大熊猫肠道正常菌群降解纤维素的机制

大熊猫的主食竹类粗纤维含量很高,而大熊猫自身的消化系统不能降解纤维素。现已从大熊猫的肠道正常菌群中鉴定出涵盖7个菌门的22种菌,相关的研究证明大熊猫的肠道正常菌群能降解纤维素。大熊猫肠道中的假单胞菌产生的漆酶能对竹纤维中的木质素进行氧化,使纤维素得以暴露,梭菌属、淀粉芽胞杆菌等产生的纤维素酶将其降解成大熊猫可利用的糖类。其具体机制有待进一步研究。     

大熊猫肠道放线菌的种群组成及多样性分析

【目的】探究不同年龄、不同性别大熊猫肠道放线菌的多样性及群落结构,为寻找潜在产生活性化合物的放线菌资源提供理论依据。【方法】采用PCR-DGGE技术对大熊猫肠道放线菌进行分析,对电泳结果进行UPGMA聚类分析、主成分分析、生物多样性等多重比较。【结果】变性梯度凝胶电泳(DGGE)图谱显示,不同大熊猫肠道中放线菌的多样性及群落结构存在明显差异。随着年龄的增长,雌性大熊猫肠道中放线菌的多样性指数(H')和丰富度(S)逐渐减少,而雄性大熊猫肠道内放线菌的多样性指数(H')和丰富度(S)逐渐增多。不同个体的大熊猫肠道放线菌的群落结构存在明显差异,但相同性别之间的相似性很高。DGGE条带回收测序结果表明,获得的28条序列归属于10个放线菌属,其中链霉菌属(Streptomyces)为优势菌属,占总数的46%;北里孢菌属(Kitasatospora)、红球菌属(Rhodococcus)、棒杆菌属(Corynebacterium)、迪茨氏菌属(Dietziaceae)、大理石雕菌属(Marmoricola)、布登堡菌属(Beutenbergia)、微杆菌属(Microbacterium)、链嗜酸菌属(Streptacidiphilus)和芽生球菌属(Blastococcus)等为非链霉菌属,占总数的54%。【结论】大熊猫肠道内蕴藏着丰富的放线菌资源,其肠道菌群的结构与组成受年龄和性别的影响。     

肠道菌群代谢产物在鼠伤寒沙门菌感染中的作用研究进展

人和动物肠道内生存着多种多样的微生物群体,它们与宿主共同进化,对宿主的健康至关重要。肠道菌群可以发酵宿主难以消化的复杂碳水化合物,为宿主肠道细胞提供能量,同时其代谢产物对肠道病原菌沙门菌的感染产生着重要影响。正常情况下,肠道菌群代谢产物如丁酸与丙酸可以抑制沙门菌在肠道中的定植或者毒力基因的表达,而在肠道菌群受到扰乱时,其代谢的琥珀酸盐和1,2-丙二醇等物质却能促进沙门菌增殖。近年来,越来越多的研究揭示了肠道菌群代谢产物对沙门菌感染的影响。本综述通过总结近年来关于鼠伤寒沙门菌入侵时肠道菌群代谢产物改变的研究,综合阐述了肠道菌群代谢产物影响沙门菌感染的机制。     

大熊猫肠道菌群的研究进展

随着最近分子生物学和高通量测序技术的快速发展,对大熊猫肠道菌群的结构和功能有了更深层次的认识。研究发现,大熊猫肠道菌群受到消化道结构、饮食、季节和年龄等多种因素的影响,在宿主免疫、消化和代谢等方面起到了重要的作用。本文综述大熊猫肠道菌群的群落结构以及生物学特性研究的最新进展,并讨论未来可能的研究方向。     

大熊猫粪便乳酸菌的分离鉴定

大熊猫作为国家保护动物,其健康问题备受瞩目。为了维护大熊猫的肠道健康,本研究从大熊猫肠道内分离出适宜于大熊猫肠道环境的乳酸菌菌株,有望将其制成熊猫肠道微生物制剂,从而改善大熊猫肠道菌群环境。从雅安市宝兴县蜂桶寨自然保护区选取圈养与野生大熊猫的粪便,通过体外培养分离出9个菌株。分离菌株经过革兰氏染色镜检、过氧化氢产气、菌落形态观察等方法与技术初步鉴定为乳酸菌。对这9株乳酸菌进行耐酸试验、耐胆盐试验、抑菌能力试验和产酸能力等测试,筛选出了3个适应性较强,有望制成调节大熊猫肠道内环境平衡作用的微生态菌剂的菌株。16S rRNA基因序列分析表明:分离菌株J1、J2和J4分别为融合魏斯氏菌（Weissella confusa）,海氏肠球菌（Enterococcus heynei）和非解乳糖链球菌（Streptococcus alactolyticus）,有望被应用于大熊猫肠道微生态制剂的研究。     

1 067例不同年龄及地域人群肠道菌群特征

目的探索不同人群在不同年龄阶段的菌群结构特点,了解环境因素对肠道菌群组成及发展的影响。方法收集65例中国健康儿童粪便样本并进行16S rRNA检测,同时从已发表文献中获取来自亚洲、非洲、欧洲、北美洲及南美洲国家的1 002例健康人群肠道菌群数据,分析来自不同年龄阶段健康人群肠道菌群的特征。结果 3岁以下全球各地儿童肠道菌群的种类较为一致:拟杆菌属和双歧杆菌属在儿童肠道菌群中占据主导地位,且它们在免疫调节上有重要作用。3岁以上健康人群的肠道菌群则展示出了地域性特征:亚洲健康人群的肠道代表菌属为考拉杆菌属和巨单胞菌属,非洲健康人群的肠道代表菌属为粪杆菌属,欧洲健康人群的肠道代表菌属也是粪杆菌属,北美洲健康人群的肠道代表菌属为拟杆菌属,南美洲健康人群的肠道代表菌属为普氏菌属。另外,经济较发达的欧洲及北美洲健康人群的肠道菌群多样性显著高于其他经济较落后地区。结论本研究加深了对不同地域人群肠道菌群特点以及它们随年龄增长而发展变化的认识。     

基于生物信息学的克罗恩病患者肠道炎症黏膜与非炎症黏膜来源的菌群差异研究CSCD

目的目前克罗恩病(CD)的具体病理机制仍不清楚,肠道菌群在CD的发生与进展过程中发挥了重要的作用。我们旨在通过比较CD患者肠道正常和炎症粘膜微生物群的组成来阐明肠道微生物群如何影响CD患者的粘膜愈合。方法使用“Crohn’s disease”作为关键词检索GEO与AE数据库并下载GSE162844与GSE198329数据集,使用R 4.2.3软件对两个数据集的微生物数据进行多样性分析和线性判别分析效应量以探讨不同肠道黏膜微生物的组成差异。结果CD患者肠道炎症部位黏膜菌群Shannon多样性指数和Simpson多样性指数较肠道正常部位有所下降,并且两个部位菌群组成有一定差异。在门水平上,变形菌门为肠道的主要优势菌群,软壁菌门在肠道炎症黏膜中的相对丰度升高(P<0.05);在属水平上,假单胞菌属为肠道的主要优势菌群,中间原体属和支原体属在肠道黏膜炎症部位中的相对丰度明显升高(P<0.05)。LEfSe分析结果进一步揭示了海洋芽孢杆菌属、嗜胨菌科等在CD患者肠道黏膜正常部位中富集,而假单胞菌属、Candidatus Saccharibacteria等在炎症部位出现富集。结论CD患者肠道黏膜炎症部位与正常部位菌群组成不同。     

饥饿及恢复喂食对日本医蛭肠道菌群多样性的影响

为了研究饥饿及恢复喂食对日本医蛭肠道微生物菌群的影响, 采用高通量测序技术分析了正常组、饥饿30d、恢复喂食7d以及恢复喂食14d的日本医蛭肠道微生物菌群特征及多样性的变化。结果显示: 日本医蛭核心菌群门水平上, 主要集中于变形菌门(Proteobacteria)、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)、厚壁菌门(Firmicutes), 属水平核心菌群有气单胞菌属(Aeromonas)、Mucinivorans属、拟杆菌属(Bacteroides)、丹毒丝菌属(Erysipelothrix)等。饥饿及恢复摄食, 对气单胞菌属、Mucinivorans属在内的核心菌群多样性及丰度产生了一定的影响。本研究为揭示日本医蛭肠道菌群组成以及研究日本医蛭消化道微生物功能奠定了基础。     

运动对小鼠肠道菌群的影响

目的利用PCR-DGGE方法比较运动小鼠和正常小鼠肠道菌群的结构和数量变化,研究运动对肠道菌群的影响。方法从5只正常Balb/c小鼠和5只运动C57BL/6J小鼠的粪便中提取细菌基因组总DNA,用聚合酶链式反应—变性梯度凝胶电泳(PCR-DGGE)的方法获得小鼠肠道菌群分布图谱,对图谱进行相似性、多样性以及优势条带的序列分析。结果 PCR-DGGE结果图显示运动小鼠肠道菌群的多样性明显增加,优势菌群发生转变,序列分析表明变形菌门明显减少,厚壁菌门成为优势菌型。结论运动会对小鼠肠道菌群产生影响。     

ERIC-PCR分子杂交技术分析大熊猫肠道菌群结构

目的了解大熊猫肠道微生物区系结构的相似性和稳定性,并找出大熊猫肠道微生物群落结构的变化与健康状况的关系。方法对上海动物园及上海野生动物园所饲养的3只大熊猫2次采集的粪便样品进行微生物群落总DNA的抽提,并以此为模板获得反映肠道微生物群落结构特征的ERIC—PCR和Southern杂交指纹图谱,比较各DNA样品指纹图谱的相似性指数。结果除国庆(大熊猫)的第1次采集的样品(当时处于腹泻状态),其他各DNA样品的ERIC-PCR及Southern杂交指纹图谱的相似性都达到85％～100％;佳斯及川川(大熊猫)2个个体2次采集的样品之间ERIC指纹图谱的相似性分别为93％和87％,而国庆腹泻时的样品与健康时的样品之间则为71％。结论大熊猫不同个体之间肠道微生物群落结构比较相似,而且同一个体在不同时期表现出比较高的稳定性,但当个体的健康出现问题时肠道优势菌菌群结构有一定波动。所采用的DNA提取方法、ERIC—PCR和Southern杂交指纹图谱的高度重复性证明了之一分子生态学技术在大熊猫肠道微生物区系动态监测中的可行性。     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.