Oxalate Exudation by Taro in Response to Al

Roots of taro (Colocasia esculenta [L.] Schott cvs Bun-long and Lehua maoli) exuded increasing concentrations of oxalate with increasing Al stress. This exudation was a specific response to excess Al and not to P deficiency. Addition of oxalate to Al-containing solutions ameliorated the toxic effect of Al.     

Comparison of different methods of immobilization for lignin peroxidase production by Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Summary Phanerochaete chrysosporium was immobilized in agar, agarose and -carrageenan gel beads, nylon web, and polyurethane foam, and used for the production of lignin peroxidase in shake cultures on a carbon-limited medium. Nylon was found to be the best carrier, with the maximum lignin peroxidase activity (340 U/l) reached on the 7th day. The enzyme production rate was significantly lower with freely suspended mycelial pellets. Both nylon and polyurethane based biocatalysts were active for at least 38 days after the addition of veratryl alcohol. Best results were obtained when a spore inoculum was used instead of day-old pellets. -Carrageenan was found unsuitable as a carrier for lignin peroxidase production.     

4种甘草属植物EST-SSR引物开发及其亲缘关系分析

通过乌拉尔甘草表达序列标签(EST)数据库查找甘草属的SSR位点,并利用Primer 3.0软件在线设计EST-SSR引物,对来自甘草属4个种22份材料的EST-SSR指纹图谱特征和聚类结果进行分析,为探讨甘草属种间亲缘关系和疑难种的分类地位提供分子依据。结果显示:(1)去掉冗余序列后共得到441条EST序列,获得504个SSR位点,其中二核苷酸为重复单元的序列最多为350个,占69.44%,重复类型中以TC/AT、TA/AG形式的微卫星最为丰富。(2)设计的40对EST-SSR引物,均能扩增出清晰条带,其中15对引物具有多态性,在22份甘草属植物材料中共获得等位基因59个,平均每对引物检测到3.93个等位基因位点,扩增产物多态性比率为89.44%,能很好地表征甘草属种间的等位基因差异。(3)引物Primer 64对4种甘草属植物均能扩增出特异性条带,黄甘草在180和220bp 2个位点分别与光果甘草、胀果甘草基因共享,具有杂交种特征。(4)聚类分析表明,当相似性系数为0.82时,22份材料被划分为四组(与经典分类结果一致),第一组为内蒙古杭锦旗分布的乌拉尔甘草;第二组为新疆巴楚分布的光果甘草、黄甘草;第三组为新疆石河子分布的胀果甘草、黄甘草;第四组为新疆石河子分布的乌拉尔甘草;不同居群的黄甘草遗传分化较大,可能与同域分布亲本种的差异及种间的渐渗杂交有关。研究表明,开发的15对EST-SSR引物在甘草属内具有很好的适用性,可以为该属的种间亲缘关系和种内遗传分化研究及物种鉴定提供分子依据。     

Novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether derivatives targeting thymidylate synthase as dual anticancer/antimicrobial agents

A series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether derivatives (compounds 9–44) were designed and synthesized as potential inhibitors of thymidylate synthase (TS) and as anticancer agents. The in vitro anticancer activities of these compounds were evaluated against three cancer cell lines by the MTT method. Among all the designed compounds, compound 18 bearing a nitro substituent exhibited more potent in vitro anticancer activities with IC₅₀ values of 0.7 ± 0.2, 30.0 ± 1.2, 18.3 ± 1.4 μM, respectively, which was superior to the positive control. In the further study, it was identified as the most potent inhibitor against two kinds of TS protein (for human TS and Escherichia coli TS, IC₅₀ values: 0.62 and 0.47 μM, respectively) in the TS inhibition assay in vitro and the most potent antibacterial agents with MIC (minimum inhibitory concentrations) of 1.56–3.13 μg/mL against the tested four bacterial strains. Molecular docking and 3D-QSAR study supported that compound 18 can be selected as dual antitumor/antibacterial candidate in the future study.     

CD106 Identifies a Subpopulation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Unique Immunomodulatory Properties

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) reside in almost all of the body tissues, where they undergo self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. MSCs derived from different tissues share many similarities but also show some differences in term of biological properties. We aim to search for significant differences among various sources of MSCs and to explore their implications in physiopathology and clinical translation. We compared the phenotype and biological properties among different MSCs isolated from human term placental chorionic villi (CV), umbilical cord (UC), adult bone marrow (BM) and adipose (AD). We found that CD106 (VCAM-1) was expressed highest on the CV-MSCs, moderately on BM-MSCs, lightly on UC-MSCs and absent on AD-MSCs. CV-MSCs also showed unique immune-associated gene expression and immunomodulation. We thus separated CD106⁺cells and CD106⁻cells from CV-MSCs and compared their biological activities. Both two subpopulations were capable of osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation while CD106⁺CV-MSCs were more effective to modulate T helper subsets but possessed decreased colony formation capacity. In addition, CD106⁺CV-MSCs expressed more cytokines than CD106⁻CV-MSCs. These data demonstrate that CD106 identifies a subpopulation of CV-MSCs with unique immunoregulatory activity and reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism underlying immunomodulation of MSCs.     

Inhibition of EGFR attenuates fibrosis and stellate cell activation in diet-induced model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease. NAFLD begins with steatosis and advances to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. The molecular mechanisms involved in NAFLD progression are not understood. Based on recent studies showing dysregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in animal models of liver injury, we sought to determine if inhibition of EGFR mitigates liver fibrosis and HSC activation in NAFLD. We utilized the high fat diet (HFD)-induced murine model of liver injury to study the role of EGFR in NAFLD. The lipid accumulation, oxidative stress, hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and matrix deposition were examined in the liver tissues. We also evaluated the EGFR signaling pathway, ROS activation and pro-fibrogenic phenotype in oxidized low density lipoproteins (ox-LDL) challenged cultured HSCs. We demonstrate that EGFR was phosphorylated in liver tissues of HFD murine model of NAFLD. Inhibition of EGFR prevented diet-induced lipid accumulation, oxidative stress, and HSC activation and matrix deposition. In cultured HSCs, we show that ox-LDL caused rapid activation of the EGFR signaling pathway and induce the production of reactive oxygen species. EGFR also mediated HSC activation and promoted a pro-fibrogenic phenotype. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that EGFR plays an important role in NAFLD and is an attractive target for NAFLD therapy.     

In vitro antiviral activity of sulfated Auricularia auricula polysaccharides

Total Auricularia auricula polysaccharide (AAP(t)) was prepared by extracting and removing the proteins. Column chromatography was used to further graded it into AAP(1) and AAP(2). Three AAPs were modified by chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine method to obtain three sulfated AAPs (sAAPs), sAAP(t), sAAP(1) and sAAP(2), respectively. Three sAAPs and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) were added into cultivation system of chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) in three manners, pre-, post- and simultaneous-adding polysaccharide with NDV respectively, taking three non-modified AAPs as control. Their anti-viral activities were compared by MTT method. The results showed that sAAPs and AAPs at a certain concentration could significantly inhibit the cellular infectivity of NDV in three manners. The effects of sAAPs were better than that of AAPs. It indicated that sulfated modification could enhance the antiviral activity of AAP. sAAP(1) and sAAP(t) possessed stronger activity and would be as the component of a new-type antiviral drug.     

山羊抑制素α亚基基因HaeⅡ酶切多态性及其与产羔数性状的关联分析

以323 只马头山羊、努比山羊、波尔山羊和海门山羊为试验材料, 利用PCR-SSCP、PCR-RFLP和克隆测序等方法对山羊抑制素α亚基基因(INHA)编码区一个片段进行多态性分析, 发现在该基因第284位(登录号: L28815)存在G→A突变, 该突变引起HaeⅡ酶切位点改变; HaeⅡ-RFLP分型结果显示G等位基因为优势等位基因, INHA不同基因型平均产羔数表现为GG>AG>AA。结果显示: INHA可能是影响山羊产羔数性状的一个主效基因, G等位基因可能与高产性状呈正相关。     

SEPTIN2 and STATHMIN Regulate CD99-Mediated Cellular Differentiation in Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) is a lymphoid neoplasm characterized by Hodgkin’s and Reed-Sternberg (H/RS) cells, which is regulated by CD99. We previously reported that CD99 downregulation led to the transformation of murine B lymphoma cells (A20) into cells with an H/RS phenotype, while CD99 upregulation induced differentiation of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) cells (L428) into terminal B-cells. However, the molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, using fluorescence two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), we have analyzed the alteration of protein expression following CD99 upregulation in L428 cells as well as downregulation of mouse CD99 antigen-like 2 (mCD99L2) in A20 cells. Bioinformatics analysis showed that SEPTIN2 and STATHMIN, which are cytoskeleton proteins, were significantly differentially expressed, and chosen for further validation and functional analysis. Differential expression of SEPTIN2 was found in both models and was inversely correlated with CD99 expression. STATHMIN was identified in the A20 cell line model and its expression was positively correlated with that of CD99. Importantly, silencing of SEPTIN2 with siRNA substantially altered the cellular cytoskeleton in L428 cells. The downregulation of STATHMIN by siRNA promoted the differentiation of H/RS cells toward terminal B-cells. These results suggest that SEPTIN2-mediated cytoskeletal rearrangement and STATHMIN-mediated differentiation may contribute to changes in cell morphology and differentiation of H/RS cells with CD99 upregulation in HL.