Glycogen Metabolism in Aureobasidium Pullulans: A Glycogen Synthetase with Unusual Activation Properties

Abstract

Cultures of filamentous fungi that secrete significant amounts of exopolysaccharides are among the most difficult of fermentation fluids, presenting difficulties in the areas of aeration, agitation, mixing, and control that may in turn impact the physiology of the microorganism in an undesirable manner. The fungus Sclerotium glucanicum, which produces a potentially useful exopolysaccharide known as scleroglucan, illustrates many such difficulties. This review discusses in detail the range of physiological studies on the producing microorganism itself, including those concerning formation of “undesirable” byproducts, principally oxalate, but also, under certain conditions, other TCA cycle acids. In addition, the bioreactor technology in use for production of this type of biopolymer is discussed in relation to the difficulties such fluid types present. The potential of pneumatically agitated reactors for such production is evaluated, and the lack of fundamental studies on such reactors and on the hydrodynamics and mixing behavior of such complex fluids is pointed out.     

Multiomic Metabolic Enrichment Network Analysis Reveals Metabolite–Protein Physical Interaction Subnetworks Altered in Cancer

Metabolism is recognized as an important driver of cancer progression and other complex diseases, but global metabolite profiling remains a challenge. Protein expression profiling is often a poor proxy since existing pathway enrichment models provide an incomplete mapping between the proteome and metabolism. To overcome these gaps, we introduce multiomic metabolic enrichment network analysis (MOMENTA), an integrative multiomic data analysis framework for more accurately deducing metabolic pathway changes from proteomics data alone in a gene set analysis context by leveraging protein interaction networks to extend annotated metabolic models. We apply MOMENTA to proteomic data from diverse cancer cell lines and human tumors to demonstrate its utility at revealing variation in metabolic pathway activity across cancer types, which we verify using independent metabolomics measurements. The novel metabolic networks we uncover in breast cancer and other tumors are linked to clinical outcomes, underscoring the pathophysiological relevance of the findings.     

Semen cryopreservation in golden‐headed lion tamarin,Leontopithecus chrysomelas

Wild animal genetic resource banking (GRB) represents a valuable tool in conservation breeding programs, particularly in cases involving endangered species such as the golden‐headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas). Thus, we aimed to assess a sperm freezing protocol for golden‐headed lion tamarins using two different exenders: BotuBOV® (BB) and Test Yolk Buffer® (TYB). Ejaculates were collected by penile vibrostimulation from animals housed at São Paulo Zoological Park Foundation, São Paulo, Brazil, and after immediate analysis, two aliquots were diluted in BB and TYB. Postthawing samples were evaluated for total and progressive motility, plasma membrane and acrosome integrities, mitochondrial activity, susceptibility to oxidative stress, and sperm–egg‐binding. No differences between BB and TYB were found for most seminal parameters, except for acrosome integrity and susceptibility to oxidative stress (in both cases BB showed higher values). However, in spite of these differences and regardless of the extender used, postthaw sperm motility and viability with the described protocol were encouraging (on average >50% and >80%, respectively), indicating that sperm cryopreservation may be a short‐term measure for the conservation of golden‐headed lion tamarins.     

Physical and chemical variability in sugarcane fields infested with the red-striped soft scale insect,Pulvinaria Tenuivalvata (Newstead)

The red-striped soft scale insect Pulvinaria tenuivalvata (Newstead) (Hemiptera: Coccidae) started to infest sugarcane plants (Saccharum officinarum L.) in different districts in Egypt during the last decade. The percentage of infestation was recorded in El-Wakf area, Qena Governorate (Naghhamadi mill zone) Upper Egypt in some fields. There are three levels of infestation, low, intermediate and high. From these fields, samples were selected for physical and chemical studies. The results obtained show that the stalks of infested plants decreased in weight, the sugar content (glucose and sucrose) drastically reduced and as the percentage of infestation increased the percentage of glucose and sucrose content significantly decreased. The primary and secondary humidity and the cellulose content also increased in the healthy plants compared to the infested ones. All the physical character of the infested plants was significantly affected in comparison with the healthy ones.     

DIA-Based Proteomics Identifies IDH2 as a Targetable Regulator of Acquired Drug Resistance in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Drug resistance is a critical obstacle to effective treatment in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. To understand the underlying resistance mechanisms in response to imatinib mesylate (IMA) and adriamycin (ADR), the parental K562 cells were treated with low doses of IMA or ADR for 2 months to generate derivative cells with mild, intermediate, and severe resistance to the drugs as defined by their increasing resistance index. PulseDIA-based (DIA [data-independent acquisition]) quantitative proteomics was then employed to reveal the proteome changes in these resistant cells. In total, 7082 proteins from 98,232 peptides were identified and quantified from the dataset using four DIA software tools including OpenSWATH, Spectronaut, DIA-NN, and EncyclopeDIA. Sirtuin signaling pathway was found to be significantly enriched in both ADR-resistant and IMA-resistant K562 cells. In particular, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP(+)) 2 was identified as a potential drug target correlated with the drug resistance phenotype, and its inhibition by the antagonist AGI-6780 reversed the acquired resistance in K562 cells to either ADR or IMA. Together, our study has implicated isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP(+)) 2 as a potential target that can be therapeutically leveraged to alleviate the drug resistance in K562 cells when treated with IMA and ADR.     

Expression of human lymphotoxin in Namalwa KJM-1 cells adapted to serum-free medium

A Namalwa cell line, KJM-1, which was adapted to serum-free medium is thought to be a good host cell line for recombinant DNA technology. We previously reported the expression of human -interferon (-IFN) in Namalwa KJM-1 (Miyaji, 1989a). The utility of Namalwa KJM-1 for expression of foreign genes was further examined. As a target gene to be expressed, human lymphotoxin (hLT) cDNA was used. It was engineered for expression in Namalwa KJM-1 using a simian virus 40 (SV40)-based expression vector pAGE107 (Miyaji, 1989a). It contains all components necessary for the expression of cDNA in mammalian cells. The expression vector was introduced into Namalwa KJM-1 by electroporation. Among the transformants, clone 7 was further examined for the expression of hLT in serum-free medium. The production level of hLT was augmented with the increase of the cell density. Thus it was further indicated that Namalwa KJM-1 is useful for production of foreign gene products.Abbreviation HEPES 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid     

不同品种、不同花期的依兰花精油成分研究

为探讨依兰花精油的香气质量,我们对云南省西双版纳产依兰花精油以及引种栽培于西双版纳的泰国种、老挝种的依兰花精油的化学成分在Finnigan-4510 GC/MS/DS上用毛细管柱进行了定性和定量分析,鉴定了44个化学成分。分析结果表明,依兰油的香气与品种及精油中的酯类、醇类和酚醚的含量有关。倍半萜烯类和倍半萜醇类的含量越高,其香气质量越差。就西双版纳产依兰油的香气而言,依兰花由青转黄时得到的精油远较绿花和花蕾油为好。     

水洞沟遗址的环境与地层

水洞沟第四纪地层可与萨拉乌苏河组上段对比。水洞沟遗址包含有新石器和旧石器晚期文化,其旧石器晚期文化发生在距今20,000多年至10,000多年间的黄土状粉砂土中,即发生在末次冰期主冰期的干冷环境下,比发育在距今约35,000—50,000年间的萨拉乌苏河旧石器文化为晚。     

慢性蜜蜂麻痹病病毒核酸与蛋白质组分的研究

从自然感染的意大利麻痹病蜂(APis mellifera)头部,经二次差速离心与蔗糖梯度离心获得纯化的慢性蜜蜂麻痹病病毒(CBPV)。纯化的CBPV制备物感染正常蜜蜂,4天后出现典型的麻痹症状,接着死亡,平均死亡率分别为95％与100％。SDS-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分析,二次差速离心初步纯化的病毒制备物含有多条蛋白带,而蔗糖密度梯度纯化的病毒制备物仅含有单一的多肽带。5％、7.5％与10％SDS-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分析,均检测出一种病毒蛋白质,分子量大约为24,200道尔顿,而且不同凝胶浓度检测的蛋白质分子量相近。慢性蜜蜂麻痹病病毒核酸也用SDS-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分析,结果表明,凝胶中有5条带,对核酸酶敏感,证明该病毒含有5个单股RNA组分。对慢性蜜蜂麻痹病病毒的基因组结构进行了讨论。