No abstract

Cardiac-restricted genes play important roles in cardiovascular system. In an effort to identify such novel genes we identified a novel cardiac-specific kinase gene TNNI3K localized on 1p31.1 based on bioinformatics analyses. Sequence analysis suggested that TNNI3K is a distant family member of integrin-linked kinase. Northern blot and 76-tissue array analyses showed that TNNI3K is highly expressed in heart, but is undetectable in other tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis predominantly localized TNNI3K in the nucleus of cardiac myocytes. In vitro kinase assay showed that TNNI3K is a functional kinase. The yeast two-hybrid system showed that TNNI3K could directly interact with cardiac troponin I, results that were further confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation in vivo. Our data suggest that TNNI3K is a cardiac-specific kinase and play important roles in cardiac system.

The impacts of microplastics on coral reefs are gaining attention due to findings that microplastics affect coral health. This work investigated the distribution and characteristics of microplastics in the seawater, fish, and corals in 3 atolls from the Xisha Islands of South China Sea. In the seawater samples, microplastics were detected in the outer reef slopes, reef flats, and lagoons with abundances ranging from 0.2 to 11.2, 1.0 to 12.2, and 1.0 to 45.2 items L–1, respectively. Microplastic abundance was 0–12.0 items individual–1 (0–4.7 items g–1) in fish and 1.0–44.0 items individual–1(0.02–1.3 items g–1) in coral. The predominant shape and polymer of microplastics in seawater, fish, and coral were fibrous rayon and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Microplastic sizes primarily ranged from 20–330 μm in both the seawater and fish, while there were relatively more 1–5 mm microplastics in the corals. The shape, size, color, and polymer type distribution patterns of microplastics in seawater more closely resembled those in fish gills than those in fish gastrointestinal tracts or coral samples. This study shows that microplastics are abundant in these coral reef systems and they are captured by fish or “trapped” by corals.