Risk Identification of Sudden Water Pollution on Fuzzy Fault Tree in Beibu-Gulf Economic Zone

AbstractSudden water pollution incident has the characteristics of instantaneity and uncertainty. Based on the characteristics, fuzzy fault tree analysis method was used to identify the potential risks of water pollution in Beibu-Gulf economic zone, and it also combined with the collected data and analysis results. The research results showed that the abnormal discharge of sewage was the main risk factor of the economic zone; the probability value of water pollution potential risk in this study area ranged from 4.6 percent to17.7 percent,which considered the random uncertainty and fuzzy uncertainty of the causes. This research could be considered as an instruction for future risk management, and it will play a great role in the healthy development of ecological environment

Regulation of RIPK1 activation by TAK1-mediated phosphorylation dictates apoptosis and necroptosis

Stimulation of TNFR1 by TNFα can promote three distinct alternative mechanisms of cell death: necroptosis, RIPK1-independent and -dependent apoptosis. How cells decide which way to die is unclear. Here, we report that TNFα-induced phosphorylation of RIPK1 in the intermediate domain by TAK1 plays a key role in regulating this critical decision. Using phospho-Ser321 as a marker, we show that the transient phosphorylation of RIPK1 intermediate domain induced by TNFα leads to RIPK1-independent apoptosis when NF-κB activation is inhibited by cycloheximide. On the other hand, blocking Ser321 phosphorylation promotes RIPK1 activation and its interaction with FADD to mediate RIPK1-dependent apoptosis (RDA). Finally, sustained phosphorylation of RIPK1 intermediate domain at multiple sites by TAK1 promotes its interaction with RIPK3 and necroptosis. Thus, absent, transient and sustained levels of TAK1-mediated RIPK1 phosphorylation may represent distinct states in TNF-RSC to dictate the activation of three alternative cell death mechanisms, RDA, RIPK1-independent apoptosis and necroptosis

Molecular definitions of autophagy and related processes.

Over the past two decades, the molecular machinery that underlies autophagic responses has been characterized with ever increasing precision in multiple model organisms. Moreover, it has become clear that autophagy and autophagy-related processes have profound implications for human pathophysiology. However, considerable confusion persists about the use of appropriate terms to indicate specific types of autophagy and some components of the autophagy machinery, which may have detrimental effects on the expansion of the field. Driven by the overt recognition of such a potential obstacle, a panel of leading experts in the field attempts here to define several autophagy-related terms based on specific biochemical features. The ultimate objective of this collaborative exchange is to formulate recommendations that facilitate the dissemination of knowledge within and outside the field of autophagy research

Autophagy in major human diseases

Abstract: Autophagy is a core molecular pathway for the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Pharmacological and genetic interventions impairing autophagy responses promote or aggravate disease in a plethora of experimental models. Consistently, mutations in autophagy‐related processes cause severe human pathologies. Here, we review and discuss preclinical data linking autophagy dysfunction to the pathogenesis of major human disorders including cancer as well as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, metabolic, pulmonary, renal, infectious, musculoskeletal, and ocular disorders

MpADC, an l-aspartate-α-decarboxylase, from Myzus persicae, that enables production of β-alanine with high yield by whole-cell enzymatic catalysis

Abstract Background β-Alanine is a precursor of many important pharmaceutical products and food additives, its market demand is continuously increasing nowadays. Whole-cell catalysis relying on the recombinant expression of key β-alanine synthesizing enzymes is an important method to produce β-alanine. Nevertheless, β-alanine synthesizing enzymes found so far have problems including easy inactivation, low expression or poor catalytic activity, and it remains necessary to develop new enzymes. Results Herein, we characterized an l-aspartate-α-decarboxylase, MpADC, from an aphid, Myzus persicae. It showed excellent catalytic activity at pH 6.0–7.5 and 37 °C. With the help of chaperone co-expression and N-terminal engineering guided by AlphaFold2 structure prediction, the expression and catalytic ability of MpADC in Escherichia coli were significantly improved. Using 50 g/L of E. coli cells expressing the MpADC-∆39 variant cultured in a 15-L fermenter, 232.36 g/L of β-alanine was synthesized in 13.5 h, with the average β-alanine yield of 17.22 g/L/h, which is best known so far. Conclusions Our research should facilitate the production of β-alanine in an environment-friendly manner

De novo assembly and comparative analysis of the transcriptome of embryogenic callus formation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract Background During asexual reproduction the embryogenic callus can differentiate into a new plantlet, offering great potential for fostering in vitro culture efficiency in plants. The immature embryos (IMEs) of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are more easily able to generate embryogenic callus than mature embryos (MEs). To understand the molecular process of embryogenic callus formation in wheat, de novo transcriptome sequencing was used to generate transcriptome sequences from calli derived from IMEs and MEs after 3d, 6d, or 15d of culture (DC). Results In total, 155 million high quality paired-end reads were obtained from the 6 cDNA libraries. Our de novo assembly generated 142,221 unigenes, of which 59,976 (42.17%) were annotated with a significant Blastx against nr, Pfam, Swissprot, KOG, KEGG, GO and COG/KOG databases. Comparative transcriptome analysis indicated that a total of 5194 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the comparisons of IME vs. ME at the three stages, including 3181, 2085 and 1468 DEGs at 3, 6 and 15 DC, respectively. Of them, 283 overlapped in all the three comparisons. Furthermore, 4731 DEGs were identified in the comparisons between stages in IMEs and MEs. Functional analysis revealed that 271transcription factor (TF) genes (10 overlapped in all 3 comparisons of IME vs. ME) and 346 somatic embryogenesis related genes (SSEGs; 35 overlapped in all 3 comparisons of IME vs. ME) were differentially expressed in at least one comparison of IME vs. ME. In addition, of the 283 overlapped DEGs in the 3 comparisons of IME vs. ME, excluding the SSEGs and TFs, 39 possessed a higher rate of involvement in biological processes relating to response to stimuli, in multi-organism processes, reproductive processes and reproduction. Furthermore, 7 were simultaneously differentially expressed in the 2 comparisons between the stages in IMEs, but not MEs, suggesting that they may be related to embryogenic callus formation. The expression levels of genes, which were validated by qRT-PCR, showed a high correlation with the RNA-seq value. Conclusions This study provides new insights into the role of the transcriptome in embryogenic callus formation in wheat, and will serve as a valuable resource for further studies addressing embryogenic callus formation in plants

Additional file 1: of De novo assembly and comparative analysis of the transcriptome of embryogenic callus formation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Primers used in this study for qRT-PCR. (XLSX 14 kb

Exploration of Graphitic‑C₃N₄ Quantum Dots for Microwave-Induced Photodynamic Therapy

Here, we report our new observations on graphitic-phase carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) quantum dots (QDs) as agents for microwave induced photodynamic therapy (MIPDT). For the first time, we observed that singlet oxygen is produced in g-C₃N₄ QDs by microwave irradiation, which can be used for tumor destruction. The results of live/dead staining and flow cytometry show that g-C₃N₄ QDs based MIPDT can effectively kill cancer cells and promote tumor cell death. In addition, the cell viability and hemolysis tests in vitro indicate that g-C₃N₄ QDs have very low cell toxicity and possess excellent biocompatibility in the physiological environments. All these indicate that g-C₃N₄ QDs are promising for MIPDT, a new potential modality for cancer treatment