The C‐degron pathway eliminates mislocalized proteins and products of deubiquitinating enzymes

Protein termini are determinants of protein stability. Proteins bearing degradation signals, or degrons, at their amino‐ or carboxyl‐termini are eliminated by the N‐ or C‐degron pathways, respectively. We aimed to elucidate the function of C‐degron pathways and to unveil how normal proteomes are exempt from C‐degron pathway‐mediated destruction. Our data reveal that C‐degron pathways remove mislocalized cellular proteins and cleavage products of deubiquitinating enzymes. Furthermore, the C‐degron and N‐degron pathways cooperate in protein removal. Proteome analysis revealed a shortfall in normal proteins targeted by C‐degron pathways, but not of defective proteins, suggesting proteolysis‐based immunity as a constraint for protein evolution/selection. Our work highlights the importance of protein termini for protein quality surveillance, and the relationship between the functional proteome and protein degradation pathways.     

The role of exosomal microRNAs in central nervous system diseases

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - MicroRNAs (miRNA), endogenous non-coding RNAs approximately 22 nucleotides long, regulate gene expression by mediating translational inhibition or mRNA...     

改变碳输入对沂蒙山区典型次生林土壤微生物碳源代谢功能的影响

凋落物和根系向土壤的碳输入是森林生态系统的关键过程,输入量及组分的变化直接影响森林土壤碳汇功能和生产力。在沂蒙山区栎类天然次生林中,开展添加/去除凋落物及去除根系的定位控制试验。于控制试验开展21个月后,采用Biolog Eco微平板培养法,研究凋落物和根系对土壤微生物碳源代谢功能的影响。结果表明,凋落物倍增处理增加了土壤微生物碳源代谢功能,增加了对糖类和胺类的代谢能力。去除凋落物处理、去除根系处理和无输入处理都降低了土壤微生物碳源代谢功能。去除凋落物处理降低土壤微生物碳源代谢功能的幅度大于去除根系处理,表明当前条件下凋落物对土壤微生物碳源代谢功能的影响大于根系,但如果抛除掉去除根系处理中残留根系的影响,凋落物和根系对土壤微生物碳源代谢功能的相对大小可能会发生变化。土壤有机碳含量、铵态氮含量显著影响微生物碳源代谢多样性（P<0.05）,并与碳源代谢功能正相关。凋落物倍增处理通过增加土壤铵态氮和有机碳含量,增加微生物碳源代谢功能,去除凋落物处理和无输入处理通过降低土壤铵态氮和有机碳含量,降低微生物碳源代谢功能。结果深化了碳输入途径（地上凋落物与地下根系）和数量（凋落物倍增、凋落物去除与对照）对温带栎类天然次生林土壤碳代谢过程的认识。     

强化产电微生物与电极间电子传递速率的研究进展

产电微生物是微生物燃料电池、电解池和电合成等微生物电化学技术(Microbial electrochemical technologies,METs)的研究基础。产电微生物与电极界面间的胞外电子传递(Extracellular electron transfer,EET)效率低以及生物被膜形成能力弱限制了METs在有机物降解、电能生产、海水淡化、生物修复和生物传感等方面的应用。因此,强化产电微生物与电极界面间的相互作用是过去几年的主要研究热点。针对近年的研究,本文系统概述了通过改造产电微生物来增强微生物-电极间相互作用的各种策略,重点分析了这些策略的适用性和局限性,并展望了强化产电微生物-电极界面作用在微生物电化学技术利用方面的研究前景。     

里氏木霉产纤维素酶研究进展

木质纤维素类生物质被认为是重要且可持续的可再生能源,其主要组成部分是纤维素。纤维素酶是一种能将纤维素分解为葡萄糖的复合酶,能有效地降解木质纤维素生物质。真菌、细菌、放线菌、酵母等多种微生物均可以产生纤维素酶,其中里氏木霉具有完整的纤维素酶系结构,常作为生物技术领域中一个重要菌株,广泛应用于纤维素酶的商业生产。介绍了纤维素酶的作用机理,综述了里氏木霉产纤维素酶的发展现状和研究进展,讨论了生产工艺(如培养条件及产酶诱导物等)对纤维素酶生产的影响,阐述了通过化学诱变及基因改造构建高产纤维素酶的里氏木霉的研究进展以及纤维素酶生产的主要瓶颈,以提供更经济的生产方案,将纤维素酶广泛应用于工业生产。     

An inducible constitutive expression system in Bombyx mori mediated by phiC31 integrase

Inducible gene-expression systems play important roles in gene functional assays in the post-genome era. Streptomyces phage-derived phiC31 integrase, which mediates an irreversible site-specific cassette exchange between the phage attachment site (attP) and the bacterial attachment site (attB), provides a promising option for the construction of a controllable gene-expression system. Here, we report a phiC31 integrase-mediated promoter flip system (FLIP) for the inducible expression of target genes in silkworm (Bombyx mori). First, we constructed a FLIP reporter system, in which a BmAct4 promoter with enhanced translational efficiency was flanked by the attB and attP sites in a head-to-head orientation and further linked in a reverse orientation to a DsRed reporter gene. The coexpression of a C-terminal modified phiC31-NLS integrase carrying a simian virus 40 (SV40) nuclear localization signal (NLS) effectively flipped the BmAct4 promoter through an attB/attP exchange, thereby activating the downstream expression of DsRed in a silkworm embryo-derived cell line, BmE. Subsequently, the FLIP system, together with a system continuously expressing the phiC31-NLS integrase, was used to construct binary transgenic silkworm lines. Hybridization between FLIP and phiC31-NLS transgenic silkworm lines resulted in the successful flipping of the BmAct4 promoter, with an approximately 39% heritable transformation efficiency in silkworm offspring, leading to the constitutive and high-level expression of DsRed in silkworms, which accounted for approximately 0.81% of the silkworm pupal weight. Our successful development of the FLIP system offers an effective alternative for manipulating gene expression in silkworms and other lepidopteran species.     

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.     

Numerical Study of an Ultra-Broadband and Wide-Angle Insensitive Perfect Metamaterial Absorber in the UV–NIR Region

Plasmonics - Developing a simple structure using low-cost material that enables both large-scale fabrication and broadband absorption response is highly desirable but very challenging for achieving...