Description and genome analysis of Microvirga antarctica sp. nov., a novel pink-pigmented psychrotolerant bacterium isolated from Antarctic soil

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - A novel pink-pigmented bacterium, designated strain 3D7T, was isolated during an investigation of potential psychrotolerant species from Antarctic soil. Cells of the...     

Advancing Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Variations of Soil Nutrients in the Water Level Fluctuation Zone of China’s Three Gorges Reservoir Using Self-Organizing Map

The ~350 km² water level fluctuation zone (WLFZ) in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) of China, situated at the intersection of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, experiences a great hydrological change with prolonged winter inundation. Soil samples were collected in 12 sites pre- (September 2008) and post submergence (June 2009) in the WLFZ and analyzed for soil nutrients. Self-organizing map (SOM) and statistical analysis including multi-way ANOVA, paired-T test, and stepwise least squares multiple regression were employed to determine the spatio-temporal variations of soil nutrients in relation to submergence, and their correlations with soil physical characteristics. Results showed significant spatial variability in nutrients along ~600 km long shoreline of the TGR before and after submergence. There were higher contents of organic matter, total nitrogen (TN), and nitrate (NO3-) in the lower reach and total phosphorus (TP) in the upper reach that were primarily due to the spatial variations in soil particle size composition and anthropogenic activities. Submergence enhanced soil available potassium (K), while significantly decreased soil N, possibly due to the alterations of soil particle size composition and increase in soil pH. In addition, SOM analysis determined important roles of soil pH value, bulk density, soil particle size (i.e., silt and sand) and nutrients (TP, TK, and AK) on the spatial and temporal variations in soil quality. Our results suggest that urban sewage and agricultural runoffs are primary pollutants that affect soil nutrients in the WLFZ of TGR.     

Identification of novel susceptibility loci for non‐syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate

Although several genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) of non‐syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) have been reported, more novel association signals are remained to be exploited. Here, we performed an in‐depth analysis of our previously published Chinese GWAS cohort study with replication in an extra dbGaP case‐parent trios and another in‐house Nanjing cohort, and finally identified five novel significant association signals (rs11119445: 3’ of SERTAD4, P = 6.44 × 10⁻¹⁴; rs227227 and rs12561877: intron of SYT14, P = 5.02 × 10⁻¹³ and 2.80 × 10⁻¹¹, respectively; rs643118: intron of TRAF3IP3, P = 4.45 × 10⁻⁶; rs2095293: intron of NR6A1, P = 2.98 × 10⁻⁵). The mean (standard deviation) of the weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) from these SNPs was 1.83 (0.65) for NSCL/P cases and 1.58 (0.68) for controls, respectively (P = 2.67 × 10⁻¹⁶). Rs643118 was identified as a shared susceptible factor of NSCL/P among Asians and Europeans, while rs227227 may contribute to the risk of NSCL/P as well as NSCPO. In addition, sertad4 knockdown zebrafish models resulted in down‐regulation of sox2 and caused oedema around the heart and mandibular deficiency, compared with control embryos. Taken together, this study has improved our understanding of the genetic susceptibility to NSCL/P and provided further clues to its aetiology in the Chinese population.     

Cytosolic PINK1 promotes the targeting of ubiquitinated proteins to the aggresome-autophagy pathway during proteasomal stress

During proteasomal stress, cells can alleviate the accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins by targeting them to perinuclear aggresomes for autophagic degradation, but the mechanism underlying the activation of this compensatory pathway remains unclear. Here we report that PINK1-s, a short form of Parkinson disease (PD)-related protein kinase PINK1 (PTEN induced putative kinase 1), is a major regulator of aggresome formation. PINK1-s is extremely unstable due to its recognition by the N-end rule pathway, and tends to accumulate in the cytosol during proteasomal stress. Overexpression of PINK1-s induces aggresome formation in cells with normal proteasomal activities, while loss of PINK1-s function leads to a significant decrease in the efficiency of aggresome formation induced by proteasomal inhibition. PINK1-s exerts its effect through phosphorylation of the ubiquitin-binding protein SQSTM1 (sequestosome 1) and increasing its ability to sequester polyubiquitinated proteins into aggresomes. These findings pinpoint PINK1-s as a sensor of proteasomal activities that transduces the proteasomal impairment signal to the aggresome formation machinery.     

一种改良的分枝菌酸提取及其非放射性TLC检测方法

分枝菌酸(mycolic acid, MA)是存在于分枝杆菌细胞壁中的独特长链脂肪酸,与分枝杆菌(mycobacterium)抵御不利环境、耐受抗生素和逃避宿主免疫密切相关,是较热门的抗结核药物筛选的靶点。MA的检测方法主要有放射性薄层层析(thin-layer chromatography, TLC)和液相色谱-质谱(liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer, LC-MS),受放射性元素使用资质和标准品等的限制,MA分析是分枝杆菌相关研究的一个难点。本研究采用一种普通薄层层析技术,并对使用四丁基氢氧化铵溶液水解酯化的分枝菌酸,将其甲酯化后再用无水乙醚萃取分枝菌酸甲酯的操作步骤进行改良,使分枝杆菌的MA提取及分析可在常规生物实验室中开展。研究通过比较不同分枝杆菌及不同生长时期的MA成分与亚型特征、检测靶向分枝菌酸合成通路的抗结核药物对细菌MA合成影响以及分枝杆菌突变株对结核分枝杆菌(Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mtb) H37Ra分枝菌酸合成影响等基础和应用研究的3个方面,进一步验证该方法在分枝杆菌MA分析中的实用性。结果表明该方法在不使用放射性元素和缺少标准品情况下可简便快速地分析MA及亚型特征,可广泛用于新型抗分枝杆菌药物筛选靶向分枝菌酸合成通路机制及基础研究中MA相关的分析和应用。     

Microscopic image recognition of diatoms based on deep learning

Diatoms are a crucial component in the study of aquatic ecosystems and ancient environmental records. However, traditional methods for identifying diatoms, such as morphological taxonomy and molecular detection, are costly, are time consuming, and have limitations. To address these issues, we developed an extensive collection of diatom images, consisting of 7983 images from 160 genera and 1042 species, which we expanded to 49,843 through preprocessing, segmentation, and data augmentation. Our study compared the performance of different algorithms, including backbones, batch sizes, dynamic data augmentation, and static data augmentation on experimental results. We determined that the ResNet152 network outperformed other networks, producing the most accurate results with top-1 and top-5 accuracies of 85.97% and 95.26%, respectively, in identifying 1042 diatom species. Additionally, we propose a method that combines model prediction and cosine similarity to enhance the model's performance in low-probability predictions, achieving an 86.07% accuracy rate in diatom identification. Our research contributes significantly to the recognition and classification of diatom images and has potential applications in water quality assessment, ecological monitoring, and detecting changes in aquatic biodiversity.     

Warfarin Dosage Response Related Pharmacogenetics in Chinese Population

Objectives

As the most frequently prescribed anticoagulant, warfarin has large inter-individual variability in dosage. Genetic polymorphisms could largely explain the differences in dosage requirement. rs9923231 (VKORC1), rs7294 (VKORC1), rs1057910 (CYP2C9), rs2108622 (CYP4F2), and rs699664 (GGCX) involved in the warfarin action mechanism and the circulatory vitamin K were selected to investigate their polymorphism characteristics and their effects on the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of warfarin in Chinese population.

Methods

220 patients with cardiac valve replacement were recruited. International normalized ratio and plasma warfarin concentrations were determined. The five genetic polymorphisms were genotyping by pyro-sequencing. The relationships of maintenance dose, plasma warfarin concentration and INR were assessed among groups categorized by genotypes.

Results

rs9923231 and rs7294 in VKORC1 had the analogous genotype frequencies (D’: 0.969). 158 of 220 recruited individuals had the target INR (1.5–2.5). Patients with AA of rs9923231 and CC of rs7294 required a significantly lower maintenance dose and plasma concentration than those with AG and TC, respectively. The mean weekly maintenance dose was also significantly lower in CYP2C9 rs1057910 mutated heterozygote than in patients with the wild homozygote. Eliminating the influence from environment factors (age, body weight and gender), rs9923231 and rs1057910 could explain about 32.0% of the variability in warfarin maintenance dose; rs7294 could explain 26.7% of the variability in plasma concentration. For patients with allele G of rs9923231 and allele T of rs7294, higher plasma concentration was needed to achieve the similar goal INR.

Conclusions

A better understanding of the genetic variants in individuals can be the foundation of warfarin dosing algorithm and facilitate the reasonable and effective use of warfarin in Chinese.     

基于网络爬虫技术对电子商务多肉物种资源数据的研究

【目的】近年来,通过电子商务平台获取境外珍贵的多肉物种资源已成为一种重要渠道,大量濒危物种通过第三方物流方式非法流入我国。甄别濒危物种并梳理出多肉物种资源重点查验名单,能够为物种资源查验尤其是植物多肉类濒危物种查验提供参考。【方法】以跨境多肉物种资源交易的热门平台"多肉之家"为研究对象,基于网络爬虫技术平台,获取电商多肉植物926条种类数据,并对数据进行筛选和归类分析。【结果】"多肉之家"平台上交易的多肉植物共涉及23科878种,其中包含18种CITES附录Ⅰ以及120种CITES附录Ⅱ濒危物种,约占16%。进一步对濒危植物进行归类分析发现,濒危植物中仙人掌科和大戟科多肉植物种类最多,分别为66和36种,两者占总计濒危植物种类的74%。【结论】网络爬虫技术在获取电商类平台的交易植物的种类数据上具有较好的实用性。