Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of benzoylacrylic acid shikonin ester derivatives as irreversible dual inhibitors of tubulin and EGFR.

In this study, a series of shikonin derivatives combined with benzoylacrylic had been designed and synthesized, which showed an inhibitory effect on both tubulin and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). In vitro EGFR and cell growth inhibition assay demonstrated that compound PMMB-317 exhibited the most potent anti-EGFR (IC50 = 22.7 nM) and anti-proliferation activity (IC50 = 4.37 µM) against A549 cell line, which was comparable to that of Afatinib (EGFR, IC50 = 15.4 nM; A549, IC50 = 6.32 µM). Our results on mechanism research suggested that, PMMB-317 could induce the apoptosis of A549 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, along with decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), production of ROS and alterations in apoptosis-related protein levels. Also, PMMB-317 could arrest cell cycle at G2/M phase to induce cell apoptosis, and inhibit the EGFR activity through blocking the signal transduction downstream of the mitogen-activated protein MAPK pathway and the anti-apoptotic kinase AKT pathway; typically, such results were comparable to those of afatinib. In addition, PMMB-317 could suppress A549 cell migration through the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, molecular docking simulation revealed that, PMMB-317 could simultaneously combine with EGFR protein (5HG8) and tubulin (1SA0) through various forces. Moreover, 3D-QSAR study was also carried out, which could optimize our compound through the structure-activity relationship analysis. Furthermore, the in vitro and in vivo results had collectively confirmed that PMMB-317 might serve as a promising lead compound to further develop the potential therapeutic anticancer agents.

Design, Modeling, and Fabrication of High-Speed VCSEL with Data Rate up to 50 Gb/s.

We have studied the characteristics of frequency response at 850-nm GaAs high-speed vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with different kinds of oxide aperture sizes and cavity length using the PICS3D simulation program. Using 5-µm oxide aperture sizes, the frequency response behavior can be improved from 18.4 GHz and 15.5 GHz to 21.2 GHz and 19 GHz in a maximum of 3 dB at 25 °C and 85 °C, respectively. Numerical simulation results also suggest that the frequency response performances improved from 21.2 GHz and 19 GHz to 30.5 GHz and 24.5 GHz in a maximum of 3 dB at 25 °C and 85 °C due to the reduction of cavity length from 3λ/2 to λ/2. Consequently, the high-speed VCSEL devices were fabricated on a modified structure and exhibited 50-Gb/s data rate at 85 °C.

Enrichments/Derichments of Root-Associated Bacteria Related to Plant Growth and Nutrition Caused by the Growth of an EPSPS-Transgenic Maize Line in the Field.

During the past decades, the effects of the transgenic crops on soil microbial communities have aroused widespread interest of scientists, which was mainly related to the health and growth of plants. In this study, the maize root-associated bacterial communities of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) transgenic glyphosate-tolerant (GT) maize line CC-2 (CC2) and its recipient variety Zhengdan958 (Z958) were compared at the tasseling and flowering stages by high-throughput sequencing of V3-V4 hypervariable regions of 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA) amplicons via Illumina MiSeq. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was also performed to analyze the nifH gene abundance between CC2 and Z958. Our results showed no significant difference in alpha/beta diversity of root-associated bacterial communities at the tasseling or flowering stage between CC2 and Z958 under field growth conditions. The relative abundances of the genera Bradyrhizobium and Bacillus including species B. cereus and B. muralis were significantly lower in the roots of CC2 than that of Z985 under field conditions. Both these species are regarded as plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), as they belong to both nitrogen-fixing and phosphate-solubilizing bacterial genera. The comparison of the relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing/phosphate-solubilizing bacteria at the class, order or family levels indicated that only one class Bacilli, one order Bacillales and one family Bacillaceae were found to be significantly lower in the roots of CC2 than that of Z985. These bacteria were also enriched in the roots and rhizospheric soil than in the surrounding soil at both two stages. Furthermore, the class Betaproteobacteria, the order Burkholderiales, the family Comamonadaceae, and the genus Acidovorax were significantly higher in the roots of CC2 than that of Z985 at the tasseling stage, meanwhile the order Burkholderiales and the family Comamonadaceae were also enriched in the roots than in the rhizospheric soil at both stages. Additionally, the nifH gene abundance at the tasseling stage in the rhizosphere soil also showed significant difference. The relative abundance of nifH gene was higher in the root samples and lower in the surrounding soil, which implicated that the roots of maize tend to be enriched in nitrogen-fixing bacteria.