5 research outputs found
Additional file 2: of How does the dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus respond to global warming?
Regression analysis of the warming effects. (DOCX 14 kb
Additional file 1: of How does the dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus respond to global warming?
Two-season (SW2) and three-season (SW3) warming patterns. (DOCX 16 kb
Nanolayered Graphene/Black Phosphorus Films for Fire-Retardant Coatings
As
one of typical bottom-up self-assembly natural materials, the
abalone nacre with a special layered “brick-and-mortar”
structure exhibited unique physical and chemical properties. Inspired
by this structure, we developed a biomimetic material by combining
linear polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with hydroxyl-functionalized black
phosphorus (BP-OH) nanosheets and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets in
an evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Owing to the strong interfacial
hydrogen bond between linear PVA and two-dimensional BP-OH-GO, the
PVA/BP-OH-GO 25 composite film exhibited outstanding mechanical properties,
with tensile fracture strain up to 86.6% and tensile strength up to
74.3 MPa (1.63 and 2.14 times that of pure PVA, respectively). In
addition, the toughness of the PVA/BP-OH-GO 25 film reached 2–3
times that of pure PVA, achieving the purpose of increasing strength
and toughness simultaneously. In addition, the composite film also
achieved admirable fire resistance, thermal stability, smoke suppression,
and toxicity reduction performance. Therefore, a type of bionic PVA/BP/GO
film was designed and prepared, which provided a direction for designing
synthetic biomimetic composite materials with high fire safety and
mechanical properties
Autophagy regulates spermatid differentiation via degradation of PDLIM1
<p>Spermiogenesis is a complex and highly ordered spermatid differentiation process that requires reorganization of cellular structures. We have previously found that <i>Atg7</i> is required for acrosome biogenesis. Here, we show that autophagy regulates the round and elongating spermatids. Specifically, we found that <i>Atg7</i> is required for spermatozoa flagella biogenesis and cytoplasm removal during spermiogenesis. Spermatozoa motility of <i>atg7</i>-null mice dropped significantly with some extra-cytoplasm retained on the mature sperm head. These defects are associated with an impairment of the cytoskeleton organization. Functional screening revealed that the negative cytoskeleton organization regulator, PDLIM1 (PDZ and LIM domain 1 [elfin]), needs to be degraded by the autophagy-lysosome-dependent pathway to facilitate the proper organization of the cytoskeleton. Our results thus provide a novel mechanism showing that autophagy regulates cytoskeleton organization mainly via degradation of PDLIM1 to facilitate the differentiation of spermatids.</p
Autophagy is required for ectoplasmic specialization assembly in sertoli cells
<p>The ectoplasmic specialization (ES) is essential for Sertoli-germ cell communication to support all phases of germ cell development and maturity. Its formation and remodeling requires rapid reorganization of the cytoskeleton. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of ES assembly is still largely unknown. Here, we show that Sertoli cell-specific disruption of autophagy influenced male mouse fertility due to the resulting disorganized seminiferous tubules and spermatozoa with malformed heads. In autophagy-deficient mouse testes, cytoskeleton structures were disordered and ES assembly was disrupted. The disorganization of the cytoskeleton structures might be caused by the accumulation of a negative cytoskeleton organization regulator, PDLIM1, and these defects could be partially rescued by <i>Pdlim1</i> knockdown in autophagy-deficient Sertoli cells. Altogether, our works reveal that the degradation of PDLIM1 by autophagy in Sertoli cells is important for the proper assembly of the ES, and these findings define a novel role for autophagy in Sertoli cell-germ cell communication.</p