Biology subjects

Long, W.

Publications and source records attributed to Long, W..

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Conditional ERK3 overexpression cooperates with PTEN deletion to promote lung adenocarcinoma formation in mice

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 3 (ERK3), also known as MAPK6, belongs to the atypical mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) subfamily. In comparison with the well-studied classical MAPKs ERK1 and ERK2, much less is known about the cellular and molecular actions of ERK3. Accumulating studies have revealed the upregulation of ERK3 expression and suggested an important role for ERK3 in promoting tumor cell growth and invasion in multiple cancers, in particular lung cancer. However, it is unknown whether or not ERK3 plays a role in spontaneous tumorigenesis. To determine the role of ERK3 in lung tumorigenesis, we created a conditional ERK3 transgenic mouse line in which ERK3 transgene expression is controlled by Cre recombinase. By crossing with a lung tissue-specific CCSP-iCre mouse line, we have found that conditional ERK3 overexpression cooperates with PTEN deletion to induce the formation of lung adenocarcinomas (LUADs). Mechanistically, ERK3 overexpression stimulates activating phosphorylations of ERBB3 and ERBB2 by upregulating SP1-mediated gene transcription of NRG1, a potent ligand for ERBB3/ERBB2. To our knowledge, our study is the first revealing a bona fide tumor-promoting role for ERK3 using genetically engineered mouse models. Together with previous findings showing important roles of ERK3 in cultured cells and in xenograft lung tumor model, our findings corroborate that ERK3 acts as an oncoprotein in promoting LUAD development and progression.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Can the response of above- and below-ground traits to overgrazing vary between annual and perennial species?

Understanding functional traits that capture species response to grazing is crucial for uncovering mechanisms underlying the grazing-induced alterations in vegetation composition. Currently, the majority of studies ignore the effects of life form on the response of above- and below-ground traits to grazing. In this study we quantified i) whether below-ground traits exhibit similar response to overgrazing as do above-ground traits; and ii) whether the response of above- and below-ground traits to overgrazing varied with life form (annual versus perennial species). To testify the generality of these two questions, we compared common grassland species between an undisturbed and an over grazed meadow at each of four elevations ranging from 3000m to 3600m on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. We found both above-ground and below-ground traits exhibited similar resource conservation vs. resource acquisition trade-off for responding to overgrazing. Moreover, perennial species but not annual species determine the response of above- and below-ground traits to overgrazing. This work bridges the gap in the literature for the influence of land-use (in the absence and presence of overgrazing) and life forms (annual and perennial species) on species-specific response at both above-, and below-ground level.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

Transcriptome analysis of the quantitative distribution of the Cyrtotrachelus buqueti population in two cities in China

Background: Cyrtotrachelus buqueti is a forest pest that severely damages bamboo shoots. Reducing the population of this insect involves complex mechanisms and is dependent on diverse gene expression influenced by environmental factors.\n\nMethods: In this study, samples from two regions of China, Muchuan in Sichuan Province and Chishui in Guizhou Province, were investigated through RNA-seq to explore the causes and molecular mechanisms underlying the population reduction of this species. Environmental factors, such as temperature, heavy metal content, and pH, may affect the reduced population of C. buqueti in Chishui.\n\nResults: Approximately 44 million high-quality reads were generated, and 94.2% of the data were mapped to the transcriptome. A total of 15,641 out of the 29,406 identified genes were predicted. Moreover, 348 genes were differentially expressed between the two groups of imagoes and included 77 upregulated and 271 downregulated UniGenes. The functional analysis showed that these genes were significantly enriched in ribosome and metabolic pathway categories. The candidate genes, which contributed to C. Buqueti reduction, included 41 genes involved in the ribosome constitution category, five genes in the one-carbon pool pathway by folate category, and five heat shock protein genes.\n\nConclusions: Downregulation of these candidate genes seems to have impaired metabolic processes, such as protein, DNA, RNA, and purine synthesis, as well as carbon and folate metabolism, and finally resulted in the observed reduced population of C. buqueti. Furthermore, temperature, heavy metal content, and pH might influence the population by altering the expressions of genes involved in these metabolic processes.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Inferring the Joint Demographic History of Multiple Populations: Beyond the Diffusion Approximation

Understanding variation in allele frequencies across populations is a central goal of population genetics. Classical models for the distribution of allele frequencies, using forward simulation, coalescent theory, or the diffusion approximation, have been applied extensively for demographic inference, medical study design, and evolutionary studies. Here we propose a tractable model of ordinary differential equations for the evolution of allele frequencies that is closely related to the diffusion approximation but avoids many of its limitations and approximations. We show that the approach is typically faster, more numerically stable, and more easily generalizable than the state-of-the-art software implementation of the diffusion approximation. We present a number of applications to human sequence data, including demographic inference with a five-population joint frequency spectrum and a discussion of the transferability of demographic histories across populations.

evolutionary biology↗