Research Progress

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  Scientists develop a new gene therapy strategy for delaying aging

  How many aging-promoting genes are there in the human genome? What are the molecular mechanisms by which these genes regulate aging? Can gene therapy alleviate individual aging? Recently, the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shed new light on the regulation of aging.

  Jan 07, 2021
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  Researchers reveal a unique cellular strategy in placenta to compensate nutrient deprivation during pregnancy

  During pregnancy, the health of the mother and the fetus is dominated by the appropriate allocation of nutrients between the two individuals. Maternal-fetal material exchange predominantly depends on the placenta, which plays critical roles in sensing fetal nutritional demand, modulating maternal supply, and adapting its nutrient transport capacity. Failures in the regulatory network of placental functions lead to serious clinical complications, such as preeclampsia, recurrent miscarriage, and fetal growth restriction (FGR), etc. FGR is defined as the pregnancy bearing a fetus that does not grow to full potential, largely due to insufficient delivery of maternal nutrition by the placenta. Annually, ～30 million newborns worldwide suffer from FGR, which leads to increased perinatal morbidity and mortality and multiple lifelong health problems.

  Jan 07, 2021
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  Discovery of a gustatory receptor tuned to the steroid plant hormone brassinolide in the diamondback moth

  Dec 18, 2020
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  Researchers Provide Novel Insights into Human Skin Aging

  In human, the skin is one of the organs that exhibit early-onset aging-associated dysfunction. As a critical physical barrier, the skin is composed of a variety of cell types including fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Due to its high heterogeneity, it is difficult to accurately reveal the cell type-specific molecular mechanisms of human skin aging, which hinders our understanding of human skin aging and the development of interventions for human skin aging and related diseases.

  Nov 25, 2020
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  Researchers reveal that METTL3 counteracts premature aging via m6A-dependent stabilization of MIS12 mRNA

  Recently, scientists from the Institute of Zoology and Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have collaborated jointly to unveil a novel mechanism of METTL3 as well as m⁶A in regulating human stem cell senescence. This study entitled “METTL3 counteracts premature aging via m⁶A-dependent stabilization of MIS12 mRNA” was published online in Nucleic Acids Research on October 9th, 2020. Using including Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and Werner syndrome (WS), researchers explored the function of m⁶A and its core methyltransferase METTL3 during human stem cell aging and revealed that MIS12 functions as a downstream factor of METTL3/m⁶A in regulating hMSC senescence.

  Oct 10, 2020
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  An aphid-secreted salivary protease activates plant defense in phloem

  Scientists from Institute of Zoology CAS and CAS center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions have discovered that tobacco plants can recognize a potential elicitor protein cathepsin B3 (CathB3) in aphid saliva, and suppress aphid feeding by triggering ROS accumulation in phloem.

  Oct 09, 2020
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  Comparative genomics reveals genomic signatures of coevolution between non-model mammals and parasitic roundworms

  Two or more species affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection, which is called coevolution. It includes mutually beneficial coevolution and antagonistic coevolution, among which coevolution between host and parasite is typically antagonistic. For the previous studies on the genetic basis of coevolution, most of them focused on the candidate gene level and lacked genome-level study. With the development of next-generation genome sequencing technology, the genomes of many parasites that are closely associated with the health of human and domestic animals have been sequenced. However, most of them only focused on the structure and function of parasite genomes, but did not explore host genome-related changes and the coevolution mechanisms between host and parasite.

  Sep 28, 2020
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  A symbiosis explained: how a beetle’s bacterial associates enable an invasive bark beetle—fungus complex to coexist in a nutrient poor environment

  Mutualisms between symbiotic microbes and animals are ubiquitous in nature. The foundation of many mutualisms are nutritional relationships. The well-studied mutualism between bark beetles and their fungi has become a classic model system in the study of symbioses, yet the mechanism remains elusive.

  Aug 25, 2020
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  Stem Cell Reports | Generation of foxn1/Casper Mutant Zebrafish for Allograft and Xenograft of Normal and Malignant Cells

  Zebrafish cell transplantation platform has been brought to the forefront to study the cell properties, and it gains advantages in cost-effective, high-throughput and facile imaging.

  Aug 21, 2020
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  Researchers Reveal RNA structural dynamics regulating early embryogenesis

  Embryogenesis in animals is initially directed by maternal factors, including maternal mRNAs and proteins, deposited in the egg [1]. During the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) process, the maternal transcripts undergo orchestrated translation and well-controlled clearance, and the animal begins to synthesize zygotic factors depending on embryonic genome. Afterwards, the zygotic factors replace the maternal factors and regulate subsequent individual development [.

  Aug 07, 2020