Genes
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Relatively little is known about the ecological forces shaping the gut microbiota composition during infancy. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to identify the nutrient utilization- and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production potential of gut microbes in infants during the first year of life. Stool samples were obtained from mothers at 18 weeks of pregnancy and from infants at birth (first stool) at 3, 6, and 12-months of age from the general population-based PreventADALL cohort. ⋯ The bacteria associated with the increased butyrate ratio/levels were E. rectale and F. prausnitzii, which potentially utilize a variety of dietary fibers based on the glycoside hydrolases (GHs) expressed. R. gnavus with a negative association to butyrate potentially utilizes mucin, fucose, and HMO components. This knowledge could have future importance in understanding how microbial metabolites can impact infant health and development.
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare disease with high mortality despite recent therapeutic advances. The disease is caused by both genetic and environmental factors and likely gene-environment interactions. While PAH can manifest across the lifespan, pediatric-onset disease is particularly challenging because it is frequently associated with a more severe clinical course and comorbidities including lung/heart developmental anomalies. ⋯ The standard of medical care for pediatric PAH patients is based on extrapolations from adult data. However, increased etiologic heterogeneity, poorer prognosis, and increased genetic burden for pediatric-onset PAH calls for a dedicated pediatric research agenda to improve molecular diagnosis and clinical management. A genomics-first approach will improve the understanding of pediatric PAH and how it is related to other rare pediatric genetic disorders.
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The importance of host genetics and demography in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a crucial aspect of infection, prognosis and associated case fatality rate. Individual genetic landscapes can contribute to understand Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) burden and can give information on how to fight virus spreading and the associated severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The spread and pathogenicity of the virus have become pandemic on specific geographic areas and ethnicities. ⋯ Accordingly, we recently published a genetic hypothesis on the role of RAS-pathway genes (ACE1, rs4646994, rs1799752, rs4340, rs13447447; and ACE2, rs2285666, rs1978124, rs714205) and ABO-locus (rs495828, rs8176746) in COVID-19 prognosis, suspecting inherited genetic predispositions to be predictive of COVID-19 severity. In addition, recently, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) found COVID-19-association signals at locus 3p21.31 (rs11385942) comprising the solute carrier SLC6A20 (Na+ and Cl- coupled transporter family) and at locus 9q34.2 (rs657152) coincident with ABO-blood group (rs8176747, rs41302905, rs8176719), and interestingly, both loci are associated to RAS-pathway. Finally, ACE1 and ACE2 haplotypes seem to provide plausible explanations for why SARS-CoV-2 have affected more heavily some ethnic groups, namely people with European ancestry, than Asians.
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PEG-Delivered CRISPR-Cas9 Ribonucleoproteins System for Gene-Editing Screening of Maize Protoplasts.
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 technology allows the modification of DNA sequences in vivo at the location of interest. Although CRISPR-Cas9 can produce genomic changes that do not require DNA vector carriers, the use of transgenesis for the stable integration of DNA coding for gene-editing tools into plant genomes is still the most used approach. However, it can generate unintended transgenic integrations, while Cas9 prolonged-expression can increase cleavage at off-target sites. ⋯ In the present study, we demonstrated that the suitability of RNP transfection was proven as an effective screening platform for gene-editing in maize. This efficient and relatively easy assay method for the selection of gRNA suitable for the editing of the gene of interest will be highly useful for genome editing in maize, since the genome size and GC-content are large and high in the maize genome, respectively. Nevertheless, the large amplitude of mutations at the target site require scrutiny when checking mutations at off-target sites and potential safety concerns.
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), an RNA virus, is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020. Experimental evidence suggests that microRNA can mediate an intracellular defence mechanism against some RNA viruses. The purpose of this study was to identify microRNA with predicted binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, compare these to their microRNA expression profiles in lung epithelial tissue and make inference towards possible roles for microRNA in mitigating coronavirus infection. ⋯ Additionally, 28 microRNA also target the SARS-CoV genome while 23 microRNA target the MERS-CoV genome. We also found that a number of microRNA are commonly identified in two other studies. Further research into identifying bona fide coronavirus targeting microRNA will be useful in understanding the importance of microRNA as a cellular defence mechanism against pathogenic coronavirus infections.