A Comprehensive Review of Lipidomics and Its Application to Assess Food Obtained from Farm Animals.

Lipids are one of the major macronutrients essential for adequate growth and maintenance of human health. Their structure is not only complex but also diverse, which makes systematic and holistic analyses challenging; consequently, little is known regarding the relationship between phenotype and mechanism of action. In recent years, rapid advancements have been made in the fields of lipidomics and bioinformatics. In comparison with traditional approaches, mass spectrometry-based lipidomics can rapidly identify as well as quantify >1,000 lipid species at the same time, facilitating comprehensive, robust analyses of lipids in tissues, cells, and body fluids. Accordingly, lipidomics is now being widely applied in various fields, particularly food and nutrition science. In this review, we discuss lipid classification, extraction techniques, and detection and analysis using lipidomics. We also cover how lipidomics is being used to assess food obtained from livestock and poultry. The information included herein should serve as a reference to determine how to characterize lipids in animal food samples, enhancing our understanding of the application of lipidomics in the field in animal husbandry.

Identification of a rice metal tolerance protein OsMTP11 as a manganese transporter.

Metal tolerance proteins (MTPs) are a gene family of cation efflux transporters that occur widely in plants and might serve an essential role in metal homeostasis and tolerance. Our research describes the identification, characterization, and localization of OsMTP11, a member of the MTP family from rice. OsMTP11 was expressed constitutively and universally in different tissues in rice plant. Heterologous expression in yeast showed that OsMTP11 complemented the hypersensitivity of mutant strains to Mn, and also complemented yeast mutants to other metals, including Co and Ni. Real time RT-PCR analysis demonstrated OsMTP11 expression was substantially enhanced following 4 h under Cd, Zn, Ni, and Mn treatments, suggesting possible roles of OsMTP11 involvement in heavy metal stress responses. Promoter analysis by transgenic assays with GUS as a reporter gene and mRNA in situ hybridization experiments showed that OsMTP11 was expressed specifically in conducting tissues in rice. DNA methylation assays of genomic DNA in rice treated with Cd, Zn, Ni, and Mn revealed that decreased DNA methylation levels were present in the OsMTP11 promoter region, which was consistent with OsMTP11 induced-expression patterns resulting from heavy metal stress. This result suggested that DNA methylation is one of major factors regulating expression of OsMTP11 through epigenetic mechanisms. OsMTP11 fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) localized to the entire onion epidermal cell cytoplasm, while vacuolar membrane exhibited increased GFP signals, consistent with an OsMTP11 function in cation sequestration. Our results indicated that OsMTP11 might play vital roles in Mn and other heavy metal transportation in rice.

Systems Pharmacology-based strategy to screen new adjuvant for hepatitis B vaccine from Traditional Chinese Medicine Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

Adjuvants are common component for many vaccines but there are still few licensed for human use due to low efficiency or side effects. The present work adopted Systems Pharmacology analysis as a new strategy to screen adjuvants from traditional Chinese medicine. Ophiocordyceps sinensis has been used for many years in China and other Asian countries with many biological properties, but the pharmacological mechanism has not been fully elucidated. First in this study, 190 putative targets for 17 active compounds in Ophiocordyceps sinensis were retrieved and a systems pharmacology-based approach was applied to provide new insights into the pharmacological actions of the drug. Pathway enrichment analysis found that the targets participated in several immunological processes. Based on this, we selected cordycepin as a target compound to serve as an adjuvant of the hepatitis B vaccine because the existing vaccine often fails to induce an effective immune response in many subjects. Animal and cellular experiments finally validated that the new vaccine simultaneously improves the humoral and cellular immunity of BALB/c mice without side effects. All this results demonstrate that cordycepin could work as adjuvant to hepatitis b vaccine and systems-pharmacology analysis could be used as a new method to select adjuvants.

A Pre-Clinical Safety Evaluation of SBP (HBsAg-Binding Protein) Adjuvant for Hepatitis B Vaccine.

Although adjuvants are a common component of many vaccines, there are few adjuvants licensed for use in humans due to concerns about their toxic effects. There is a need to develop new and safe adjuvants, because some existing vaccines have low immunogenicity among certain patient groups. In this study, SBP, a hepatitis B surface antigen binding protein that was discovered through screening a human liver cDNA expression library, was introduced into hepatitis B vaccine. A good laboratory practice, non-clinical safety evaluation was performed to identify the side effects of both SBP and SBP-adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine. The results indicate that SBP could enhance the HBsAg-specific immune response, thus increasing the protection provided by the hepatitis B vaccine. The safety data obtained here warrant further investigation of SBP as a vaccine adjuvant.

Molecular characterization of a rice metal tolerance protein, OsMTP1.

Rice (Oryza sativa L. 'Nipponbare') cDNA subtractive suppression hybridization (SSH) libraries constructed using cadmium (Cd)-treated seedling roots were screened to isolate Cd-responsive genes. A cDNA clone, encoding the rice homolog of Metal Tolerance Protein (OsMTP1), was induced by Cd treatment. Plant MTPs belong to cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) protein family, which are widespread in bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. OsMTP1 heterologous expression in yeast mutants showed that OsMTP1 was able to complement the mutant strains' hypersensitivity to Ni, Cd, and Zn, but not other metals including Co and Mn. OsMTP1 expression increased tolerance to Zn, Cd, and Ni in wild-type yeast BY4741 during the exponential growth phase. OsMTP1 fused to green fluorescent protein was localized in onion epidermal cell plasma membranes, consistent with an OsMTP1 function in heavy metal transporting. OsMTP1 dsRNAi mediated by transgenic assay in rice seedlings resulted in heavy metal sensitivity and changed the heavy metal accumulation in different organs of mature rice under low-concentration heavy metal stress. Taken together, our results show that OsMTP1 is a bivalent cation transporter localized in the cell membrane, which is necessary for efficient translocation of Zn, Cd and other heavy metals, and maintain ion homeostasis in plant.