Psoralen attenuates bleomycin‐induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice through inhibiting myofibroblast activation and collagen deposition

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) and chronic inflammation with limited therapeutic options. Psoralen, a major active component extracted from Psoralea corylifolia L. seed, has several biological effects. However, the role of psoralen in IPF is still unclear. Here, we hypothesized that psoralen played an essential role in IPF in the inhibition of fibroblast proliferation and inflammatory response. A murine model of IPF was established by injecting bleomycin (BLM) intratracheally, and psoralen was administered for 14 days from the 7^th to 21^st day after BLM injection. Our results demonstrated that psoralen treatment reduced body weight loss and improved the survival rate of mice with IPF. Histological and immunofluorescent examination showed that psoralen alleviated BLM‐induced lung parenchymal inflammatory and fibrotic alteration. Furthermore, psoralen inhibited proliferation and collagen synthesis of mouse fibroblasts and partially reversed BLM‐induced expression of α‐smooth muscle actin at both the tissue and cell level. Moreover, psoralen decreased the expression of transforming growth factor‐β1, interleukin‐1β, and tumor necrosis factor‐α in the lungs of BLM‐stimulated mice. Our results reveale for the first time that psoralen exerts therapeutic effects against IPF in a BLM‐induced murine model.     

Extraordinarily conserved chromosomal synteny of Citrus species revealed by chromosome‐specific painting

Reliable identification of individual chromosomes in eukaryotic species is the foundation for comparative chromosome synteny and evolutionary studies. Unfortunately, chromosome identification has been a major challenge for plants with small chromosomes, such as the Citrus species. We developed oligonucleotide‐based chromosome painting probes for all nine chromosomes in Citrus maxima (Pummelo). We were able to identify all C. maxima chromosomes in the same metaphase cells using multiple rounds of sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization with the painting probes. We conducted comparative chromosome painting analysis in six different Citrus and related species. We found that each painting probe hybridized to only a single chromosome in all other five species, suggesting that the six species have maintained a complete chromosomal synteny after more than 9 million years of divergence. No interchromosomal rearrangement was identified in any species. These results support the hypothesis that karyotypes of woody species are more stable than herbaceous plants because woody plants need a longer period to fix chromosome structural variants in natural populations.     

蛹虫草菌生物合成虫草素的研究进展

蛹虫草Cordyceps militaris是我国传统的药用真菌,虫草素是蛹虫草的主要活性成分,具有抗癌、抗肿瘤、抗病毒等多种生理功能。蛹虫草菌液体发酵是最有希望实现高效生产虫草素的途径,但现阶段生产强度低,亟需应用发酵工程及代谢工程手段提高虫草素产量。文中对液体发酵体系中培养基组分(碳/氮源、前体物质、金属离子等)和培养条件(pH、溶氧量、光照等)对虫草素产量的影响进行了总结,并对虫草素的分离纯化、生物合成基因簇及合成代谢途径进行了阐述,最后探讨了实现虫草素高效生产的关键环节。     

AlCl3 exposure regulates neuronal development by modulating DNA modification

BACKGROUNDAs the third most abundant element, aluminum is widespread in the environment. Previous studies have shown that aluminum has a neurotoxic effect and its exposure can impair neuronal development and cognitive function.AIMTo study the effects of aluminum on epigenetic modification in neural stem cells and neurons. METHODSNeural stem cells were isolated from the forebrain of adult mice. Neurons were isolated from the hippocampi tissues of embryonic day 16-18 mice. AlCl₃ at 100 and 200 μmol/L was applied to stem cells and neurons. RESULTSAluminum altered the differentiation of adult neural stem cells and caused apoptosis of newborn neurons while having no significant effects on the proliferation of neural stem cells. Aluminum application also significantly inhibited the dendritic development of hippocampal neurons. Mechanistically, aluminum exposure significantly affected the levels of DNA 5-hydroxy-methylcytosine, 5-methylcytosine, and N⁶-methyladenine in stem cells and neurons. CONCLUSIONOur findings indicate that aluminum may regulate neuronal development by modulating DNA modifications.     

Consumer-driven nutrient release to the water by a small omnivorous fish enhanced ramet production but reduced the growth rate of the submerged macrophyte Vallisneria denseserrulata (Makino) Makino

Small fish are highly associated with submerged macrophytes but may potentially hamper their growth due to nutrient excretion that stimulate growth of phytoplankton and periphyton growth. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to elucidate the effects of the small omnivore Chinese bitterling Acheilognathus macropterus on the growth of phytoplankton, periphyton and the submerged macrophyte Vallisneria denseserrulata. The treatments were fishless as well as low (LF) and high (HF) fish density. We found that the concentrations of nutrients and the phytoplankton biomass increased substantially in both fish treatments, leading to a significantly higher light attenuation compared with the control. Moreover, bitterling substantially enhanced the biomass of periphyton on plant leaves. Consequently, the relative growth rate (RGR) of V. denseserrulata was significantly suppressed in HF, while RGR in the LF treatment did not differ significantly from the controls. However, the bitterling also stimulated the ramet production of V. denseserrulata, significantly. Our results indicate that Chinese bitterling reduce the RGR of V. denseserrulata under high fish density condition. Therefore, the density of Chinese bitterling should be kept low in order to reduce the negative effects of the fish on the RGR of submerged macrophytes (e.g. V. denseserrulata), when restoring lakes by plant transplantation.

     

一株中温淀粉酶菌株的分离鉴定及其产酶条件分析

利用固体淀粉筛选培养基,从安阳市郊区面粉厂附近的土壤里分离筛选出1株产淀粉酶的菌株,编号为MF-3-2.经过菌株形态、革兰氏染色、16S rDNA鉴定及系统进化树分析,初步确定其为枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis).摇瓶培养后对其酶学性质研究发现,该菌株淀粉酶的最适温度为65℃,最适pH值为6.0,在pH值4.8～6.0范围内仍能残余70％以上的酶活力.该菌株的最适生长温度为40℃,最适生长pH值为6.5.产酶条件优化结果表明:最适碳源为马铃薯淀粉,最适氮源为豆粕粉,最适碳氮比为1∶15,发酵温度30℃,发酵pH值6.0,装液量10％,种龄10h,接种量5％,转速200 r/min,48 h达到产酶高峰.通过发酵产酶条件优化,其淀粉酶活性达到86.8 U/mL,是优化前的35倍.另外,在酸性条件下还具有较好的活性.因此,该菌株的淀粉酶具有潜在的工业应用前景.     

Is oral microbiome of children able to maintain resistance and functional stability in response to short-term interference of ingesta?

Dear Editor, A series of studies had focused on the ecological stability of human microbiome (Lozupone et al.,2012;Faith et al.,2013;Moya and Ferrer,2016).Despite the continuous perturbation and the highly personalized composition within the human microbiome (Human Microbiome Project,2012),healthy adults stably maintain their microbial communities in terms of space and time (Faith et al.,2013;Moya and Ferrer,2016;Oh et al.,2016).This stability is proved to be critical for the well-being of human body (Lozupone et al.,2012).On the contrary,major shifts in microbial community composition are often related to diseases (Lynch and Pedersen,2016).     

Microscale grooves regulate maturation development of hPSC-CMs by the transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels)

The use of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) is limited in drug discovery and cardiac disease mechanism studies due to cell immaturity. Micro-scaled grooves can promote the maturation of cardiomyocytes by aligning them in order, but the mechanism of cardiomyocytes alignment has not been studied. From the level of calcium activity, gene expression and cell morphology, we verified that the W20H5 grooves can effectively promote the maturation of cardiomyocytes. The transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels) also play an important role in the maturation and development of cardiomyocytes. These findings support the engineered hPSC-CMs as a powerful model to study cardiac disease mechanism and partly mimic the myocardial morphological development. The important role of the TRP channels in the maturation and development of myocardium is first revealed.