Physiological and molecular advances in magnesium nutrition of plants

Plant and Soil - Phytoremediation of soil contaminated by trace elements is a technology using plants and microorganisms to sequester, inactivate, or extract contaminants from the soil. The...     

木聚糖酶与XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白相互作用分子机制的研究进展

Xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP)型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白对大部分GH10、GH11家族的真菌木聚糖酶具有抑制作用,但是却不能抑制细菌来源和植物自身所产生的木聚糖酶。XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白对木聚糖酶的抑制作用主要是通过模拟底物接触酶的活性位点,迅速阻塞底物进入活性位点区域的通道。然而,在对XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白具有抗性的GH10和GH11木聚糖酶晶体结构中,连接二级结构的Loop构象严重阻碍了XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白的抑制功能。与对XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白敏感的木聚糖酶相比,氨基酸残基的插入突变导致抗性木聚糖酶的Loop具有明显的凸出构象;而在GH11家族抗性木聚糖酶中,"拇指"结构中部分氨基酸的替换致使XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白与"拇指"结构无法形成稳固的氢键和疏水建,从而削弱XIP的抑制作用。     

Novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether derivatives targeting thymidylate synthase as dual anticancer/antimicrobial agents

A series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether derivatives (compounds 9–44) were designed and synthesized as potential inhibitors of thymidylate synthase (TS) and as anticancer agents. The in vitro anticancer activities of these compounds were evaluated against three cancer cell lines by the MTT method. Among all the designed compounds, compound 18 bearing a nitro substituent exhibited more potent in vitro anticancer activities with IC₅₀ values of 0.7 ± 0.2, 30.0 ± 1.2, 18.3 ± 1.4 μM, respectively, which was superior to the positive control. In the further study, it was identified as the most potent inhibitor against two kinds of TS protein (for human TS and Escherichia coli TS, IC₅₀ values: 0.62 and 0.47 μM, respectively) in the TS inhibition assay in vitro and the most potent antibacterial agents with MIC (minimum inhibitory concentrations) of 1.56–3.13 μg/mL against the tested four bacterial strains. Molecular docking and 3D-QSAR study supported that compound 18 can be selected as dual antitumor/antibacterial candidate in the future study.     

油棕（Elaeis guineensis）中果皮发育过程中miRNA的表达动态分析

以CTAB法提取油棕（Elaeis guineensis）中果皮5个不同发育时期（G1～G5）的小RNA。从前期研究获得的油棕小RNA测序数据库中筛选12个候选miRNA,实时荧光定量PCR法（qRT-PCR）检测其在果实发育过程中的表达量变化,并进一步对显著差异表达的miRNA进行靶基因预测。结果表明：中果皮5个不同发育时期小RNA的OD260/OD280比值在1.7～2.0之间;浓度分别是289、364、476、213、390 ng/μL;qRT-PCR检测结果显示,12个候选miRNA在5个发育时期均显著性差异表达,特别是在中果皮发育第4个时期（G4）和第5个时期（G5）表达量极显著增高,其中miR395和miR156在第4个时期表达量最高;miR395和miR528在发育第5时期表达量最高;靶基因预测结果显示差异表达的部分miRNA,其靶基因可能参与了脂肪酸代谢通路,如磷脂酸磷酸脂酶和磷脂酶D。本研究筛选的与脂肪酸代谢相关的miRNA为今后油棕脂肪酸代谢调控通路研究提供了可能的线索。     

Optimization of Substituted 6-Salicyl-4-Anilinoquinazoline Derivatives as Dual EGFR/HER2 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

4-Anilinoquinazolines as an important class of protein kinase inhibitor are widely investigated for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase or epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) inhibition. A series of novel 6-salicyl-4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives 9–27 were prepared and evaluated for their EGFR/HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitory activity as well as their antiproliferative properties on three variant cancer cell lines (A431, MCF-7, and A549). The bioassay results showed most of the designed compounds exhibited moderate to potent in vitro inhibitory activity in the enzymatic and cellular assays, of which compound 21 revealed the most potent dual EGFR/HER2 inhibitory activity, with IC₅₀ values of 0.12 µM and 0.096 µM, respectively, comparable to the control compounds Erlotinib and Lapatinib. Furthermore, the kinase selectivity profile of 21 was accessed and demonstrated its good selectivity over the majority of the close kinase targets. Docking simulation was performed to position compound 21 into the EGFR/HER2 active site to determine the probable binding pose. These new findings along with molecular docking observations could provide an important basis for further development of compound 21 as a potent EGFR/HER2 dual kinase inhibitor.     

cAMP/PKA Pathways and S56 Phosphorylation Are Involved in AA/PGE2-Induced Increases in rNaV1.4 Current

Arachidonic acid (AA) and its metabolites are important second messengers for ion channel modulation. The effects of extracellular application of AA and its non-metabolized analogue on muscle rNa_V1.4 Na⁺ current has been studied, but little is known about the effects of intracellular application of AA on this channel isoform. Here, we report that intracellular application of AA significantly augmented the rNa_V1.4 current peak without modulating the steady-state activation and inactivation properties of the rNa_V1.4 channel. These results differed from the effects of extracellular application of AA on rNa_V1.4 current. The effects of intracellular AA were mimicked by prostaglandin E₂ but not eicosatetraynoic acid (ETYA), the non-metabolized analogue of AA, and were eliminated by treatment with cyclooxygenase inhibitors, flufenamic acid, or indomethacin. AA/PGE₂-induced activation of rNa_V1.4 channels was mimicked by a cAMP analogue (db-cAMP) and eliminated by a PKA inhibitor, PKAi. Furthermore, inhibition of EP2 and EP4 (PGE₂ receptors) with AH6809 and AH23848 reduced the intracellular AA/PGE₂-induced increase of rNa_V1.4 current. Two mutated channels, rNa_V1.4S56A and rNa_V1.4T21A, were designed to investigate the role of predicted phosphorylation sites in the AA/PGE₂–mediated regulation of rNa_V1.4 currents. In rNa_V1.4S56A, the effects of intracellular db-cAMP, AA, and PGE₂ were significantly reduced. The results of the present study suggest that intracellular AA augments rNa_V1.4 current by PGE₂/EP receptor-mediated activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway, and that the S56 residue on the channel protein is important for this process.     

Activity Augmentation of Amphioxus Peptidoglycan Recognition Protein BbtPGRP3 via Fusion with a Chitin Binding Domain

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs), which have been identified in most animals, are pattern recognition molecules that involve antimicrobial defense. Resulting from extraordinary expansion of innate immune genes, the amphioxus encodes many PGRPs of diverse functions. For instance, three isoforms of PGRP encoded by Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense, termed BbtPGRP1~3, are fused with a chitin binding domain (CBD) at the N-terminus. Here we report the 2.7 Å crystal structure of BbtPGRP3, revealing an overall structure of an N-terminal hevein-like CBD followed by a catalytic PGRP domain. Activity assays combined with site-directed mutagenesis indicated that the individual PGRP domain exhibits amidase activity towards both DAP-type and Lys-type peptidoglycans (PGNs), the former of which is favored. The N-terminal CBD not only has the chitin-binding activity, but also enables BbtPGRP3 to gain a five-fold increase of amidase activity towards the Lys-type PGNs, leading to a significantly broadened substrate spectrum. Together, we propose that modular evolution via domain shuffling combined with gene horizontal transfer makes BbtPGRP1~3 novel PGRPs of augmented catalytic activity and broad recognition spectrum.     

Distinct Roles for Carbohydrate-Binding Modules of Glycoside Hydrolase 10 (GH10) and GH11 Xylanases from Caldicellulosiruptor sp. Strain F32 in Thermostability and Catalytic Efficiency

Xylanases are crucial for lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction and generally contain noncatalytic carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) accessing recalcitrant polymers. Understanding how multimodular enzymes assemble can benefit protein engineering by aiming at accommodating various environmental conditions. Two multimodular xylanases, XynA and XynB, which belong to glycoside hydrolase families 11 (GH11) and GH10, respectively, have been identified from Caldicellulosiruptor sp. strain F32. In this study, both xylanases and their truncated mutants were overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and characterized. GH11 XynATM1 lacking CBM exhibited a considerable improvement in specific activity (215.8 U nmol⁻¹ versus 94.7 U nmol⁻¹) and thermal stability (half-life of 48 h versus 5.5 h at 75°C) compared with those of XynA. However, GH10 XynB showed higher enzyme activity and thermostability than its truncated mutant without CBM. Site-directed mutagenesis of N-terminal amino acids resulted in a mutant, XynATM1-M, with 50% residual activity improvement at 75°C for 48 h, revealing that the disordered region influenced protein thermostability negatively. The thermal stability of both xylanases and their truncated mutants were consistent with their melting temperature (T_m), which was determined by using differential scanning calorimetry. Through homology modeling and cross-linking analysis, we demonstrated that for XynB, the resistance against thermoinactivation generally was enhanced through improving both domain properties and interdomain interactions, whereas for XynA, no interdomain interactions were observed. Optimized intramolecular interactions can accelerate thermostability, which provided microbes a powerful evolutionary strategy to assemble catalysts that are adapted to various ecological conditions.     

西藏昌都发现白鹭

<正>2013年9月至2014年6月,笔者在西藏昌都市八宿县、贡觉县、芒康县和昌都县先后观察并拍摄到白鹭(Egretta garzetta),为西藏首次发现。2013年9月29日,在八宿县然乌镇政府后方的湖边(29°30′17.28″N,96°45′25.44″E,海拔3 934 m),观察到2只白鹭成鸟,其体形纤瘦,全身羽毛白色,头部无羽冠,肩、背和前胸的蓑状羽也消失,呈冬羽特征;虹膜为黄色;眼先黄绿;嘴黑色,但嘴裂处及下嘴基部显淡黄色;胫与跗跖部黑色,趾黄绿色。2014年5月至6月,     

Synthesis and antitumor activity of 1,2,4-triazoles having 1,4-benzodioxan fragment as a novel class of potent methionine aminopeptidase type II inhibitors

A series of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives containing 1,4-benzodioxan (5a-5q) have been designed, synthesized, structurally determined, and their biological activities were evaluated as potential MetAP2 inhibitors. All the synthesized compounds were first reported. Among the compounds, compound 5k showed the most potent biological activity against HEPG2 cancer cell line (IC(50)=0.81 μM for HEPG2 and IC(50)=0.93 μM for MetAP2), which was comparable to the positive control. Docking simulation by positioning compound 5k into the MetAP2 structure active site was performed to explore the possible binding model. The results of apoptosis and Western-blot assay demonstrated that compound 5k possessed good antitumor activity against HEPG2 cancer cell line. Therefore, compound 5k with potent inhibitory activity in tumor growth inhibition may be a potential antitumor agent against HEPG2 cancer cell.