A novel vaccine formulation candidate based on lipooligosaccharides and pertussis toxin against Bordetella pertussis

Pertussis is a severe human respiratory tract infectious disease caused by Bordetella pertussis that primarily affects infants and young children. However, the acellular pertussis vaccine currently administered can induce antibody and Th2 immune responses but fails to prevent the nasal colonization and transmission of B. pertussis, causing a resurgence of pertussis, so improved pertussis vaccines are urgently needed. In this study, we created a two-component pertussis vaccine candidate containing a conjugate prepared from oligosaccharides and pertussis toxin. After demonstrating the ability of the vaccine to induce a mixed Th1/Th2/Th17 profile in a mouse model, the strong in vitro bactericidal activity and IgG response of the vaccine were further demonstrated. In addition, the vaccine candidate further induced efficient prophylactic effects against B. pertussis in a mouse aerosol infection model. In summary, the vaccine candidate in this paper induces antibodies with bactericidal activity to provide high protection, shorten the duration of bacterial existence, and further reduce disease outbreaks. Therefore, the vaccine has the potential to be the next generation of pertussis vaccines

Characterization of the chloroplast genome of the family Lauraceae plant species, Cinnamomum cassia

The fruit of Cinnamomum cassia is an important spice material and its branch is a common Chinese herbal medicine as the family Lauraceae. In this study, we reported the complete chloroplast genome of C. cassia. The chloroplast genome of C. cassia with length of 152,675 bp is a characteristic quadripartite structure. The length of the inverted-repeats regions (IRs), large single-copy (LSC) region, and small single-copy (SSC) region of C. cassia was 20,068 bp, 93,663 and 18,876 bp. The chloroplast genome of C. cassia contains 124 genes, which includes 80 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 36 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and 8 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs). The overall nucleotide content of the chloroplast genome: 30.0% A (Adenine), 30.8% T (Thymine), 19.7% C (Cytosine), 19.5% G (Guanine), and 39.2% GC content. Evolutionary relationship result showed that Cinnamomum cassia was most closely related to Cinnamomum parthenoxylon in the family Lauraceae by the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) method

Enhancing Soil Health and Plant Growth through Microbial Fertilizers: Mechanisms, Benefits, and Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in maintaining the structure and function of soil ecosystems. This study aims to explore the effects of microbial fertilizers on improving soil physicochemical properties and promoting plant growth. The results show that the application of microbial fertilizers significantly increases the richness of soil microorganisms, maintains soil microecological balance, and effectively improves the soil environment. Through various secondary metabolites, proteins, and mucilage secreted by the developing plant root system, microbial fertilizers recruit specific fungal microorganisms. These microorganisms, by binding soil particles with their extracellular polysaccharides and entwining them, fix the soil, enhance the stability of soil aggregates, and ameliorate soil compaction. Moreover, after the application of microbial fertilizers, the enriched soil microbial community not only promotes the plant’s absorption and utilization of key elements such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), thereby increasing fruit yield and quality, but also competes with pathogens and induces systemic resistance in plants, effectively warding off pathogenic invasions. This study highlights the potential and importance of microbial fertilizers in promoting sustainable agricultural development, offering new strategies and perspectives for future agricultural production

Sex-biased molecular differences in lung adenocarcinoma are ethnic and smoking specific

Abstract Background Sex-related differences in cancer epidemiology, tumor biology, immune system activity, and pharmacogenomics have been suggested to be important considerations for precision cancer control. Here we elucidated systematically sex biases in genetic variants, gene expression profiles, and immunological landscapes of lung adenocarcinoma patients (LUADs) with different ancestry and smoking status. Methods Somatic mutation and mRNA expression data of Asian and Non-Asian LUADs were obtained from public databases. Sex-biased genetic mutations, gene expression, biological pathways, and immune infiltration were identified in the context of smoking status and race. Results Among nonsmokers, male-biased mutations were prevalent in Asian LUADs, while few sex-biased mutations were detected in Non-Asian LUADs. EGFR was the only mutation whose frequency was significantly higher in females than males in both Asian and Non-Asian nonsmokers. More genes exhibited sex-biased expression in Non-Asian LUADs compared to Asian LUADs. Moreover, genes distinctly expressed in females were mainly related to immune-related pathways, whereas those in males were more involved in activation of DNA repair, E2F_targets, and MYC_targets pathways. We also detected sex-specific immune infiltration in the context of genetic variation. In EGFR-mutant LUADs, males had a significantly increased infiltration of CD8 + T cells, whereas resting CD4 + memory T cells were more abundant in females. Additionally, in KRAS-mutant LUADs, CD8 + and CD4 + T cells were more abundant in females than males. In addition, we detected all female patients with high SCGB3A2 expression were exclusively sensitive to immunotherapy, while this phenomenon was not observed in male patients. Conclusions Our findings provided evidence that sex-related molecular and cellular components are involved in shaping tumor distinct genetic and immune features, which might have important impact on personalized targeted and immune therapy

Programmable selective acylation of saccharides mediated by carbene and boronic acid

Chemical synthesis or modification of saccharides remains a major challenge largely because site-selective reactions on their many similar hydroxyl groups are difficult. The lack of efficient chemical synthetic tools has therefore become a main obstacle to understanding saccharide-related biological processes and developing saccharide-based pharmaceuticals. Here, we disclose a programmable multilayered selectivity-amplification strategy enabled by boronic acids and N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts for site-specific acylation of unprotected monoglycosides. The boronic acids provide transient shielding on certain hydroxyl groups (while simultaneously promoting reactions of other hydroxyl units) via dynamic covalent bonds to offer the first sets of selectivity controls. The NHC catalysts provide further layers of control by mediating selective acylation of the unshielded hydroxyl moieties. Multiple activating and deactivating forces can be easily modulated to yield programmable selectivity patterns. Structurally diverse monosaccharides and their analogs can be precisely reacted with different acylating reagents, leading to quick construction of sophisticated saccharide-derived products.Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)Ministry of Education (MOE)National Research Foundation (NRF)Submitted/Accepted versionWe acknowledge funding support from the Singapore National Research Foundation under its NRF Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2016-06) and Competitive Research Program (NRF-CRP22-2019-0002); the Singapore Ministry of Education under its MOE AcRF Tier 1 Award (RG7/20, RG5/19), MOE AcRF Tier 2 Award (MOE2019- T2-2-117), and MOE AcRF Tier 3 Award (MOE2018-T3-1-003); Nanyang Technological University; the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21772029, 21801051, 21807019, 21961006, 22071036, 22061007, and 22101266); the Frontiers Science Center for Asymmetric Synthesis and Medicinal Molecules of the Guizhou Province Department of Education (Qianjiaohe KY (2020)004); the 10 Talent Plan (Shicengci) of Guizhou Province ([2016]5649); the Science and Technology Department of Guizhou Province ([2018]2802 and [2019]1020); the Guizhou University Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities of China (111 Program, D20023); and Guizhou University. X.Z. acknowledges support from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research(A*STAR) Institute of High Performance Computing and thanks the A*STAR Deputy Chief Executive Research Office for a Career Development Fund (project number C210812008). X.Z. acknowledges the partial use of supercomputers in the A*STAR Computational Resource Center for computations performed in this work

Nanorod-Nanoflake Interconnected LiMnPO₄·Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C Composite for High-Rate and Long-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries

Olivine-type structured LiMnPO₄ has been extensively studied as a high-energy density cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. However, preparation of high-performance LiMnPO₄ is still a large obstacle due to its intrinsically sluggish electrochemical kinetics. Recently, making the composites from both active components has been proven to be a good proposal to improve the electrochemical properties of cathode materials. The composite materials can combine the advantages of each phase and improve the comprehensive properties. Herein, a LiMnPO₄·Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C composite with interconnected nanorods and nanoflakes has been synthesized via a one-pot, solid-state reaction in molten hydrocarbon, where the oleic acid functions as a surfactant. With a highly uniform hybrid architecture, conductive carbon coating, and mutual cross-doping, the LiMnPO₄·Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C composite manifests high capacity, good rate capability, and excellent cyclic stability in lithium-ion batteries. The composite electrodes deliver a high reversible capacity of 101.3 mAh g^–1 at the rate up to 16 C. After 4000 long-term cycles, the electrodes can still retain 79.39% and 72.74% of its maximum specific discharge capacities at the rates of 4C and 8C, respectively. The results demonstrate that the nanorod-nanoflake interconnected LiMnPO₄·Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C composite is a promising cathode material for high-performance lithium ion batteries