Using an estrogen-inducible expression XVE (LexA-VP16-Estragon Receptor) system, we have generated approximately 40 000 independent T-DNA insertion lines of Arabidopsis thaliana. Segregation analyses of about 18000 lines indicated that 51.6% of them contain single T-DNA insertions and that the average insertion number is 1.38 copies per line. Mutants displaying a variety of morphological alterations were identified, including those that affect development of roots,hypocotyls, leaves, floral organs and seeds as well as the flowering time.

To study the effect of selenium supplementation on myelin basic protein (MBP) mRNA expression in cerebrum of high-iodine intake filial mice.

To investigate the effects of estrogen and progesterone on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors (VEGFR) in mouse uterus.

To investigate gene expression profile in response to aluminum stress and to cloning the key genes related to aluminum tolerance, are crucial to genetic improvement of plant aluminum tolerance. In this study, suppression subtractive hybridization method was adopted to construct SSH-cDNA libraries at seedling stage of two maize inbred lines (Fig. 1), of which Mo17 is sensitive to aluminum toxicity and TL94B is tolerant. As a result, a forward SSH-cDNA library including 762 clones and a reverse SSH-cDNA library including 382 clones were constructed for Mo17. In the same way, a forward SSH-cDNA library including 760 clones and a reverse SSH-cDNA library including 380 clones were constructed for TL94B. Identification of these SSH-cDNA libraries shows that the length of inserted fragments ranges from 250 bp to 1.0 kb (Fig. 2), of which nearly 18% are positive clones. Through differential hybridization screening (Fig. 3), 124 and 47 positive clones were screened from forward and reverse SSH-cDNA libraries of Mo17 respectively; 103 and 64 positive clones from forward and reverse SSH-cDNA libraries of TL94B respectively. Total 338 positive clones from four SSH-cDNA libraries were sequenced, and all of the sequences of inserted fragments were analyzed using bioinformatical methods. A total of 232 kinds of EST sequences were obtained. Among these ESTs, 70.2% had significant homology with known genes, and the remaining 29.8% were function-unknown including 21 kinds of newly found ESTs (Table 1). An aluminum tolerant gene, GDP dissociation inhibitor gene, was detected its expression character by Northern hybridization (Fig. 4). These results indicate that the responses of maize to aluminum stress involve the interactions among different signal/metabolism pathways, such as signal transduction of stress-related factors, transcription and regulation of responsive genes, synthesis and transport of substances, changes in cell structures and functions.

High concentration of corticosterone leads to morphological and functional impairments in hippocampus, ranging from a reversible atrophy of pyramidal CA3 apical dendrites to the impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) and hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. Glutamate and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor play an important role in this effect. Because of the importance of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the functions of the hippocampal neurons, alteration of the expression of BDNF is thought to be involved in the corticosterone effect on the hippocampus. To determine whether change in BDNF in the hippocampus is involved in the corticosterone effect, we injected corticosterone (2 mg/kg, s.c.) to Sprague-Dawley rats and measured the mRNA, proBDNF and mature BDNF protein levels in the hippocampus. We also measured the phosphorylation level of the transcription factor cAMP response element binding protein (CREB). Furthermore, we intraperitoneally injected NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 (0.1 mg/kg) 30 min before corticosterone administration to investigate whether and how MK801 affected the regulation of BDNF gene expression by corticosterone. Our results showed that 3 h after single s.c. injection of corticsterone, the expression of BDNF mRNA, proBDNF and mature BDNF protein decreased significantly (P<0.01). MK801 promoted the downregulation of BDNF gene expression in the rat hippocampus by corticosterone. We also found that either applying corticosterone or co-applying corticosterone with MK801 downregulated the phosphoration level of CREB, the latter (corticosterone plus MK801) being more effective (P<0.05). Taken together, our results indicate that corticosterone downregulates BDNF gene expression in the rat hippocampus through CREB pathway and that blockade of NMDA receptor enhances this effect of corticosterone in reducing BDNF expression.

To investigate the differentiation induction effect of 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 on leukemia cell line HL-60 and its mechanisms.

To investigate the molecular mechanisms and effective target points of lipid-lowering drug, Rhizoma Curcumae Longae, and study the effect of curcumin on the expression of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors in macrophages in mice.

To study the effects of flavonoids of Rhizoma Drynariae on gene level of rats without ovaries (OP) by technology of cDNA array.

In order to unveil the anti-angiogenic mechanism of triptolide, we investigated the effects of triptolide on the proliferation, migration, angiogenesis and u-PA expression of cultured HUVECs. MTT assay found that triptolide could inhibit the proliferation of HUVECs, and three-dimensional culture system revealed that triptolide could curb the migration of HUVECs. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) test showed that triptolide could inhibit angiogenesis. Real time quantitive RT-PCR showed the expression of u-PA of HUVECs was down-regulated by triptolide. Therefore, triptolide may inhibit the proliferation and migration of endothelial cell by way of reducing the expression of u-PA. These findings may conduce to the elucidation of the anti-angiogenic mechanism of triptolide.

To investigate the role of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta)in the regulation of the gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13) in the human hyaline chondrocytes.

To study the effect of cytochrome C on HL-60 cells in vitro and the mechanism of expression changes of relevant apoptotic genes, the inhibition rate of cytochrome C on HL-60 cells was detected by MTT, the morphology of HL-60 cells was observed by light microscopy and fluorescence microscopy, the changes of apoptosis rate and cell cycle were assayed by flow cytometry (FCM), DNA ladder was investigated on electrophoresis, the expression changes of bax and bcl-2 mRNA were examined by RT-PCR, when HL-60 cells were treated with different concentrations of cytochrome C for 24 hours. The results showed that the inhibition rate increased with increase of the cytochrome C concentration within 0 - 150 mg/L; when treated with 0 - 37.5 mg/L cytochtome C for 24 hours, the percentage of apoptotic HL-60 cells increased with the dose increasing, and the typical apoptotic cells and the apoptotic DNA ladder were observed. At the same time, within this range of concentration, the expression of bcl-2 mRNA decreased gradually and the expression of bax increased gradually. When the cytochrome C concentration was higher than 37.5 mg/L, the percentage of apoptotic HL-60 cells not increased, but decreased, while the cells necrosed. The above metioned results suggested that at certain range of concentration of cytochrome C, apoptosis or necrosis can be induced by cytochrome C, and cell cycle arrests at G(1) phase in HL-60 cells, the percentage of apoptotic cells and the changes of expression of bax and bcl-2 depend on the dose of cytochrome C. The mechanism that cytochtome C induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells may be related to the activation of bax and inhibition of bcl-2.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a central mediator of angiogenesis, not only plays an important role in the pathogenesis of leukemia, but also is an independent prognostic factor in patients with hematologic malignancies, like those in solid tumors. However, the importance of VEGF during differentiation or apoptosis of leukemia cells remains to be elucidated. In order to assess the alternation of VEGF gene expression in the process of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation of NB4 acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line, and a competitor DNA fragment, VEGF gene competative template (T-VEGFDelta) was constructed by using gene recombinant technologies, and a competitive quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (cQRT-PCR) method was developed. A standard curve was obtained by co-amplification of serial dilutions of the target nulecules with constant amount of competitive template and this curve was used to detect molecular number of target gene in measuring sample. The surface expression of CD11b antigen and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction rate of NB4 cells were also assayed at different time points. The results showed that cQRT-PCR was a sensitive, reliable tool for analysis of VEGF gene expression with a detectable range from 1 x 10(4) to 2 x 10(5) molecules. The number of VEGF gene transcripts detected by means of cQRT-PCR assay was 42.3 x 10(5), 12.6 x 10(5), 3.6 x 10(5), and less than 1.0 x 10(5)/microg total RNA at 0, 12, 24 and 48 hours after ATRA treatment, respectively. This rapid down-regulation of VEGF gene expression, during ATRA-induced NB4 cell differentiation, was accompanied by the up-regulation of CD11b expression and an increased NBT reduction rate. In conclusion, cQRT-PCR method was successtully constructed, confirming that ATRA efficiently repressed VEGF, at the same time, the ATRA might exert an antileukemic effect, other than induction of differentiation via inhibition of angiogenesis.

To observe the differentially expressed genes of the human embryo lung fibroblast (MRC-5) induced by formaldehyde (FA) of low dose using fluoro DD-PCR.

To compare the therapeutic effects of low-dose and high-dose interferon alpha-2b (IFN) treatment on chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML).

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 3p21.3 is a common and early event in the development of lung cancer, implying the presence of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) that may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. RASSF1A gene, located at this region, containing the Ras-associated domain, has been considered as a candidate tumor suppressor gene because of high frequency of loss of expression and aberrant promoter hypermethylation in most NSCLCs and SCLCs. This study was designed to transfer the expression vector containing RASSF1A to NSCLC cell line A549 to analyze the effect of this gene's exogenous expression.

To study the mechanism of signal transduction in anti-HBV action of IFN-alpha.

To observe the effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) on gene expression profiles of NIT-1 pancreatic beta cells cell line using microarray technique.

To compare and analyze the patterns of ganglioside GM1 and CD69 expressions on activated gammadeltaT cells and CD3(+) T cells from human peripheral blood.

To explore the effect of retinoic acid (RA)on C3 and factor B (Bf) secretion by human alveolar type II epithelial cell line A549 induced with cytokines.

The expression regulation of S. meliloti 042BM noeAB was studied. The results showed that trigonelline could not elevate the level of noeAB expression, which indicated that these genes are not regulated by nodD2. Since association of nodD3 and syrM could not change the level of the genes expression, they aren't also controlled by nodD3-syrM system. However, induction of luteolin resulted in 16 times increase of noeAB expression, which indicated that noeAB was regulated by nodD1. Most interestingly, more than 30 times increase in its expression was observed on TY medium without any flavonoid. Thus, it was suggested that noeAB may be controlled by other unknown factors.