Bio-catalyzed coloration of cellulose fibers

Cotton fabrics were dyed with dyes generated in situ by laccase-catalyzed oxidative coupling of the colorless 2,5-diaminobenzenesulfonic acid (2,5-DABSA) and 1-hydroxyphenol (catechol). The enzymatic oxidation of the dye intermediates led to cross-coupling reaction products when the reaction was conducted with an excess of catechol. At least fourfold excess of catechol was necessary to achieve satisfactory dye fixation on cotton. Formation of the same colored product using either an equimolar ratio of the reagents or tenfold excess of catechol was observed. Most probably, homo-molecular reactions predominate over the cross-coupling at equimolar ratio of the precursors, while with an excess of catechol, the cross-coupling occurs in higher yield. The reaction was followed using UV-Vis spectroscopy, HPLC, FTIR and MALDI-TOF MS. A reaction pathway for laccase-induced cross-coupling of catechol and 2,5-DABSA yielding a major colored product was proposed.     

Brown drug substance color investigation in cell culture manufacturing using chemically defined media: A case study

Drug substance (DS) color is an important quality attribute for release, stability and comparability studies of biologics. With the increase of DS concentrations and biologics pipelines made in chemically defined media, atypical DS color other than colorless or pale yellow has been recently reported in the biopharmaceutical industry. We recently observed a brown DS color in manufacturing. Although analytical characterization data indicated that the brown color DS had no major quality issue, it is necessary to find the root cause and reduce DS color to ease placebo design for clinical use. It was demonstrated that the brown color was caused by the chemically defined basal medium containing high levels of iron and vitamin B12 (VB12) regardless of cell lines. Iron caused tryptophan oxidation in the protein to form N-formylkynurenine and kynurenine products, which likely contributed to a yellow DS color. A pink DS color was caused by the residual VB12 bound to DS. The brown color was the result of the combinatory effect of yellow and pink colors. Finally a modified basal medium was developed to produce a pale yellow DS in manufacturing.     

Galanin Signaling in the Brain Regulates Color Pattern Formation in Zebrafish

1. Download : Download high-res image (251KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

辅色剂对紫淮山花色苷稳定性的影响及其热降解动力学研究

为探究谷胱甘肽和没食子酸对紫淮山花色苷的辅色作用,本文研究了谷胱甘肽和没食子酸对紫淮山花色苷降解率、热稳定性及色差的影响。试验表明,谷胱甘肽和没食子酸能有效抑制花色苷的降解,且最佳添加量分别为0.03%和0.2%。在此添加量条件下,紫淮山花色苷在50、70、90℃水浴中的热降解均符合一级降解反应动力学规律。添加谷胱甘肽和没食子酸的紫淮山花色苷降解速率常数(k)小于对照组,半衰期(t 1/2)和活化能(Ea)高于对照组,说明谷胱甘肽和没食子酸能够增强花色苷的热稳定性。色差测定结果表明,经谷胱甘肽和没食子酸辅色后的紫淮山花色苷,其明度指数(L*)和色品指数(a*、b*)较对照组变化缓慢,颜色的稳定性增强。     

Hotspots of biotic compositional change in lakes along vast latitudinal transects in northern Canada

Ecotones mark zones of rapid change in ecological structure at various spatial scales. They are believed to be particularly susceptible to shifts caused by environmental transformation, making them key regions for studying the effects of global change. Here, we explored the variation in assemblage structure of aquatic primary producer and consumer communities across latitudinal transects in northeastern North America (Québec‐Labrador) to identify spatial patterns in biodiversity that indicated the location of transition zones across the landscape. We analyzed species richness and the cumulative rate of compositional change (expressed as beta‐diversity) of diatoms and chironomids to detect any abrupt shifts in the rate of spatial taxonomic turnover. We used principal coordinates analysis to estimate community turnover with latitude, then applied piecewise linear regression to assess the position of ecotones. Statistically significant changes in assemblage composition occurred at 52 and 55°N, corresponding to the transition between closed‐ and open‐crown forest, and to the southern onset of the forest tundra (i.e., the forest limit), respectively. The spatial distribution of ecotones was most strongly related to air temperature for chironomids and to vegetation‐ and soil‐related chemical attributes of lake water for diatoms, including dissolved organic carbon content and water color. Lakes at mid‐ to high‐latitudes currently face pressures from rapidly rising temperatures, accompanied by large increases in organic carbon inputs from their catchments, often leading to browning and its associated effects. The biota at the base of food webs in lakes located in transition zones are disproportionately affected by the cascading effects of these multi‐factorial changes, concurrent with pronounced terrestrial greening observed in these regions. Similar patterns of biotic shifts have been observed along alpine aquatic transects, indicating the potential for widespread restructuring of cold, high‐altitude and high‐latitude freshwater communities due to global change.     

PEATmoss (Physcomitrella Expression Atlas Tool): a unified gene expression atlas for the model plant Physcomitrella patens

Physcomitrella patens is a bryophyte model plant that is often used to study plant evolution and development. Its resources are of great importance for comparative genomics and evo‐devo approaches. However, expression data from Physcomitrella patens were so far generated using different gene annotation versions and three different platforms: CombiMatrix and NimbleGen expression microarrays and RNA sequencing. The currently available P. patens expression data are distributed across three tools with different visualization methods to access the data. Here, we introduce an interactive expression atlas, Physcomitrella Expression Atlas Tool (PEATmoss), that unifies publicly available expression data for P. patens and provides multiple visualization methods to query the data in a single web‐based tool. Moreover, PEATmoss includes 35 expression experiments not previously available in any other expression atlas. To facilitate gene expression queries across different gene annotation versions, and to access P. patens annotations and related resources, a lookup database and web tool linked to PEATmoss was implemented. PEATmoss can be accessed at https://peatmoss.online.uni-marburg.de     

蒙农红豆草不同花色表型及色素成分特征分析

蒙农红豆草不仅是良好的饲草作物,还可以用作庭院观赏及蜜源植物。该研究以蒙农红豆草浅色花瓣突变体与对照群体中的粉红色、紫红色花瓣为试验材料,通过对花瓣颜色的表型和色素种类及含量的综合分析,明确影响花色形成的主要物质。结果表明:(1)蒙农红豆草浅色花突变体与对照的粉红色花和紫红色花为3种不同的色系,根据黄度(b*)和色相角(h°)将浅色花突变体的花色定义为黄白色花。(2)在3种花色中共检测到10种类黄酮和5种花青素,其中6种山奈酚衍生物、2种矮牵牛素衍生物、2种飞燕草素衍生物和1种锦葵素衍生物为首次在蒙农红豆草中报道;同时还发现山奈酚-3-芸香苷、山奈酚-3-葡萄糖苷和飞燕草素-3-羧基修饰芸香苷在3种花色中含量(36%~50%、21%~35%和27%~65%)最多。研究推测:芦丁、山奈酚-3-芸香苷-5-鼠李糖苷和山奈酚-3-p-香豆酰葡萄糖苷为影响蒙农红豆草花色变化的主要成分。     

Gch在喋啶代谢通路中参与鱼类体色形成的研究

鸟苷三磷酸环化水解酶 (GTP cyclohydrolase,Gch)是具有GTP-cyclohydro结构域的蛋白酶,广泛存在于脊椎动物和无脊椎动物中。哺乳动物和鸟类中只具有Gch1,硬骨鱼类和两栖动物中Gch1存在旁系同源的Gch2和Gch3,且功能存在差异。Gch是以鸟苷三磷酸为底物,最终形成四氢生物蝶呤(tetrahydrobiopterin,BH4)的限速酶,而BH4是芳香族氨基酸羟化酶必须的辅助因子,参与多种激素和神经递质的合成。Gch是催化各种蝶呤生物合成的起始步骤,例如皮肤色素、眼色素、甲氨蝶呤、叶黄酸和BH4等,在体内一系列生理病理过程中发挥重要作用。Gch的生理功能与BH4的生物合成有着不可分割的联系,作为BH4生物合成的唯一限速酶,其活性可作为神经元和色素细胞的发育指示物,也是研究色素形成和神经递质生物合成的重要标志。目前,Gch在肿瘤和心血管等疾病的发病机制方面已获得广泛关注和解析,而色素合成和体色调控的作用研究多集中在昆虫方面,在硬骨鱼类中较少。因此,本文将重点对Gch基因、蛋白质、功能以及在鱼类体色方面中的作用进行总结归纳,对深入分析Gch在鱼类体色形成中的作用及后期鱼类体色改良具有重要的指导意义。