Genome sequence, phylogenetic analysis, and structure-based annotation reveal metabolic potential of Chlorella sp. SLA-04

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Hypothalamic astrocytes control systemic glucose metabolism and energy balance.

The hypothalamus is key in the control of energy balance. However, strategies targeting hypothalamic neurons have failed to provide viable options to treat most metabolic diseases. Conversely, the role of astrocytes in systemic metabolic control has remained largely unexplored. Here, we show that obesity promotes anatomically restricted remodeling of hypothalamic astrocyte activity. In the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, chemogenetic manipulation of astrocytes results in bidirectional control of neighboring neuron activity, autonomic outflow, glucose metabolism, and energy balance. This process recruits a mechanism involving the astrocytic control of ambient glutamate levels, which becomes defective in obesity. Positive or negative chemogenetic manipulation of PVN astrocyte Ca2+ signals, respectively, worsens or improves metabolic status of diet-induced obese mice. Collectively, these findings highlight a yet unappreciated role for astrocytes in the direct control of systemic metabolism and suggest potential targets for anti-obesity strategy

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts

A series of Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts with different Mo-dopant concentrations have been prepared by a grinding- calcination method. The structure of these photocatalysts was characterized by a variety of methods, including N 2 physical adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It was found that Mo 6+ could enter into the crystal lattice of ZnO due to the radius of Mo 6+ (0.065 nm) being smaller than that of Zn 2+ (0.083 nm). XRD results indicated that Mo 6+ suppressed the growth of ZnO crystals. The FT-IR spectroscopy results showed that the ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping has a higher level of surface hydroxyl groups than pure ZnO. PL spectroscopy indicated that ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping also exhibited the largest reduction in the intensity of the emission peak at 390 nm caused by the recombination of photogenerated hole-electron pairs. The activities of the Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts were investigated in the photocatalytic degradation of acid orange II under UV light (? = 365 nm) irradiation. It was found that ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping showed much higher photocatalytic activity and stability than pure ZnO. The high photocatalytic performance of the Mo-doped ZnO can be attributed to a great improvement in the surface properties of ZnO, higher crystallinity and lower recombination rate of photogenerated hole-electron (e -/h +) pairs. Moreover, the undoped Mo species may exist in the form of MoO 3 and form MoO 3/ZnO heterojunctions which further favors the separation of e -/h + pairs. © Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012