Five New Guaiane Sesquiterpenes from the Endophytic Fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647 of Azadirachta indica

Five new guaiane sesquiterpenes, 1 – 5 , were isolated from the culture broth of the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647, isolated from Azadirachta indica A. Juss . The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, and their inhibitory activities against five pathogenic fungi were evaluated. All guaiane sesquiterpenes showed moderate or weak antifungal activities in a broth microdilution assay.     

Faster STORM using compressed sensing

In super-resolution microscopy methods based on single-molecule switching, the rate of accumulating single-molecule activation events often limits the time resolution. Here we developed a sparse-signal recovery technique using compressed sensing to analyze images with highly overlapping fluorescent spots. This method allows an activated fluorophore density an order of magnitude higher than what conventional single-molecule fitting methods can handle. Using this method, we demonstrated imaging microtubule dynamics in living cells with a time resolution of 3 s.     

A novel matrix derivatized from hydrophilic gigaporous polystyrene-based microspheres for high-speed immobilized-metal affinity chromatography

Agarose coated gigaporous polystyrene microspheres were evaluated as a novel matrix for immobilized-metal affinity chromatography (IMAC). With four steps, nickel ions were successfully immobilized on the microspheres. The gigaporous structure and chromatographic properties of IMAC medium were characterized. A column packed with the matrix showed low column backpressure and high column efficiency at high flow velocity. Furthermore, this matrix was used for purifying superoxide dismutase (SOD), which was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) in submerged fermentation, on an Äkta purifier 100 system under different flow velocities. The purity of the SOD from this one-step purification was 79% and the recovery yield was about 89.6% under the superficial flow velocity of 3251 cm/h. In conclusion, all the results suggested that the gigaporous matrix has considerable advantages for high-speed immobilized-metal affinity chromatography.     

Tenascin-R distinct domains modulate migration of neural stem/progenitor cells in vitro

Extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules constitute a "niche" that modulates the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs). The glycoprotein Tenascin-R (TN-R) is an ECM molecule, comprising multiple domains. Either the whole TN-R molecule or its distinct domains has been demonstrated to play a very important role in the developing central nervous system. However, little is known about the effect of the TN-R domain on NSPCs, especially NSPC migration. In the present study, we first show that both TN-R domains epidermal growth factor-like repeat (EGFL) and fibronectin type III (FN)6-8 can inhibit the NSPCs migration from neurospheres in vitro. Furthermore, both the EGFL and FN6-8 domains affect the distribution of neurons generated from neurospheres, indicating that EGFL and FN6-8 domains inhibit the motility of neurons generated from neurospheres. These results suggest that TN-R has an inhibitory effect on NSPCs migration.     

葛洲坝枢纽下游白鲟性腺发育的初步观察

白鲟Psephurus gladius(Martens)是我国特有的稀珍鱼类,近年来对其生物学做了一些初步的研究。鉴于它的种群较小,在学术上具有较为重要的价值,所以,长江兴修水利工程以后对其资源的影响及资源保护和增殖问题,特别是聚集于坝下江段的白鲟亲鱼性腺能否发育成熟等问题,和中华鲟一样引起了水产科学工作者的普遍关注。       

The affinity of human RANK binding to its ligand RANKL

Receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B (RANK) and its ligand, RANKL play critical roles in bone re-modeling, immune function, vascular disease and mammary gland development. To study the interaction of RANK and RANKL, we have expressed both extracellular domain of RANK and ectodomain of RANKL using Escherichia coli expression system. RANK was expressed as an inclusion body first which properly refolded later, while RANKL was initially produced as a GST fusion protein, after which the GST was removed by enzyme digestion. Soluble RANK existed as a monomer while RANKL was seen as a trimer in solution, demonstrated by gel filtration chromatography and cross-linking experiment. The recombinant RANK and RANKL could bind to each other and the binding affinity of RANKL for RANK was measured with surface plasmon resonance technology and K_D value is about 1.09 × 10⁻¹⁰ M.     

Persistent Antibody Responses but Declining Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Responses to Multiple Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Antigens in a Long-Term Nonprogressing Individual with a Defective p17 Proviral Sequence and No Detectable Viral RNA Expression

Long-term nonprogressor AD-18 has been infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) for at least 16 years. During the past 5 years, he has had undetectable levels of plasma viremia, and HIV-1 cannot be isolated from him. Sequencing of proviral DNA indicates that the only HIV-1 sequences that can be identified in AD-18 have gross defects in the p17-encoding regions of the gag gene (Y. Huang, L. Zhang, and D. D. Ho, Virology 240:36–49, 1998). However, AD-18 has strong, sustained antibody responses to several HIV-1 antigens, including p17. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses to Env and Gag antigens have gradually diminished over the past 4 years, at a time when the titers of antibodies to the same proteins have remained stable. We discuss what these observations might mean for the generation and maintenance of immunological memory.     

Decreased methylation of the major mouse long interspersed repeated DNA during aging and in myeloma cells

Sequences of DNA that hybridize on Southern blots with cloned EcoR1 1.3 kb (ER1) of long interspersed repeated sequence (L1Md) of mouse have been examined in genomic DNA of neonatal mice, livers and brains of adult mice (3, 10, 27, and 30 mo old), and the solid myeloma tumor MOPC-315. The isoschizomers Hpa II (CCGG or mCCGG) and Msp I (CCGG or CmCGG) were used to assess methylation. We found that the L1Md sequence is fully methylated in young animals but demethylated in myeloma. Demethylation of L1Md sequence also occurred in aged animals. By scanning the autoradiogram, we found that approximately 8% of the 10(4)-10(5) copies have been demethylated in 27-mo-old liver.     

Novel Biomarkers for Non-functioning Invasive Pituitary Adenomas were Identified by Using Analysis of microRNAs Expression Profile

The microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in multiple pathological processes among various types of tumors. However, the functions of miRNAs in benign brain tumors are largely unexplored. In order to explore the pathogenesis of the invasiveness in non-functional pituitary adenoma (NFPA), the miRNAs expression profile was analyzed between invasive and non-invasive non-functional pituitary adenoma by miRNAs microarray. Six most significant differentially expressed miRNAs were identified including four upregulated miRNAs hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181d, hsa-miR-191-3p, and hsa-miR-598 and two downregulated miRNAs hsa-miR-3676-5p and hsa-miR-383. The functions and corresponding signaling pathways of differentially expressed miRNAs were investigated by bioinformatics techniques, including Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. The result of GO analysis indicates regulation of voltage-gated potassium channel activity, positive regulation of sodium ion transport, positive regulation of GTPase activity, negative regulation of Notch signaling pathway, etc. KEGG pathway reveals a series of biological processes, including prolactin signaling pathway, endocrine and other factor-regulated calcium reabsorption, fatty acid metabolism, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, etc. The miRNAs hsa-miR-181a-5p was verified by quantitative real-time PCR, and the expression level was in accordance with the microarray result. Our result can provide the evidence on featured miRNAs which play a prominent role in pituitary adenoma as effective biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the future.