MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ∼23 nt RNAs that play important gene-regulatory roles in animals and plants by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their posttranscriptional repression. This review outlines the current understanding of miRNA target recognition in animals and discusses the widespread impact of miRNAs on both the expression and evolution of protein-coding genes.

MicroRNAs: Target Recognition and Regulatory Functions

Heavy metal fractions and ecological risk assessment in sediments from urban, rural and reclamation-affected rivers of the Pearl River Estuary, China

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PubMed Central

A surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) biosensor has been developed by incorporating a gold nanohole array with a SERS probe (a gold nanostar@Raman-reporter@silica sandwich structure) into a single detection platform via DNA hybridization, which circumvents the nanoparticle aggregation and the inefficient Raman scattering issues. Strong plasmonic coupling between the Au nanostar and the Au nanohole array results in a large enhancement of the electromagnetic field, leading to amplification of the SERS signal. The SERS sensor has been used to detect Ag(I) and Hg(II) ions in human saliva because both the metal ions could be released from dental amalgam fillings. The developed SERS sensor can be adapted as a general detection platform for non-invasive measurements of a wide range of analytes such as metal ions, small molecules, DNA and proteins in body fluids.

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A gold nanohole array based surface-enhanced Raman scattering biosensor for detection of silver(I) and mercury(II) in human saliva

Spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of soil contamination with heavy metals during an intensive urbanization period (1989-2018) in southern China.

To detect the content of 12 heavy metals in blood and hair sample from a general population of Pearl River Delta area, and to analyze the influence of duration of residence, gender, age, smoking and drinking on the heavy metal content. Use inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to detect the content of 12 heavy metals lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), chrome (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), tin (Sn) and antimony (Sb) in blood and hair samples of a total of 50 subjects from a general population, collected by multistage stratified cluster random sampling method. The geometric mean of heavy metal content in blood samples of general population (μg/L): blood aluminum 214.00; blood chrome 92.82; blood manganese 21.43; blood nickel 20.59; blood copper 0.67; blood zinc 11.50; blood arsenic 0.55; blood cadmium 2.45; blood tin 0.00; blood antimony 1.92; blood lead 158.84; and blood mercury 1.19. The geometric mean of heavy metal content in hair samples of general population (μg/g): hair aluminum is 84.65; hair chrome 0.00; hair manganese 2.44; hair nickel 0.61; hair copper 28.49; hair zinc 136.65; hair arsenic 0.75; hair cadmium 0.46; hair tin 1.04; hair antimony 0.05; hair lead 8.97; and hair mercury 0.69. Some heavy metals were correlated with duration of residence, gender, age, smoking and drinking. This was the first time that simultaneously detecting heavy metal content in blood and hair was used to analyze the internal heavy metal burden in resident population of Pearl River Delta area. These data can serve as reference for further research.

Detection and analysis of 12 heavy metals in blood and hair sample from a general population of Pearl River Delta area.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the biology characteristics of ESCC by analyzing microRNA and mRNA expression profile. We used BRB-array tools to analyze the deregulated microRNA and mRNA between esophageal squamous cell carcinomas and paired normal adjacent tissues. We used miRTrail and protein-protein interaction methods to explore the related pathways and networks of deregulated microRNA and mRNA. By combining the results of pathways and networks, we found that the deregulated microRNA and their deregulated target mRNA are enriched in the following pathways: DNA replication, cell cycle, ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, mismatch repair, and pathways in cancer. The results showed that many deregulated microRNAs and mRNAs may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of ESCC, and the systems biology approach is very helpful to explore molecular mechanism of ESCC.

A Systems Biology Approach to Study the Biology Characteristics of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Integrating microRNA and Messenger RNA Expression Profiling

The aim is to explore the molecular regulation mechanism of the pathogenesis of the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The expression data of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were obtained from the GEO database. The differential expression genes were identified by the BRB-array tools and the pathway was analyzed by DAVID online tools. The class comparison analysis showed that there were 376 differential expression genes. These genes involved in many tumor-related pathways. What is more, these pathways had common genes. As a conclusion, it was helpful to comprehensively understand the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous carcinoma using data mining and bioinformatics analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. It would offer new ideas for target therapy of the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Yao Sun

Papers

Detection and analysis of 12 heavy metals in blood and hair sample from a general population of Pearl River Delta area.

A Systems Biology Approach to Study the Biology Characteristics of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Integrating microRNA and Messenger RNA Expression Profiling

Data mining and bioinformatics of the expression data of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.