The present invention belongs to the field of virology, in particular to the field of hepatitis B virus treatment. Provided are a model and a method for screening HBV cccDNA inhibitors. According to the screening model and the method, the detection of a split luciferase is used as an alternative index ofHBV cccDNA detection, and a cccDNA-targeted drug can be screened in high throughput.

Provided herein are, inter alia, compositions and methods for demethylating and methylating a target DNA sequences in a mammalian cell. The compositions and methods are, useful for activity modulation of a targeted gene, or to create a gene regulatory network.

A liver-specific expressional regulatory element, including, in order from 51 to 31: a promoter of a dog serpinAl gene or a functional fragment thereof, a promoter of a Xenopus laevis vitellogenin A2 gene or a functional fragment thereof, a promoter of a Xenopus laevis albumin gene or a functional fragment thereof, and a promoter of a human serpinAl gene or a functional fragment thereof.

The present application provides a new technology to confer or enhance insect resistance and, optionally also resistance to fungal pathogens in plants. In particular, the present invention provides a method for conferring or increasing resistance or tolerance to insect and optionally also to fungal pathogens in maize and oil seed rape (OSR) by targeting the endogenous Lox3 gene. By introducing either a gene silencing construct, a genome editing system or a genome modification, which leads to a targeted knock-down or knock-out of the Lox3 gene endogenous to the plant, a new or increased resistance to insect and, optionally fungal pathogens can be created.

Disclosed herein are bioluminescent indictors comprising a bioluminescent peptide split by a binding peptide capable of binding a ligand. The bioluminescent indicator bioluminesces upon binding of the binding peptide to its ligand to bring the regions of the bioluminescent peptide into such proximity that the indicator bioluminesces. The bioluminescent indicator may further comprise a leader domain and a transmembrane domain. The bioluminescent indicator acts as a biosensor that can detect and quantify a ligand without the need for an additional light source. Methods for imaging internal body structures are also presented.

The present invention relates to a peptide with anti-inflammatory activity, wherein the peptide comprises at least one amino acid sequence among SEQ ID NO: 2 to SEQ ID NO: 179, the peptide has above 80% homology of amino acid sequence with above-mentioned sequences, or the peptide is the fragment of the above-mentioned peptides. The present invention also relates to an inflammatory composition comprising the above mentioned peptides. According to the present invention, the peptides that have at least one amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 to SEQ ID NO: 179 shows outstanding efficacy in both suppressing inflammation and in prophylactic means. Therefore, the composition comprising the peptides of this invention can be used as anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical compositions or as cosmetic compositions, in turn, treating and preventing a variety of different types of inflammatory diseases.

Protein biosensors and methods of using these sensors to detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 patient antibodies (Abs) in a solution-based, rapid, and quantitative COVID-19 serological assay are provided. In certain aspects, the sensors each comprise a first fusion protein that comprises a first SARS-CoV-2 viral protein and a first peptide fragment of a split reporter protein, and a second fusion protein that comprises a second fusion protein that comprises a second SARS-CoV-2 viral protein domain and a second peptide fragment of the split reporter protein. Only if the test sample comprise SARS-CoV- antibodies, the first and second peptide fragments associate to produce an enzymatically active reporter protein.

The present disclosure provides recombinant host cells comprising a pathway capable of producing a cannabinoid and a heterologous nucleic acid that encodes a protein not in the pathway that enhances the host cells’ ability to produce the cannabinoid. The disclosure also provides methods of using host cells to produce cannabinoids.

The present disclosure provides a method for increasing production of an indigoid compound, including the following steps: (a) mutating a wild-type flavin-containing monooxygenase to a mutant flavin-containing monooxygenase expressed in Escherichia coli; and (b) culturing the Escherichia coli in a bacterial culture medium comprising tryptophan to allow the mutant FMO to interact with tryptophan for a predetermined time to convert the tryptophan into the indigoid compound. Compared to the wild-type flavin-containing monooxygenase, the mutant flavin-containing monooxygenase increases production of the indigoid compound. The present disclosure also provides a recombinant polypeptide for increasing production of the indigoid compound.

Disclosed are methods of determining activity of CDK4 and CDK6 variants upon exposure to CDK inhibitors, methods for determining activity of a Rb variant, methods for determining the activity of a p16 variant in a cell, and methods for determining the sensitivity of a CDK4 variant or a CDK6 variant to p16 in a cell. Stable cell lines for determining activity of CDK4 variants, CDK6 variants, Rb variants, and p16 variants are also disclosed.