Butanol Extract of Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms Alleviates Atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

This study investigated the effect of butanol extract of AS (ASBUE) on atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE^−/−) mice. The mice were administered ASBUE (390 or 130 mg/kg/day) or rosuvastatin (RSV) via oral gavage for eight weeks. In ApoE^−/− mice, ASBUE suppressed the abnormal body weight gain and improved serum and liver biochemical indicators. ASBUE remarkably reduced the aortic plaque area, improved liver pathological conditions, and lipid metabolism abnormalities, and altered the intestinal microbiota structure in ApoE^−/− mice. In the vascular tissue of ASBUE-treated mice, P-IKKβ, P-NFκB, and P-IκBα levels tended to decrease, while IκB-α increased in high fat-diet-fed atherosclerotic mice. These findings demonstrated the anti-atherosclerotic potential of ASBUE, which is mediated by the interaction between the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism and regulated via the Nuclear Factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway. This work paves the groundwork for subsequent studies to develop innovative drugs to treat atherosclerosis.     

庐山野生观赏植物资源多样性及持续利用对策

庐山是我国著名的风景旅游和避暑胜地,也是我国中亚热带北缘植物多样性的宝库．本文在广泛调查、收集、整理的基础上,研究了庐山野生观赏植物资源多样性特征、分布、类型及其配置．本区分布有野生观赏植物５２８种,隶属于１１５科２９０属,其中乔木类１３８种,灌木类１４０种,藤木类５２种,草本类１９８种．并根据开发与保护现状对庐山野生观赏植物资源多样性的持续利用提出了切实可行的对策．     

SDX on the X chromosome is required for male sex determination

Dear Editor, Sex determination is one of the most fundamental develop-ment processes,as gender is the first and most important identity of human.In most mammals...     

Synonymous Codon Usage Bias in Plant Mitochondrial Genes Is Associated with Intron Number and Mirrors Species Evolution

Synonymous codon usage bias (SCUB) is a common event that a non-uniform usage of codons often occurs in nearly all organisms. We previously found that SCUB is correlated with both intron number and exon position in the plant nuclear genome but not in the plastid genome; SCUB in both nuclear and plastid genome can mirror the evolutionary specialization. However, how about the rules in the mitochondrial genome has not been addressed. Here, we present an analysis of SCUB in the mitochondrial genome, based on 24 plant species ranging from algae to land plants. The frequencies of NNA and NNT (A- and T-ending codons) are higher than those of NNG and NNC, with the strongest preference in bryophytes and the weakest in land plants, suggesting an association between SCUB and plant evolution. The preference for NNA and NNT is more evident in genes harboring a greater number of introns in land plants, but the bias to NNA and NNT exhibits even among exons. The pattern of SCUB in the mitochondrial genome differs in some respects to that present in both the nuclear and plastid genomes.     

京尼平的微生物转化及其交联特性的测定分析

从土壤中富集筛选获得一株产β-葡萄糖苷酶的菌株,经菌落的形态和18S rDNA鉴定确定为黑曲霉。将筛选出的黑曲霉菌株接种于发酵培养基,利用含有京尼平苷的栀子粉作为底物发酵,通过对发酵条件优化,得到在装液量50/250 mL,栀子粉浓度为10%,转速为180 r/min,发酵时间为96 h时,京尼平的微生物转化率达到最大22%。这种微生物转化法简化了京尼平的生产工艺,大大降低了生产成本。利用微生物转化获得的京尼平交联胶原蛋白材料,研究表明其具有较好的交联特性,是一种在食品、医药等领域都具有应用前景的生物交联剂。     

Wheat genomic study for genetic improvement of traits in China

Science China Life Sciences - Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major crop that feeds 40% of the world’s population. Over the past several decades, advances in genomics have led to...     

利用PLFA、CLPPs和ARDRA标记分析甲胺磷对土壤微生物群落的影响

利用磷脂脂肪酸(PLFA)、群落水平生理活性(CLPPs)和扩增核糖体DNA限制性分析(ARDRA)标记,综合评估低浓度和高浓度甲胺磷连续施用2和4 yr后对土壤微生物群落结构、功能和遗传多样性的影响。结果表明,甲胺磷胁迫使土壤微生物生物量减少而细菌(革兰氏阴性菌)数量增加,同时使微生物群落功能多样性下降而遗传多样性提高;处理2 yr后高浓度甲胺磷胁迫对微生物群落的影响较低浓度胁迫更为明显,处理4 yr后两个浓度胁迫则具有相似的显著影响,表明不同浓度甲胺磷的长期胁迫均能对微生物群落造成严重破坏。     

Paternal USP26 mutations raise Klinefelter syndrome risk in the offspring of mice and humans

Current understanding holds that Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is not inherited, but arises randomly during meiosis. Whether there is any genetic basis for the origin of KS is unknown. Here, guided by our identification of some USP26 variations apparently associated with KS, we found that knockout of Usp26 in male mice resulted in the production of 41, XXY offspring. USP26 protein is localized at the XY body, and the disruption of Usp26 causes incomplete sex chromosome pairing by destabilizing TEX11. The unpaired sex chromosomes then result in XY aneuploid spermatozoa. Consistent with our mouse results, a clinical study shows that some USP26 variations increase the proportion of XY aneuploid spermatozoa in fertile men, and we identified two families with KS offspring wherein the father of the KS patient harbored a USP26‐mutated haplotype, further supporting that paternal USP26 mutation can cause KS offspring production. Thus, some KS should originate from XY spermatozoa, and paternal USP26 mutations increase the risk of producing KS offspring.     

Hypercholesterolemia risk associated Abca6 does not regulate lipoprotein metabolism in mice or hamster

Hypercholesterolemia has strong heritability and about 40–60% of hypercholesterolemia is caused by genetic risk factors. A number of monogenic genes have been identified so far for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). However, in the general population, more than 90% of individuals with LDL cholesterol over 190 mg/dL do not carry known FH mutations. Large scale whole-exome sequencing has identified thousands of variants that are predicted to be loss-of-function (LoF) and each individual has a median of about twenty rare LoF variants and several hundreds more common LoF variants. However, majority of those variants have not been characterized and their functional consequence remains largely unknown. Rs77542162 is a common missense variant in ABCA6 and is strongly associated with hypercholesterolemia in different populations. ABCA6 is a cholesterol responsive gene and has been suggested to play a role in lipid metabolism. However, whether and how rs77542162 and ABCA6 regulate lipoprotein metabolism remain unknown. In current study, we systemically characterized the function of rs77542162 and ABCA6 in cultured cells and in vivo of rodents. We found that Abca6 is specifically expressed on the basolateral surface of hepatocytes in mouse liver. The rs77542162 variant disrupts ABCA6 protein stability and results in loss of functional protein. However, we found no evidence that Abca6 plays a role in lipoprotein metabolism in either normal mice or hypercholesterolemia mice or hamsters. Thus, our results suggest that Abca6 does not regulate lipoprotein metabolism in rodents and highlight the challenge and importance of functional characterization of disease-associated variants in animal models.