beta-oxidation - strategies for the metabolism of a wide variety of acyl-CoA esters

Living organisms are exposed to a number of different fatty acids and their various derivatives arising either via endogenous synthesis or from exogenous sources. These hydrophobic compounds can play specific metabolic, structural or endocrinic functions in the organisms before their elimination, which can be metabolism to CO(2) or to more polar lipid metabolites allowing their excretion. Quantitatively, one of the major pathways metabolizing fatty acids is beta-oxidation, which consists of a set of four reactions operating at the carbons 2 or 3 of acyl-CoA esters and shortening of the acyl-chain. To allow the beta-oxidation of acyl groups with various steric variants to proceed, different strategies have been developed. These strategies include evolution of beta-oxidation enzymes as paralogues showing specificity with respect to either chain-length or modified acyl-chain, metabolic compartmentalization in eukaryotic cells, controlling of substrate transport across membranes, development of auxiliary enzyme systems, acquisition of enzymes with adaptive active sites and recruiting and optimizing enzymes from non-homologous sources allowing them to catalyze a parallel set of reactions with different substrate specificities.     

Doppel is an N-glycosylated, glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein. Expression in testis and ectopic production in the brains of Prnp(0/0) mice predisposed to Purkinje cell loss

The Prnd gene encodes a homolog of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) called doppel (Dpl). Up-regulation of Prnd mRNA in two distinct lines of PrP gene ablated (Prnp(0/0)) mice, designated Rcm0 and Ngsk, is associated with death of Purkinje cells. Using recombinant Dpl expressed in Escherichia coli and mouse neuroblastoma cells we demonstrate that wild type (wt) Dpl, like PrP(C), adopts a predominantly alpha-helical conformation, forms intramolecular disulfide bonds, has two N-linked oligosaccharides, and is presented on the cell surface via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. Dpl protein was detected in testis of wt mice. Using Triton X-114 phase partitioning to enrich for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins, Dpl was detected in brain samples from Rcm0 Prnp(0/0) mice but was absent in equivalent samples from wt mice and ZrchI Prnp(0/0) mice, indicating that ectopic expression of this protein may cause cerebellar pathology in Rcm0 mice. Biochemical and structural similarities between PrP(C) and Dpl documented here parallel the observation that ataxic Ngsk Prnp(0/0) mice can be rescued by overexpression of wild-type PrP transgenes, and suggest that cell surface PrP(C) can antagonize the toxic effect of Dpl expressed in the central nervous system.     

十字花科10属种与油菜萝卜胞质不育系杂交的花粉萌发情况观察

对10属种十字花科植物与油菜萝卜胞质不育系杂交时花粉在柱头上粘合、萌发、花粉管伸长等情况进行观察。结果表明：（1）海甘蓝花粉粒粘合较难;（2）48 h内无瓣焊菜〖WTBX〗(Rorippa dubia)〖WTBX〗、毛果诸葛菜(Orychophragmus violaceus)、桂竹香(Cheiranthus cheiri)、海甘蓝(Crambe abyssinica)花粉管的伸长受阻于花粉萌发启动之时,花粉壁内形成胼胝质塞;播娘蒿、紫罗兰、荠菜花粉管伸长但未进入乳突细胞;芝麻菜花粉管进入乳突细胞而未进入柱头,‘浠水白’(Brassica campestris)、蓝花子有花粉管进入柱头及花柱而未进入胚囊。     

慢性乙型肝炎舌红苔黄和舌淡苔白不同舌象的尿代谢组研究

目的：探索慢性乙型肝炎舌红苔黄和舌淡苔白不同舌象者的尿代谢差异指标,为中医舌象生物学物质基础微观辨证提供证据。方法：采用气相色谱／质谱联用（GC／MS ）技术方法获取慢性乙型肝炎舌红苔黄和舌淡苔白不同舌象者的尿液样本代谢指纹谱,用无监督的学习模式进行多变量统计分析,观察不同组别的人群之间是否存在“自然”的分类结构。利用有监督的学习模式进行数据分类模型的建立和检验,寻找造成样本聚集和离散的主要差异变量。利用商业化的代谢物谱库以及标准品数据库,进行物质鉴定。结果：慢性乙型肝炎舌红苔黄和舌淡苔白者在有监督的学习模式下具有良好的分开趋势,慢乙肝不同舌象者较健康者的差异代谢物谱主要与能量代谢、氨基酸代谢、核苷酸代谢以及肠道菌群代谢相关。结论：舌象是机体变化的重要窗口,不同舌象的外在表观潜在体内的代谢差异。     

中山杉及其父母本幼苗对干旱胁迫和复水的响应

本文研究了落羽杉和墨杉及其杂交后代中山杉302(落羽杉♀×墨杉♂)、中山杉407(墨杉♀×落羽杉♂)、回交代中山杉118(中山杉302♀×墨杉♂)在自然干旱胁迫和复水过程中,光合特征、抗氧化酶系统和形态特性等的响应.结果表明:随干旱时间的延长,所有植株的净光合速率逐渐降低、脯氨酸开始积累且抗氧化酶系统逐渐清除丙二醛的毒性.胁迫至第8天,落羽杉净光合速率的下降幅度最大,而中山杉118的水分利用效率最高、丙二醛含量最少;墨杉的超氧化物歧化酶活性和脯氨酸含量增长最大.复水2 d后,所有植物的参数均有不同程度的恢复,其中,中山杉118恢复速率最快,其净光合速率和脯氨酸含量分别恢复了74.4%和60.2%.复水9 d后,所有植株的测定指标基本恢复至或接近正常水平,其中,中山杉118的生物量未受影响且根冠比显著增加.植物的耐旱能力依次为墨杉>中山杉118>中山杉407>中山杉302>落羽杉.回交品种中山杉118的杂种优势明显,较大程度地遗传了墨杉的耐旱性,该结论可为耐旱中山杉品种的杂交选育和推广应用提供科学依据.     

不同坡度下植物散流-过滤带对地表股流氮磷的消除效果

在植物过滤带前设置0.8~1.2 m宽的散流带,能提高过滤带对地表股流中氮、磷营养物质的去除,发生明显增效作用。之前研究均基于平缓的坡度(4%~6%),对较倾斜坡度,设置散流带是否具有增效作用尚不清楚。研究通过在黄荆(Vitex negundo)过滤带前设置五节芒(Miscanthus floridulus)散流带,观测五节芒-黄荆和纯黄荆过滤带在5%、10%、15%坡度下对氮、磷的消除,探讨散流带在不同坡度下对过滤带的增效作用。结果表明:五节芒-黄荆和黄荆过滤带对总氮、铵氮、硝氮、总磷的去除均随坡度的增加而减小,在15%坡度下的去除效率最低;3种坡度下,五节芒-黄荆对总氮、铵氮、硝氮、总磷的消除均极显著(P0.01)或显著性(P0.05)高于黄荆过滤带,表明在较大坡度下(10%、15%),五节芒散流带对黄荆缓冲带的增效作用仍然存在。研究结果能深化植物散流-过滤带水质保护功能的认识,为农业非点源污染管理提供启示。     

The direct effect of estrogen on cell viability and apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells

Epidemiology researches indicated that gastric cancer is a male-predominant disease; both expression level of estrogen and expression pattern of estrogen receptors (ERs) influence its carcinogenesis. But the direct effect of estrogen on gastric cancer cells is still unclear. This study aimed to explore the direct effect of β-estradiol (E2) on gastric cancer cells. SGC7901 and BGC823 were treated with a serial of concentrations of E2. The survival rates of both the cell lines were significantly reduced, and the reduction of viability was due to apoptosis triggered by E2 treatment. Caspase 3 was activated in response to the increasing E2 concentration in both SGC7901 and BGC823. Cleaved Caspase 3 fragments were detected, and the expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were reduced. Apoptosis was further confirmed by flow cytometry. The expression level of PEG10, an androgen receptor target gene, was reduced during E2 treatment. Both ERα and ERβ were expressed in these cell lines, and the result of bioinformatics analysis of gastric cancer from GEO datasets indicated that the expression levels of both ERα and ERβ were significantly higher in noncancerous gastric tissues than in gastric cancer tissues. Our research indicated that estrogen can reduce cell viability and promote apoptosis in gastric cancer cells directly; ERs expression level is associated with gastric cancer. Our research will help to understand the mechanism of gender disparity in gastric cancer.     

Generation and Characterization of a Nanobody Against SARS-CoV

Virologica Sinica - The sudden emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has caused global panic in 2003, and the risk of SARS-CoV outbreak still exists. However, no...