hCLP46 Increases Smad3 Protein Stability Via Inhibiting its Ubiquitin-Proteasomal Degradation

hCLP46 (human CAP10-like protein 46 kDa) was initially isolated and identified from human acute myeloid leukemia transformed from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS-AML) CD34+ cells (Teng et al., 2006) and we demonstrated previously that hCLP46 is abnormally expressed in many hematopoietic malignancies (Wang et al., 2010). Studies fromits Drosophila homolog, Rumi, suggested that Notch is a potential target of hCLP46 (Acar et al., 2008). We also found that overexpression of hCLP46 enhances Notch activation and regulates cell proliferation in a cell type-dependent manner (Ma et al., 2011; Chu et al., 2013). However, hCLP46−/− embryos show more severe phenotypes compared to those displayed by other global regulators of canonical Notch signaling, suggesting that hCLP46 is likely to have additional important targets during mammalian development (Fernandez- Valdivia et al., 2011). Based on the crosstalk between Notch and the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling, we proposed that hCLP46 might be involved in TGF-β signal regulation, but the detail mechanism remains unclear

VertU: universal multilocus primer sets for eDNA metabarcoding of vertebrate diversity, evaluated by both artificial and natural cases

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a powerful tool for monitoring biodiversity in natural ecosystems. The accuracy of eDNA metabarcoding relies heavily on the PCR primers that amplify target sequences. For vertebrates, most available primers are designed for particular groups. There have been inadequate attempts to design “universal” primers applicable to all vertebrates. Here, we developed three new universal primer sets (V12S-U, V16S-U, and VCOI-U) targeting mitochondrial 12S, 16S, and COI genes, respectively. They work for all vertebrate groups, with amplification length of 200-250 bp, facilitating the use of short-read sequencing platforms. We evaluated and compared the species detection ability of our primer sets and seven previously published ones through both in-silico PCR and experiment tests with mock DNA and zoo eDNA. The species detection success of the new primer sets is over 90%, showing better performance than previously published primer sets. We also tested our new primers with water eDNA samples of natural environments, and detected a total of 895 vertebrate OTUs (BLAST identity ≥ 0.95), comprising 182 species, 195 genera, and 94 families. Our results indicated that utilizing multiple markers can achieve better species detection than using only a single marker, which is especially important for monitoring large biological communities like vertebrates. The new primer sets enable researchers to detect the presence of species of different vertebrate groups in one eDNA metabarcoding survey, which simplifies the workflow and reduces the cost. It has the potential to serve as an alternative/complementary tool for future eDNA metabarcoding studies targeting vertebrates

In vitro expression and analysis of the 826 human G protein-coupled receptors

ABSTRACT G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in all human physiological systems where they are responsible for transducing extracellular signals into cells. GPCRs signal in response to a diverse array of stimuli including light, hormones, and lipids, where these signals affect downstream cascades to impact both health and disease states. Yet, despite their importance as therapeutic targets, detailed molecular structures of only 30 GPCRs have been determined to date. A key challenge to their structure determination is adequate protein expression. Here we report the quantification of protein expression in an insect cell expression system for all 826 human GPCRs using two different fusion constructs. Expression characteristics are analyzed in aggregate and among each of the five distinct subfamilies. These data can be used to identify trends related to GPCR expression between different fusion constructs and between different GPCR families, and to prioritize lead candidates for future structure determination feasibility

A Lanscape Poem

A Lanscape PoemArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science

Role of Penicillium chrysogenum XJ-1 in the detoxification and bioremediation of cadmium

Microbial bioremediation is a promising technology to treat heavy metal-contaminated soils. However, the efficiency of filamentous fungi as bioremediation agents remains unknown, and the detoxification mechanism of heavy metals by filamentous fungi remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the cell morphology and antioxidant systems of Penicillium chrysogenum XJ-1 in response to different Cd concentrations (0–10 mM) by using physico-chemical and biochemical methods. Cd in XJ-1 was mainly bound to the cell wall. The malondialdehyde (MDA) level in XJ-1 cells was increased by 14.82–94.67 times with the increase in Cd concentration. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) peaked at 1 mM Cd, whereas that of catalase (CAT) peaked at 5 mM Cd. Cd exposure increased the glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio and the activities of GR and G6PDH in XJ-1. These results suggested that the Cd detoxification mechanism of XJ-1 included biosorption, cellular sequestration, and antioxidant defense. The application of XJ-1 in Cd-polluted soils (5–50 mg kg−1) successfully reduced bioavailable Cd and increased the plant yield, indicating that this fungus was a promising candidate for in-situ bioremediation of Cd-polluted soil

A chemical stable 1D Cd(II) di-phosphonic acid coordination polymer with district luminescent property

A new metal phosphonate, [Cd(H2L)H2O](n)(1), (H4L = 4-F-C6H4CH2N(CH2PO3H2)(2)) has been synthesized by hydrothermal method and structurally characterized by X-ray single-crystal diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. 1 exhibits a 1D chain structure formed by the coordination interactions between PO3 groups and metal ions. The adjacent chains are further interlinked by hydrogen bond interactions, leading to a supramolecular network. Moreover, 1 not only shows excellent stability in boiling water, DMF solution and 140 degrees C hydrothermal condition for three days, but also can survive in aqueous solution over a wide pH range. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of diphosphonic acid complex with 1D chain exhibiting high stability in various solutions. The thermal stability was also investigated. Additionally, the luminescence property of 1 was investigated in the solid state at room temperature

A water-stable Ni(ii) diphosphonate exhibiting water vapor adsorption and water-assisted high proton conductivity

A new nickel(ii) phosphonate, [Ni-3(HL)(2)(H2O)(10)]4H(2)O (1), (H4L = 4-F-C6H4CH2N(CH2PO3H2)(2)) has been synthesized by a hydrothermal method and structurally characterized via X-ray single-crystal diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. 1 exhibits a 1D chain structure formed by the coordination interactions between PO3 groups and metal ions; the chains are further interlinked by [Ni(H2O)(6)](2+), leading to a supramolecular network. Interestingly, there are helix water channels located in the stacking diagram of 1. To the best of our knowledge, this kind of water channel has not been reported before. The presence of extended hydrogen bonding stabilizes the 3D network and favours proton transfer. 1 shows high proton conductivity with sigma = 1.43 x 10(-3) S cm(-1) at 297 K and 98% RH and a lower activation energy of 0.08 eV. The conductivity is comparable to that of MOF-based materials with efficient proton conducting property. Additionally, the water vapor adsorption of 1 was also investigated

Molecular Identification and Susceptibility of Clinically Relevant Scedosporium spp. in China

As various new sibling species within the Scedosporium spp. have been described recently, this study was conducted to investigate distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of the different species of Scedosporium spp. in China. Twenty-one clinical strains of Scedosporium from China and two strains from Japan were reidentified by MLSA. The analysis included BT2, CAL, RPB, SOD, and ACT and the combination of the five loci. Pseudallescheria boydii complex (17 strains) and S. apiospermum (6 strains) were identified. P. boydii complex included four closely related subgroups: P. boydii (9 strains), P. ellipsoidea (6 strains), P. fusoidea (1 strain), and P. angusta (1 strain). There were no significant differences in MICs for neither VOR, POS, nor AMB over all the five species in study. For itraconazole, intraspecific diversity was evident

A Comparative Study on the Biosorption of Cd2+ onto Paecilomyces lilacinus XLA and Mucoromycote sp. XLC

The filamentous fungi XLA and XLC isolated from Cd-contaminated soil were identified morphologically and phylogenetically as Paecilomyces lilacinus and Mucoromycote sp., respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Cd2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cr3+ and Cr6+ in minimum mineral (MM) medium agar plates were 29,786, 2945, 9425, 5080, 1785 and 204 mg·L−1 for XLA and 11,240, 884, 9100, 2540, 3060 and 51 mg·L−1 for XLC, respectively. Favorable biosorption conditions for adsorption of Cd2+ by the tested fungi were investigated. Efficient performances of the biosorbents were described using Langmuir isotherm model, and the predicted maximum biosorption capacities for Cd2+ were 77.61 mg·g−1 of XLA and 79.67 mg·g−1of XLC. Experiments on desorption potential of biosorbents validated their efficacy at a large scale. Results showed that XLA obtained a desorption rate of 84.7% by 2% EDTA and XLC gained a desorption rate of 78.9% by 0.1 M HCl. Analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggested that groups of C–N, COO– for XLA and C–N, CH2 and phosphate for XLC were the dominant binding sites for Cd2+ biosorption. Our results indicated that the fungus XLA, rather than XLC, could potentially be used as an inexpensive, eco-friendly and effective bioremediation agent for the removal of Cd2+ from wastewater