Mannose-binding lectin does not explain the course and outcome of pregnancy in rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction  

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improves during pregnancy and flares after delivery. It has been hypothesized that high levels of the complement factor mannose-binding lectin (MBL) are associated with a favourable disease course of RA by facilitating the clearance of pathogenic immunoglobulin G (IgG) lacking galactose sugar moieties. During pregnancy, increased galactosylation of IgG and simultaneously increased MBL levels can be observed, with the latter being strictly related to maternal MBL genotypes. Therefore, increased MBL levels in concert with increased IgG galactosylation may be associated with pregnancy-induced improvement of RA. The objective of this study was to investigate whether MBL genotypes are associated with changes in RA disease activity and with changes in IgG galactosylation during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. We also studied the association between MBL genotypes and pregnancy outcomes in RA.     

硫加树脂包膜尿素控释肥对小麦干物质积累分配及产量的影响

在田间高产条件下,设置硫加树脂包膜尿素控释肥(SRCU)、树脂包膜尿素控释肥(RCU)、普通尿素加硫磺粉(SU)、普通尿素(U)处理,研究硫和SRCU对冬小麦干物质积累与分配及产量的影响.结果表明:施用RCU处理的植株干物质积累量和籽粒产量与分期施氮不施硫处理相比无显著差异.在土壤有效硫含量为43.2 mg·kg-1的条件下,施硫量为91.4 kg·hm-2的SRCU处理与相同施硫量分期施氮处理相比,花后干物质积累与分配及产量无显著差异;与无硫的RCU处理相比,花后同化物输入籽粒量、籽粒灌浆中期的灌浆速率、千粒重和产量均显著提高.在土壤有效硫含量为105.1 mg·kg-1的条件下,施硫量为120kg·hm-2的SRCU处理籽粒产量显著高于相同施硫量分期施氮处理,与不施硫分期施氮处理和RCU处理无显著差异.说明SRCU释放的氮素对冬小麦干物质积累、分配和产量的调节作用与速效氮素分期施用的效果一致.SRCU释放的硫素对冬小麦的调节作用受土壤有效硫含量高低的影响,在有效硫含量为43.2 mg·kg-1的条件下,能促进花后干物质积累和籽粒灌浆,显著提高籽粒产量;在有效硫含量为105.1 mg·kg-1的条件下,则无显著增产作用,过多施用硫磺粉还可导致产量显著降低.     

小鼠胚胎附植前后瘦素长型受体在下丘脑及消化器官的表达

目的对长型瘦素受体在雌性昆明鼠生殖周期中的表达情况进行研究。方法采用蛋白免疫印迹实验方法对下丘脑、胃、十二指肠组织中的瘦素受体进行了分析,并用免疫组织化学染色法对雌性KM鼠生殖周期不同阶段的下丘脑、胃、十二指肠组织中表达的瘦素长型受体进行定位分析。结果与结论瘦素受体六个亚型的分子量大约分别为(120、90、77、66.2、54、47)×103;下丘脑神经元胞质中有棕褐色阳性颗粒,且数目随妊娠日龄增加而增加;胃底腺中下部分胞质和细胞核有棕褐色阳性颗粒,且阳性率随妊娠日龄的增加而增加;十二指肠腺中胞质和细胞核有棕褐色阳性颗粒,且阳性率随妊娠日龄的增加而增加。     

Structure and evolution of Streptomyces interaction networks in soil and in silico

Soil grains harbor an astonishing diversity of Streptomyces strains producing diverse secondary metabolites. However, it is not understood how this genotypic and chemical diversity is ecologically maintained. While secondary metabolites are known to mediate signaling and warfare among strains, no systematic measurement of the resulting interaction networks has been available. We developed a high-throughput platform to measure all pairwise interactions among 64 Streptomyces strains isolated from several individual grains of soil. We acquired more than 10,000 time-lapse movies of colony development of each isolate on media containing compounds produced by each of the other isolates. We observed a rich set of such sender-receiver interactions, including inhibition and promotion of growth and aerial mycelium formation. The probability that two random isolates interact is balanced; it is neither close to zero nor one. The interactions are not random: the distribution of the number of interactions per sender is bimodal and there is enrichment for reciprocity--if strain A inhibits or promotes B, it is likely that B also inhibits or promotes A. Such reciprocity is further enriched in strains derived from the same soil grain, suggesting that it may be a property of coexisting communities. Interactions appear to evolve rapidly: isolates with identical 16S rRNA sequences can have very different interaction patterns. A simple eco-evolutionary model of bacteria interacting through antibiotic production shows how fast evolution of production and resistance can lead to the observed statistical properties of the network. In the model, communities are evolutionarily unstable--they are constantly being invaded by strains with new sets of interactions. This combination of experimental and theoretical observations suggests that diverse Streptomyces communities do not represent a stable ecological state but an intrinsically dynamic eco-evolutionary phenomenon.     

丙型肝炎病毒感染与肝细胞癌相关关系的研究进展

世界上有数亿的人口患有丙型肝炎,而丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的感染易转为慢性,引起肝细胞炎性坏死及再生,导致肝纤维化、硬化甚至肝细胞癌（HCC）,是危害人类健康的一个重要卫生问题。HCV的感染可导致HCC的发生,但HCV相关性HCC的发生机制尚不清楚。免疫逃避机制是感染慢性化的一个重要原因,病毒通过其基因组编码的蛋白使肝细胞发生转化,可能是肝细胞癌变的重要机制。     

Expression, purification, and functional characterization of recombinant PTD-SARA

The Smad anchor for receptor activation (SARA) protein is a binding partner for Smad2/3 that plays an important role in the fibrotic promoting signaling pathway initiated by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). The C-terminal 665-750 aa of SARA comprises the Smad-binding domain (SBD). By direct interaction through the SBD, SARA inhibits Smad2/3 phosphorylation and blocks the interaction between Smad2/3 and Smad4, thereby restrains the process of fibrosis. In this study, we constructed a SARA peptide aptamer based on the SBD sequence. The recombinant SARA aptamer, fused with a protein transduction domain (PTD-SARA), was cloned, purified from E. coli, and characterized for the first time. The full-length PTD-SARA coding sequence, created with E. coli favored codons, was cloned into a pQE-30 vector, and the recombinant plasmid was transformed into an M15 strain. After Isopropyl β-D-1-Thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) induction and Ni(2+) affinity purification, recombinant PTD-SARA was further identified by immunoblotting and protein N-terminal sequencing. Epifluorescence microscopy revealed that the recombinant PTD-SARA was transferred into the cytoplasm and nucleus more efficiently than SARA. Moreover, the recombinant PTD-SARA was found to up-regulate the level of E-cadherin and down-regulate the levels of α-SMA and phospho-Smad3 more efficiently than SARA (P < 0.05). Our work explored a method to obtain recombinant PTD-SARA protein. The recombinant PTD-SARA fusion protein could enter HK2 cells (an immortalized proximal tubule epithelial cell line) more efficiently than the SARA protein and reverse the renal epithelial-to-mesenchymal transdifferentiation process that was induced by TGF-β1 more effectively than the SARA protein. Recombinant PDT-SARA is likely to be a potential candidate for clinical prevention and treatment of renal fibrosis.     

Rapid colorimetric testing for pyrazinamide susceptibility of M. tuberculosis by a PCR-based in-vitro synthesized pyrazinamidase method

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is an important first-line anti-tuberculosis drug. But PZA susceptibility test is challenging because PZA activity is optimal only in an acid environment that inhibits the growth of M. tuberculosis. For current phenotypic methods, inconsistent results between different labs have been reported. Direct sequencing of pncA gene is being considered as an accurate predictor for PZA susceptibility, but this approach needs expensive sequencers and a mutation database to report the results. An in-vitro synthesized Pyrazinamidase (PZase) assay was developed based on PCR amplification of pncA gene and an in vitro wheat germ system to express the pncA gene into PZase. The activity of the synthesized PZase was used as an indicator for PZA susceptibility. Fifty-one clinical isolates were tested along with pncA sequencing and the BACTEC MGIT 960 methods. The in-vitro synthesized PZase assay was able to detect PZA susceptibility of M. tuberculosis within 24 h through observing the color difference either by a spectrometer or naked eyes. This method showed agreements of 100% (33/33) and 88% (14/16) with the pncA sequencing method, and agreements of 96% (27/28) and 65% (15/23) with the BACTEC MGIT 960 method, for susceptible and resistant strains, respectively. The novel in-vitro synthesized PZase assay has significant advantages over current methods, such as its fast speed, simplicity, no need for expensive equipment, and the potentials of being a direct test, predicting resistance level and easy reading results by naked eyes. After confirmation by more clinical tests, this method may provide a radical change to the current PZA susceptibility assays.     

Meibum lipid composition in Asians with dry eye disease

Background

Previous lipidomic analyses of the human meibum had largely focused on individuals from non-Asian populations, despite the higher prevalence of dysfunctional tear syndrome (DTS) observed across Asia. Information pertaining to the alterations in lipid profiles in relation to DTS onset and progression is also lacking and warrants comprehensive experimental analysis.

Methodologies/Principal Findings

We examined the meibum lipidome of 27 DTS patients and 10 control subjects for a total of 256 lipid species from 12 major lipid classes, including cholesteryl ester (CE), wax ester (WE), triacylglyceride (TAG), (O-acyl)-ω-hydroxy fatty acid (OAHFA), glycerophospholipids (phosphatidylcholine, PC; phosphatidylethanolamine, PE; phosphatidylinositol, PI; phosphatidylglycerol, PG) and sphingolipids (sphingomyelin, SM; ceramide, Cer; glucosylceramide, GluCer; dihexosylceramide, DihexCer). Neutral lipids were analysed using high-performance liquid-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of polar lipid species. DTS patients were classified into three severity groups (i.e. mild, moderate and severe) based on the ocular surface disease index (OSDI). A significantly lower level of TAG (p<0.05) was observed in patients under the moderate category compared to the mild category. Notably, a number of OAHFA species displayed consistently decreasing levels that correlate with increasing disease severity. An attempt was also made to investigate the changes in meibum lipid profiles of DTS patients compared to normal individuals classified based on OSDI score. Several unsaturated TAG and PC species were found at significantly higher levels (p<0.05) in patients than controls.

Conclusion

The current study presents, for the first time, a comprehensive lipidome of meibum from individuals of an Asian ethnicity, which can potentially offer new insights into the higher prevalence of DTS observed amongst Asian populations. This study also represents an attempt towards identification of lipid species in meibum which could serve as marker for DTS.     

Structural analysis of the UBA domain of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein reveals different surfaces for ubiquitin-binding and self-association

Background

Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) belong to a pivotal antiapoptotic protein family that plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis, cancer progression, chemoresistance and poor patient-survival. X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is a prominent member of IAPs attracting intense research because it has been demonstrated to be a physiological inhibitor of caspases and apoptosis. Recently, an evolutionarily conserved ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domain was identified in XIAP and a number of RING domain-bearing IAPs. This has placed the IAPs in the group of ubiquitin binding proteins. Here, we explore the three-dimensional structure of the XIAP UBA domain (XIAP-UBA) and how it interacts with mono-ubiquitin and diubiquitin conjugates.

Principal Findings

The solution structure of the XIAP-UBA domain was determined by NMR spectroscopy. XIAP-UBA adopts a typical UBA domain fold of three tightly packed α-helices but with an additional N-terminal 3₁₀ helix. The XIAP-UBA binds mono-ubiquitin as well as Lys48-linked and linear-linked diubiquitins at low-micromolar affinities. NMR analysis of the XIAP-UBA–ubiquitin interaction reveals that it involves the classical hydrophobic patches surrounding Ile44 of ubiquitin and the conserved MGF/LV motif surfaces on XIAP-UBA. Furthermore, dimerization of XIAP-UBA was observed. Mapping of the self-association surface of XIAP-UBA reveals that the dimerization interface is formed by residues in the N-terminal 3₁₀ helix, helix α1 and helix α2, separate from the ubiquitin-binding surface.

Conclusion

Our results provide the first structural information of XIAP-UBA and map its interaction with mono-ubiquitin, Lys48-linked and linear-linked diubiquitins. The notion that XIAP-UBA uses different surfaces for ubiquitin-binding and self-association provides a plausible model to explain the reported selectivity of XIAP in binding polyubiquitin chains with different linkages.