基于免疫学的胃肠道微生态与胃癌相关研究进展

21世纪,随着人类微生物基因组计划和人类肠道元基因组计划的开展,科学家们越来越关注存在于人体百万亿计的微生物,尤其是机体中最为复杂的胃肠道微生物。同时,肠道黏膜免疫学也是近年来备受关注的研究方向。肠道不仅是消化吸收的代谢场所也是重要的免疫器官,肠黏膜含有丰富的淋巴细胞,它们与肠道微生物相互作用,参与机体的免疫防御、免疫平衡和免疫监视。胃肠道微生态平衡发生紊乱会影响机体免疫应答反应,进而引起疾病的发生发展。本文从免疫学的角度来论述胃肠道微生物在肿瘤尤其是胃癌的发生和治疗中所扮演的角色。     

DNA聚合酶对PacBio SMRT测序结果影响的评价

目的评估不同DNA聚合酶是否会对以16SrRNA全长为测序靶点的肠道微生物多样性研究结果产生影响。方法用美国太平洋公司的三代测序仪(PacBio single molecule real-time sequencing technology)对3份分别采用KAPA HiFi^TM HotStart DNA聚合酶和PCRBIO HotStart DNA聚合酶扩增的军犬粪便样品进行精确至"种"水平的测序分析。结果经配对Mann-Whitney U检验显示,不同DNA聚合酶扩增的同一样品在门、属和种水平上差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),然而在某些相对含量较少的操作分类单元(OTU)上,其扩增效率存在差异。经基于非加权UniFrac距离的非加权组平均法聚类分析和基于加权UniFrac距离的非参数多元方差分析发现不同DNA聚合酶扩增的同一样品其多样性差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论 KAPA HiFi^TM HotStart DNA聚合酶和PCRBIO HotStart DNA聚合酶虽对模板DNA扩增存在一定的偏好性,但该偏好性不影响PacBio SMRT测序结果。     

Snapshot of an early Paleoproterozoic ecosystem: Two diverse microfossil communities from the Turee Creek Group,Western Australia

Eighteen microfossil morphotypes from two distinct facies of black chert from a deep‐water setting of the c. 2.4 Ga Turee Creek Group, Western Australia, are reported here. A primarily in situ, deep‐water benthic community preserved in nodular black chert occurs as a tangled network of a variety of long filamentous microfossils, unicells of one size distribution and fine filamentous rosettes, together with relatively large spherical aggregates of cells interpreted as in‐fallen, likely planktonic, forms. Bedded black cherts, in contrast, preserve microfossils primarily within, but also between, rounded clasts of organic material that are coated by thin, convoluted carbonaceous films interpreted as preserved extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Microfossils preserved within the clasts include a wide range of unicells, both much smaller and larger than those in the nodular black chert, along with relatively short, often degraded filaments, four types of star‐shaped rosettes and umbrella‐like rosettes. Large, complexly branching filamentous microfossils are found between the clasts. The grainstone clasts in the bedded black chert are interpreted as transported from shallower water, and the contained microfossils thus likely represent a phototrophic community. Combined, the two black chert facies provide a snapshot of a microbial ecosystem spanning shallow to deeper‐water environments, and an insight into the diversity of life present during the rise in atmospheric oxygen. The preserved microfossils include two new, distinct morphologies previously unknown from the geological record, as well as a number of microfossils from the bedded black chert that are morphologically similar to—but 400–500 Ma older than—type specimens from the c. 1.88 Ga Gunflint Iron Formation. Thus, the Turee Creek Group microfossil assemblage creates a substantial reference point in the sparse fossil record of the earliest Paleoproterozoic and demonstrates that microbial life diversified quite rapidly after the end of the Archean.     

Lactobacillus gasseri in the Upper Small Intestine Impacts an ACSL3-Dependent Fatty Acid-Sensing Pathway Regulating Whole-Body Glucose Homeostasis

1. Download high-res image (111KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Secretory autophagy of lysozyme in Paneth cells

Secretion of antimicrobial proteins is an important host defense mechanism against bacteria, yet how secretory cells maintain function during bacterial invasion has been unclear. We discovered that Paneth cells, specialized secretory cells in the small intestine, react to bacterial invasion by rerouting a critical secreted antibacterial protein through a macroautophagy/autophagy-based secretion system termed secretory autophagy. Mice harboring a mutation in an essential autophagy gene, a mutation which is common in Crohn disease patients, cannot reroute their antimicrobial cargo during bacterial invasion and thus have compromised innate immunity. We showed that this alternative secretion system is triggered by both a cell-intrinsic mechanism, involving the ER stress response, and a cell-extrinsic mechanism, involving subepithelial innate immune cells. Our findings uncover a new role for secretory autophagy in host defense and suggest how a mutation in an autophagy gene can predispose individuals to Crohn disease.     

Intermittent Fasting Confers Protection in CNS Autoimmunity by Altering the Gut Microbiota

1. Download high-res image (151KB)
2. Download full-size image