Spliceosome-targeted therapies trigger an antiviral immune response in triple-negative breast cancer

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Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo

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Interactions between bacteria and fungi in macrophyte leaf litter decomposition

Microbes play an important role in decomposition of macrophytes in shallow lakes, and the process can be greatly affected by bacteria–fungi interactions in response to material composition and environmental conditions. In this study, microbes involved in the decomposition of leaf litter from three macrophyte species, Zizania latifolia, Hydrilla verticillata and Nymphoides peltata, were analysed at temperatures of 5, 15 and 25 °C. Results indicate that the decomposition rate was affected by temperature. Bacterial alpha diversity increased significantly along the time, while both temperature and plant species had a significant impact on the bacterial community, and plant type was shown to be the most important driving factor for the fungal community. The cosmopolitan bacterial taxa affiliated with Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Deltaproteobacteria, Firmicutes and Spirochaetes were key species in the investigated ecological networks, demonstrating significant co-occurrence or co-exclusion relationships with Basidiomycota and Ascomycota, according to different macrophyte species. This study indicates that bacteria involved in the decomposition of macrophyte leaf litter are more sensitive to temperature variance, and that fungi have a higher specificity to the composition of plant materials. The nutrient content of Hydrilla verticillata promoted a positive bacteria–fungi interaction, thereby accelerating the decomposition and re-circulation of leaf litter.     

Protein Aggregation in the Pathogenesis of Ischemic Stroke

Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology - Despite the distinction between ischemic stroke and neurodegenerative disorders, they share numerous pathophysiologies particularly those mediated by...     

Cloning, expression and preliminary application of a alpha-hydroxynitrile lyase from cassave]

alpha-Hydroxynitrile lyase (ME-HNLs, E.C. 4.1.2.3.37) from the cyanogenic crop cassava(Manihot esculentz, Crantz) catalyze the condensation of hydrocyanic acid and aldehydes or ketone into (s)-cyanohydrins, which are valuable starting material for various optically active compounds, such as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. The cDNA of a ME-HNL were obtained by RT-PCR and cloned. The sequencing result for the cDNA showed that the sequence encoded for the ME-HNL was inconsistent with all those which are published, such as hnl10, hnl24, hnl4. The full sequence analysis demonstrated that the cloned cDNA was about 75.2%, 79.8%, 99.2% homologous to other three reported HNL genes from cassava, respectively, among which the last was the same to the cloned gene except the five base substitution at the site 142, 337, 476, 634 and 636, respectively. The two base substitutions lead to change the amino acid sequence, i.e., Ser113-->Gly113, Phe158-->Tyr158. To construct the recombinant plasmid pET30a-hnl, the cDNA was inserted into an expression vector pET30a. After transformation of pET30a-hnl and induction with IPTG, the ME-HNL was efficiently expressed in E. coli. BL21 (DE3) and reached over 2100 units/L of culture with the specific activity 8.5 u/mg protein. By one simple treatment, incubating 10 minutes at 70 degrees C, the recombinant ME-HNL may be used as an catalyst for production of (S)-mandelonitrile with enantiomeric excess of 95.2% and 98.2% yield.