Modeling the Transmission of Middle East Respirator Syndrome Corona Virus in the Republic of Korea

The 2015 epidemic of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in the Republic of Korea has been the largest outbreak outside Middle East. This epidemic had caused 185 laboratory-confirmed cases and 36 deaths in the Republic of Korea until September 2, 2015, which attracted public’s attention. Based on the detailed data of patients released by World Health Organization (WHO) and actual propagation of the epidemic, we construct two dynamical models to simulate the propagation processes from May 20 to June 8 and from June 9 to July 10, 2015, respectively and find that the basic reproduction number R ₀ reaches up to 4.422. The numerical analysis shows that the reasons of the outbreak spread quickly are lack of self-protection sense and targeted control measures. Through partial correction analysis, the parameters β ₁ and γ have strong correlations with R ₀, i.e., the infectivity and proportion of the asymptomatic infected cases have much influence on the spread of disease. By sensitivity analysis, strengthening self-protection ability of susceptible and quickly isolating or monitoring close contacts are effective measures to control the disease.     

Adaptive Admixture of HLA Class I Allotypes Enhanced Genetically Determined Strength of Natural Killer Cells in East Asians

Human natural killer (NK) cells are essential for controlling infection, cancer, and fetal development. NK cell functions are modulated by interactions between polymorphic inhibitory killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and polymorphic HLA-A, -B, and -C ligands expressed on tissue cells. All HLA-C alleles encode a KIR ligand and contribute to reproduction and immunity. In contrast, only some HLA-A and -B alleles encode KIR ligands and they focus on immunity. By high-resolution analysis of KIR and HLA-A, -B, and -C genes, we show that the Chinese Southern Han (CHS) are significantly enriched for interactions between inhibitory KIR and HLA-A and -B. This enrichment has had substantial input through population admixture with neighboring populations, who contributed HLA class I haplotypes expressing the KIR ligands B*46:01 and B*58:01, which subsequently rose to high frequency by natural selection. Consequently, over 80% of Southern Han HLA haplotypes encode more than one KIR ligand. Complementing the high number of KIR ligands, the CHS KIR locus combines a high frequency of genes expressing potent inhibitory KIR, with a low frequency of those expressing activating KIR. The Southern Han centromeric KIR region encodes strong, conserved, inhibitory HLA-C-specific receptors, and the telomeric region provides a high number and diversity of inhibitory HLA-A and -B-specific receptors. In all these characteristics, the CHS represent other East Asians, whose NK cell repertoires are thus enhanced in quantity, diversity, and effector strength, likely augmenting resistance to endemic viral infections.     

甲醇的生物利用与转化*

甲醇作为一种来源广泛、价格低廉、还原度高的非粮原料有望成为下一代生物制造的关键原料。利用合成生物学技术构建能够高效利用甲醇的重组微生物以实现从甲醇到高值化学品的生物转化已成国内外研究热点,但由于甲醇代谢过程的特殊性及复杂性,目前人工设计的甲基营养菌还难以实现以甲醇为唯一碳源进行生长及产物合成。基于对天然甲基营养菌甲醇代谢过程的分析,从甲醇脱氢酶的筛选与改造、甲醛同化途径的重构与优化、甲醇到化学品的生物转化几个方面对合成型甲基营养菌的构建策略及面临的挑战进行总结与分析,以期为今后合成型甲基营养菌的人工设计和利用提供一定的借鉴。     

微生物异源合成咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物研究进展

咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物如绿原酸、迷迭香酸和咖啡酸苯乙酯等具有天然抗氧化、抗肿瘤、抗病毒和抗炎等重要的药理活性,具有广阔的药用开发前景。从天然药物中提取或者化学合成咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物,存在含量低、提取效率不高、催化成本高昂以及环境污染等问题。随着咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物合成途径解析和合成生物学的快速发展,微生物异源合成咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物的研究已逐渐展开。对微生物异源合成咖啡酸及其酯类衍生物合成途径的最新进展以及代谢工程策略进行了综述,并讨论了目前存在的问题和未来的发展趋势。