TurboCycler Lite Thermal Cycler

ETRAMP11.2 (PVX_003565) is a well-characterized protein with antigenic potential. It is considered to be a serological marker for diagnostic tools, and it has been suggested as a potential vaccine candidate. Despite its immunological relevance, the polymorphism of the P. vivax ETRAMP11.2 gene (pvetramp11.2) remains undefined. The genetic variability of an antigen may limit the effectiveness of its application as a serological surveillance tool and in vaccine development and, therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of pvetramp11.2 in parasite populations from Amazonian regions and worldwide. We also evaluated amino acid polymorphism on predicted B-cell epitopes. The low variability of the sequence encoding PvETRAMP11.2 protein suggests that it would be a suitable marker in prospective serodiagnostic assays for surveillance strategies or in vaccine design against P. vivax malaria.

Peritoneal adhesions are postsurgical fibrotic complications connected to peri-toneal inflammation. The exact mechanism of development is unknown; how-ever, an important role is attributed to activated mesothelial cells (MCs)overproducing macromolecules of extracellular matrix (ECM), including hya-luronic acid (HA). It was suggested that endogenously-produced HA contrib-utes to the regulation of different fibrosis-related pathologies. However, little isknown about the role of altered HA production in peritoneal fibrosis. Wefocused on the consequences of the increased turnover of HA in the murinemodel of peritoneal adhesions. Changes of HA metabolism were observed inearly phases of peritoneal adhesion developmentin vivo. To study the mecha-nism, human MCs MeT-5A and murine MCs isolated from the peritoneum ofhealthy mice were pro-fibrotically activated by transforming growth factorβ(TGFβ), and the production of HA was attenuated by two modulators of carbo-hydrate  metabolism,  4-methylumbelliferone  (4-MU)  and  2-deoxyglucose(2-DG). The attenuation of HA production was mediated by upregulation ofHAS2 and downregulation of HYAL2 and connected to the lower expressionof pro-fibrotic markers, including fibronectin andα-smooth muscle actin(αSMA). Moreover, the inclination of MCs to form fibrotic clusters was alsodownregulated, particularly in 2-DG-treated cells.

The oyster is the seawater shellfish with the largest production worldwide and strong cadmium (Cd) enrichment and tolerance. Cadmium is transmitted throughout the food chain and can cause serious damage to humans. With industrialization, the accumulative accumulation of Cd in many areas has become an important food safety issue. Genetic improvement of Cd accumulation traits is an important way to reduce Cd content. However, the current genetic mechanisms underlying Cd accumulation in oysters are very limited. Therefore, 1,452,168 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Fujian oysters were used for the genome-wide association (GWAS) analysis of Cd accumulation traits in this study. The results revealed that 141 SNPs were significantly associated with Cd accumulation traits, 131 of which were concentrated in the 1.28–9.76 Mb range of Chr.3. After Fst selection signal detection and localization, genes such as ZIP1, ZIP3, Slc46a1, and Slc46a3 in this range may be involved in regulating Cd accumulation in Fujian oysters. The coding regions of ZIP1 and ZIP3 were analyzed in another culture population, and six SNPs were found to be significantly correlated with Cd accumulation (P < 0.05), of which five SNP sites had missense mutations, nine haplotypes were formed, and the Cd accumulation of the H6 (ATC) haplotype was significantly lower than that of the other eight haplotypes. In this study, we identified key genes involved in regulating Cd accumulation in Fujian oysters, and related molecular markers can be used for genetic improvement of low Cd accumulation traits.