Baked-Bean Waste: a Potential Substrate for Producing Fungal Amylases

Baked-bean waste was found to be a favorable substrate for amylase production by Aspergillus foetidus NRRL 337. Under optimum conditions, the yields of α-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1) and glucoamylase (EC 3.2.1.3) were 47 and 226 U, respectively, per ml of the waste fermented.     

为害黄芪种子的广肩种子小蜂属四新种(膜翅目:广肩小蜂科)

据我们在北京和内蒙古等地多年研究表明,黄芪的植食性种子小蜂包括广肩小蜂科Bruchophagus属5种和金小蜂科Habrocytus属1种,为多种混合群体。我们通过大量标本的形态比较以及交配行为的观察,结合其生物学特性研究以及应用扫描电镜对其并胸腹节花纹的超微结构观察,鉴定出黄芪种子里有5种广肩种子小蜂,即黄芪种子小蜂Bruchophagus huonchi Liao et Fan及本文的4新种。     

四种阿片受体激动剂对大鼠腹腔巨噬细胞释放过氧化氢的影响

本实验观察了四种阿片受体亚型的激动剂对大鼠腹腔巨噬细胞(Mφ)释放过氧化氢(H_2O_2的影响。吗啡、β-内啡肽和κ受体激动剂NDAP能抑制Mφ释放H_2O_2。纳洛酮能翻转吗啡和β-内啡肽的这一作用,κ受体阻断剂nor-BNI能拮抗NDAP的作用。δ受体激动剂DADLE仅在高浓度时才抑制Mφ释放H_2O_2。以上结果表明,Mφ上可能存在若干类型阿片受体,其中μ、ε和κ受体对Mφ释放H_2O_2具有明显的调节作用。     

转基因传播障碍中的文化因素辨析

近年来,转基因技术与产品在中国的传播遭遇了一定障碍.科学界和相关政府部门往往从科学知识的普及角度克服这些障碍.但实际上,转基因传播障碍的背后有着更为隐蔽的反智的社会态度及对传统农业的迷恋心理,三个因素都与中国传统直观外推思维方式有关.转基因传播所面临的实际是构造自然观与有机自然观之间的冲突.对有机自然观的误读与当前弥漫的反智主义关系密切,转基因带有“高科技”的突出特征,恰恰容易成为反智主义攻击的对象.在有机自然观和“反智”传统的影响下,社会上对传统农业的迷恋有着相当的市场.在此情况下,转基因技术要克服传播障碍,必须重构环境,除了以经济动力继续推动传播工作外,也要让技术发展与人们普遍接受的自然观相结合.     

乳酸菌基因改造技术研究进展

乳酸菌是一类革兰氏阳性、不产芽孢、兼性厌氧、发酵多种碳源产乳酸的重要工业微生物之一,广泛应用于食品、医药及化学品的生产当中。随着乳酸菌工业化应用范畴的不断拓展,乳酸菌生理生化特性、酸耐受特性,代谢途径及产酸调控机理的研究受到广泛关注。因此,建立稳定、高效的乳酸菌基因编辑方法,借助基因编辑技术来解析代谢关键基因及基因网络的功能,调控代谢途径,十分必要。对乳酸菌基因编辑技术的研究进展做一综述,并对乳酸菌基因编辑技术的未来研究方向进行展望。     

Classification of the Gut Microbiota of Patients in Intensive Care Units During Development of Sepsis and Septic Shock

The gut microbiota of intensive care unit (ICU) patients displays extreme dysbiosis associated with increased susceptibility to organ failure, sepsis, and septic shock. However, such dysbiosis is difficult to characterize owing to the high dimensional complexity of the gut microbiota. We tested whether the concept of enterotype can be applied to the gut microbiota of ICU patients to describe the dysbiosis. We collected 131 fecal samples from 64 ICU patients diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock and performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to dissect their gut microbiota compositions. During the development of sepsis or septic shock and during various medical treatments, the ICU patients always exhibited two dysbiotic microbiota patterns, or ICU-enterotypes, which could not be explained by host properties such as age, sex, and body mass index, or external stressors such as infection site and antibiotic use. ICU-enterotype I (ICU E1) comprised predominantly Bacteroides and an unclassified genus of Enterobacteriaceae, while ICU-enterotype II (ICU E2) comprised predominantly Enterococcus. Among more critically ill patients with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores > 18, septic shock was more likely to occur with ICU E1 (P = 0.041). Additionally, ICU E1 was correlated with high serum lactate levels (P = 0.007). Therefore, different patterns of dysbiosis were correlated with different clinical outcomes, suggesting that ICU-enterotypes should be diagnosed as independent clinical indices. Thus, the microbial-based human index classifier we propose is precise and effective for timely monitoring of ICU-enterotypes of individual patients. This work is a first step toward precision medicine for septic patients based on their gut microbiota profiles.     

中国甘肃省狭义丝盖伞属二新种

依据形态学和分子系统学研究结果,描述了产自中国甘肃省的狭义丝盖伞属2个新种,即拟黄囊丝盖伞Inocybe muricellatoides和甘肃丝盖伞I. gansuensis。对新种的ITS、LSU和rpb2片段进行了测序和分析,并提供了详细描述、线条图、生态照片及与相似种的区别。拟黄囊丝盖伞以菌盖翘起的鳞片、菌柄纤维状、孢子光滑和厚壁的侧生囊状体为主要识别特征。甘肃丝盖伞具有粗壮的子实体、较大的孢子和厚壁侧生囊状体。基于LSU和rpb2联合数据的分子系统发育分析显示这两个新种隶属于狭义丝盖伞属且分别占据独特的分支。     

FDPS promotes glioma growth and macrophage recruitment by regulating CCL20 via Wnt/β‐catenin signalling pathway

Glioma is one of the most lethal tumours and common malignant in the central nervous system (CNS), which exhibits diffuse invasion and aggressive growth. Several studies have reported the association of FDPS to tumour development and progression. However, the role of FDPS in progression of glioma and macrophage recruitment is not well‐elucidated. In the current study, a remarkable enhancement in FDPS level was observed in glioma tissues and associated with poor prognosis, contributed to tumour growth. FDPS was correlated with macrophage infiltration in glioma and pharmacological deletion of macrophages largely abrogated the oncogenic functions of FDPS in glioma. Mechanistically, FDPS activated Wnt/β‐catenin signalling pathway and ultimately facilitates macrophage infiltration by inducing CCL20 expression. In conclusion, overexpressed FDPS exhibits an immunomodulatory role in glioma. Therefore, targeting FDPS may be an effective therapeutic strategy for glioma.     

IL‐10 induces MC3T3‐E1 cells differentiation towards osteoblastic fate in murine model

Interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) displays well‐documented anti‐inflammatory effects, but its effects on osteoblast differentiation have not been investigated. In this study, we found IL‐10 negatively regulates microRNA‐7025‐5p (miR‐7025‐5p), the down‐regulation of which enhances osteoblast differentiation. Furthermore, through luciferase reporter assays, we found evidence that insulin‐like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) is a miR‐7025‐5p target gene that positively regulates osteoblast differentiation. In vivo studies indicated that the pre‐injection of IL‐10 leads to increased bone formation, while agomiR‐7025‐5p injection delays fracture healing. Taken together, these results indicate that IL‐10 induces osteoblast differentiation via regulation of the miR‐7025‐5p/IGF1R axis. IL‐10 therefore represents a promising therapeutic strategy to promote fracture healing.