Sustainability of SARS-CoV-2 Induced Humoral Immune Responses in COVID-19 Patients from Hospitalization to Convalescence Over Six Months

Virologica Sinica - Understanding the persistence of antibody in convalescent COVID-19 patients may help to answer the current major concerns such as the risk of reinfection, the protection period...     

Flu Universal Vaccines: New Tricks on an Old Virus

Conventional influenza vaccines are based on predicting the circulating viruses year by year, conferring limited effectiveness since the antigenicity of vaccine strains does not always match the circulating viruses. This necessitates development of universal influenza vaccines that provide broader and lasting protection against pan-influenza viruses. The discovery of the highly conserved immunogens(epitopes) of influenza viruses provides attractive targets for universal vaccine design. Here we review the current understanding with broadly protective immunogens(epitopes) and discuss several important considerations to achieve the goal of universal influenza vaccines.     

Protein kinases in plant responses to drought,salt, and cold stress

Protein kinases are major players in various signal transduction pathways. Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses has become critical for developing and breeding climate-resilient crops. In this review,we summarize recent progress on understanding plant drought, salt, and cold stress responses, with a focus on signal perception and transduction by different protein kinases, especially sucrose nonfermenting1(SNF1)-related protein kinases(Sn RKs),mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) cascades,calcium-dependent protein kinases(CDPKs/CPKs),and receptor-like kinases(RLKs). We also discuss future challenges in these research fields.     

Morphology and Genetic Diversity of Phragmites australis in Beijing

为探明北京地区芦苇(Phragmites australis)的资源状态和多样性, 实地考察北京主要河流、湿地和水库, 发现北京地区芦苇总生长面积已超过600 hm²。芦苇染色体倍性以八倍体为主, 四倍体次之。在面积较大的湿地内, 八倍体单一芦苇群落占据优势地位; 而在城市的浅河内有形态和遗传性多样的混合种群。研究表明, 植物性状和倍性水平之间无显著相关性。在小清河发现了6种形态各异的芦苇克隆, 均属于叶绿体DNA片段的P单倍型; 其单倍体基因组大小为(0.499±0.019) pg, 变异系数为3.8%。这表明表型与单倍型之间也不具相关性。此外, 发现1个具有变叶特性的芦苇, 将其命名为金条芦苇。北京地区芦苇形态和遗传多样性为研究芦苇基因型与环境适应性之间的关系提供了珍贵的资源。     

W86F/W86A突变对细菌视紫红质光循环影响的差异性分析

细菌视紫红质(bacteriorhodopsin,bR)是一种光驱受体蛋白,每个活性单元由3个单体组成,每个单体由一分子视蛋白和一分子的视黄醛发色团共价结合而成,其功能为从胞内向胞外定向传输质子,利用形成的质子浓度梯度将光能转化为化学能.光照后视黄醛发色团构型发生all-trans向13-cis转变,蛋白的构象也随之发生了一系列具有稳定中间态的变化并驱动质子的定向传递.为探讨bR视黄醛键合区保守性氨基酸色氨酸86 (Tryptop-han86,w86)对其光循环中间态和质子泵功能的影响,本研究采用定点突变技术将W86突变为侧链大小不同的F86和A86,通过原位紫外-可见光吸收光谱、闪光光解光谱、pH滴定、固体核磁共振等技术手段,探究W86F和W86A突变对bR光循环及质子泵功能影响差异性的分子机制.结果 表明,W86F和W86A突变均造成了bR暗适应状态下视黄醛顺反异构平衡向顺式构型占优的方向移动,且W86F突变可造成反式构型的完全消失.此外,无论是W86F还是W86A突变都造成了蛋白光循环中间态的减弱且衰减延长,以及质子泵功能减弱,但影响机制各有所不同,这可能与这两个突变对视黄醛多烯链上电子云的分布以及周围残基造成的扰动程度不同有关.     

β-1,6葡聚糖酶前体编码基因Ss4p对甘蔗黑穗病菌分泌蛋白组的影响

甘蔗(Saccharum spp.)是世界也是中国主要的糖料作物.由甘蔗黑穗病菌(Sporisorium scitamineum)引起的甘蔗黑穗病是中国甘蔗生产上最主要的病害,每年造成重大损失.分泌蛋白在真菌侵染寄主植物与获取营养及病理过程起重要作用.本实验室在分析甘蔗黑穗病菌基因组与转录组数据时,发现1个与真菌细胞壁降解有关的β-1,6葡聚糖酶前体的基因Ssa4p.为了揭示Ssa4p对甘蔗黑穗病菌致病性和分泌蛋白组的影响,本研究利用CRISPR/Cas9和T-DNA双元载体所构建的甘蔗黑穗菌基因敲除系统,成功获得了Ssa4p基因的失活突变株.ΔSsa4p突变株(Δ35-Ssa4p)与野生型菌株JG36的配合能力降低且致病性减弱.用iTRAQ方法对Δ35-Ssa4p和野生型菌株的分泌蛋白组进行比较分析,共鉴定到蛋白质1430个,其中上调差异表达蛋白质685个,下调差异表达蛋白质745个.GO功能富集分析及KEGG分析表明,差异蛋白主要定位于无膜细胞器和核糖体,其功能包括参与核糖体、氨基糖和核苷酸糖代谢等生物学过程.本研究发现β-1,6葡聚糖前体影响植物病原真菌的分泌蛋白,加深了对真菌致病性调控机制的认识.     

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine in comparison with chloroquine in moderate and severe patients with COVID-19

Science China Life Sciences -     

Single-cell transcriptomics of cardiac progenitors reveals functional subpopulations and their cooperative crosstalk in cardiac repair

Dear Editor,Myocardial infarction is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality.Stem/progenitor cells therapy has emerged as a promising strategy for the cardiac repair,especially those derived from cardiac tissue,have attracted worldwide attention(Tompkins et al.,2018).However,challenges and controversies remain in characterizing functional progenitors and explaining their mechanisms of action.     

LncRNA-HOTAIR promotes endothelial cell pyroptosis by regulating the miR-22/NLRP3 axis in hyperuricaemia

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in the renal inflammatory response caused by hyperuricaemia. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms through which lncRNA is involved in endothelial injury induced by hyperuricaemia remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the regulatory role of lncRNA-HOTAIR in high concentration of uric acid (HUA)–induced renal injury. We established hyperuricaemia mouse model and an in vitro uric acid (UA)–induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury model. In HUA-treated HUVECs and hyperuricaemia mice, we observed increased HOTAIR and decreased miR-22 expression. The expression of pyroptosis-associated protein (NLRP3, Caspase-1, GSDMD-N, GSDMD-FL) was increased. The release of LDH, IL-1β and IL-18 in cell supernatants and the sera of model mice was also increased. The proliferation of HUVECs stimulated by HUA was significantly inhibited, and the number of TUNEL-positive cells in hyperuricaemia mouse kidney was increased. Bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter and RIP assays confirmed that HOTAIR promoted NLRP3 inflammasome activation by competitively binding miR-22. In gain- or loss-of-function experiments, we found that HOTAIR and NLRP3 overexpression or miR-22 knock down activated the NLRP3 inflammasome and promoted pyroptosis in HUA-treated HUVECs, while NLRP3 and HOTAIR knockdown or a miR-22 mimic exerted the opposite effects. Furthermore, in vivo experiments validated that HOTAIR knockdown alleviated renal inflammation in hyperuricaemia mice. In conclusion, we demonstrated that in hyperuricaemia, lncRNA-HOTAIR promotes endothelial cell pyroptosis by competitively binding miR-22 to regulate NLRP3 expression.