Cleavage of territrems by alkaline hydrogen peroxide: Isolation and characterization of the aromatic moiety of territrems

The chemical reaction of cleavaging territrem B to give 3,4,5-trimethoxy benzoic acid by alkaline hydrogen peroxide was investigated. The method was applied for confirmation of the chemical structure of the aromatic moiety of territrem A, A’, B, and B’. The physicochemical properties of the aromatic cleavage product of territrem Aindicated the structure as 3,4-methylendioxy, 5-methoxy benzoic acid (or 4-methoxy, 6-carboxy, 1, 3-benzodioxole). The experiment also gave the evidences that territrem A and A’, on the other hand territrem B and B’ have the identical aromatic moieties on their structures.     

Bioluminescent imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma in live mice

A non-invasive orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model was created with human HCC cells (HepG-Luc) constitutively expressing luciferase (Luc) in nude mice. Development of tumor growth and response to anti-tumor therapy combined with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin was monitored by whole-body bioluminescent imaging (BLI). Luciferase activity in the tumor, determined by BLI, correlated with the tumor volume and weight. The anti-tumor therapy proved effective by BLI monitoring. In conclusion, BLI by luciferase provides a non-invasive method of monitoring tumor activities that can prove useful for therapeutic intervention studies.     

ER-lysosome lipid transfer protein VPS13C/PARK23 prevents aberrant mtDNA-dependent STING signaling

Mutations in VPS13C cause early-onset, autosomal recessive Parkinson’s disease (PD). We have established that VPS13C encodes a lipid transfer protein localized to contact sites between the ER and late endosomes/lysosomes. In the current study, we demonstrate that depleting VPS13C in HeLa cells causes an accumulation of lysosomes with an altered lipid profile, including an accumulation of di-22:6-BMP, a biomarker of the PD-associated leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) G2019S mutation. In addition, the DNA-sensing cGAS-STING pathway, which was recently implicated in PD pathogenesis, is activated in these cells. This activation results from a combination of elevated mitochondrial DNA in the cytosol and a defect in the degradation of activated STING, a lysosome-dependent process. These results suggest a link between ER-lysosome lipid transfer and innate immune activation in a model human cell line and place VPS13C in pathways relevant to PD pathogenesis.     

Classifying human operator functional state based on electrophysiological and performance measures and fuzzy clustering method

The human operator’s ability to perform their tasks can fluctuate over time. Because the cognitive demands of the task can also vary it is possible that the capabilities of the operator are not sufficient to satisfy the job demands. This can lead to serious errors when the operator is overwhelmed by the task demands. Psychophysiological measures, such as heart rate and brain activity, can be used to monitor operator cognitive workload. In this paper, the most influential psychophysiological measures are extracted to characterize Operator Functional State (OFS) in automated tasks under a complex form of human–automation interaction. The fuzzy c-mean (FCM) algorithm is used and tested for its OFS classification performance. The results obtained have shown the feasibility and effectiveness of the FCM algorithm as well as the utility of the selected input features for OFS classification. Besides being able to cope with nonlinearity and fuzzy uncertainty in the psychophysiological data it can provide information about the relative importance of the input features as well as the confidence estimate of the classification results. The OFS pattern classification method developed can be incorporated into an adaptive aiding system in order to enhance the overall performance of a large class of safety–critical human–machine cooperative systems.     

High-quality genome assembly of Huazhan and Tianfeng,the parents of an elite rice hybrid Tian-you-hua-zhan

High-quality rice reference genomes have accelerated the comprehensive identification of genome-wide variations and research on functional genomics and breeding. Tian-you-hua-zhan has been a leading hybrid in China over the past decade. Here, de novo genome assembly strategy optimization for the rice indica lines Huazhan (HZ) and Tianfeng (TF), including sequencing platforms, assembly pipelines and sequence depth, was carried out. The PacBio and Nanopore platforms for long-read sequencing were utilized, with the Canu, wtdbg2, SMARTdenovo, Flye, Canu-wtdbg2, Canu-SMARTdenovo and Canu-Flye assemblers. The combination of PacBio and Canu was optimal, considering the contig N50 length, contig number, assembled genome size and polishing process. The assembled contigs were scaffolded with Hi-C data, resulting in two “golden quality” rice reference genomes, and evaluated using the scaffold N50, BUSCO, and LTR assembly index. Furthermore, 42,625 and 41,815 non-transposable element genes were annotated for HZ and TF, respectively. Based on our assembly of HZ and TF, as well as Zhenshan97, Minghui63, Shuhui498 and 9311, comprehensive variations were identified using Nipponbare as a reference. The de novo assembly strategy for rice we optimized and the “golden quality” rice genomes we produced for HZ and TF will benefit rice genomics and breeding research, especially with respect to uncovering the genomic basis of the elite traits of HZ and TF.

     

An arabinogalactan isolated from the stems of Cistanche deserticola induces the proliferation of cultured lymphocytes

A purified polysaccharide ACDP-2 was isolated from water extract of the stems of Cistanche deserticola. Chemical and spectroscopic analyses indicated that ACDP-2 is a highly branched arabinogalactan polymer that composes of linked d-galactopyranose and d-glucopyranose, which contains predominantly a branching point at the 6-carbon. The branched side-chains compose of terminal-, 1,5-, and 1,3,5-linked arabinofuranosyl residues. ACDP-2 showed an effect in stimulating the immune response, which when applied onto the cultured mouse lymphocytes induced the cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.     

2001—2010年黄河流域生态系统植被净第一性生产力变化及气候因素驱动分析

基于MODIS-NDVI遥感数据,利用CASA模型分析黄河流域2001—2010年植被净第一性生产力（NPP）的空间分布格局,并结合同期气温和降水量数据,分别从不同空间和时间尺度上分析了黄河流域6种生态系统类型区域植被NPP的变化趋势,并对其与气候因素的相关关系进行分析.结果表明： 植被NPP空间分布呈西北低、东南高的分布特征,平均NPP年总量为108.53 Tg C,植被NPP的分布与生态系统类型呈现较高的相关性;2001—2010年,植被NPP总体呈上升趋势但波动较大,55.4%的面积呈现增加趋势,不同生态系统类型区域呈现不同的变化趋势;在年际水平上,黄河流域植被NPP变化与气候因素没有显著相关性,但在月际水平上呈现了较高的相关性,降水量和气温对植被NPP变化的影响作用相当;不同生态系统类型对气候因素呈现不同的相关性质以及时滞效应,草地对降水量的响应存在一定程度的时滞效应,荒漠对气温存在时滞效应.