BackgroundCervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common cancers among females worldwide. Spindle and kinetochore-associated complex subunit 3 (SKA3), located on chromosome 13q, was identified as a novel gene involved in promoting malignant transformation in cancers. However, the function and underlying mechanisms of SKA3 in CC remain unknown. Using the Oncomine database, we found that expression of SKA3 mRNA is higher in CC tissues than in normal tissues and is linked with poor prognosis.MethodsIn our study, immunohistochemistry showed increased expression of SKA3 in CC tissues. The effect of SKA3 on cell proliferation and migration was evaluated by CCK8, clone formation, Transwell and wound-healing assays in HeLa and SiHa cells with stable SKA3 overexpression and knockdown. In addition, we established a xenograft tumor model in vivo.ResultsSKA3 overexpression promoted cell proliferation and migration and accelerated tumor growth. We further identified that SKA3 is involved in regulating cell cycle progression and the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway via RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) and gene set enrichment analyses. Western blotting results revealed that SKA3 overexpression increased levels of p-Akt, cyclin E2, CDK2, cyclin D1, CDK4, E2F1 and p-Rb in HeLa cells. Additionally, the use of an Akt inhibitor (GSK690693) significantly reversed the cell proliferation capacity induced by SKA3 overexpression in HeLa cells.ConclusionsWe suggest that SKA3 overexpression contributes to CC cell growth and migration by promoting cell cycle progression and activating the PI3K–Akt signaling pathway, which may provide potential novel therapeutic targets for CC treatment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-018-0670-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

No abstract

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important components of infant and adult nutrition because they serve as structural elements of cell membranes. Fatty acid desaturases are responsible for the insertion of double bonds into pre-formed fatty acid chains in reactions that require oxygen and reducing equivalents. In this study, the genome-wide characterization of the fatty acid desaturases from seven eukaryotic photosynthetic microalgae was undertaken according to the conserved histidine-rich motifs and phylogenetic profiles. Analysis of these genomes provided insight into the origin and evolution of the pathway of fatty acid biosynthesis in eukaryotic plants. In addition, the candidate enzyme from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with the highest similarity to the microsomal delta 12 desaturase of Chlorella vulgaris was isolated, and its function was verified by heterologous expression in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

No abstract

A CIGS-based photocathode combined with an earth abundant Co–S catalyst has demonstrated remarkable photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation in neutral electrolyte.

Inverted perovskite solar cells (p-i-n PSCs) have been fascinated due to rapid progress of performance in recent years. PEDOT: PSS is commonly used hole transport material (HTM) in p-i-n PSCs which is hygroscopic and acidic in nature that leads towards poor performance of device thus hinders commercialization of PSCs. Therefore, it is necessary to replace PEDOT: PSS with stable HTM in p-i-n PSCs. In this paper, theoretical study is carried out to investigate various physical parameters that can affect the performance of p-i-n PSCs with copper iodide (CuI) as HTM and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as ETM. These parameters include the effect of doping density of ETM, absorber, and HTM as well as defect density and thickness of absorber on the performance of p-i-n PSCs. In addition, hole mobility and thickness of HTM is also investigated. It is found that performance of p-i-n PSC is strongly dependent on defect density and thickness of absorber layer while other physical parameters have minor influence on the performance of device. Upon final optimization, device attains PCE of more than 21 % which is encouraging. These results show that CuI as HTM is a potential choice for p-i-n PSCs.

No abstract