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Ebselen (EbSe), an organo-selenium compound with well-characterized toxicology and pharmacology, exhibited potent antibacterial activity against glutathione (GSH)-positive bacteria when combined with silver ions (Ag+). In this paper, the strong bactericidal activity of EbSe–Ag+ against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii has been confirmed, and its efficacy was mainly based on the inhibition of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) activity and the depletion of the total GSH amount. Moreover, the therapeutic effect of EbSe–Ag+ on urinary tract infection was assessed in a mouse model induced with A. baumannii 0361# strain. The treatment with EbSe–Ag+ significantly reduced the bacterial load and expression levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in bladder lesions; meanwhile, the pathological experiment showed that A. baumannii-induced changes in EbSe–Ag+ treated mice were much attenuated than that in the control group. Thus, all the results obtained here may lay the foundation for further analysis and development of EbSe–Ag+ as potential antibacterial agents for MDR A. baumannii-induced urinary tract infection treatment.

Astragalus, a medical and edible plant in China, shows several bioactive properties. However, the role of astragalus in attenuating alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is less clear. The objective of this project is to investigate the improving effect of astragalus saponins (AS) and astragalus polysaccharides (AP), which are the two primary constituents in astragalus on hepatic injury induced by alcohol, and the potential mechanisms of action. Different doses of AS (50 and 100 mg/kg bw) and AP (300 and 600 mg/kg bw) were orally given to alcohol-treated mice for four weeks. The results demonstrated that both AP and AS could reverse the increase of the levels of TC, TG, FFA, and LDL-C in serum, and the decrease of serum HDL-C content, as well as the elevation of hepatic TC and TG levels induced by alcohol. The activities of AST, ALT, ALP, and γ-GT in ALD mice were raised after AP and AS supplementation. The antioxidant markers (SOD, CAT, GSH, and GSH-Px) were obviously augmented and the pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β) and hepatic histological variations were alleviated by AP and AS, which was in line with the levels of oxidative stress-associated genes (Keap1, Nfe2l2, Nqo1, and Hmox1) and inflammation-associated genes (Tlr4, Myd88 and Nfkb1). In addition, AS exerted a more efficient effect than AP and the results presented dose proportionality. Moreover, AS and AP could modulate the intestinal microbiota disturbance induced by alcohol. Overall, AS and AP administration could ameliorate lipid accumulation in the serum and liver, as well as hepatic function, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and gut flora disorders in mice as a result of alcohol.

Alongside angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, neurogenesis also occurs within the cancer microenvironment. Neurogenesis is a complex process involving multiple factors, among which nerve growth factor (NGF) possesses the dual biological roles of neuron nutrition and axon growth promotion. Thus, NGF might be a key molecule involved in regulating cancer-related neurogenesis, which could play a crucial role in the signal transmission system that controls nerve growth in tumors, and enhances the abilities of migration, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. The present study aimed to construct differential expression plasmids of NGF, in order to detect whether NGF has a vital role in neurogenesis in breast cancer cells. In the present study, 92 clinical cases of breast cancer were collected and immunohistochemical analysis was performed to verify the existence of neurons in the breast cancer microenvironment. Furthermore, recombinant NGF lentiviral overexpression, knockout and silencing plasmids were constructed, and whether NGF has an effect on neuron growth was preliminarily confirmed, indicating that the successfully constructed plasmids could be used to verify the roles of NGF in cancer-associated neurogenesis.

Removal of calcium and magnesium ions through biomineralization induced by bacteria has been proven to be an effective and environmentally friendly method to improve water quality, but the process and mechanism are far from fully understood. In this study, a newly isolated probiotic Bacillus licheniformis SRB2 (GenBank: KM884945.1) was used to induce the bio-precipitation of calcium and magnesium at various Mg/Ca molar ratios (0, 6, 8, 10, and 12) in medium with 30 g L&minus, 1 sodium chloride. Due to the increasing pH and HCO3&minus, and CO32&minus, concentrations caused by NH3 and carbonic anhydrase, about 98% Ca2+ and 50% Mg2+ were precipitated in 12 days. The pathways of bio-precipitation include extracellular and intracellular processes. Biominerals with more negative &delta, 13C values (&minus, 16&permil, to &minus, 18&permil, ) were formed including calcite, vaterite, monohydrocalcite, and nesquehonite with preferred orientation. The nucleation on extracellular polymeric substances was controlled by the negatively charged amino acids and organic functional groups. The intracellular amorphous inclusions containing calcium and magnesium also contributed to the bio-precipitation. This study reveals the process and mechanism of microbial desalination for the removal of calcium and magnesium, and provides some references to explain the formation of the nesquehonite and other carbonate minerals in a natural and ancient earth surface environment.

Phosphatase and the tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) has pleiotropic effects on cell growth, organ development, glucose metabolism and insulin resistance in mammals. In the present study, we investigated the molecular characteristics, phylogeny and expression profile of the PTEN gene in different tissues of Jianzhou Daer goats. In this study, eight different tissues from E90, E135 and D90 female goats were collected to quantify the expression pattern of the PTEN gene using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), western blotting and FISH. In addition, the dynamic expression of PTEN was also determined during the differentiation of goat precursor adipose cells. A 1212-bp fragment (accession number MG923848), encoding a 403-amino acid protein with a putative molecular weight of 47.14 kDa, was identified in Jianzhou Daer goats by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The phylogenetic tree showed that caprine PTEN had a relatively close relationship with ovine PTEN and bovine PTEN. qPCR revealed that PTEN was highly expressed in the liver, lung and spleen, while the lowest expression levels were observed in muscle tissues (P

Biomineralization induced by microorganisms has become a hot spot in the field of carbonate sedimentology, however, the mechanisms involved still need to be explored. In this study, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis J2 (GenBank MG575432) was used to induce the precipitation of calcium carbonate minerals at Mg/Ca molar ratios of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12. Bacillus subtilis J2 bacteria released ammonia to increase pH, but the ammonia released only made the pH increase to 8.25. Carbonic anhydrase was also produced to catalyze the hydration of carbon dioxide, and this process released carbonate and bicarbonate ions that not only increased pH but also elevated carbonate supersaturation. The biominerals formed at a Mg/Ca molar ratio of 0 were spherulitic, elongated, dumbbell-shaped, and irregularly rhombohedral calcite, at a Mg/Ca molar ratio of 3, the biominerals were calcite and aragonite, the weight ratio of calcite decreased from 26.7% to 15.6%, and that of aragonite increased from 73.3% to 84.4% with increasing incubation time. At higher Mg/Ca molar ratios, the biominerals were aragonite, and the crystallinity and thermal stability of aragonite decreased with increasing Mg/Ca molar ratios. FTIR results showed that many organic functional groups were present on/within the biominerals, such as C&ndash, O&ndash, C, N&ndash, H, C=O, O&ndash, H, and C&ndash, H. HRTEM-SAED examination of the ultra-thin slices of B. subtilis J2 bacteria showed that nano-sized minerals with poor crystal structure had grown or been adsorbed on the EPS coating. The EPS of the B. subtilis J2 strain contained abundant glutamic acid and aspartic acid, which could be deprotonated in an alkaline condition to adsorb Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, this made EPS act as the nucleation sites. This study may provide some references for further understanding of the mechanism of biomineralization induced by microorganisms.

To research the molecular characteristics, expression pattern and phylogeny of the Delta-like 1 homolog gene (Dlk1) in goats. Dlk1 transcripts were identified in the Jianyang Da'er goats by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Phylogenetic trees were constructed by Bayesian inference and neighbor-joining methods. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), western blotting and in situ hybridization were performed to analyze the expression pattern of Dlk1. Five alternatively transcripts were identified in different tissues and designated as Dlk1-AS1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Compared with the normal transcript Dlk1-AS1, Dlk1-AS4 and Dlk1-AS5 retained the identical open reading frame (ORF) and encoded proteins with truncated epidermal-growth-factor like repeats of 121 and 83 amino acids, respectively. Using the Bayesian inference method, the consensus phylogenetic tree indicated that caprine Dlk1 had a closer relationship with bovine Dlk1 than with Dlk1 from pigs, humans and mice. qPCR revealed high expression levels of Dlk1 in the kidney (P

Biological processes have been widely employed in the treatment of industrial and municipal wastewater due to costs being lower than using physicochemical methods. The present investigation reports a simple and environmentally friendly method applying biological processes to precipitate calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) ions as carbonates and phosphate using free and immobilized Lysinibacillus fusiformis DB1-3 bacteria isolated from a petroleum sample. The results show that the concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions at different Mg/Ca molar ratios decreased by 93.58–91.46% and 62.55–58.29% when using free bacteria, and 95.56–94.86% and 58.22–70.25% when using immobilized bacteria. It took the free bacteria 30 days and the immobilized bacteria 6 days to remove Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions to such a degree. The Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions are biomineralized into calcite, Mg-rich calcite, aragonite and struvite by the bacteria. No minerals were detected in a control group without any bacteria. FESEM-EDS, FTIR, TG-DTG, DSC and stable carbon isotope analyses were performed to further prove the biogenesis of these minerals. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) play important roles in the formation of these biominerals. The nanoparticles forming on the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and intracellular Ca and Mg inclusions were analyzed by HRTEM, SAED, STEM and elemental mapping. The fluorescence intensity illustrates that Ca2+ ions can enter the cell by diffusion but the presence of Mg2+ ions inhibits this process. This is one of the few studies in which Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions have been bio-precipitated by free and immobilized L. fusiformis bacteria in the treatment of wastewater polluted by these ions.

Tibetan sheep, a Chinese indigenous breed, are mainly distributed in plateau and mountain-valley areas at a terrestrial elevation between 2260 and 4100 m. The herd is genetically distinct from the other domestic sheep and undergoes acclimatization to adapt to the hypoxic environment. To date, whether the mitochondrial DNA modification of Tibetan sheep shares the same feature as the other domestic breed remains unknown. In this study, we compared the whole mitogenome sequences from 32 Tibetan sheep, 22 domestic sheep and 24 commercial sheep to identify the selection signatures of hypoxic-tolerant in Tibetan sheep. Nucleotide diversity analysis using the sliding window method showed that the highest level of nucleotide diversity was observed in the control region with a peak value of π = 0.05215, while the lowest π value was detected in the tRNAs region. qPCR results showed that the relative mtDNA copy number in Tibetan sheep was significantly lower than that in Suffolk sheep. None of the mutations in 12S rRNA were fixed in Tibetan sheep, which indicated that there has been less artificial selection in this herd than the other domestic and commercial breeds. Although one site (1277G) might undergo the purifying selection, it was not identified as the breed-specific allele in Tibetan sheep. We proposed that nature selection was the main drive during the domestication of Tibetan sheep and single mutation (or locus) could not reveal the signature of selection as for the high diversity in the mitogenome of Tibetan sheep.