A proteomic analysis of human bile

We have carried out a comprehensive characterization of human bile to define the bile proteome. Our approach involved fractionation of bile by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis and lectin affinity chromatography followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Overall, we identified 87 unique proteins, including several novel proteins as well as known proteins whose functions are unknown. A large majority of the identified proteins have not been previously described in bile. Using lectin affinity chromatography and enzymatically labeling of asparagine residues carrying glycan moieties by (18)O, we have identified a total of 33 glycosylation sites. The strategy described in this study should be generally applicable for a detailed proteomic analysis of most body fluids. In combination with "tagging" approaches for differential proteomics, our method could be used for identification of cancer biomarkers from any body fluid.     

Invaded grassland communities have altered stability‐maintenance mechanisms but equal stability compared to native communities

Theory predicts that stability should increase with diversity via several mechanisms. We tested predictions in a 5‐year experiment that compared low‐diversity exotic to high‐diversity native plant mixtures under two irrigation treatments. The study included both wet and dry years. Variation in biomass across years (CV) was 50% lower in mixtures than monocultures of both native and exotic species. Growth among species was more asynchronous and overyielding values were greater during and after a drought in native than exotic mixtures. Mean‐variance slopes indicated strong portfolio effects in both community types, but the intercept was higher for exotics than for natives, suggesting that exotics were inherently more variable than native species. However, this failed to result in higher CV's in exotic communities because species that heavily dominated plots tended to have lower than expected variance. Results indicate that diversity‐stability mechanisms are altered in invaded systems compared to native ones they replaced.     

Biodiversity,photosynthetic mode,and ecosystem services differ between native and novel ecosystems

Human activities have caused non-native plant species with novel ecological interactions to persist on landscapes, and it remains controversial whether these species alter multiple aspects of communities and ecosystems. We tested whether native and exotic grasslands differ in species diversity, ecosystem services, and an important aspect of functional diversity (C₃:C₄ proportions) by sampling 42 sites along a latitudinal gradient and conducting a controlled experiment. Exotic-dominated grasslands had drastically lower plant diversity and slightly higher tissue N concentrations and forage quality compared to native-dominated sites. Exotic sites were strongly dominated by C₄ species at southern and C₃ species at northern latitudes with a sharp transition at 36–38°, whereas native sites contained C₃:C₄ mixtures. Large differences in C₃:C₄ proportions and temporal niche partitioning were found between native and exotic mixtures in the experiment, implying that differences in C₃:C₄ proportions along the latitudinal gradient are caused partially by species themselves. Our results indicate that the replacement of native- by exotic-dominated grasslands has created a management tradeoff (high diversity versus high levels of certain ecosystem services) and that models of global change impacts and C₃/C₄ distribution should consider effects of exotic species.     

Production of lignosulfonate in NSSC‐based biorefinery

The spent liquor (SL) of a neutral sulfite semichemical (NSSC) pulping process contains a considerable amount of lignocelluloses and is treated in wastewater systems. The lignocelluloses, however, can be used for producing value‐added products if they are isolated from the SL. In this article, solvent treatment (mixing acetone, ethanol, or isopropyl with SL) was used as a method for isolating lignosulfonate from SL. The maximum lignosulfonate removal was obtained via mixing isopropyl alcohol with SL at the weight ratio of 20/80, room temperature, and 5.7 pH. The results also showed that the molecular weight and anionic charge density of the precipitates were in the range of 5,000–70,000 g/mol and 0.2–1.8 meq/g, respectively. Based on these results, a process was proposed for isolating lignosulfonate from SL and converting the NSSC process to an NSSC‐based biorefinery. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1508–1514, 2015     

PDADMAC as a flocculant for lignosulfonate of NSSC pulping process

The spent liquor (SL) of neutral sulfite semi‐chemical (NSSC) pulping process contains about 8 wt% lignocelluloses that can be extracted and used in the production of value‐added materials. In this work, a flocculation process followed by centrifugation was considered for isolating lignosulfonate and hemicelluloses from SL. It was observed that, by adding 20 mg/g of polydiallyldimethylammuniom chloride (PDADMAC) with 100,000–200,000 g/mol molecular weight to SL, 45% of lignosulfonate and 39% of hemicelluloses were removed at 30°C. The lignocellulose removal was more efficient for the dual flocculation system of low and high molecular weights PDADMAC than for individual PDADMAC systems. Overall, 49% of lignosulfonate, 47% of hemicelluloses and 97% of turbidity were removed from SL from the dual system when 10 mg/g low molecular weight PDADMAC and 10 mg/g high molecular weight PDADMAC were added to the SL at 30°C, subsequently. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of generated flocs showed that all samples had similar thermal behaviour and 13–16 wt% of flocs remained as ash after burning at 700°C in nitrogen. As the flocs are made of lignocellulosic materials and they are thermally stable, they could be used as fillers in paper board production. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:686–691, 2016     

Introducing a novel method based on the imperialistic competitive algorithm to determine fluorine intermolecular potential from ab initio calculations and calculation of some properties via MD simulations

In this work, the possibility of obtaining an accurate site-site potential model suitable for use in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of fluorine from ab initio calculations has been explored. The exploration was made on ab initio calculations. To reduce the ab initio pair potentials into a site-site potential, a higher significance was assigned to the configuration which is more stable. For this purpose, the imperialistic competitive algorithm (ICA) was implemented as a powerful optimisation tool. The calculated second virial coefficients were compared to the experimental values to test the quality of the presented intermolecular potential. The relative error for the calculated second virial coefficient ranged from 0.1 to 5.6%. MD simulations were used to evaluate the ability of the proposed intermolecular potential function. The relative error for the MD simulations ranged from 0.5 to 5.2%. The results are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Adsorption performance of creatinine on dialdehyde nanofibrillated cellulose derived from potato residues

Potato residue is vastly produced in the food industry but it is landfilled. This article describes the treatment of purified cellulose derived from potato residues by a high pressure homogenizer to produce nano‐fibrillated cellulose (NFC), which was then oxidized by sodium periodate to prepare dialdehyde nano‐fibrillated cellulose (DANFC). The produced NFC and DANFC were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The orthogonal experiment was induced to obtain the maximum degree of oxidation (DO) on DANFC. The results indicated that the optimal conditions were 40°C and pH 3. Alternatively, the isotherm and kinetic studies for the adsorption of creatinine on DANFC with different DOs (70.5 and 88.8%) were investigated, and the experimental results fitted well into Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo second‐order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption capacities of DANFCs with the DO of 70.55 and 88.85% were 6.7 and 17.2 mg g^?1, respectively, which were achieved under the conditions of 37°C and initial creatinine concentration of 100 mg L^?1. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:208–214, 2016     

Estrogen prevents cardiomyocyte apoptosis through inhibition of reactive oxygen species and differential regulation of p38 kinase isoforms

From human and animal studies, estrogen is known to protect the myocardium from an ischemic insult. However, there is limited knowledge regarding mechanisms by which estrogen directly protects cardiomyocytes. In this report, we employed an in vitro model, in which cultured rat cardiomyocytes underwent prolonged hypoxia followed by reoxygenation (H/R), to study the cardioprotective mechanism of estrogen. 17-beta-estradiol (E2) acting via estrogen receptors inhibited H/R-induced apoptosis of cardiomyocytes. Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from H/R activated p38alpha MAPK, and inhibition of p38alpha with SB203580 significantly prevented H/R-induced cell death. E2 suppressed ROS formation and p38alpha activation by H/R and concomitantly augmented the activity of p38beta. Unlike p38alpha, p38beta was little affected by H/R. Dominant negative p38beta protein expression decreased E2-mediated cardiomyocyte survival and ROS suppression during H/R stress. The prosurvival signaling molecule, phosphoinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), has previously been linked to cell survival following ischemia-reperfusion injury. Here, E2-activated PI3K was found to inhibit ROS generated from H/R injury, leading to inhibition of downstream p38alpha. We further linked these signaling pathways in that p38beta was activated by E2 stimulation of PI3K. Thus, E2 differentially modulated two major isoforms of p38, leading to cardiomyocyte survival. This was achieved by signaling through PI3K, integrating cell survival mediators.