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发帖数: 56 | 1 Xuebiao Yao, Dasheng Li and Gang Pei recently wrote an essay to Nature
Review in MCB Which is entitled “In focus: molecular and cell biology
research in China”. Here is the link: http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v14/n9/full/nrm3638.html In this article, they discussed the past, present and future of molecular and cell biology research in China. One part which interested me is the key MCB discoveries in China. Although most of the work are nice and likely solid work, few of them are breakthroughs in their own fields. How did they select and cite these papers?
Here are the examples they mentioned in the article:
Signalling
Gang Pei and colleagues identified a unique five-transmembrane G protein-
coupled receptor (GPCR) implicated in cytokine signalling3. Using GPCRs as a
model system, they revealed the spatial dynamics of β-arrestin and its
role in epigenetic reprogramming4 and delineated how β-arrestin
orchestrates cellular energy homeostasis5.
Bacterial– and viral–host interactions
Using crystal structure-aided delineation, Zihe Rao and colleagues (at the
Institute of Biophysics (IBP)) and Tsinghua University) illustrated the
mechanism of action underlying a key protease of the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus and its interaction with an inhibitor6.
Jijie Chai (National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS)) established
how the bacterial effector protein AvrPto activates plant immunity7.
Furthermore, Nieng Yan and Yigong Shi (both are at Tsinghua University)
defined the structural basis of transcription activator-like (TAL) effector
–DNA interactions; TAL effectors are secreted by phytopathogenic bacteria
and recognize host DNA through a central domain of tandem repeats8. Finally,
Feng Shao (NIBS) delineated the host cell response to bacterial virulence,
suggesting that bacterial virulence factors rewire the host cell signalling
circuitry9.
Necroptosis
Two independent teams led by Jiahuai Han (Xiamen University) and Xiaodong
Wang and Xiaoguang Lei (NIBS) delineated the mechanism underlying
necroptosis and discovered chemical inhibitors of this process10, 11.
DNA hydroxylation and demethylation
The paternal DNA in a zygote undergoes active demethylation before the first
mitosis, and Guo-Liang Xu's group from the Institute of Biochemistry and
Cell Biology at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (IBCB–SIBS;
he was also a Chinese Academy of Sciences–Max Planck Society (CAS–MPS)
junior group leader at that time) revealed the mechanisms underlying this.
They showed that the dioxygenase ten-eleven translocation 3 (TET3) catalyses
the oxidation of 5methylcytosine in the paternal genome in mouse zygotes,
which results in the generation of 5hydroxymethylcytosine12. They also
discovered that the oxidized cytosine can be removed by thymine DNA
glycosylase13, thus providing insights into the mechanism of DNA methylation.
Acetylation in autophagy and metabolism
Using Caenorhabditis elegans, Hong Zhang (who was at the NIBS) identified
several unique regulators of autophagy14. Li Yu and Sheng-Cai Lin, who are
at Tsinghua University and Xiamen University, respectively, independently
unravelled how acetylatransferases orchestrate autophagy dynamics through
the acetylation of effector proteins on Lys residues15, 16.
Using a proteomics-based approach, Guoping Zhao, Shimin Zhao and their
colleagues (Fudan University) identified an acetylome underlying the
regulation of liver cell metabolism and illustrated the potential signalling
cascades involved in liver cell homeostasis17, 18.
Stem cells
The groups of Jinsong Li (IBCB-SIBS) and Qi Zhou (Institute of Zoology in
Beijing, CAS) generated transgenic mice using androgenetic haploid embryonic
stem (AG-haES) cells21, 22. Haploid cells are versatile and are easy to
genetically manipulate. Independently, both research groups established
mouse AG-haES cells by transferring sperm into an enucleated oocyte. They
also used AG-haES cells to produce live animals via injection into oocytes.
Duanqing Pei (Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health) showed that
mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition is required for reprogramming
fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells19. The reprogramming factors
for inducing pluripotency were primarily identified from ES cell-enriched,
pluripotency-associated factors. However, recent developments from the
laboratories of Hongkui Deng and Chao Tang (Peking University) show that
mesendodermal lineage specification factors could cooperate with ectodermal
specification factors to reprogramme mouse somatic cells to the pluripotent
state in the absence of exogenous OCT4 (also known as POUF51 and OCT3) and
SOX2 (Ref. 20).
Structral insights
The group of Jia-Wei Wu recently carried out a structure–function analyses
to elucidate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation23, and Yigong
Shi's group used a structural biology-based approach to identify a membrane
transporter24. Both of these groups are at Tsinghua University. In addition,
structure-based studies, carried out by Mingjie Zhang (Fudan University and
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Research Consortium), showed
that a lipid-induced conformational switch controls the activity of the
SNARE YKT6 (Ref. 25). |
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