The AMA1-RON complex drives Plasmodium sporozoite invasion in the mosquito and mammalian hosts

Plasmodium sporozoites that are transmitted by blood-feeding female Anopheles mosquitoes invade hepatocytes for an initial round of intracellular replication, leading to the release of merozoites that invade and multiply within red blood cells. Sporozoites and merozoites share a number of proteins that are expressed by both stages, including the Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1) and the Rhoptry Neck Proteins (RONs). Although AMA1 and RONs are essential for merozoite invasion of erythrocytes during asexual blood stage replication of the parasite, their function in sporozoites was still unclear. Here we show that AMA1 interacts with RONs in mature sporozoites. By using DiCre-mediated conditional gene deletion in P. berghei, we demonstrate that loss of AMA1, RON2 or RON4 in sporozoites impairs colonization of the mosquito salivary glands and invasion of mammalian hepatocytes, without affecting transcellular parasite migration. Three-dimensional electron microscopy data showed that sporozoites enter salivary gland cells through a ring-like structure and by forming a transient vacuole. The absence of a functional AMA1-RON complex led to an altered morphology of the entry junction, associated with epithelial cell damage. Our data establish that AMA1 and RONs facilitate host cell invasion across Plasmodium invasive stages, and suggest that sporozoites use the AMA1-RON complex to efficiently and safely enter the mosquito salivary glands to ensure successful parasite transmission. These results open up the possibility of targeting the AMA1-RON complex for transmission-blocking antimalarial strategies.     

Circular RNA circ‐RCCD promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation in mouse embryo development via recruiting YY1 to the promoter of MyD88

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect, affecting approximately 1% of live births. Genetic and environmental factors are leading factors to CHD, but the mechanism of CHD pathogenesis remains unclear. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are kinds of endogenous non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs) involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes, especially in heart diseases. In this study, three significant differently expressed circRNA between maternal embryonic day (E) E13 and E17 was found by microarray assay. Among them, the content of circ‐RCCD increases with the development of heart and was enriched in primary cardiomyocytes of different species, which arouses our attention. Functional experiments revealed that inhibition of circ‐RCCD dramatically suppressed the formation of beating cell clusters, the fluorescence intensity of cardiac differentiation marker MF20, and the expression of the myocardial‐specific markers CTnT, Mef2c, and GATA4. Next, we found that circ‐RCCD was involved in cardiomyocyte differentiation through negative regulation of MyD88 expression. Further experiments proved that circ‐RCCD inhibited MyD88 levels by recruiting YY1 to the promoter of MyD88; circ‐RCCD inhibited nuclear translocation of YY1. These results reported that circ‐RCCD promoted cardiomyocyte differentiation by recruiting YY1 to the promoter of MyD88. And, this study provided a potential role and molecular mechanism of circ‐RCCD as a target for the treatment of CHD.     

Plasmodium berghei leucine-rich repeat protein 1 downregulates protein phosphatase 1 activity and is required for efficient oocyst development

Protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) is a key enzyme for Plasmodium development. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying its regulation remain to be deciphered. Here, we report the functional characterization of the Plasmodium berghei leucine-rich repeat protein 1 (PbLRR1), an orthologue of SDS22, one of the most ancient and conserved PP1 interactors. Our study shows that PbLRR1 is expressed during intra-erythrocytic development of the parasite, and up to the zygote stage in mosquitoes. PbLRR1 can be found in complex with PbPP1 in both asexual and sexual stages and inhibits its phosphatase activity. Genetic analysis demonstrates that PbLRR1 depletion adversely affects the development of oocysts. PbLRR1 interactome analysis associated with phospho-proteomics studies identifies several novel putative PbLRR1/PbPP1 partners. Some of these partners have previously been characterized as essential for the parasite sexual development. Interestingly, and for the first time, Inhibitor 3 (I3), a well-known and direct interactant of Plasmodium PP1, was found to be drastically hypophosphorylated in PbLRR1-depleted parasites. These data, along with the detection of I3 with PP1 in the LRR1 interactome, strongly suggest that the phosphorylation status of PbI3 is under the control of the PP1–LRR1 complex and could contribute (in)directly to oocyst development. This study provides new insights into previously unrecognized PbPP1 fine regulation of Plasmodium oocyst development through its interaction with PbLRR1.     

一株沙门氏菌拮抗菌的筛选及其在污染土壤原位修复中的应用

利用无菌滤纸片平板法从沙门氏菌(Salmonella)污染土壤中筛选到一株有效拮抗沙门氏菌的细菌A45,通过形态学、革兰氏染色和16SrDNA序列同源性分析鉴定为产碱杆菌(Alcaligenes sp.)。温室土培试验和田间原位试验结果都发现,利用该菌株制备的沙门氏菌拮抗菌剂能显著降低土壤中沙门氏菌数量(P0.05),与对照相比土壤中沙门氏菌数量下降2-3个数量级,表明该拮抗细菌可应用于沙门氏菌污染土壤的修复。     

中国丙型肝炎病毒基因型研究新进展

为了进一步了解中国丙型肝炎病毒基因型感染状态 ,我们建立了 5′ ＮＣＲＡＢＣ程序酶切分型法 :首先采用ＲＴＰＣＲ技术 5′ ＮＣＲ扩增ＨＣＶＲＮＡ阳性样品中的ｃＤＮＡ ,然后按照ＡＢＣ程序进行分型 ,Ａ应用ＢＨＨ(ＢｓｒＢⅠ ,ＨａｅⅡ ,ＨｉｎｆⅠ )复合内切酶消化 5′ ＮＣＲｃＤＮＡ ,Ｂ应用ＢｓｔＵⅠ消化 ,Ｃ应用ＨａｅⅢ消化 ,电泳检测片段大小。应用该方法对临床采集的ＨＣＶＲＮＡ阳性血清进行分型 ,在国内首次发...     

基于变权模型的舟山群岛生态安全预警

生态安全预警是生态安全研究的重要内容,对维护区域生态安全具有重要的指示意义.本文以浙江省舟山群岛为例,基于驱动力、压力、状态、影响、响应(DPSIR)框架模型构建了生态安全预警指标体系,使用变权模型对2000-2012年舟山市生态安全的预警等级进行测度,并使用马尔科夫预测方法对2013-2018年生态安全警情进行了预测.结果表明:变权模型能够有效地满足舟山群岛生态安全动态预警研究需要;2000-2012年,舟山群岛生态安全预警指数由0.286波动上升至0.484,警度等级从“重警”演变为“中警”,指示灯由“橙灯”演化为“黄灯”;2013-2018年,舟山群岛生态安全预警等级预测结果为“中警”,指示灯为“黄灯”.研究结果可为维护舟山群岛生态安全提供参考.     

鼎突多刺蚁(Polyrhachis vicina Roger)蚁群的采收与恢复效应

通过对鼎突多刺蚁（Polyrhachis vicina Roger)野生资源的不同采收技术试验,研究采收季节,采收方式、采收强度和人为增加食物源的措施对蚁群恢复程度的影响,结果表明,夏季为最佳采收季节;以采收副巢为主,适当保留主巢有利于蚁群的恢复;在采收中以野生蚁群的25%-35%采收强度采集为宜;人为地在蚂蚁资源较为丰富的山地种植一些能产蜜露昆虫的经济作物,既为蚁群的快速恢复提供了食物保证,也增加额外的经济收入。     

中华按蚊CYP6Y亚家族基因的鉴定和生物信息学分析

【目的】鉴定中华按蚊Anopheles sinensis CYP6Y亚家族基因,分析它们的结构和特征,推测其可能的功能。【方法】以冈比亚按蚊An. gambiae CYP6Y1作为询问序列,通过双向Blast方法检索中华按蚊转录组中CYP6Y亚家族基因,并通过生物信息学方法分析基因结构、特征及可能的功能。【结果】从中华按蚊转录组测序数据中鉴定出2条CYP6Y亚家族基因,分别命名为AsCYP6Y1（GenBank登录号：KF709397）和AsCYP6Y2（GenBank登录号：KF709398）。序列分析显示,AsCYP6Y1和AsCYP6Y2全长分别为1 713 bp和1 815 bp,分别编码502和526个氨基酸。基因结构分析显示,该亚家族基因仅含有1个相位1型内含子并与其他P450基因形成保守的共线性分布。蛋白结构分析显示,这2个基因编码的蛋白含P450特有的5个特征序列和6个底物结合位点,且均不存在信号肽,其亚细胞定位为细胞质。3D结构分析显示,AsCYP6Y1有18条α螺旋和13股反向平行的β折叠,AsCYP6Y2有19条α螺旋和11股反向平行的β折叠。通过同样的方法,在达林按蚊An. darlingi中也鉴定出2个CYP6Y亚家族基因。系统进化分析显示,AsCYP6Y1和AsCYP6Y2分别与其他3种按蚊的CYP6Y1和CYP6Y2聚成一支,Bootstrap值均大于90%。替换率分析显示,中华按蚊AsCYP6Y1和AsCYP6Y2与其他3种按蚊同源基因的Ka/Ks均小于1。相对进化速率分析显示,中华按蚊CYP6Y和CYP6M亚家族的相对进化速率均显著快于CYP6P亚家族,而CYP6Y和CYP6M亚家族之间没有显著差异。【结论】在中华按蚊和达林按蚊中存在2个CYP6Y亚家族基因,之前在冈比亚按蚊和不吉按蚊An. funestus中也发现2个CYP6Y亚家族基因,表明CYP6Y亚家族基因可能在按蚊属广泛存在,且可能为按蚊属昆虫所特有。