Antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients: what can be learned for vaccine development?

Science China Life Sciences - The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people and caused tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide....     

Protosappanin‐A and oleanolic acid protect injured podocytes from apoptosis through inhibition of AKT‐mTOR signaling

Protosappanin‐A (PrA) and oleanolic acid (OA), which are important effective ingredients isolated from Caesalpinia sappan L., exhibit therapeutic potential in multiple diseases. This study focused on exploring the mechanisms of PrA and OA function in podocyte injury. An in vitro model of podocyte injury was induced by the sC5b‐9 complex and assays such as cell viability, apoptosis, immunofluorescence, quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction, and western blot were performed to further investigate the effects and mechanisms of PrA and OA in podocyte injury. The models of podocyte injury were verified to be successful as seen through significantly decreased levels of nephrin, podocin, and CD2AP and increased level of desmin. The sC5b‐9‐induced podocyte apoptosis was inhibited in injured podocytes treated with PrA and OA, accompanied by increased protein levels of nephrin, podocin, CD2AP, and Bcl2 and decreased levels of desmin and Bax. The p‐AKT/p‐mTOR levels were also reduced by treatment of PrA and OA while AKT/mTOR was unaltered. Further, the effects of PrA and OA on injured podocytes were similar to that of LY294002 (a PI3K‐AKT inhibitor). PrA and OA were also seen to inhibit podocyte apoptosis and p‐AKT/p‐mTOR levels induced by IGF‐1 (a PI3K‐AKT activator). Our data demonstrate that PrA and OA can protect podocytes from injury or apoptosis, which may occur through inhibition of the abnormal activation of AKT‐mTOR signaling.     

辅色剂对紫淮山花色苷稳定性的影响及其热降解动力学研究

为探究谷胱甘肽和没食子酸对紫淮山花色苷的辅色作用,本文研究了谷胱甘肽和没食子酸对紫淮山花色苷降解率、热稳定性及色差的影响。试验表明,谷胱甘肽和没食子酸能有效抑制花色苷的降解,且最佳添加量分别为0.03%和0.2%。在此添加量条件下,紫淮山花色苷在50、70、90℃水浴中的热降解均符合一级降解反应动力学规律。添加谷胱甘肽和没食子酸的紫淮山花色苷降解速率常数(k)小于对照组,半衰期(t 1/2)和活化能(Ea)高于对照组,说明谷胱甘肽和没食子酸能够增强花色苷的热稳定性。色差测定结果表明,经谷胱甘肽和没食子酸辅色后的紫淮山花色苷,其明度指数(L*)和色品指数(a*、b*)较对照组变化缓慢,颜色的稳定性增强。     

Chromosome‐level genome assembly of an important pine defoliator,Dendrolimus punctatus (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae)

Dendrolimus spp. are important destructive pests of conifer forests, and Dendrolimus punctatus Walker (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae) is the most widely distributed Dendrolimus species. During periodic outbreaks, this species is said to make “fire without smoke” because large areas of pine forest can be quickly and heavily damaged. Yet, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie the unique ecological characteristics of this forest insect. Here, we combined Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) RSII single‐molecule long reads and high‐throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi‐C) genomics‐linked reads to produce a high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome for D. punctatus. The final assembly was 614 Mb with contig and scaffold N50 values of 1.39 and 22.15 Mb, respectively, and 96.96% of the contigs anchored onto 30 chromosomes. Based on the prediction, this genome contained 17,593 protein‐coding genes and 56.16% repetitive sequences. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that D. punctatus diverged from the common ancestor of Hyphantria cunea, Spodoptera litura and Thaumetopoea pityocampa ~ 108.91 million years ago. Many gene families that were expanded in the D. punctatus genome were significantly enriched for the xenobiotic biodegradation system, especially the cytochrome P450 gene family. This high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome will be a valuable resource for understanding mechanisms of D. punctatus outbreak and host resistance adaption. Because this is the first Lasiocampidae insect genome to be sequenced, it also will serve as a reference for further comparative genomics.     

Functional divergence of two duplicated Fertilization Independent Endosperm genes in rice with respect to seed development

Fertilization Independent Endosperm (FIE) is an essential member of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) that plays important roles in the developmental regulation of plants. OsFIE1 and OsFIE2 are two FIE homologs in the rice genome. Here, we showed that OsFIE1 probably duplicated from OsFIE2 after the origin of the tribe Oryzeae, but has a specific expression pattern and methylation landscape. During evolution, OsFIE1 underwent a less intensive purifying selection than did OsFIE2. The mutant osfie1 produced smaller seeds and displayed reduced dormancy, indicating that OsFIE1 predominantly functions in late seed development. Ectopic expression of OsFIE1, but not OsFIE2, was deleterious to vegetative growth in a dose‐dependent manner. The newly evolved N‐terminal tail of OsFIE1 was probably not the cause of the adverse effects on vegetative growth. The CRISPR/Cas9‐derived mutant osfie2 exhibited impaired cellularization of the endosperm, which suggested that OsFIE2 is indispensable for early seed development as a positive regulator of cellularization. Autonomous endosperm was observed in both OsFIE2^+? and osfie1/OsFIE2^+? but at a very low frequency. Although OsFIE1‐PRC2 exhibited H3K27me3 methyltransferase ability in plants, OsFIE1‐PRC2 is likely to be less important for development in rice than is OsFIE2‐PRC2. Our findings revealed the functional divergence of OsFIE1 and OsFIE2 and shed light on their distinct evolution following duplication.     

汉江中下游浮游植物群落结构及水质评价

南水北调中线工程调水后,汉江中下游水华频发引起社会关注。为掌握调水后汉江中下游浮游植物的群落结构特征,于2017年11月、2018年2月、4月和8月在汉江中下游的8个断面对浮游植物进行了定量调查。调查结果显示:共鉴定浮游植物163种,群落组成以硅藻门(Bacillariophyta)、绿藻门(Chlorophyta)为主,其次是蓝藻门(Cyanophyta)。浮游植物优势种主要为硅藻门的梅尼小环藻(Cyclotella meneghiniana)、颗粒直链藻最窄变种(Melosira granulata var.)、变异直链藻(Melosira varians)、颗粒直链藻(Melosira granulata),隐藻门的卵形隐藻(Cryptomonas ovata),蓝藻门的弯曲颤藻(Oscillatoria sp.)和伪鱼腥藻(Pseudoanabaena sp.),且都有较高的优势度。浮游植物密度和生物量的季节变化范围分别为0. 33×106cells/L～1. 82×106cells/L和0. 49 mg/L～7. 38 mg/L。基于Shannon-Weaver多样性指数和Pielou均匀度指数以及优势种评价法对汉江中下游的水质进行评价,判断汉江中下游水质整体处于中污状态。