A Keto Reductase Involved in Steroid Degradation in Mycolicibacterium neoaurum.

Phytosterols can be used by microorganisms as carbon and energy sources and completely degraded into CO2 and H2 O. The catabolic pathway of phytosterols was well characterized in many microorganisms. Blocking the steroid core ring degradation by deletions of fadE30 and fadD3 genes, two important steroid intermediates, 3aα-H-4α-(3'-Propionic acid)-5α-hydroxy-7aß-methylhexahydro-1-indanone-δ-lactone (sitolactone, or HIL) and 3aα-H-4α-(3'-propionic acid)-7aß-methylhexahydro-1,5-indanedione (HIP) can be accumulated. They are currently used to synthesize nor-steroid drugs with an α-methyl group or without the methyl group at the C10 -position, such as estrone and norethindrone. In this study, a key gene involved in the bioconversion of HIP to HIL was identified in Mycolicibacterium neoaurum. Through heterologous expression, gene hipR was found to be involved in the reduction of the C5 keto group of HIP to a hydroxy group, leading to spontaneously lactonization into HIL in vitro. Through gene complementation and knockout, HipR functions were verified and two HIP degradation pathways in vivo were elucidated. The finding of this research facilitated the understanding of the metabolic pathway of sterols, and was directly applied to engineering robust production strains by overexpression or knockout of related genes.

Non-ketotic hyperglycaemic hemichorea-hemiballismus with Fahr's disease in a Chinese family: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Non-ketotic hyperglycaemic hemichorea-hemiballismus (NHHH) is often secondary to middle-aged and elderly diabetic people with poor-controlled diabetes; Fahr's disease (FD) is another rare neurological disorder characterized by abnormal calcified deposits in the brain that control movement. We described a rare case of NHHH combined with a heterozygous mutation (SLC20A2) resulting in one family with FD. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient has a 30-day history of involuntary choreic movements of the left limbs and left face. In addition, he had a bit of speech slurred and walked unsteadily. He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus two months ago. Over the past two months, he had noticed that urination, appetite, and water volume increased obviously and weight loss drastically. Other problems such as dizziness, headache, difficulty swallowing, nausea, and vomiting did not occur. T1- weighted MRI indicts characteristic contralateral basal ganglia hyper-intensity. During hospitalization, he was injected insulin and oral haloperidol. And the clinical symptoms improved, but parkinsonism symptoms emerge soon after discharge. The parkinsonism symptoms were gradually improved after adjusting medications. Combined with the subsequent genetic test results, we attribute it to NHHH with FD. CONCLUSION: It is relatively rare that NHHH or FD is both presents. We should use antipsychotics with caution in these patients to avoid parkinsonism symptoms.

Tenascin-C Participates Pulmonary Injury Induced by Paraquat Through Regulating TLR4 and TGF-ß Signaling Pathways.

This study was conducted to investigate the role of Tenascin-C (TNC) in paraquat (PQ)-induced lung injury in vivo and in vitro and explore its related mechanism during this process. Six- to eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were injected with 30 mg/kg PQ by intraperitoneal injection and sacrificed on 2 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days after PQ administration. In vivo, we detected the expression of TNC at all time points of lung tissues in mice by reverse transcription-quantitative-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. Expression of TLR4, NF-κB p65, TGF-ß1, and α-SMA in lung tissues have also been tested. In vitro, siRNA was used to knock down TNC expression in A549 cells and TLR4, NF-κB p65, and TGF-ß1 expressions were examined after PQ exposure. TNC expression increased in both lung tissues of mice model and A549 cells after PQ administration. In vivo, TNC mostly located at the extracellular matrix of thickened alveolar septum, especially at sites of injury, together with the increasing of TLR4, NF-κB p65, TGF-ß1, and α-SMA. In vitro, PQ exposure also increased the expressions of TLR4, NF-κB p65, and TGF-ß1 in A549 cells, but knocking down TNC gene expression obviously down-regulated the expressions of TLR4, NF-κB p65, NF-κB Pp65, and TGF-ß1. The results of this study demonstrate, for the first time, that TNC participates in the development of lung injury induced by PQ poisoning. The role of TNC in this process is closely related to TLR4 and TGF-ß signaling pathways.

Yeast Synthetic Biology for the Production of Lycium barbarum Polysaccharides.

The fruit of Lycium barbarum L. (goji berry) is used as traditional Chinese medicine, and has the functions of immune regulation, anti-tumor, neuroprotection, anti-diabetes, and anti-fatigue. One of the main bioactive components is L. barbarum polysaccharide (LBP). Nowadays, LBP is widely used in the health market, and it is extracted from the fruit of L. barbarum. The planting of L. barbarum needs large amounts of fields, and it takes one year to harvest the goji berry. The efficiency of natural LBP production is low, and the LBP quality is not the same at different places. Goji berry-derived LBP cannot satisfy the growing market demands. Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for the biosynthesis of some plant natural products. Recovery of LBP biosynthetic pathway in L. barbarum and expression of them in engineered S. cerevisiae might lead to the yeast LBP production. However, information on LBP biosynthetic pathways and the related key enzymes of L. barbarum is still limited. In this review, we summarized current studies about LBP biosynthetic pathway and proposed the strategies to recover key enzymes for LBP biosynthesis. Moreover, the potential application of synthetic biology strategies to produce LBP using engineered S. cerevisiae was discussed.

p300/CBP inhibitor A-485 alleviates acute liver injury by regulating macrophage activation and polarization.

High morbidity and mortality are associated with acute liver injury (ALI) for which no effective targeted drugs or pharmacotherapies are available. Discovery of potential therapeutic targets as well as inhibitors that can alleviate ALI is imperative. As excessive inflammatory cytokines released by macrophages are a critical cause of liver injury, we aimed to find novel compounds that could inhibit macrophage expression of inflammatory cytokines and alleviate liver injury. Methods: A high throughput assay was established to screen a small molecule inhibitor library of epigenetic targets. A highly selective catalytic p300/CBP inhibitor A-485 was identified as a potent hit in vitro and administrated to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D-galactosamine (GalN)-induced mice in vivo. For in vitro analysis, RAW264.7 cells and primary BMDM cells exposed to LPS were co-incubated with A-485. A model of acute liver injury induced by LPS and GalN was used for evaluation of in vivo treatment efficacy. Results: A-485 inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine expression in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro. Significantly, A-485 administration alleviated histopathological abnormalities, lowered plasma aminotransferases, and improved the survival rate in the LPS/GalN-stimulated mice. Integrative ChIP-Seq and transcriptome analysis in the ALI animal model and macrophages revealed that A-485 preferentially blocked transcriptional activation of a broad set of pathologic genes enriched in inflammation-related signaling networks. Significant inhibition of H3K27ac/H3K18ac at promoter regions of these pivotal inflammatory genes was observed, in line with their suppressed transcription after A-485 treatment. Reduced expression of these pathological pro-inflammatory genes resulted in a decrease in inflammatory pathway activation, M1 polarization as well as reduced leukocyte infiltration in ALI mouse model, which accounted for the protective effects of A-485 on liver injury. Conclusion: Using a novel strategy targeting macrophage inflammatory activation and cytokine expression, we established a high-throughput screening assay to discover potential candidates for ALI treatment. We demonstrated that A-485, which targeted pathological inflammatory signaling networks at the level of chromatin, was pharmacologically effective in vivo and in vitro. Our study thus provided a novel target as well as a potential drug candidate for the treatment of liver injury and possibly for other acute inflammatory diseases.

PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules.

Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA) using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders' preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning.

[Phenols pollutants in soil and shallow groundwater of a retired refinery site].

To study the distribution of phenol compounds in a retired refinery site, 21 soil sampling sites and 8 shallow groundwater wells were investigated. The results showed, shallow unconfined groundwater of the site was in a serious pollution situation and the phenols concentration was much higher than quality standard for ground water. Confined water sample was slightly contaminated by phenols and the total quality was good. Approximately half of the area was heavily polluted by phenol compounds. According to the retired refinery layout, the phenols pollution distribution in shallow groundwater and soil exhibited the regional similarity. The highly contaminated area was production workshop, oil tank and plant storage. Horizontal diffusion of pollutants was not serious. Vertical diffusion of pollutants was different, and a site with pollutant diffusion was deeper than ten meters. The 2-chlorophenol, 2-nitrophenol, 2,4-xylenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 2,4-dinitrophenol and 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenol in typical soils were analyzed by GC/MS. It showed that concentrations of seven phenol compounds were 0.01-232.96 mg x kg(-1), and the concentrations of 2,4-dinitrophenol and 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenol were high.