Exosomes derived from umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells alleviate viral myocarditis through activating AMPK/mTOR‐mediated autophagy flux pathway

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell‐derived exosomes (hucMSC‐exosomes) have been implicated as a novel therapeutic approach for tissue injury repair and regeneration, but the effects of hucMSC‐exosomes on coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)‐induced myocarditis remain unknown. The object of the present study is to investigate whether hucMSC‐exosomes have therapeutic effects on CVB3‐induced myocarditis (VMC). HucMSC‐exosomes were identified using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Western blot. The purified hucMSC‐exosomes tagged with PKH26 were tail intravenously injected into VMC model mice in vivo and used to administrate CVB3‐infected human cardiomyocytes (HCMs) in vitro, respectively. The effects of hucMSC‐exosomes on myocardial pathology injury, proinflammatory cytokines and cardiac function were evaluated through haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Doppler echocardiography. The anti‐apoptosis role and potential mechanism of hucMSC‐exosomes were explored using TUNEL staining, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, Ad‐mRFP‐GFP‐LC3 transduction and Western blot. In vivo results showed that hucMSC‐exosomes (50 μg iv) significantly alleviated myocardium injury, shrank the production of proinflammatory cytokines and improved cardiac function. Moreover, in vitro data showed that hucMSC‐exosomes (50 μg/mL) inhibited the apoptosis of CVB3‐infected HCM through increasing pAMPK/AMPK ratio and up‐regulating autophagy proteins LC3II/I, BECLIN‐1 and anti‐apoptosis protein BCL‐2 as well as decreasing pmTOR/mTOR ratio, promoting the degradation of autophagy flux protein P62 and down‐regulating apoptosis protein BAX. In conclusion, hucMSC‐exosomes could alleviate CVB3‐induced myocarditis via activating AMPK/mTOR‐mediated autophagy flux pathway to attenuate cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which will be benefit for MSC‐exosome therapy of myocarditis in the future.     

Integrating Remote Sensing and Ground Methods to Estimate Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiraton (ET) is the second largest term in the terrestrial water budget after precipitation, and ET is expected to increase with global warming. ET studies are relevant to the plant sciences because over 80% of terrestrial ET is due to transpiration by plants. Remote sensing is the only feasible means for projecting ET over large landscape units. In the past decade or so, new ground and remote sensing tools have dramatically increased our ability to measure ET at the plot scale and to scale it over larger regions. Moisture flux towers and micrometeorological stations have been deployed in numerous natural and agricultural biomes and provide continuous measurements of actual ET or potential ET with an accuracy or uncertainty of 10–30%. These measurements can be scaled to larger landscape units using remotely-sensed vegetation indices (VIs), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and other satellite data. Two types of methods have been developed. Empirical methods use time-series VIs and micrometeorological data to project ET measured on the ground to larger landscape units. Physically-based methods use remote sensing data to determine the components of the surface energy balance, including latent heat flux, which determines ET. Errors in predicting ET by both types of methods are within the error bounds of the flux towers by which they are calibrated or validated. However, the error bounds need to be reduced to 10% or less for applications that require precise wide-area ET estimates. The high fidelity between ET and VIs over agricultural fields and natural ecosystems where precise ground estimates of ET are available suggests that this might be an achievable goal if ground methods for measuring ET continue to improve.     

扎龙芦苇湿地生长季的甲烷排放通量

为研究高寒地区天然淡水芦苇湿地的甲烷排放特征,采用静态箱-气相色谱法,测定了扎龙不同水位芦苇湿地生长季的甲烷排放通量.结果表明:观测期内,扎龙芦苇湿地甲烷排放通量平均为7.67 mg·m^-2·h^-1（-21.18～46.15 mg·m^-2·h^-1）,其中深水区(平均水深100 cm)和浅水区(平均水深25 cm)的平均甲烷排放通量分别为5.81和9.52 mg·m^-2·h^-1,排放峰值分别出现在8月和7月,最低值均出现在10月.深水区夏季(6-7月)的甲烷排放通量显著低于浅水区,而春(5月)、秋(8-10月)季节显著高于浅水区.生长季甲烷排放通量的变化为夏季>秋季>春季;昼夜排放量为12:00和14:00最高,0:00最低.温度和水位是高寒地区淡水芦苇湿地甲烷排放通量变化的主要影响因子.     

13C标记代谢流分析中天然稳定性同位素修正矩阵构建方法及应用

稳定性同位素¹³C标记实验是分析细胞代谢流的一种重要手段,主要通过质谱检测胞内代谢物中¹³C标记的同位素分布,并作为胞内代谢流计算时的约束条件,进而通过代谢流分析算法得到相应代谢网络中的通量分布。然而在自然界中,并非只有C元素存在天然稳定性同位素¹³C,其他元素如O元素也有其天然稳定性同位素¹⁷O、¹⁸O等,这使得质谱方法所测得的同位素分布中会夹杂除¹³C标记之外的其他元素的同位素信息,特别是分子中含有较多其他元素的分子,这将导致很大的实验误差,因此需要在进行代谢流计算前进行质谱数据的矫正。本研究提出了一种基于Python语言的天然同位素修正矩阵的构建方法,用于修正同位素分布测量值中由于天然同位素分布引起的测定误差。文中提出的基本修正矩阵幂方法用于构建各元素修正矩阵,结构简单、易于编码实现,可直接应用于¹³C代谢流分析软件数据前处理。将该修正方法应用于¹³C标记的黑曲霉（Aspergillus niger）胞内代谢流分析,结果表明本研究提出的方法准确有效,为准确获取微生物胞内代谢流分析提供了可靠的数据修正方法。     

基于代谢通量分析的琥珀酸放线杆菌高产选育研究

在对产琥珀酸放线杆菌代谢分析的基础上选育出高产突变株对琥珀酸的工业生物转化有重要意义.在矩阵分析代谢通量基础上,围绕柔性节点下的副产物乙酸及乙醇的降低分别实施软X诱变及定点突变选育,并对比分析了突变株与出发株相关酶活及基因序列变化.针对出发株的流量分析显示产物琥珀酸的代谢通量为1.78(mmol/g/h),主要副产物乙酸与乙醇的代谢通量分别为(0.60mmol/g/h)和(1.04 mmol/g/h),并发现乙醇代谢加剧了琥珀酸合成中的H电子供体的不足;筛选出的氟乙酸抗性突变株S.JST1的乙酸代谢通量降低了96%,为0.024(mmol/g/h),酶活检测表明磷酸乙酰转移酶(Pta)的酶比活力从602降低到74,进一步的序列对比分析发现pta突变基因中产生了一个突变位点:adh定点复合突变株S.JST2的乙醇代谢通量降低了98%,为0.020(mmol/g/h),酶活检测表明Adh的酶比活力从585降低到62.最终突变株S.JST2琥珀酸累积产量达65.7 g/L.围绕产琥珀酸放线杆菌Pta及Adh酶活的降低实施定向选育,在降低副产物流量的同时,有助于改善细胞H供体代谢平衡进而提高琥珀酸的流量.所获突变株具有工业应用潜力.     

Ca~(++)促进大麦根K~+吸收的过程分析

吸收溶液中CaCl_2促进了大麦根K~+净吸收,Ca~(++)本身对H~+分泌无影响,Cl~-减少了H~+净分泌量。 含有~(86)Rb的大麦根在1m mol/L KCl溶液中发生~(86)Rb外流,在H_2O、1m mol/L NaCl或0.5 m mol/L CaCl_2中没有明显外流。VO_4~(3-)、NaN_3和4℃低温均可以减少根段在1m mol/L KCl溶液中的~(86)Rb外流量。Ca~(++)抑制K~+(~(86)Rb~+)的外流,EDTA加剧外流,Ca~(++)可以逆转EDTA的效应。 Ca~(++)抑制K~+(~(86)Rb)外流和促进K~+净吸收的趋势相吻合。K~+吸收的通量分析结果表明,Ca~(++)抑制K~+通过质膜的外流,促进K~+由细胞质向液泡中转运,而不影响K~+通过质膜的内流速率。     

Substituent effects on the binding of ethidium and its derivatives to natural DNA

The binding of eight ethidium derivatives to short (approximately 35 base-pair), random sequence DNA has been investigated using 1H-NMR. At 35 degrees C, all drugs cause upfield shifts of the DNA imino proton resonances characteristic of intercalative binding to DNA, but the line shapes vary significantly with the nature of the drug. The results confirm our previous proposal that removal of the amino group at position-3, but not at position-8, on the parent ethidium shortens the lifetime of the intercalative state (less than 1-2 ms at 35 degrees C). These results suggest that hydrogen-bonding interactions with the 3-NH2 group are involved in stabilization of the drug-DNA complex or that changes in charge distribution that accompany removal of the 3-NH2 group reduce the complex stability. The magnitude of the shift of the drug-DNA spectra indicates a slight preference for binding of the drugs adjacent to G X C base-pairs.     

A large proportion of North American net ecosystem production is offset by emissions from harvested products,river/stream evasion,and biomass burning

Diagnostic carbon cycle models produce estimates of net ecosystem production (NEP, the balance of net primary production and heterotrophic respiration) by integrating information from (i) satellite‐based observations of land surface vegetation characteristics; (ii) distributed meteorological data; and (iii) eddy covariance flux tower observations of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) (used in model parameterization). However, a full bottom‐up accounting of NEE (the vertical carbon flux) that is suitable for integration with atmosphere‐based inversion modeling also includes emissions from decomposition/respiration of harvested forest and agricultural products, CO₂ evasion from streams and rivers, and biomass burning. Here, we produce a daily time step NEE for North America for the year 2004 that includes NEP as well as the additional emissions. This NEE product was run in the forward mode through the CarbonTracker inversion setup to evaluate its consistency with CO₂ concentration observations. The year 2004 was climatologically favorable for NEP over North America and the continental total was estimated at 1730 ± 370 TgC yr^?1 (a carbon sink). Harvested product emissions (316 ± 80 TgC yr^?1), river/stream evasion (158 ± 50 TgC yr^?1), and fire emissions (142 ± 45 TgC yr^?1) counteracted a large proportion (35%) of the NEP sink. Geographic areas with strong carbon sinks included Midwest US croplands, and forested regions of the Northeast, Southeast, and Pacific Northwest. The forward mode run with CarbonTracker produced good agreement between observed and simulated wintertime CO₂ concentrations aggregated over eight measurement sites around North America, but overestimates of summertime concentrations that suggested an underestimation of summertime carbon uptake. As terrestrial NEP is the dominant offset to fossil fuel emission over North America, a good understanding of its spatial and temporal variation – as well as the fate of the carbon it sequesters ─ is needed for a comprehensive view of the carbon cycle.     

The response of soil organic carbon of a rich fen peatland in interior Alaska to projected climate change

It is important to understand the fate of carbon in boreal peatland soils in response to climate change because a substantial change in release of this carbon as CO₂ and CH₄ could influence the climate system. The goal of this research was to synthesize the results of a field water table manipulation experiment conducted in a boreal rich fen into a process‐based model to understand how soil organic carbon (SOC) of the rich fen might respond to projected climate change. This model, the peatland version of the dynamic organic soil Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (peatland DOS‐TEM), was calibrated with data collected during 2005–2011 from the control treatment of a boreal rich fen in the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX). The performance of the model was validated with the experimental data measured from the raised and lowered water‐table treatments of APEX during the same period. The model was then applied to simulate future SOC dynamics of the rich fen control site under various CO₂ emission scenarios. The results across these emissions scenarios suggest that the rate of SOC sequestration in the rich fen will increase between year 2012 and 2061 because the effects of warming increase heterotrophic respiration less than they increase carbon inputs via production. However, after 2061, the rate of SOC sequestration will be weakened and, as a result, the rich fen will likely become a carbon source to the atmosphere between 2062 and 2099. During this period, the effects of projected warming increase respiration so that it is greater than carbon inputs via production. Although changes in precipitation alone had relatively little effect on the dynamics of SOC, changes in precipitation did interact with warming to influence SOC dynamics for some climate scenarios.