Divergence of Fecal Microbiota and Their Associations With Host Phylogeny in Cervinae

Gastrointestinal microbiota may shape the adaptation of their hosts to different habitats and lifestyles, thereby driving their evolutionary diversification. It remains unknown if gastrointestinal microbiota diverge in congruence with the phylogenetic relationships of their hosts. To evaluate the phylosymbiotic relationships, here we analyzed the compositions of fecal microbiota of seven Cervinae species raised in the Chengdu Zoo. All sampled animals were kept in the same environmental condition and fed identical fodder for years. Results showed that Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant in their fecal microbiota. Even though some bacteria (e.g., Ruminococcaceae) were found to be common in the feces of all investigated species, some genera (e.g., Sharpea and Succinivibrio) were only observed in animals with particular digestive systems. As for the intraspecies variations of microbial communities, only a few operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were shared among replicates of the same host species although they accounted for most of the total abundance. Correlation was observed between the fecal microbiota divergence and host phylogeny, but they were not congruent completely. This may shed new light on the coevolution of host species and their microbiota

Adipose-derived stem cell-derived microvesicle-released miR-210 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of endothelial cells by regulating RUNX3

<p>The potential mechanism of miRNA released from adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-derived micro vesicle (MV) onthe modulation of proliferation, migration and invasion of endothelial cells were explored. In this study, miR-210 level was detected by qT-PCR. Alix, VEGF and RUNX3 expressions were detected by Western blot. The proliferation, migration and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were observed by MTT assay and Transwell assay. Luciferase reporter gene assay was conducted to validate the targeting activity of MVs-released miR-210 on RUNX3. We found hypoxia significantly increased the expression of MVs-released miR-210. MVs released from ADSCsin hypoxic group significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs. Overexpression of miR-210 significantly upregulated VEGF expression, and promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs. Besides, RUNX3 was identified as the direct of miR-210 in HUVECs. Overexpression of miR-210 decreased RUNX3 expression and promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs, while overexpression of RUNX3 inhibited these promotion effects. In vivo experiment showed that MVs derived from ADSCs under hypoxia increased miR-210 level and capillary density, and inhibition of miR-210 decreased capillary density. We also found MVs downregulated RUNX3 expression, and inhibition of miR-210 upregulated RUNX3 expression. Therefore, miR-210 released from ADSCs-derived MVs promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs by targeting RUNX3, which revealed one of the mechanisms of ADSCs-derived MVs on the promotion of proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs.</p> <p><b>Abbreviations</b>: ADSC, adipose-derived stem cell; MV, micro vesicle; HUVECs, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; RUNX3, Runtrelatedtranscription factor-3</p

Strong hydrophobicity enables efficient purification of HBc VLPs displaying various antigen epitopes through hydrophobic interaction chromatography

Hepatitis B core virus -like particle (HBc-VLP) has become a carrier for expression and presentation of foreign epitopes as vaccine candidates. Efficient purification is necessary for preparation of HBc-VLP and its derivatives with various foreign epitopes. In previous reports, HBc-VLP was mainly purified with ion exchange chromatography. In this study, we developed a platform purification technique based on hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). The underlying principle is the strong hydrophobicity on the surface of HBc-VLP, which was found by mathematical calculation and experimental measurement. Based on HIC, a complete downstream process, from feedstock supernatant to the final pure product, was developed involving a heat pretreatment, an HIC, an ultrafiltration concentration and a size exclusion chromatography. The total recovery of HBc-VLP was 41.92% with nearly 100% purity. HIC was also applicable to three HBc-based vaccine candidates displaying epitope from nuclear protein (NP) and matrix protein 2 (M2e) of the influenza A virus, as well as from ovalbumin (OVA). Optimal HIC condition for these three recombinant VLPs was rationally designed by analysis on their surface hydrophobicity, which was influenced upon insertion of the foreign epitope. By applying the same process developed for HBc-VLP, satisfactory results were achieved for product recovery, purity and host cell DNA removal, thus it is possible to become a platform technique for various HBc-VLP based vaccine candidates.</p