蜂花粉抗脑衰老的实验动物研究

蜂花粉抗脑衰老的实验动物研究蒋滢,杨炳华,黄美英苏州医学院生化教研室苏州２１５００７２探索衰老机制,寻求延缓衰老的有效途径是生命科学中的重大问题,也是亟待解决的实际问题。脑是指挥全身一切活动的中枢,脑组织特别容易遭受自由基及活性氧的损伤,因此防治脑衰...     

Superoxide radicals scavenging and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of magnesium lithospermate B from Salvia miltiorrhiza

In this study we investigated the superoxide radicals scavenging effect and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity by magnesium lithospermate B, which was originally isolated from the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza (also named Danshen or Dansham), an important herb in Oriental medicine. Superoxide radicals were generated both in β-NADH/PMS system and xanthine/ xanthine oxidase system. Magnesium lithospermate B significantly inhibited the reduction of NBT induced by superoxide radicals with an IC₅₀ of 29.8 μg/mL and 4.06 μg/mL respectively in the two systems. Further study suggested that magnesium lithospermate B can directly inhibit xanthine oxidase and exhibits competitive inhibition. Magnesium lithospermate B was also found to have the hypouricemic activity in vivo against potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricaemia in mice. After oral administration of magnesium lithospermate B at doses of 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg, there was a significant decrease in the serum urate level when compared to the hyperuricemia control. In addition, magnesium lithospermate B significantly protected HL-60 cells from superoxide radicals-induced apoptosis in the xanthine/ xanthine oxidase reactions. This study provided evidence that magnesium lithospermate B exhibits direct superoxide radicals scavenging and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity.     

野生矮牡丹高通量转录组测序分析

为探究野生稷山矮牡丹(Paeonia jishanensis)花青素等抗氧化活性物质生物合成的遗传基础,本文采用高通量测序技术Illumina NextSeqTM500对其幼嫩叶片、嫩茎和花芽混合池样本进行转录组测序分析。共获得39450个unigene,其中3563个unigene中有4106个SSR位点。在Swiss Prot数据库中注释到29420个unigene,其中11个与花青素生物合成过程相关,22个与类黄酮生物合成过程相关,15个与异黄酮生物合成过程相关;NR数据库中注释高达100%,有12个与类黄酮生物合成相关,7个与花青素生物合成相关;GO数据库中注释到24291个unigene,分为生物学过程、细胞组分及分子功能等三大类53个功能组,有21个unigene与黄酮、黄酮醇及异黄酮生物合成有关,4个unigene与花青素合成有关;eggNOG数据库中注释到38238个unigene,涉及植物生长发育过程绝大多数生命活动过程;KEGG数据库注释到5709个unigene,分别定位到6大类别42个代谢途径,其中25个unigene与花青素生物合成相关。研究表明,在稷山矮牡丹转录组序列中,共鉴定和发掘出多个涉及类黄酮化合物生物合成、花青素生物合成过程的相关基因序列及SSR位点,为下一步开展相关代谢合成途径研究奠定了基础。     

峨眉山与黄山藏酋猴肠道菌群组成的比较

峨眉山和黄山都是我国著名的藏酋猴Macaca thibetana生态旅游地,对两地藏酋猴肠道微生物群落结构的比较研究,有助于了解不同生境、不同旅游管理方式对野生灵长类动物的影响。本研究对峨眉山藏酋猴M. t.thibetana肠道微生物16S rRNA基因进行测序,并与黄山藏酋猴M. t. huangshanensis肠道微生物的群落结构进行了比较。结果显示,两地藏酋猴肠道菌群有大量共有的可操作分类单元,而群落组成和多样性方面存在较大差异。峨眉山藏酋猴肠道菌群的优势门类为厚壁菌门Firmicutes(69. 04%±11. 81%)、拟杆菌门Bacteroidetes(21. 59%±10. 05%)和放线菌门Actinobacteria (2. 73%±2. 17%);黄山藏酋猴为厚壁菌门(46. 34%±8. 15%)、拟杆菌门(36. 75%±6. 38%)和变形菌门Proteobacteria(14. 91%±8. 06%)。在属级水平上,峨眉山藏酋猴肠道丰度最高的为颤螺菌属Oscillospira(23. 49%±16. 63%),黄山藏酋猴为普氏菌属Prevotella(36. 35%±9. 15%)。在群落多样性方面,黄山藏酋猴α多样性指数显著低于峨眉山,且两者的菌群结构也产生了显著分化。PICRUSt功能富集分析显示,峨眉山藏酋猴在脂类代谢、外源化学物的降解与代谢等通路显著富集,而黄山藏酋猴在多糖的合成与代谢等通路显著富集。研究还发现峨眉山藏酋猴肠道存在一定丰度的传染性致病菌,这可能与峨眉山的生态旅游有关。     

产高活性抗凝溶栓双活性蛋白的短小芽孢杆菌的筛选及鉴定

摘要:【目的】筛选可产生抗血栓活性物质的细菌。【方法】利用VY/4平板、酪蛋白平板从水样、土样、兔粪、羊粪、朽木等20多个样品中筛选目的菌株;利用纤维蛋白平板和纤维蛋白试管检测抗血栓活性;利用形态学特征、理化性质、16S rRNA序列同源性鉴定目的菌株。【结果】得到5株可产生抗血栓活性物质的细菌,重点研究了菌株LDS33,发现其分泌的胞外蛋白在纤维蛋白平板上和纤维蛋白试管中均显示出强烈的溶栓活性,通过试管法发现此蛋白质同时具有较强的抗凝活性。结合形态学、理化性质、16S rDNA序列及进化树分析,发现该菌株属于硬壁菌门芽孢杆菌目芽孢杆菌科芽孢杆菌属的短小芽孢杆菌,将其命名为Bacillus pumilus LDS.33。【结论】短小芽孢杆菌LDS33可产生高活性的抗凝溶栓双活性蛋白。     

Mir-34a is upregulated during liver regeneration in rats and is associated with the suppression of hepatocyte proliferation

Background

MicroRNAs are a class of small regulatory RNAs that modulate a variety of biological processes, including cellular differentiation, apoptosis, metabolism and proliferation. This study aims to explore the effect of miR-34a in hepatocyte proliferation and its potential role in liver regeneration termination.

Methodology/Principal Finding

MiR-34a was highly induced after partial hepatectomy. Overexpression of miR-34a in BRL-3A cells could significantly inhibit cell proliferation and down-regulate the expression of inhibin βB (INHBB) and Met. In BRL-3A cells, INHBB was identified as a direct target of miR-34a by luciferase reporter assay. More importantly, INHBB siRNA significantly repressed cell proliferation. A decrease of INHBB and Met was detected in regenerating liver.

Conclusion/Significance

MiR-34a expression was upregulated during the late phase of liver regeneration. MiR-34a-mediated regulation of INHBB and Met may collectively contribute to the suppression of hepatocyte proliferation.     

Requirement for asparagine in the aquaporin NPA sequence signature motifs for cation exclusion

Two highly conserved NPA motifs are a hallmark of the aquaporin (AQP) family. The NPA triplets form N-terminal helix capping structures with the Asn side chains located in the centre of the water or solute-conducting channel, and are considered to play an important role in AQP selectivity. Although another AQP selectivity filter site, the aromatic/Arg (ar/R) constriction, has been well characterized by mutational analysis, experimental data concerning the NPA region--in particular, the Asn position--is missing. Here, we report on the cloning and mutational analysis of a novel aquaglyceroporin carrying one SPA motif instead of the NPA motif from Burkholderia cenocepacia, an epidemic pathogen of cystic fibrosis patients. Of 1357 AQP sequences deposited in RefSeq, we identified only 15 with an Asn exchange. Using direct and phenotypic permeability assays, we found that Asn and Ser are freely interchangeable at both NPA sites without affecting protein expression or water, glycerol and methylamine permeability. However, other mutations in the NPA region led to reduced permeability (S186C and S186D), to nonfunctional channels (N64D), or even to lack of protein expression (S186A and S186T). Using electrophysiology, we found that an analogous mammalian AQP1 N76S mutant excluded protons and potassium ions, but leaked sodium ions, providing an argument for the overwhelming prevalence of Asn over other amino acids. We conclude that, at the first position in the NPA motifs, only Asn provides efficient helix cap stabilization and cation exclusion, whereas other small residues compromise structural stability or cation exclusion but not necessarily water and solute permeability.     

Comparative genomics of Helicobacter pylori strains of China associated with different clinical outcome

In this study, a whole-genome CombiMatrix Custom oligonucleotide tiling microarray with 90,000 probes covering six sequenced Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) genomes was designed. This microarray was used to compare the genomic profiles of eight unsequenced strains isolated from patients with different gastroduodenal diseases in Heilongjiang province of China. Since significant genomic variation was found among these strains, an additional 76 H. pylori strains associated with different clinical outcomes were isolated from various provinces of China. These strains were tested by polymerase chain reaction to demonstrate this distinction. We identified several highly variable regions in strains associated with gastritis, gastric ulceration, and gastric cancer. These regions are associated with genes involved in the bacterial type I, type II, and type III R-M systems. They were also associated with the virB gene, which lies on the well-studied cag pathogenic island. While previous studies have reported on the diverse genetic characterization of this pathogenic island, in this study, we find that it is conserved in all strains tested by microarray. Moreover, a number of genes involved in the type IV secretion system, which is related to horizontal DNA transfer between H. pylori strains, were identified in the comparative analysis of the strain-specific genes. These findings may provide insight into new biomarkers for the prediction of gastric diseases.     

Interleukin-11 promotes the progress of gastric carcinoma via abnormally expressed versican

Versican, a ubiquitous component of the extracellular matrix (ECM), accumulates both in tumor stroma and cancer cells and is highly regulated by various cytokines. The aberrant expression of versican and its isoforms is known to modulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration, all of which are features of the invasion and metastasis of cancer; versican is also known to favour the homeostasis of the ECM. Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is an important cytokine that exhibits a wide variety of biological effects in gastric cancer development. Here, we analysed the expression of versican isoforms and found that the major isoforms expressed by both gastric carcinoma tissue and gastric cell lines were V0 and V1, and V1 was significantly higher in gastric carcinoma tissue. The treatment of the gastric cell lines AGS and MKN45 with rhIL-11 resulted in a significant increase in the expression of V0 and V1. Exogenous IL-11 increased migration in AGS and MKN45 cells, whereas these effects were reversed when the expression of V0 and V1 were abolished by siRNA targeting versican V0/V1. Collectively, these findings suggest that the abnormally expressed versican and its isoforms participate, at least in part, in the progress of gastric carcinoma triggered by IL-11.