Sulfated Galactan from Palisada flagellifera Inhibits Toxic Effects of Lachesis muta Snake Venom

In Brazil, snakebites are a public health problem and accidents caused by Lachesis muta have the highest mortality index. Envenomation by L. muta is characterized by systemic (hypotension, bleeding and renal failure) and local effects (necrosis, pain and edema). The treatment to reverse the evolution of all the toxic effects is performed by injection of antivenom. However, such therapy does not effectively neutralize tissue damage or any other local effect, since in most cases victims delay seeking appropriate medical care. In this way, alternative therapies are in demand, and molecules from natural sources have been exhaustively tested. In this paper, we analyzed the inhibitory effect of a sulfated galactan obtained from the red seaweed Palisada flagellifera against some toxic activities of L. muta venom. Incubation of sulfated galactan with venom resulted in inhibition of hemolysis, coagulation, proteolysis, edema and hemorrhage. Neutralization of hemorrhage was also observed when the galactan was administered after or before the venom injection; thus mimicking a real in vivo situation. Moreover, the galactan blocked the edema caused by a phospholipase A₂ isolated from the same venom. Therefore, the galactan from P. flagellifera may represent a promising tool to treat envenomation by L. muta as a coadjuvant for the conventional antivenom.     

Shellfish Toxins Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) play a central role in the generation and propagation of action potentials in excitable neurons and other cells and are targeted by commonly used local anesthetics, antiarrhythmics, and anticonvulsants. They are also common targets of neurotoxins including shellfish toxins. Shellfish toxins are a variety of toxic secondary metabolites produced by prokaryotic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic dinoflagellates in both marine and fresh water systems, which can accumulate in marine animals via the food chain. Consumption of shellfish toxin-contaminated seafood may result in potentially fatal human shellfish poisoning. This article provides an overview of the structure, bioactivity, and pharmacology of shellfish toxins that act on VGSCs, along with a brief discussion on their pharmaceutical potential for pain management.     

Conotoxins Targeting Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: An Overview

Marine snails of the genus Conus are a large family of predatory gastropods with an unparalleled molecular diversity of pharmacologically active compounds in their venom. Cone snail venom comprises of a rich and diverse cocktail of peptide toxins which act on a wide variety of ion channels such as voltage-gated sodium- (Na_V), potassium- (K_V), and calcium- (Ca_V) channels as well as nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) which are classified as ligand-gated ion channels. The mode of action of several conotoxins has been the subject of investigation, while for many others this remains unknown. This review aims to give an overview of the knowledge we have today on the molecular pharmacology of conotoxins specifically interacting with nAChRs along with the structure–function relationship data.     

Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) Regulatory Networks in Marine Organisms: From Physiological Observations towards Marine Drug Discovery

Part of our ocean’s richness comes from its extensive history of supporting life, resulting in a highly diverse ecological system. To date, over 250,000 species of marine organisms have been identified, but it is speculated that the actual number of marine species exceeds one million, including several hundreds of millions of species of marine microorganisms. Past studies suggest that approximately 70% of all deep-sea microorganisms, gorgonians, and sea sponges produce secondary metabolites with anti-cancer activities. Recently, novel FDA-approved drugs derived from marine sponges have been shown to reduce metastatic breast cancer, malignant lymphoma, and Hodgkin’s disease. Despite the fact that many marine natural products have been shown to possess a good inhibition potential against most of the cancer-related cell signaling pathways, only a few marine natural products have been shown to target JAK/STAT signaling. In the present paper, we describe the JAK/STAT signaling pathways found in marine organisms, before elaborating on the recent advances in the field of STAT inhibition by marine natural products and the potential application in anti-cancer drug discovery.     

Pharmacological analyses of protein kinases regulating egg maturation in marine nemertean worms: a review and comparison with Mammalian eggs

For development to proceed normally, animal eggs must undergo a maturation process that ultimately depends on phosphorylations of key regulatory proteins. To analyze the kinases that mediate these phosphorylations, eggs of marine nemertean worms have been treated with pharmacological modulators of intracellular signaling pathways and subsequently probed with immunoblots employing phospho-specific antibodies. This article both reviews such analyses and compares them with those conducted on mammals, while focusing on how egg maturation in nemerteans is affected by signaling pathways involving cAMP, mitogen-activated protein kinases, Src-family kinases, protein kinase C isotypes, AMP-activated kinase, and the Cdc2 kinase of maturation-promoting factor.     

Conotoxins: Therapeutic Potential and Application

The pharmacological variety of conotoxins, diverse peptides found in the venoms of marine cone snails, is well recognized. Venoms from each of the estimated 500 species of cone snails contain 50 to 200 distinct biologically active peptides. Most conotoxins characterized to date target receptors and ion channels of excitable tissues, such as ligand-gated nicotinic acetylcholine, N-methyl-D-aspartate, and type 3 serotonin receptors, as well as voltage-gated calcium, sodium, and potassium channels, and G-protein-coupled receptors including α-adrenergic, neurotensin, and vasopressin receptors, and the norepinephrine transporter. Several conotoxins have shown promise in preclinical models of pain, convulsive disorders, stroke, neuromuscular block, and cardioprotection. The pharmacological selectivity of the conotoxins, coupled with the safety and efficacy demonstrated in preclinical models, has led to their investigation as human therapeutic agents. In the following review, we will survey the pharmacology and therapeutic rationale of those conotoxins with potential clinical application, and discuss the unique challenges that each will face in the course of their transition from venom component to human therapeutic.     

水稻粒型基因克隆和调控机制研究进展

水稻粒型是影响其产量和品质的重要性状,阐明其遗传调控机理,有助于提高水稻单产和改良品质。水稻粒型性状主要包括粒长、粒宽、粒厚、长/宽比,属于数量性状,受胚、胚乳及母体植株等不同遗传体系的控制。随着水稻功能基因组学和重测序技术的快速发展,目前已经定位超过400个与水稻粒型相关的数量性状位点(QTL),并已克隆了60个水稻粒型基因,涉及植物激素、泛素-蛋白酶体通路、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶(MAPK)信号通路、G蛋白信号通路及表观修饰等多个调控通路。本文对水稻粒型基因克隆及其调控机制的研究进展进行了系统总结和梳理,并对这些基因在育种上的利用价值进行了评价。     

番茄HDACs家族基因在胁迫条件下的表达分析

组蛋白去乙酰化酶（Histone deacetylases，HDACs）家族基因在植物的生长发育、器官构建及逆境胁迫和激素信号应答中发挥重要作用。利用生物信息学方法对番茄的HDACs家族成员、分布及结构和功能等进行分析。结果表明，番茄HDACs家族包含15个成员，分为3个亚家族。遗传进化分析表明，番茄HDACs家族成员与拟南芥HDACs家族具有相似分类。利用实时荧光定量PCR对番茄HDACs家族基因的组织表达分析表明，HDACs具有组织特异性表达差异，SlHDT1、SlHDT2和SlHDT3在根中表达较高，而SlHDA1、SlHDA3、SlHDA5、SlHDA6在果实发育过程中表达较高；利用RT-PCR对番茄HDACs的胁迫响应分析表明，在盐、SA、ABA、高温和低温胁迫条件下，15个番茄HDACs成员的表达模式不同，其中部分基因的表达水平被显著地诱导增加或者降低，推测这些基因很可能参与了调控番茄逆境胁迫条件下的防御应答反应。结果将为进一步解析番茄HDACs家族基因的功能奠定基础。     

Molecular Mechanisms of Astaxanthin as a Potential Neurotherapeutic Agent

Neurological disorders are diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system that affect millions of people, and the numbers are rising gradually. In the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, the roles of many signaling pathways were elucidated; however, the exact pathophysiology of neurological disorders and possible effective therapeutics have not yet been precisely identified. This necessitates developing multi-target treatments, which would simultaneously modulate neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress. The present review aims to explore the potential therapeutic use of astaxanthin (ASX) in neurological and neuroinflammatory diseases. ASX, a member of the xanthophyll group, was found to be a promising therapeutic anti-inflammatory agent for many neurological disorders, including cerebral ischemia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and neuropathic pain. An effective drug delivery system of ASX should be developed and further tested by appropriate clinical trials.     

Model membrane platforms for biomedicine: case study on antiviral drug development

As one of the most important interfaces in cellular systems, biological membranes have essential functions in many activities such as cellular protection and signaling. Beyond their direct functions, they also serve as scaffolds to support the association of proteins involved in structural support, adhesion, and transport. Unfortunately, biological processes sometimes malfunction and require therapeutic intervention. For those processes which occur within or upon membranes, it is oftentimes difficult to study the mechanism in a biologically relevant, membranous environment. Therefore, the identification of direct therapeutic targets is challenging. In order to overcome this barrier, engineering strategies offer a new approach to interrogate biological activities at membrane interfaces by analyzing them through the principles of the interfacial sciences. Since membranes are complex biological interfaces, the development of simplified model systems which mimic important properties of membranes can enable fundamental characterization of interaction parameters for such processes. We have selected the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a model viral pathogen to demonstrate how model membrane platforms can aid antiviral drug discovery and development. Responsible for generating the genomic diversity that makes treating HCV infection so difficult, viral replication represents an ideal step in the virus life cycle for therapeutic intervention. To target HCV genome replication, the interaction of viral proteins with model membrane platforms has served as a useful strategy for target identification and characterization. In this review article, we demonstrate how engineering approaches have led to the discovery of a new functional activity encoded within the HCV nonstructural 5A protein. Specifically, its N-terminal amphipathic, α-helix (AH) can rupture lipid vesicles in a size-dependent manner. While this activity has a number of exciting biotechnology and biomedical applications, arguably the most promising one is in antiviral medicine. Based on the similarities between lipid vesicles and the lipid envelopes of virus particles, experimental findings from model membrane platforms led to the prediction that a range of medically important viruses might be susceptible to rupturing treatment with synthetic AH peptide. This hypothesis was tested and validated by molecular virology studies. Broad-spectrum antiviral activity of the AH peptide has been identified against HCV, HIV, herpes simplex virus, and dengue virus, and many more deadly pathogens. As a result, the AH peptide is the first in class of broad-spectrum, lipid envelope-rupturing antiviral agents, and has entered the drug pipeline. In summary, engineering strategies break down complex biological systems into simplified biomimetic models that recapitulate the most important parameters. This approach is particularly advantageous for membrane-associated biological processes because model membrane platforms provide more direct characterization of target interactions than is possible with other methods. Consequently, model membrane platforms hold great promise for solving important biomedical problems and speeding up the translation of biological knowledge into clinical applications.     

Regulation of C/N Interaction in Model Plant Species

Summary

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolisms are two major metabolic pathways which have been intensively studied in plants. Both N and C metabolisms are tightly linked in numerous plant biochemical pathways. Therefore the C to N ratio has to be carefully regulated to ensure proper functioning of the huge metabolic network. In order to maintain a viable C/N status under a large range of growth conditions plants have evolved complex mechanisms to regulate the delicate network of these two major assimilatory pathways. C and N metabolisms are both highly regulated. We will present the current knowledge on the regulation of N and C metabolisms by sugars and N metabolites. Players involved in these regulatory processes are just starting to be uncovered and possible signaling molecules involved in these regulations as well as known or potential candidate regulatory genes willbe discussed.     

植物叶绿体蛋白质组学研究进展

亚细胞蛋白质组学研究是近年来蛋白质组学研究中的一个热点,蛋白质组分析已成为在亚细胞水平鉴定植物功能蛋白的有力工具.叶绿体作为重要的植物细胞器,在植物蛋白质组学中已有较多的研究.随着双向电泳技术的改进和质谱灵敏度的提高,并结合不断增多的拟南芥、水稻、玉米等植物的数据库信息相结合,许多植物叶绿体中的蛋白质已经被成功鉴定.叶...     

淹水胁迫下不同活力玉米种子定量蛋白质组研究

以高活力玉米自交系J002和低活力玉米自交系196为试验材料,采用TMT标记定量蛋白质组学技术,对不同活力玉米种子萌发期进行淹水胁迫72 h处理,比较蛋白质表达的差异。结果表明,共鉴定到203个差异蛋白,其中,上调蛋白169条,下调蛋白34条。通过对差异表达蛋白的功能富集分析和KEGG代谢通路富集分析发现,高活力种子在萌发过程中核糖体蛋白的合成量要高于低活力种子。在缺氧胁迫下,高活力种子的ROS清除剂如POD、SOD、APX等丰度均高于低活力种子。KEGG通路分析表明,高活力种子激活了糖酵解代谢、丙酮酸代谢等更多的代谢途径来获得能量。鉴定出一些丰度具有巨大差异的热激蛋白HSPs,由此可以推断,高活力种子具有更好抗性的分子机制。     

全基因组法绘制禾谷炭疽菌和希金斯炭疽菌中MAPK级联信号途径简图

MAPK（促分裂原活化蛋白激酶， Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase）信号转导途径在植物病原真菌的生长发育、有性生殖和致病性调节等方面占有重要作用，是一种普遍存在的细胞外信号转导途径。在真核生物MAPK蛋白的同源性和2种炭疽菌（禾谷炭疽、希金斯炭疽菌）全基因组数据库的基础上，结合Blastp、蛋白质结构域分析和聚类分析3种方法，从禾谷炭疽菌和希金斯炭疽菌基因组数据库中找出18个与酿酒酵母菌同源的3类MAPK级联信号途径基因，并绘制出这2种炭疽菌MAPK级联信号途径简图，为深入