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Simple Summary: Tunchang pigs are known for their good performance on roughage tolerance, which may alleviate the conflict between humans and livestock for grain resources. This study observed that Tunchang pigs can adapt to a high-fiber diet containing 5% crude fiber. The adaptive alterations in intestinal microbiota and the regulation of genes collectively facilitated the digestion of high-fiber diets in the host. These findings provide insight into the roughage tolerance of Tunchang pigs, and contribute to further exploration of host–microbiota interactions. Although studies have revealed the significant impact of dietary fiber on growth performance and nutrient digestibility, the specific characteristics of the intestinal microbiota and gene regulation in pigs capable of digesting high-fiber diets remained unclear. To investigate the traits associated with roughage tolerance in the Chinese indigenous pig breed, we conducted comparative analysis of growth performance, apparent fiber digestibility, intestinal microbiota, SCFA concentrations and intestinal transcriptome in Tunchang pigs, feeding them diets with different wheat bran levels. The results indicated that the growth performance of Tunchang pigs was not significantly impacted, and the apparent total tract digestibility of crude fiber was significantly improved with increasing dietary fiber content. High-fiber diets altered the diversity of intestinal microbiota, and increased the relative abundance of Prevotella, CF231, as well as the concentrations of isobutyrate, valerate and isovalerate. The LDA analysis identified potential microbial biomarkers that could be associated with roughage tolerance, such as Prevotella stercorea, and Eubacterium biforme. In addition, appropriate high-fiber diets containing 4.34% crude fiber upregulated the mRNA expressions of PYY, AQP8, and SLC5A8, while downregulating the mRNA expressions of CKM and CNN1.This indicated that appropriate high-fiber diets may inhibit intestine motility and increase the absorption of water and SCFAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red phosphorus (RP) is an emerging visible‐light‐responsive photocatalyst, yet the rapid charge recombination has limited photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. In this work, a Z‐scheme heterostructure with RP nanolayer coated on high‐index (116) faceted anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2@RP) is designed and fabricated via chemical vapor deposition. Compared with pristine TiO2 and RP, the optimized TiO2@RP Z‐scheme heterostructure exhibits a significantly boosted photocatalytic activity for pure water splitting, with hydrogen evolution rate reaching 12.9 µmol·h−1, under simulated solar light irradiation. The strong interfacial interaction and staggered band alignment between (116) faceted TiO2 and RP result in the formation of built‐in electric field, which can drive the directional charge migration from the conduction band (CB) of TiO2 to the valance band (VB) of RP under light irradiation, with photoelectrons and holes of high redox ability maintained at the CB of RP and the VB of TiO2, respectively. This well‐designed heterostructure greatly promotes photogenerated charge separation and migration via a direct Z‐scheme charge transfer pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeHow herpes simplex virus (HSV) is transported from the infected neuron cell body to the axon terminal is poorly understood. Several viral proteins are candidates for regulating the process, but the evidence is controversial. We compared the results of Us9 deletions in two HSV strains (F and NS) using a novel quantitative assay to test the hypothesis that the viral protein Us9 regulates the delivery of viral DNA to the distal axon of retinal ganglion cells in vivo. We also deleted a nine-amino acid motif in the Us9 protein of F strain (Us9-30) to define the role of this domain in DNA delivery.MethodsThe vitreous chambers of murine eyes were infected with equivalent amounts of F or NS strains of HSV. At 3, 4, or 5 days post infection (dpi), both optic tracts (OT) were dissected and viral genome was quantified by qPCR.ResultsAt 3 dpi, the F strain Us9- and Us9-30 mutants delivered less than 10% and 1%, respectively, of the viral DNA delivered after infection with the Us9R (control) strain. By 4 and 5 dpi, delivery of viral DNA had only partially recovered. Deletion of Us9 in NS-infected mice has a less obvious effect on delivery of new viral DNA to the distal OT. By 3 dpi the NS Us9-strain delivered 22% of the DNA that was delivered by the NS wt, and by 4 and 5 dpi the amount of Us9-viral DNA was 96% and 81%, respectively.ConclusionsA highly conserved acidic cluster within the Us9 protein plays a critical role for genome transport to the distal axon. The transport is less dependent on Us9 expression in the NS than in the F strain virus. This assay can be used to compare transport efficiency in other neurotropic viral strains.

UnlabelledThe transcription factor ZNF217 is a candidate oncogene in the amplicon on chromosome 20q13 that occurs in 20% to 30% of primary human breast cancers and that correlates with poor prognosis. We show that Znf217 overexpression drives aberrant differentiation and signaling events, promotes increased self-renewal capacity, mesenchymal marker expression, motility, and metastasis, and represses an adult tissue stem cell gene signature downregulated in cancers. By in silico screening, we identified candidate therapeutics that at low concentrations inhibit growth of cancer cells expressing high ZNF217. We show that the nucleoside analogue triciribine inhibits ZNF217-induced tumor growth and chemotherapy resistance and inhibits signaling events [e.g., phospho-AKT, phospho-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)] in vivo. Our data suggest that ZNF217 is a biomarker of poor prognosis and a therapeutic target in patients with breast cancer and that triciribine may be part of a personalized treatment strategy in patients overexpressing ZNF217. Because ZNF217 is amplified in numerous cancers, these results have implications for other cancers.SignificanceThis study finds that ZNF217 is a poor prognostic indicator and therapeutic target in patients with breast cancer and may be a strong biomarker of triciribine treatment efficacy in patients. Because previous clinical trials for triciribine did not include biomarkers of treatment efficacy, this study provides a rationale for revisiting triciribine in the clinical setting as a therapy for patients with breast cancer who overexpress ZNF217.

Research has been conducted on the specific cytosolic proteins. The experiments demonstrate that the representatives of the Phox homology domains selectively bind to specific phosphatidylinositol phosphates.

In a calcium-dependent interaction critical for blood coagulation, vitamin K-dependent blood coagulation proteins bind cell membranes containing phosphatidylserine via ?-carboxyglutamic acid-rich (Gla) domains. Gla domain-mediated protein-membrane interaction is required for generation of thrombin, the terminal enzyme in the coagulation cascade, on a physiologic time scale. We determined by X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy the lysophosphatidylserine-binding site in the bovine prothrombin Gla domain. The serine head group binds Gla domain-bound calcium ions and Gla residues 17 and 21, fixed elements of the Gla domain fold, predicting the structural basis for phosphatidylserine specificity among Gla domains. Gla domains provide a unique mechanism for protein-phospholipid membrane interaction. Increasingly Gla domains are being identified in proteins unrelated to blood coagulation. Thus, this membrane-binding mechanism may be important in other physiologic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]