嗅觉受体在非嗅觉组织和细胞中的作用及其机制

嗅觉受体(olfactory receptor)不仅表达在鼻腔中,还广泛表达在全身其他部位,起着重要的生理作用.本文综述了非嗅觉组织和细胞中表达的嗅觉受体及其功能,这些嗅觉受体通过调控细胞周围的内源性化学物质,维持正常的生理功能,并且能在选定的外源性配体刺激下,表现出特定的功能.在医药领域,大约有40%上市药物的作用靶点都来自于G蛋白偶联受体(GPCR)家族,而嗅觉受体是GPCR中最大的基因家族,鉴于其表现出的重要作用,我们推测这些嗅觉受体可能成为未来重要的药物靶标.本文对非嗅觉组织和细胞中嗅觉受体功能的综述,一方面有利于将其作为潜在药物靶点,开发新的药物,另一方面也为中药中挥发性单体的药理作用提供了新的研究思路.     

Glycine-serine-rich effector PstGSRE4 in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici inhibits the activity of copper zinc superoxide dismutase to modulate immunity in wheat

Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) secretes an array of specific effector proteins to manipulate host immunity and promote pathogen colonization. In a previous study, we functionally characterized a glycine-serine-rich effector PstGSRE1 with a glycine-serine-rich motif (m9). However, the mechanisms of glycine-serine-rich effectors (GSREs) remain obscure. Here we report a new glycine-serine-rich effector, PstGSRE4, which has no m9-like motif but inhibits the enzyme activity of wheat copper zinc superoxide dismutase TaCZSOD2, which acts as a positive regulator of wheat resistance to Pst. By inhibiting the enzyme activity of TaCZSOD2, PstGSRE4 reduces H₂O₂ accumulation and HR areas to facilitate Pst infection. These findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of GSREs of rust fungi in regulating plant immunity.     

Infection and distribution of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in citrus plants and psyllid vectors at the cellular level

Huanglongbing (HLB) is currently considered the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide. In the major citrus-growing areas in Asia and the US, the major causal agent of HLB is the bacterial pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). CLas is vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, in a persistent propagative manner. CLas cannot be cultured in vitro because of its unclear growth factors, leading to uncertainty in the infection mechanism of CLas at the cellular level in citrus and in D. citri. To characterize the detailed infection of CLas in the host and vector, the incidence of HLB was first investigated in citrus-growing fields in Fujian Province, China. It was found that the positive association of the level of CLas infection in the leaves correlated with the symptoms. Then antibodies against peptides of the outer membrane protein (OMP) of CLas were prepared and tested. The antibodies OMP-225, OMP-333 and OMP724 showed specificity to citrus plants in western blot analyses, whereas the antibodies OMP-47 and OMP-225 displayed specificity to the D. citri vector. The application of OMP-225 in the immunofluorescence assay indicated that CLas was located in and distributed throughout the phloem sieve cells of the leaf midribs and axile placenta of the fruit. CLas also infected the epithelial cells and visceral muscles of the alimentary canal of D. citri. The application of OMP-333 in immunoelectron microscopy indicated the round or oval CLas in the sieve cells of leaf midribs and axile placenta of fruit as well as in the epithelial cells and reticular tissue of D. citri alimentary canal. These results provide a reliable means for HLB detection, and enlighten a strategy via neutralizing OMP to control HLB. These findings also provide insight for the further investigation on CLas infection and pathogenesis, as well as CLas–vector interaction.     

互花米草入侵对胶州湾河口湿地土壤总铁分布的影响

互花米草是胶州湾滨海湿地典型的入侵物种,为进一步了解互花米草入侵对胶州湾河口湿地土壤总铁含量分布的影响,于2017年3月、5月、7月、9月和11月分别在互花米草湿地和光滩采集土壤样品,并对土壤总铁含量、有机质含量、土壤可溶性盐、pH、含水率、容重和土壤粒度进行测定与分析。结果表明:互花米草入侵显著提高了土壤总铁含量,两样区0—50 cm土层土壤总铁含量差异显著(P0.05),5月和7月互花米草湿地总铁含量在垂直方向上呈先上升后下降趋势;与光滩在同一采样月份相比,互花米草湿地土壤总铁含量增幅分别为25.36%、29.50%、17.52%、30.28%和14.48%。相关性分析表明,互花米草湿地和光滩土壤总铁含量均与有机质含量和可溶性盐呈显著正相关(P0.01);并且光滩土壤总铁含量与含水率呈显著正相关(P0.01),与容重呈显著负相关(P0.01),表明两样区土壤总铁含量受有机质含量和可溶性盐影响较大。     

Nitric oxide and changes of iron metabolism in exercise

Accumulated data imply that exercise itself might not lead to a true iron deficiency or 'sport anaemia' in a healthy athlete who has adequate iron intake. The higher prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in younger female athletes might be not due to exercise itself, but probably results from dietary choices, inadequate iron intake and menstruation. These factors can also induce iron deficiency or anaemia in the general population. However, exercise does affect iron metabolism, leading to low or sub-optimal iron status. The underlying mechanism is unknown. In this review, recent advances in the study of the effect of exercise on iron metabolism and nitric oxide, and the relationship between nitric oxide and iron status in exercise are discussed. A hypothesis that increased production of nitric oxide might contribute to sub-optimal iron status in exercise is proposed.     

Determination of cefazedone in human plasma by high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: Application to a pharmacokinetic study on Chinese volunteers

A rapid, sensitive and simple high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) method was developed for determination of cefazedone in human plasma using metronidazole as internal standard (IS). The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Ultimate XB-CN column (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm) with an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile and 20 mM ammonium acetate in 0.1% formic acid in water (15:85, v/v). Detection was performed using electrospray ionization in positive ion multiple reaction-monitoring mode (SRM), monitoring the transitions m/z 548.2 → 344.1 for cefazedone and m/z 172.2 → 128.1 for IS. Calibration curves were linear over a wide range of 0.20–401.12 μg/mL for cefazedone in plasma. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.20 μg/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 7.2%. The average recovery of cefazedone was 90.8–91.0%. The validated method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of cefazedone in Chinese healthy volunteers following intravenous (IV) administration of 500, 1000 and 2000 mg cefazedone injection.     

非洲爪蟾短型肽聚糖识别蛋白基因的克隆与鉴定

采用生物信息学方法首次对非洲爪蟾短型肽聚糖识别蛋白(xePGRP-S)基因进行了克隆,并对其在胚胎发育和成年爪蟾各组织中的表达状况进行了分析。xePGRP-ScDNA全长720bp,开放阅读框为549bp,编码182个氨基酸。序列比对显示xePGRP-S与其他物种PGRP-S的序列相似性在42.4%-50.5%之间。RT-PCR显示在非洲爪蟾胚胎发育至3d时可以明显检测到xePGRP-S的表达,之后呈持续性表达,且在所检测的心、肝、脾、肺、肾、肠和胃这7种组织器官中呈组成型表达。       

MiR‐616‐3p modulates cell proliferation and migration through targeting tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 in preeclampsia

Objectives

Despite improvements in diagnosis and treatment, preeclampsia (PE) continues to pose a significant risk of maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality if not addressed promptly. An increasing number of studies have suggested that tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI2) acts as a suppressor gene, possibly inhibiting multiple serine proteases affecting cell proliferation and migration. It plays an essential role in the occurrence and development of PE, but the pathogenesis remains unclear.

Materials and methods

In our research, we performed western blotting, immunohistochemistry and qPCR assays to investigate TFPI2 and miR‐616‐3p expression in preeclamptic placental tissues. Cell assays were performed in HTR‐8/SVneo and JEG3 cell lines. Cell proliferation and migration events were investigated by MTT, EdU and transwell assays. In conjunction with bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assays were performed to elucidate the mechanism by which miR‐616‐3p binds to TFPI2 mRNA.

Results

We established that TFPI2 protein levels were significantly upregulated in PE placental tissues. In addition, we found that miR‐616‐3p binds specifically to the 3′‐UTR region of TFPI2 mRNA. Furthermore, miR‐616‐3p knockdown or TFPI2 overexpression substantially impaired cell growth and migration, whereas miR‐616‐3p upregulation or TFPI2 knockdown stimulated cell proliferation and migration. This miR‐616‐3p / TFPI2 axis was also found to affect the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition process in PE.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated that TFPI2 plays a vital role in the progression of PE and might provide a prospective therapeutic strategy to mitigate the severity of the disorder.

     

青岛近海及其临近海域冬季微微型浮游植物的分布

微微型浮游植物（0.2～2.0 μm） 是海水中最小的自养浮游生物, 在世界各海域广泛分布, 并在海洋有机物质循环中起着非常重要的作用.利用荧光显微技术对青岛近海及其邻近海域冬季微微型浮游植物丰度进行了调查,研究了微微型浮游植物的空间变化和昼夜变化的特征, 并分析了微微型浮游植物丰度与环境因子的相关性. 结果显示, 冬季该海域以富含藻红素（Phycoerythrin-rich, PE）的聚球藻(Synechococcus, Syn)细胞占优势,微微型真核藻类（Picoeukaryote, Euk）次之,而富含藻蓝素（Phycocyanin-rich, PC）的聚球藻细胞数量很低, 未发现原绿球藻（Prochlorococcus, Pro）的存在.Syn 的变化范围为8.97×10³～1.95×10⁵ cells·ml^-1, 平均4.67×10⁴ cells·ml^-1; Euk的变化范围为1.95×10²～1.01×10⁴ cells·ml^-1, 平均2.39×10³ cells·ml^-1. Syn丰度在胶南以南海域出现高值区域, 在即墨海域和崂山东南海域出现低值区域. Euk丰度在日照海域出现高值区域; 崂山海域为低值区域; 各水层Syn和Euk丰度均无明显差异(P﹥0.05). 对胶州湾中部连续站4层水体的24 h昼夜连续变化进行观测发现, Syn、Euk丰度都有明显昼夜波动.相关性分析表明： Syn与温度、 电导率呈正相关, 与溶氧浓度呈显著负相关; Euk与盐度和溶氧浓度呈显著负相关. 微微型浮游植物对总浮游植物生物量的贡献约为20％.