Oocyte Source and Hormonal Stimulation for In Vitro

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of in vitro embryo production in cattle utilizing sexed sperm from two bulls and oocytes recovered by OPU. Twenty donor animals were employed in eight OPU replicates: the first four OPU trials were conducted on animals without hormone treatment, and the last four were run on the same animals, following FSH subcutaneous and intramuscular administration. A higher rate of blastocyst development was recorded in stimulated, as compared to nonstimulated animals, (25.2% versus 12.8%, P = .001). Ocytes derived from slaughterhouse (SH) ovaries were also fertilized with sperm from the same bulls. Overall, non-sexed sperm used with oocytes derived from SH ovaries was significantly more efficient for blastocyst development than was sexed sperm with these same SH derived oocytes and sexed sperm with stimulated donor oocytes (39.8% versus 25.0% and 25.2%, P = .001). In conclusion, the use of sexed sperm with OPU-derived oocytes resulted in a significantly higher blastocyst development when donors were hormonally stimulated; furthermore, the level of efficiency achieved was comparable to that attained when the same sexed sperm was tested on oocytes derived from SH ovaries

Cattle Mammary Bioreactor Generated by a Novel Procedure of Transgenic Cloning for Large-Scale Production of Functional Human Lactoferrin

Large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals by current bioreactor techniques is limited by low transgenic efficiency and low expression of foreign proteins. In general, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) harboring most regulatory elements is capable of overcoming the limitations, but transferring BAC into donor cells is difficult. We describe here the use of cattle mammary bioreactor to produce functional recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) by a novel procedure of transgenic cloning, which employs microinjection to generate transgenic somatic cells as donor cells. Bovine fibroblast cells were co-microinjected for the first time with a 150-kb BAC carrying the human lactoferrin gene and a marker gene. The resulting transfection efficiency of up to 15.79×10−2 percent was notably higher than that of electroporation and lipofection. Following somatic cell nuclear transfer, we obtained two transgenic cows that secreted rhLF at high levels, 2.5 g/l and 3.4 g/l, respectively. The rhLF had a similar pattern of glycosylation and proteolytic susceptibility as the natural human counterpart. Biochemical analysis revealed that the iron-binding and releasing properties of rhLF were identical to that of native hLF. Importantly, an antibacterial experiment further demonstrated that rhLF was functional. Our results indicate that co-microinjection with a BAC and a marker gene into donor cells for somatic cell cloning indeed improves transgenic efficiency. Moreover, the cattle mammary bioreactors generated with this novel procedure produce functional rhLF on an industrial scale

Plasminogen Alleles Influence Susceptibility to Invasive Aspergillosis

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a common and life-threatening infection in immunocompromised individuals. A number of environmental and epidemiologic risk factors for developing IA have been identified. However, genetic factors that affect risk for developing IA have not been clearly identified. We report that host genetic differences influence outcome following establishment of pulmonary aspergillosis in an exogenously immune suppressed mouse model. Computational haplotype-based genetic analysis indicated that genetic variation within the biologically plausible positional candidate gene plasminogen (Plg; Gene ID 18855) correlated with murine outcome. There was a single nonsynonymous coding change (Gly110Ser) where the minor allele was found in all of the susceptible strains, but not in the resistant strains. A nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (Asp472Asn) was also identified in the human homolog (PLG; Gene ID 5340). An association study within a cohort of 236 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients revealed that alleles at this SNP significantly affected the risk of developing IA after HSCT. Furthermore, we demonstrated that plasminogen directly binds to Aspergillus fumigatus. We propose that genetic variation within the plasminogen pathway influences the pathogenesis of this invasive fungal infection

Preparation and Application of a Magnetic Oxidized Micro/Mesoporous Carbon with Efficient Adsorption for Cu(II) and Pb(II)

Water pollution is a worldwide problem that requires urgent attention and prevention and exceeding use of heavy-metal ions is one of the most harmful factors, which poses a serious threat to human health and the ecological environment. In this work, a magnetic oxidized micro/mesoporous carbon (MOMMC) was prepared for the easy separation of Cu(II) and Pb(II) from water. The dual-template method was used to prepare micro/mesoporous carbon using sucrose as the carbon source, silica nanoparticles formed by tetraethyl orthosilicate as the microporous templates, and triblock copolymer F127 as the mesoporous template. MOMMC was obtained by oxidation using potassium persulfate and then magnetized through in situ synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. FTIR, TG-DSC, XRD, TEM, SEM, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, zeta potential, and VSM were used to confirm the synthetic process, structure, and basic properties of MOMMC. The high-saturation magnetization (59.6 emu·g−1) of MOMMC indicated its easy and fast separation from water by an external magnetic field. Kinetics studies showed that the adsorption of Cu(II) and Pb(II) on MOMMC fit the pseudo-second-order model well. Isotherm studies showed that the adsorption behavior of Cu(II) was better described by the Langmuir model, and the adsorption behavior of Pb(II) was better described by both Langmuir and Redlich–Peterson models. MOMMC obtained efficient adsorption for Cu(II) and Pb(II) with the large adsorption capacity of 877.19 and 943.40 mg·g−1 according to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation, and a better selectivity for Pb(II) was observed in competitive adsorption. MOMMC still possessed a large adsorption capacity for Cu(II) and Pb(II) after three adsorption–desorption cycles. These findings show that MOMMC represents an excellent adsorption material for the efficient removal of heavy-metal ions

Carbon Quantum Dots-Functionalized UiO-66-NH2 Enabling Efficient Infrared Light Conversion of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfuryl with Waste Ethanol into 5-Ethoxymethylfurfural

The catalytic etherification of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with the waste ethanol into high-energy-density 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) has been considered as a promising way to simultaneously alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, the energy consumption is rather high as the synthesis of EMF requires a high temperature to open the etherification reaction. Herein, we demonstrate a clever design and construction of acidified biomass-derived carbon quantum dots (BCQDs)-modified UiO-66-NH2 that is immobilized on cermasite (H+/BCQDs/UiO-66-NH2@ceramsite), which can use the IR light as driven energy and wasted ethanol to trigger the catalytic conversion of HMF into EMF. The temperature on the surface of the immobilized catalyst could reach as high as 139 °C within 15 min IR irradiation. Due to the aforementioned advantages, the as-prepared catalyst exhibited excellent IR-triggered catalytic performance toward EMF production, where the EMF yields and selectivity were as high as 45% and 65%, respectively. The high catalytic performance originates from the outstanding photo-to-thermal conversion by the introduction of BCQDs, as well as the strong interactions between BCQDs and UiO-66-NH2 that boosts the etherification reactions. The immobilization of catalyst on cermasite not only benefits catalyst recycling, but more importantly reduces catalyst loss during practical applications. The conceptual study shown here provides new viewpoints in designing energy-effective materials for the conversion of wastes into high-value-added resources

K₅Mo₄O₁₄F: A Novel Fluorinated Polyoxomolybdate and Its Structural Stability

We successfully synthesized a novel fluorinated polyoxomolybdate, K₅Mo₄O₁₄F, in which the unusual polyanion [Mo₄O₁₄F]^5– consists of face-sharing [Mo₂O₈F] bioctahedra linked with [MoO₄] tetrahedra. This unique structural feature provides the very rare case that simultaneously violates Pauling’s electrostatic valence (II) and atomic coordination (IV) rules, as well as the stable tendency governed by the polyhedral sharing (III) rule. The structural stability of K₅Mo₄O₁₄F was confirmed from thermal experiments over a wide temperature range and further elucidated by first-principles calculations

K₅Mo₄O₁₄F: A Novel Fluorinated Polyoxomolybdate and Its Structural Stability

We successfully synthesized a novel fluorinated polyoxomolybdate, K₅Mo₄O₁₄F, in which the unusual polyanion [Mo₄O₁₄F]^5– consists of face-sharing [Mo₂O₈F] bioctahedra linked with [MoO₄] tetrahedra. This unique structural feature provides the very rare case that simultaneously violates Pauling’s electrostatic valence (II) and atomic coordination (IV) rules, as well as the stable tendency governed by the polyhedral sharing (III) rule. The structural stability of K₅Mo₄O₁₄F was confirmed from thermal experiments over a wide temperature range and further elucidated by first-principles calculations

Diverse Phenotypes and Specific Transcription Patterns in Twenty Mouse Lines with Ablated LincRNAs

<div><p>In a survey of 20 knockout mouse lines designed to examine the biological functions of large intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs), we have found a variety of phenotypes, ranging from perinatal lethality to defects associated with premature aging and morphological and functional abnormalities in the lungs, skeleton, and muscle. Each mutant allele carried a <i>lacZ</i> reporter whose expression profile highlighted a wide spectrum of spatiotemporal and tissue-specific transcription patterns in embryos and adults that informed our phenotypic analyses and will serve as a guide for future investigations of these genes. Our study shows that lincRNAs are a new class of encoded molecules that, like proteins, serve essential and important functional roles in embryonic development, physiology, and homeostasis of a broad array of tissues and organs in mammals.</p></div