Exposure to salinomycin dysregulates interplay between mitophagy and oxidative response to damage the porcine jejunal cells.

Salinomycin (SAL) has caused widespread pollution as a feed additive and growth promoter in livestock such as pigs, exerting a negative impact on public health. The toxicity mechanism of SAL has been widely studied in chickens, but the underlying mechanisms of SAL-induced toxicity to pigs and the ecosystem remain undefined. In this study, we explored the potential damage of SAL in IPEC-J2 cells to identify the effects of excessive SAL on the interplay between mitophagy and oxidative stress. The results showed that a concentration-dependent response was observed for SAL in altering cellular morphology and inducing cell death in IPEC-J2 cells, including the induction of cell cycle arrest and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) release. Meanwhile, we found that excessive SAL led to oxidative damage by activating the Nrf2/Keap1/HO-1 pathway, accompanied by reactive oxygen species (ROS) elevation and the reduction of antioxidant enzyme activity. We also found that PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy was activated by SAL exposure, particularly with mitochondrial membrane potential reduction. Interestingly, SAL-induced oxidative damages were prevented after the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) treatment, and mitophagy was alleviated following ROS scavenger (N-acetylcysteine, NAC) treatment. Overall, our findings showed that SAL stimulated oxidative stress and mitophagy in IPEC-J2 cells resulting in cellular injury, and there was a strong connection between SAL-induced oxidative stress and mitophagy. Targeting ROS/PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy and oxidative stress could be a novel protective mechanism in SAL-induced cell damage.

Grass-Legume Mixture with Rhizobium Inoculation Enhanced the Restoration Effects of Organic Fertilizer.

The establishment of artificial grassland is crucial in restoring degraded grassland and resolving the forage-livestock conflict, and the application of organic fertilizer and complementary seeding of grass-legume mixture are effective methods to enhance grass growth in practice. However, its mechanism behind the underground is largely unclear. Here, by utilizing organic fertilizer in the alpine region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, this study assessed the potential of grass-legume mixtures with and without the inoculation of Rhizobium for the restoration of degraded grassland. The results demonstrated that the application of organic fertilizer can increase the forage yield and soil nutrient contents of degraded grassland, and they were 0.59 times and 0.28 times higher than that of the control check (CK), respectively. The community composition and structure of soil bacteria and fungi were also changed by applying organic fertilizer. Based on this, the grass-legume mixture inoculated with Rhizobium can further increase the contribution of organic fertilizer to soil nutrients and thus enhance the restoration effects for degraded artificial grassland. Moreover, the application of organic fertilizer significantly increased the colonization of gramineous plant by native mycorrhizal fungi, which was ~1.5-2.0 times higher than CK. This study offers a basis for the application of organic fertilizer and grass-legume mixture in the ecological restoration of degraded grassland.

[Effects of the Transformation from Natural Alpine Grassland to Mixed Artificial Grassland on the Characteristics of Soil Microbial Community].

This study aimed to analyze the effects of the transformation from natural alpine grassland (NAG) to mixed artificial grassland (MAG) on the characteristics of soil microbial community. We used Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing technology to investigate the soil microbial community of natural grassland and mixed artificial grassland. The results showed that plant diversity and the content of soil organic matter decreased significantly from NAG to MAG. In total, 29 and 11 phyla bacteria and fungi were detected, respectively. Compared with that in NAG, the Shannon indexes of the bacterial community increased significantly in MAG (from 9.51 to 9.89), whereas these differences were not significant between the NAG and MAG fungal community. The structure and composition of the soil microbial community showed significant differences between NAG and MAG. In addition, Mantel test results suggested that soil total organic matter, total nitrogen, and soil moisture were significantly correlated with variations in the bacterial community, and soil total organic matter and soil moisture were significantly correlated with variations in fungal community. The results of linear discriminant analysis (LEfSe) indicated that Atribacteria and Ascomycota microorganisms could be considered as the indicator groups for NAG, whereas Gemmata and Trichocomaceae microorganisms could be considered as the indicator groups for MAG. Tax4Fun2 results showed that the transition from NAG to MAG affected the utilization of different carbon sources by bacteria.

In situ surface regulation of 3D perovskite using diethylammonium iodide for highly efficient perovskite solar cells.

Surface passivation by constructing a 2D/3D structure is considered to be an effective strategy for suppressing non-radiative recombination and improving the device efficiency and stability. Herein, the 2D perovskite is formed in situ on the surface of a 3D perovskite via chemical interactions between diethylammonium iodide (DAI) and Pb-I octahedra, which greatly reduces the deep level defects and non-radiative recombination. Moreover, the 2D/3D structure can regulate the energy level alignment, enhance the charge extraction, and improve the open-circuit voltage. Finally, compared with the control device, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DAI-treated device increases from 21.58 to 23.50%. The unencapsulated devices stored in air for more than 500 hours can still retain 97% of their initial PCE, revealing good long-term placement stability. This work provides a promising strategy to fabricate efficient PSCs through the in situ construction of 2D/3D perovskite heterojunctions.

Application of Organic Fertilizer Changes the Rhizosphere Microbial Communities of a Gramineous Grass on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The effects of organic fertilizer application on the soil microbial community in grassland systems have been extensively studied. However, the effects of organic fertilizers on the structure of rhizosphere microbial communities are still limited. In this study, the diversity and composition of rhizosphere microbial communities of a gramineous grass Elymus nutans under organic fertilizer treatment were studied in an artificial pasture on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After a growing season, the application of organic fertilizer not only increased the height and biomass of Elymus nutans, but also changed the rhizosphere microbial compositions. In particular, organic fertilizer increased the diversity of rhizosphere bacterial community and inhibited the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Acinetobacter, but the opposite trend was observed for the diversity of fungal community. The assembly process of fungal community was changed from a stochastic process to a deterministic process, indicating that selection was strengthened. Additionally, both the infection rate of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) toward host plants and the development of AMF-related structures were significantly increased after the application of organic fertilizer. Our study demonstrated that the addition of organic fertilizer to artificial pasture could improve the growth of grass through the alteration of the rhizosphere microbial communities. Organic fertilizer had a greater selectivity for the bacterial and the fungal communities that enhanced the niche filtration in this community, further benefiting the yield of forages.

Novel lncRNA LINC01614 Facilitates Bladder Cancer Proliferation, Migration and Invasion Through the miR-217/RUNX2/Wnt/ß-Catenin Axis.

BACKGROUND: LncRNA plays a vital role in tumorigenesis and development. This study aimed to explore the novel lncRNA affecting bladder cancer progression. METHODS: The open-access data of bladder cancer patients, including transcriptome profiles and corresponding clinical information were all obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. All the statistical analysis were performed using R software, SPSS and GraphPad Prism 8. CCK8, colony formation, apoptosis detection and tumorigenicity assay were used to assess cell proliferation ability. Transwell assay and wound-healing assay were used to evaluate cell metastasis potential. RESULTS: Our result showed that the lncRNA LINC01614 was highly expressed in bladder cancer tissue and cell lines. Meanwhile, patients with high LINC01614 expression level tend to have poor clinical features and shorter survival time. Further experiments demonstrated that the inhibition of LINC01614 could significantly hamper the proliferation and invasion of bladder cancer cells. Then, we found that the LINC01614 could regulate RUNX2 expression through miR-137. GSEA analysis indicated that the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway might be the downstream pathway of LINC01614. Further experiments showed that the LINC01614 act as an oncogene in bladder cancer partly depending on the RUNX2/Wnt/ß-catenin axis, making it an underlying therapeutic target. CONCLUSION: In all, LINC01614 facilitates bladder cancer cells proliferation, migration and invasion through the miR-217/RUNX2/Wnt/ß-catenin axis.

Chlorogenic Acid Promotes Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Through Wnt Signaling.

Periodontal disease (PD) is one of the main causes of periodontal bone resorption and tooth loss in adults. How to repair the alveolar bone effectively has always been a challenge. This study was designed to clarify the effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms of chlorogenic acid (CGA) on osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). In this study, we used CGA to treat hDPSCs. The osteogenic experiment showed that CGA can promote hDPSCs osteogenic differentiation. RNA-Seq and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that CGA treatment enhanced the expression of the osteogenesis genes for frizzled-related protein (FRZB) and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) and inhibit the expression of the osteoclastogenesis genes such as those for asporin (ASPN) and cytokine-like 1 (CYTL1). Western blot analysis showed that besides FRZB, CGA treatment also caused reduction of both active and total ß-catenin, while increased the total calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CamKII), the phosphorylated CamKII (pCamKII) and the phosphorylated cAMP-response element-binding protein (pCREB). Likely, the increased osteogenesis was associated with reduced canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling but increased noncanonical Wnt/Ca2+ signaling. The results suggested that CGA can promote the osteogenic differentiation of hDPSCs by regulating Wnt signaling. These findings will serve as a foundation for further studies on how to repair defective alveolar bone for the patients with PD.