Biology subjects

Wang, S.-S.

Publications and source records attributed to Wang, S.-S..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Centella asiatica Tissue Culture-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: A Multifaceted Approach to Skincare Applications

BackgroundCentella asiatica has long been used as a medicinal herb in traditional Asian medicine. Its wound healing, skin improvement, and neuroprotective properties have been widely studied. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted by cells and contain bioactive components with therapeutic properties. ObjectivesThis study aims to characterize EVs isolated from C. asiatica tissue culture and investigate their therapeutic properties using in vitro assays and a UVB-induced damage mouse model. MethodsEVs were isolated from C. asiatica tissue culture and characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cytotoxicity, anti-oxidation, anti-melanin, and anti-inflammation of the EVs were evaluated by MTT assay, tyrosinase assay and RT-qPCR in chemical or in vitro assays. A UVB-induced photodamage mouse model was established to assess the anti-inflammation effect of EVs in vivo. Gels with or without EVs were applied to the damaged site and skin appearance was observed daily and skin histopathology was analyzed on day 7 by H&E and immunohistochemical staining. ResultsC. asiatica EVs were found to contain high levels of polyphenols and mitigate hydrogen peroxide-induced intracellular ROS. The EVs were further able to reduce intracellular melanin content and tyrosinase activity, and exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by downregulating the expression of pro-inflammatory genes COX2 as well as nitric oxide production. In mice with UVB-induced skin damage, daily application of C. asiatica EV gel reduced skin epidermis thickness and inflammation compared to UVB-only or blank gel at seven days after UV irradiation. ConclusionsThe beneficial effects of C. asiatica EVs on skin quality warrant further studies as promising agents in skin care applications.

pharmacology and toxicology↗

bioRxiv2023

PGSbuilder: An end-to-end platform for human genome association analysis and polygenic risk score predictions

Understanding the genetic basis of human complex diseases is increasingly important in the development of precision medicine. Over the last decade, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a key technique for detecting associations between common diseases and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in a cohort of individuals. Alternatively, the polygenic risk score (PRS), which often applies results from GWAS summary statistics, is calculated for the estimation of genetic propensity to a trait at the individual level. Despite many GWAS and PRS tools being available to analyze a large volume of genotype data, most clinicians and medical researchers are often not familiar with the bioinformatics tools and lack access to a high-performance computing cluster resource. To fill this gap, we provide a publicly available web server, PGSbuilder, for the GWAS and PRS analysis of human genomes with variant annotations. The user-friendly and intuitive PGSbuilder web server is developed to facilitate the discovery of the genetic variants associated with complex traits and diseases for medical professionals with limited computational skills. For GWAS analysis, PGSbuilder provides the most renowned analysis tool PLINK 2.0 package. For PRS, PGSbuilder provides six different PRS methods including Clumping and Thresholding, Lassosum, LDPred2, GenEpi, PRS-CS, and PRSice2. Furthermore, PGSbuilder provides an intuitive user interface to examine the annotated functional effects of variants from known biomedical databases and relevant literature using advanced natural language processing approaches. In conclusion, PGSbuilder offers a reliable platform to aid researchers in advancing the public perception of genomic risk and precision medicine for human disease genetics. PGSbuilder is freely accessible at http://pgsb.tw23.org.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2022

Assessment of genetic diversity and SNP marker development within peanut germplasm in Taiwan by RAD-seq

The cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oil crop but has a narrow genetic diversity. Molecular markers can be used to probe the genetic diversity of various germplasm. In this study, the restriction site associated DNA (RAD) approach was utilized to sequence 31 accessions of Taiwanese peanut germplasm, leading to the identification of a total of 17,610 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The origin of these 31 accessions is contrasted so the global subset (n = 17) has greater genetic diversity than the local subset (n = 14). Concerning botanical varieties, the var. fastigiata subset has greater genetic diversity than the other two subsets of var. vulgaris and var. hypogaea, suggesting that novel genetic resources should be introduced into breeding programs to enhance genetic diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) using genotyping data separated the 31 accessions into three clusters largely according to the botanical varieties, consistent with the PCA result for 282 accessions genotyped by 14 kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers developed in this study. The SNP markers identified in this work not only revealed the genetic relationship and population structure of current germplasm in Taiwan, but also offer an efficient tool for breeding and further genetic applications.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2020

Efficient Inhibition of O-glycan biosynthesis using the hexosamine analog Ac5GalNTGc

There is a critical need to develop small molecule inhibitors of mucin-type O-linked glycosylation. The best known reagent currently is peracetylated benzyl-GalNAc, but it is only effective at millimolar concentrations. This manuscript demonstrates that Ac5GalNTGc, a peracetylated C-2 sulfhydryl substituted GalNAc, fulfills this unmet need. When added to cultured leukocytes, breast and prostate cells, Ac5GalNTGc increased cell surface VVA-binding by ~10-fold, indicating truncation of O-glycan biosynthesis. Cytometry, mass spectrometry and Western blot analysis of HL-60 promyelocytes demonstrate that 50-80M Ac5GalNTGc prevented elaboration of 30-60% of the O-glycans beyond the Tn-antigen (GalNAc1-Ser/Thr) stage. The effect of the compound on N-glycans and glycosphingolipids was small. Glycan inhibition induced by Ac5GalNTGc resulted in 50-80% reduction in leukocyte sialyl-Lewis-X expression, and L-/P-selectin mediated rolling under flow. Ac5GalNTGc was pharmacologically active in mouse. It reduced neutrophil infiltration to sites of inflammation by ~60%. Overall, Ac5GalNTGc may find diverse applications as a potent inhibitor of O-glycosylation.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2018

Data-Independent Acquisition Mass Spectrometry to Localize Phosphosites

In conventional data-dependent acquisition (DDA) mode used for phosphoproteome analysis by mass spectrometry, a considerable number of phosphosites are localized ambiguously. We found that data-independent acquisition (DIA) method could localize phosphosite accurately and confidently due to its acquisition nature of repeated and unbiased mode. Here, we present a robust and promising DIA workflow for modification sites determination. Through dedicated collection and analyses of site-determining ions following their chromatographic profilings, phosphosites could be assigned or rectified unambiguously.

bioinformatics↗