Cyanobacteria-From the Oceans to the Potential Biotechnological and Biomedical Applications.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms which represent a significant source of novel, bioactive, secondary metabolites, and they are also considered an abundant source of bioactive compounds/drugs, such as dolastatin, cryptophycin 1, curacin toyocamycin, phytoalexin, cyanovirin-N and phycocyanin. Some of these compounds have displayed promising results in successful Phase I, II, III and IV clinical trials. Additionally, the cyanobacterial compounds applied to medical research have demonstrated an exciting future with great potential to be developed into new medicines. Most of these compounds have exhibited strong pharmacological activities, including neurotoxicity, cytotoxicity and antiviral activity against HCMV, HSV-1, HHV-6 and HIV-1, so these metabolites could be promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment. Therefore, the effective large-scale production of natural marine products through synthesis is important for resolving the existing issues associated with chemical isolation, including small yields, and may be necessary to better investigate their biological activities. Herein, we highlight the total synthesized and stereochemical determinations of the cyanobacterial bioactive compounds. Furthermore, this review primarily focuses on the biotechnological applications of cyanobacteria, including applications as cosmetics, food supplements, and the nanobiotechnological applications of cyanobacterial bioactive compounds in potential medicinal applications for various human diseases are discussed.

Broussonin E suppresses LPS-induced inflammatory response in macrophages via inhibiting MAPK pathway and enhancing JAK2-STAT3 pathway.

Macrophages play an important role in inflammation, and excessive and chronic activation of macrophages leads to systemic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. In this paper, we explored the anti-inflammatory effect of broussonin E, a novel phenolic compound isolated from the barks ofBroussonetia kanzinoki, and its underlying molecular mechanisms. We discovered that Broussonin E could suppress the LPS-induced pro-inflammatory production in RAW264.7 cells, involving TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, COX-2 and iNOS. And broussonin E enhanced the expressions of anti-inflammatory mediators such as IL-10, CD206 and arginase-1 (Arg-1) in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Further, we demonstrated that broussonin E inhibited the LPS-stimulated phosphorylation of ERK and p38 MAPK. Moreover, we found that broussonin E could activate janus kinase (JAK) 2, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3. Downregulated pro-inflammatory cytokines and upregulated anti-inflammatory factors by broussonin E were abolished by using the inhibitor of JAK2-STAT3 pathway, WP1066. Taken together, our results showed that broussonin E could suppress inflammation by modulating macrophages activation statevia inhibiting the ERK and p38 MAPK and enhancing JAK2-STAT3 signaling pathway, and can be further developed as a promising drug for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases such as atherosclerosis.

Analysis of intraspecific variation of Chinese Carthamus tinctorius L. using AFLP markers.

AIM: To investigate the intraspecific variation of Carthamus tinctorius L. (safflower) and establish foundation for further breeding of safflower germplasm resource and screening the quality correlation genes. METHODS: Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was carried out to analyze genetic variation of 28 safflower populations collected in China. Unweighed pair-group method of with arithmetical averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis was used to construct a dendrogram and to estimate the genetic distances among the populations. RESULTS: All populations could be uniquely distinguished using 12 selected primer combinations. Similarity coefficients ranged from 0.48 to 0.96 among the populations. Dendrogram revealed distinct segregation of all the cultivars into three main groups and one midst group. CONCLUSION: Limited genetic diversity exists within the tested 28 collections at intra specific level and AFLP-based phyiogeny was not absolutely consistent with that based on morphological characters may be due to the interaction effect between genotype and environment.