Mengting Ding

The National Genomics Data Center (NGDC), which is a part of the China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB), offers a comprehensive suite of database resources to support the global scientific community. Amidst the unprecedented accumulation of multi-omics data, CNCB-NGDC is committed to continually evolving and updating its core database resources through big data archiving, integrative analysis and value-added curation. Over the past year, CNCB-NGDC has expanded its collaborations with international databases and established new subcenters focusing on biodiversity, traditional Chinese medicine and tumor genetics. Substantial efforts have been made toward encompassing a broad spectrum of multi-omics data, developing innovative resources and enhancing existing resources. Notably, new resources have been developed for single-cell omics (scTWAS Atlas), genome and variation (VDGE), health and disease (CVD Atlas, CPMKG, Immunosenescence Inventory, HemAtlas, Cyclicpepedia, IDeAS), biodiversity and biosynthesis (RefMetaPlant, MASH-Ocean) and research tools (CCLHunter). All resources and services are publicly accessible at https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn.

Enhancers are cis-acting elements that have the ability to increase the expression of target genes. Recent studies have shown that enhancers can act as transcriptional units for the production of enhancer RNAs (eRNAs), which are hallmarks of activity enhancers and are involved in the regulation of gene transcription. The in-depth study of eRNAs is of great significance for us to better understand enhancer function and transcriptional regulation in various diseases. Therefore, eRNAs may be a potential therapeutic target for diseases. Here, we review the current knowledge of the characteristics of eRNAs, the molecular mechanisms of eRNAs action, as well as diseases related to dysregulation of eRNAs.

The ubiquitousness of GPS sensors in smart-phones, vehicles and wearable devices has enabled the collection of massive volumes of trajectory data from tracing moving objects. Consequently, an unprecedented scale of timestamped GPS data has been generated and posed an urgent demand for an effective storage mechanism for trajectory databases. The mainstream compression technique is called trajectory simplification, that finds a subsequence to approximate the original trajectory and attempts to minimize the information loss under a distance measure. Even though various simplification algorithms have been proposed in the past decades, there still lacks a thorough comparison to cover all the state-of-the-art algorithms and evaluate their quality using datasets in diversified motion patterns. Hence, it still remains a challenge for GPS data collectors to determine a proper algorithm in a concrete application. In addition, almost the entire line of previous methods uses error-based metrics to evaluate the compression quality, while ignoring their usability in supporting spatio-temporal queries on top of the reduced database. To bridge these gaps, we conduct so far the most comprehensive evaluation on trajectory simplification techniques. We compare the performance of 25 algorithms in total using five real datasets in different motion patterns. According to the experimental findings, we present useful guidance for the selection or development of effective trajectory simplification algorithms.

Long intergenic non-coding RNA p21 (lincRNA-p21) is down-regulated in some solid tumors. Glutamine catabolism plays an important role in cancer development. However, the role of lincRNA-p21 and its association with glutamine catabolism remain unknown in bladder cancer (BC). In the present study, we investigated the involvement of lincRNA-p21 and glutamine catabolism in BC cell growth and found that ectopic linRNA-p21 expression reduced the proliferation and growth of BIU87 and 5637 cells. Opposite results were observed in lincRNA-p21 silenced J82 and T24 cells. The expression of glutaminase (GLS), intracellular level of glutamate and α-Ketoglutarate (α-KG) were negatively regulated by lincRNA-p21. GLS overexpression reversed the suppressive function of lincRNA-p21 on BC cell growth and proliferation. In contrast, GLS reduction by siRNA blunted the viability of lincRNA-p21 lowly expressed BC cells. Furthermore, lincRNA-p21 and GLS abundance dictated the sensitivity of BC cells to bis-2-(5-phenylacetamido-1,2,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)ethyl sulfide (BPTES) treatment. Importantly, reduced lincRNA-p21 expression and increased GLS mRNA level were observed in BC tissues compared with the normal tissues. Our results demonstrate that lincRNA-p21 suppresses the BC cell growth through inhibiting GLS and glutamine catabolism. Targeting this cascade may be a promising treatment strategy for BC patients.

Enhancers are transcriptional regulatory elements that increase target gene expression. It has reported that enhancers could universally transcribe into enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) with stimulation. Increasing evidence showed eRNAs participated in various disease processes including malignant tumors. P2RY2 enhancer RNA (P2RY2e) is an estrogen-responsive eRNA and involved in the development of breast cancer. However, the relationship between P2RY2e and bladder cancer (BCa) is unclear. In the study, we discovered that P2RY2e was upregulated in BCa tissues and estrogen-treated cells. Estrogen promoted the malignant abilities of BCa cells. P2RY2e knockdown by CRISPR-Cas13a inhibit the cell multiplication, invasion and migration. Additionally, the cell apoptosis was facilitated. What's more, downregulation of P2RY2e could weaken the cancer-promoting effects of estrogen on BCa. Our study revealed that P2RY2e played a carcinogenic role in BCa and estrogen might promote the initiation of BCa by inducing P2RY2e. We provide a potential therapeutic target for BCa and a new perspective for the tumorigenesis of bladder cancer.