Message from the Editor-in-Chief

The current issue of Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica (ABBS) has turned a new page of this journal since its publication forty five years ago. It is perhaps an appropriate time to share with our readers about the evolution of this journal, the changes that have taken place, and the future that we are looking forward to. ABBS was first established in 1958 with Professor Ying-Lai WANG as the founding Editor-in-Chief and has been ever since an     

Metallophytes—a view from the rhizosphere

Abundance of Fabaceae declines in representation through post-fire-succession in fynbos vegetation of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR). This reduction in legume occurrence coincides with a known decline in post-fire soil P availability. It was hypothesized that the disappearance of legume species during post-fire succession is due to an inability to acquire P effectively from sparingly soluble sources. P-acquisition strategies and response to P supply were compared between legume (Aspalathus, Cyclopia, Indigofera, Podalyria) and non-legume (Elegia, Leucadendron, Protea) genera when supplied with 1 or 10 mg P kg^?1 dry sand. Each genus consisted of a seeder (non-persistent) and resprouter (persistent) species. Non-legumes showed a greater investment in below-ground biomass, more root clusters, with higher concentrations of carboxylates exuded by cluster roots and carboxylates that were better suited to the mobilization of sparingly soluble P compared to legumes. The growth response to increased P supply was 53% higher in legumes than in non-legumes. The lack of a growth response to an elevated P supply in the non-legumes was attributed to N-limitation. Legume resprouters had a higher investment in cluster-root biomass and a lower capacity to down-regulate P-uptake than the seeders. Therefore the inability to acquire sufficient P from low concentration and sparingly soluble soil P-sources may contribute to the lack of indigenous legume persistence in fynbos vegetation of the CFR.     

Key titles from the prestigious Novartis Foundation

Mast Cells and Basophils Development, Activation and Roles in Allergic/Autoimmune Disease Novartis Foundation Symposium NO. 271 Delve into the latest research on mast cells and basophils and their significance vis-a-vis multiple sclerosis, diabetes, HIV-1 infection and other allergic and autoimmune diseases. This exciting new book cov-     

The onchocerciasis chronicle: from the beginning to the end?

The year 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the donation of ivermectin to fight onchocerciasis and the projected date for elimination of transmission of the disease in the Americas. This review looks at the history of onchocerciasis, from its discovery through to 2025, by which time it is projected that the disease will have been eliminated as a public health problem, except in a handful of sub-Saharan countries, where it should be well on the way towards elimination.     

Evolution of the mammary gland from the innate immune system?

The mammary gland is a skin gland unique to the class Mammalia. Despite a growing molecular and histological understanding of the development and physiology of the mammary gland, its functional and morphological origins have remained speculative. Numerous theories on the origin of the mammary gland and lactation exist. The purpose of the mammary gland is to provide the newborn with copious amounts of milk, a unique body fluid that has a dual role of nutrition and immunological protection. Interestingly, antimicrobial enzymes, such as xanthine oxidoreductase or lysozyme, are directly involved in the evolution of the nutritional aspect of milk. We outline that xanthine oxidoreductase evolved a dual role in the mammary gland and hence provide new evidence supporting the hypothesis that the nutritional function of the milk evolved subsequent to its protective function. Therefore, we postulate that the mammary gland evolved from the innate immune system. In addition, we suggest that lactation partly evolved as an inflammatory response to tissue damage and infection, and discuss the observation that the two signaling pathways, NF-kB and Jak/Stat, play central roles in inflammation as well as in lactation.     

Articulations of Islamophobia: from the extreme to the mainstream?

This article will examine the construction and functions of, as well as relationship between, the diverse and changing articulations of Islamophobia. The aim is to contribute to debates about the definition of Islamophobia, which have tended to be contextually specific, fixed and/or polarized between racism and religious prejudice, between extreme and mainstream, state and non-state versions or undifferentiated, and offer a more nuanced framework to: (a) delineate articulations of Islamophobia as opposed to precise types and categories; (b) highlight the porosity in the discourse between extreme articulations widely condemned in the mainstream, and normalized and insidious ones, which the former tend to render more acceptable in comparison; (c) map where these intersect in response to events, historical and political conditions and new ideological forces and imperatives and (d) compare these articulations of Islamophobia in two contexts, France and the US.     

The glomerulus – a view from the outside – the podocyte

In the past decade, podocyte research has been greatly aided by the development of powerful new molecular, cellular and animal tools, leading to elucidation of an increasing number of proteins involved in podocyte function and identification of mutated genes in hereditary glomerulopathies. Accumulating evidence indicates that podocyte disorders may not only underlie these hereditary glomerulopathies but also play crucial role in a broad spectrum of acquired glomerular diseases. Genetic susceptibility, environmental influence and systemic responses are all involved in the mediation of the pathogenesis of podocytopathies. Injured podocytes may predisopose to further injury of other podocytes and other adjacent/distant renal cells in a vicious cycle, leading to inexorable progression of glomerular injury. The classic view is that podocytes have a limited ability to proliferate in the normal mature kidney. However, recent research in rodents has provided suggestive evidence for podocyte regeneration resulting from differentiation of progenitor cells within Bowman's capsule.     

An escape from ‘the prisoner's dilemma‘

Conventional escapes from the paradox that noncooperation between two organisms may be rational, even when cooperation would yield a higher reward to each, are based on the mechanism of reciprocity; but an analytical model of foraging among oviposition sites reveals a more immediate rationale, namely, equivalence of selfishness and altruism. The resulting game is unconditionally the prisoner's dilemma if the players have perfect recognition; however, in the absence thereof and for three different parameter regimes, it yields either the prisoner's dilemma, or two evolutionarily stable strategies, or a unique cooperative ESS. Thus unrecognition can favor cooperation; and environments can exist in which cooperation persists, or even invades, without reciprocity. The results suggest that different mechanisms for cooperation may operate at different levels of neural complexity.     

Sphingosine in plants--more riddles from the Sphinx?

? Sphingolipids are emerging as important mediators of cellular and developmental processes in plants, and advances in lipidomics have yielded a wealth of information on the composition of plant sphingolipidomes. Studies using Arabidopsis thaliana showed that the dihydroxy long-chain base (LCB) is desaturated at carbon position 8 (d18:1(Δ8)). This raised important questions on the role(s) of sphingosine (d18:1(Δ4)) and sphingosine-1-phosphate (d18:1(Δ4)-P) in plants, as these LCBs appear to be absent in A. thaliana. ? Here, we surveyed 21 species from various phylogenetic groups to ascertain the position of desaturation of the d18:1 LCB, in order to gain further insights into the prevalence of d18:1(Δ4) and d18:1(Δ8) in plants. ? Our results showed that d18:1(Δ8) is common in gymnosperms, whereas d18:1(Δ4) is widespread within nonseed land plants and the Poales, suggesting that d18:1(Δ4) is evolutionarily more ancient than d18:1(Δ8) in Viridiplantae. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the sphingolipid Δ4-desaturases from Viridiplantae form a monophyletic group, with Angiosperm sequences falling into two distinct clades, the Eudicots and the Poales. ? We propose that efforts to elucidate the role(s) of d18:1(Δ4) and d18:1(Δ4)-P should focus on genetically tractable Viridiplantae species where the d18:1 LCB is desaturated at carbon position 4.     

Thank You from the Tuček Family

Note

Thank You from the Tuek Family     

Isolation of β-Tocopherol from the Root Bark of the Mulberry Tree

Kluyvera citrophila KY7844 enzymatically catalyzed N-acylation of 7-amino-desacetoxycephalosporanic acid with 1-(1H)-tetrazolylacetate methylester to produce 7-[1-(1H)-tetrazolylacetamido]-desacetoxycephalosporanic acid. The product was purified and characterized.     

Antiplasmodial β-triketones from the flowers of the Australian tree Angophora woodsiana

Chemical investigations of the MeOH extract of air dried flowers of the Australian tree Angophora woodsiana (Myrtaceae) yielded two new β-triketones, woodsianones A and B (1, 2) and nine known β-triketones (3–11). Woodsianone A is a β-triketone-sesquiterpene adduct and woodsianone B is a β-triketone epoxide derivative. The structures of the new and known compounds were elucidated from the analysis of 1D/2D NMR and MS data. The relative configurations of the compounds were determined from analysis of ¹H–¹H coupling constants and ROESY correlations. All compounds (1–11) had antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine sensitive strain 3D7. The known compound rhodomyrtone (5) and new compound woodsianone B (2) showed moderate antiplasmodial activities against the 3D7 strain (1.84 µM and 3.00 µM, respectively) and chloroquine resistant strain Dd2 (4.00 µM and 2.53 µM, respectively).     

Membrane Delivery to the Yeast Autophagosome from the Golgi�CEndosomal System

While many of the proteins required for autophagy have been identified, the source of the membrane of the autophagosome is still unresolved with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), endosomes, and mitochondria all having been evoked. The integral membrane protein Atg9 is delivered to the autophagosome during starvation and in the related cytoplasm-to-vacuole (Cvt) pathway that occurs constitutively in yeast. We have examined the requirements for delivery of Atg9-containing membrane to the yeast autophagosome. Atg9 does not appear to originate from mitochondria, and Atg9 cannot reach the forming autophagosome directly from the ER or early Golgi. Components of traffic between Golgi and endosomes are known to be required for the Cvt pathway but do not appear required for autophagy in starved cells. However, we find that pairwise combinations of mutations in Golgi-endosomal traffic components apparently only required for the Cvt pathway can cause profound defects in Atg9 delivery and autophagy in starved cells. Thus it appears that membrane that contains Atg9 is delivered to the autophagosome from the Golgi-endosomal system rather than from the ER or mitochondria. This is underestimated by examination of single mutants, providing a possible explanation for discrepancies between yeast and mammalian studies on Atg9 localization and autophagosome formation.