Constituents of Quinchamalium majus with potential antitubercular activity

Antitubercular bioassay-guided fractionation of the dichloromethane extracts of the above-ground biomass and roots of Quinchamalium majus led to the identification of six known constituents, betulinic acid (1), daucosterol (2), 5,7-dihydroxyflavone (3), oleanolic acid (4), (-)-2S-pinocembrin (5), and ursolic acid (6), for the first time in this species. Their chemical structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic evidence and chemical transformation methods. All of these compounds along with additional 11 analogues were evaluated for their antitubercular potential against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a microplate alamar blue assay, and the primary structure-activity relationships (SARs) for 4 and 6 were discussed. In addition, all the isolates were tested for cytotoxicity against African green monkey Vero cells in order to evaluate for their selectivity potential.     

3×3完全双列杂交F1不同阶段生长特点的分析

为了了解鲤杂交F1不同组合、不同阶段生长性状的变化情况,研究以建鲤、黄河鲤和黑龙江野鲤3个鲤品种双列杂交F1为试验材料,通过组合、组合内性别间、性别、不同时期体重、体增重以及协方差分量的分析,来确定完全双列杂交F1生长性状的变化特点,以及在此过程中起重要作用的影响因素。结果表明:不同时期各个组合体重不同,不同时期组合内性别间体重差异不同;不同时期不同性别间体重差异不同;不同协方差分量,同一组合PIT标记17个月时的体重的最小二乘估计值不同,同一个协方差分量,9个组合中极值估计值出现的组合也不同;除PIT标记17个月后的体厚作为协方差分量外,性别之间体重没有差异,其余分量均是雌鱼体重显著高于雄鱼体重。这些说明选取合适的协方差分量对组合的选择和育种的结果有重要影响。     

Increased circulating trimethylamine N-oxide contributes to endothelial dysfunction in a rat model of chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is strongly associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Impaired endothelial function, a key initiating step in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, has been reported in patients with CKD, but the mechanisms responsible for endothelial dysfunction in CKD remain elusive. Emerging evidence reveals that trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbiota-generated metabolite, is involved in the pathogenesis of many cardiovascular diseases. Circulating TMAO is elevated in CKD. Here we tested the hypothesis that elevated TMAO plays a contributory role in the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction in CKD. Rats underwent 5/6 nephrectomy to induce CKD or sham operation, and were treated with 1.0% 3,3-Dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB, an inhibitor of trimethylamine formation) or vehicle. Eight weeks after nephrectomy and DMB treatment, circulating TMAO levels were markedly elevated in CKD-vehicle rats compared with sham-vehicle rats, but were reduced in CKD-DMB rats. Acetylcholine-induced endothelium-dependent vasodilation was impaired in CKD-vehicle rats compared with sham-vehicle rats as indicated by reduced maximal relaxation (E_max) and decreased area under the curve (AUC). E_max and AUC were both normalized in CKD-DMB rats. No difference in sodium nitroprusside-induced endothelial-independent vasodilation was observed across groups. Molecular studies revealed that endothelial nitric-oxide synthase activity was decreased, while superoxide production and proinflammatory cytokine expression were increased in the aorta of CKD-vehicle rats compared with sham-vehicle rats. Of note, the abnormalities in above molecular parameters were completely restored in CKD-DMB rats. These results suggest that CKD elevates circulating TMAO levels, which may reduce eNOS-derived NO production by increasing vascular oxidative stress and inflammation, contributing to CKD-associated endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease.     

Identification of nematicidal fatty acids and triglycerides from seeds of Jubaea chilensis by GC-EI-MS and chemical transformation methods

Nematicidal bioassay-guided fractionation of the n-hexane extract of the seeds of Jubaea chilensis led to the identification of eight known fatty acids and a mixture of triglycerides, reported for the first time for this species. In addition, their corresponding methyl esters were identified to be artifacts generated during the extraction and isolation procedures by using GC-EI-MS and chemical transformation methods. The fatty acid composition of the triglycerides was analyzed by GC-EI-MS and chemical transformation techniques. Among the 17 compounds, only lauric acid and myristic acid exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the movement of Caenorhabditis elegans with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 75 microg/ml.     

Dereplication of pentacyclic triterpenoids in plants by GC-EI/MS

Three common plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoids, oleanolic acid (1), betulinic acid (2) and ursolic acid (3), have been found to exhibit moderate anti-tubercular activity in a microplate alamar blue assay. In order to facilitate the discovery of novel anti-tubercular leads with diverse chemical structures, a new and rapid GC-EI/MS method was developed simultaneously and unambiguously to dereplicate 1-3 as their methyl esters with limits of detection of 25.6, 26.9 and 26.8 ng, respectively.     

高等植物乙醇酸氧化酶与黄素单核苷酸的松弛结合

The binding condition between flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and protein moiety of glycollate oxidase (GO) was investigated in 11 species of higher plants from 7 families. A loose binding of FMN with GO was universally observed in all the plants. According to this character, a new efficient but mild method was established for preparation of FMN-free GO, which could produce 87.5% recovery of activity . FMN-free GO could be reactivated by adding FMN. For half reactivation 8×10 mol/L FMN was needed, and more than 5×10 mol/L for 100%. The result indicates that there exists a reversible dissociation balance between FMN and protein moiety of GO. Therefore, the concentration of FMN may act as a factor to regulate GO activity in higher plants.     

A glutamic acid 3-methyltransferase encoded by an accessory gene locus important for daptomycin biosynthesis in Streptomyces roseosporus

In many peptide antibiotics, modified amino acids are important for biological activity. The amino acid 3-methyl-glutamic acid (3mGlu) has been found only in three cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics: daptomycin and the A21978C family produced by Streptomyces roseosporus, calcium-dependent antibiotic produced by Streptomyces coelicolor and A54145 produced by Streptomyces fradiae. We studied the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase genes involved in A21978C biosynthesis and the downstream genes, dptG, dptH, dptI and dptJ predicted to encode a conserved protein of unknown function, a thioesterase, a methyltransferase (MTase) and a tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase respectively. Deletion of dptGHIJ reduced overall lipopeptide yield and led to production of a series of novel A21978C analogues containing Glu12 instead of 3mGlu12. Complementation by only dptI, or its S. coelicolor homologue, glmT, restored the biosynthesis of the 3mGlu-containing compounds in the mutant. Compared with A21978C, the Glu12-containing derivatives were less active against Staphylococcus aureus. Further genetic analyses showed that members of the dptGHIJ locus cooperatively contributed to optimal A21978C production; deletion of dptH, dptI or dptJ genes reduced the yield significantly, while expression of dptIJ or dptGHIJ from the strong ermEp* promoter substantially increased lipopeptide production. The results indicate that these genes play important roles in the biosynthesis of daptomycin, and that dptI encodes a Glu MTase.     

大鼠内细胞团和胎儿神经干细胞构建嵌合体的潜力(英文）

嵌合体大鼠是研究人类疾病的重要动物模型。用囊胚注射法研究了大鼠内细胞团（ICM）和胎儿神经干细胞（FNS）构建嵌合体的潜力。结果发现来自黑色（DA）大鼠第5天（D5）和第6天（D6）囊胚的ICM细胞注入D5 Sprague-Dawley（SD）大鼠囊胚后得到3只嵌合体大鼠;D5 SD大鼠ICM细胞注射入D5 DA囊胚后得到4只嵌合体大鼠;而体外培养的DA或SD大鼠ICM细胞注射后均未能获得嵌合体大鼠。本研究用大鼠胎儿神经干细胞（rFNS）和LacZ转染的rFNS构建嵌合体,未能获得嵌合体大鼠;但在LacZ转染的SD rFNS注射到DA大鼠囊胚后发育来的41只胎儿中,有2只胎儿其组织切片中发现少量LacZ阳性细胞。结果表明DA和SD大鼠ICM具有参与嵌合体发育的潜力,但ICM细胞经体外培养后构建嵌合体的潜力显著下降（P<0.05）;大鼠胎儿神经干细胞构建嵌合体的潜力较低,可能仅具有参与早期胚胎发育的潜力。