Application of germ-free NOD-scid IL2rgnull mice as a humanized model for tumor microbiome precision medicine

正In 2013, tumor immunotherapy topped the list of the top ten scientific breakthroughs(Couzin-Frankel, 2013), and it was widely used in the treatment of lung cancer, kidney cancer,and melanoma(Routy et al., 2018). However, the response rate of patients to tumor immunotherapy varies, and usually,only a small percentage of patients respond well to treatment(Sambi et al., 2019).     

CmPEX6, a Gene Involved in Peroxisome Biogenesis,Is Essential for Parasitism and Conidiation by the Sclerotial Parasite Coniothyrium minitans

Coniothyrium minitans is a sclerotial parasite of the plant-pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and conidial production and parasitism are two important aspects for commercialization of this biological control agent. To understand the mechanism of conidiation and parasitism at the molecular level, we constructed a transfer DNA (tDNA) insertional library with the wild-type strain ZS-1. A conidiation-deficient mutant, ZS-1TN22803, was uncovered through screening of this library. This mutant could produce pycnidia on potato dextrose agar (PDA), but most were immature and did not bear conidia. Moreover, this mutant lost the ability to parasitize or rot the sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum. Analysis of the tDNA flanking sequences revealed that a peroxisome biogenesis factor 6 (PEX6) homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, named CmPEX6, was disrupted by the tDNA insertion in this mutant. Targeted gene replacement and gene complementation tests confirmed that a null mutation of CmPEX6 was responsible for the phenotype of ZS-1TN22803. Further analysis showed that both ZS-1TN22803 and the targeted replacement mutants could not grow on PDA medium containing oleic acid, and they produced much less nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) than wild-type strain ZS-1. The conidiation of ZS-1TN22803 was partially restored by adding acetyl-CoA or glyoxylic acid to the growth media. Our results suggest that fatty acid β-oxidation, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and possibly other unknown pathways in peroxisomes are involved in conidiation and parasitism by C. minitans.     

甘蔗茎叶的化学成分及抗氧化活性研究

为研究甘蔗(Saccharum officinarum)茎叶的化学成分及抗氧化活性,该文对甘蔗茎叶以甲醇提取,提取物采用柱色谱(SiO₂、Sephadex LH-20、Rp-18)进行分离纯化,根据质谱和核磁共振技术鉴定所得化合物的结构,并通过DPPH法测定化合物的清除自由基能力。结果表明:(1)从甘蔗茎叶部位共分离鉴定22个化合物,分别为对羟基苯甲醛(1)、对甲氧基桂皮酸(2)、4-甲氧基苯甲醛(3)、香草醛(4)、4-羟基肉桂酸甲酯(5)、对羟基苯甲酸(6)、(2-羟基苯基)(苯基)甲酮(7)、对甲基苯甲酸(8)、咖啡酸甲酯(9)、乌头酸A(10)、乌头酸E(11)、5-O-二甲氧基肉桂酰基奎尼酸(12)、槲皮素(13)、槲皮素-3-O-α-L-阿拉伯糖苷(14)、槲皮素-3-O-β-D-吡喃半乳糖苷(15)、硫代二丙酸双十八烷基酯(16)、α-conidendrin(17)、rel-(2α,3β)-7-O-methylcedrusin(18)、3-O-阿魏酰奎宁酸甲酯(19)、木犀草素(20)、(5S,6S)-5,6-dihydro-3,8,10-trihydroxy-5-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-6-hydroxymethyl-2, 4-dimethoxy-7H-benzo [c]xanthen-7-one)(21)和5-O-阿魏酰奎宁酸甲酯(22),其中化合物2-3、7-11、14-19、21-22为首次从该植物中分离得到。(2)通过DPPH法对含量大的15个化合物(1-9、11-16)进行自由基清除能力的筛选,其中化合物12(5-O-二甲氧基肉桂酰基奎尼酸)显示了较好的抗氧化活性(IC₅₀值为 49.58 μg·mL^-1)。该研究结果丰富了甘蔗抗氧化活性物质基础,为其进一步开发利用提供了科学依据。     

川芎精油和多糖的同步提取及其抗氧化活性分析

采用响应面优化法对超声波辅助法同步提取川芎精油(LCEO)和多糖(LCP)工艺条件进行优化,以总还原力和DPPH·清除率为指标评价LCEO和LCP的抗氧化活性.结果表明,川芎精油和多糖提取的最佳工艺条件为:液料比16mL/g,超声时间17 min,提取时间4.3 h,在此条件下,精油提取率为1.35％,多糖提取率为2....     

Roles of different peptide fragments derived from proadrenomedullin in the regulation of vascular tone in isolated rat aorta

The effects of proadrenomedullin N-terminal 20 peptide (PAMP) and adrenotensin (ADT) on adrenomedullin (ADM)-induced vasodilation were investigated in aortic rings from rat. ADM (10(-9) to 10(-7)M) relaxed the aorta preconstricted with phenylephrine in a concentration-dependent manner. Denudation of endothelium or pretreatment with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, L-NAME, attenuated the vasodilatory action of ADM. ADM-induced vasorelaxation in the aortic rings with endothelium was converted to contraction by PAMP, but not by ADT. The ADM-induced vasodilation was not affected by PAMP in aorta rings without endothelium or in intact aortic rings pretreated with L-NAME. ADM-stimulated nitrite production and NOS activity of the aortas, which was inhibited by PAMP, ADT or PAMP plus ADT. ADM, PAMP, and ADT increased the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) contents in vascular tissue. The combination of ADM with PAMP or ADT caused a smaller increase in cAMP level as compared with that of PAMP or ADT alone. These results show that ADM-induced endothelium-dependent vasodilation could be converted to vasoconstriction in the presence of PAMP, probably through a NO-dependent pathway. There was no indication that cAMP was involved in the converting effect of PAMP on ADM vasodilator action.     

Transport of Schistosoma japonicum cercariae and the feasibility of niclosamide for cercariae control

Field experiments were conducted in southwestern China to estimate the distances over which cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum are transported and remain infective in village irrigation ditches and to determine the feasibility of interrupting this transport using niclosamide, the molluscicide commonly used for snail control in this environment. The number of worms recovered from bioassay mice downstream from experimentally introduced cercariae, but without niclosamide, decreased about 90% over the first 100 m of ditch and then remained essentially constant for the remaining 300 m of the ditch that was monitored. The niclosamide experiments resulted first in the finding that it was possible to achieve ditch average concentrations close to the target values of 0.25 ppm, but that concentrations at any particular location varied by a factor of up to 3. There was no correlation between water turbidity and niclosamide concentration. An average water concentration of 0.29 ppm resulted in no viable cercariae after a contact time of about 1 min and a travel distance of only 10 m. We regard these results as proof of the feasibility of chemical interruption of transport of S. japonicum cercariae although the toxicity of niclosamide to fish at the levels used here make it a questionable candidate for routine use.     

Cytoplasmic and genomic effects on meiotic pairing in brassica hybrids and allotetraploids from pair crosses of three cultivated diploids

Interspecific hybridization and allopolyploidization contribute to the origin of many important crops. Synthetic Brassica is a widely used model for the study of genetic recombination and "fixed heterosis" in allopolyploids. To investigate the effects of the cytoplasm and genome combinations on meiotic recombination, we produced digenomic diploid and triploid hybrids and trigenomic triploid hybrids from the reciprocal crosses of three Brassica diploids (B. rapa, AA; B. nigra, BB; B. oleracea, CC). The chromosomes in the resultant hybrids were doubled to obtain three allotetraploids (B. juncea, AA.BB; B. napus, AA.CC; B. carinata, BB.CC). Intra- and intergenomic chromosome pairings in these hybrids were quantified using genomic in situ hybridization and BAC-FISH. The level of intra- and intergenomic pairings varied significantly, depending on the genome combinations and the cytoplasmic background and/or their interaction. The extent of intragenomic pairing was less than that of intergenomic pairing within each genome. The extent of pairing variations within the B genome was less than that within the A and C genomes, each of which had a similar extent of pairing. Synthetic allotetraploids exhibited nondiploidized meiotic behavior, and their chromosomal instabilities were correlated with the relationship of the genomes and cytoplasmic background. Our results highlight the specific roles of the cytoplasm and genome to the chromosomal behaviors of hybrids and allopolyploids.     

Rheological behaviors and miscibility of mixture solution of polyaniline and cellulose dissolved in an aqueous system

In our previous work, supramolecular films composed of hydrophilic cellulose and hydrophobic polyaniline (PANI) dissolved in NaOH/urea aqueous solution at low temperature through rearrangement of hydrogen bonds have been constructed. To further understand the miscibility and processability of the complex solution, the dynamic rheological behaviors of the PANI/cellulose complex solution were investigated, for the first time, in the present work. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) results demonstrated that the inclusion complexes consisted of PANI and cellulose, existed in the aqueous solution, showing a good miscibility. Time-temperatures superposition (tTs) results indicated that the PANI/cellulose solution exhibited a homogeneous system, and the complex solution was more stable than the cellulose solution in the temperature range from 5 to 25 °C. Winter-Chambon theory was proved to be capable of describing the gelation behavior of the PANI/cellulose complex solution. The relaxation exponent at the gel point was calculated to be 0.74, lower than the cellulose solution, indicating strong interactions between PANI and cellulose chains. Relatively larger flow activation energy of the PANI/cellulose solution suggested the formation and rupture of linkages in "junction zones" during the gelation processes. Furthermore, PANI/cellulose gels could form at elevated temperature as a result of the physical cross-linking and chain entanglement, and it was a thermoirreversible process. Moreover, the PANI/cellulose solution remained a liquid state for a long time at the temperature range from 0 to 8 °C, which is important for the industry process.