Calculation of an Adequate Intake (AI) Value and Safe Range of Selenium (Se) for Chinese Infants 0–3 Months Old Based on Se Concentration in the Milk of Lactating Chinese Women with Optimal Se Intake

Biological Trace Element Research - The required selenium intake for optimal health in Chinese residents was published in 2014. However, the adequate intake (AI) value for Chinese infants...     

Neural Differentiation of Mouse Neural Stem Cells as a Tool to Assess Developmental Neurotoxicity of Drinking Water in Taihu Lake

Biological Trace Element Research - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of Du-Zhong cortex extract (DZCE) on lead acetate-induced bone loss in rats. Forty female...     

The nuclear localization signal is required for the function of squamosa promoter binding protein-like gene 9 to promote vegetative phase change in Arabidopsis

Plant Molecular Biology - A mutation in the nuclear localization signal of squamosa promoter binding like-protein 9 (SPL9) delays vegetative phase change by disrupting its nuclear localization. The...     

Structural determinants for pyrabactin recognition in ABA receptors in Oryza sativa

Plant Molecular Biology - We determined the structure of OsPYL/RCAR3:OsPP2C50 complex with pyrabactin. Our results suggest that a less-conserved phenylalanine of OsPYL/RCAR subfamily I is...     

Characterisation of the complete mitochondrial genome of the black-footed abalone Haliotis iris

The complete mitogenome of Haliotis iris, an economically important shellfish endemic to New Zealand, was sequenced for the first time. The mitogenome was 17,131?base pairs (bp) in length and contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and a control region. All 13 genes were initiated by the start codon ATG, except for nad5 (ATA). Two typical stop codons, TAA and TAG, were present. All of the tRNAs could be folded into typical cloverleaf secondary structures except tRNA^Ser1 and tRNA^Lys, which lacked a DHU stem and complete amino acid acceptor stem, respectively. The control region was 1132?bp in length and contained six AT tandem repeats. According to the gene order of the mitogenome, the 30 analysed Vetigastropoda species could be classified into three types—type I: over half of the studied species were very similar to the gastropod ancestral gene order, and the rearrangements occurred in five tRNAs; type II: eight species were found to be missing several tRNA genes; type III: Fissurellidae, Lepetodrilidae showed a large inverted fragment.     

Evaluation of the combination mode and features of p38 MAPK inhibitors: construction of different pharmacophore models and molecular docking

Abnormal expression of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) can lead to various pathological reactions, such as arthritis, psoriasis, krone disease, etc. p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) is an important signal transduction enzyme that plays important roles in influencing the release of intracellular TNF-α factor. It is very meaningful to study the targeting kinase with specific inhibitors in the treatment of related diseases. In order to achieve a deeper insight, it is necessary to analyse the structural characteristics and the action mode of the p38 MAPK inhibitors in the active site. In the study, a ligand-based common feature pharmacophore model and the receptor structure-based pharmacophore model were constructed, respectively. Their common chemical features consisted of the hydrophobic groups (H) and the hydrogen bond acceptors (A), and kept the consistency of spatial structure distribution. Then, the molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation were performed with the eight training set compounds. The binding characteristics of molecules binding were described in the topological region of the active site. Finally, the structure–activity relationship (SAR) was obtained by analysing docking results with the different pharmacophore models. This research leads to the proposal of an interaction model in the p38 MAPK active site and provides guidance for the screening and design of more potent and selective p38 MAPK inhibitors.     

Chromatographic approach to study the configurational stability of Ni(II) complexes of amino‐acid Schiff bases possessing stereogenic nitrogen

Herein, we disclose the design of a model Ni(II) complex of glycine Schiff base possessing single‐nitrogen stereogenic center, which was successfully used for high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)‐assisted assessment of its configurational stability. The major finding is that the configurational stability of the Ni(II)‐coordinated nitrogen is profoundly dependent on the reaction conditions used, in particular the solvent, and can range from inconsequential (t_½ less than 5 min) to virtually completely stable (t_½ 90 y). The discovery reported in this study most likely to be of certain theoretical and synthetic value.