Exploring the mediating role of depression in the relationship between sarcopenia and cardiovascular health in the middle-aged and elderly: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular health is influenced by various factors, including sarcopenia and depression. It has been demonstrated that sarcopenia has a negative impact on cardiovascular disease, with depression also being a contributing factor. However, the complex interplay between sarcopenia, depressive symptoms, and cardiovascular health in middle-aged and elderly populations is not fully explored. METHODS: A total of 23,445 participants participated in China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and completed relevant measurements, including the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The study also assessed sarcopenia and cardiovascular health score. The focus of the study was to test whether the association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular health scores was mediated by depression using PROCESS macros in R 4.3.2. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to affirm the robustness of our findings. RESULT: The study revealed a partial mediation between sarcopenia and cardiovascular health score among the middle and elder adults, mediated by depression. Sarcopenia had a significant negative correlation with cardiovascular health score (B = -12.404, P < 0.05), and depression also showed a significant negative correlation (B = -1.515, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results support the notion that depression partially mediated the association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular health score. Therefore, interventions aimed at improving mood and addressing other cardiovascular risk factors may help alleviate the adverse effects of sarcopenia and potentially reduce the progression to cardiovascular disease.

Microbiota profiling reveals alteration of gut microbial neurotransmitters in a mouse model of autism-associated 16p11.2 microduplication.

The gut-brain axis is evident in modulating neuropsychiatric diseases including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Chromosomal 16p11.2 microduplication 16p11.2dp/+ is among the most prevalent genetic copy number variations (CNV) linked with ASD. However, the implications of gut microbiota status underlying the development of ASD-like impairments induced by 16p11.2dp/+ remains unclear. To address this, we initially investigated a mouse model of 16p11.2dp/+, which exhibits social novelty deficit and repetitive behavior characteristic of ASD. Subsequently, we conducted a comparative analysis of the gut microbial community and metabolomic profiles between 16p11.2dp/+ and their wild-type counterparts using 16S rRNA sequencing and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Our microbiota analysis revealed structural dysbiosis in 16p11.2dp/+ mice, characterized by reduced biodiversity and alterations in species abundance, as indicated by α/ß-diversity analysis. Specifically, we observed reduced relative abundances of Faecalibaculum and Romboutsia, accompanied by an increase in Turicibacter and Prevotellaceae UCG_001 in 16p11.2dp/+ group. Metabolomic analysis identified 19 significantly altered metabolites and unveiled enriched amino acid metabolism pathways. Notably, a disruption in the predominantly histamine-centered neurotransmitter network was observed in 16p11.2dp/+ mice. Collectively, our findings delineate potential alterations and correlations among the gut microbiota and microbial neurotransmitters in 16p11.2dp/+ mice, providing new insights into the pathogenesis of and treatment for 16p11.2 CNV-associated ASD.

Gas Kinetic Scheme Coupled with High-Speed Modifications for Hypersonic Transition Flow Simulations.

The issue of hypersonic boundary layer transition prediction is a critical aerodynamic concern that must be addressed during the aerodynamic design process of high-speed vehicles. In this context, we propose an advanced mesoscopic method that couples the gas kinetic scheme (GKS) with the Langtry-Menter transition model, including its three high-speed modification methods, tailored for accurate predictions of high-speed transition flows. The new method incorporates the turbulent kinetic energy term into the Maxwellian velocity distribution function, and it couples the effects of high-speed modifications on turbulent kinetic energy within the computational framework of the GKS solver. This integration elevates both the transition model and its high-speed enhancements to the mesoscopic level, enhancing the method's predictive capability. The GKS-coupled mesoscopic method is validated through a series of test cases, including supersonic flat plate simulation, multiple hypersonic cone cases, the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE)-1 flight test, and the HIFiRE-5 case. The computational results obtained from these cases exhibit favorable agreement with experimental data. In comparison with the conventional Godunov method, the new approach encompasses a broader range of physical mechanisms, yielding computational results that closely align with the true physical phenomena and marking a notable elevation in computational fidelity and accuracy. This innovative method potentially satisfies the compelling demand for developing a precise and rapid method for predicting hypersonic boundary layer transition, which can be readily used in engineering applications.

Associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure and thyroid hormone levels in the elderly.

This study aimed to measure the exposure of the elderly to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and explore their effects on thyroid hormone levels. A cross-sectional study of plasma samples from 746 elderly people (aged >60 years) from Taiyuan, China was conducted. Fourteen PFASs were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and five thyroid function indicators, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), free T4 (FT4), and free T3 (FT3), using an enzyme-linked immunoassay. Descriptive analysis was used to investigate PFC exposure and the toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) was used to calculate the transthyretin (TTR)-disrupting toxicity of combined exposure to PFAS. Linear additive and multiple linear regression models were used to explore the relationship between PFAS and hormones, using PFC concentration as quartiles and continuous variables. Among the PFAS identified, 12 PFASs had detection rates >80 %, with perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) having the highest concentrations. Perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), PFOS, and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were negatively correlated with TSH levels and each interquartile range (IQR) concentration increase caused a reduction in TSH levels by 2.14 %, 1.78 %, and 3.04 %, respectively. Perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrA) and perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPA) were positively correlated with T4 and T3 levels, respectively, and levels increased by 4.52 % (T4) and 1.14 % (T3) with IQR concentration increase. Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) was negatively correlated with FT4 levels, which decreased by 1.89 % with IQR concentration increase. A negative correlation was found between the combined exposure indices of TEQ and TSH levels; IQR increase in TEQ decreased the TSH concentration by 1.91 %. In conclusion, exposure to PFAS was common in the elderly population and was associated with decreased TSH and FT4 levels and increased T4 and T3 levels. These results indicated that PFASs may cause thyroid-disrupting effects in the elderly population.

Improved Air Stability for High-Performance FACsPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells via Bonding Engineering.

Despite the fact that perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are widely popular due to their superb power conversion efficiency (PCE), their further applications are still restricted by low stability and high-density defects. Especially, the weak binding and ion-electron properties of perovskite crystals make them susceptible to moisture attack under environmental stress. Herein, we report an overall sulfidation strategy via introduction of 1-pentanethiol (PT) into the perovskite film to inhibit bulk defects and stabilize Pb ions. It has been confirmed that the thiol groups in PT can stabilize uncoordinated Pb ions and passivate iodine vacancy defects by forming strong Pb-S bonds, thus reducing nonradiative recombination. Moreover, the favorable passivation process also optimizes the energy-level arrangement, induces better perovskite crystallization, and enhances the charge extraction in the full solar cells. Consequently, the PT-modified inverted device delivers a champion PCE of 22.46%, which is superior to that of the control device (20.21%). More importantly, the PT-modified device retains 91.5% of its initial PCE after storage in air for 1600 h and over 85% of its initial PCE after heating at 85 °C for 800 h. This work provides a new perspective to simultaneously improve the performance and stability of PSCs to satisfy their commercial applications.

A Residual UNet Denoising Network Based on Multi-Scale Feature Extraction and Attention-Guided Filter.

In order to obtain high-quality images, it is very important to remove noise effectively and retain image details reasonably. In this paper, we propose a residual UNet denoising network that adds the attention-guided filter and multi-scale feature extraction blocks. We design a multi-scale feature extraction block as the input block to expand the receiving domain and extract more useful features. We also develop the attention-guided filter block to hold the edge information. Further, we use the global residual network strategy to model residual noise instead of directly modeling clean images. Experimental results show our proposed network performs favorably against several state-of-the-art models. Our proposed model can not only suppress the noise more effectively, but also improve the sharpness of the image.

[Separation of chiral compounds using high performance liquid chromatography stationary phase based on covalent organic framework material TpPa-NH2-Glu].

Covalent organic frameworks （COFs） are an emerging class of porous crystalline materials composed of multidentate organic units connected by covalent bonds. COFs have been demonstrated to exhibit great potential and research value in many fields， including gas storage and separation， photoelectric devices， fluorescence sensors， catalysis， drug delivery， dye and pollutant adsorption， and electronic devices， and so on. The COFs obtained by post-synthesis modification tend to exhibit high crystallinities and porosities， thereby rendering them suitable materials for use in the fields of chiral resolution， asymmetric catalysis， and chromatography. In this work， TpPa-NO2 was synthesized from 1，3，5-tricarbaldehyde phloroglucinol and 2-nitro-1，4-phenylenediamine， which was then reduced to TpPa-NH2. Subsequently， this material was modified with D-glucose via a post-synthesis modification strategy to obtain the TpPa-NH2-Glu. TpPa-NH2-Glu were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance （NMR） spectroscopy， Fourier transform-infrared （FT-IR） spectroscopy， X-ray powder diffraction （XRD） analysis， etc. In the XRD pattern， the peaks observed at 4.7°ï¼Œ 8.1°ï¼Œ 11.1°ï¼Œ and 27° were attributed to the TpPa-NH2-Glu， and these peaks are consistent with previous reports， thereby confirming the successful synthesis of this derivative. In addition， circular dichroism experiments indicated that the TpPa-NH2-Glu exhibited a Cotton effect， further confirming the chiral COF was prepared. Subsequently， this material was immobilized on the surface of spherical silica gel particles via the net-wrapping method to prepare a stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatographic column. Using n-hexane-isopropanol （9∶1， v/v） or methanol-water （9∶1， v/v） as mobile phases at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min， 16 racemates and two benzene-based positional isomers （o，m，p-nitroaniline and o，m，p-Iodoaniline） were successfully resolved by this chiral column. In addition， under methanol-water （9∶1， v/v） mobile phase conditions， five racemates were separated， among which propranolol hydrochloride， warfarin， and metoprolol reached baseline separation. Furthermore， under n-hexane-isopropanol （9∶1， v/v） mobile phase conditions， 11 racemates were resolved， among which ethyl 2-bromopropionate and 3-butyn-2-ol reached baseline separation. Meanwhile， the effect of temperature on the TpPa-NH2-Glu liquid chromatography column and the repeatability of the TpPa-NH2-Glu liquid chromatography column were also explored. The HPLC column prepared by TpPa-NH2-Glu had good repeatability， and its relative standard deviation （RSD） was 1.55% and 1.46%， respectively. It is demonstrated that the TpPa-NH2-Glu material has good resolution ability for chiral compounds.

Microbial Diversity, Community Turnover, and Putative Functions in Submarine Canyon Sediments under the Action of Sedimentary Geology.

Sampling challenges in deep-sea ecosystems lead to a lack of knowledge about the distribution of microbes in different submarine canyons. To study microbial diversity and community turnover under different ecological processes, we performed 16S/18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing for sediment samples from a submarine canyon in the South China Sea. Bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes made up 57.94% (62 phyla), 41.04% (12 phyla), and 1.02% (4 phyla) of the sequences, respectively. Thaumarchaeota, Planctomycetota, Proteobacteria, Nanoarchaeota, and Patescibacteria are the five most abundant phyla. Heterogeneous community composition was mainly observed in vertical profiles rather than horizontal geographic locations, and microbial diversity in the surface layer was much lower than that in deep layers. According to the null model tests, homogeneous selection dominated community assembly within each sediment layer, whereas heterogeneous selection and dispersal limitation dominated community assembly between distant layers. Different sedimentation processes of sediments, i.e., rapid deposition caused by turbidity currents or slow sedimentation, seem to be primarily responsible for these vertical variations. Finally, functional annotation through shotgun-metagenomic sequencing found that glycosyl transferases and glycoside hydrolases are the most abundant carbohydrate-active enzyme categories. The most likely expressed sulfur cycling pathways include assimilatory sulfate reduction, the link between inorganic and organic sulfur transformation, and organic sulfur transformation, while the potentially activated methane cycling pathways include aceticlastic methanogenesis and aerobic and anaerobic oxidation of methane. Overall, our study revealed high levels of microbial diversity and putative functions in canyon sediments and the important influence of sedimentary geology on microbial community turnover between vertical sediment layers. IMPORTANCE Deep-sea microbes have received growing attention due to their contribution to biogeochemical cycles and climate change. However, related research lags due to the difficulty of collecting samples. Based on our previous study, which revealed the formation of sediments under the dual action of turbidity currents and seafloor obstacles in a submarine canyon in the South China Sea, this interdisciplinary research provides new insights into how sedimentary geology influences microbial community assembly in sediments. We proposed some uncommon or new findings, including the following: (i) microbial diversity was much lower on the surface than in deeper layers (ii) archaea and bacteria dominated the surface and deep layers, respectively; (iii) sedimentary geology played key roles in vertical community turnover; and (iv) the microbes have great potential to catalyze sulfur, carbon, and methane cycling. This study may lead to extensive discussion of the assembly and function of deep-sea microbial communities in the context of geology.

Geographic Scale Influences the Interactivities Between Determinism and Stochasticity in the Assembly of Sedimentary Microbial Communities on the South China Sea Shelf.

Determinism and stochasticity in microbial community composition decisions have attracted wide attention. However, there is no consensus on their interrelationships and relative importance, and the mechanism controlling the interaction between the two ecological processes remains to be revealed. The interaction of the two ecological processes on the continental shelf of the South China Sea was studied by performing 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on 90 sediments at multiple depths in five sites. Three nearshore sites have higher microbial diversity than those two close to the shelf margin. Different microbial composition was observed between sites and microbial composition of nearshore sites was positively correlated with total nitrogen, total sulfur, total organic carbon, and dissolved oxygen, while that of offshore was positively correlated with total carbon, salinity, and photosynthetically active radiation. The null model test showed that the community composition among layers of the same site and between nearby sites was mainly dominated by the homogeneous selection, while that between distant sites was mainly affected by dispersal limitation, which indicates that geographic scale influences the interactivities of determinism and stochasticity. Our research indicates that the balance of these two ecological processes along the geographic scale is mainly determined by the dispersal ability of microbes and environmental heterogeneity between areas. The study provides new insights into how deterministic and stochastic processes shape microbial community composition on the continental shelf.

Thuricins: Novel Leaderless Bacteriocins with Potent Antimicrobial Activity Against Gram-Positive Foodborne Pathogens.

Bacteriocins are bacterial-derived peptides that exhibit antimicrobial activity and can be used as food preservatives. Here, using the indicator strain Bacillus cereus CMCC63301, we screened and identified a Bacillus thuringiensis LX43 strain that exhibits potent antimicrobial activity and harbors a putative leaderless bacteriocin gene cluster (thn gene cluster). Five novel leaderless bacteriocins, thuricin A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5, encoded by the thn gene cluster, were purified and identified. Thuricin A5 was regarded as a representative and showed remarkable antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens B. cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus, likely by damaging their cell envelope. Moreover, thuricin A5 displayed good thermal and pH stability, with no hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity, indicating its wide applicability and biosafety. Furthermore, thuricin A5 effectively inhibited or eradicated foodborne pathogens in skim milk at 25 °C in a dose-dependent manner, affirming its potential for use as a novel biopreservative in foods.

Four Novel Leaderless Bacteriocins, Bacin A1, A2, A3, and A4 Exhibit Potent Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major bacterial pathogen that causes hospital- and community-acquired infections. Owing to its multidrug resistance, it is imperative to develop new antimicrobial agents to treat MRSA infections. In this study, using genome mining analysis and a culture-based screening method to detect bacteriocin activity, we screened a strain, Bacillus sp. TL12, which harbored a putative leaderless bacteriocin gene cluster (bac gene cluster) and exhibited potent anti-MRSA activity. The antimicrobial agents, products of the bac gene cluster, were purified and identified as four novel leaderless bacteriocins: bacin A1, A2, A3, and A4. Bacin A2 was evaluated as a representative antimicrobial agent and showed remarkable antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, MRSA, and the foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus. Mechanistic experiments revealed that bacin A2 damaged cell membranes and exhibited bactericidal activity against MRSA. Bacin A2 effectively inhibited the formation of S. aureus and MRSA biofilms (>0.5× MIC) and killed the cells in their established biofilms (>4× MIC). The hemolytic and NIH/3T3 cytotoxicity assay results for bacin A2 confirmed its biosafety. Thus, bacins have potential as alternative antimicrobial agents for treating MRSA infections. IMPORTANCE Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major human pathogen that is difficult to treat because of its resistance to several widely used antibiotics. The present study aimed to identify novel anti-MRSA bacteriocins in a prominent producer of bacteriocins, Bacillus cereus group. Four novel leaderless bacteriocins, bacin A1, A2, A3, and A4, which show potent bactericidal effect against S. aureus and MRSA, were identified in Bacillus sp. TL12. Moreover, bacins inhibited biofilm formation and killed cells in the established biofilms of S. aureus and MRSA. These findings suggest that bacins are promising alternatives to treat MRSA infections.

Comparative Genome Analysis of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Focusing on Phylogenomics, Functional Traits, and Prevalence of Antimicrobial and Virulence Genes.

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a gram-positive, nonpathogenic, endospore-forming, member of a group of free-living soil bacteria with a variety of traits including plant growth promotion, production of antifungal and antibacterial metabolites, and production of industrially important enzymes. We have attempted to reconstruct the biogeographical structure according to functional traits and the evolutionary lineage of B. amyloliquefaciens using comparative genomics analysis. All the available 96 genomes of B. amyloliquefaciens strains were curated from the NCBI genome database, having a variety of important functionalities in all sectors keeping a high focus on agricultural aspects. In-depth analysis was carried out to deduce the orthologous gene groups and whole-genome similarity. Pan genome analysis revealed that shell genes, soft core genes, core genes, and cloud genes comprise 17.09, 5.48, 8.96, and 68.47%, respectively, which demonstrates that genomes are very different in the gene content. It also indicates that the strains may have flexible environmental adaptability or versatile functions. Phylogenetic analysis showed that B. amyloliquefaciens is divided into two clades, and clade 2 is further dived into two different clusters. This reflects the difference in the sequence similarity and diversification that happened in the B. amyloliquefaciens genome. The majority of plant-associated strains of B. amyloliquefaciens were grouped in clade 2 (73 strains), while food-associated strains were in clade 1 (23 strains). Genome mining has been adopted to deduce antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes and their prevalence among all strains. The genes tmrB and yuaB codes for tunicamycin resistance protein and hydrophobic coat forming protein only exist in clade 2, while clpP, which codes for serine proteases, is only in clade 1. Genome plasticity of all strains of B. amyloliquefaciens reflects their adaption to different niches.

BtToxin_Digger: a comprehensive and high-throughput pipeline for mining toxin protein genes from Bacillus thuringiensis.

SUMMARY: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been used as the most successful microbial pesticide for decades. Its toxin genes are used for the development of genetically modified crops against pests. We previously developed a web-based insecticidal gene mining tool BtToxin_scanner. It has been frequently used by many researchers worldwide. However, it can only handle the genome one by one online. To facilitate efficiently mining toxin genes from large-scale sequence data, we re-designed this tool with a new workflow and the novel bacterial pesticidal protein database. Here, we present BtToxin_Digger, a comprehensive and high-throughput Bt toxin mining tool. It can be used to predict Bt toxin genes from thousands of raw genome and metagenome data, and provides accurate results for downstream analysis and experiment testing. Moreover, it can also be used to mine other targeting genes from large-scale genome and metagenome data with the replacement of the database. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The BtToxin_Digger codes and web services are freely available at https://github.com/BMBGenomics/BtToxin_Digger and https://bcam.hzau.edu.cn/BtToxin_Digger, respectively. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Toyoncin, a Novel Leaderless Bacteriocin That Is Produced by Bacillus toyonensis XIN-YC13 and Specifically Targets B. cereus and Listeria monocytogenes.

Bacteriocins have attracted increasing interest because of their potential as natural preservatives. Recent studies showed that the Bacillus cereus group is a prominent producer of bacteriocins. Using a laboratory-based screening strategy, we identified a strain in the B. cereus group, Bacillus toyonensis XIN-YC13, with antimicrobial activity against B. cereus. A novel, 70-amino-acid-long leaderless bacteriocin, toyoncin, was purified from the culture supernatant of strain XIN-YC13, and its molecular mass was found to be 7,817.1012 Da. Toyoncin shares no similarity with any other known bacteriocins, and its N-terminal amino acid is formylmethionine rather than methionine. Toyoncin shows good pH and heat stability and exhibits specific antimicrobial activity against two important foodborne pathogens, B. cereus and Listeria monocytogenes. Additionally, toyoncin exerts bactericidal activity and induces cell membrane damage. Toyoncin can also inhibit the outgrowth of B. cereus spores. Preservation assays showed that toyoncin effectively suppressed or eradicated B. cereus and L. monocytogenes in pasteurized skim milk. These results suggest that toyoncin can be used as a new biopreservative against B. cereus and L. monocytogenes in the food industry. IMPORTANCE We identified a novel leaderless bacteriocin, toyoncin, produced by B. toyonensis XIN-YC13. Toyoncin shows good pH and heat stability, and it has specific antimicrobial activity against B. cereus and L. monocytogenes (two important foodborne pathogens), likely by destroying their cell membrane integrity. Toyoncin inhibited the outgrowth of B. cereus spores and effectively inhibited or eliminated B. cereus and L. monocytogenes in a milk model system. These results indicate the potential of toyoncin as a food preservative.

In Silico Analysis Highlights the Diversity and Novelty of Circular Bacteriocins in Sequenced Microbial Genomes.

Consumer demand for "fresh food" with no chemical preservatives has prompted researchers to pay more attention to natural antimicrobial peptides such as bacteriocins. Nisin is currently the most widely used food biopreservative among the bacteriocins; however, its applications are restricted due to its low stability at neutral and alkaline pH values. Circular bacteriocins have potent antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, show exceptional stability, and have great potential to be developed as biopreservatives. Here, we take advantage of the precursor peptides of 15 reported circular bacteriocins to devise an in silico approach to identify potential circular bacteriocins in sequenced microbial genomes. A total of nearly 7,000 putative precursor peptides were identified from 86 species of bacteria and further classified into 28 groups based on their amino acid similarity. Among the groups, 19 showed low similarity (less than 50%) to any known precursor peptide of circular bacteriocins. One novel circular bacteriocin in group 11, cerecyclin, showed the highest identity (34%) to the known circular bacteriocin enterocin NKR-5-3B and was selected for verification. Cerecyclin showed antimicrobial activity against several Gram-positive bacteria, inhibited the outgrowth of Bacillus cereus spores, and did not exhibit hemolysis activity. Moreover, it showed 4-fold- to 8-fold-higher antimicrobial activity against B. cereus and Listeria monocytogenes than nisin A. Cerecyclin also had increased stability compared to nisin A under neutral or alkaline conditions. This work not only identified a promising food biopreservative but also provided a rich source for novel circular bacteriocins.IMPORTANCE Circular bacteriocins are promising biopreservatives, and it is important to identify more novel circular bacteriocins to enhance the current arsenal of antimicrobials. In this study, we used an in silico approach to identify a large number of novel circular bacteriocins and classified these bacteriocins into 28 groups rather than the 2 groups that were described in previous studies. Nineteen groups were novel and had low similarity (less than 50%) to any known precursor peptides of circular bacteriocins; this finding greatly expands the awareness of the novelty and diversity of circular bacteriocins. A novel circular bacteriocin which we named cerecyclin was identified in the B. cereus group; this circular bacteriocin had great antimicrobial activity against some foodborne pathogens and showed extreme stability. This study not only identified a promising food biopreservative but also provided a rich source for the identification of novel circular bacteriocins and the development of new biopreservatives.

Xanthohumol protects against Azoxymethane-induced colorectal cancer in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major health problem and third most common deaths in western world. Dietary interventions together with modified dietary style can prevent the CRC in humans. Xanthohumol (XHA), a polyphenol isolated from Humulus lupulus L. contains many beneficial effects. The aim of the study is to analyze the effect of XHA on Azoxymethane (AOM)-induced experimental CRC in rats. Levels of MDA were increased and enzymic antioxidants levels were decreased in AOM-induced rats. However, these levels were reversed upon XHA treatment. Further, the mRNA expressions of iNOS and COX-2 were also downregulated in XHA treated rats compared to AOM-induced rats. Further, we found that administration of XHA suppressed the wnt/ß-catenin signaling together with modulation of apoptotic proteins Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase 3. We conclude that XHA can able to quench the free radicals, inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis, thus it can be a chemopreventive/therapeutic agent against CRC.

Preparation of Cu2O@TiOF2/TiO2 and its photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride wastewater.

A new high-efficiency photocatalyst Cu2O@TiOF2/TiO2 was synthesized by a hydrothermal method and applied to the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TTCH). The samples were analyzed by SEM, EDS, XRD, BET, UV-vis DRS, Raman, PL, FT-IR. The Cu : Ti = 1 : 8 catalyst showed a narrow band gap of 2.10 eV, indicating that it can degrade TTCH as a novel photocatalyst capable of responding to sunlight. The average particle diameter is (2-6) nm, and the particle size distribution is narrow. When the reaction was carried out under simulated solar light for 3 hours, the efficiency for degrading 10 mg L-1 tetracycline hydrochloride was as high as 96.83% when the catalyst dosage was 40 mg. It is shown from the capture experiments that ·O2 - and ·OH play a major role in this reaction. In addition, it was found that the degradation of TTCH conforms to the first-order kinetic model.

Whole-Genome Analysis of Bacillus thuringiensis Revealing Partial Genes as a Source of Novel Cry Toxins.

Despite the successful application of crystal proteins (Cry) from Bacillus thuringiensis as biological control agents against insects, there is an increasing demand to identify new Cry toxins having higher toxicity and broad-spectrum activity against insects and plant-parasitic nematodes. To find novel Cry toxins, we screened 100 whole-genome sequences of B. thuringiensis Surprisingly, in addition to full Cry toxins, we found partial sequences, such as typical N-terminal or C-terminal regions with conserved domains, widely distributed among 20 strains of B. thuringiensis In order to further elucidate the functions of partial genes, here, we selected a partial sequence from strain C15, having 28% similarity with the N terminus of Cry5Ba and lacking a typical C terminus, and denoted it Cry5B-like N terminus. This fragment when coexpressed as a fusion protein with the C terminus of Cry5Ba (N-C fusion protein) produces pyramidal crystals. A recombinant N-C fusion protein having a 50% lethal concentration (LC50) of 23.7 µg/ml severely affected the life span, growth, and survival rate of nematodes. Light microscopy showed damage to the intestine of nematodes, confirming the pathogenicity of the N-C fusion protein. Last, the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled mutant Caenorhabditis elegans FT63 showed significant damage to the intestine upon feeding N-C fusion toxin compared to the control. These results imply that partial genes can be a source of new Cry toxins, and further understanding about functions of partial cry genes can help in the study of the evolutionary strategy of B. thuringiensis to produce the multidomain toxins.IMPORTANCE Genomic analysis revealed that coding sequences for N termini and C termini of crystal proteins are widely distributed in B. thuringiensis We found Cry5B-like N terminus, lacking typical C terminus, was unable to be expressed in wild-type strain C15. However, its fusion with the C terminus of Cry5Ba not only was successfully expressed but also exhibited activity against the nematodes. This study provides insight into a potential source for novel Cry toxins.

Nature differences of humic acids fractions induced by extracted sequence as explanatory factors for binding characteristics of heavy metals.

The composition and structure of Humic acid (HA) is so heterogeneous that it brings significant barriers to investigate the interaction between HA and heavy metal ions. The isolation of HA with relatively homogeneity is a key to reveal the binding mechanisms between HA and heavy metals. In this work, ten HA fractions (HAs) were obtained by sequential alkali extraction procedure and nature differences of the extracted HAs were considered as explanatory factors for binding characteristics of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+. The results indicate that more large molecular weight (MW) HA subunits, less carboxyl and phenolic group contents, weaker aromaticity and polarity were measured with increasing extractions, inducing weaker binding capacity of HAs. Ligand binding and bi-Langmuir models indicated that the sorption capacity and binding affinity of earlier extracted HAs were higher than the latter ones. The peak area changes at 3427, 1599, and 619 cm-1 pre- and post-adsorption in FTIR spectra suggested carboxyl, phenolic and nitrogen-containing groups were involved in the adsorption process. At the same time, the peak area difference between HAs and HAs-metal (ΔS) of phenolic groups were 8.22-20.50, 6.81-21.11 and 10.66-19.80% for Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively, ΔS of carboxyl groups 6.64-17.03, 8.96-16.82 and 9.45-17.85% for Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively, ΔS of nitrogen-containing groups 0.33-0.48, 0.20-1.38 and 0.31-0.59% for Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively. ΔS of phenolic and carboxyl groups were larger than those of nitrogen-containing groups, implying that these two groups were the predominant binding sites suppliers for metal ions, which were also supported by the results of correlation analysis. This work is helpful to insight the environmental impacts of natural organic matter and the fate of heavy metals in natural environment.

Comparative Genomics of Bacillus thuringiensis Reveals a Path to Specialized Exploitation of Multiple Invertebrate Hosts.

Understanding the genetic basis of host shifts is a key genomic question for pathogen and parasite biology. The Bacillus cereus group, which encompasses Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus anthracis, contains pathogens that can infect insects, nematodes, and vertebrates. Since the target range of the essential virulence factors (Cry toxins) and many isolates is well known, this group presents a powerful system for investigating how pathogens can diversify and adapt to phylogenetically distant hosts. Specialization to exploit insects occurs at the level of the major clade and is associated with substantial changes in the core genome, and host switching between insect orders has occurred repeatedly within subclades. The transfer of plasmids with linked cry genes may account for much of the adaptation to particular insect orders, and network analysis implies that host specialization has produced strong associations between key toxin genes with similar targets. Analysis of the distribution of plasmid minireplicons shows that plasmids with orf156 and orf157, which carry genes encoding toxins against Lepidoptera or Diptera, were contained only by B. thuringiensis in the specialized insect clade (clade 2), indicating that tight genome/plasmid associations have been important in adaptation to invertebrate hosts. Moreover, the accumulation of multiple virulence factors on transposable elements suggests that cotransfer of diverse virulence factors is advantageous in terms of expanding the insecticidal spectrum, overcoming insect resistance, or through gains in pathogenicity via synergistic interactions between toxins.IMPORTANCE Population genomics have provided many new insights into the formation, evolution, and dynamics of bacterial pathogens of humans and other higher animals, but these pathogens usually have very narrow host ranges. As a pathogen of insects and nematodes, Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces toxins showing toxicity to many orders of insects and other invertebrates, can be used as a model to study the evolution of pathogens with wide host ranges. Phylogenomic analysis revealed that host specialization and switching occur at the level of the major clade and subclade, respectively. A toxin gene co-occurrence network indicates that multiple toxins with similar targets were accumulated by the same cell in the whole species. This accumulation may be one of the strategies that B. thuringiensis has used to fight against host resistance. This kind of formation and evolution of pathogens represents a different path used against multiple invertebrate hosts from that used against higher animals.