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PIK3R2 encodes the p85β regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and is frequently amplified in cancers. The signaling mechanism and therapeutic implication of p85β are poorly understood. Here we report that p85β upregulates the protein level of the receptor tyrosine kinase AXL to induce oncogenic signaling in ovarian cancer. p85β activates p110 activity and AKT-independent PDK1/SGK3 signaling to promote tumorigenic phenotypes, which are all abolished upon inhibition of AXL. At the molecular level, p85β alters the phosphorylation of TRIM2 (an E3 ligase) and optineurin (an autophagy receptor), which mediate the selective regulation of AXL by p85β, thereby disrupting the autophagic degradation of the AXL protein. Therapeutically, p85β expression renders ovarian cancer cells vulnerable to inhibitors of AXL, p110, or PDK1. Conversely, p85β-depleted cells are less sensitive to these inhibitors. Together, our findings provide a rationale for pharmacological blockade of the AXL signaling axis in PIK3R2-amplified ovarian cancer., p85β (PIK3R2), a regulatory subunit of PI3K, has oncogenic properties. Here the authors show that p85β promotes AXL protein stability, which in turn activates p110 to induce PDK1/SGK3 signaling, and therapeutically, p85β-expressing ovarian cancer cells are sensitive to AXL inhibition.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), which is composed of the p85 regulatory and p110 catalytic subunits, is known to be downstream of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). Our recent findings revealed that p85β increases the protein level of AXL (an RTK) to activate p110, suggesting bidirectional regulation between PI3K and RTK.

Ammonia inhibition easily affects the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) for municipal sludge and the oxidization of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is the rate-limiting step of this process. Bioaugmentation is considered to be an effective method to alleviate ammonia inhibition of AD, but most study used the hydrogenotrophic methanogens as the bioaugmentation culture. In this study, bioaugmentation of mesophilic AD (MAD) and thermophilic AD (TAD) under ammonia inhibition with syntrophic acetate and propionate oxidizing consortia was investigated. The results showed that the bioaugmented reactors recovered earlier than control reactors with 20 (MAD) and 8 (TAD) days, respectively. The high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the relative abundance of carbohydrates fermenter (Lentimicrobium), syntrophic VFAs-oxidizing bacteria (Rikenellaceae_DMER64, Smithella and Syntrophobacter) and acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanosaeta, Methanolinea and Methanospirillum) increased in MAD after bioaugmentation. However, part of the bioaugmentation culture could not adapt to the high free ammonia (FAN) concentration in MAD and the effect was weakened. In TAD, proteolytic bacteria (Keratinibaculum and Tepidimicrobium), syntrophic VFAs-oxidizing bacteria (Syntrophomonas) and hydrogenotrophic methanogen (Methanosarcina) were strengthened. The effect of bioaugmentation in TAD was durable even at higher organic loading rate (OLR), due to its positive influence on microbial community. These results suggested that the different bioaugmentation mechanism occurred in MAD and TAD, which are derived from the synergetic effects of ammonia tolerance and microbial interactions. Our study revealed the VFAs-oxidizing consortia as bioaugmented culture could be the potential strategy to alleviate the ammonia stress of AD.

Three 2-phenyl-1,3-diazaazulene derivatives were synthesized and their protonation behaviours were investigated systematically via UV–vis absorption titration and 1H NMR titration, as well as theoretical calculations. One of them exhibited a monoprotonation process while the others displayed prominent halochromic diprotonation responses. Interestingly, upon protonation of 2-phenyl-1,3-diazaazulene derivatives, the coplanarity and conjugation of the 16-π-conjugated backbones were well kept, while the electronic structures were controllably adjusted. The response mechanism of 1,3-diazaazulene derivatives towards acid is through the attachment of acid proton to the nitrogen atom in the diazaazulene ring, resulting in the change of the hybridization of protonated-N from sp2 to sp3, which differed from that of the well-known azulene (analogue of 1,3-diazaazulene, protonation at carbon atom). This work would provide a new insight into the protonation research of the organic functional molecules.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified BaLuF5:Gd/Yb/Er upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) were synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method for simultaneous synthesis and surface functionalization. The novel, excellently biocompatible and water-soluble bioprobes were used for simultaneous upconversion (UC) luminescence and X-ray bioimaging for the first time. The as-prepared BaLuF5:Gd/Yb/Er UCNPs possess a face-centered cubic structure with an average size of 23.7 ± 2.7 nm. Under 980 nm laser excitation, these UCNPs emitted intense UC luminescence via a two-photon process. In vitro bioimaging and localized luminescence spectra detected from HeLa cells and the background reveal that these UCNPs are ideal candidates for optical bioimaging in the absence of autofluorescence. Furthermore, the synergistic in vivo UC luminescence and X-ray bioimaging reveal that these PEG-modified BaLuF5:Gd/Yb/Er UCNPs can be successfully used as ideal dual-modal bioprobes. These results demonstrate that these PEG modified UCNPs are ideal multi-modal nanoprobes for bioimaging.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cyclodextrins (CDs) on carotene content and quality of blended carrot-orange juice after enzymatic clarification. The blended carrot-orange juice was treated with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and gamma cyclodextrin (γ-CD) in different concentrations (1–5 g/100 mL of juice) prior to enzymatic clarification. The results showed that in non-homogenized juice added with HP-β-CD, juice acidity was generally increased from 0.83 to 1.05 g/100 mL. In the homogenized juice added with 3% (w/v) HP-β-CD, the carotene content was also increased to 5.34 mg/mL, meaning two to six times compared to control samples. However, the addition of HP-β-CD prior to juice enzymatic clarification decreased the juice clarity more than that added with γ-CD; both CDs showed wider effect on the ascorbic acid content in non-homogenized than in homogenized, when compared to control samples. The non-enzymatic browning was significantly enhanced by the addition of CDs; though, the total polyphenol content increased with the addition of HP-β-CD from 32.59 to 37.09 and from 29.20 to 35.44 mg GAE/mL in non-homogenized and homogenized juice, respectively. The juice color turned red-yellow with increase in the carotene content of the juice. In conclusion, the addition of HP-β-CD in homogenized juice improved the nutritional and some physico-chemical parameters of the juice.

Ultrafiltration, silica gel and chitosan treatment methods were investigated to study the clarification effect on the green tea infusion. The results showed that ultrafiltration reduced the protein and polyphenol content, as well as color of the tea infusion. The silica gel and chitosan treatment were effective methods to clarify green tea infusion; they decreased the haze-active protein significantly, without much effect on the polyphenol. The silica gel and chitosan treatment also reduced the proline content by 18.65% and 23.79%, and histidine amino acid by 90.97%, and 90.31%, respectively. After the silica and chitosan treatment, the protein did not decrease significantly compared to the raw (untreated) infusion, while ultrafiltration treatment reduced the protein content significantly from 11.36 to 5.85 mg/100 mL with the 10 kDa membrane. Transmittance of silica gel and chitosan treated infusion was above 95.0% and 99.0%, respectively; and decreased slowly under prolonged storage time. The chitosan and silica treatment decreased the greenness and yellowness of the green tea infusion.

We developed a coarse-grained force field and have extended it to polystyrene with longer chain length. A systematic method was introduced and was utilized to explain how the coarse-grained force field for polystyrene could be developed from the atomistic simulation in the paper. We elected to use polystyrene with different chain lengths of 20, 40 and 80 monomers in this study. In three cases, we utilized the same new mapping scheme. The coarsegrained force field does reproduce the bond, angle, and radial distribution of the atomistic model. The coarse-grained model proved successful, as shown by analyses of the static and dynamic properties of different chain lengths.