一种测定艰难梭菌荚膜多糖分子量的简便方法

本文采用两种规格的Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ４Ｂ凝胶层析柱,测定了艰难梭菌荚膜多糖的分子量,并建立了一种较为简便、敏感的测定方法,对进一步研究英膜多糖的生物学特性提供了有利条件。     

钙离子对江浙蝮蛇毒酸性磷脂酶A_2结构与功能的影响

钙离子在江浙蝮蛇毒酸性磷脂酶Ａ_２中的作用是多方面的。它不仅能够引起酸性磷脂酶Ａ_２在溶液中构象的变化,而且对该酶活性有较大的影响。Ｃａ~（２＋）为酶活力所必需,当Ｃａ~（２＋）浓度达到０．０６ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ时,酶表现出很高的活力;Ｃａ~（２＋）浓度超过０．５ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ时,催化反应出现一个明显的延滞期。化学修饰表明Ｈｉｓ_（４７）在表现活力方面起重要作用,Ｃａ~（２＋）的存在可降低其修饰反应的速度,提示这是由于Ｃａ~（２＋）引起构象发生变化而造成的。     

C-terminal Domain of Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase from Pathogenic Candida albicans Recognizes both tRNASer and tRNALeu

Leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS) is a multidomain enzyme that catalyzes Leu-tRNA^Leu formation and is classified into bacterial and archaeal/eukaryotic types with significant diversity in the C-terminal domain (CTD). CTDs of both bacterial and archaeal LeuRSs have been reported to recognize tRNA^Leu through different modes of interaction. In the human pathogen Candida albicans, the cytoplasmic LeuRS (CaLeuRS) is distinguished by its capacity to recognize a uniquely evolved chimeric tRNA^Ser (CatRNA^Ser(CAG)) in addition to its cognate CatRNA^Leu, leading to CUG codon reassignment. Our previous study showed that eukaryotic but not archaeal LeuRSs recognize this peculiar tRNA^Ser, suggesting the significance of their highly divergent CTDs in tRNA^Ser recognition. The results of this study provided the first evidence of the indispensable function of the CTD of eukaryotic LeuRS in recognizing non-cognate CatRNA^Ser and cognate CatRNA^Leu. Three lysine residues were identified as involved in mediating enzyme-tRNA interaction in the leucylation process: mutation of all three sites totally ablated the leucylation activity. The importance of the three lysine residues was further verified by gel mobility shift assays and complementation of a yeast leuS gene knock-out strain.     

Colorectal Cancer with Residual Polyp of Origin: A Model of Malignant Transformation

The majority of colorectal cancers (CRCs) arise from adenomatous polyps. In this study, we sought to present the underrecognized CRC with the residual polyp of origin (CRC RPO +) as an entity to be utilized as a model to study colorectal carcinogenesis. We identified all subjects with biopsy-proven CRC RPO + that were evaluated over 10 years at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, and compared their clinical and pathologic characteristics to CRC without remnant polyps (CRC RPO −). Overall survival and disease-free survival overlap with an equivalent hazard ratio between CRC RPO + and RPO − cases when age, stage, and grade are adjusted. The somatic genomic profile obtained by whole genome sequencing and the gene expression profiles by RNA-seq for CRC RPO + tumors were compared with that of age -and gender-matched CRC RPO − evaluated by The Cancer Genome Atlas. CRC RPO + cases were more commonly found with lower-grade, earlier-stage disease than CRC RPO −. However, within the same disease stage and grade, their clinical course is very similar to that of CRC RPO −. The mutation frequencies of commonly mutated genes in CRC are similar between CRC RPO + and RPO − cases. Likewise, gene expression patterns are indistinguishable between the RPO + and RPO − cases. We have confirmed that CRC RPO + is clinically and biologically similar to CRC RPO − and may be utilized as a model of the adenoma to carcinoma transition.     

Effects of climate warming on plant autotoxicity in forest evolution: a case simulation analysis for Picea schrenkiana regeneration

In order to explore how plant autotoxicity changes with climate warming, the autotoxicity of P. schrenkiana needles' water extract, organic extract fractions, and key allelochemical DHAP was systemically investigated at the temperature rising 2 and 4°C based on the data‐monitored soil temperature during the last decade in the stage of Schrenk spruce regeneration (seed germination and seedling growth). The results showed that the criterion day and night temperatures were 12°C and 4°C for seed germination, and 14°C and 6°C for seedling growth, respectively. In the presence of water extract, the temperature rise of 2°C significantly inhibited the germination vigor and rate of P. Schrenkiana seed, and a temperature rise of 4°C significantly increased the inhibition to the seedling growth (P < 0.05). Among the three organic fractions, the low‐polar fraction showed to be more phytotoxic than the other two fractions, causing significant inhibitory effects on the seed germination and growth even at low concentration of 0.1 mg/mL, and the inhibition effect was enhanced as temperature increased. The temperature rise significantly enhanced the promotion effect of DHAP, while the inhibition effect of temperature rise became less important with increasing concentration of DHAP. This investigation revealed that autotoxicity of P. schrenkiana was affected by the climate warming. As expected, it provided an insight into the mechanism and effectiveness of allelopathy in bridging the causal relationship between forest evolution and climate warming.     

Microglia: Housekeeper of the Central Nervous System

Microglia, of myeloid origin, play fundamental roles in the control of immune responses and the maintenance of central nervous system homeostasis. These cells, just like peripheral macrophages, may be activated into M1 pro-inflammatory or M2 anti-inflammatory phenotypes by appropriate stimuli. Microglia do not respond in isolation, but form part of complex networks of cells influencing each other. This review addresses the complex interaction of microglia with each cell type in the brain: neurons, astrocytes, cerebrovascular endothelial cells, and oligodendrocytes. We also highlight the participation of microglia in the maintenance of homeostasis in the brain, and their roles in the development and progression of age-related neurodegenerative disorders.     

Gene flow from multiple sources maintains high genetic diversity and stable population history of Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus in China

In this study, we used mitochondrial control sequences and microsatellite data from 231 Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus individuals sampled from 19 sites in China to analyse their genetic structure and evolutionary history. High genetic diversity was found for all populations, although microsatellite analysis showed that the genetic diversity in non‐migratory populations was significantly higher than in migratory populations. High gene flow occurred between neighbouring populations, although long‐distance gene flow also occurred. The Huazhong population was the single greatest genetic source for other populations. High gene flow probably led to the shallow genetic structure that we observed. Demographic expansion was found in migratory populations, non‐migratory populations and with all individuals combined. The expansion time for all populations combined was estimated to be 221 000 years ago. The Common Moorhen population grew rapidly during the interglacial before the last glacial maximum (LGM), then remained generally stable from the LGM to the present.     

QuIN: A Web Server for Querying and Visualizing Chromatin Interaction Networks

Recent studies of the human genome have indicated that regulatory elements (e.g. promoters and enhancers) at distal genomic locations can interact with each other via chromatin folding and affect gene expression levels. Genomic technologies for mapping interactions between DNA regions, e.g., ChIA-PET and HiC, can generate genome-wide maps of interactions between regulatory elements. These interaction datasets are important resources to infer distal gene targets of non-coding regulatory elements and to facilitate prioritization of critical loci for important cellular functions. With the increasing diversity and complexity of genomic information and public ontologies, making sense of these datasets demands integrative and easy-to-use software tools. Moreover, network representation of chromatin interaction maps enables effective data visualization, integration, and mining. Currently, there is no software that can take full advantage of network theory approaches for the analysis of chromatin interaction datasets. To fill this gap, we developed a web-based application, QuIN, which enables: 1) building and visualizing chromatin interaction networks, 2) annotating networks with user-provided private and publicly available functional genomics and interaction datasets, 3) querying network components based on gene name or chromosome location, and 4) utilizing network based measures to identify and prioritize critical regulatory targets and their direct and indirect interactions. AVAILABILITY: QuIN’s web server is available at http://quin.jax.org QuIN is developed in Java and JavaScript, utilizing an Apache Tomcat web server and MySQL database and the source code is available under the GPLV3 license available on GitHub: https://github.com/UcarLab/QuIN/.

This is a PLOS Computational Biology Software paper.