Shuo Wei

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center | BIDMC

Thismia (Thismiaceae), whose distributions are currently known from Asia, Australia, and South America, is newly recorded in the Solomon Islands. Through extensive field explorations, three new species of Thismia were discovered in the rainforest of the Solomon Islands and are herein delineated as T. occasa, T. chicoreoides, and T. solomonensis, al...

We reported nine fern species: Amblovenatum opulentum , Athyrium erythropodum , Haplopteris angustifolia , Hymenophyllum acanthoides , Hymenophyllum pachydermicum , Huperzia liangshanica , Microlepia smithii , Selaginella bisulcata , and Selaginella reticulata as indigenous to Vietnam based on our new collections and study of type materials and rel...

A new genus, Nephoanthus, is established based on morphological and molecular data. It comprises two species distributed in montane forests of central to southern Vietnam and Hainan Island: the type species N. prostratus and a new species N. nubigenus. Nephoanthus is morphologically similar to Phyllagathis but phylogenetically remote from the type...

The Solomon Islands in Melanesian region of South Pacific lie in an equatorial climate and harbour diverse habitats covered by forests. Based on field surveys and specimens examination, six Begonia species were confirmed from the Solomon Islands, and a key of the species is provided for identification. Besides the two widespread species, B. somervi...

The history of the study on pterido-flora in Vietnam is reviewed. Two new records, Adiantum capillus-junonis and Actinostachys wagneri are reported for Vietnam based on our new collections. A new species, Hymenophyllum bryoides , is described to accommodate its morphological and genetic distinctiveness from other congeneric species. Photographs of...

The Begonia species occurring in Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park (Lam Dong Province, southern Vietnam) are reviewed based on recent floristic field surveys. Five species were recognized from the montane forests, and two of which are new to science. The new species belong to Begonia sect. Platycentrum and are named as B. hongiaoensis C.W.Lin, T.C.Hsu &...

One genus (Chrysogrammitis) and twelve species (Asplenium pifongiae, Chrysogrammitis musgraviana, Crepidomanes makinoi, Ctenitis sinii, Ctenopterella khaoluangensis, Didymoglossum wallii, Dryopteris hendersonii, Hymenophyllum palmatifidum, H. paniculiflorum, Polystichum prionolepis, Pteris latipinna, and Stegnogramma wilfordii) of ferns are reporte...

We describe a new species of Stegnogramma (Thelypteridaceae; Polypodiales) as Stegnogramma australis. Morphologically, it is most similar to S. griffithii, sharing the character of pinnate fronds with ternate terminal pinnae. However, S. australis can be distinguished from S. griffithii by having more free pinna pairs, shorter distal stipe hairs, a...

Interleukin 33 (IL-33) is among the earliest-released cytokines in response to allergens that orchestrate type 2 immunity. The prolyl cis-trans isomerase PIN1 is known to induce cytokines for eosinophil survival and activation by stabilizing cytokines mRNAs, but the function of PIN1 in upstream signaling pathways in asthma is unknown. Here we show...

Two new mycoheterotrophic orchids, Gastrodia isabelensis and G. solomonensis, are described and illustrated from the Solomon Islands. The genus Gastrodia is also recorded in the country for the first time. Gastrodia isabelensis is close to G. callosa from Java and Taiwan but differs in having longer inflorescences, broadly ovate to semiorbicular se...

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a debilitating autoimmune disease affecting multiple organs in the body, but therapeutic options are still very limited and often come with adverse effects. Increasing evidence has underlined an important role for the TLR7/9-IRAK1-IRF7 pathway in the development and progression of SLE. Notably, the...

Proline isomerization greatly impacts biological signaling, but is subtle and difficult to detect in proteins. We characterize this poorly understood regulatory mechanism for RNA polymerase II carboxyl terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylation state using novel, direct, and quantitative chemical tools. We determine the proline isomeric preference of th...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), characterized by acute neurological dysfunction, is one of the best known environmental risk factors for chronic traumatic encephalopathy and Alzheimer's disease, the defining pathologic features of which include tauopathy made of phosphorylated tau protein (P-tau). However, tauopathy has not been detected in the early...

A common key regulator of oncogenic signaling pathways in multiple tumor types is the unique isomerase Pin1. However, available Pin1 inhibitors lack the required specificity and potency for inhibiting Pin1 function in vivo. By using mechanism-based screening, here we find that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-a therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemi...

Proline-directed phosphorylation is regulated by the prolyl isomerase Pin1, which plays a fundamental role in driving breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs). Rab2A is a small GTPase critical for vesicle trafficking. Here, we show that Pin1 increases Rab2A transcription to promote BCSC expansion and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically...

Firefly luminescence is an intriguing phenomenon with potential technological applications, whose biochemistry background was only recently established. The physics side of this phenomenon, however, was still unclear, specifically as far as the oxygen supply mechanism for light flashing is concerned. This uncertainty is due to the complex microscop...

The Pin1 prolyl isomerase regulates phosphorylation signaling by controlling protein conformation after phosphorylation and its upregulation promotes oncogenesis via acting on numerous oncogenic molecules. SUMOylation and deSUMOylation are dynamic mechanisms regulating a spectrum of protein activities. The SUMO proteases (SENPs) remove SUMO conjuga...

In firefly light organs, reflector layer is a specialized tissue which is believed to play a key role for increasing the bioluminescence intensity through reflection. However, the nature of this unique tissue remains elusive. In this report, we investigated the role, fine structure and nature of the reflector layer in the light organ of adult Lucio...

Dark field microscopic images of crystalline matters. A) Re-crystalline matters of light organ of L. cerata. B) Needle-formed crystals of monosodium urate monohydrate. C) Plate-formed crystals of uric acid dihydrate. (TIF)

DSC thermographs of firefly light organ and the excreted uric acid of gecko. A) The light organ of L. cerata and B) the excreted uric acid of H. stejnegeri are examined under a heating (black line) and cooling (gray line) process. (TIF)

Substantial evidence supports the oncogenic role of the E3 ubiquitin ligase S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) in many types of cancers through its ability to target a broad range of signaling effectors for ubiquitination. Thus, this oncogenic E3 ligase represents an important target for cancer drug discovery. In this study, we report a nov...

Fbw7 is the substrate recognition component of the Skp1-Cullin-F-box (SCF)-type E3 ligase complex and a well-characterized tumor suppressor that targets numerous oncoproteins for destruction. Genomic deletion or mutation of FBW7 has been frequently found in various types of human cancers; however, little is known about the upstream signaling pathwa...

Intracellular fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) are considered to be an important energy source supplier in lipid metabolism; however, they have never been reported in any bioluminescent tissue before. In this study, we determined the structural and functional characteristics of a novel FABP (lcFABP) from the light organ of adult Taiwanese firefl...

Binding of luciferin to recombinant lcFABP. Displacement of bound ANS from lcFABP by D-luciferin. Fluorescence change was recorded after successively adding lcFABP (until final concentration become 2 µM at 100 s), D-luciferin (Luc; 1 µM at 200 s and 2 µM at 300 s) or palmitic acid (PA; 1 µM at 200 s and 2 µM at 300 s), and the competitive palmitic...

SDS-PAGE analysis of recombinant lcFABP from E. coli expression and quantification of native lcFABP in the light organ. The soluble extract of the light organ with a total protein amount of 30 µg (lane: LO), and the purified recombinant lcFABP (lane: 1), and the E. coli lysate with IPTG induction (lane: 2), and the E. coli lysate without IPTG induc...

Cancer cells gain growth advantages in the microenvironment by shifting cellular metabolism to aerobic glycolysis, the so-called Warburg effect. There is a growing interest in targeting aerobic glycolysis for cancer therapy by exploiting the differential susceptibility of malignant versus normal cells to glycolytic inhibition, of which the proof-of...

In light of the unique ability of thiazolidinediones to mediate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)gamma-independent activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and suppression of interleukin (IL)-6 production, we conducted a screening of an in-house, thiazolidinedione-based focused compound library to identi...

As part of our effort to understand the mechanism underlying alpha-tocopheryl succinate [vitamin E succinate (VES)]-mediated antitumor effects, we investigated the signaling pathway by which VES suppresses androgen receptor (AR) expression in prostate cancer cells. VES and, to a greater extent, its truncated derivative TS-1 mediated transcriptional...

This study investigated the mechanism by which the transcription factor Sp1 is degraded in prostate cancer cells. We recently developed a thiazolidinedione derivative, (Z)-5-(4-hydroxy-3-trifluoromethylbenzylidene)-3-(1-methylcyclohexyl)-thiazolidine-2,4-dione (OSU-CG12), that induces Sp1 degradation in a manner paralleling that of glucose starvati...

The thiazolidinedione (TZD) family of PPARgamma agonists, especially troglitazone and ciglitazone, induce cell cycle arrest, differentiation, and apoptosis in cancer cells. Mounting evidence indicates that TZDs interfere with multiple signaling mechanisms independently of PPARgamma activation, which affect many aspects of cellular functions governi...

This study identifies a novel mechanism by which thiazolidinediones mediate cyclin D1 repression in prostate cancer cells. Based on the finding that the thiazolidinedione family of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonists mediated PPARgamma-independent cyclin D1 degradation, we developed a novel PPARgamma-inactive trogl...

On the basis of our finding that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist ciglitazone at high doses was able to mediate PPARgamma-independent transcriptional repression of androgen receptor (AR) in a tumor cell-specific manner, we used Delta2CG, a PPARgamma-inactive analogue of ciglitazone, to conduct lead optimizati...

Protein synthesis in the diatom Nitzschia alba Lewin and Lewin was drastically altered when the cells were incubated at a supraoptimal temperaeture. Quantitatively, the overall protein synthesis was greatly suppressed as indicated by teh rate of [35S] methionine incorporation. The extent of suppression of protein synthesis was proportional to the s...

Considering the role of aberrant beta-catenin signaling in tumorigenesis, we investigated the mechanism by which the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist troglitazone facilitated beta-catenin down-regulation. We demonstrate that troglitazone and its more potent PPARgamma-inactive analogs Delta2TG and STG28 mediated t...

In this paper, we study the planar deformation of a thin elastic wire inside a tubular housing with clearance. The center line of the tube is assumed to be in the shape of a planar circular arc. The wire is under longitudinal compression at the ends. This mechanics problem can be found in the stent deployment procedure commonly adopted in treating...

Tzu-En Hua and Chia-Wei Li (2007) Silica biomineralization in the radula of a limpet Notoacmea schrenckii (Gastropoda: Acmaeidae). Zoological Studies 46(4): 379-388. The radulae of limpets are regarded as an ideal experimental material for studying biologically controlled mineral deposition, because they possess teeth in different mineralization st...

Previously, we showed that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist troglitazone at high doses was able to suppress androgen receptor (AR) expression in LNCaP prostate cancer cells independently of PPARgamma. Pharmacologic exploitation of this finding led to STG28, a PPARgamma-inactive analogue of troglitazone with s...

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) undergo iron biomineralization, providing the basis for magnetoreception. We showed earlier the presence of superparamagnetic magnetite in iron granules formed in honeybees, and subscribed to the notion that external magnetic fields may cause expansion or contraction of the superparamagnetic particles in an orientation-sp...

Although knowledge of Cambrian fossil eggs and/or embryos has increased dramatically, embryos were previously unknown in siliciclastic settings of coeval strata. Here we report for the first time egg clusters in a fine-grained siliciclastic matrix from the Middle Cambrian Kaili Formation lagerstätte (513 501 Ma), south China. Some were imaged under...

In developing embryos of some extant spiralian animals, polar lobe formation is one of the symmetry-breaking mechanisms for segregation of maternal cytoplasmic substances to certain blastomeres and not others. Polar lobe formation leads to unique early cleavage morphologies that include trilobed, J-shaped, and five-lobed structures. Fossil embryos...

In light of the potential use of the thiazolidinedione family of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) agonists in prostate cancer treatment, this study assessed the mechanism by which these agents suppress prostate-specific antigen (PSA) secretion in prostate cancer cells. Two lines of evidence indicate that the effect of th...

The ubiquitously expressed molecular chaperone GRP78 (78 kDa glucose-regulated protein) generally localizes to the ER (endoplasmic reticulum). GRP78 is specifically induced in cells under the UPR (unfolded protein response), which can be elicited by treatments with calcium ionophore A23187 and sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase inhibito...

Phosphatized fossils from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation have provided valuable insight into the early evolution of metazoans, but the preservation of these spectacular fossils is not yet fully understood. This research begins to address this issue by performing a detailed specimen-based taphonomic analysis of the Doushantuo For-mation pho...

Ten phosphatized specimens of a small (<180 micrometers) animal displaying clear bilaterian features have been recovered from the Doushantuo Formation, China, dating from 40 to 55 million years before the Cambrian. Seen in sections, this animal (Vernanimalcula guizhouena gen. et sp. nov.) had paired coeloms extending the length of the gut; paired e...

Renal cell injury and fixed particle formation is one of the theories of urinary stone formation. The exposure of renal epithelial cells to oxalate ions and calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals can cause free radical generation and increase lipid peroxidation. Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP) has a protective effect on the production of free radicals in...

The evolutionary divergence of cnidarian and bilaterian lineages from their remote metazoan ancestor occurred at an unknown depth in time before the Cambrian, since crown group representatives of each are found in Lower Cambrian fossil assemblages. We report here a variety of putative embryonic, larval, and adult microfossils deriving from Precambr...

Oxalate in urine can cause tubular cellular damage by the production of free radicals. Then, cell death and cellular debris may promote the retention of calcium oxalate crystals and finally the formation of stones. The two most abundant urinary proteins, Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP) and albumin, were tested for the effects of antioxidants. By using...

Tamm-Horsfall protein and human serum albumin are common urinary proteins that show uncertain inhibitory action on the crystallization of calcium oxalate monohydrate. Batch experiments on crystal nucleation, growth, and aggregation were performed using purified Tamm-Horsfall protein and albumin before and after enzymatic removal of sialic acids fro...

Putative fossil embryos and larvae from the Precambrian phosphorite rocks of the Doushantuo Formation in Southwest China have been examined in thin section by bright field and polarized light microscopy. Although we cannot completely exclude a nonbiological or nonmetazoan origin, we identified what appear to be modern cnidarian developmental stages...

Putative fossil embryos and larvae from the Precambrian phosphorite rocks of the Doushantuo Formation in Southwest China have been examined in thin section by bright field and polarized light microscopy. Although we cannot completely exclude a nonbiological or nonmetazoan origin, we identified what appear to be modern cnidarian developmental stages...

Since the identification of the Lower Cambrian Yunnanozoon as a chordate in 1995 (ref. 1), large numbers of complete specimens of soft-bodied chordates from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan Shale in central Yunnan (southern China) have been recovered. Here we describe a recently discovered craniate-like chordate, Haikouella lanceolata, from 305 fossi...

Sponge remains have been identified in the Early Vendian Doushantuo phosphate deposit in central Guizhou (South China), which has an age of ∼580 million years ago. Their skeletons consist of siliceous, monaxonal spicules. All are referred to as the Porifera, class Demospongiae. Preserved soft tissues include the epidermis, porocytes, amoebocytes, s...

Studies of honeybee magnetoreception that provide anatomical and biophysical constraints on the insect receptor system contradict the conclusions of Hsu and Li in their report about iron granules in the abdominal trophocytes of honeybees.

The honeybee is one of the few organisms that can deposit iron minerals intracellularly. Numerous iron granules are formed in the trophocytes, which are located in the abdomen, beginning on the second day after eclosion. The sequential events of iron deposition in honeybees have been determined and the special features of this biomineralization sys...

Two morphological forms of mitochondria, vase-shaped and discoid, are described in a centric diatom, Stepkanopyxis turns (Greville) Ralfs, and their three-dimensional structure reconstructed from serial sections. The vase-shaped mitochondria, previously unreported in unicellular organisms, constitute the majority, no matter what the stage of the ce...

The morphology, culture, and nutrition of four new species of apochlorotic diatoms (Nitzschia lucisensibilis, N. fluorescens, N. albicostalis and Hantzschia achroma) are described. A key to the seven apochlorotic diatoms, including the three known species (N. putrida, N. leucosigma and N. alba), is included.