Impacts of cell surface characteristics on population dynamics in a sequencing batch yeast reactor treating vegetable oil-containing wastewater

Ten yeast strains acquired from different sources and capable of utilizing vegetable oil or related compounds (fatty acid or oleic acid) as sole carbon sources were inoculated into a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for the treatment of high-strength vegetable oil-containing wastewater. The SBR system stably removed >89% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and >99% of oil when fed with wastewater containing 15 g/L COD and 10 g/L oil in average. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified 26S rRNA genes showed that among the ten yeast strains, only Candida lipolytica, Candida tropicalis, and Candida halophila were dominant in the system. To elucidate the major factors affecting the selection of yeast strains in the SBR system, the three dominant strains were compared with two non-dominant strains in terms of COD removal performance, biomass yield, cell settleability, cell flocculation ability, cell emulsification ability, and surface hydrophobicity. Results showed that hydrophobicity and emulsification ability of yeast cells were the two most important factors determining the selection of yeast strains in the treatment of high-strength oil-containing wastewater.     

鲽科10种鱼类核糖体ITS2序列比较分析

为了解鲽科鱼类ITS2序列的多态性特征,本研究获得了鲽科10种鱼类310条ITS2序列,长度在419 ~ 486 bp之间。种内序列长度差异最小的为粒鲽（Clidoderma asperrima）（419 ~ 420 bp）和太平洋拟庸鲽（Hippoglossoides elassodon）（419 ~ 420 bp）,其次为北岩鲽（Lepidopsetta polyxystra）（447 ~ 452 bp）和刺黄盖鲽（Limanda aspera）（457 ~ 463 bp）,松木高眼鲽（Cleisthenes pinetorum）（452 ~ 462 bp）和圆斑星鲽（Verasper variegatus）（465 ~ 479 bp）的种内序列差异分别为10 bp和14 bp;其余4种鱼类根据长度差异（14 ~ 32 bp）分型为长（A型）、短（B型）序列类型,同时检测存在重组类型（R型）,其中长度差异最大的是钝吻黄盖鲽（Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae）（454 ~ 486 bp）,其次为尖吻黄盖鲽（P. herzensteini）（433 ~ 458 bp）、虫鲽（Eopsetta grigorjewi）（420 ~ 439 bp）、星突江鲽（Platichthys stellatus）（466 ~ 480 bp）。通过双参数模型（K2P）计算遗传距离可见,种内遗传距离多集中于0.002 ~ 0.027之间,仅星突江鲽和尖吻黄盖鲽因类型差异导致较高数值（0.043和0.053）;不同物种间遗传距离在0.046 ~ 0.180之间。10种鱼类ITS2的GC含量为63.95% ~ 70.16%;9种鱼类的二级结构均为具有5个分支（HelixⅠ ~ Ⅴ）的闭合环状结构,仅圆斑星鲽中由于存在Helix Ⅳ变异形成Helix Ⅳ-a和Helix Ⅳ-b而具有6个分支。基于ITS2构建的鲽科10种鱼类的系统进化树显示,不同种鱼类的克隆序列均单独聚支。序列的多态性特征分析表明,在具有不同序列类型的虫鲽、星突江鲽、尖吻黄盖鲽和钝吻黄盖鲽4种鲽科鱼类中,ITS2以非协同进化的方式存在,而其他6种鱼类为协同进化;虽然存在种间K2P遗传距离小于种内的个例,但ITS2在属间不同物种的区分上具有适用性。本研究结果丰富了鲽形目鱼类的ITS2数据,也将为鱼类的核糖体RNA序列多态性的研究提供科学依据。     

Functional analysis of the split Synechocystis DnaE intein in plant tissues by biolistic particle bombardment

The DnaE intein of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 (Ssp DnaE intein) is the first split intein identified in nature. Its N-terminal fragment (Int-n) is attached to the end of the N-terminal half of the DnaE protein (DnaE-n) to form the precursor DnaE-n/Int-n, while the C-terminal fragment (Int-c) precedes the C-terminal half of the DnaE protein (DnaE-c) to form the precursor Int-c/DnaE-c. Int-n and Int-c fragments in the separate precursors catalyze, in concert, a protein trans-splicing process to splice the flanking DnaE-n and DnaE-c into a functional catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase III. They then release themselves from the precursors. Previously, the Ssp DnaE intein has been used to reconstitute a protein trans-splicing mechanism in stably transformed Arabidopsis thaliana, resulting in successful reassembly of an intact and functional GUS from two halves of a split GUS protein. In this report, transient expression using a biolistic particle bombardment approach is described for functional analysis of Ssp DnaE intein. Analyses confirmed that the Ssp DnaE intein could catalyze protein trans-splicing not only in model plants but also in monocot and dicot crops. It also demonstrated that when up to 45 amino acid residues were removed from the C-terminus of the Int-n fragment, the Int-n fragment was still able to function in the protein trans-splicing process.     

硼、镉元素及其交互作用与油菜产量和品质

硼和镉两种元素是影响油菜产量和品质的两个重要因素.硼是植物生长所必需的微量元素,施硼是油菜种植的必需环节;镉是植物生长的非必要元素,易在油菜体内富集,可能通过食物链危害人体健康.本文主要从镉含量与油菜食品安全品质角度考虑,阐述了油菜对镉的积累和耐受机制;同时,概括了前人总结的硼对油菜的产量和品质的影响.最后,结合本人研究区广西地区土壤有效硼含量低,全镉含量高的现状,提出运用硼镉交互作用机理,通过施加适量硼肥,提高油菜的产量和品质,消除土壤镉的潜在危害,从本质上改善该地区土壤存在的低硼高镉现状.     

Recent advances in synthesis and surface modification of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Lanthanide (Ln)-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with appropriate surface modification can be used for a wide range of biomedical applications such as bio-detection, cancer therapy, bio-labeling, fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging and drug delivery. The upconversion phenomenon exhibited by Ln-doped UCNPs renders them tremendous advantages in biological applications over other types of fluorescent materials (e.g., organic dyes, fluorescent proteins, gold nanoparticles, quantum dots, and luminescent transition metal complexes) for: (i) enhanced tissue penetration depths achieved by near-infrared (NIR) excitation; (ii) improved stability against photobleaching, photoblinking and photochemical degradation; (iii) non-photodamaging to DNA/RNA due to lower excitation light energy; (iv) lower cytotoxicity; and (v) higher detection sensitivity. Ln-doped UCNPs are therefore attracting increasing attentions in recent years. In this review, we present recent advances in the synthesis of Ln-doped UCNPs and their surface modification, as well as their emerging applications in biomedicine. The future prospects of Ln-doped UCNPs for biomedical applications are also discussed.     

miRNA-20a促进卵巢癌细胞OVCAR3的转移

目的检测miRNA．20a对卵巢癌细胞系OVCAR3转移能力的影响。方法通过实时定量RT-PCR验证反义寡核苷酸与小干扰RNA封闭与过表达的效果,然后利用MTF、软琼脂集落形成和transwell侵袭实验检测封闭和过表达miRNA．20a对OVCAR3细胞增殖及转移能力的影响。结果封闭内源性miRNA-20a后,细胞活性基本不受影响,但集落形成能力和细胞的转移能力明显降低。过表达miRNA-20a后,细胞活性基本不受影响,但集落形成能力和细胞的转移能力明显升高。结论miRNA-20a可能参与了卵巢癌细胞OVCAR3的转移。     

水稻蜡质基因第一内含子中g片段上核蛋白因子结合位点的确定

水稻蜡质基因 5’非翻译区中的第一内含子具有增强基因表达的作用 ,本实验室曾检测到该内含子中的一段 171bp长的g片段与水稻未成熟种子核蛋白存在特异性结合。本文进一步用凝胶滞后实验和足印实验确定了该核蛋白在g片段上的结合位点位于蜡质基因转录起始点下游 783～ 818bp处 ,该结合位点富含AT碱基 ;Southwesternblot实验测出该蛋白的分子量约为 2 0kD。用硫酸铵分步沉淀和肝素 Sepharose柱层析的方法对这一蛋白进行了初步纯化。还初步检测了此蛋白DNA结合活性对温度的耐受性。以上特征提示它可能属于HMG类DNA结合蛋白     

Neighborhood Regularized Logistic Matrix Factorization for Drug-Target Interaction Prediction

In pharmaceutical sciences, a crucial step of the drug discovery process is the identification of drug-target interactions. However, only a small portion of the drug-target interactions have been experimentally validated, as the experimental validation is laborious and costly. To improve the drug discovery efficiency, there is a great need for the development of accurate computational approaches that can predict potential drug-target interactions to direct the experimental verification. In this paper, we propose a novel drug-target interaction prediction algorithm, namely neighborhood regularized logistic matrix factorization (NRLMF). Specifically, the proposed NRLMF method focuses on modeling the probability that a drug would interact with a target by logistic matrix factorization, where the properties of drugs and targets are represented by drug-specific and target-specific latent vectors, respectively. Moreover, NRLMF assigns higher importance levels to positive observations (i.e., the observed interacting drug-target pairs) than negative observations (i.e., the unknown pairs). Because the positive observations are already experimentally verified, they are usually more trustworthy. Furthermore, the local structure of the drug-target interaction data has also been exploited via neighborhood regularization to achieve better prediction accuracy. We conducted extensive experiments over four benchmark datasets, and NRLMF demonstrated its effectiveness compared with five state-of-the-art approaches.     

急性低氧性缺氧小鼠血液粘度与红细胞流变性变化

目的:观察小鼠急性低氧性缺氧(AHH)后红细胞流变性与血液粘度的变化。方法:32只健康昆明小鼠均分为:对照组、AHH组(复制模型,分为5 min、8 min、11 min三个亚组),在相应时间点,快速颈部脱臼后,从心尖取血,检测各组小鼠血液粘度与红细胞流变性指标。结果:与对照组相比,低氧5 min组各切变率下的全血粘度、全血相对粘度、全血还原粘度均显著降低,红细胞变形指数显著升高;低氧8 min组和低氧11 min组的群体细胞电泳时间显著延长、细胞电泳长度与细胞迁移率显著降低;低氧8 min组的全血相对粘度、全血还原粘度、红细胞聚集指数均显著高于、红细胞变形指数显著低于低氧5 min组。结论:AHH可引起小鼠血液粘度降低、红细胞电泳能力下降。     

Mitochondrial membrane potential regulates PINK1 import and proteolytic destabilization by PARL

PINK1 is a mitochondrial kinase mutated in some familial cases of Parkinson's disease. It has been found to work in the same pathway as the E3 ligase Parkin in the maintenance of flight muscles and dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila melanogaster and to recruit cytosolic Parkin to mitochondria to mediate mitophagy in mammalian cells. Although PINK1 has a predicted mitochondrial import sequence, its cellular and submitochondrial localization remains unclear in part because it is rapidly degraded. In this study, we report that the mitochondrial inner membrane rhomboid protease presenilin-associated rhomboid-like protein (PARL) mediates cleavage of PINK1 dependent on mitochondrial membrane potential. In the absence of PARL, the constitutive degradation of PINK1 is inhibited, stabilizing a 60-kD form inside mitochondria. When mitochondrial membrane potential is dissipated, PINK1 accumulates as a 63-kD full-length form on the outer mitochondrial membrane, where it can recruit Parkin to impaired mitochondria. Thus, differential localization to the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes appears to regulate PINK1 stability and function.