The History and Outlook of Animal Drugs Treating Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, and Haze Episode-induced Respiratory Diseases

Animal drugs have been historically applied in Chinese remedies for more than two thousands. It was reported that Chinese medical animals consisting of 1,590 species took up 12.5% of the total number of all TCM resources. Those animal drugs such as, earthworm, gecko, periostracum cicadae, and scorpios, of commonly used in China, are very remarkable and traditional for the treatment of asthma or chronic bronchitis. This review presents research advance of animal drugs possessing significant implications for the development of novel anti-asthma or chronic bronchitis drugs. The experimental studies and clinical efficacies against asthma and chronic bronchitis of animal drugs were summarized herein. Moreover, the potential utilization of animal drugs on inhibiting haze/fog induced respiratory diseases was also discusse

Zeolite Synthesis from Fly Ash : Current Processes and their Benefits and Drawbacks

資料Review Articl

Ncapg dynamically coordinates the myogenesis of fetal bovine tissue by adjusting chromatin accessibility

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. NCAPG is a subunit of condensin I that plays a crucial role in chromatin condensation during mitosis. NCAPG has been demonstrated to be associated with farm animal growth traits. However, its role in regulating myoblast differentiation is still unclear. We used myoblasts derived from fetal bovine tissue as an in vitro model and found that NCAPG was expressed during myogenic differentiation in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Silencing NCAPG prolonged the mitosis and impaired the differentiation due to increased myoblast apoptosis. After 1.5 days of differentiation, silencing NCAPG enhanced muscle-specific gene expression. An assay for transposase-accessible chromatinhigh throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) revealed that silencing NCAPG altered chromatin accessibility to activating protein 1 (AP-1) and its subunits. Knocking down the expression of the AP-1 subunits fos-related antigen 2 (FOSL2) or junB proto-oncogene (JUNB) enhanced part of the muscle-specific gene expression. In conclusion, our data provide valuable evidence about NCAPG’s function in myogenesis, as well as its potential role in gene expression

First determination of Pu isotopes (239Pu, 240Pu and 241Pu) in radioactive particles derived from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Radioactive particles were released into the environment during the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Many studies have been conducted to elucidate the chemical composition of released radioactive particles in order to understand their formation process. However, whether radioactive particles contain nuclear fuel radionuclides remains to be investigated. Here, we report the first determination of Pu isotopes in radioactive particles. To determine the Pu isotopes (239Pu, 240Pu and 241Pu) in radioactive particles derived from the FDNPP accident which were free from the influence of global fallout, radiochemical analysis and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry measurements were conducted. Radioactive particles derived from unit 1 and unit 2 or 3 were analyzed. For the radioactive particles derived from unit 1, activities of 239+240Pu and 241Pu were (1.70-7.06)×10-5 Bq and (4.10-8.10)×10-3 Bq, respectively and atom ratios of 240Pu/239Pu and 241Pu/239Pu were 0.330-0.415 and 0.162-0.178, respectively. These ratios were consistent with the simulation results from ORIGEN code and measurements from various environmental samples. In contrast, Pu was not detected in the radioactive particles derived from unit 2 or 3. The difference in Pu contents is clear evidence towards different formation processes of radioactive particles, and detailed formation processes can be investigated from Pu analysis

Metagenome-assembled genomes indicate that antimicrobial resistance genes are highly prevalent among urban bacteria and multidrug and glycopeptide resistances are ubiquitous in most taxa

IntroductionEvery year, millions of deaths are associated with the increased spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in bacteria. With the increasing urbanization of the global population, the spread of ARGs in urban bacteria has become a more severe threat to human health.MethodsIn this study, we used metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) recovered from 1,153 urban metagenomes in multiple urban locations to investigate the fate and occurrence of ARGs in urban bacteria. Additionally, we analyzed the occurrence of these ARGs on plasmids and estimated the virulence of the bacterial species.ResultsOur results showed that multidrug and glycopeptide ARGs are ubiquitous among urban bacteria. Additionally, we analyzed the deterministic effects of phylogeny on the spread of these ARGs and found ARG classes that have a non-random distribution within the phylogeny of our recovered MAGs. However, few ARGs were found on plasmids and most of the recovered MAGs contained few virulence factors.DiscussionOur results suggest that the observed non-random spreads of ARGs are not due to the transfer of plasmids and that most of the bacteria observed in the study are unlikely to be virulent. Additional research is needed to evaluate whether the ubiquitous and widespread ARG classes will become entirely prevalent among urban bacteria and how they spread among phylogenetically distinct species

The genome evolution and domestication of tropical fruit mango

Background: Mango is one of the world’s most important tropical fruits. It belongs to the family Anacardiaceae, which includes several other economically important species, notably cashew, sumac and pistachio from other genera. Many species in this family produce family-specific urushiols and related phenols, which can induce contact dermatitis. Results: We generate a chromosome-scale genome assembly of mango, providing a reference genome for the Anacardiaceae family. Our results indicate the occurrence of a recent whole-genome duplication (WGD) event in mango. Duplicated genes preferentially retained include photosynthetic, photorespiration, and lipid metabolic genes that may have provided adaptive advantages to sharp historical decreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperatures. A notable example of an extended gene family is the chalcone synthase (CHS) family of genes, and particular genes in this family show universally higher expression in peels than in flesh, likely for the biosynthesis of urushiols and related phenols. Genome resequencing reveals two distinct groups of mango varieties, with commercial varieties clustered with India germplasms and demonstrating allelic admixture, and indigenous varieties from Southeast Asia in the second group. Landraces indigenous in China formed distinct clades, and some showed admixture in genomes. Conclusions: Analysis of chromosome-scale mango genome sequences reveals photosynthesis and lipid metabolism are preferentially retained after a recent WGD event, and expansion of CHS genes is likely associated with urushiol biosynthesis in mango. Genome resequencing clarifies two groups of mango varieties, discovers allelic admixture in commercial varieties, and shows distinct genetic background of landraces

Selective deployment of virulence effectors correlates with host specificity in a fungal plant pathogen

なぜ病原菌は特定の作物にのみ感染するのか --植物病原菌の宿主特異性の鍵因子--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-03-23.Fungus has a host of issues: KyotoU discovers how toxic fungi target specific host plants. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-06-07.The hemibiotrophic fungal plant pathogen Colletotrichum orbiculare is predicted to secrete hundreds of effector proteins when the pathogen infects cucurbit crops, such as cucumber and melon, and tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana), a distantly related Solanaceae species. Here, we report the identification of sets of C. orbiculare effector genes that are differentially required for fungal virulence to two phylogenetically distant host species. Through targeted gene knockout screening of C. orbiculare ‘core’ effector candidates defined based on in planta gene expression, we identified: four host-specific virulence effectors (named effector proteins for cucurbit infection, or EPCs) that are required for full virulence of C. orbiculare to cucurbit hosts, but not to the Solanaceae host N. benthamiana; and five host-nonspecific virulence effectors, which collectively contribute to fungal virulence to both hosts. During host infection, only a small subset of genes, including the host-specific EPC effector genes, showed preferential expression on one of the hosts, while gene expression profiles of the majority of other genes, including the five host-nonspecific effector genes, were common to both hosts. This work suggests that C. orbiculare adopts a host-specific effector deployment strategy, in addition to general host-blind virulence mechanisms, for adaptation to cucurbit hosts

bta-miR-23a Regulates the Myogenic Differentiation of Fetal Bovine Skeletal Muscle-Derived Progenitor Cells by Targeting MDFIC Gene

miR-23a, a member of the miR-23a/24-2/27a cluster, has been demonstrated to play pivotal roles in many cellular activities. However, the mechanisms of how bta-miR-23a controls the myogenic differentiation (MD) of PDGFRalpha(-) bovine progenitor cells (bPCs) remain poorly understood. In the present work, bta-miR-23a expression was increased during the MD of (PDGFRalpha-) bPCs. Moreover, bta-miR-23a overexpression significantly promoted the MD of (PDGFRalpha-) bPCs. Luciferase reporter assays showed that the 3\u27-UTR region of MDFIC (MyoD family inhibitor domain containing) could be a promising target of bta-miR-23a, which resulted in its post-transcriptional down-regulation. Additionally, the knockdown of MDFIC by siRNA facilitated the MD of (PDGFRalpha-) bPCs, while the overexpression of MDFIC inhibited the activating effect of bta-miR-23a during MD. Of note, MDFIC might function through the interaction between MyoG transcription factor and MEF2C promoter. This study reveals that bta-miR-23a can promote the MD of (PDGFRalpha-) bPCs through post-transcriptional downregulation of MDFIC

N1-methylpseudouridine found within COVID-19 mRNA vaccines produces faithful protein products

Synthetic mRNA technology is a promising avenue for treating and preventing disease. Key to the technology is the incorporation of modified nucleotides such as N1-methylpseudouridine (m1Ψ) to decrease immunogenicity of the RNA. However, relatively few studies have addressed the effects of modified nucleotides on the decoding process. Here, we investigate the effect of m1Ψ and the related modification pseudouridine (Ψ) on translation. In a reconstituted system, we find that m1Ψ does not significantly alter decoding accuracy. More importantly, we do not detect an increase in miscoded peptides when mRNA containing m1Ψ is translated in cell culture, compared with unmodified mRNA. We also find that m1Ψ does not stabilize mismatched RNA-duplex formation and only marginally promotes errors during reverse transcription. Overall, our results suggest that m1Ψ does not significantly impact translational fidelity, a welcome sign for future RNA therapeutics