Evaluation of swollenin from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma pseudokoningii</Emphasis> as a potential synergistic factor in the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose with low cellulase loadings

Swollenin is a novel plant expansin-like protein that has been proposed to have a cellulose disruption activity. In this study, the recombinant swollenin (SWO2) from Trichoderma pseudokoningii S38 was successfully produced and purified in Aspergillus niger with a final yield of up to 10 mg of purified protein from 1 l of fermentation supernatant. The recombinant protein was found to exhibit very low level of endoglucanase activity and caused a slight increase in the crystallinity when treating cellulose. Simultaneous incubation of SWO2 with low-dose cellulases resulted in a significant synergistic activity in cellulose hydrolysis. Specifically, an even greater increase in the synergistic activity was obtained when cellulose was pretreated with swollenin followed by cellulase hydrolysis. Our results, therefore, provide a novel approach for the potential application of swollenin in the efficient saccharification of cellulosic materials.     

Mutations in the Type II protein arginine methyltransferase AtPRMT5 result in pleiotropic developmental defects in Arabidopsis

Human PROTEIN ARGININE METHYLTRANSFERASE5 (PRMT5) encodes a type II protein arginine (Arg) methyltransferase and its homologs in animals and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe) are known to regulate RNA processing, signal transduction, and gene expression. However, PRMT5 homologs in higher plants have not yet been reported and the biological roles of these proteins in plant development remain elusive. Here, using conventional biochemical approaches, we purified a plant histone Arg methyltransferase from cauliflower (Brassica oleracea) that was nearly identical to AtPRMT5, an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) homolog of human PRMT5. AtPRMT5 methylated histone H4, H2A, and myelin basic protein in vitro. Western blot using symmetric dimethyl histone H4 Arg 3-specific antibody and thin-layer chromatography analysis demonstrated that AtPRMT5 is a type II enzyme. Mutations in AtPRMT5 caused pleiotropic developmental defects, including growth retardation, dark green and curled leaves, and FlOWERING LOCUS C (FLC)-dependent delayed flowering. Therefore, the type II protein Arg methyltransferase AtPRMT5 is involved in promotion of vegetative growth and FLC-dependent flowering time regulation in Arabidopsis.     

NMPP: a user-customized NimbleGen microarray data processing pipeline

NMPP package is a bundle of user-customized tools based on established algorithms and methods to process self-designed NimbleGen microarray data. It features a command-line-based integrative processing procedure that comprises five major functional components, namely the raw microarray data parsing and integrating module, the array spatial effect smoothing and visualization module, the probe-level multi-array normalization module, the gene expression intensity summarization module and the gene expression status inference module. AVAILABILITY: http://plantgenomics.biology.yale.edu/nmpp     

Intrauterine growth restriction alters the metabonome of the serum and jejunum in piglets

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is not only an underlying factor for stunted postnatal growth and newborn deaths, but also associated with disease prevalence, such as hypertension and diabetes, in both adult humans and animals. To investigate the metabolic status of IUGR, the differences in serum and jejunal tissue metabonome were examined in IUGR and normal weight 21 day old piglets. IUGR piglets had a significantly lower birth weight (785 ± 42 g vs. 1451 ± 124 g), weaned weight (3053 ± 375 g vs. 6489 ± 545 g) and average daily gain (108 ± 16 g vs. 240 ± 21 g) than normal weight piglets (p < 0.05). IUGR piglets also had a shorter villus height and smaller villus height to crypt depth ratio (p < 0.05) in jejunum. An NMR-based metabonomic study found that serum levels of glycoprotein, albumin and threonine were higher in IUGR than in normal weight piglets, while serum levels of HDL, lipids, unsaturated lipids, glycerophosphorylcholine, myo-inositol, citrate, glutamine and tyrosine were lower in IUGR piglets (p < 0.05). In addition, marked changes in jejunal metabolites, including elevated levels of lipids and unsaturated lipids, and decreased levels of valine, alanine, glutamine, glutamate, choline, glycerophosphorylcholine, trimethylamine-N-oxide, scyllo-inositol, lactate, creatine, glucose, galactose, phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutathione, inosine and taurine were observed in IUGR piglets (p < 0.05). These novel findings indicate that IUGR piglets have a distinctive metabolic status compared to normal weight piglets, including changes in lipogenesis, lipid oxidation, energy supply and utilization, amino acid and protein metabolism, and antioxidant ability; these changes could contribute to impaired growth and jejunal function.     

Application of functional group modified substrate in room-temperature phosphorescence, I--beta-cyclodextrin modified paper substrate for enrichment and determination of fluorene and acenaphthene.

A novel method for the determination of fluorene and acenaphthene on solid phase extraction-room-temperature phosphorescence (SPE-RTP) was studied. beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) was chemically bonded onto chromatography paper by reaction with epichorohydrin in an ultrasonic bath. The RTP signal of fluorene and acenaphthene included on the beta-CD-modified paper was increased more than 10 times compared with non-modified filter paper, indicating the formation of the inclusion complex. The conditions for the of RTP of compounds were studied in detail. The linear ranges of fluorene and acenaphthene concentrations to the RTP intensity were over two orders of magnitude (8.0 x 10(-7)-4.0 x 10(-5) mol/L for fluorene) with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The concentration limits of detection for fluorene and acenaphthene were 1.11 x 10(-8) mol/L and 3.8 x 10(-7) mo/L, respectively. When the sampling volume was 10 microL, the absolute LODs for fluorene and acenaphthene were 18.4 pg/spot and 0.58 ng/spot, respectively. The modified filter paper was used for solid phase extraction (SPE) and the retention behaviour of fluorene and acenaphthene was examined. The enrichment efficiency of the analytes was higher than 100-fold. The SPE-RTP coupling technique was applied directly to the determination of fluorene and acenaphthnene in environmental water samples.     

High-throughput screening for anti-influenza A virus drugs and study of the mechanism of procyanidin on influenza A virus-induced autophagy

In this research, we have established a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform based on the influenza A virus (IAV) vRNA promoter. Using this HTS platform, we selected 35 medicinal plants out of 83 examples of traditional Chinese medicine and found that 7 examples had not been reported. After examining many previous reports, we found that Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., Vitis vinifera L, and Cinnamomum cassia Presl had a common active compound, procyanidin, and then determined the anti-IAV effect of procyanidin and explored its mechanism of action. With a plaque inhibition assay and a time-of-addition experiment, we found that procyanidin could inhibit the IAV replication at several stages of the life cycle. In the Western blot and EGFP-LC3 localization assays, we found that procyanidin could inhibit the accumulation of LC3II and the dot-like aggregation of EGFP-LC3. In the RT-PCR and Western blot assays, we found procyanidin could inhibit the expression of Atg7, Atg5, and Atg12. Finally, by the bimolecular fluorescence complementation-fluorescence resonance energy transfer and co-immunoprecipitation assays, we found that procyanidin could inhibit the formation of the Atg5-Atg12/Atg16 heterotrimer and the dissociation of the beclin1/bcl2 heterodimer. In conclusion, we have established an HTS platform and identified procyanidin as a novel and promising anti-IAV agent.     

Fruit and vegetable consumption,cardiovascular disease,and all-cause mortality in China

Science China Life Sciences - Evidence about the response patterns of fruit and vegetable consumption with the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality was inconsistent. These...