不同磷脂和糖脂对莱氏衣原体膜上Mg~（2＋）－ATPase活性的影响

莱氏衣原体膜上Ｍｇ~（２＋）－ＡＴＰａｓｅ用ＤＯＣ溶解后,经Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ－６Ｂ和ＤＥＡＥ－ＣｅｌｌｕｌｏｓｅＤＥ－５２离子交换柱,得到了部分纯化的Ｍｇ~（２＋）ＡＴＰａｓｅ,并将此ＡＴＰａｓｅ与不同极性头部的磷脂和膜糖脂重组,研究了不同的极性头部的磷脂和膜糖脂对ＡＴＰａｓｅ活性的影响。此酶的活性不依赖酸性磷脂,ＰＧ、ＤＰＧ、大豆磷脂等明显抑制酶活性,中性磷脂ＤＭＰＣ、ＰＥ、ＰＣ则能增加酶活性,其中尤以非双层脂ＰＥ的作用最为明显。从莱氏衣原体膜上提取的糖脂（ＭＧＤＧ,ＤＧＤＧ）单独和ＡＴＰａｓｅ重组时,酶活性增加并不明显,当ＭＧＤＧ和ＤＧＤＧ以等比例混合时,能大大地增加酶活性。这表明Ｍｇ~（２＋）－ＡＴＰａｓｅ的活性很大程度上与磷脂的表面电荷及磷脂的组成相关。     

Roles of phospholipase D in phorbol myristate acetate‐stimulated neutrophil respiratory burst

The phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulated nutrophil respiratory burst has been considered to simply involve the activation of protein kinase C (PKC). However, the PLD activity was also increased by 10‐fold in human neutrophils stimulated with 100 nM PMA. Unexpectedly, U73122, an inhibitor of phospholipase C, was found to significantly inhibit PMA‐stimulated respiratory burst in human neutrophils. U73122 at the concentrations, which were sufficient to inhibit the respiratory burst completely, caused partial inhibition of the PLD activity but no inhibition on PKC translocation and activation, suggesting that PLD activity is also required in PMA‐stimulated respiratory burst. Using 1‐butanol, a PLD substrate, to block phosphatidic acid (PA) generation, the PMA‐stimulated neutrophil respiratory burst was also partially inhibited, further indicating that PLD activation, possibly its hydrolytic product PA and diacylglycerol (DAG), is involved in PMA‐stimulated respiratory burst. Since GF109203X, an inhibitor of PKC that could completely inhibit the respiratory burst in PMA‐stimulated neutrophils, also caused certain suppression of PLD activation, it may suggest that PLD activation in PMA‐stimulated neutrophils might be, to some extent, PKC dependent. To further study whether PLD contributes to the PMA stimulated respiratory burst through itself or its hydrolytic product, 1,2‐dioctanoyl‐sn‐glycerol, an analogue of DAG , was used to prime cells at low concentration, and it reversed the inhibition of PMA‐stimulated respiratory burst by U73122. The results indicate that U73122 may act as an inhibitor of PLD, and PLD activation is required in PMA‐stimulated respiratory burst.     

DIVERGE: phylogeny-based analysis for functional-structural divergence of a protein family

SUMMARY: DetectIng Variability in Evolutionary Rates among GEnes (DIVERGE) is a software system to study functional divergence of a protein family by detecting site-specific change in evolutionary rate using a multiple alignment of amino acid sequences for a given phylogenetic tree. The program first conducts a statistical test for site-specific rate shifts along the tree, and predicting candidate amino acid residues responsible for functional divergence based on posterior analysis. These results can then be mapped on the 3D protein structure if available. AVAILABILITY: DIVERGE is available free of charge from http://xgu1.zool.iastate.edu/. Distribution packages for both Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems are available, including manual and example files.     

Autophagy in stem cells

Autophagy is a highly conserved cellular process by which cytoplasmic components are sequestered in autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes for degradation. As a major intracellular degradation and recycling pathway, autophagy is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis as well as remodeling during normal development, and dysfunctions in autophagy have been associated with a variety of pathologies including cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and neurodegenerative disease. Stem cells are unique in their ability to self-renew and differentiate into various cells in the body, which are important in development, tissue renewal and a range of disease processes. Therefore, it is predicted that autophagy would be crucial for the quality control mechanisms and maintenance of cellular homeostasis in various stem cells given their relatively long life in the organisms. In contrast to the extensive body of knowledge available for somatic cells, the role of autophagy in the maintenance and function of stem cells is only beginning to be revealed as a result of recent studies. Here we provide a comprehensive review of the current understanding of the mechanisms and regulation of autophagy in embryonic stem cells, several tissue stem cells (particularly hematopoietic stem cells), as well as a number of cancer stem cells. We discuss how recent studies of different knockout mice models have defined the roles of various autophagy genes and related pathways in the regulation of the maintenance, expansion and differentiation of various stem cells. We also highlight the many unanswered questions that will help to drive further research at the intersection of autophagy and stem cell biology in the near future.     

Selenium addition alters mercury uptake,bioavailability in the rhizosphere and root anatomy of rice (Oryza sativa)

Background and Aims

Mercury (Hg) is an extremely toxic pollutant, especially in the form of methylmercury (MeHg), whereas selenium (Se) is an essential trace element in the human diet. This study aimed to ascertain whether addition of Se can produce rice with enriched Se and lowered Hg content when growing in Hg-contaminated paddy fields and, if so, to determine the possible mechanisms behind these effects.

Methods

Two cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa, japonica and indica) were grown in either hydroponic solutions or soil rhizobags with different Se and Hg treatments. Concentrations of total Hg, MeHg and Se were determined in the roots, shoots and brown rice, together with Hg uptake kinetics and Hg bioavailability in the soil. Root anatonmy was also studied.

Key Results

The high Se treatment (5 μg g^–1) significantly increased brown rice yield by 48 % and total Se content by 2·8-fold, and decreased total Hg and MeHg by 47 and 55 %, respectively, compared with the control treatments. The high Se treatment also markedly reduced ‘water-soluble’ Hg and MeHg concentrations in the rhizosphere soil, decreased the uptake capacity of Hg by roots and enhanced the development of apoplastic barriers in the root endodermis.

Conclusions

Addition of Se to Hg-contaminated soil can help produce brown rice that is simultaneously enriched in Se and contains less total Hg and MeHg. The lowered accumulation of total Hg and MeHg appears to be the result of reduced bioavailability of Hg and production of MeHg in the rhizosphere, suppression of uptake of Hg into the root cells and an enhancement of the development of apoplastic barriers in the endodermis of the roots.     

Inhibition of fatty acid synthase suppresses U-2 OS cell invasion and migration via downregulating the activity of HER2/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in vitro

FASN plays an important role in the malignant phenotype of various tumors. Our previous studies show that inhibition FASN could induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in human osteosarcoma (OS) cell in vivo and vitro. The aim in this study was to investigate the effect of inhibition FASN on the activity of HER2/PI3K/AKT axis and invasion and migration of OS cell. The expression of FASN, HER2 and p-HER2(Y1248) proteins was detected by immunohistochemistry in OS tissues from 24 patients with pulmonary metastatic disease, and the relationship between FASN and p-HER2 as well as HER2 was investigated. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between FASN and HER2 as well as p-HER2 protein expression. The U-2 OS cells were transfected with either the FASN specific RNAi plasmid or the negative control RNAi plasmid. FASN mRNA was measured by RT-PCR. Western blot assays was performed to examine the protein expression of FASN, HER2, p-HER2(Y1248), PI3K, Akt and p-Akt (Ser473). Migration and invasion of cells were investigated by wound healing and transwell invasion assays. The results showed that the activity of HER2/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was suppressed by inhibiting FASN. Meanwhile, the U-2OS cells migration and invasion were also impaired by inhibiting the activity of FASN/HER2/PI3K/AKT. Our results indicated that inhibition of FASN suppresses OS cell invasion and migration via down-regulation of the “HER2/PI3K/AKT” axis in vitro. FASN blocker may be a new therapeutic strategy in OS management.     

泥鳅多糖清除活性氧和保护DNA链的作用

采用化学发光法和分光光度法在多种化学模拟体系中研究了泥鳅多糖清除活性氧的作用 ,并用化学发光法观察了泥鳅多糖对·OH导致DNA链损伤的抑制作用。结果表明 ,泥鳅多糖能够有效地清除O·-2 、·OH、H2 O2 等活性氧 ,对DNA链具有良好的保护作用