Pleiotropic effects of the twin-arginine translocation system on biofilm formation, colonization, and virulence in Vibrio cholerae

Background  

The Twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system serves to translocate folded proteins, including periplasmic enzymes that bind redox cofactors in bacteria. The Tat system is also a determinant of virulence in some pathogenic bacteria, related to pleiotropic effects including growth, motility, and the secretion of some virulent factors. The contribution of the Tat pathway to Vibrio cholerae has not been explored. Here we investigated the functionality of the Tat system in V. cholerae, the etiologic agent of cholera.     

Molecular Detection and Complete Genome Sequences of Tomato chlorosis virus Isolates from Infectious Outbreaks in China

Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) is a whitefly‐transmitted, phloem‐limited, bipartite Crinivirus. In 2012, severe interveinal symptoms characteristic of ToCV infections were observed in greenhouse tomato plants in the Shandong province of China. High levels of infestation by whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci), which transmit ToCV, were also observed on tomato plants in all the greenhouses investigated. The presence of ToCV was confirmed by specific RT‐PCR either in the sampled plants or in the whiteflies collected from the ventral surface of the leaves of diseased plants. The complete genomic nucleotide sequences (RNA1 and RNA2) of the Shandong isolate of ToCV (ToCV‐SDSG) were determined and analysed. ToCV‐SDSG RNA1 consisted of 8594 nucleotides encompassing four open reading frames (ORFs). ToCV‐SDSG RNA2 consisted of 8242 nucleotides encompassing nine ORFs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Chinese ToCV‐SDSG isolate is most similar to the ToCV‐Florida isolate.     

Mixture models for gene expression experiments with two species

Cross-species research in drug development is novel and challenging. A bivariate mixture model utilizing information across two species was proposed to solve the fundamental problem of identifying differentially expressed genes in microarray experiments in order to potentially improve the understanding of translation between preclinical and clinical studies for drug development. The proposed approach models the joint distribution of treatment effects estimated from independent linear models. The mixture model posits up to nine components, four of which include groups in which genes are differentially expressed in both species. A comprehensive simulation to evaluate the model performance and one application on a real world data set, a mouse and human type II diabetes experiment, suggest that the proposed model, though highly structured, can handle various configurations of differential gene expression and is practically useful on identifying differentially expressed genes, especially when the magnitude of differential expression due to different treatment intervention is weak. In the mouse and human application, the proposed mixture model was able to eliminate unimportant genes and identify a list of genes that were differentially expressed in both species and could be potential gene targets for drug development.     

Novel Rh-Mn mixed-metal carbonyl cluster containing μ3 and μ-bridging carbyne ligands, [(μ3-CC6H5)(μ-CC6H5)Rh2Mn2Cp2(μ-CO)3(CO)3]: structure, electrochemistry and catalytic properties

The cationic carbyne complex [Cp(CO)₂MnCC₆H₅]BBr₄ (1) reacts with PPN[Rh(CO)₄] (2) to give the title cluster [(μ₃-CC₆H₅)(μ-CC₆H₅) Rh₂Mn₂Cp₂(μ-CO)₃(CO)₃] (3) whose structure has been determined by X-ray diffraction. The electrochemical properties of 3 have been investigated using cyclic voltammetric method. At 60 °C and 2.0 MPa of initial total CO/H₂ (1:1) pressure, the catalytic activity of 3 towards hydroformylation of styrene has also been checked.     

卷叶锦鸡儿——锦鸡儿属(豆科)一新种

报道了产于蒙古、内蒙古、宁夏和甘肃的锦鸡儿属(豆科)一新种--卷叶锦鸡儿。该种因叶轴全部宿存,荚果里外均被毛,植株垫状而与Caragana tibetica Kom.相近,但因小叶内卷,管状,横切面呈"O"形,翼瓣耳圆钝而不同。     

除虫菊的染色体数目及其核型

除虫菊(Pyrethrum cinerariifolium Trev.)为菊科小黄菊属多年生宿根草本植物。以花或全草入药。除虫菊的主要有效成分为除虫菊酯和瓜叶除虫菊酯,可用于加工成各种制剂作杀虫剂原料,用以防治日常虫豸(蚊、蝇、虱等)和农业害虫,且对人     

正常大鼠植入高血压大鼠肾脏后动脉血压的变化

本实验对12周龄的自发性高血压大鼠(spontaneouslyhypertensiverat,SHR)及其对照组WistarKyoto(WKY)大鼠进行了肾脏移植的研究,并观察受肾移植大鼠动脉血压的变化以及免疫抑制剂对动脉血压的影响。用尾套法对接受同窝另一同胞WKY大鼠肾脏移植且存活5周的6只WKY大鼠(A组)及接受SHR肾脏移植且存活5周的6只WKY大鼠(B组)的尾动脉收缩压进行检测,移植前A、B两组受肾移植大鼠的尾动脉收缩压分别为180±093和183±068kPa,无统计学显著差异(P>005);移植后3、4、5周时,B组大鼠的尾动脉收缩压显著高于A组大鼠,移植后5周时,A,B两组大鼠的收缩压分别为190±071和230±069kPa(P<0001);所用剂量的免疫抑制剂CsA对双侧肾脏完整以及右侧肾脏切除的SHR、WKY大鼠的动脉血压无显著影响。以上结果表明,SHR的肾脏在高血压的形成中可能起重要作用     

Overexpression of Glutathione Synthetase in Indian Mustard Enhances Cadmium Accumulation and Tolerance

An important pathway by which plants detoxify heavy metals is through sequestration with heavy-metal-binding peptides called phytochelatins or their precursor, glutathione. To identify limiting factors for heavy-metal accumulation and tolerance, and to develop transgenic plants with an increased capacity to accumulate and/or tolerate heavy metals, the Escherichia coli gshII gene encoding glutathione synthetase (GS) was overexpressed in the cytosol of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea). The transgenic GS plants accumulated significantly more Cd than the wild type: shoot Cd concentrations were up to 25% higher and total Cd accumulation per shoot was up to 3-fold higher. Moreover, the GS plants showed enhanced tolerance to Cd at both the seedling and mature-plant stages. Cd accumulation and tolerance were correlated with the gshII expression level. Cd-treated GS plants had higher concentrations of glutathione, phytochelatin, thiol, S, and Ca than wild-type plants. We conclude that in the presence of Cd, the GS enzyme is rate limiting for the biosynthesis of glutathione and phytochelatins, and that overexpression of GS offers a promising strategy for the production of plants with superior heavy-metal phytoremediation capacity.     

普伐他汀对泡沫细胞内胆固醇酯的影响及与小凹蛋白-1的关系

本文旨在观察普伐他汀对鼠源巨噬细胞性泡沫细胞内胆固醇酯含量的影响,探讨此作用与小凹蛋白一l的关系。采用体外培养的鼠源性巨噬细胞株作为研究对象,加入氧化低密度脂蛋白（oxidized low density lipoprotein,OX-LDL）使其形成泡沫细胞,运用高效液相色谱测定细胞内胆固醇酯的改变,同时运用Western blot检测细胞中小凹蛋白-1的表达,并观察普伐他汀对细胞内胆固醇酯和小凹蛋白-1影响的量效和时效关系。结果显示：普伐他汀可明显降低泡沫细胞内的胆固醇酯与总胆固醇的比值,且在一定范围内呈剂量依赖性和时间依赖性。在泡沫细胞中加入普伐他汀后能够促进小凹蛋白-1的表达,呈剂量依赖性和时间依赖性。上述结果提示普伐他汀通过降低细胞内胆固醇酯的含量,减轻细胞泡沫化程度。普伐他汀的这一作用可能与促进小凹蛋白-1表达上调有关。