ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to observe levels of blood brain natriuretic peptides (BNPs) in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) before and after catheter ablation. Thirty-six patients with persistent AF (28 successful surgeries and eight recurrent cases) and 36 healthy controls with normal sinus rhythm were recruited for this study. BNP levels in the AF and control groups were measured before and after catheter ablation. BNP levels before surgery were significantly higher in the persistent AF group than in the control group (P < 0.01). The successful surgery group had distinctly lower BNP levels before ablation than the recurrent group (P < 0.01). In the recurrent group, BNP levels 2 h after ablation were significantly lower than those before ablation (P < 0.01); these levels increased after AF recurrence (P < 0.01) and were comparable with those before ablation (P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the BNP level was an inde-S.Y. Xing et al. 6954©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 14 (2): 6953-6959 (2015) pendent factor for and predictor of AF recurrence (P < 0.01). The BNP level in patients with persistent AF is clinically important in predicting and evaluating AF recurrence after ablation.

44The lifetime of G. biloba is very long, and its growth is relatively slow. However, 45 little is known about growth-related genes in this species. We combined mRNA 46 sequencing (RNA-Seq) with bulked segregant analysis (BSA) to fine map significant 47 agronomic trait genes by developing polymorphism molecular markers at the 48 transcriptome level. RNA-Seq data provides BSA with genotype information in RNA 49 Pool to screen out linked genes (low in false positives) after data analysis, and the 50 efficiency of development and verification of the linked polymorphism marker is 51 greatly improved. This combined approach (named BSR) has been applied to plant 52 transcriptome sequencing in sunflower, corn, wheat, and Arabidopsis thaliana. In this 53 study, transcriptome sequencing of high growth (GD) and low growth (BD) samples 54 of G. biloba half-sib families was performed. After assembling the clean reads, 601 55 differential expression genes were detected and 513 of them were assigned functional 56 annotations. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis identified SNPs 57 associated with 119 genes in the GD and BD groups; 58 of these genes were 58annotated. This study provides molecular level data that could be used for seed 59 selection of high growth G.biloba half-sib families for future breeding programs. 60