A Novel Manno-Oligosaccharide Binding Protein Identified in Alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16-5 Is Involved in Mannan Utilization

ManH, a novel substrate-binding protein of an ABC transporter, was identified from the mannan utilization gene cluster of Bacillus sp. N16-5. We cloned, overexpressed, and purified ManH and measured its binding affinity to different substrates by isothermal titration calorimetry. ManH binds to mannotriose, mannotetraose, mannopentose, and galactosyl-mannotriose with dissociation constants in the micromolar range. Deletion of manH led to decreased growth ability of the strain when cultivated in medium with manno-oligosaccharides or mannan as the carbon source. ManH belongs to a manno-oligosaccharide transporter and plays an important role in mannan utilization by Bacillus sp. N16-5.     

CLEC10A is a prognostic biomarker and correlated with clinical pathologic features and immune infiltrates in lung adenocarcinoma

CLEC10A, (C-type lectin domain family 10, member A), as the member of C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), plays a vital role in modulating innate immunity and adaptive immunity and has shown great potential as an immunotherapy target for cancers. However, there is no functional research of CLEC10A in prognostic risk, immunotherapy or any other treatment of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We performed bioinformatics analysis on LUAD data downloaded from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus), and jointly analysed with online databases such as HPA, LinkedOmics, TIMER, ESTIMATE and TISIDB. We found that lower expression of CLEC10A was accompanied with worse outcomes of LUAD patients. Moreover, CLEC10A expression was significantly correlated with a variety of the tumour-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs). As a promising prognosis predictor and potential immunotherapy target, the potential influence and mechanisms of CLEC10A in LUAD deserve further exploring.     

Biological characterization of a simian immunodeficiency virus-like retrovirus (HTLV-IV): evidence for CD4-associated molecules required for infection

We have analyzed a number of biological features of HTLV-IV, a retrovirus indistinguishable from a macaque isolate of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and compared this virus with several strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Although HTLV-IV was found to be similar to HIV-1 in its tropism for CD4+ lymphocytes, its effects on CD4 expression and the ability of its externalized envelope molecule to form a complex directly with the CD4 molecule, a number of striking differences were noted. Unlike with HIV-1, the range of cells susceptible to HTLV-IV infection and syncytia formation was restricted to a subset of CD4+ cell lines, particularly those that coexpressed CD4 with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II antigens. An analysis of the patterns of HTLV-IV infection with B x T somatic cell hybrids indicated that for this virus, molecules in addition to CD4 were probably required to facilitate infection and cell fusion. Additional studies of HTLV-IV infection of Sup-T1 cells, which are exquisitely sensitive to cytopathic effects induced by HIV-1, demonstrated that HTLV-IV infection could occur in the absence of cytopathic effects and, remarkably, with minimal or no downmodulation of the CD4 molecule from the cell surface. The failure of HTLV-IV infection to reduce the expression of several CD4 epitopes suggested that the HTLV-IV envelope produced by Sup-T1 cells was altered in its ability to interact with or bind to CD4. Additional differences were also noted in the size of the transmembrane envelope molecule of HTLV-IV produced by Sup-T1 cells, indicating that cell-specific alterations in processing of the HTLV-IV envelope occurred during the production of virus in this cell line. Understanding the basis for these biological differences between HTLV-IV and the HIV-1 viruses may help to elucidate more general mechanisms for pathogenesis of other members of the SIV and HIV families of retroviruses.