Dieckol,a natural polyphenolic drug,inhibits the proliferation and migration of colon cancer cells by inhibiting PI3K,AKT, and mTOR phosphorylation

This study investigated that dieckol (DKL), a natural drug, inhibits colon cancer cell proliferation and migration by inhibiting phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) phosphorylation in HCT-116 cells. The cells were treated with DKL in various concentrations (32 and 50 μM) for 24 h and then analyzed for various experiments. MTT (tetrazolium bromide) and crystal violet assay investigated DKL-mediated cytotoxicity. Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate staining was used to assess the reactive oxygen species (ROS) measurement, and apoptotic changes were studied by dual acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining. Protein expression of cell survival, cell cycle, proliferation, and apoptosis protein was evaluated by western blot analysis. Results indicated that DKL produces significant cytotoxicity in HCT-116, and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration was found to be 32 μM for 24-h incubation. Moreover, effective production of ROS and enhanced apoptotic signs were observed upon DKL treatment in HCT-116. DKL induces the expression of phosphorylated PI3K, AKT, and mToR-associated enhanced expression of cyclin-D1, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-4, CDK-6, and Bcl-2 in HCT-116. In addition, proapoptotic proteins such as Bax, caspase-9, and caspase-3 were significantly enhanced by DKL treatment in HCT-116. Hence, DKL has been considered a chemotherapeutic drug by impeding the expression of PI3K-, AKT-, and mTOR-mediated inhibition of proliferation and cell cycle-regulating proteins.     

Purification and Characterization of a Protein Cryoprotective for Vibrio cholerae Extracted from the Prawn Shell Surface

A substance cryoprotective for Vibrio cholerae on the prawn shell surface was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration. It was a protein of 81 kDa and called cryoprotective protein (CPP). The cryoprotective activity of this protein for V. cholerae was sensitive to heat at 100 C and trypsin treatment. In the presence of Mg ion the protein can bind to the bacterial cell surface. V. cholerae can adhere to the shell surface of the prawn. The number of adhered bacteria was reduced by treating the shell with anti-CPP serum, heat or by trypsin. The presence of Mg ion promoted the adherence. These results suggest that the CPP could serve as an adherence site for V. cholerae on the shell surface.     

Gut microbiome helps honeybee (Apis mellifera) resist the stress of toxic nectar plant (Bidens pilosa) exposure: Evidence for survival and immunity

Honeybee (Apis mellifera) ingestion of toxic nectar plants can threaten their health and survival. However, little is known about how to help honeybees mitigate the effects of toxic nectar plant poisoning. We exposed honeybees to different concentrations of Bidens pilosa flower extracts and found that B. pilosa exposure significantly reduced honeybee survival in a dose-dependent manner. By measuring changes in detoxification and antioxidant enzymes and the gut microbiome, we found that superoxide dismutase, glutathione-S-transferase and carboxylesterase activities were significantly activated with increasing concentrations of B. pilosa and that different concentrations of B. pilosa exposure changed the structure of the honeybee gut microbiome, causing a significant reduction in the abundance of Bartonella (p < 0.001) and an increase in Lactobacillus. Importantly, by using Germ-Free bees, we found that colonization by the gut microbes Bartonella apis and Apilactobacillus kunkeei (original classification as Lactobacillus kunkeei) significantly increased the resistance of honeybees to B. pilosa and significantly upregulated bee-associated immune genes. These results suggest that honeybee detoxification systems possess a level of resistance to the toxic nectar plant B. pilosa and that the gut microbes B. apis and A. kunkeei may augment resistance to B. pilosa stress by improving host immunity.     

Temporal dynamics of soil bacterial network regulate soil resistomes

Soil bacteria are diverse and form complicated ecological networks through various microbial interactions, which play important roles in soil multi-functionality. However, the seasonal effects on the bacterial network, especially the relationship between bacterial network topological features and soil resistomes remains underexplored, which impedes our ability to unveil the mechanisms of the temporal-dynamics of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, a field investigation was conducted across four seasons at the watershed scale. We observed significant seasonal variation in bacterial networks, with lower complexity and stability in autumn, and a wider bacterial community niche in summer. Similar to bacterial communities, the co-occurrence networks among ARGs also shift with seasonal change, particularly with respect to the topological features of the node degree, which on average was higher in summer than in the other seasons. Furthermore, the nodes with higher betweenness, stress, degree, and closeness centrality in the bacterial network showed strong relationships with the 10 major classes of ARGs. These findings highlighted the changes in the topological properties of bacterial networks that could further alter antibiotic resistance in soil. Together, our results reveal the temporal dynamics of bacterial ecological networks at the watershed scale, and provide new insights into antibiotic resistance management under environmental changes.     

Calcineurin B-like interacting protein kinase 31 confers resistance to sheath blight via modulation of ROS homeostasis in rice

Sheath blight (ShB) severely threatens rice cultivation and production; however, the molecular mechanism of rice defence against ShB remains unclear. Screening of transposon Ds insertion mutants identified that Calcineurin B-like protein-interacting protein kinase 31 (CIPK31) mutants were more susceptible to ShB, while CIPK31 overexpressors (OX) were less susceptible. Sequence analysis indicated two haplotypes of CIPK31: Hap_1, with significantly higher CIPK31 expression, was less sensitive to ShB than the Hap_2 lines. Further analyses showed that the NAF domain of CIPK31 interacted with the EF-hand motif of respiratory burst oxidase homologue (RBOHA) to inhibit RBOHA-induced H₂O₂ production, and RBOHA RNAi plants were more susceptible to ShB. These data suggested that the CIPK31-mediated increase in resistance is not associated with RBOHA. Interestingly, the study also found that CIPK31 interacted with catalase C (CatC); cipk31 mutants accumulated less H₂O₂ while CIPK31 OX accumulated more H₂O₂ compared to the wild-type control. Further analysis showed the interaction of the catalase domain of CatC with the NAF domain of CIPK31 by which CIPK31 inhibits CatC activity to accumulate more H₂O₂.     

Diverse flowering responses subjecting to ambient high temperature in soybean under short-day conditions

Flowering time is one of important agronomic traits determining the crop yield and affected by high temperature. When facing high ambient temperature, plants often initiate early flowering as an adaptive strategy to escape the stress and ensure successful reproduction. However, here we find opposing ways in the short-day crop soybean to respond to different levels of high temperatures, in which flowering accelerates when temperature changes from 25 to 30 °C, but delays when temperature reaches 35 °C under short day. phyA-E1, possibly photoperiodic pathway, is crucial for 35 °C-mediated late flowering, however, does not contribute to promoting flowering at 30 °C. 30 °C-induced up-regulation of FT2a and FT5a leads to early flowering, independent of E1. Therefore, distinct responsive mechanisms are adopted by soybean when facing different levels of high temperatures for successful flowering and reproduction.     

湖南花垣中寒武世晚期至晚寒武世早期牙形石动物群

本文描述了湖南花垣排碧剖面中寒武世晚期至晚寒武世早期牙形石动物群的２个新属８个新种。论述了在中国南部首次建立的湖南花垣中－上寒武统牙形石带与华北和东北南部相应牙形石带的对比依据,概述了中国寒武纪牙石研究的简史和现状。     

A Rapid Determination of 30 Prohibited Pesticide Residues in Lycii Fructus by UPLC-MS/MS

Prohibited pesticide residues have become one of the main factors affecting the quality and safety of Lycii Fructus, However, rarely studies focus on the rapid determination of these residues. Here, a total of 30 kinds of prohibited pesticide residues were determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) in five different process ways. Pretreatment methods, chromatographic separation and detection conditions in mass spectrometry were all optimized accordingly. Among the five different pretreatment methods, the first and third solid phase extraction failed to provide high recoveries of sulfosulfuron compounds (both lower than 60%). Recovery of chlorphenamidine by the Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged and Safe multiresidue method (QuEChERS) was lower than 60%, which did not meet the requirements of trace determination. The concentrations of 30 prohibited pesticides residues treated by straightforward and solid phase extraction showed good linearity in their corresponding ranges, with correlation coefficients over 0.99. The average recoveries of straightforward ranged from 78.13% to 110.9%, while RSD ranged from 1.3% to 16.9%, albeit poor purification was observed. The recovery yield from solid phase extraction was between 67.75% and 103.08% with RSD value from 0.8% to 14.0%, which met the requirements of trace determination, this method has good precision and stability. These results could be employed to other Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) in detecting prohibited pesticide residues.     

仿脑组织体模研究进展

仿脑组织体模是指可以有效模拟人脑组织形状、性质的等效材料组织或数字模型,可以在实验中代表人脑组织的某些生理特性从而达到特定的研究目标,根据其物理形态,通常可分为固体、液体、数字体模3类。仿脑组织体模具有安全经济,配置简单并且可重复使用的优势,被广泛应用于脑部疾病诊断、系统安全性评估等研究。本文就仿脑组织体模的分类、物理特性和脑科学研究应用3方面进行论述,在阐述当前仿脑组织体模与真实脑组织存在一定性质差异的同时也说明其在替代真实脑组织实验上有良好的应用前景。