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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) show broad-spectrum microbicidal activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and have been considered as one of the most promising candidates to overcome bacterial antimicrobial resistance. Structural modification of AMPs is an effective strategy to develop high-efficiency and low-toxicity antibacterial agents. A series of peptides GHaR6R, GHaR7R, GHaR8R, and GHaR9W with arginine replacement of histidine (His) derived from temporin-GHa of Hylarana guentheri were designed and synthesized. These derived peptides exhibit antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, and GHaR8R exerts bactericidal effect within 15 min at 4 × MIC (25 µm). The derived peptides caused rapid depolarization of bacteria, and the cell membrane damage was monitored using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation assay, which suggests that they target cell membranes to exert antibacterial effects. The derived peptides can effectively eradicate mature biofilms of S. aureus. Taken together, the derived peptides are promising antibacterial agent candidates against S. aureus.

Temporin-GHa (GHa) was cloned from , showing a weak antimicrobial activity. In order to improve its bactericidal efficacy, GHaR6R, GHaR7R, GHaR8R and GHaR9W were designed and synthesized. Compared to the parent peptide, the GHa-derived peptides show potent antimicrobial activities against methicillin-resistant (MRSA), which is the main pathogen with high morbidity and mortality that causes various infections in humans. These peptides exert bactericidal actions on MRSA by permeabilizing the cytoplasmic membranes and damaging membrane integrity. All of the four peptides exhibit excellent stability under harsh conditions, including extreme temperature and salts. Furthermore, they inhibit the formation of biofilm and eradicate mature biofilm of MRSA. The GHa-derived peptides decrease bacterial surface hydrophobicity, autoaggregation and polysaccharide intercellular adhesion synthesis in concentration-dependent manner. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis revealed that the peptides downregulate the expression of adhesion genes involved in biofilm formation. Except for GHaR7R, the other three peptides have low hemolytic toxicity against human erythrocytes. In the presence of human erythrocytes, GHaR7R, GHaR8R and GHaR9W interact with MRSA preferentially. GHaR6R, GHaR8R and GHaR9W show less toxicity toward normal cells HL-7702 and hFOB1.19. These results suggest that the GHa-derived peptides may be promising antimicrobial candidates against MRSA infections.

The previous studies show soil microbes play a key role in the material and nutrient cycles in the forest ecosystem, but little is known about how soil microbes respond to plant distribution, especially in the soil bacterial community in woody bamboo forests. Cephalostachyum pingbianense (Hsueh & Y.M. Yang ex Yi et al.) D.Z. Li & H.Q. Yang, 2007 is known as the only bamboo species producing shoots all year round in natural conditions. Endemic to the Dawei mountain in Yunnan of China, this species is a good case to study how soil bacteria respond to plant endemic distribution. In this work, we assayed the soil chemical properties, enzyme activity, changes in the bacterial community along the distribution range of the C. pingbianense forest. The results showed that soil nutrients at the range edge were nitrogen-rich but phosphorus-deficient, and soil pH value and soil urease activity were significantly lower than that of the central range. No significant difference was detected in soil bacterial diversity, community composition, and function between the central and marginal range of C. pingbianense forest. Notably, the relative abundance of heterotrophy bacteria, such as Variibacter and Acidothermus, in the soil of the C. pingbianense forest was significantly higher than that of the outside range, which may lead to a higher soil organic carbon mineralization rate. These results imply that abundant heterotrophy bacteria were linked to the endemism and full-year shooting in C. pingbianense. Our study is amongst the first cases demonstrating the important role of heterotrophy bacteria in the distribution formation of endemic woody bamboos in special soil habitats, and provides insight into germplasm conservation and forest management in woody bamboos.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has become a major disease threatening human health worldwide. At present, the treatment of T2DM cannot cure diabetes and is prone to many side effects. Psidium guajava L. leaves have been reported to possess hypoglycemic activity, and they have been widely used in diabetes treatment in the folk. However, the antidiabetic mechanism has not been clearly explained. Also, the change in amino acid profile can reflect a metabolic disorder and provide insights into system-wide changes in response to physiological challenges or disease processes. The study found that P. guajava L. leaves can decrease fasting blood glucose and lipid levels in type 2 diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin. Through the analysis of amino acid profiling following 20 days of gavage administration, the concentration data were modeled by principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis to find the different metabolites and related metabolic pathways (including cysteine and methionine metabolism, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis) for the explanation of the hypoglycemic mechanism of P. guajava L., which provides an experimental and theoretical basis for diabetes prediction and for the development of new drugs for the treatment of diabetes.

Type II pyrethroids has been reported to possess significant toxicity. The analysis of type II pyrethroid residues in biological samples for clinical monitoring and toxicological studies will be favorable. However, due to the interference caused by complex matrix and the trace amount of the pyrethroids, the analysis remains difficult. This study details an efficient method employing magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers as a magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the detection of type II pyrethroids in human plasma. Molecular simulations were used to screen a suitable monomer and ratio of monomer to template molecule. A series of functional nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer to verify the coating of functional groups. Then, a binding experiment was employed to evaluate the adsorption properties. According to the results of isotherm study, the adsorption sites and capacity of MMIPs are much better than MNIPs, while the maximum adsorption capacity of magnetic molecular imprinted polymers is 27.115 mg g−1. The solid phase extraction conditions were investigated, including eluent type, amount of eluent, extraction time and magnetic molecular imprinted polymers amount. The chromatographic separation of type II pyrethroids in human plasma was carried out by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Linearity was assessed using curves prepared with pyrethroids concentrations of 0.2, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 ng mL−1; the coefficients of determination were more than 0.990, and the recoveries are within the range of 90.0 and 100.1%. The limits of detection of four pyrethroid pesticides were between 0.005 and 0.032 ng mL−1; The relative standard deviation of magnetic molecular imprinted polymers were 2.74–4.07%. It was confirmed that the current analytical approach can be applied for the selective determination of type II pyrethroids in human plasma samples or other complex matrices.

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) based on Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle-assisted in situ ionic liquid was developed as a novel method for the pretreatment of pyrethroid pesticides (flumethrin, bifenthrin and silafluofen) in urine samples. [N4,4,4,4]Cl and Na[N(CN)2] formed a ionic liquid ([N4,4,4,4][N(CN)2]), which provides an alternative to highly toxic solvents; moreover, high extraction recoveries and enrichment factors were achieved. The extraction parameters affecting the extraction recoveries were investigated. Under optimum conditions, the analytical method showed a good linear response, with correlation coefficient (R2) values ranging from 0.9994 to 0.9996. The enrichment factor, limit of detection and recovery were 108–125, 2.7–5.0 μg L−1 and 88.0–101.1%, respectively. Therefore, this green and simple method is suitable for the microextraction of pyrethroid pesticides in urine samples. It is valuable to establish a sensitive method for monitoring trace levels of pyrethroids, which could contribute to the use of rapid and green sample preparation procedures in urine samples.

The synthesized sheet-like polypyrrole (ppy) nanowires were used as solid phase extraction materials, followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for the detection of traces residues of pyrethroid pesticides in human plasma. A multiresidue method was developed and verified for the determination of trace pyrethroid residues (transfluthrin, allethrin, resmethrin, fenpropathrin, etofenprox, fenvalerate) in human plasma. In this study, using the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a soft template, ppy nanowires with regular morphology were prepared by oxidative polymerization. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and other techniques were employed for characterization. Molecular dynamics analyses were used to simulate the adsorption mechanism of each pyrethroid and ppy nanowires. Based on density analysis, molecular recognition analysis, and binding energy, the van der Waals force was considered as an important driving force for the adsorption of pyrethroids and ppy nanowires. The limits of detection (LOD) of six pyrethroids were 0.008–0051 ng mL−1, and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.028–0.162 ng mL−1. The relative standard deviations of ppy nanowires were 2.12–5.09%, and the recoveries of six pyrethroids ranged from 76.9 to 110.4%. The enrichment factors were within the range of 47.09–51.30. The experimental results showed that the method could be an efficient detection method for trace residue analysis of pyrethroid pesticides in complex biological samples. It would be advantageous for clinical monitoring and toxicological studies of pyrethroids.