH neuron function by downregulating genes related to GnRH synthesis and secretion to slow GnRH production while stimulating GT1-7 cell proliferation.

1. H-FABP (heart-type fatty acid-binding protein) is an important fatty acid-binding protein that participates in the metabolism and intracellular transportation of lipids. This study was designed to study the H-FABP gene expression and genetic association with meat quality traits in domestic pigeons. 2. The spatio-temporal expression patterns showed that H-FABP was widely expressed in all eleven tissues in birds from hatching to 4 weeks of age, and the expression level in the liver was the highest, and spleen and subcutaneous fat showed relatively high levels at all time points, and increased markedly as squabs became older. 3. Nine novel SNPs were found; three of them (g.42 C > T and g.123 C > T in exon 1 and g.3128 C > T in exon 2) were synonymous mutations, and six of them (g.3304 T > C, g.3305 G > A, g.3313A>G, g.3343 C > T, g.3372A>C, g.3410 T > C in exon 3) were located in the 3ʹ untranslated region (UTR). In addition, four haplotypes and six diplotypes were formed and showed weak linkage disequilibrium. Association analysis showed that in the SNP of g.3305 G > A, the AB genotype showed higher (P < 0.05) inosinic acid concentrations in breast muscle than the BB genotype. In the SNP of g.3313A>G, the AA and AB genotypes showed significantly higher (P < 0.01) inosinic acid concentrations than the BB genotype, AA showed the highest intramuscular fat content, and the relative mRNA expression level of the AA genotype was the highest (P < 0.05). 4. Association analysis of diplotypes showed no correlation with meat quality traits. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that the H-FABP mRNA expression level was tightly related to intramuscular fat content (P < 0.01). 5. This study suggested that the H-FABP gene may be a candidate gene in marker-assisted selection of pigeons for high-quality meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-cadherin is a 120- KD transmembrane calcium-dependent cell adhesion protein that has been demonstrated drownregulated in a large amount of invasive tumors. However, its effect on the prognosis of esophageal cancer ( EC) remains controversial. All the relevant English articles that reported survival data or clinicopathological parameters were enrolled in this meta-analysis. A total of 24 studies, including 2691 cases, were included in this study. Twelve studies containing 1669 cases were enrolled to synthesize with hazard ratio ( HR) and its 95% confidence interval ( CI). The pooled HR for all 12 studies enrolled in this meta-analysis was 1.33 (95% CI 1.16-1.52; z = 3.99, P = 0.00). When the study measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is excluded, the pooled HR-evaluated E-cadherin to reduce the expression in EC, and in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was 1.39 (95% CI 1.22-1.58; z = 5.08, P = 0.00) and 1.38 (95% CI 1.21-1.56; z = 4.87, P = 0.00), respectively. The risk of reduced E-cadherin expression on poor differentiation degree was 1.636 (95% CI 1.33-2.02). The pooled odds ratio of reduced E-cadherin expression on deeper tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and higher clinical stage were 2.63 (95% CI 1.75-3.94), 1.77 (95% CI 1.06 −2.97), and 3.39 (95% CI 1.85-6.23). Reduced E-cadherin expression detected by immunohistochemistry could be a valid prognostic marker in patients with EC, especially in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Reduced E-cadherin expression is significantly associated with poorer differentiation degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the differences in gene expression between some obese and lean pig breeds, differential display of mRNA was employed in our previous research. One differentially expressed EST ( ) was further identified as the porcine cardiomyopathy associated 1 ( CMYA1) gene because of its homology to the human CMYA1 gene. The full-length DNA of the porcine CMYA1 gene encompasses 9379 bp, including a complete open reading frame encoding 1839 amino acid residues, a 158-bp 5′-untranslated region and a 630-bp 3′-untranslated region. The porcine CMYA1 gene was assigned to chromosome 13 by the radiation hybrid panel (IMpRH). The porcine CMYA1 gene was expressed only in the striated muscle. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) scanning in the coding region identified one synonymous mutation (c.1053C>T) and three missense mutations, c.1394A>G (p.His465Arg), c.1751A>G (p.Asp582Gly) and c.3290C>A (p.Thr1097Asp). The allele frequencies were tested among about 200 unrelated pigs from several pig breeds. Linkage mapping was further conducted with the SNP c.1751A>G (p.Asp582Gly) in a Berkshire × Yorkshire resource family and this confirmed that porcine CMYA1 is closely linked with Sw344 (distance = 2 cM, LOD score is 129.47), an interesting region harbouring a QTL for back fat thickness. Association analysis in our experimental pig population showed that different genotypes of CMYA1 gene were associated with different back fat thicknesses ( P < 0.05). Our results suggest that the porcine CMYA1 gene has effects on porcine back fat deposition and further investigation will be necessary to illustrate the underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molt-regulating transcription factors, hormone receptor 3 (HR3), play important roles in regulating expression of tissue-specific genes involved in insect molting and metamorphosis. A 1668 bp cDNA encoding a molt-regulating transcription factor (HHR3) was cloned from Helicoverpa armigera, which encodes a protein made up of 556 amino acids. This 62 kDa protein was found to have an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.52. There was no signal peptide or N-glycosylation site found in this cDNA. A DNA-binding region signature of nuclear hormone receptor was found from amino acids 107–133. A possible outside to inside transmembrane helice was found from amino acids 72–90. Northern blots of the larvae revealed five bands of HHR3 named as band 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 with molecular masses determined as 2.1, 2.6, 3.6, 4.5 and 5.5 kb, respectively. The expression patterns of HHR3 in vivo were variable with developmental stages and tissues. Results showed that band 1–4 of HHR3 was only briefly expressed during molting, which suggested these bands are involved in the regulation of molting cascade, whereas band 0 was expressed in both molting and feeding larvae. Band 1 and 2 of HHR3 could be induced from epidermis of newly molted 6th instar larvae by non-steroidal ecdysone agonist, RH-2485. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]