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The intestine, a high-turnover tissue, plays a critical role in regulating aging and health in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Maintaining the epithelial barrier function of the intestine by preserving innate immune homeostasis significantly delays aging and prevents mortality. In an effort to explore effective chemicals and materials that can improve intestinal integrity, we performed a nonbiased screen utilizing Drosophila as an animal model. We showed that long-term uptake of aspirin markedly prevented age-onset gut leakage, the overproliferation of intestinal stem cells, and the dysbiosis of commensal microbiota in fruit flies. Mechanistically, aspirin efficiently downregulated chronic activation of intestinal immune deficiency signaling during aging. Furthermore, our in vivo and in vitro biochemical analyses indicated that aspirin is a negative modulator in control of the K63-linked ubiquitination of Imd. Our findings uncover a novel regulatory mechanism by which aspirin positively modulates intestinal homeostasis, thus delaying aging, in Drosophila. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of high-throughput genotyping techniques, selection signatures in the genome of domestic pigs have been extensively interrogated in the last decade. The Duroc, a major commercial pig breed famous for its fast growth rate and high lean ratio, has not been extensively studied focusing on footprints of intensively artificial selection in their genomes by a lot of re-sequencing data. The goal of this study was to investigate genomic regions under artificial selection and their contribution to the unique phenotypic traits of the Duroc using whole-genome resequencing data from 97 pigs. Three complementary methods (di, CLR, and iHH12) were implemented for selection signature detection. In Total, 464 significant candidate regions were identified, which covered 46.4 Mb of the pig genome. Within the identified regions, 709 genes were annotated, including 600 candidate protein-coding genes (486 functionally annotated genes) and 109 lncRNA genes. Genes undergoing selective pressure were significantly enriched in the insulin resistance signaling pathway, which may partly explain the difference between the Duroc and other breeds in terms of growth rate. The selection signatures identified in the Duroc population demonstrated positive pressures on a set of important genes with potential functions that are involved in many biological processes. The results provide new insights into the genetic mechanisms of fast growth rate and high lean mass, and further facilitate follow-up studies on functional genes that contribute to the Duroc’s excellent phenotypic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small RNA duodenal libraries were constructed for Escherichia coli F18- sensitive and -resistant weaned piglets in full-sib pair groups and sequenced using Illumina Solexa high-throughput sequencing technology. The identification of differentially expressed miRNAs provides the basis for improved database information on pig miRNAs, understanding the genetic basics of differences in resistance to E. coli F18 between local Chinese and exotic pig breeds, and finding new resistance markers or E. coli F18 infection. The duodenum of all individuals contained more than 90% of known swine miRNAs. A total of 58 differentially expressing miRNAs were identified, of which 46 were increased and 12 were decreased in E. coli F18-sensitive pigs. Of miRNAs with increased expression, ssc-miR-143 was most highly expressed, followed by ssc-let-7f, ssc- miR-192, and ssc-miR-21. We identified a total of 2036 intersection target genes by comparing TargetScan data and previous gene expression profile results. Gene ontology and pathway analysis of intersection genes showed that differentially expressed miRNAs were mainly involved in the immune response and transcriptional regulation. Combining information on differential miRNA expression and their regulatory relationships with transcription factors, identified 12 candidate miRNA disease markers, including 11 miRNAs with increased expression, ssc-miR- 143, ssc-let-7f, ssc-miR-30e, ssc-miR-148a, ssc-miR-148b, ssc-miR-181a, ssc-miR- 192, ssc-miR-27b, ssc-miR-15b, ssc-miR-21, and ssc-miR-215, and one with decreased expression, ssc- miR-152. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of candidate miRNA expression in a larger cohort of E coli F18-sensitive and - esistant animals confirmed the high-throughput sequencing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]