Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its pathogenic mechanism remains to be explored. The RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) reader, YTH (YT521-B homology) domain 2 (YTHDF2), plays a critical role in the HCC progression. However, the function and regulatory mechanisms of YTHDF2 in HBV-related HCC remain largely elusive. Here, we discovered that YTHDF2 O-GlcNAcylation was markedly increased upon HBV infection. O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT)-mediated O-GlcNAcylation of YTHDF2 on serine 263 enhanced its protein stability and oncogenic activity by inhibiting its ubiquitination. Mechanistically, YTHDF2 stabilized minichromosome maintenance protein 2 (MCM2) and MCM5 transcripts in an m6A-dependent manner, thus promoting cell cycle progression and HBV-related HCC tumorigenesis. Moreover, targeting YTHDF2 O-GlcNAcylation by the OGT inhibitor OSMI-1 significantly suppressed HCC progression. Taken together, our findings reveal a new regulatory mechanism for YTHDF2 and highlight an essential role of YTHDF2 O-GlcNAcylation in RNA m6A methylation and HCC progression. Further description of the molecular pathway has the potential to yield therapeutic targets for suppression of HCC progression due to HBV infection.

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The applications of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) on classifying complex natural organics are relatively limited and their accuracy still requires improvement. In this work, to study the methods on classification of complex organics, three kinds of fresh leaves were measured by LIBS. 100 spectra from 100 samples of each kind of leaves were measured and then they were divided into a training set and a test set in a ratio of 7:3. Two algorithms of chemometric methods including the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and principal component analysis Mahalanobis distance (PCA-MD) were used to identify these leaves. By using 23 lines from 16 elements or molecules as input data, these two methods can both classify these three kinds of leaves successfully. The classification accuracies of training sets are both up to 100% by PCA-MD and PLS-DA. The classification accuracies of the test set are 93.3% by PCA-MD and 97.8% by PLS-DA. It means that PLS-DA is better than PCA-MD in classifying plant leaves. Because the components in PLS-DA process are more suitable for classification than those in PCA-MD process. We think that this work can provide a reference for plant traceability using LIBS.

The portable laser is indispensable for handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instruments. We developed a passive, Q-switched pulsed, Nd:YAG laser system with small size and low cost. The maximum pulse energy of the laser was 10 mJ and the pulse duration was <2 ns. The peak power was >5 MW. The laser exhibited very high stability without any cooling system and its relative standard deviation of the pulse energy was <0.2%. The laser was also used as a light source of LIBS to measure the concentrations of Cr, Cu, Mn, and Ni in alloys. The experimental results show that the determination coefficient of the calibration curves for these four elements is all better than 0.99. For its shorter pulse duration, the laser can decrease the plasma shield effect to improve the coupling of laser pulse and the target and stability of spectra intensity. The portable laser developed is a good laser source for handheld LIBS instruments.