Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

36 open-access papers in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, free to watch.

3:17

Selection and validation of reference genes for RT-qPCR-based analyses of Anastatus japonicus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Helicopteridae)

Zixin Liu, Junjiang Xiao, Yue Xia, Qifeng Wu, Can Zhao, Dunsong Li

A tiny measurement choice can make a wasp gene look far more active than it really is. For a useful pest-control insect, that could send future research in the wrong direction. A gene can look perfectly stable until the experiment changes. This study shows that the safest RT-qPCR reference gene for a parasitoid wasp depends on whether researchers are comparing tissues, development, sex, or diapause.

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3:48

Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) expression in breast cancer and its clinicopathological characteristics

Se Jin Jang, Chulso Moon

A water channel in cells is associated with breast cancer that behaves more aggressively. The striking part is not just where this channel appears, but what its presence predicts about the disease. A protein best known as a water channel appears in more than a third of these breast cancer samples, and its presence is linked to poorer cancer-specific survival. The study asks whether AQP5 is simply a marker, or part of the biology behind aggressive disease.

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4:03

Anti-inflammatory activity of benidipine hydrochloride in LPS-activated mammalian macrophages

Hülya Servi, Tanya Beril Korkmaz, Furkan Ayaz

A medicine commonly used for high blood pressure may do more than relax blood vessels. In this study, it also quieted several alarm signals from immune cells when inflammation was already switched on. A familiar hypertension medication did more than block calcium channels in this experiment: when macrophages were activated with LPS, benidipine hydrochloride reduced several pro-inflammatory cytokines. But without that inflammatory stimulus, it did not activate the cells.

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5:10

DeepsmirUD: Prediction of Regulatory Effects on microRNA Expression Mediated by Small Molecules Using Deep Learning

Jianfeng Sun, Jinlong Ru, Lorenzo Ramos‐Mucci, Fei Qi, Zihao Chen, Suyuan Chen, Adam P. Cribbs, Li Deng, Xia Wang

A drug may affect a tiny genetic message by turning its activity up or down, but finding out which direction it takes can require slow, expensive experiments. This study asks whether a computer can make that prediction first. A drug may bind a microRNA, but binding alone does not tell you whether that microRNA goes up or down. DeepsmirUD tackles that missing direction using an ensemble of twelve deep-learning frameworks.

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4:08

GMP-compliant, serum-free cultures preserve therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles from human mesenchymal stromal cells

Filippo Calascibetta, Annalisa Martorana, Margot Lo Pinto, Claudia Carcione, Salvatore D’Arpa, Giandomenico Amico, Vitale Miceli, Nicola Cuscino, Gioacchin Iannolo, L. Volpe, Simone Dario Scilabra, Pier Giulio Conaldi, Cinzia Maria Chinnici

Tiny packages released by human cells can help calm the process that scars a liver. But before such treatments reach patients, scientists need a way to make those packages cleanly and consistently. What if the culture medium used to grow therapeutic cells quietly changes the quality of the vesicles they release? This study tests whether a GMP-compliant, serum-free medium can make production more standardized without sacrificing anti-fibrotic activity.

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3:12

The coordinated management of ribosome and translation during injury and regeneration

Thanh Nguyen, Jason C. Mills, Charles J. Cho

When the gut is injured, cells do not simply switch on repair. They first shut down their protein-making machinery, dismantle part of it, and only then prepare to rebuild. After injury, cells do not simply switch translation on or off. The ribosome itself is remodeled, degraded, and linked to p53 and cell-cycle decisions, putting this familiar protein factory at the center of regeneration.

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3:57

Diverse new plasmid structures and antimicrobial resistance in strains isolated from perianal abscess patients

Zhen Xu, Lulu Shi, Tao Meng, Mei Luo, Jiaming Zhu, Mingyu Wang, Wenlong Shen

Some bacteria carry small, separate DNA circles that can pick up useful traits and pass them on quickly. In this study, those circles included previously unseen routes to resistance against a last-resort antibiotic. What if the biggest obstacle to tracking antibiotic resistance is not finding bacterial DNA, but assembling the mobile DNA circles that carry it? This study used long-read sequencing to uncover plasmids, and resistance structures, that short reads can miss.

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4:06

Programmed cell death regulator BAP2 is required for IRE1-mediated unfolded protein response in Arabidopsis

Noelia Pastor‐Cantizano, Evan Angelos, Cristina Ruberti, Tao Jiang, Xiaoyu Weng, Brandon C. Reagan, Taslima Haque, Thomas Juenger, Federica Brandizzí

When a plant cell is under severe stress, it faces a decision: repair itself or die. This study identifies a protein that helps make that decision, and can push the cell toward either outcome. What if a protein involved in programmed cell death also acts like a tuning dial for the unfolded protein response? In Arabidopsis, BAP2 helps cells survive stress, but when the main stress pathway fails, it can instead push them toward death.

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5:35

Metacommunity structure preserves genome diversity in the presence of gene-specific selective sweeps under moderate rates of horizontal gene transfer

Simone Pompei, E. Della Bella, Joshua S. Weitz, Jacopo Grilli, Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino

A useful gene can spread through a microbial community without dragging the rest of the genome along with it. This study suggests that separated habitats help explain how diversity survives that takeover. A beneficial gene can sweep through a microbial community without sweeping away the genomes around it. This model suggests that patchy habitats, plus only moderate horizontal gene transfer, may be enough to preserve genome diversity.

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3:50

Design, synthesis, and in vitro evaluation of a carbamazepine derivative with antitumor potential in a model of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Cristian Álvarez-Gómez, Angela Fonseca-Benítez, James Guevara‐Pulido

A medicine already used for other conditions was reshaped into a possible leukemia treatment. In laboratory tests, its redesigned form reduced leukemia-cell survival while showing a more favorable effect on healthy cells. What if a familiar anticonvulsant could be redesigned into a leukemia candidate? This study starts with carbamazepine, computationally engineers more than fifty analogs, and sends one, CR80, into laboratory testing.

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3:55

Improved Wound Healing and Skin Regeneration Ability of 3,2′-Dihydroxyflavone-Treated Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles

Se Hee Kim, Yeokyung Shin, Yujin Choi, Kyung Min Lim, Yeojin Jeong, Ahmed Abdal Dayem, Yoon-Joo Lee, Jongyub An, Kwonwoo Song, Soo Bin Jang, Ssang‐Goo Cho

A healing cell may not need to be placed into a wound to help it. This study suggests that tiny packages released by specially treated cells can calm inflammation and help damaged skin close faster. What if the key to better wound healing is not transplanting stem cells, but collecting more powerful messages from them? This study uses a flavonoid to make stem-cell vesicles more abundant and more effective.

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3:14

Exploitation of Quercetin’s Antioxidative Properties in Potential Alternative Therapeutic Options for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Viorica Rarinca, Mircea Nicoară, Dorel Ureche, Alin Ciobîcă

A compound found in fruits and vegetables may help protect nerve cells from damage linked to aging brain diseases. But the evidence is promising, uneven, and not yet a treatment people can rely on. A plant flavonoid found in ordinary foods may counter oxidative stress, amyloid formation, inflammation, and mitochondrial problems across several brain disorders, but the evidence also includes toxicity and failures.

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