Background Serum ferritin is a useful tumor marker for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, the expression of ferritin heavy chain (FTH1), the main subunit of ferritin, is unclear in primary RCC tissues. In this study, we investigated FTH1 mRNA expression and its diagnostic and prognostic value in RCC. Material/Methods The mRNA expression of FTH1 was analyzed using including Oncomine, Gene Expression Omnibus, and Cancer Genome Atlas datasets, while the protein level of FTH1 was analyzed using the Human Protein Atlas database. The associations between FTH1 and clinicopathologic characteristics and survival time and Cox multivariate survival analysis were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software. A meta-analysis was performed to assess consistency of FTH1 expression. GO, KEGG, and PPI analyses were used to predict biological functions. Results According to TCGA data, overexpression of FTH1 was detected in 890 RCC tissues (15.2904±0.63157) compared to 129 normal kidney tissues (14.4502±0.51523, p<0.001). Among the clinicopathological characteristics evaluated, patients with increased pathologic T staging, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis were significantly associated with higher expression of FTH1. Elevated FTH1 mRNA levels were correlated with worse prognosis of RCC patients. Cox multivariate survival analysis indicated that age, stage, and M stage were predictors of poor prognosis in patients with RCC. Conclusions Our data suggest that FTH1 expression is an effective prognostic and diagnosis biomarker for RCC.

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Premise of the study:To examine population differentiation, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed in Barthea barthei, a shrub with a disjunct distribution in the southern mainland of China and Taiwan.Methods and Results:We used Illumina HiSeq technology to sequence a genomic library for SSR identification. Twenty-seven SSR loci were developed, of which 18 SSR loci were polymorphic in three populations composed of two varieties of B. barthei. At the population level, the number of alleles ranged from one to seven, and the observed and expected heterozygosity varied from 0 to 0.850 and from 0 to 0.809, respectively. Higher genetic differentiation between the two populations of B. barthei var. barthei (FST = 0.474) was observed relative to the two varieties (FST = 0.387 and 0.418, respectively).Conclusions:These polymorphic SSR markers may be useful for understanding phytogeographic history of B. barthei. Lower genetic differentiation between the two varieties than between the two populations of B. barthei var. barthei suggests that the taxonomic treatment may not hold.

Ceiba speciosa (Malvaceae), also called silk floss tree, is a beautiful and deciduous tree native to tropical and subtropical forests of South America. Its phylogenetic position remains unclear. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome sequence of C. speciosa was reported. Its chloroplast genome size was 160,360 bp, which contains a small single copy (SSC) region of 19,947 bp and a large single copy region (LSC) of 89,393 bp, and two inverted repeats (IRs) of 25,510 bp each. In total, 129 genes were annotated for the chloroplast genome, including 86 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that C. speciosa was sister to Bombax ceiba.