Separation of Bioproducts through the Integration of Cyanobacterial Metabolism and Membrane Filtration: Facilitating Cyanobacteria's Industrial Application.

In this work, we propose the development of an efficient, economical, automated, and sustainable method for separating bioproducts from culture medium via the integration of a sucrose-secreting cyanobacteria production process and pressure-driven membrane filtration technology. Firstly, we constructed sucrose-secreting cyanobacteria with a sucrose yield of 600-700 mg/L sucrose after 7 days of salt stress, and the produced sucrose could be fully separated from the cyanobacteria cultures through an efficient and automated membrane filtration process. To determine whether this new method is also economical and sustainable, the relationship between membrane species, operating pressure, and the growth status of four cyanobacterial species was systematically investigated. The results revealed that all four cyanobacterial species could continue to grow after UF filtration. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy results indicate that the cyanobacteria did not cause severe destruction to the membrane surface structure. The good cell viability and intact membrane surface observed after filtration indicated that this innovative cyanobacteria-membrane system is economical and sustainable. This work pioneered the use of membrane separation to achieve the in situ separation of cyanobacterial culture and target products, laying the foundation for the industrialization of cyanobacterial bioproducts.

Downregulation of microRNA-126 is inversely correlated with insulin receptor substrate-1 protein expression in colorectal cancer and is associated with advanced stages of disease.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human malignant tumor, and the fourth most common cause of cancer-associated mortality in China. However, the pathogenesis of CRC is not yet fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of microRNA (miR)-126 and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), as well as the role of miR-126 in the prognosis of patients with CRC. A total of 86 colorectal tissue specimens, including 40 CRC and adjacent normal tissue, 26 colorectal adenoma tissue and 20 normal colorectal tissue samples, were collected for the present study. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis was performed to determine miR-126 and IRS-1 mRNA expression levels, while western blotting and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses were performed to determine IRS-1 protein expression levels. The correlation between miR-126 and IRS-1 expression, as well as the association between altered miR-126 and IRS-1 expression levels and clinicopathological characteristics, and the overall survival time of patients with CRC were assessed. The results demonstrated that miR-126 expression was significantly downregulated, while IRS-1 protein expression was upregulated in CRC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues, colorectal adenoma tissues and normal colorectal tissues, respectively. IHC analysis exhibited strong positive staining of IRS-1 protein in CRC tissues, while absent or weak staining of IRS-1 protein was detected in adjacent normal tissues, colorectal adenoma tissues and normal colorectal tissues. miR-126 expression was inversely correlated with IRS-1 protein expression in CRC tissues (r=-0.420; P<0.05). Furthermore, downregulated miR-126 expression was associated with advanced clinicopathological characteristics of the disease and a shorter overall survival time in patients with CRC. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that miR-126 downregulation may be a candidate molecular marker predictive of poor prognosis of patients with CRC.