Cepharanthine induces autophagy via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells

AIM: To investigate the autophagy of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells induced by cepharanthine and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: The effect of cepharanthine on the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells was measured by CCK-8 assay. The SKOV3 cells were treated with cepharanthine, and then the formation of autophagosome was observed with acridine orange staining under fluorescence microscope. The protein levels of LC3, AKT, p-AKT, mTOR, p-mTOR and GAPDH in the SKOV3 cells treated with cepharanthine were determined by Western blot.RESULTS: Cepharanthine significantly inhibited the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). The number of the intracellular acidic autophagosomes with bright red fluorescence was significantly increased after cepharanthine treatment in the SKOV3 cells. The expression of LC3-Ⅱ in SKOV3 cells was significantly enhanced after cepharanthine treatment. Furthermore, treatment with cepharanthine in the SKOV3 cells also resulted in a significant down-regulation of phosphorylated form of AKT and mTOR (P<0.01), while the total protein level was not changed. Combination of cepharanthine and 3-methyladenine resulted in a substantial decrease in the cell viability compared with using cepharanthine alone.CONCLUSION: Cepharanthine significantly inhibits the growth of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and induces the autophagy, which may be correlated with down-regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.     

Expression of Anti-Lipopolysaccharide Factor Isoform 3 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Showing High Antimicrobial Activity

Antimicrobial peptides are a class of proteins with antibacterial functions. In this study, the anti-lipopolysaccharide factor isoform 3 gene (ALFPm3), encoding an antimicrobial peptide from Penaeus monodon with a super activity was expressed in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which would develop a microalga strain that can be used for the antimicrobial peptide production. To construct the expression cluster, namely pH2A-Pm3, the codon optimized ALFPm3 gene was fused with the ble reporter by 2A peptide and inserted into pH124 vector. The glass-bead method was performed to transform pH2A-Pm3 into C. reinhardtii CC-849. In addition to 8 μg/mL zeocin resistance selection, the C. reinhardtii transformants were further confirmed by genomic PCR and RT-PCR. Western blot analysis showed that the C. reinhardtii-derived ALFPm3 (cALFPm3) was successfully expressed in C. reinhardtii transformants and accounted for 0.35% of the total soluble protein (TSP). Furthermore, the results of antibacterial assay revealed that the cALFPm3 could significantly inhibit the growth of a variety of bacteria, including both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria at a concentration of 0.77 μM. Especially, the inhibition could last longer than 24 h, which performed better than ampicillin. Hence, this study successfully developed a transgenic C. reinhardtii strain, which can produce the active ALFPm3 driven from P. monodon, providing a potential strategy to use C. reinhardtii as the cell factory to produce antimicrobial peptides.     

白羊草R2R3-MYB转录因子的挖掘及对干旱胁迫反应的研究

本文以白羊草（Bothriochloa ischaemum）为材料，利用其目前已有的转录组序列，通过搜索、比对、功能域多态性分析、进化树构建和基因表达分析等手段，对白羊草R2R3-MYB型转录因子进行挖掘和干旱胁迫下的表达模式分析。结果从白羊草挖掘出43个R2R3-MYB转录因子，它们具有高度保守的[W]-X（19）-[W]-X（19）-[W]-X（n）-[W]-X（18）-[W]结构，主要参与生长发育、次生代谢和逆境响应等生物过程。通过进一步的分析，本研究筛选出8个可能参与干旱胁迫响应的R2R3-MYB转录因子。这为白羊草R2R3-MYB基因的功能研究和开发利用奠定了基础。     

玉米轴色突变体698-3R的遗传鉴定

以辐射诱变获得的玉米红轴突变体698-3R为材料,通过遗传交配设计分析轴色的遗传规律,利用SSR-BSA法初步定位轴色基因,并对候选基因进行克隆和表达分析。结果表明:(1)突变体698-3R的红轴对白轴性状表现为显性遗传,受一对核基因控制,初步定位在第一染色体上的SSR标记phi095与umc1452之间,与phi095相距3.9cM,与umc1452相距7.1cM,将该基因暂定名为C(t);(2)以轴色基因 P1的cDNA为模板克隆C(t),发现698-3R有3个C(t)转录本,而野生型698-3中至少有2个;预测氨基酸序列比对发现,698-3R中3个C(t)蛋白的氨基酸序列与已知P_1-wr蛋白一致,突变使其获得完整的MYB结构域和酸性激活域,而野生型698-3中698-3-P-1蛋白由于编码序列缺失导致移码突变,不具有该功能结构域;(3)对C(t)基因qRT-PCR分析发现,除25DAP外,其余4个时期在698-3R中表达水平均显著或极显著高于698-3;以 A1和 C2基因表达验证分析发现,C(t)与验证基因表达模式一致,说明C(t)可能具有 P1激活调控 A1和 C2基因表达的功能。推测该红轴基因C(t)可能为一个 P_1-wr基因。     

奶牛乳脂性状候选基因EEF1D突变位点功能分析

提高乳脂含量、提升奶质已成为当前奶牛业研究的重点方向之一。前期经GWAS方法研究发现,EEF1D基因5'非翻译区(5'-UTR)的G/A突变与乳脂率极显著相关,为了进一步对候选基因EEF1D的突变位点进行功能分析,首先通过人工合成获得了EEF1D基因突变型与野生型片段,并在细胞水平上对其开展了功能验证实验。研究发现,EEF1D基因5'-UTR的G/A突变引起Sp3转录起始位点后移33 bp,并且突变型的活性大约是野生型的3倍。研究结果表明,该突变可改变转录因子的转录起始位点,从而使EEF1D的表达上调。     

转Cry抗虫基因玉米对家蚕的安全性评价

家蚕可能通过取食漂移到桑叶上的玉米花粉从而受到转基因玉米中表达的Cry蛋白的影响。实验采用室内生物测试的方法评价了转cry1Ab和cry2Ab基因玉米GAB-3花粉对家蚕可能产生的影响,并采用在饲料中掺入蛋白的方式检测了转基因玉米中广泛使用的6种Cry杀虫蛋白对家蚕的毒性。当桑叶上GAB-3花粉密度为50粒·cm^-2时,对家蚕幼虫存活率无显著影响,达500粒·cm^-2时,家蚕14 d存活率为0;以10粒·cm^-2的GAB-3花粉饲喂家蚕幼虫7 d对其体重无显著不利影响,但延长饲喂时间或者当GAB-3花粉密度为50粒·cm^-2时,家蚕的体重显著低于对照组;转基因和非转基因玉米花粉处理14 d或更长时间的家蚕体重均低于无花粉处理组。与非转基因对照处理组相比,低于100粒·cm^-2的转基因玉米GAB-3花粉处理组家蚕的化蛹率、茧重、茧壳重和蛹重无显著差异,转基因玉米和非转基因玉米花粉处理均会延长家蚕幼虫的发育历期。GAB-3花粉对家蚕7 d的LC₅₀为261.18粒·cm^-2,随着处理时间延长,LC₅₀下降。测试的6种Bt杀虫蛋白对家蚕的毒性依次为Cry1C>Cry1Fa>Cry1B>Cry2A>Cry1Ab>Cry1Ac。目前,在中国接近商业化的转基因玉米中多采用的Bt杀虫蛋白为Cry1Ab和Cry2A,二者对家蚕的毒性较低,并且在实际生产中,家蚕接触到的转基因玉米花粉密度较低,因此转Cry抗虫基因玉米对家蚕的风险较低。     

丁硫克百威在豇豆不同时期施用的降解代谢研究

为明确丁硫克百威在豇豆播种期、苗期、结荚期使用后的降解代谢,以及可能产生的膳食风险,分别以其在蔬菜上登记的最低剂量、最高剂量、最高剂量的1.5倍3种剂量施药,进行田间模拟残留试验。将采集的成熟豇豆通过乙腈提取、C18分散净化,经超高效液相色谱串联质谱方法检测,测定豇豆中丁硫克百威及其代谢物——克百威和3-羟基克百威的残留量。结果表明,丁硫克百威、克百威和3-羟基克百威在豇豆中的定量限均为0.01 mg·kg^-1,在0.01~1 mg·kg^-1的添加水平下,丁硫克百威、克百威和3-羟基克百威的平均回收率为72%~105%,相对标准偏差为1.4%~20.1%。丁硫克百威使用后的超标风险主要源于其代谢物——克百威和3-羟基克百威。播种期施药后的豇豆样品均无丁硫克百威及其代谢物检出;苗期以最高剂量的1.5倍施药后,第10天的样品中克百威(含3-羟基克百威)的残留值超出中国国家标准中规定的最大允许残留限量(MRL);结荚期2次或3次施药后7 d内克百威(含3-羟基克百威)的残留值超出MRL。结荚期施药时,丁硫克百威在2次施药和3次施药后的慢性膳食摄入风险和急性膳食摄入风险均较低,小于100%;但克百威(含3-羟基克百威)的急性膳食摄入风险较高,以最高剂量的1.5倍2次施药或3次施药后,克百威(含3-羟基克百威)的急性膳食摄入风险于药后7 d才降至100%以下。综上,播种期使用丁硫克百威不会导致豇豆中残留超标,可以安全使用;但苗期和结荚期使用丁硫克百威存在极高的风险,应禁止其在播种期以外的使用。     

Dietary α‐Ketoglutarate supplementation alleviates harmful effects of high environmental ammonia on grass carp,Ctenopharyngodon idella

Current intensive fish farming usually causes high environmental ammonia (HEA) in ponds that is toxic to fish. α‐Ketoglutarate (α‐KG) can be rapidly transaminated to glutamic acid and further aminated to glutamine. Therefore, we hypothesized that dietary α‐KG supplementation would alleviate HEA toxicity to fish. To test the hypothesis, 270 healthy grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) juveniles were randomly assigned to control, HEA (18.37 mg/L ammonia) and HEA + α‐KG (0.75% of α‐KG) groups. Ammonia and free amino acid content in plasma and brain, liver glutamic pyruvic transaminase and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase activity, and urea and glycogen content were measured on the first, seventh and 42nd days. Our results showed short‐term HEA exposure (1 day) led to a significant ammonia accumulation in the brain and plasma and significantly decreased glutamic and aspartic acid content in the brain and increased glutamine content in the brain and plasma. The long‐term HEA exposure (42 days) caused significant reductions in glycine and arginine content in the brain tissue. In most cases, dietary α‐KG supplementation alleviated the fluctuations in FAA content in the brain and plasma. Our results suggested dietary α‐KG alleviated HEA toxicity to grass carp.