Comparative proteomic analysis of salt response proteins in seedling roots of two wheat varieties

A comparative proteomic analysis was made of salt response in seedling roots of wheat cultivars Jing-411 (salt tolerant) and Chinese Spring (salt sensitive) subjected to a range of salt stress concentrations (0.5%, 1.5% and 2.5%) for 2 days. One hundred and ninety eight differentially expressed protein spots (DEPs) were located with at least two-fold differences in abundance on 2-DE maps, of which 144 were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF MS. These proteins were involved primarily in carbon metabolism (31.9%), detoxification and defense (12.5%), chaperones (5.6%) and signal transduction (4.9%). Comparative analysis showed that 41 DEPs were salt responsive with significant expression changes in both varieties under salt stress, and 99 (52 in Jing-411 and 47 in Chinese Spring) were variety specific. Only 15 and 9 DEPs in Jing-411 and Chinese Spring, respectively, were up-regulated in abundance under all three salt concentrations. All dynamics of the DEPs were analyzed across all treatments. Some salt responsive DEPs, such as guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit beta-like protein, RuBisCO large subunit-binding protein subunit alpha and pathogenesis related protein 10, were up-regulated significantly in Jing-411 under all salt concentrations, whereas they were down-regulated in salinity-stressed Chinese Spring.     

Sonochemical synthesis of Ag nanoclusters: electrogenerated chemiluminescence determination of dopamine

We report a facile one‐pot sonochemical approach to preparing highly water‐soluble Ag nanoclusters (NCs) using bovine serum albumin as a stabilizing agent and reducing agent in aqueous solution. Intensive electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) was observed from the as‐prepared Ag (NCs) and successfully applied for the ECL detection of dopamine with high sensitivity and a wide detection range. A possible ECL mechanism is proposed for the preparation of Ag NCs. With this method, the dopamine concentration was determined in the range of 8.3 × 10^–9 to 8.3 × 10^–7 mol/L without the obvious interference of uric acid, ascorbic acid and some other neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, epinephrine and norepinephrine, and the detection limit was 9.2 × 10^–10 mol/L at a signal/noise ratio of 3. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Genetics and Resistance Mechanism of the Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Against Powdery Mildew

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Powdery mildew (PM) is one of the most severe foliar diseases in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.), but the inheritance of PM resistance remains unclear. The...     

Enzymatic activity of palmitoyl‐protein thioesterase‐1 in serum from schizophrenia significantly associates with schizophrenia diagnosis scales

Genome‐wide association studies have confirmed that schizophrenia is an inheritable multiple‐gene mental disorder. Longitudinal studies about depression, first episode psychosis (FEP) and acute psychotic relapse have mostly searched for brain imaging biomarkers and inflammatory markers from the blood. However, to the best of our knowledge, the association between enzymatic activities with diagnosis or prediction of treatment response in people with schizophrenia has barely been validated. Under the Longitudinal Study of National Mental Health Work Plan (2015‐2020), we have studied a subsample of approximately 36 individuals from the cohort with data on palmitoyl‐protein thioesterase‐1 enzymatic activity from FEP and performed a bivariate correlation analysis with psychiatric assessment scores. After adjusting for sex, age, body mass index (BMI) and total serum protein, our data demonstrated that PPT1 enzymatic activity is significantly associated with schizophrenia and its Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores. This longitudinal study compared the PPT1 enzymatic activity in FEP schizophrenia patients and healthy volunteers, and the former exhibited a significant 1.5‐fold increase in PPT1 enzymatic levels (1.79 mmol/L/h/mL, and 1.18 mmol/L/h/mL; P < 0.05; 95% CI, 2.3‐2.9 and 1.4‐1.8). The higher PPT1 enzymatic levels in FEP schizophrenia patients were positively associated with larger PANSS scaling scores (r = 0.32, P = 0.0079 for positive scaling; r = 0.41, P = 0.0006 for negative scaling; r = 0.45, P = 0.0001 for general scaling; and r = 0.34, P = 0.0048 for PNASS‐S scaling). Higher enzymatic PPT1 in FEP schizophrenia patients is significantly associated with increased PANSS scaling values, indicating more serious rates of developing psychosis. Enzymatic activity of PPT1 may provide an important new view for schizophrenia disorders.     

Synthesis,evaluation and CoMFA/CoMSIA study of nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles as novel antitubercular agents

A series of novel nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles based on the structure of IIIM-MCD-211 were designed and synthesized. Compounds 6d, 8b and 12a show excellent activity against MTB H37Rv strain (MIC: 0.031–0.062?μg/mL) roughly comparable to INH and IIIM-MCD-211. In addition, a three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) study was performed on the above mentioned chemical series employing comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) techniques. The developed CoMFA and CoMSIA models display high external predictability (r²_pred of 0.954 and 0.935, respectively) and good statistical robustness. More importantly, the newly designed compounds 16a and 16b (MIC: <0.016?μg/mL) based on the two models, as expected, were found to be more active than 12a and IIIM-MCD-21. Design and synthesis of more potent nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles as anti-TB agents are currently in progress.     

Hydrolyzed camel whey protein alleviated heat stress-induced hepatocyte damage by activated Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway and inhibited NF-κB/NLRP3 axis

Liver damage is the most severe complication of heat stress (HS). Hydrolyzed camel whey protein (CWP) possesses bioactive peptides with obviously antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The current study aims to investigate whether CWP that is hydrolyzed by a simulated gastrointestinal digestion process, named S-CWP, protects BRL-3A hepatocytes from HS-induced damage via antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. BRL-3A cells were pretreated with S-CWP before being treated at 43 °C for 1 h, and the levels of the cellular oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, biomarkers for liver function, the activities of several antioxidant enzymes, and the cell viability were analyzed. The expression level of pivotal proteins in correlative signaling pathways was evaluated by western blotting. We confirmed that S-CWP alleviated HS-induced hepatocytes oxidative stress by decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), 8-Hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonylation (PCO), and the activities of NADPH oxidase while enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) activities, and GSH content. S-CWP suppressed HS-induced inflammatory response by reducing the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65, the expression of NLRP3, and caspase-1 and finally alleviated caspase-3-mediated apoptosis. S-CWP also alleviated HS-induced hepatocyte injury by reducing alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and restoring Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) expression. Furthermore, S-CWP treatment significantly enhanced the expression of NF-E2-related nuclear factor erythroid-2 (Nrf2) and HO-1. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of S-CWP were weakened by ML385, a specific Nrf2 inhibitor. Additionally, zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP), a specific HO-1 inhibitor, significantly reversed S-CWP-induced reduction in the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65. Thus, our results revealed that S-CWP protected against HS-induced hepatocytes damage via activating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway and inhibiting NF-κB/NLRP3 axis.     

Histochemical examination of cathepsin K,MMP1 and MMP2 in compressed periodontal ligament during orthodontic tooth movement in periostin deficient mice

The purpose of this study was to investigate immunolocalization of collagenolytic enzymes including cathepsin K, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 1 and 2 in the compressed periodontal ligament (PDL) during orthodontic tooth movement using a periostin deficient (Pn-/-) mouse model. Twelve-week-old male mice homozygous for the disrupted periostin gene and their wild type (WT) littermates were used in these experiments. The tooth movement was performed according to Waldo’s method, in which elastic bands of 0.5 mm thickness were inserted between the first and second upper molars of mice under anesthesia. At 1 and 3 days after orthodontic force application, mice were fixed with transcardial perfusion of 4 % paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), and the first molars and peripheral alveolar bones were extracted for histochemical analyses. Compared with WT mice, immunolocalization of cathepsin K, MMP1 and MMP2 was significantly decreased at 1 and 3 days after orthodontic tooth movement in the compressed PDL of Pn-/- mice, although MMP1-reactivity and MMP2-reactivity decreased at different amounts. Very little cathepsin K-immunoreactivity was observed in the assessed regions of Pn-/- mice, both before and after orthodontic force application. Furthermore, Pn-/- mice showed a much wider residual PDL than WT mice. Taken together, we concluded that periostin plays an essential role in the function of collagenolytic enzymes like cathepsin K, MMP1 and MMP2 in the compressed PDL after orthodontic force application.     

Characteristic gut microbiota and metabolic changes in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Intestinal flora provides an important contribution to the development of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). We performed a cross-sectional study in 52 healthy controls (HCs) and 83 patients with untreated active PTB to assess the differences in their microbiomic and metabolic profiles in faeces via V3-V4 16S rRNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Patients with PTB had considerable reductions in phylogenetic alpha diversity and the production of short-chain fatty acids, dysbiosis of the intestinal flora and alterations in the faecal metabolomics composition compared with HCs. Significant alterations in faecal metabolites were associated with changes in the relative abundance of specific genera. Our study describes the imbalance of the gut microbiota and altered faecal metabolomics profiles in patients with PTB; the results indicate that the gut microbiota and faecal metabolomic profiles can be used as potential preventive and therapeutic targets for PTB.     

CpG_MPs: identification of CpG methylation patterns of genomic regions from high-throughput bisulfite sequencing data

High-throughput bisulfite sequencing is widely used to measure cytosine methylation at single-base resolution in eukaryotes. It permits systems-level analysis of genomic methylation patterns associated with gene expression and chromatin structure. However, methods for large-scale identification of methylation patterns from bisulfite sequencing are lacking. We developed a comprehensive tool, CpG_MPs, for identification and analysis of the methylation patterns of genomic regions from bisulfite sequencing data. CpG_MPs first normalizes bisulfite sequencing reads into methylation level of CpGs. Then it identifies unmethylated and methylated regions using the methylation status of neighboring CpGs by hotspot extension algorithm without knowledge of pre-defined regions. Furthermore, the conservatively and differentially methylated regions across paired or multiple samples (cells or tissues) are identified by combining a combinatorial algorithm with Shannon entropy. CpG_MPs identified large amounts of genomic regions with different methylation patterns across five human bisulfite sequencing data during cellular differentiation. Different sequence features and significantly cell-specific methylation patterns were observed. These potentially functional regions form candidate regions for functional analysis of DNA methylation during cellular differentiation. CpG_MPs is the first user-friendly tool for identifying methylation patterns of genomic regions from bisulfite sequencing data, permitting further investigation of the biological functions of genome-scale methylation patterns.     

Identification and Epigenetic Analysis of a Maternally Imprinted Gene Qpct

Most imprinted genes are concerned with embryonic development, especially placental development. Here, we identified a placenta-specific imprinted gene Qpct. Our results show that Qpct is widely expressed during early embryonic development and can be detected in the telecephalon, midbrain, and rhombencephalon at E9.5–E11.5. Moreover, Qpct is strikingly expressed in the brain, lung and liver in E15.5. Expression signals for Qpct achieved a peak at E15.5 during placental development and were only detected in the labyrinth layer in E15.5 placenta. ChIP assay results suggest that the modification of histone H3K4me3 can result in maternal activating of Qpct.