顺反式肉桂醛对肉源隆德假单胞菌生物被膜和致腐性的抑制作用

【目的】为比较反式和顺式肉桂醛对肉源假单胞菌生物被膜和致腐性的影响。【方法】通过平板计数测定两种肉桂醛对隆德假单胞菌的最小抑菌浓度(MIC),结晶紫法、珠涡流法、激光共聚焦显微镜观察、福林法等检测亚抑菌浓度肉桂醛处理下隆德假单胞菌生物被膜形成、运动性和胞外酶活性变化。荧光定量RT-PCR检测肉桂醛对隆德假单胞菌粘附lapA、鞭毛fliC、蛋白酶aprX和脂肪酶lip基因表达量的影响。【结果】反式和顺式肉桂醛对隆德假单胞菌的MIC分别为200μg/mL和225μg/mL,1/8 MIC、1/4MIC、1/2MIC亚抑菌浓度肉桂醛显著降低隆德假单胞菌生物被膜结晶紫和粘附性,其中1/2MIC反式和顺式肉桂醛处理下被膜分别减少60.27%和52.05%,菌体粘附降低56.35%和61.10%。亚抑菌浓度肉桂醛显著减少被膜厚度,反式肉桂醛还能显著杀灭被膜菌。且肉桂醛能显著抑制菌体的泳动性,反式肉桂醛对生物被膜和泳动性的抑制效果更强。肉桂醛还能抑制隆德假单胞菌蛋白酶和脂肪酶活性,其中1/2MIC反式和顺式肉桂醛处理下菌体蛋白酶分别减少61.90%和76.19%,脂肪酶降低40.17%和47.01%。且发现肉桂醛显著降低lapA、fliC、aprX和lip表达量,其中1/2MIC反式和顺式肉桂醛分别降低4个基因表达量至对照组的0.05–0.16和0.02–0.12倍。【结论】两种亚抑菌浓度肉桂醛异构体显著抑制隆德假单胞菌生物被膜和致腐性,其中反式肉桂醛对生物被膜抑制较强,而顺式肉桂醛更有效地降低致腐酶活性,其与肉桂醛下调相应基因表达密切相关。     

A Computational Study of the Giant Local Electric Field Enhancement in Al-Au-Ag Trimetallic Three-Layered Nanoshells

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-induced local field effect in Al-Au-Ag trimetallic three-layered nanoshells has been studied theoretically. Because of having three kinds of metal, three plasmonic bands have been observed in the absorption spectra and the local electric field factor spectra. The local electric field enhancement and the corresponding resonance wavelength for different plasmon coupling modes and spatial positions of the Al-Au-Ag nanoshells with various geometry dimensions are investigated to find the maximum local electric field enhancement. The calculation results indicate that the giant local electric field enhancement could be stimulated by the plasmon coupling in the middle Au shell or the outer Ag shell and could be optimized by increasing the Ag shell thickness and decreasing the Au shell thickness. What is more, the local electric field enhancement also nonmonotonously depends on the dielectric constant of the environment; the local electric field intensity will be weakened when the surrounding dielectric constant is too small or too large.

     

FUNDC1 is a novel mitochondrial-associated-membrane (MAM) protein required for hypoxia-induced mitochondrial fission and mitophagy

Mitochondria need to be fragmented prior to engulfment by phagophores, the precursors to autophagosomes. However, how these 2 processes are finely regulated and integrated is poorly understood. We have shown that the outer mitochondrial membrane protein FUNDC1 is a novel mitochondrial-associated membrane (MAM) protein, enriched at the MAM by interacting with the ER resident protein CANX (calnexin) under hypoxia. As mitophagy proceeds, it dissociates from CANX and preferably recruits DNM1L/DRP1 to drive mitochondrial fission in response to hypoxic stress. In addition, knocking down of FUNDC1, DNM1L or CANX in hypoxic cells increases the number of elongated mitochondria and also reduces the colocalization of autophagosome and mitochondria, thus preventing mitophagy. These findings identify FUNDC1 as a molecular hub integrating mitochondrial fission and mitophagy at the MAM in response to hypoxia.     

Wild-type rabies virus induces autophagy in human and mouse neuroblastoma cell lines

Different rabies virus (RABV) strains have their own biological characteristics, but little is known about their respective impact on autophagy. Therefore, we evaluated whether attenuated RABV HEP-Flury and wild-type RABV GD-SH-01 strains triggered autophagy. We found that GD-SH-01 infection significantly increased the number of autophagy-like vesicles, the accumulation of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-LC3 fluorescence puncta and the conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II, while HEP-Flury was not able to induce this phenomenon. When evaluating autophagic flux, we found that GD-SH-01 infection triggers a complete autophagic response in the human neuroblastoma cell line (SK), while autophagosome fusion with lysosomes was inhibited in a mouse neuroblastoma cell line (NA). In these cells, GD-SH-01 led to apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction while triggering autophagy, and apoptosis could be decreased by enhancing autophagy. To further identify the virus constituent causing autophagy, 5 chimeric recombinant viruses carrying single genes of HEP-Flury instead of those of GD-SH-01 were rescued. While the HEP-Flury virus carrying the wild-type matrix protein (M) gene of RABV triggered LC3-I to LC3-II conversion in SK and NA cells, replacement of genes of nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P) and glycoprotein (G) produced only minor autophagy. But no one single structural protein of GD-SH-01 induced autophagy. Moreover, the AMPK signaling pathway was activated by GD-SH-01 in SK. Therefore, our data provide strong evidence that autophagy is induced by GD-SH-01 and can decrease apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, the M gene of GD-SH-01 may cooperatively induce autophagy.     

Glucose‐based microbial production of the hormone melatonin in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Melatonin is a natural mammalian hormone that plays an important role in regulating the circadian cycle in humans. It is a clinically effective drug exhibiting positive effects as a sleep aid and a powerful antioxidant used as a dietary supplement. Commercial melatonin production is predominantly performed by complex chemical synthesis. In this study, we demonstrate microbial production of melatonin and related compounds, such as serotonin and N‐acetylserotonin. We generated Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that comprise heterologous genes encoding one or more variants of an L‐tryptophan hydroxylase, a 5‐hydroxy‐L‐tryptophan decarboxylase, a serotonin acetyltransferase, an acetylserotonin O‐methyltransferase, and means for providing the cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin via heterologous biosynthesis and recycling pathways. We thereby achieved de novo melatonin biosynthesis from glucose. We furthermore accomplished increased product titers by altering expression levels of selected pathway enzymes and boosting co‐factor supply. The final yeast strain produced melatonin at a titer of 14.50 ± 0.57 mg L^?1 in a 76h fermentation using simulated fed‐batch medium with glucose as sole carbon source. Our study lays the basis for further developing a yeast cell factory for biological production of melatonin.     

Effects of BmCPV Infection on Silkworm Bombyx mori Intestinal Bacteria

The gut microbiota has a crucial role in the growth, development and environmental adaptation in the host insect. The objective of our work was to investigate the microbiota of the healthy silkworm Bombyx mori gut and changes after the infection of B. mori cypovirus (BmCPV). Intestinal contents of the infected and healthy larvae of B. mori of fifth instar were collected at 24, 72 and 144 h post infection with BmCPV. The gut bacteria were analyzed by pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. 147(135) and 113(103) genera were found in the gut content of the healthy control female (male) larvae and BmCPV-infected female (male) larvae, respectively. In general, the microbial communities in the gut content of healthy larvae were dominated by Enterococcus, Delftia, Pelomonas, Ralstonia and Staphylococcus, however the abundance change of each genus was depended on the developmental stage and gender. Microbial diversity reached minimum at 144 h of fifth instar larvae. The abundance of Enterococcus in the females was substantially lower and the abundance of Delftia, Aurantimonas and Staphylococcus was substantially higher compared to the males. Bacterial diversity in the intestinal contents decreased after post infection with BmCPV, whereas the abundance of both Enterococcus and Staphylococcus which belongs to Gram-positive were increased. Therefore, our findings suggested that observed changes in relative abundance was related to the immune response of silkworm to BmCPV infection. Relevance analysis of plenty of the predominant genera showed the abundance of the Enterococcus genus was in negative correlation with the abundance of the most predominant genera. These results provided insight into the relationship between the gut microbiota and development of the BmCPV-infected silkworm.     

Profile and Determinants of Retinal Optical Intensity in Normal Eyes with Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose

To investigate the profile and determinants of retinal optical intensity in normal subjects using 3D spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT).

Methods

A total of 231 eyes from 231 healthy subjects ranging in age from 18 to 80 years were included and underwent a 3D OCT scan. Forty-four eyes were randomly chosen to be scanned by two operators for reproducibility analysis. Distribution of optical intensity of each layer and regions specified by the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) were investigated by analyzing the OCT raw data with our automatic graph-based algorithm. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed between retinal optical intensity and sex, age, height, weight, spherical equivalent (SE), axial length, image quality, disc area and rim/disc area ratio (R/D area ratio).

Results

For optical intensity measurements, the intraclass correlation coefficient of each layer ranged from 0.815 to 0.941, indicating good reproducibility. Optical intensity was lowest in the central area of retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, inner plexiform layer, inner nuclear layer, outer plexiform layer and photoreceptor layer, except for the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Optical intensity was positively correlated with image quality in all retinal layers (0.553<β<0.851, p<0.01), and negatively correlated with age in most retinal layers (-0.362<β<-0.179, p<0.01), except for the RPE (β = 0.456, p<0.01), outer nuclear layer and photoreceptor layer (p>0.05). There was no relationship between retinal optical intensity and sex, height, weight, SE, axial length, disc area and R/D area ratio.

Conclusions

There was a specific pattern of distribution of retinal optical intensity in different regions. The optical intensity was affected by image quality and age. Image quality can be used as a reference for normalization. The effect of age needs to be taken into consideration when using OCT for diagnosis.     

Elevated Progesterone Levels on the Day of Oocyte Maturation May Affect Top Quality Embryo IVF Cycles

In contrast to the impact of elevated progesterone on endometrial receptivity, the data on whether increased progesterone levels affects the quality of embryos is still limited. This study retrospectively enrolled 4,236 fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles and sought to determine whether increased progesterone is associated with adverse outcomes with regard to top quality embryos (TQE). The results showed that the TQE rate significantly correlated with progesterone levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) trigger (P = 0.009). Multivariate linear regression analysis of factors related to the TQE rate, in conventional IVF cycles, showed that the TQE rate was negatively associated with progesterone concentration on the day of hCG (OR was -1.658, 95% CI: -2.806 to -0.510, P = 0.005). When the serum progesterone level was within the interval 2.0–2.5 ng/ml, the TQE rate was significantly lower (P <0.05) than when the progesterone level was < 1.0 ng/ml; similar results were obtained for serum progesterone levels >2.5 ng/ml. Then, we choose a progesterone level at 1.5ng/ml, 2.0 ng/ml and 2.5 ng/ml as cut-off points to verify this result. We found that the TQE rate was significantly different (P <0.05) between serum progesterone levels < 2.0 ng/ml and >2.0 ng/ml. In conclusion, the results of this study clearly demonstrated a negative effect of elevated progesterone levels on the day of hCG trigger, on TQE rate, regardless of the basal FSH, the total gonadotropin, the age of the woman, or the time of ovarian stimulation. These data demonstrate that elevated progesterone levels (>2.0 ng/ml) before oocyte maturation were consistently detrimental to the oocyte.