Succinylome Analysis Reveals the Involvement of Lysine Succinylation in the Extreme Resistance of Deinococcus radiodurans

Increasing evidence shows that the succinylation of lysine residues mainly regulates enzymes involved in the carbon metabolism pathway, in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Deinococcus radiodurans is one of the most radioresistant organisms on earth and is famous for its robust resistance. A major goal in the current study of protein succinylation is to explore its function in D. radiodurans. High‐resolution LC–MS/MS is used for qualitative proteomics to perform a global succinylation analysis of D. radiodurans and 492 succinylation sites in 270 proteins are identified. These proteins are involved in a variety of biological processes and pathways. It is found that the enzymes involved in nucleic acid binding/processing are enriched in D. radiodurans compared with their previously reported levels in other bacteria. The mutagenesis studies confirm that succinylation regulates the enzymatic activities of species‐specific proteins PprI and DdrB, which belong to the radiation–desiccation response regulon. Together, these results provide insight into the role of lysine succinylation in the extreme resistance of D. radiodurans.     

Comparing soil organic carbon dynamics in perennial grasses and shrubs in a saline-alkaline arid region, northwestern china

Background

Although semi-arid and arid regions account for about 40% of terrestrial surface of the Earth and contain approximately 10% of the global soil organic carbon stock, our understanding of soil organic carbon dynamics in these regions is limited.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A field experiment was conducted to compare soil organic carbon dynamics between a perennial grass community dominated by Cleistogenes squarrosa and an adjacent shrub community co-dominated by Reaumuria soongorica and Haloxylon ammodendron, two typical plant life forms in arid ecosystems of saline-alkaline arid regions in northwestern China during the growing season 2010. We found that both fine root biomass and necromass in two life forms varied greatly during the growing season. Annual fine root production in the perennial grasses was 45.6% significantly higher than in the shrubs, and fine root turnover rates were 2.52 and 2.17 yr⁻¹ for the perennial grasses and the shrubs, respectively. Floor mass was significantly higher in the perennial grasses than in the shrubs due to the decomposition rate of leaf litter in the perennial grasses was 61.8% lower than in the shrubs even though no significance was detected in litterfall production. Soil microbial biomass and activity demonstrated a strong seasonal variation with larger values in May and September and minimum values in the dry month of July. Observed higher soil organic carbon stocks in the perennial grasses (1.32 Kg C m⁻²) than in the shrubs (1.12 Kg C m⁻²) might be attributed to both greater inputs of poor quality litter that is relatively resistant to decay and the lower ability of microorganism to decompose these organic matter.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results suggest that the perennial grasses might accumulate more soil organic carbon with time than the shrubs because of larger amounts of inputs from litter and slower return of carbon through decomposition.     

植物性染色体进化及性别决定基因研究进展

植物性染色体起源于1对常染色体, 其在不同雌雄异株植物中多次起源并独立演变, 是研究性染色体起源和进化机制的理想材料。过去的研究在一定程度上阐明了植物性染色体的起源和演化动力; 且性染色体遗传退化、性别决定基因以及剂量补偿效应正逐渐成为研究的热点。近年来, 关于植物性染色体进化及性别决定基因的研究取得了一些重要进展。该文综述了植物性染色体的起源、进化、遗传退化、剂量补偿效应以及性别决定基因等, 并对植物性染色体进化研究发展趋势进行了展望。     

Functional and histological changes in rat lung after boron neutron capture therapy

The motivation for this work was an unexpected occurrence of lung side effects in two human subjects undergoing cranial boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The objectives were to determine experimentally the biological weighting factors in rat lung for the high-LET dose components for a retrospective assessment of the dose to human lung during cranial BNCT. Lung damage after whole-thorax irradiation was assessed by serial measurement of breathing rate and evaluation of terminal lung histology. A positive response was defined as a breathing rate 20% above the control group mean and categorized as occurring either early (<110 days) or late (>110 days). The ED(50) values derived from probit analyses of the early breathing rate dose-response data for X rays and neutrons were 11.4+/-0.4 and 9.2+/-0.6 Gy, respectively, and were similar for the other end points. The ED(50) values for irradiation with neutrons plus p-boronophenylalanine were 8.7+/-1.0 and 6.7+/-0.4 for the early and late breathing rate responses, respectively, and 7.0+/-0.5 Gy for the histological response. The RBEs for thermal neutrons ranged between 2.9+/-0.7 and 3.1+/-1.2 for all end points. The weighting factors for the boron component of the dose differed significantly between the early (1.4+/-0.3) and late (2.3+/-0.3) breathing rate end points. A reassessment of doses in patients during cranial BNCT confirmed that the maximum weighted doses were well below the threshold for the onset of pneumonitis in healthy human lung.     

The purification and characterization of a novel alkali-stable pectate lyase produced by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> PB1

Pectinase is an important kind of enzyme with many industrial applications, among which pectinases produced by bacteria were scarce compared with fungal sources. In this study, a novel bacterium which produced extracellular pectinase was firstly isolated from flue-cured tobacco leaves and identified as Bacillus subtilis PB1 according to its 16S rRNA gene. The pectinolytic enzyme was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatography, after which molecular weight was determined as 43.1?±?0.5 kDa by SDS–PAGE. Peptide mass fingerprinting of the pectinase by MALDI-TOF MS showed that the purified enzyme shared homology with pectate lyase and was designated as BsPel-PB1. The optimal temperature for BsPel-PB1 was 50 °C. The optimal pH was pH 9.5 for BsPel-PB1 while it had a broad pH stability from 5 to 11. The values of K _m and V _max were 0.312 mg/mL and 1248 U/mL, respectively. Accordingly, the BsPel-PB1 was a novel alkaline pectate lyase which could find potential application as a commercial candidate in the pectinolytic related industries.     

Metastatic melanoma imaging using a novel Tc-99m-labeled lactam-cyclized alpha-MSH peptide

The purpose of this study was to determine the metastatic melanoma imaging property of ^99mTc(EDDA)-HYNIC-Aoc-Nle-CycMSH_hex {hydrazinonicotinamide-8-aminooctanoic acid-Nle-c[Asp-His-DPhe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-CONH₂}. HYNIC-Aoc-Nle-CycMSH_hex was synthesized using fluorenylmethyloxy carbonyl (Fmoc) chemistry. The IC₅₀ value of HYNIC-Aoc-Nle-CycMSH_hex was 0.78?±?0.13?nM for B16/F10 melanoma cells. ^99mTc(EDDA)-HYNIC-Aoc-Nle-CycMSH_hex displayed significantly higher uptake (14.26?±?2.74 and 10.45?±?2.31%?ID/g) in B16/F10 metastatic melanoma-bearing lung than that in normal lung (0.90?±?0.15 and 0.53?±?0.14%?ID/g) at 2 and 4?h post-injection, respectively. B16/F10 pulmonary metastatic melanoma lesions were clearly visualized by SPECT/CT using ^99mTc(EDDA)-HYNIC-Aoc-Nle-CycMSH_hex as an imaging probe at 2?h post-injection, underscoring its potential as an imaging probe for metastatic melanoma detection.     

我国天然香料资源开发现状及其产品市场分析

本文综述了我国天然香料资源的分布及开发利用现状 ,分析了主要天然香料产品的市场需求趋势 ,并在此基础上提出了今后云南省“十·五”期间天然香料资源开发的重点与目标。