Antibacterial Mechanism of Curcumin: A Review

Curcumin is a plant‐derived polyphenolic active substance with broad‐spectrum antibacterial properties. Curcumin blocks bacterial growth owing to its structural characteristics and the generation of antioxidation products. Curcumin can inhibit bacterial virulence factors, inhibit bacterial biofilm formation and prevent bacterial adhesion to host receptors through the bacterial quorum sensing regulation system. As a photosensitizer, curcumin acts under blue light irradiation to induce phototoxicity and inhibit bacterial growth. Moreover, it can exert a synergistic antibacterial effect with other antibacterial substances. In this review, we summarize the research progress on the antibacterial mechanism of curcumin based on five targeting structures and two modes of action. Our discussion provides a theoretical basis and technical foundation for the development and application of natural antibacterial agents.     

乳链菌肽作用机制及其应用

乳链菌肽作为高效、安全的天然食品防腐剂已得到广泛应用。成熟的乳链菌肽含有34个氨基酸残基,由5个硫醚桥组成独特的内环结构,是研究蛋白质结构与功能的一个很好的材料。本文论述了乳链菌肽的分子结构及其与细胞膜作用的分子机制,详细阐述了乳链菌肽的作用模型。     

植物无融合生殖的遗传机理和分子机理的研究进展

利用植物无融合生殖固定杂种优势,已被认为是一条生产杂交种子的高效途径。近年来,由于RAPD、RFLP和差异显示等技术的应用,已使植物无融合生殖的研究面貌一新。特别是一系列与无融合生殖有关的特异DNA片段的发现,为深入了解其遗传机理和分子机理增加了大量新的知识,这些知识无疑为定位和克隆植物无融合生殖基因,进而利用遗传操作的手段来改变植物的生殖方式积累了必要的理论基础。本文对植物无融合生殖遗传机理和分子机理的研究进展作了综述。 Abstract:Apomixis allows the establishment of genetically stable seed propagating clones of crops,which can perpetuate themselves across countless sporophytic generations.This asexual mode of reproduction,which naturally occurs in some angiosperms,may prove to be an unrivalled tool to improve crop yields.The current state of knowledge on the molecular and genetic basis of apomixis is reviewed.     

心管发生的分子机制

心管的发生是心脏发育早期最重要的事件之一.它由左右两团心脏前体细胞逐渐相互靠拢合并成一条位于腹侧正中的线性心管,然后再进行环化和房室化.心管发生的分子机制与两个方面有关:其一为心脏前体细胞的迁移,在斑马鱼中8个基因与之有关;其二为心管的装配,has等基因与之有关.     

An assay for botulinum toxin types A, B and F that requires both functional binding and catalytic activities within the neurotoxin

Aim: To develop a novel assay technique for the botulinum neurotoxin family (BoNTs) which is dependent on both the endopeptidase and receptor‐binding activities of the BoNTs and which is insensitive to antigenic variation with the toxin family. Methods and Results: An endopeptidase activity, receptor‐binding assay (EARB assay) has been developed which captures biologically active toxin from media using brain synaptosomes. After capture, the bound toxin can be incubated with its substrate, and cleavage detected using serotype‐specific antibodies raised against the cleaved product of each toxin serotype. The EARB assay was assessed using a range of BoNT serotypes and subtypes. For BoNT/A, detection limits for subtypes A₁, A₂ and A₃ were 0·5, 3 and 10 MLD₅₀ ml^?1, respectively. The limit of detection for BoNT/B₁ was 5 MLD₅₀ ml^?1 and a novel antibody‐based endopeptidase assay for BoNT/F detected toxin at 0·5 MLD₅₀ ml^?1. All these BoNTs can be captured from media containing up to 10% serum without loss of sensitivity. BoNT/A₁ could also be detected in dilutions of a lactose‐ containing formulation similar to that used for clinical preparations of the toxin. Different serotypes were found to possess different optimal cleavage pHs (pH 6·5 for A₁, pH 7·4 for B₁). Conclusions: The EARB assay has been shown to be able to detect a broad range of BoNT serotypes and subtypes from various media. Significance and Impact of the Study: The EARB assay system described is the first convenient in vitro assay system described which is requires multiple functional biological activities with the BoNTs. The assay will have applications in instances where it is essential or desirable to distinguish biologically active from inactive neurotoxin.     

Submarine Communications Cables and Law of the Sea: Problems in Law and Practice

Submarine communications cables laid on the seabed of the ocean are the foundation of the world's international telecommunications network. International law, in particular, the law of the sea, has recognized the freedom to lay submarine cables and perform associated operations and has placed certain obligations on states related to the protection of submarine cables. This article examines the international law with respect to submarine cables and discusses the various problems with both the law and state practice on submarine cables. It argues that these problems are illustrations of the traditional challenges that face the law of the sea; that is, the balancing and accommodation of competing uses of ocean space. It concludes that an important step toward resolving these problems is enhanced consultation and cooperation between cable companies and governments and that efforts should focus on creating such mechanisms.     

果实品质形成的分子机理研究进展(综述)

本文综述果实发育过程中糖代谢和酸代谢的相关酶及其基因表达,并简要介绍果实成熟过程中色泽的形成。     

外生菌根合成的条件及形成机制

文章综述了生态、土壤生物等对外生菌根合成的影响,并且进一步论述了菌根合成的内在机制,提出菌根的形成是一个外部生态条件和内在机制的统一及各种因素综合作用的同步的动态过程。     

用GGE双标图分析甘蔗品种性状稳定性及试点代表性

算术平均法经常被用于评估甘蔗品种产量的稳定性和适应性,并用方差分析来估计区域试验的试验误差.然而,地点和年份的差异使品种的差异难以得到准确评估.为客观评价甘蔗品种的稳定性和适应性,本研究采用GGE双标图对2008-2009年我国甘蔗区域试验5个试点中的7个甘蔗品种试验数据进行分析.结果表明： 福农30号为蔗茎产量高且稳产性高的品种,粤甘18号为含糖量高且性状稳定的品种,福农28号和云蔗99 91为高蔗糖分且性状稳定的品种,粤甘16号的蔗茎产量和含糖量最高,但稳定性一般;在各试点中,福建漳州和广东遂溪的代表性和鉴别力较强.GGE双标图分析为客观评价甘蔗参试品种的丰产性和稳定性提供了直观、有效的手段,为甘蔗新品种的鉴定与推广提供了科学依据.     

Antimycobacterial Compound of Cynoglossum lanceolatum Forsk.: Bioassay Guided Isolation,Molecular Docking,Synthesis of Analogs,and a Plausible Mechanism of Action

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major threat to human health. Due to the prevalence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), it is urgent to discover drugs with new mechanisms of action (MOA) to ensure effectiveness against strains that are resistant to existing TB drugs. Cynoglossum lanceolatum Forsk was used to treat TB in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In this article, shikonin, the anti-Mtb active component, was obtained from the whole herb extract of C. lanceolatum by bioassay-guided isolation. Using the microplate alamar blue assay (MABA), the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of shikonin against Mtb was determined to be 128 μg/mL. In order to obtain a more efficient anti-Mtb molecule, (E)-1-(6-bromo-2,3-dihydrochromen-4-ylidene)thiosemicarbazide was synthesized based on the scaffold of shikonin, which exhibited potent activity against Mtb (MIC=4 μg/mL). These results highlight that both naphthalene-1,4-dione and chroman-4-one are pharmacophores with activities against Mtb. To investigate a plausible mechanism of action, the molecular docking was firstly performed against catalase-peroxidase enzyme (KatG) of Mtb using AutoDock 4 software. The results demonstrated that both shikonin and (E)-1-(6-bromo-2,3-dihydrochromen-4-ylidene)thiosemicarbazide could bind to the active site of Mtb KatG. KatG enzyme activity and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in Mtb cells were then measured by ultraviolet spectrophotometric method and fluorescence microplate reader assay, respectively. The experiments confirmed that above compounds could inhibit the catalytic activity of Mtb KatG, and cause the ROS accumulation in Mtb cells. Therefore, inhibition of KatG may be a novel mechanism of action for these two compounds to fight against Mtb.     

大豆炸荚发生规律及分子遗传基础

炸荚是野生大豆繁衍后代的一种原始自然属性,同时也是栽培大豆减产的主要原因之一,因此对其发生规律和分子遗传基础的研究具有重要的理论意义和潜在的育种应用价值。文章在剖析抗炸荚大豆荚部细胞学微观组织结构特征的基础上,总结了大豆炸荚的发生规律和大豆炸荚表型性状的鉴定指标与方法,介绍了抗炸荚种质鉴定与抗炸荚品种选育概况,同时详细阐述了大豆抗炸荚性状的分子遗传基础研究进展,最后对大豆抗炸荚性的研究与应用进行了展望。     

益生菌的功效及遗传修饰

综述了益生菌的作用机理和生理功能,以乳酸菌为例介绍了益生菌的道传修饰作用,并展望了益生菌的发展前景。     

观赏植物蓝色花形成的机制

在观赏植物中,蓝色系的花卉属于较为罕见的种类,也是花卉育种一直以来的目标。本文对蓝色花卉的花青素代谢途径,影响蓝色花卉形成的核心色素种类,花青素转运方式,花青素在液泡中的积累,花青素的共价修饰,分子间辅色作用,金属离子和液泡pH等影响因素进行系统地介绍和讨论,以期为培育新的蓝色花卉提供参考。     

共情脑机制的研究现状与展望

作为社会交往中的重要因素,共情是指理解并体验他人的情感和知觉感受的能力。目前的研究认为共情依赖于直接的投射机制而非逻辑推理。即观察到他人的情绪状态会涉及一部分处理自我情感的大脑结构的激活,该过程同时还会受到社会认知因素的调节。由于理解和间接体验他人痛觉的能力是维系社会纽带必不可少的,目前研究者越来越多地通过对痛觉共情的研究来揭示关于共情的普遍的神经机制。此外共情的动物模型、镜像神经元系统与共情的产生以及共情的调节等方向也将是研究的重点。     

A Review of the Functionality of Probiotics in the Larviculture Food Chain

During the past two decades, the use of probiotics as an alternative to the use of antibiotics has shown to be promising in aquaculture, particularly in fish and shellfish larviculture. This article reviews the studies on probiotics in larviculture, focusing on the current knowledge of their in vivo mechanisms of action. The article highlights that the in vivo mechanisms of action largely remain to be unravelled. Several methodologies are suggested for further in vivo research, including studies on gut microbiota composition, the use of gnotobiotic animals as test models, and the application of molecular techniques to study host–microbe and microbe–microbe interactions.     

抗烟粉虱大豆种质资源筛选和抗性机制初探

烟粉虱(Bemisia tabaci Gennadius)近年来发生日益猖獗、危害日趋严重,防治比较困难,却未被列为主要经济害虫.筛选抗性种质和选育抗性品种是防治烟粉虱的有效措施.本研究对223份大豆种质资源进行了抗烟粉虱鉴定,筛选出滑皮豆等6份抗性较强的种质资源.调查了这223份种质资源的茸毛性状,测定了部分抗感烟粉虱品种的籽粒蛋白质和脂肪含量.结果表明,大豆品种对烟粉虱的抗性与叶片的茸毛性状有密切关系,无茸毛型抗性最强,茸毛紧贴型次之,茸毛直立型较差,茸毛斜立型抗性最差.大豆受烟粉虱危害程度与籽粒蛋白质和脂肪含量有密切关系,蛋白质含量越高受害越严重,脂肪含量越高受害越轻.根据鉴定结果,本研究提出了单叶平均感染烟粉虱0头为免疫,0.1～3.0头为高抗,3.1～10.0头为中抗,10.1～20.0头为中感,20头以上为高感的抗性鉴定标准.     

Human Rights Reasoning and Medical Law: A Sceptical Essay

I am sceptical as to the contribution that human rights can make to our evaluation of medical law. I will argue here that viewing medical law through a human rights framework provides no greater clarity, insight or focus. If anything, human rights reasoning clouds any bioethical or evaluative analysis. In Section 1 of this article, I outline the general structure of human rights reasoning. I will describe human rights reasoning as (a) reasoning from rights that each person has ‘by virtue of their humanity’, (b) reasoning from rights that provide ‘hard to defeat’ reasons for action and (c) reasoning from abstract norms to specified duties. I will then argue in Section 2 that, unless we (a) re‐conceive of human rights as narrow categories of liberties, it becomes (b) necessary for our human rights reasoning to gauge the normative force of each claim or liberty. When we apply this approach to disputes in medical law, we (in the best case scenario) end up (c) ‘looking straight through’ the human right to the (disagreement about) values and features that each person has by virtue of their humanity.     

Cell surface hydrophobicity of colistin-susceptible vs resistant Acinetobacter baumannii determined by contact angles: methodological considerations and implications

Contact angle analysis of cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) describes the tendency of a water droplet to spread across a lawn of filtered bacterial cells. Colistin‐induced disruption of the Gram‐negative outer membrane necessitates hydrophobic contacts with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We aimed to characterize the CSH of Acinetobacter baumannii using contact angles, to provide insight into the mechanism of colistin resistance. Contact angles were analysed for five paired colistin‐susceptible and resistant Ac. baumannii strains. Drainage of the water droplet through bacterial layers was demonstrated to influence results. Consequently, measurements were performed 0·66 s after droplet deposition. Colistin‐resistant cells exhibited lower contact angles (38·8±2·8–46·8±1·3°) compared with their paired colistin‐susceptible strains (40·7±3·0–48·0±1·4°; anova ; P < 0·05). Contact angles increased at stationary phase (50·3±2·9–61·5±2·5° and 47·4±2·0–50·8±3·2°, susceptible and resistant, respectively, anova ; P < 0·05) and in response to colistin 32 mg l^?1 exposure (44·5±1·5–50·6±2·8° and 43·5±2·2–48·0±2·2°, susceptible and resistant, respectively; anova ; P < 0·05). Analysis of complemented strains constructed with an intact lpxA gene, or empty vector, highlighted the contribution of LPS to CSH. Compositional outer‐membrane variations likely account for CSH differences between Ac. baumannii phenotypes, which influence the hydrophobic colistin–bacterium interaction. Important insight into the mechanism of colistin resistance has been provided. Greater consideration of contact angle methodology is necessary to ensure accurate analyses are performed.