Parabacteroides distasonis Alleviates Obesity and Metabolic Dysfunctions via Production of Succinate and Secondary Bile Acids

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红火蚁入侵对玉米植株上节肢动物群落的影响

在农业生态系统中,入侵性红火蚁Solenopsis invicta Buren是一种贪婪的节肢动物捕食者,会不加区分地攻击害虫和有益昆虫。本文以玉米地作为研究生境,系统调查并探讨红火蚁入侵对玉米植株上节肢动物群落的影响。结果表明,红火蚁入侵使得玉米地内节肢动物的种类下降了64.7%,而减少的种类主要隶属于半翅目、鳞翅目和双翅目,并且这种负面影响主要体现在玉米生长后期。随着玉米植株上红火蚁数量的增加,相应的节肢动物群落物种丰富度、多样性和均匀度指数减少,生态优势度指数增加。进一步通过系统聚类分析表明,红火蚁发生区玉米植株上节肢动物类群结构在时间序列上波动较大,其入侵已显著影响了生境内节肢动物群落。     

LATS1 K751 acetylation blocks activation of Hippo signalling and switches LATS1 from a tumor suppressor to an oncoprotein

Science China Life Sciences - Large tumor suppressor 1 (LATS1) is the key kinase controlling activation of Hippo signalling pathway. Post-translational modifications of LATS1 modulate its kinase...     

Fruit and vegetable consumption,cardiovascular disease,and all-cause mortality in China

Science China Life Sciences - Evidence about the response patterns of fruit and vegetable consumption with the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality was inconsistent. These...     

Interactions between invasive plants and heavy metal stresses: a review

入侵植物与重金属胁迫的相互作用研究进展 全球变化改变了植物群落的分布格局,包括入侵植物,而人为污染可能降低本地植物对入侵植物的抗性。因此,本文总结了近几十年本地植物、入侵植物和植物-土壤生态系统中重金属生物地球化学行为的研究,以加深我们对入侵植物与环境胁迫因子相互作用的认识。我们的研究结合已有文献报道表明：(i)入侵物种对环境胁迫的影响具有异质性, (ii)影响的大小是多变的, (iii)即使在同一影响类型内,影响类型也具有多向性。然而,入侵植物暴露在重金属环境中表现出更强的自我保护机制,对重金属的生物可利用性和毒性有正向或负向的影响。另一方面,由于入侵植物普遍具有较高的耐受性,加之本地植物暴露于有毒重金属污染时具有“逃逸行为”,重金属胁迫环境更有利于植物的成功入侵。但是,对于入侵植物的重金属等元素组成是否与污染地区的本地植物不同,目前尚无共识。因此,在全球范围内对外来入侵植物与本土植物的植物体内、凋落物和土壤污染物含量进行定量比较是今后研究的一个重要方向。     

CRISPR/Cas技术在抗除草剂作物育种中的研究与应用进展

CRISPR/Cas系统是一种简单、低成本、高效、精准的基因编辑技术,该技术能够进行基因的定向改造,加速新品种培育进程,在种质资源创制中的应用潜力较高。概述了CRISPR/Cas系统的技术原理及其在作物抗除草剂育种中的应用,简要指出了目前CRISPR/Cas技术在抗除草剂种质创制及应用过程中存在的问题及发展方向,以期为今后利用CRISPR/Cas技术创制抗除草剂新种质提供理论依据。     

Differential expression profiles of miRNA in the serum of sarcopenic rats

As the geriatric population and life expectancy increase, the interest in preventing geriatric diseases, such as sarcopenia, is increasing. However, the causes of sarcopenia are unclear, and current diagnostic methods for sarcopenia are unreliable. We hypothesized that the changes in the expression of certain miRNAs may be associated with the pathophysiology of sarcopenia. Herein, we analyzed the miRNA expression profiles in the blood of young (3-months-old) healthy rats, old sarcopenic (17-months-old) rats, and age-matched (17-months-old) control rats. The changes in miRNA expression levels were analyzed using Bowtie 2 software. A total of 523 miRNAs were detected in the rat serum. Using scatter plots and clustering heatmap data, we found 130 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in sarcopenic rats (>2-fold change) compared to the expression in young healthy and age-matched control rats. With a threshold of >5-fold change, we identified 14 upregulated miRNAs, including rno-miR-133b-3p, rno-miR-133a-3p, rno-miR-133c, rno-miR-208a-3p, and rno-miR434-5p among others in the serum of sarcopenic rats. A protein network map based on these 14 miRNAs identified the genes involved in skeletal muscle differentiation, among which Notch1, Egr2, and Myocd represented major nodes. The data obtained in this study are potentially useful for the early diagnosis of sarcopenia and for the identification of novel therapeutic targets for the treatment and/or prevention of sarcopenia.     

Hydrogen sulfide contributes to cardioprotection during ischemia-reperfusion injury by opening K ATP channels

The present study was undertaken to investigate the protective effect of H2S against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury and its possible mechanism by using isolated heart perfusion and patch clamp recordings. Rat isolated hearts were Langendorff-perfused and subjected to a 30-minute ischemia insult followed by a 30-minute reperfusion. The heart function was assessed by measuring the LVDP, +/-dP/dt max, and the arrhythmia score. The results showed that the treatment of hearts with a H2S donor (40 micromol/L NaHS) during reperfusion resulted in significant improvement in heart function compared with the I/R group (LVDP recovered to 85.0% +/- 6.4% vs. 35.0% +/- 6.1%, +dP/dt max recovered to 80.9% +/- 4.2% vs. 43.0% +/- 6.4%, and -dP/dt max recovered to 87.4% +/- 7.3% vs. 53.8% +/- 4.9%; p < 0.01). The arrhythmia scores also improved in the NaHS group compared with the I/R group (1.5 +/- 0.2 vs. 4.0 +/- 0.4, respectively; p < 0.001). The cardioprotective effect of NaHS during reperfusion could be blocked by an ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K ATP) blocker (10 micromol/L glibenclamide). In single cardiac myocytes, NaHS increased the open probability of K ATP channels from 0.07 +/- 0.03 to 0.15 +/- 0.08 after application of 40 mumol/L NaHS and from 0.07 +/- 0.03 to 0.36 +/- 0.15 after application of 100 mumol/L NaHS. These findings provide the first evidence that H2S increases the open probability of K ATP in cardiac myocytes, which may be responsible for cardioprotection against I/R injury during reperfusion.     

Structural analysis of an acidic, fatty acid ester-bonded extracellular polysaccharide produced by a pristane-assimilating marine bacterium, Rhodococcus erythropolis PR4

Rhodococcus erythropolis PR4 is a marine bacterium that can degrade various alkanes including pristane, a C(19) branched alkane. This strain produces a large quantity of extracellular polysaccharides, which are assumed to play an important role in the hydrocarbon tolerance of this bacterium. The strain produced two acidic extracellular polysaccharides, FR1 and FR2, and the latter showed emulsifying activity toward clove oil, whereas the former did not. FR2 was composed of D-galactose, D-glucose, D-mannose, D-glucuronic acid, and pyruvic acid at a molar ratio of 1:1:1:1:1, and contained 2.9% (w/w) stearic acid and 4.3% (w/w) palmitic acid attached via ester bonds. Therefore, we designated FR2 as a PR4 fatty acid-containing extracellular polysaccharide or FACEPS. The chemical structure of the PR4 FACEPS polysaccharide chain was determined by 1D (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopies as well as by 2D DQF-COSY, TOCSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY experiments. The sugar chain of PR4 FACEPS was shown to consist of tetrasaccharide repeating units having the following structure: [structure: see text].     

A comparative study of different glycosylation methods for the synthesis of D-mannopyranosides of Nalpha-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline allyl ester

The synthesis of Nalpha-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-trans-4-hydroxy-4-O-[(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl)-alpha-d-mannopyranosyl]-l-proline allyl ester and Nalpha-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-trans-4-hydroxy-4-O-[(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl)-alpha-d-mannopyranosyl]-l-proline allyl ester is described. Glycosylation using K?nigs-Knorr conditions with a benzoyl protected glycosyl donor provided the optimum method. Removal of the allyl ester gave two mannosylated building blocks suitable for solid phase glycopeptide synthesis.