Overproduction of a truncated poly (vinyl alcohol) dehydrogenase in recombinant Pichia pastoris by low-temperature induction strategy and related mechanism analysis

Based on the N-terminal sequencing of poly (vinyl alcohol) dehydrogenase (PVADH), a 1,644-bp gene encoding a truncated PVADH (tPVADH) was amplified using the synthetic gene (GenBank accession No. JQ235753) as a template, and was further transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 with the vector pPIC9K. The maximal tPVADH activity reached 546 U/mL in shake flask. The influence of methanol concentration and induction temperature on tPVADH production was further investigated in 3-L bioreactor. When the methanol concentration and induction temperature were controlled at 15 g/L and 22 °C, respectively, the maximal tPVADH activity reached 8,464 U/mL, which was nearly 10 times that of mature PVADH expressed under the same condition and was the highest level ever reported. The reason responsible for the significant improvement of tPVADH production at low induction temperature was explored in terms of cell viability, extracellular proteases activity, and alcohol oxidase activity.     

Functional proteomics reveals the protective effects of saffron ethanolic extract on hepatic ischemia‐reperfusion injury

Hepatic ischemia‐reperfusion (IR) injury is a common clinical problem and ROS may be a contributing factor on IR injury. The current study evaluates the potential protective effect of saffron ethanol extract (SEE) in a rat model upon hepatic IR injury. Caspases 3 and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) results showed increased cell death in the IR samples; reversely, minor apoptosis was detected in the SEE/IR group. Pretreatment with SEE significantly restored the content of antioxidant enzymes (SOD1 and catalase) and remarkably inhibited the intracellular ROS concentration in terms of reducing p47phox translocation. Proteome tools revealed that 20 proteins were significantly modulated in protein intensity between IR and SEE/IR groups. Particularly, SEE administration could attenuate the carbonylation level of several chaperone proteins. Network analysis suggested that saffron extract could alleviate IR‐induced ER stress and protein ubiquitination, which finally lead to cell apoptosis. Taken together, SEE could reduce hepatic IR injury through modulating protein oxidation and our results might help to develop novel therapeutic strategies against ROS‐caused diseases.     

Proteomic analysis reveals tanshinone IIA enhances apoptosis of advanced cervix carcinoma CaSki cells through mitochondria intrinsic and endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways

Cervix cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide, whereas paclitaxel, the first line chemotherapeutic drug used to treat cervical cancer, shows low chemosensitivity on the advanced cervical cancer cell line. Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) exhibited strong growth inhibitory effect on CaSki cells (IC₅₀ = 5.51 μM) through promoting caspase cascades with concomitant upregulating the phosphorylation of p38 and JNK signaling. Comprehensive proteomics revealed the global protein changes and the network analysis implied that Tan IIA treatment would activate ER stress pathways that finally lead to apoptotic cell death. Moreover, ER stress inhibitor could alleviate Tan IIA caused cell growth inhibition and ameliorate C/EBP‐homologous protein as well as apoptosis signal‐regulating kinase 1 mediated cell death. The therapeutic interventions targeting the mitochondrial‐related apoptosis and ER stress responses might be promising strategies to conquer paclitaxel resistance.     

结直肠癌组织异常表达miRNA的鉴定

目的：筛选结直肠癌组织异常表达的miRNAs。方法：采用Agilem基因芯片（V12．0）分析结直肠癌组织及其配对正常粘膜组织间差异表达的miRNAs,MiRNAs错误发生率（FDR）〈0．05和微矩阵显著性分析（SAM）q值〈0．05为差异显著。结果：鉴定出结直肠癌中32个差异表达的miRNAs,显著上调和下调各16个。实时定量PCR（RT—qPCR）证实基因芯片中4个表达上调的miRNAs在结直肠癌组织中也显著上调。结论：MiRNA基因芯片鉴定出了结直肠癌组织一系列新的差异表达的miRNAs。     

Molecular Analysis of Anaplasma phagocytophilum Isolated from Patients with Febrile Diseases of Unknown Etiology in China

Although anaplasmosis cases have been nationally identified in China, no human isolates of A. phagocytophilum have been obtained, which limits the analysis of any molecular and genetic contributions to patients'' severe clinical manifestations and the study of the bacteria''s pathogeneses in China. Given this situation, a joint project was conducted in 2009–2010. A total of 421 febrile cases of unknown etiology were collected and the patients'' blood samples were collected for laboratory diagnoses including serologic diagnosis based on the four-fold rise in the anti- A. phagocytophilum IgG titer by indirect micro-immunofluorescence assay (IFA), positive PCR assay and confirmation of A. phagocytophilum DNA and positive culture of A. phagocytophilum and confirmed by amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA and ank A genes of the A. phagocytophilum isolates. A total of 570 ticks were collected from the patients'' domestic animals (456) and from wild fields (114) for culturing and amplifying and sequencing the 16S rRNA gene of A. phagocytophilum. Phylogenetic analyses were performed on the 16S rRNA and ank A gene sequences of the isolates and the ticks tested in the study. A total of 46 (10.9%) confirmed and 16 (3.8%) probable cases were diagnosed and severe clinical features and higher mortality rates were observed in these Chinese patients. Five isolates were obtained and the 16S rRNA genes of the 5 isolates were conserved but variety for ank A genes. Two human isolates and 1 tick isolate from Shandong Peninsula, where all patients exhibited severe clinical manifestations, were grouped as one clan based on the phylogenetic analyses, while 2 other human isolates were clustered in a second clan. 43.5% of H. longicornis were infected with A. phagocytophilum.The present study is the first to obtain clinical isolates of A. phagocytophilum in China. The diversity of the ank A genes of Chinese isolates will help us to further discern the relationship between the variations in the ank A genes and the severity of the disease''s clinical manifestations in China.     

Fluctuations in Species-Level Protein Expression Occur during Element and Nutrient Cycling in the Subsurface

While microbial activities in environmental systems play a key role in the utilization and cycling of essential elements and compounds, microbial activity and growth frequently fluctuates in response to environmental stimuli and perturbations. To investigate these fluctuations within a saturated aquifer system, we monitored a carbon-stimulated in situ Geobacter population while iron reduction was occurring, using 16S rRNA abundances and high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry proteome measurements. Following carbon amendment, 16S rRNA analysis of temporally separated samples revealed the rapid enrichment of Geobacter-like environmental strains with strong similarity to G. bemidjiensis. Tandem mass spectrometry proteomics measurements suggest high carbon flux through Geobacter respiratory pathways, and the synthesis of anapleurotic four carbon compounds from acetyl-CoA via pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase activity. Across a 40-day period where Fe(III) reduction was occurring, fluctuations in protein expression reflected changes in anabolic versus catabolic reactions, with increased levels of biosynthesis occurring soon after acetate arrival in the aquifer. In addition, localized shifts in nutrient limitation were inferred based on expression of nitrogenase enzymes and phosphate uptake proteins. These temporal data offer the first example of differing microbial protein expression associated with changing geochemical conditions in a subsurface environment.     

Kinetic Partitioning Modulates Human Telomere DNA G-Quadruplex Structural Polymorphism

Telomeres are specialized chromatin structures found at the end of chromosomes and are crucial to the maintenance of eukaryotic genome stability. Human telomere DNA is comprised of the repeating sequence (T₂AG₃)_n, which is predominantly double-stranded but terminates with a 3’ single-stranded tail. The guanine-rich tail can fold into secondary structures known as a G-quadruplexes (GQs) that may exist as a polymorphic mixture of anti-parallel, parallel, and several hybrid topological isomers. Using single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET), we have reconstructed distributions of telomere DNA GQ conformations generated by an in situ refolding protocol commonly employed in single-molecule studies of GQ structure, or using a slow cooling DNA annealing protocol typically used in the preparation of GQ samples for ensemble biophysical analyses. We find the choice of GQ folding protocol has a marked impact on the observed distributions of DNA conformations under otherwise identical buffer conditions. A detailed analysis of the kinetics of GQ folding over timescales ranging from minutes to hours revealed the distribution of GQ structures generated by in situ refolding gradually equilibrates to resemble the distribution generated by the slow cooling DNA annealing protocol. Interestingly, conditions of low ionic strength, which promote transient GQ unfolding, permit the fraction of folded DNA molecules to partition into a distribution that more closely approximates the thermodynamic folding equilibrium. Our results are consistent with a model in which kinetic partitioning occurs during in situ folding at room temperature in the presence of K⁺ ions, producing a long-lived non-equilibrium distribution of GQ structures in which the parallel conformation predominates on the timescale of minutes. These results suggest that telomere DNA GQ folding kinetics, and not just thermodynamic stability, likely contributes to the physiological ensemble GQ structures.     

Improved Working Memory Performance through Self-Regulation of Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation Using Real-Time fMRI

Working memory is important for a wide range of high-level cognitive activities. Previous studies have shown that the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a critical role in working memory and that behavioral training of working memory can alter the activity of DLPFC. However, it is unclear whether the activation in the DLPFC can be self-regulated and whether any self-regulation can affect working memory behavior. The recently emerged real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) technique enables the individuals to acquire self-control of localized brain activation, potentially inducing desirable behavioral changes. In the present study, we employed the rtfMRI technique to train subjects to up-regulate the activation in the left DLPFC, which is linked to verbal working memory. After two rtfMRI training sessions, activation in the left DLPFC was significantly increased, whereas the control group that received sham feedback did not show any increase in DLPFC activation. Pre- and post-training behavioral tests indicated that performance of the digit span and letter memory task was significantly improved in the experimental group. Between-group comparison of behavioral changes showed that the increase of digit span in the experimental group was significantly greater than that in the control group. These findings provide preliminary evidence that working memory performance can be improved through learned regulation of activation in associated brain regions using rtfMRI.     

Autophagic Protein Beclin 1 Serves as an Independent Positive Prognostic Biomarker for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Beclin 1, a key regulator of autophagy, has been found to be aberrantly expressed in a variety of human malignancies. Herein, we employed immunohistochemistry (IHC) to detect the protein expression of Beclin 1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and paired normal adjacent lung tissues, and analyzed its clinicopathological/prognostic significance in NSCLC. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized to determine a cutoff point (>2 VS. ≤2) for Beclin 1 expression in a training set (n = 105). For validation, the ROC-derived cutoff value was subjected to analysis of the association of Beclin 1 with patients’ clinical characteristics and outcome in a testing set (n = 111) and the overall patient cohort (n = 216). Our data showed that Beclin 1 was significantly lower in NSCLC tissues compared with the adjacent normal tissues, negatively associating with tumor recurrence rate (65.8% VS 32.3%; p < 0.001). In the testing set and the overall patient cohort, low expression of Beclin 1 showed significantly inferior overall survival (OS) (p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p < 0.001) compared to high expression of Beclin 1. In the testing set and the overall patient cohort, the median duration of OS for patients with high and low expression of Beclin 1 was 108 VS. 24.5 months (p < 0.001) and 108 VS. 28 months (p < 0.001), respectively. Furthermore, low expression of Beclin 1 was also a poor prognostic factor within each stage of NSCLC patients. Multivariate analysis identified that Beclin 1 was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC. Our findings in the present study provided evidence that Beclin 1 may thus emerge as an independent prognostic biomarker in this tumor entity in the future.