Molecular Trade-Offs between Lattice Oxygen and Oxygen Vacancy Drive Organic Pollutant Degradation in Fungal Biomineralized Exoskeletons.

Fungal-mineral interactions can effectively alleviate cellular stress from organic pollutants, the production of which are expected to rapidly increase owing to the Earth moving into an unprecedented geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The underlying mechanisms that may enable fungi to combat organic pollution during fungal-mineral interactions remain unclear. Inspired by the natural fungal sporulation process, we demonstrate for the first time that fungal biomineralization triggers the formation of an ultrathin (hundreds of nanometers thick) exoskeleton, enriched in nanosized iron (oxyhydr)oxides and biomolecules, on the hyphae. Mapped biochemical composition of this coating at a subcellular scale via high spatial resolution (down to 50 nm) synchrotron radiation-based techniques confirmed aromatic C, C-N bonds, amide carbonyl, and iron (oxyhydr)oxides as the major components of the coatings. This nanobiohybrid system appeared to impart a strong (×2) biofunctionality for fungal degradation of bisphenol A through altering molecular-level trade-offs between lattice oxygen and oxygen vacancy. Together, fungal coatings could act as "artificial spores", which enable fungi to combat physical and chemical stresses in natural environments, providing crucial insights into fungal biomineralization and coevolution of the Earth's lithosphere and biosphere.

Coupling thermophilic composting and vermicomposting processes to remove Cr from biogas residues and produce high value-added biofertilizers.

Removing pollutants and producing high value-added products are essential steps for sustainable disposal and utilization of biogas residues. Here, a coupled thermophilic composting and vermicomposting process was used to remove Cr from biogas residues, and the composting products were co-fermented with the plant growth-promoting fungus Trichoderma to produce high value-added biofertilizers. The results showed that thermophilic composting for 37 d markedly increased the total content of Cr but decreased the percentage of available Cr fractions. Synchrotron-radiation-based observations further provided direct evidence of the binding sites to support the results from traditional sequential extraction. At a density of 60 g earthworm/kg biogas residues, vermicomposting removed 23-31% of Cr from biogas residues. After vermicomposting, co-fermentation of biogas residues and Trichoderma was optimized, in which Trichoderma spores were 2-5 × 108 cfu/g substrates. Together, coupling thermophilic composting and vermicomposting processes is a promising technique to remove a portion of heavy metals from biogas residues.

Gene cloning, homology comparison and analysis of the main functional structure domains of beta estrogen receptor in Jining Gray goat.

To clarify the molecular evolution and characteristic of beta estrogen receptor (ERß) gene in Jining Gray goat in China, the entire ERß gene from Jining Gray goat ovary was amplified, identified and sequenced, and the gene sequences were compared with those of other animals. Functional structural domains and variations in DNA binding domains (DBD) and ligand binding domains (LBD) between Jining Gray goat and Boer goat were analyzed. The results indicate that the ERß gene in Jining Gray goat includes a 1584bp sequence with a complete open-reading-frame (ORF), encoding a 527 amino acid (aa) receptor protein. Compared to other species, the nucleotide homology is 73.9-98.9% and the amino acid homology is 79.5-98.5%. The main antigenic structural domains lie from the 97th aa to the 286th aa and from the 403rd aa to the 527th aa. The hydrophilicity and the surface probability of the structural domains are distributed throughout a range of amino acids. There are two different amino acids in the DBD and three different amino acids in the LBD between Jining Gray and Boer goats, resulting in dramatically different spatial structures for ERß protein. These differences may explain the different biological activities of ERß between the two goat species. This study firstly acquired the whole ERß gene sequence of Jining Gray goat with a complete open reading frame, and analyzed its gene evolutionary relationship and predicted its mainly functional structural domains, which may very help for further understanding the genome evolution and gene diversity of goat ERß.

WITHDRAWN: Eight new C21 steroidal glycosides from Cynanchum wilfordii.

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Chiral selective effects of doxazosin enantiomers on blood pressure and urinary bladder pressure in anesthetized rats.

AIM: To study chiral selective effects of doxazosin enantiomers on blood pressure and urinary bladder pressure in anesthetized rats. METHODS: In anesthetized rats, the carotid blood pressure, left ventricular pressure of the heart and the urinary bladder pressure were recorded. RESULTS: Administration of S-doxazosin at 0.25, 2.5, 25, and 250 nmol/kg iv produced a dose-dependent decrease in blood pressure, but its depressor effect was significantly weaker than that induced by R-doxazosin and racemic-doxazosin (rac-doxazosin), and the ED(30) values (producing a 30% decrease in mean arterial pressure) of R-doxazosin, rac-doxazosin and S-doxazosin were 15.64, 45.93, and 128.81, respectively. Rac-doxazosin and its enantiomers administered cumulatively in anesthetized rats induced a dose-dependent decrease in the left ventricular systolic pressure and +/-dp/dt(max), and the potency order of the 3 agents was R-doxazosin > rac-doxazosin > S-doxazosin. Rac-doxazosin and its enantiomers decreased the vesical micturition pressure dose-dependently at 2.5, 25, and 250 nmol/kg, and the inhibitory potency among the 3 agents was not significantly different. CONCLUSION: S-doxazosin decreases the carotid blood pressure and left ventricular pressure of the heart less than R-doxazosin and rac-doxazosin, but its effect on the vesical micturition pressure is similar to R-doxazosin and rac-doxazosin, indicating that S-doxazosin has chiral selectivity between cardiovascular system and urinary system in anesthetized rats.