Setosphaeria turcica ATR turns off appressorium-mediated maize infection and triggers melanin-involved self-protection in response to genotoxic stress

Eukaryotic organisms activate conserved signalling networks to maintain genomic stability in response to DNA genotoxic stresses. However, the coordination of this response pathway in fungal pathogens remains largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism by which the northern corn leaf blight pathogen Setosphaeria turcica controls maize infection and activates self-protection pathways in response to DNA genotoxic insults. Appressorium-mediated maize infection by S. turcica was blocked by the S-phase checkpoint. This repression was dependent on the checkpoint central kinase Ataxia Telangiectasia and Rad3 related (ATR), as inhibition of ATR activity or knockdown of the ATR gene recovered appressorium formation in the presence of genotoxic reagents. ATR promoted melanin biosynthesis in S. turcica as a defence response to stress. The melanin biosynthesis genes StPKS and StLac2 were induced by the ATR-mediated S-phase checkpoint. The responses to DNA genotoxic stress were conserved in a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi, including Cochliobolus heterostrophus, Cochliobolus carbonum, Alternaria solani, and Alternaria kikuchiana, which are known causal agents for plant diseases. We propose that in response to genotoxic stress, phytopathogenic fungi including S. turcica activate an ATR-dependent pathway to suppress appressorium-mediated infection and induce melanin-related self-protection in addition to conserved responses in eukaryotes.     

In Vitro Anti-HIV Effect of Voacamine from Voacanga africana Stapf Based on the SPRi Experiment

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - AIDS/HIV is a serious life-threatening and public health problem that urges for new antiviral drugs to control. A bis-indole alkaloid voacamine has been...     

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Ameliorates H2O2-Induced Oxidative Damage by Regulating Transporters,Tight Junctions,and Apoptosis Gene Expression in Cell Line IPEC-1

Probiotics have always been considered as a supplementary therapy for many diseases especially gut disorders. The absorption and barrier function of the gut play a vital role in the maintenance of body homeostasis. This study was to investigate the protective effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SC06 (Ba) on H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress on intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-1) based on the level of gene expression. We demonstrated that Ba was a safe probiotic strain in the first place. Results showed that treatment with H₂O₂ significantly increased the mRNA expression of absorptive transporters glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2), Ala/Ser/Cys/Thr transporter 1 (ASCT1), and ASCT2 compared with the control group. Meanwhile, oxidative stress induced a significant improvement in the mRNA expression of occludin (OCLN) and caspase-3, and remarkably inhibited the expression of L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) or B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), respectively. Pretreatment with Ba dramatically reversed the disturbance induced by oxidative stress on the mRNA expression of ASCT1, ASCT2, and OCLN, which also significantly prevented H₂O₂-inhibited LAT1 and Bcl-2 mRNA expression. However, Ba failed to exert any significant protective effect on GLUT2 and caspase-3 mRNA expression. We concluded that pretreatment with Ba could alleviate the damage caused by oxidative stress to a certain extent and conferred a protective effect to the intestine.

     

Glycine metabolomic changes induced by anticancer agents in A549 cells

Amino Acids - Glycine plays a key role in rapidly proliferating cancer cells such as A549 cells. Targeting glycine metabolism is considered as a potential means for cancer treatment. However, the...     

Spine and dine: A key defensive trait promotes ecological success in spiny ants

A key focus of ecologists is explaining the origin and maintenance of morphological diversity and its association with ecological success. We investigate potential benefits and costs of a common and varied morphological trait, cuticular spines, for foraging behavior, interspecific competition, and predator–prey interactions in naturally co‐occurring spiny ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Polyrhachis) in an experimental setting. We expect that a defensive trait like spines might be associated with more conspicuous foraging, a greater number of workers sent out to forage, and potentially increased competitive ability. Alternatively, consistent with the ecological trade‐off hypothesis, we expect that investment in spines for antipredator defense might be negatively correlated with these other ecological traits. We find little evidence for any costs to ecological traits, instead finding that species with longer spines either outperform or do not differ from species with shorter spines for all tested metrics, including resource discovery rate and foraging effort as well as competitive ability and antipredator defense. Spines appear to confer broad antipredator benefits and serve as a form of defense with undetectable costs to key ecological abilities like resource foraging and competitive ability, providing an explanation for both the ecological success of the study genus and the large number of evolutionary origins of this trait across all ants. This study also provides a rare quantitative empirical test of ecological effects related to a morphological trait in ants.     

慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖与凋亡的影响及其机制研究

目的探讨慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1(MBP-1)过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖和凋亡的影响及其机制。方法将体外培养的HCT116细胞分为以下3组:空白对照组,细胞未做任何处理;空载感染组,空载体对照慢病毒(LV-GFP)感染HCT116细胞;MBP-1过表达慢病毒组(MBP-1组),MBP-1过表达的重组慢病毒(LV-MBP-1-GFP)感染HCT116细胞。RT-PCR检测各组细胞中MBP-1 mRNA的表达,CCK-8实验检测细胞的增殖能力,流式细胞仪检测细胞的周期变化,Western blot检测细胞中MBP-1、NF-κB p65、c-Myc、CyclinD1及细胞凋亡相关蛋白Bcl-2、Bax、cleaved caspase-3的表达。三组间比较采用单因素方差分析,方差齐性采用F检验,若方差齐则组间比较采用LSD检验,若方差不齐则组间比较采用Dunnett检验。结果与空载感染组比较,MBP-1组在MBP-1 mRNA(1.02±0.15比4.56±1.03)、蛋白表达水平(0.18±0.01比0.72±0.10)、S期百分比[(39.12±2.18)﹪比(45.64±3.21)﹪]、G2/M期的百分比[(14.81±1.02)﹪比(23.16±2.12)﹪]、细胞中Bax蛋白(0.55±0.10比0.76±0.11)、cleaved caspase-3蛋白(0.45±0.08比0.81±0.11)表达水平均升高,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001),而细胞48 h OD值(0.58±0.08比0.43±0.03)、72 h OD值(1.10±0.13比0.52±0.09)、细胞G0/G1期的百分比[(46.06±1.89)﹪比(31.36±2.02)﹪]、细胞中Bcl-2蛋白(0.52±0.10比0.23±0.02)、NF-κB p65蛋白(0.61±0.13比0.16±0.03)、c-Myc蛋白(0.79±0.15比0.43±0.05)、CyclinD1蛋白(0.62±0.09比0.32±0.01)的表达水平均降低,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001);空白对照组和空载感染组之间各指标差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论MBP-1过表达可抑制HCT116细胞增殖及诱导细胞周期阻滞于S期,其作用机制可能与抑制NF-κB信号通路活化有关。