Effects of S-adenosylmethionine on AfsKRS regulation in pristinamycin biosynthesis in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.

In Streptomyces pristinaespiralis, AfsKRS system has differential regulation for PI and PII component biosynthesis of pristinamycin, but it is unknown whether S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) plays an important role in the AfsK-AfsR-AfsS signal transduction cascade during pristinamycin production. The possible target of exogenous SAM in the AfsKRS system and the biological role of SAM during the production of PI and PII were investigated using three mutantsΔafsK,ΔafsR andΔafsS defective in signal cascade pathway of AfsKRS. It was found that external SAM had a significant activation of PI production (1.85-fold increase) but had no obvious effect on PII production in the original strain F618 with the normal response of AfsKRS regulation. Addition of SAM resulted in a similar increase in pristinamycin yield in the mutant with defective afsK or afsR, but induced more crucial activation of PI biosynthesis than PII biosynthesis both in ΔafsK (1.65-fold and 1.15-fold increase respectively) and ΔafsR (1.27-fold and 1.09-fold increase respectively). Exogenous SAM only significantly enhanced PII production in ΔafsS (1.1-fold increase). These results could provide valuable insights into the regulatory function of the AfsKRS system in S. pristinaespiralis.

Development of the degradation bacteria in household food waste and analysis of the microbial community in aerobic composting.

By screening the strains and testing different combinations of diverse bacteria, we developed a compound bacterial agent composed of 5 g Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (B2), 10 g Pseudomonas aeruginosa (F4), 5 g Paenibacillus lautus (303), and 10 ml composite strains (DOD) for the degradation of household food waste (HFW). The final mass loss of HFW in aerobic composting with the compound bacteria agent B2+F4+303+DOD (group C) was 84.52%, increased by 20.83% over that loss in natural composting (group A). Analysis of 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing showed that the phyla in group A and group C mainly included Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Cyanobacteria. At the genus level, Pediococcus was the dominant genus in group A, of which the microbial community performed better in maintaining a stable microbial system in the later stage of composting, while Weissella accounted for a larger proportion of group C, which acted well in reducing the final mass of composting. Ochrobactrum was closely related to the removal of odors in the early stage of group C. The relative abundance of compound bacterial agents was always at a rather low level, suggesting that it affected the composting process by changing the proportion of dominant bacteria in the compost.

Functional investigation of AfsKRS regulatory system for pristinamycin biosynthesis in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.

Three genes encoding AfsK, AfsR, AfsS homologues in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis were studied, respectively, to investigate regulatory role of AfsKRS system for pristinamycin biosynthesis. Transcription change and gene inactivation analysis indicated that these genes had active transcription and positive regulation for the improvement of pristinamycin production in S. pristinaespiralis. The analysis of AfsKRS-defective mutagenesis indicated that there might be a positive correlation between the product of afsK and pristinamycin I biosynthesis, and a negative correlation to pristinamycin II biosynthesis. However, both afsR and afsS might have negative correlation to pristinamycin I production and positive correlation to pristinamycin II production. The effects on pristinamycin production of AfsKRS disruptants by protein kinase inhibitor K252a indicated that AfsR, both not AfsK and AfsS, was the inhibition target of K252a in S. pristinaespiralis, and AfsR should serve as a pleiotropic regulator to have differential regulation on biosynthesis of pristinamycin I and II components. Based on above study, it might be deduced that different signal transduction patterns via AfsK, AfsR, AfsS of AfsKRS system should be involved in respective regulation for biosynthesis of pristinamycin I and II in S. pristinaespiralis. In conclusion, the investigation could give some valuable clues for exploring furtherly regulatory function of AfsKRS system in S. pristinaespiralis.

A novel carbonyl reductase with anti-Prelog stereospecificity for the production of t-butyl 6-cyano-(3R, 5R)-dihydroxyhexanoate.

A novel gene (crc1) from Candida boidinii was cloned and then overexpressed in a recombinant strain BL21(DE3)/pET30a-crc1 of Escherichia coli. The resulting carbonyl reductase was prepared through fermentations using the recombinant strain. The purified enzyme showed an NADPH-dependent activity and specific activity was 4.65 U/mg using t-butyl 6-cyano-(5R)-hydroxy-3-oxohexanoate (ATS-6) as substrate. The enzyme was optimally active at 35 °C and pH 7, respectively. The apparent K m and V max of the enzyme for ATS-6 are 1.5 mM and 21.1 µmol/min mg, respectively, indicating excellent anti-Prelog stereospecificity. Under the optimum condition, t-butyl 6-cyano-(3R,5R)-dihydroxyhexanoate (ATS-7) was prepared with the enzyme with high d.e. value (99.9%) and good conversion (94%) in 4 h, indicating high stereoselectivity and conversion efficiency in biotransformation of ATS-6 to ATS-7.

Sex-related differences in resting-state brain activity and connectivity in the orbital frontal cortex and insula in patients with functional constipation.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to investigate sex-related differences in brain abnormalities in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Like IBS, women with functional constipation (FC) are 2.1 times as many as men. No study has been performed yet to examine sex-related differences in brain activity and connectivity in patients with FC. Here, we employed resting-state fMRI with amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) to investigate brain functional differences in 51 patients with FC (34 females) and 52 healthy controls (34 females). Results showed abdominal pain and abdominal distension correlated with trait (TAI) and state (SAI) anxiety ratings in the female FC group, and abdominal distension correlated with sensation of incomplete evacuation in the male FC group. Two-way ANOVA revealed sex effects on ALFF in precentral gyrus, thalamus, insula (INS), and orbital frontal cortex (OFC, PFWE  < 0.05). Post hoc test showed that the female FC group had lower ALFF than males in these brain regions (P < 0.01), and ALFF in INS and OFC was correlated with abdominal pain and difficulty of defecation, respectively. Seed voxel correlation analysis showed that the female FC group had weaker connectivity than males between INS and lateral OFC (lOFC). INS-lOFC connectivity was negatively correlated with the anxiety score in the female FC group and was negatively correlated with abdominal distension in the male FC group. These findings provide the first insight into sex-related differences in patients with FC and highlight that INS and OFC play an important role in modulating the intrinsic functional connectivity of the resting brain network showing that this role is influenced by sex.

Ghrelin reductions following bariatric surgery were associated with decreased resting state activity in the hippocampus.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is an effective bariatric surgery to treat obesity, and involves removal of the gastric fundus where ghrelin is mainly produced. Ghrelin stimulates appetite and regulates food intake through its effect on the hypothalamus and hippocampus (HIPP). While ghrelin's role on the hypothalamus has been explored, little is known about its role on HIPP. We tested the hypothesis that LSG-induced reductions in ghrelin levels would be associated with changes in HIPP activity. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Brain activity was measured with amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) captured with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 30 obese participants, both before and after 1-month of LSG, and in 26 obese controls without surgery that were studied at baseline and 1-month later. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to model the group and time effects on ALFF and resting-state functional connectivity. RESULTS: One-month post-LSG there were significant decreases in appetite, body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma ghrelin and leptin levels, anxiety, and ALFF in HIPP and ALFF increases in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC, PFWE < 0.05). Decreases in HIPP ALFF correlated positively with decreases in fasting ghrelin and anxiety, and increases in PCC ALFF correlated positively with decreases in anxiety. Seed-voxel correlation analysis showed stronger connectivity between HIPP and insula, and between PCC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) post-LSG. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that ghrelin effects in HIPP modulate connectivity with the insula, which processes interoception and might be relevant to LSG-induced reductions in appetite/anxiety. Role of LSG in PCC and its enhanced connectivity with DLPFC in improving self-regulation following LSG requires further investigation.

Structural changes in brain regions involved in executive-control and self-referential processing after sleeve gastrectomy in obese patients.

Obesity-related brain gray (GM) and white matter (WM) abnormalities have been reported in regions associated with food-intake control and cognitive-emotional regulation. Bariatric surgery (BS) is the most effective way to treat obesity and induce structural recovery of GM/WM density and WM integrity. It is unknown whether the surgery can promote structural changes in cortical morphometry along with weight-loss. Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and surface-based morphometry analysis were used to investigate BS-induced alterations of cortical morphometry in 22 obese participants who were tested before and one month post-BS, and in 21 obese controls (Ctr) without surgery who were tested twice (Baseline and One-month). Results showed that fasting plasma ghrelin, insulin, and leptin levels were significantly reduced post-BS (P < 0.001). Post-BS there were significant decreases in cortical thickness in the precuneus (PFDR < 0.05) that were associated with decreases in BMI. There were also significant increases post-BS in cortical thickness in middle (MFG) and superior (SFG) frontal gyri, superior temporal gyrus (STG), insula and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC); and in cortical volume in left postcentral gyrus (PostCen) and vACC (PFDR < 0.05). Post-BS changes in SFG were associated with decreases in BMI. These findings suggest that structural changes in brain regions implicated in executive control and self-referential processing are associated with BS-induced weight-loss.

Reduced plasma ghrelin concentrations are associated with decreased brain reactivity to food cues after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

The "hunger" hormone ghrelin regulates food-intake and preference for high-calorie (HC) food through modulation of the mesocortico-limbic dopaminergic pathway. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is an effective bariatric surgery to treat morbid obesity. We tested the hypothesis that LSG-induced reductions in appetite and total ghrelin levels in blood are associated with reduced prefrontal brain reactivity to food cues. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) cue-reactivity task with HC and low-calorie (LC) food pictures was used to investigate brain reactivity in 22 obese participants tested before and one month after bariatric surgery (BS). Nineteen obese controls (Ctr) without surgery were also tested at baseline and one-month later. LSG significantly decreased (1) fasting plasma concentrations of total ghrelin, leptin and insulin, (2) craving for HC food, and (3) brain activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in response to HC vs. LC food cues (PFWE < 0.05). LSG-induced reduction in DLPFC activation to food cues were positively correlated with reduction in ghrelin levels and reduction in craving ratings for food. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) connectivity analyses showed that the right DLPFC had stronger connectivity with the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) after LSG, and changes in BMI were negatively correlated with changes in connectivity between the right DLPFC and vACC in the LSG group only. These findings suggest that LSG-induced weight-loss may be related to reductions in ghrelin, possibly leading to decreased food craving and hypothetically reducing DLPFC response to the HC food cues.

Bariatric surgery in obese patients reduced resting connectivity of brain regions involved with self-referential processing.

Obese individuals exhibit brain alterations of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) integrity of resting-state networks (RSNs) related to food intake. Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment for combating morbid obesity. How bariatric surgery influences neurocircuitry is mostly unknown. Functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping was employed to calculate local (lFCD)/global (gFCD) voxelwise connectivity metrics in 22 obese participants who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before and 1 month after sleeve gastrectomy (SG), and in 19 obese controls (Ctr) without surgery but tested twice (baseline and 1-month later). Two factor (group, time) repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess main and interaction effects in lFCD/gFCD; regions of interest were identified for subsequent seed to voxel connectivity analyses to assess resting-state functional connectivity and to examine association with weight loss. Bariatric surgery significantly decreased lFCD in VMPFC, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)/dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) and decreased gFCD in VMPFC, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and right insula (pFWE < .05). lFCD decreased in VMPFC and PCC/precuneus correlated with reduction in BMI after surgery. Seed to voxel connectivity analyses showed the VMPFC had stronger connectivity with left DLPFC and weaker connectivity with hippocampus/parahippocampus, and PCC/precuneus had stronger connectivity with right caudate and left DLPFC after surgery. Bariatric surgery significantly decreased FCD in regions involved in self-referential processing (VMPFC, DMPFC, dACC, and precuneus), and interoception (insula), and changes in VMPFC/precuneus were associated with reduction in BMI suggesting a role in improving control of eating behaviors following surgery.

Disrupted topological organization of the frontal-mesolimbic network in obese patients.

Neuroimaging studies have revealed brain functional abnormalities in frontal-mesolimbic regions in obesity. However, the effects of obesity on brain network topology remains largely unknown. In the current study, we employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and graph theory methods to investigate obesity-related changes in brain network topology in 26 obese patients and 28 normal weight subjects. Results revealed that the whole-brain networks of the two groups exhibited typical features of small-world topology. Obese patients showed significantly increased shortest path length (Lp) and decreased global efficiency (Eglob). Moreover, decreased nodal-degree/efficiency was found in frontal (medial orbitofrontal cortex-mOFC, rostral anterior cingulate cortex-rACC), striatal (caudate/nucleus accumbens) and limbic regions (insula, amygdala, hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus) and thalamus in obese patients. Network-based statistics showed that a sub-network, composed of 31 nodes and 30 edges, was significantly disrupted in obese patients; 29 out of 30 connections were associated with the right rACC. In the obese group, Lp and Eglob were negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI, P < 0.005), and BMI was negatively correlated with nodal-degree/efficiency of the mOFC (P < 0.001). Findings suggest disruption of the small-world organization and a global reduction of integration of functional brain networks involving the right rACC in obesity and implicating the mOFC in mediating severity.

Complexity of roles and regulation of the PMK1-MAPK pathway in mycelium development, conidiation and appressorium formation in Magnaporthe oryzae.

MST50, MST11, MST7, PMK1 and GAS1/GAS2 genes are the important components in the PMK1-MAPK signal transduction pathway in fungi. Mutants with deletion of these five genes of Magnaporthe oryzae, a pathogen of the rice blast, were constructed. A cDNA array containing 4108 unique genes of M. oryzae was developed and used to analyze the gene expression profiles of these mutants against the wild type to dissect the gene expression regulation networks responsible for conidiation and appressorium formation. With this approach, differentially regulated genes by these five components were identified. The vast majority of the regulated genes were mutant-specific, while only a small proportion were in common for all of the mutants, suggesting that each of these genes has its own regulon. Functional groups and expression patterns of the regulated genes showed that (1) gene members in the PMK1-MAPK pathway are associated with multiple signaling pathways; (2) the regulation of PMK1-mediated signaling pathways is very complex and likely involved in other signaling networks; (3) glucose metabolism and signals are required in mycelium development; and (4) appressorium formation likely shares the mechanisms responsible for sexual conjugation and meiosis, which is affected by carbohydrate metabolism.

Probing the molecular mechanisms for pristinamycin yield enhancement in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.

The mechanisms for the enhancement of pristinamycin production in the high-yielding recombinants of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis obtained by genome shuffling were investigated by quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) techniques. Q-PCR analysis showed that snaB and snbA involved, respectively, in the biosynthesis of pristinamycins II and I component had more extended high expression in the recombinant than that in the ancestor during fermentation process, indicating their expression changes might be key factors during the biosynthesis of the antibiotic. In addition, the antecedent establishment of the high self-resistance to pristinamycin, because ptr resistance gene started high-level expression ahead of the onset of the antibiotic production in the recombinant, might also lead to the increase of the antibiotics yield. AFLP analysis of these recombinants revealed genome variation of two novel genes, the homologs of AfsR regulatory gene and transposase gene, indicating these two gene variations were probably responsible for yield improvement of pristinamycin. This study provided several potential molecular clues for pristinamycin yield enhancement.

Isolation and functional analysis of spy1 responsible for pristinamycin yield in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.

A gene related to high pristinamycin yield in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis was selected by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and its functions were investigated by gene disruption. First, a 561 bp polymorphic sequence was acquired by AFLP from high-yield recombinants compared with the S. pristinaespiralis ancestor ATCC25486, indicating that this approach is an effective means of screening for valuable genes responsible for antibiotic yield. Then, a 2,127 bp open reading frame of a gene designated spy1 that overlaps with the above fragment was identified and its structure and biological functions were investigated. In silico analysis of spy1 encoding a deduced 708-amino-acid-long serine/threonine protein kinase showed that it only contains a catalytic domain in the N-terminal region, which is different from some known homologs. Gene inactivation of chromosomal spy1 indicated that it plays a pleiotropic regulatory function in pristinamycin production, with a positive correlation to pristinamycin I biosynthesis and a negative correlation to pristinamycin II biosynthesis.

Conjugal transferring of resistance gene ptr for improvement of pristinamycin-producing Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.

Improving pristinamycin production from Streptomyces pristinaespiralis was performed by introducing the resistance gene ptr followed by selection for enhanced tolerance to pristinamycin and fermentation test. To transfer ptr into S. pristinaespiralis, an effective method was established for the first time by using the intergeneric conjugation of DNA from Escherichia coli to S. pristinaespiralis. The procedure was optimized with heat treatment, spore concentration, optimum medium used in conjugation, concentration of MgCl(2), etc. With the optimized conditions, the conjugation frequency was up to 1.36 x 10(-3) exconjugants per recipient. The procedure was used to transfer the ptr gene into S. pristinaespiralis, resulting in 146 exconjugants. These exconjugants were screened on the pristinamycin-resistant plates, and then the fermentation test subsequently. Finally, two strains (SPR1 and SPR2) were obtained with a high yield of 0.11 and 0.15 g/l, respectively, which is about six to eight times more than that of wild-strain ATCC25486. The subculture experiments indicated that the hereditary character of the high-producing S. pristinaespiralis SPR1 and SPR2 was stable. Our work suggests that introducing resistance gene ptr into S. pristinaespiralis could be the way to improve the production of pristinamycin through the enhancement of antibiotic tolerance.

Evolution of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis for resistance and production of pristinamycin by genome shuffling.

Improvement of pristinamycin production by Streptomyces pristinaespiralis was performed by using recursive protoplast fusion and selection for improved resistance to the product antibiotic in a genome shuffling format. A 100-microg/ml pristinamycin resistant recombinant, G 4-17, was obtained after four rounds of protoplast fusion, and its production of pristinamycin reached 0.89 g/l, which was increased by 89.4% and 145.9% in comparison with that of the highest parent strain M-156 and the original strain CGMCC 0957, respectively. The subculture experiments indicated that the hereditary character of high producing S. pristinaespiralis G 4-17 was stable. It is concluded that genome shuffling improves the production of pristinamycin by enhancing product-resistance in a stepwise manner. Pristinamycin fermentation experiments by recombinant G 4-17 were carried out in a 5-l fermentor, and its production of pristinamycin reached 0.90 g/l after 60 h of fermentation.

Genomic variability among high pristinamycin-producing recombinants of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism.

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to analyze genomic variability between high pristinamycin-producing recombinants of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis produced by genome shuffling and their ancestral strain. The AFLP fingerprints obtained with two restriction enzyme combinations of ApaI/TaqI and PstI/SacII showed together that there was no major polymorphism (less than 10%) between these high yield recombinants and their ancestor. However, the unique polymorphic bands, which might be related to the yield increasing of pristinamycin, could be distinguished from all the recombinants. Clustering analysis further indicated that the recombinants with similar ability of pristinamycin production had similar genomic variability.

Application of cDNA array for studying the gene expression profile of mature appressoria of Magnaporthe grisea.

Appressorium is an infection structure of the phytopathogenic fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Analysis of gene expression profiles of appressorium development provides insight into the molecular basis of pathogenicity and control of this fungal plant disease. A cDNA array representing 2927 unique genes based on a large EST (expressed sequence tag) database of M. grisea strain Y34 was constructed and used to profile the gene expression patterns at mycelium and appressorium maturation stages. Compared with mycelia, 55 up-regulated and 22 down-regulated genes were identified in mature appressoria. Among 77 genes, 16 genes showed no similarity to the genome sequences of M. grisea. A novel homologue of peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase was found to be expressed at low-level in mature appressoria of M. grisea. The results indicated that the genes such as pyruvate carboxylase, phospholipid metabolism-related protein and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase involved in gluconeogenesis, lipid metabolism and glycolysis, showed differential expression in mature appressoria. Furthermore, genes such as PTH11, beta subunit of G protein and SGT1 involved in cell signalling, were expressed differentially in mature appressoria. Northern blot analysis was used to confirm the cDNA array results.

Analysis of expressed sequence tag data and gene expression profiles involved in conidial germination of Fusarium oxysporum.

We obtained 3,372 tentative unique transcripts (TUTs) from a cDNA library of Fusarium oxysporum. A cDNA array with 3,158 TUTs was produced to analyze gene expression profiles in conidial germination. It seems that ras and other signaling genes, e.g., ccg, cooperatively initiate conidial germination in Fusarium by increasing protein synthesis.