Five New Phenolic Glycosides from Viburnum luzonicum

Viburnum luzonicum is widely distributed in China. Its branch extracts showed potential α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. In order to discover new bioactive constituents, five undescribed phenolic glycosides, viburozosides A−E ( 1 – 5 ), were obtained by bioassay-guided isolation coupled with HPLC-QTOF-MS/MS analysis. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses, including 1D NMR, 2D NMR, ECD, and ORD. All compounds were tested for their α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory potency. Compound 1 showed significantly competitive inhibition against α-amylase (IC₅₀=17.5 μM) and α-glucosidase (IC₅₀=13.6 μM).     

Raman–deuterium isotope probing to study metabolic activities of single bacterial cells in human intestinal microbiota

Human intestinal microbiota is important to host health and is associated with various diseases. It is a challenge to identify the functions and metabolic activity of microorganisms at the single-cell level in gut microbial community. In this study, we applied Raman microspectroscopy and deuterium isotope probing (Raman–DIP) to quantitatively measure the metabolic activities of intestinal bacteria from two individuals and analysed lipids and phenylalanine metabolic pathways of functional microorganisms in situ. After anaerobically incubating the human faeces with heavy water (D₂O), D₂O with specific substrates (glucose, tyrosine, tryptophan and oleic acid) and deuterated glucose, the C–D band in single-cell Raman spectra appeared in some bacteria in faeces, due to the Raman shift from the C–H band. Such Raman shift was used to indicate the general metabolic activity and the activities in response to the specific substrates. In the two individuals' intestinal microbiota, the structures of the microbial communities were different and the general metabolic activities were 76 ± 1.0% and 30 ± 2.0%. We found that glucose, but not tyrosine, tryptophan and oleic acid, significantly stimulated metabolic activity of the intestinal bacteria. We also demonstrated that the bacteria within microbiota preferably used glucose to synthesize fatty acids in faeces environment, whilst they used glucose to synthesize phenylalanine in laboratory growth environment (e.g. LB medium). Our work provides a useful approach for investigating the metabolic activity in situ and revealing different pathways of human intestinal microbiota at the single-cell level.     

Targeting BAX ubiquitin-binding sites reveals that BAX activation is essential for its ubiquitin-dependent degradation

BAX is an important proapoptotic protein of the BCL-2 family, and its stability is essential for the regulation of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. A previous study revealed that BAX could undergo degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. In this study, we identified two lysine sites, K21 and K123, that were critical ubiquitin-binding sites in BAX. Mutation of these two sites prolonged the half-life of BAX and also affected its proapoptotic ability. Intriguingly, we found that ABT-737, a BCL-2 inhibitor, significantly enhanced TRAIL-induced BAX degradation in HCT116 cells and increased TRAIL-induced apoptosis in the HCT116 only with the BAX K21R/K123R mutant, not other BAX mutants. In addition, overexpression of PARKIN, an E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting BAX, dramatically decreased BAX protein level when only treated with ABT-737 in HCT116 cells. Therefore, we speculated that BAX activation is essential for its ubiquitin-dependent degradation.     

基于MATLAB 的花粉形态量化分析

利用数字照相技术和MATLAB软件测量了5种杨树、3种柏树各50粒花粉的面积、扁圆率、极轴长度、赤道轴长度, 计算了面积标准差和极轴长度/赤道轴长度。对8种花粉的面积作了方差分析。结果显示, 在99%置信水平上用面积能区分8种花粉。用5种杨树花粉的扁圆率平均值、极轴平均值、赤道轴平均值和P/E值作聚类分析, 聚类结果显示, 5种杨树可分成3组, 加拿大杨和小叶杨是一组, 毛白杨和山杨是一组, 青杨单独为一组。电镜观察纹饰特点与以上聚类结果一致。本研究为定量研究花粉形态提供了一种快速有效的方法及更多的有效数据, 比目测精确度提高了10倍。     

Fungi participate in driving home-field advantage of litter decomposition in a subtropical forest

Plant and Soil - Home-field advantage (HFA) hypothesis predicts that plant litter decomposes faster beneath the plant species from which it was derived than beneath other plant species. However, it...     

Molecular Characterization of Two Genes Encoding Novel Ca2+-Independent Phospholipase A2s from the Silkworm,Bombyx mori

Eicosanoids are crucial downstream signals in the insect immune responses. Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) catalyzes phospholipids, the initial step in eicosanoid biosynthesis. In mammals, the biological roles of Ca²⁺-independent Phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) have been extensively studied; however, only a few studies have attempted to explore iPLA2 functions in insects. In this study, we identified two iPLA2 genes (designated as BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B) in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. BmiPLA2A had a 2427 base pair (bp) open reading frame (ORF) that coded for a protein with 808 amino acids. In contrast, BmiPLA2B had a 1731 bp ORF that coded for a protein with 576 amino acids. Domain analysis revealed that BmiPLA2A had six ankyrin repeat domains, but BmiPLA2B lacks these domains. BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B were transcribed widely in various tissues and developmental stages with different expression patterns. The administration of 20-hydroxyecdysone increased their expression levels in the epidermis and hemocytes. Furthermore, challenged with virus, fungus, Gram-negative bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria induced the expression of BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B with variable degrees along with different time points. Our findings imply that BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B may have important biological roles in the development and innate immunity of B. mori.     

53个猕猴桃品种(品系)亲缘关系的SCoT分析

现有主流猕猴桃品种的遗传背景相对单一,亲本来源地理分布狭窄,亲缘关系不清晰。为充分利用杂种优势,该研究以广西植物研究所猕猴桃种质资源圃收集的53个猕猴桃品种(品系)叶片为材料,使用SCoT分子标记进行遗传多样性分析。结果表明:(1)10条引物在53份猕猴桃供试材料中共扩增出110条条带,各引物扩增的条带在8～15条之间,引物平均扩增条带数为11条;其中多态性条带101条,引物平均扩增多态性条带数为10.1条,多态性比例为91.81%。(2)聚类分析显示猕猴桃品种(品系)没有按类型、倍性或选育地等形成明显有规律的聚类关系。但相对来说,同一杂交后代个体之间的亲缘关系比亲本与后代个体之间的亲缘关系更近;芽变品种与原品种并没有表现出特别近的遗传距离,说明芽变材料的突变可能在基因组或染色体层面发生了较大范围的重组、复制或丢失;‘楚红’‘桂红’‘湘吉红’和‘龙藏红’4个红肉品种与‘红阳’亲缘关系明显较远,说明其可能由不同亲本衍生而来;初步验证了‘桂海四号’可能为‘Hort16A’亲本之一的推测。     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of (-)-laulimalide analogues

Analogues of the marine natural product (-)-laulimalide were prepared by total synthesis and evaluated in vitro for anticancer activity.