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Superoxide dismutases (SODs), as a family of metalloenzymes related to the removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS), have not previously been investigated at genome-wide level in tea plant. In this study, 10 CsSOD genes were identified in tea plant genome, including 7 Cu/Zn-SODs (CSDs), 2 Fe-SODs (FSDs) and one Mn-SOD (MSD), and phylogenetically classified in three subgroups, respectively. Physico-chemical characteristic, conserved motifs and potential protein interaction analyses about CsSOD proteins were carried out. Exon-intron structures and codon usage bias about CsSOD genes were also examined. Exon-intron structures analysis revealed that different CsSOD genes contained various number of introns. On the basis of the prediction of regulatory miRNAs of CsSODs, a modification 5' RNA ligase-mediated (RLM)-RACE was performed and validated that csn-miR398a-3p-1 directly cleaves CsCSD4. By prediction of cis-acting elements, the expression patterns of 10 CsSOD genes and their regulatory miRNAs were detected under cold, drought, exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and gibberellin (GA3) treatments. The results showed that most of CsSODs except for CsFSD2 were induced under cold stress and CsCSDs may play primary roles under drought stress; exogenous GA3 and MeJA could also stimulated/inhibited distinct CsSODs at different stages. In addition, we found that csn-miR398a-3p-1 negatively regulated the expression of CsCSD4 may be a crucial regulatory mechanism under cold stress. This study provides a certain basis for the studies about stress resistance in tea plants, even provide insight into comprehending the classification, evolution, diverse functions and influencing factors of expression patterns for CsSOD genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a group of heterogeneous hematopoietic stem cell malignancies with a high risk of transformation into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Clonal evolutions are significantly associated with transformation to AML. According to a gene expression microarray, atg3 is downregulated in MDS patients progressing to leukemia, but less is known about the function of Atg3 in the survival and death of MSD/AML cells. Moreover, the role of autophagy as a result of bortezomib treatment is controversial. The current study was designed to investigate the function of Atg3 in SKM-1 cells and to study the effect of Atg3 on cell viability and cell death following bortezomib treatment. Methods: Four leukemia cell lines (SKM-1, THP-1, NB4 and K562) and two healthy patients’ bone marrow cells were analyzed for Atg3 expression via qRT-PCR and Western blotting analysis. The role of Atg3 in SKM-1 cell survival and cell death was analyzed by CCK-8 assay, trypan blue exclusion assay, DAPI staining and Annexin V/PI dual staining with or without bortezomib treatment. Western blotting analysis was used to detect proteins in autophagic and caspase signaling pathways. Electron microscopy was used to observe ultrastructural changes after Atg3 overexpression. Results: Downregulation of Atg3 expression was detected in four leukemia cell lines compared with healthy bone marrow cells. Atg3 mRNA was significantly decreased in MDS patients’ bone marrow cells. Overexpression of Atg3 in SKM-1 cells resulted in AKT-mTOR-dependent autophagy, a significant reduction in cell proliferation and increased cell death, which could be overcome by the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA. SKM-1 cells overexpressing Atg3 were hypersensitive to bortezomib treatment at different concentrations via autophagic cell death and enhanced sensitivity to apoptosis in the SKM-1 cell line. Following treatment with 3-MA, the sensitivity of Atg3-overexpressing cells to bortezomib treatment was reduced. Atg3 knockdown blocked cell growth inhibition and cell death induced by bortezomib. Conclusion: Our preliminary study of Atg3 in the high-risk MDS cell line suggests that Atg3 might be possibly a critical regulator of autophagic cell death and a gene target for therapeutic interventions in MDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SET domain-containing proteins represent an evolutionarily conserved family of epigenetic regulators, which are responsible for most histone lysine methylation. Since some of these genes have been revealed to be essential for embryonic development, we propose that the zebrafish, a vertebrate model organism possessing many advantages for developmental studies, can be utilized to study the biological functions of these genes and the related epigenetic mechanisms during early development. To this end, we have performed a genome-wide survey of zebrafish SET domain genes. 58 genes total have been identified. Although gene duplication events give rise to several lineage-specific paralogs, clear reciprocal orthologous relationship reveals high conservation between zebrafish and human SET domain genes. These data were further subject to an evolutionary analysis ranging from yeast to human, leading to the identification of putative clusters of orthologous groups (COGs) of this gene family. By means of whole-mount mRNA in situ hybridization strategy, we have also carried out a developmental expression mapping of these genes. A group of maternal SET domain genes, which are implicated in the programming of histone modification states in early development, have been identified and predicted to be responsible for all known sites of SET domain-mediated histone methylation. Furthermore, some genes show specific expression patterns in certain tissues at certain stages, suggesting the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the development of these systems. These results provide a global view of zebrafish SET domain histone methyltransferases in evolutionary and developmental dimensions and pave the way for using zebrafish to systematically study the roles of these genes during development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]