Carboxyl-Decorated UiO-66 Supporting Pd Nanoparticles for Efficient Room-Temperature Hydrodeoxygenation of Lignin Derivatives.

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin derivatives at room-temperature (RT) is still of challenge due to the lack of satisfactory activity reported in previous literature. Here, it is successfully designed a Pd/UiO-66-(COOH)2 catalyst by using UiO-66-(COOH)2 as the support with uncoordinated carboxyl groups. This catalyst, featuring a moderate Pd loading, exhibited exceptional activity in RT HDO of vanillin (VAN, a typical model lignin derivative) to 2-methoxyl-4-methylpheonol (MMP), and >99% VAN conversion with >99% MMP yield is achieved, which is the first metal-organic framework (MOF)-based catalyst realizing the goal of RT HDO of lignin derivatives, surpassing previous reports in the literature. Detailed investigations reveal a linear relationship between the amount of uncoordinated carboxyl group and MMP yield. These uncoordinated carboxyl groups accelerate the conversion of intermediate such as vanillyl alcohol (VAL), ultimately leading to a higher yield of MMP over Pd/UiO-66-(COOH)2 catalyst. Furthermore, Pd/UiO-66-(COOH)2 catalyst also exhibits exceptional reusability and excellent substrate generality, highlighting its promising potential for further biomass utilization.

Evolution Analysis of the Fasciclin-Like Arabinogalactan Proteins in Plants Shows Variable Fasciclin-AGP Domain Constitutions.

The fasciclin-like arabinogalactan proteins (FLAs) play important roles in plant development and adaptation to the environment. FLAs contain both fasciclin domains and arabinogalactan protein (AGP) regions, which have been identified in several plants. The evolutionary history of this gene family in plants is still undiscovered. In this study, we identified the FLA gene family in 13 plant species covering major lineages of plants using bioinformatics methods. A total of 246 FLA genes are identified with gene copy numbers ranging from one (Chondrus crispus) to 49 (Populus trichocarpa). These FLAs are classified into seven groups, mainly based on the phylogenetic analysis of plant FLAs. All FLAs in land plants contain one or two fasciclin domains, while in algae, several FLAs contain four or six fasciclin domains. It has been proposed that there was a divergence event, represented by the reduced number of fasciclin domains from algae to land plants in evolutionary history. Furthermore, introns in FLA genes are lost during plant evolution, especially from green algae to land plants. Moreover, it is found that gene duplication events, including segmental and tandem duplications are essential for the expansion of FLA gene families. The duplicated gene pairs in FLA gene family mainly evolve under purifying selection. Our findings give insight into the origin and expansion of the FLA gene family and help us understand their functions during the process of evolution.

Correction: Wentao Wu, et al. Evolution Analysis of the Aux/IAA Gene Family in Plants Shows Dual Origins and Variable Nuclear Localization Signals. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18, 2107.

The authors would like to insert some websites and citations in the following sentence, "First, the complete proteomes of these species were downloaded from the Phytozome website (Version 11; Available online: www.phytozome.org)" in the "Materials and Methods" section on page 13, paragraph 3.1 of their paper published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences [1].[...].

Evolution Analysis of the Aux/IAA Gene Family in Plants Shows Dual Origins and Variable Nuclear Localization Signals.

The plant hormone auxin plays pivotal roles in many aspects of plant growth and development. The auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) gene family encodes short-lived nuclear proteins acting on auxin perception and signaling, but the evolutionary history of this gene family remains to be elucidated. In this study, the Aux/IAA gene family in 17 plant species covering all major lineages of plants is identified and analyzed by using multiple bioinformatics methods. A total of 434 Aux/IAA genes was found among these plant species, and the gene copy number ranges from three (Physcomitrella patens) to 63 (Glycine max). The phylogenetic analysis shows that the canonical Aux/IAA proteins can be generally divided into five major clades, and the origin of Aux/IAA proteins could be traced back to the common ancestor of land plants and green algae. Many truncated Aux/IAA proteins were found, and some of these truncated Aux/IAA proteins may be generated from the C-terminal truncation of auxin response factor (ARF) proteins. Our results indicate that tandem and segmental duplications play dominant roles for the expansion of the Aux/IAA gene family mainly under purifying selection. The putative nuclear localization signals (NLSs) in Aux/IAA proteins are conservative, and two kinds of new primordial bipartite NLSs in P. patens and Selaginella moellendorffii were discovered. Our findings not only give insights into the origin and expansion of the Aux/IAA gene family, but also provide a basis for understanding their functions during the course of evolution.

Pomalidomide Inhibits PD-L1 Induction to Promote Antitumor Immunity.

: Thalidomide-like drugs have been approved for the treatment of human multiple myeloma, with their direct antitumor effects and immunomodulatory functions well documented. However, the exact molecular mechanisms that govern these effects remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that pomalidomide promotes immune response by inhibiting expression of PD-L1. Pomalidomide inhibited PD-L1 expression on tumor cells to promote CTL activity in vitro and suppressed PD-L1 upregulation on antigen-presenting cells to prevent peptide-induced T-cell tolerance. Knockout of PD-L1 on tumor cells or in mice completely eliminated the immunomodulatory effect of pomalidomide. Furthermore, pomalidomide synergized with other immunotherapies to improve anticancer therapy. Taken together, this study identifies a new mechanism for the immunomodulatory functions of pomalidomide in cancer therapy. These results also offer a clinical approach for blocking PD-L1 induction and potentially promoting antitumor immunity. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings report that the immunomodulatory drug pomalidomide, widely used to treat myeloma and other cancers, enhances antitumor immunity by inhibiting PD-1/PD-L1 expression.