Rice straw was treated with a mixed solution of acetic acid and propionic acid to enhance its biodegradability. The effect of acid concentration, pretreatment time, and the ratio of solid to liquid on the delignification performance of rice straw were investigated. It was found that the optimal conditions for hydrolysis were 0.75 mol/L acid concentration, 2 h pretreatment time and 1:20 solid to liquid ratio. Batch methane fermentation of untreated rice straw, pretreated rice straw, and the hydrolysates (the liquid fraction) of pretreatment were conducted at 35 °C for 30 days, and the results indicated that methane production of rice straw can be enhanced by dilute organic acid pretreatment. Moreover, most of the acid in hydrolysates can also be converted into methane gas. 相似文献
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major respiratory pathogen in newborns. Neonate vaccine should induce strong protective immunity. We have engineered a subunit vaccine candidate G1F/M2. A major problem in developing subunit vaccines is their limited immunogenicity. Aluminium adjuvants with a long history of use with routine childhood vaccines have some limitations, especially inability to elicit CTL response. There is a need for alternative adjuvants. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are characterized as potent immunoadjuvants. In this study, HSP70-like protein 1 (HSP70L1) gene was cloned. The recombinant protein HSP70L1 was expressed in E. coli, purified and renaturated. We evaluated the potential of HSP70L1 used as the adjuvant of G1F/M2. G1F/M2 was chemically cross-linked with HSP70L1 (HSP-G1F/M2). HSP70L1 enhanced significantly the immunogenicity and protective effect of G1F/M2. HSP-G1F/M2 induced significant higher levels of antibodies, neutralizing antibodies and CTL activity than unadjuvanted G1F/M2. The antibody titers induced by HSP-G1F/M2 were similar to that by G1F/M2 + Alum. RSV-specific CTL activity induced by HSP-G1F/M2 was stronger than that by G1F/M2 + Alum. Interestingly, the protective effect of HSP-G1F/M2 against RSV was significantly stronger than that of G1F/M2 + Alum. The results suggest that HSP70L1 is a potent adjuvant of G1F/M2. 相似文献
Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) regulates cell growth, cell differentiation and protein synthesis. Rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR, has been widely used as an immunosuppressant and anti-cancer drug. Recently, mTOR inhibitors have also been reported to be a potential anti-epileptic drug, which may be effective when used in young patients with genetic epilepsy. Thus, a suitable dose of rapamycin which can maintain the normal function of mTOR and has fewer side effects ideally should be identified. In the present study, we first detected changes in marker proteins of mTOR signaling pathway during development. Then we determined the dose of rapamycin by treating rats of 2 weeks of age with different doses of rapamycin for 3 days and detected its effect on mTOR pathway. Young rats were then treated with a suitable dose of rapamycin for 4 weeks and the effect of rapamycin on mTOR, development and immunity were investigated. We found that the expression of the marker proteins of mTOR pathway was changed during development in brain hippocampus and neocortex. After 3 days of treanent, 0.03 mg/kg rapamycin had no effect on phospho-S6, whereas 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin inhibited phospho-S6 in a dose-dependent manner. However, only 1.0 mg/kg and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin inhibited phospho-S6 after 4 weeks treatment of rapamycin. Parallel to this result, rats treated with 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg rapamycin had no obvious adverse effects, whereas rats treated with 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin showed significant decreases in body, spleen and thymus weight. Additionally, rats treated with 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin exhibited cognitive impairment and anxiety as evident by maze and open field experiments. Furthermore, the content of IL-1β, IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α in serum and cerebral cortex were significantly decreased in 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin-treated rats. The expression of DCX was also significantly decreased in 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg rapamycin-treated rats. However, rats treated with 1.0 mg/ kg rapamycin exhibited fewer and milder side effects than those treated with 3.0 mg/kg. In summary, all these data suggest that there is not a rapamycin dose that can inhibit mTOR for epilepsy without causing any side effects, but 1 mg /kg may be the optimal dose for young rats for suppressing mTOR with relatively few side effects. 相似文献
Detached tobacco leaves were infiltrated with an AT toxin preparation from the foliar pathogen Alternaria alternata tobacco pathotype. The AT toxin preparation caused formation of necrotic lesions within 5 days post-infiltration in a concentration-dependent manner. Cell death was accompanied by increased levels of the stress metabolites hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, free proline and by enhanced total protease activity. Lesion development and the production of stress metabolites were suppressed if the infiltration site was pre-infiltrated with caspase-specific peptide inhibitors (irreversible caspase-1 inhibitor acyl-Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-chloromethylketone (Ac-YVAD-CMK) and the broad range caspase inhibitor benzyoxycarbonyl-Asp-2,6-dichlorobenzoyloxymethylketone (Z-Asp-CH2-DCB)), the serine protease inhibitor Nα-p-tosyl- l -lysine chloromethylketone and the polyamine spermine. Extensive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as determined by staining with 3-3'-diaminobenzidine and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate, was found in the AT toxin-challenged lesions. The data show that AT toxin-induced cell death in tobacco is a type of programmed cell death in which caspase-like proteases and ROS signalling play a prominent role. 相似文献
The study described the uncertainties of NPP estimation due to larch defoliation by caterpillars during 2001–2004 in Northeastern China, which is an order of magnitude larger in area and severe than all previous recorded outbreaks. Using “representative needles” collected in the field, we related spectral responses and photosynthetic contents of needles to ecophysiological parameters in NPP estimation for different degrees of caterpillar damage. It is concluded that locations of reflection peaks at or near green red near-infrared wavelength moving toward long-wave direction with aggravated damage degree, which is useful to earlier prediction of caterpillar damage. Contents of chlorophyll-a reduced by 40.26, 66.29 and 86.88% for light, moderate and severe damage samples respectively compared with healthy, chlorophyll-b reduced by 20.79, 52.67 and 82.39%, and carotenoid reduced by 9.80, 45.06 and 73.15%. Estimated NDVI values decreased by 9.89–31.08, 38.16–47.47 and 61.90–66.71%, respectively. It results to the decrease of LAI by 39.76–74.34, 85.85–93.64 and 94.61–98.51%, and reduction of FPAR and APAR by 10.16–37.47, 39.21–57.24 and 63.60–80.44%. In addition, the increased minimum visible reflectance during 580–680 nm leads to the decrease of estimated aboveground biomass by 14.62, 48.86 and 56.84%, and reduction of estimated autotrophic respiration by 10.32, 39.11 and 46.95%. Ultimately, the caterpillar outbreak results to the directly underestimation of NPP by 10.01–64.63, 39.32–75.37 and 80.26–100% for light, moderate and severe samples compared with healthy. Furthermore, such impacts of forest insect disturbances should be accounted for in NPP modeling to reduce the uncertainties of estimation. 相似文献
Cell-based therapies against HIV/AIDS have been gaining increased interest. Natural killer (NK) cells are a key component of the innate immune system with the ability to kill diverse tumor cells and virus-infected cells. While NK cells have been shown to play an important role in the control of HIV-1 replication, their functional activities are often compromised in HIV-1-infected individuals. We have previously demonstrated the derivation of NK cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) with the ability to potently kill multiple types of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. We now demonstrate the derivation of functional NK cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). More importantly, both hESC- and iPSC-derived NK cells are able to inhibit HIV-1 NL4-3 infection of CEM-GFP cells. Additional studies using HIV-1-infected human primary CD4(+) T cells illustrated that hESC- and iPSC-derived NK cells suppress HIV-1 infection by at least three distinct cellular mechanisms: killing of infected targets through direct lysis, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, and production of chemokines and cytokines. Our results establish the potential to utilize hESC- and iPSC-derived NK cells to better understand anti-HIV-1 immunity and provide a novel cellular immunotherapeutic approach to treat HIV/AIDS. 相似文献
Pyrogallol is a valuable phenolic compound and displays various physiological and pharmaceutical functions. Chemical synthesis of pyrogallol suffered from many issues, including environmental pollution, high cost, and low yield. Here, to address the above drawbacks, an artificial pathway for de novo pyrogallol production was established and this pathway only needed two exogenous enzymes (Y385F/T294A PobA and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid decarboxylase (PDC)). Y385F/T294A PobA is a mutant of PobA which is a hydroxylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while PDC is a decarboxylase from Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae. First, the conversion efficiency of PDC was tested and 1800 ± 100 mg/L pyrogallol was generated from 4 g/L gallic acid (GA). Subsequently, assembly of the whole pathway enabled 33 ± 6 mg/L pyrogallol production from simple carbon sources. After that, based on the assembling property of CipA (a hydrophobic protein) and to enhance the hydroxylation of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, CipA was employed to organize its fusion (Y385F/T294A PobA) into protein crystalline inclusions (PCIs). Remarkably, the formation of CipA-Y385F/T294A PobA PCIs increased the pyrogallol production to 60 ± 6 mg/L, a 1.8 ± 0.4-fold higher value as compared to the strain without enzyme self-assembly. Additionally, the titer of pyrogallol was enhanced to 80 ± 1 mg/L through yeast extract concentration optimization. This work not only realizes the biosynthesis of pyrogallol from renewable carbon sources but also demonstrates that using CipA-mediating enzyme self-assembly could reinforce the hydroxylation efficiency of Y385F/T294A PobA, resulting in the enhancement of pyrogallol production.