Fungal utilization of a known and safe macroalga for pigment production using solid-state fermentation

Saccharina (Laminaria) japonica, a safe, cheap, and readily available macroalga can be used as a substrate for various microbial fermentations. This work investigated the feasibility of S. japonica as a substrate for production of pigments by the fungus Talaromyces amestolkiae GT11 in solid-state fermentation without additional salt and/or nitrogen sources. Under optimized conditions, the pigment exhibited maximum absorption spectrum at 410 (yellow) and 510 nm (red), and the pigment yield of 1,153.5 (yellow) and 506.2 (red) OD units g^?1 of dry fermented substrate were achieved with a particle size of 1.0 mm and pH 7, although visually the pigment was reddish in color. The optimum incubation period, pH, moisture, inoculum size, and temperature were observed to be at 192 h, pH 7.0, 80 % (w/w) moisture, 1.8?×?10⁶ spores mL^?1 of inoculum g^-1 of dry substrate and 28 °C. Hence, this study indicates the suitability of utilization of S. japonica as a substrate for natural pigment production by T. amestolkiae GT11 which can be used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries for various applications.     

ATPase Subdomain IA Is a Mediator of Interdomain Allostery in Hsp70 Molecular Chaperones

The versatile functions of the heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) family of molecular chaperones rely on allosteric interactions between their nucleotide-binding and substrate-binding domains, NBD and SBD. Understanding the mechanism of interdomain allostery is essential to rational design of Hsp70 modulators. Yet, despite significant progress in recent years, how the two Hsp70 domains regulate each other''s activity remains elusive. Covariance data from experiments and computations emerged in recent years as valuable sources of information towards gaining insights into the molecular events that mediate allostery. In the present study, conservation and covariance properties derived from both sequence and structural dynamics data are integrated with results from Perturbation Response Scanning and in vivo functional assays, so as to establish the dynamical basis of interdomain signal transduction in Hsp70s. Our study highlights the critical roles of SBD residues D481 and T417 in mediating the coupled motions of the two domains, as well as that of G506 in enabling the movements of the α-helical lid with respect to the β-sandwich. It also draws attention to the distinctive role of the NBD subdomains: Subdomain IA acts as a key mediator of signal transduction between the ATP- and substrate-binding sites, this function being achieved by a cascade of interactions predominantly involving conserved residues such as V139, D148, R167 and K155. Subdomain IIA, on the other hand, is distinguished by strong coevolutionary signals (with the SBD) exhibited by a series of residues (D211, E217, L219, T383) implicated in DnaJ recognition. The occurrence of coevolving residues at the DnaJ recognition region parallels the behavior recently observed at the nucleotide-exchange-factor recognition region of subdomain IIB. These findings suggest that Hsp70 tends to adapt to co-chaperone recognition and activity via coevolving residues, whereas interdomain allostery, critical to chaperoning, is robustly enabled by conserved interactions.     

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 R132C mutation occurs exclusively in microsatellite stable colorectal cancers with the CpG island methylator phenotype

The CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (CIMP) is fundamental to an important subset of colorectal cancer; however, its cause is unknown. CIMP is associated with microsatellite instability but is also found in BRAF mutant microsatellite stable cancers that are associated with poor prognosis. The isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) gene causes CIMP in glioma due to an activating mutation that produces the 2-hydroxyglutarate oncometabolite. We therefore examined IDH1 alteration as a potential cause of CIMP in colorectal cancer. The IDH1 mutational hotspot was screened in 86 CIMP-positive and 80 CIMP-negative cancers. The entire coding sequence was examined in 81 CIMP-positive colorectal cancers. Forty-seven cancers varying by CIMP-status and IDH1 mutation status were examined using Illumina 450K DNA methylation microarrays. The R132C IDH1 mutation was detected in 4/166 cancers. All IDH1 mutations were in CIMP cancers that were BRAF mutant and microsatellite stable (4/45, 8.9%). Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis identified an IDH1 mutation-like methylation signature in approximately half of the CIMP-positive cancers. IDH1 mutation appears to cause CIMP in a small proportion of BRAF mutant, microsatellite stable colorectal cancers. This study provides a precedent that a single gene mutation may cause CIMP in colorectal cancer, and that this will be associated with a specific epigenetic signature and clinicopathological features.     

Mathematical and computational modeling in biology at multiple scales

A variety of topics are reviewed in the area of mathematical and computational modeling in biology, covering the range of scales from populations of organisms to electrons in atoms. The use of maximum entropy as an inference tool in the fields of biology and drug discovery is discussed. Mathematical and computational methods and models in the areas of epidemiology, cell physiology and cancer are surveyed. The technique of molecular dynamics is covered, with special attention to force fields for protein simulations and methods for the calculation of solvation free energies. The utility of quantum mechanical methods in biophysical and biochemical modeling is explored. The field of computational enzymology is examined.     

ICAM在着床期小鼠PBLC及EC/DC中表达的研究(英文)

细胞粘附分子（ＣＡＭ）可介导细胞间及细胞与间质之间的相互作用并传导信息,参与机体胚胎发育、免疫调节、炎症反应、组织修复及肿瘤转移等生理和病理过程。细胞间粘附分子１（ＩＣＡＭ１）是主要的ＣＡＭ分子之一,可表达于活化的细胞,内皮细胞等。人膜是母体与胚胎滋养层直接接触的特殊组织、已发现蜕膜细胞在着床过程中参与了局部免疫耐受的形成,但对着床期ＩＣＡＭ１在蜕膜细胞表达的动态研究鲜见报道。本研究采用免疫荧光、多参数流式细胞术,分别从整体和局部角度、着床过程中外周血淋巴细胞（ＰＢＬＣ）及子宫内膜／蜕膜（ＥＣ／ＤＣ）细胞ＩＣＡＭ１的不同表达特点进行了动态观察和对比性分析。结果发现,ＩＣＡＭ１在着床期ＰＢＬＣ及ＥＣ／ＤＣ中的表达均存在明显的动态变化（Ｔａｂ．１;Ｆｉｇｓ．１＆２）。ＩＣＡＭ１在ＰＢＬＣ中的表达于妊娠第一天（Ｄ１）即开始降低,Ｄ２降至最低;与此不同,ＩＣＡＭ１在ＥＣ／ＤＣ中的表达于Ｄ２开始降低,Ｄ４降至最低,Ｄ５开始恢复,但尚未恢复到对照水平。结果表明,ＩＣＡＭ１在蜕膜局部的表达调节方式不同于外周血;ＩＣＡＭ１表达阳性的外周血,淋巴细胞和蜕膜细胞均代表着活化的功能性细胞,这些细胞表面ＩＣＡＭ     

Variation in the ribosomal internal transcribed spacers and 5.8S rDNA among five species of Acropora (Cnidaria; Scleractinia): patterns of variation consistent with reticulate evolution

The ITS sequences of Acropora spp. are the shortest so far identified in any metazoan and are among the shortest seen in eukaryotes; ITS1 was 70-80 bases, and ITS2 was 100-112 bases. The ITS sequences were also highly variable, but base composition and secondary structure prediction indicate that divergent sequence variants are unlikely to be pseudogenes. The pattern of variation was unusual in several other respects: (1) two distinct ITS2 types were detected in both A. hyacinthus and A. cytherea, species known to hybridize in vitro with high success rates, and a putative intermediate ITS2 form was also detected in A. cytherea; (2) A. valida was found to contain highly (29%) diverged ITS1 variants; and (3) A. longicyathus contained two distinct 5.8S rDNA types. These data are consistent with a reticulate evolutionary history for the genus Acropora.      

Comparative tests of ectoparasite species richness in seabirds

Background  

The diversity of parasites attacking a host varies substantially among different host species. Understanding the factors that explain these patterns of parasite diversity is critical to identifying the ecological principles underlying biodiversity. Seabirds (Charadriiformes, Pelecaniformes and Procellariiformes) and their ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) are ideal model groups in which to study correlates of parasite species richness. We evaluated the relative importance of morphological (body size, body weight, wingspan, bill length), life-history (longevity, clutch size), ecological (population size, geographical range) and behavioural (diving versus non-diving) variables as predictors of louse diversity on 413 seabird hosts species. Diversity was measured at the level of louse suborder, genus, and species, and uneven sampling of hosts was controlled for using literature citations as a proxy for sampling effort.     

以经颅多普勒血流仪对蝮蛇抗栓酶与速效溶栓清治疗缺血性脑血管病颅内动脉血流变化的观察

６２例缺血性脑血管病患者,其中４２例为蝮蛇抗栓酶治疗组,２０例为速效溶栓清治疗组。治疗前后分别用经颅多普勒血流仪（ＴＣＤ）检查脑血管（大脑中动脉ＭＣＡ、前动脉ＡＣＡ及后动脉ＰＣＡ）血流平均值Ｖｍ。结果显示,两组患者被治疗后脑血管血流Ｖｍ均明显增高（Ｐ＜０．０５或Ｐ＜０．０１）,但两组间无显著性差异（Ｐ＞０．０５）。表明两种药物治疗缺血性脑血管病疗效相仿,但速效溶栓清价格较高