On the Relationship between Intramolecular Dynamics and the Density of States

The relationship between the intramolecular dynamics and the spectra has been analyzed by means of the molecular dynamics technique. Time autocorrelation functions of bond lengths, bending angles and torsional angles have been evaluated in a crystalline trans-polyacetylene system. The Fourier transforms of such functions have been compared with the densities of states obtained both for carbon and hydrogen atoms. This comparison is aimed at investigating the microscopic origin of the peaks which appear in the densities of states. This approach can be used in the analysis of the spectroscopic data of any molecular or polymeric system.     

Links between prey assemblages and poison frog toxins: A landscape ecology approach to assess how biotic interactions affect species phenotypes

Ecological studies of species pairs showed that biotic interactions promote phenotypic change and eco‐evolutionary feedbacks. However, it is unclear how phenotypes respond to synergistic interactions with multiple taxa. We investigate whether interactions with multiple prey species explain spatially structured variation in the skin toxins of the neotropical poison frog Oophaga pumilio. Specifically, we assess how dissimilarity (i.e., beta diversity) of alkaloid‐bearing arthropod prey assemblages (68 ant species) and evolutionary divergence between frog populations (from a neutral genetic marker) contribute to frog poison dissimilarity (toxin profiles composed of 230 different lipophilic alkaloids sampled from 934 frogs at 46 sites). We find that models that incorporate spatial turnover in the composition of ant assemblages explain part of the frog alkaloid variation, and we infer unique alkaloid combinations across the range of O. pumilio. Moreover, we find that alkaloid variation increases weakly with the evolutionary divergence between frog populations. Our results pose two hypotheses: First, the distribution of only a few prey species may explain most of the geographic variation in poison frog alkaloids; second, different codistributed prey species may be redundant alkaloid sources. The analytical framework proposed here can be extended to other multitrophic systems, coevolutionary mosaics, microbial assemblages, and ecosystem services.     

Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phones on the human motor cortex

We investigated whether the pulsed high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by a mobile phone has short term effects on the human motor cortex. We measured motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), before and after mobile phone exposure (active and sham) in 10 normal volunteers. Three sites were stimulated (motor cortex (CTX), brainstem (BST) and spinal nerve (Sp)). The short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) of the motor cortex reflecting GABAergic interneuronal function was also studied by paired pulse TMS method. MEPs to single pulse TMS were also recorded in two patients with multiple sclerosis showing temperature dependent neurological symptoms (hot bath effect). Neither MEPs to single pulse TMS nor the SICI was affected by 30 min of EMF exposure from mobile phones or sham exposure. In two MS patients, mobile phone exposure had no effect on any parameters of MEPs even though conduction block occurred at the corticospinal tracts after taking a bath. As far as available methods are concerned, we did not detect any short-term effects of 30 min mobile phone exposure on the human motor cortical output neurons or interneurons even though we can not exclude the possibility that we failed to detect some mild effects due to a small sample size in the present study. This is the first study of MEPs after electromagnetic exposure from a mobile phone in neurological patients.     

The effect of multiple binding modes on empirical modeling of ligand docking to proteins.

A popular approach to the computational modeling of ligand/receptor interactions is to use an empirical free energy like model with adjustable parameters. Parameters are learned from one set of complexes, then used to predict another set. To improve these empirical methods requires an independent way to study their inherent errors. We introduce a toy model of ligand/receptor binding as a workbench for testing such errors. We study the errors incurred from the two state binding assumption--the assumption that a ligand is either bound in one orientation, or unbound. We find that the two state assumption can cause large errors in free energy predictions, but it does not affect rank order predictions significantly. We show that fitting parameters using data from high affinity ligands can reduce two state errors; so can using more physical models that do not use the two state assumption. We also find that when using two state models to predict free energies, errors are more severe on high affinity ligands than low affinity ligands. And we show that two state errors can be diagnosed by systematically adding new binding modes when predicting free energies: if predictions worsen as the modes are added, then the two state assumption in the fitting step may be at fault.     

Exosome-transmitted LINC00461 promotes multiple myeloma cell proliferation and suppresses apoptosis by modulating microRNA/BCL-2 expression

Background

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematologic cancer caused by the abnormal expansion of plasma cells, but the exact mechanism underlying MM development is not completely known. Recently, multiple long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) were implicated in the regulation of MM development.

Lambertellin from Pycnoporus sanguineus MUCL 51321 and its anti-inflammatory effect via modulation of MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways

Lambertellin (1) and ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3-ol (2) were isolated from the solid rice fermentation of the plant pathogenic fungus Pycnoporus sanguineus MUCL 51321. Their structures were elucidated using comprehensive spectroscopic methods. The isolated compounds were tested on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Lambertellin (1) exhibited promising inhibitory activity against nitric oxide (NO) production with IC₅₀ value of 3.19 µM, and it significantly inhibited the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2). Lambertellin (1) also decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β. The study of the mechanistic pathways revealed that lambertellin (1) exerts its anti-inflammatory effect in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells by modulating the activation of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways. Therefore, lambertellin (1) could be a promising lead compound for the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs.     

茶树CsGME1基因的克隆与逆境胁迫响应分析

该研究基于茶树转录组和基因组信息,以茶树‘龙井43’为实验材料,从其cDNA中克隆获得茶树CsGME1基因,并对其蛋白序列特征、基因表达模式及其在不同非生物胁迫下的表达水平进行实时荧光定量分析。结果显示:(1)茶树CsGME1开放阅读框长度为1131 bp,编码376个氨基酸;该序列与多个相关物种的GME氨基酸序列一致性为94.25%,均含有NAD结合域。(2)进化树分析表明,茶树CsGME1基因与番茄SlGME1亲缘关系较近,与水稻OsGME2亲缘关系最远。(3)CsGME1蛋白属于亲水性蛋白,理论相对分子量为42046.84 Da,理论等电点为5.73,具有4个无序化区域,无序化程度较低;CsGME1蛋白二级结构由39.25%α-螺旋,13.26%延伸主链,5.84%β-转角和41.38%随机卷曲组成;三级结构分析结果显示,CsGME1包含螺旋和随机卷曲,与二级结构吻合。(4)荧光定量分析结果显示,在高温(38℃)、低温(4℃)、干旱(20%PEG)和高盐(200 mmol·L-1 NaCl)4种非生物胁迫处理下,茶树CsGME1基因均有响应,且表达存在差异,推测CsGME1参与了茶树的逆境胁迫响应过程。     

Risk assessment of land ecology on a regional scale: Application of the relative risk model to the mining city of Daye,China

The ecological risk assessment of land ecosystems plays a vital role in land environment protection and management in China. To identify the ecological impairment in land ecosystems, risk assessment of regional land ecology was conducted in Daye, a traditional mining city in Central China, using the relative risk model (RRM). The study area was divided into six sub-regions; and the sources, stressors, habitats, and end points of the impairment were identified. A conceptual model was built to represent the ecological interactions among risk components. Results showed the following: (1) The traditional iron–coal mining sub-region and the mineral processing sub-region exhibited high risk. (2) Mining was the largest risk source, followed by solid waste piling and urbanization. (3) Disappearance of habitats was the greatest risk stressor, followed by the accumulation of pollutants and heavy metals. (4) Among the eight identified habitats, the lake habitat was the most likely to be affected. (5) Health threats, soil contamination, and landscape aesthetic dysfunctions appeared to be the end points under the largest risk pressure. Finally, Monte Carlo analysis was used to evaluate the effects of uncertainty on risk model predictions. Our assessment model was proven to be generally valid for regional land ecology risk assessment.     

Remediation and Safe Production of cd Contaminated Soil Via Multiple Cropping Hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. and Low Accumulation Chinese Cabbage

Multiple crop experiment of hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. with low accumulation Chinese cabbage Fenyuanxin 3 were conducted in a cadmium (Cd) contaminated vegetable field. In the first round, the average removal rate of S. nigrum to Cd was about 10% without assisted phytoextraction reagent addition for the top soil (0–20 cm) with Cd concentration at 0.53–0.97 mg kg^?1 after its grew 90 days. As for assisted phytoextraction reagent added plots, efficiency of Cd remediation might reach at 20%. However, in the second round, Cd concentration in Chinese cabbage was edible, even in the plots with assisted phytoextraction reagent added. Thus, multiple cropping hyperaccumulator with low accumulation crop could normally remediate contaminated soil and produce crop (obtain economic benefit) in one year, which may be one practical pathway of phytoremediating heavy metal contaminated soil in the future.