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Pleosporales comprise a diverse group of fungi with a global distribution and significant ecological importance. A survey on Pleosporales (in Didymosphaeriaceae, Roussoellaceae and Nigrogranaceae) in Guizhou Province, China, was conducted. Specimens were identified, based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses using a dataset composed of ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1 and rpb2 loci. Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analyses were performed. As a result, three new species (Neokalmusia karka, Nigrograna schinifolium and N. trachycarpus) have been discovered, along with two new records for China (Roussoella neopustulans and R. doimaesalongensis) and a known species (Roussoella pseudohysterioides). Morphologically similar species and phylogenetically close taxa are compared and discussed. This study provides detailed information and descriptions of all newly-identified taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensors have attracted a great deal of attention for biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology, and entertainment. Although some progress has been achieved, new types of stretchable and wearable devices are urgently required to promote the practical application. In this article, targeted at self-powered active human motion sensing, a stretchable, flexible, and wearable triboelectric nanogenerator based on kinesio tapes (KT-TENG) haven been designed and investigated systematically. The device can effectively work during stretching or bending. Both the short-circuit transferred charge and open-circuit voltage exhibit an excellent linear relationship with the stretched displacements and bending angles, enabling its application as a wearable self-powered sensor for real-time human motion monitoring, like knee joint bending and human gestures. Moreover, the KT-TENG shows good stability and durability for long-term operation. Compared with the previous works, the KT-TENG without a macro-scale air gap inside, or stretchable triboelectric layers, possesses various advantages, such as simple fabrication, compact structure, superior flexibility and stability, excellent conformable contact with skin, and wide-range selection of triboelectric materials. This work provides a new prospect for a wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensor and has numerous potential applications in the fields of healthcare monitoring, human-machine interfacing, and prosthesis developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the systematic evaluation of pharmacognostic identification of Polygonum capitatum. [Methods] 10 batches of P. capitatum cultivated in Guizhou were chosen for plant samples. Macroscopical identification was conducted on plant roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits. The P. capitatum powder was processed for physical and chemical distinction by FeCl3 chromogenic reaction, hydrochloric acid magnesium powder reaction, A1C13 color development reaction and thin-layer chromatography. Microscope identification was carried out on the powder. Plant genome DNeasy Plant Kit was adopted for DNA molecular marker identification. [Results] The results showed that the stem of P. capitatum was tufted, the leaves were oval, 2 to 5 cm long, and 1 to 2 cm wide; the leaf apex was acute and cuneate at the base, the inflorescence was capitate, paired or solitary; the raceme was erect and nearly spherical, and the perianth was light red. Furthermore, for the chromogenic reaction of FeCl3 ethanol extract of P. capitatum, appeared blue and turned to dark blue after long time storing at room temperature. For the reaction of hydrochloric acid magnesium powder, the alcohol extract of P. capitatum, exhibited deep red. In the color reaction of A1C1, the alcohol extract revealed yellow fluorescence under 360 nm UV lamp. Microscope identification of the powder displayed pollen grains, crystal sheath fibers, cellulose, vessels, starch grains, cork cells, and other characteristic fragments. In addition, DNA barcoding electrophoresis results showed that P. capitatum showed a clear and bright single band near 500 bp, and further sequencing results showed that the sequence differences were mainly concentrated in 1TS1 and 1TS2 region. [Conclusions] Systematic evaluation for the identification of P. capitatum is established, which combines with macroscopic identification, physicochemical identification, powder microscope identification, and DNA molecular identification. Finally, the original medicinal material is identified as P. capitatum Buch. -Ham. ex D. Don. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objectives] The aim was to determine the optimum process for the extraction of volatile oil from Alpinia zerumbet fruit. [Methods] Steam distiilation was used to extract volatile oil from A. zerumbet fruit. Based on the single factor tests, an orthogonal test was designed to explore the effects of solid-liquid ratio, soaking time, extraction time and grinding degree of material on the extraction rate. The composition of volatile oil from A. zerumbet fruit was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the relative mass fraction of each component was determined by peak area normalization. [Results] With volatile oil yield as the index, the optimum extraction process was determined: solid to liquid ratio of 1:10, soaking time of 0.5 h, grinding degree of passing through 24-mesh sieve and extraction time of 5 h. A total of 29 compounds were isolated. Among them, the contents of a-terpinene (24. 894%), 1, 8-terpadiene (15.527%) and α-pinene (6. 982%) were relatively high. [Conclusions] The optimized extraction process for volatile oil from A. zerumbet fruit is stable and reasonable. Under the optimum extraction process, the extraction effect of volatile oil from A. zerumbet fruit was the best. The chemical components of volatile oil from A. zerumbet fruit were determined by GC-MS as α-terpinene (24. 894%), 1, 8-terpadiene (15.527%) and α-pinene (6.982%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a spontaneously derived mouse line that completely failed to induce Ig class switching in vitro and in vivo. The mice inherited abolished IgG serum titers in a recessive manner caused by a spontaneous G→A transition mutation in codon 112 of the aicda gene, leading to an arginine to histidine replacement (AIDR112H). Ig class switching was completely reconstituted by expressing wild-type AID. Mice homozygous for AIDR112H had peripheral B cell hyperplasia and large germinal centers in the absence of Ag challenge. Immunization with SRBCs elicited an Ag-specific IgG1 response in wild-type mice, whereas AIDR112H mice failed to produce IgG1 and had reduced somatic hypermutation. The phenotype recapitulates the human hyper-IgM (HIGM) syndrome that is caused by point mutations in the orthologous gene in humans, and the AIDR112H mutation is frequently found in HIGM patients. The AIDR112H mouse model for HIGM provides a powerful and more precise tool than conventional knockout strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adrenal Cushing's syndrome is caused by excess production of glucocorticoid from adrenocortical tumors and hyperplasias, which leads to metabolic disorders. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 49 blood-tumor pairs and RNA sequencing of 44 tumors from cortisol-producing adrenocortical adenomas (ACAs), adrenocorticotropic hormone-independent macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasias (AIMAHs), and adrenocortical oncocytomas (ADOs). We identified a hotspot in the PRKACA gene with a L205R mutation in 69.2% (27 out of 39) of ACAs and validated in 65.5% of a total of 87 ACAs. Our data revealed that the activating L205R mutation, which locates in the P+l loop of the protein kinase A (PKA) catalytic subunit, promoted PKA substrate phosphorylation and target gene expression. Moreover, we discovered the recurrently mutated gene D0T1L in AIMAHs and CLASP2 in ADOs. Collectively, these data highlight potentially functional mutated genes in adrenal Cushing's syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives] To explore the pharmacodynamic material basis of Sijicao granules for the treatment of eczema through chemical com- position-network pharmacology. [Methods] First of all, the chemical constituents of Polygonum capitatum and Plantago asiatica from Sijicao granules were collected, and the relevant target information of the constituents was collected by TCMSP, PubChem, DisGeNET, GeneCards and STRING databases. Furthermore, Cytoscape 3.8.2 software was used to construct the chemical compounds-target network map of Sijicao granules. Finally, STRING database was used for PPI protein network analysis, GO functional enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrich- ment analysis of core targets, and molecular docking between core constituents and protein targets was also performed. [Results] 30 constitu- ents, including quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, ellagic acid and gallic acid, were discovered to be the key effective compounds of Sijicao gran- ules in the treatment of eczema. And its core action protein targets were PTGS2, NOS2, AKTI, TP53, IL6, HMOX1. What's more, through GO functional enrichment analysis of biological process (BP), cell component (CC), molecular function (MF) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, the main pathways of action of Sijicao granules for the treatment of eczema including IL-17 signaling pathway, T cell re- ceptor signaling pathway, cancer signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway and Relaxin signaling pathway. In addition, molecular docking re- sults displayed that the primary active constituents quercetin, kaempferol and luteolin were well combined with the core protein targets AKTI and IL6. [Conclusions] Sijicao granules could play an important role for the treatment of eczema through multi-component, multi-target, multi-pathway and their interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1) is a conserved chromosomal protein in eukaryotic cells that has a major role in directing heterochromatin formation, a process that requires cotranscriptional gene silencing mediated by small RNAs and their associated argonaute proteins. Heterochromatin formation requires erasing the active epigenetic mark, such as H3K4me2, but the molecular link between HP1 and H3K4 demethylation remains unclear. In a fertility screen in female Drosophila, we identified ovaries absent (ova), which functions in the stem cell niche, downstream of Piwi, to support germline stem cell differentiation. Moreover, ova acts as a suppressor of position effect variegation, and is required for silencing telomeric transposons in the germline. Biochemically, Ova acts to link the H3K4 demethylase dLsd1 to HP1a for local histone modifications. Therefore, our study provides a molecular connection between HP1a and local H3K4 demethylation during HP1a-mediated gene silencing that is required for ovary development, transposon silencing, and heterochromatin formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital neutropenia is characterized by low absolute neutrophil numbers in blood, leading to recurrent bacterial infections, and patients often require life-long granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) support. X-linked neutropenia (XLN) is caused by gain-of-function mutations in the actin regulator Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp). To understand the pathophysiology in XLN and the role of WASp in neutrophils, we here examined XLN patients and 2 XLN mouse models. XLN patients had reduced myelopoiesis and extremely low blood neutrophil number. However, their neutrophils had a hyperactive phenotype and were present in normal numbers in XLN patient saliva. Murine XLN neutrophils were hyperactivated, with increased actin dynamics and migration into tissues. We provide molecular evidence that the hyperactivity of XLN neutrophils is caused by WASp in a constitutively open conformation due to contingent phosphorylation of the critical tyrosine-293 and plasma membrane localization. This renders WASp activity less dependent on regulation by PI3K. Our data show that the amplitude of WASp activity inside a cell could be enhanced by cell-surface receptor signaling even in the context in which WASp is already in an active conformation. Moreover, these data categorize XLN as an atypical congenital neutropenia in which constitutive activation of WASp in tissue neutrophils compensates for reduced myelopoiesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is widely used as a bioengineering platform for producing industrial and biopharmaceutical proteins, studying protein expression and secretion mechanisms, and analyzing metabolite synthesis and peroxisome biogenesis. With the development of DNA microarray and mRNA sequence technology, the P. pastoris transcriptome has become a research hotspot due to its powerful capability to identify the transcript structures and gain insights into the transcriptional regulation model of cells under protein production conditions. The study of the P. pastoris transcriptome helps to annotate the P. pastoris transcript structures and provide useful information for further improvement of the production of recombinant proteins. Results: We used a massively parallel mRNA sequencing platform (RNA-Seq), based on next-generation sequencing technology, to map and quantify the dynamic transcriptome of P. pastoris at the genome scale under growth conditions with glycerol and methanol as substrates. The results describe the transcription landscape at the whole-genome level and provide annotated transcript structures, including untranslated regions (UTRs), alternative splicing (AS) events, novel transcripts, new exons, alternative upstream initiation codons (uATGs), and upstream open reading frames (uORFs). Internal ribosome entry sites (IRESes) were first identified within the UTRs of genes from P. pastoris, encoding kinases and the proteins involved in the control of growth. We also provide a transcriptional regulation model for P. pastoris grown on different carbon sources. Conclusions: We suggest that the IRES-dependent translation initiation mechanism also exists in P. pastoris. Retained introns (RIs) are determined as the main AS event and are produced predominantly by an intron definition (ID) mechanism. Our results describe the metabolic characteristics of P. pastoris with heterologous protein production under methanol induction and provide rich information for further in-depth studies of P. pastoris protein expression and secretion mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is the most common type of bladder cancer. Here we sequenced the exomes of nine individuals with TCC and screened all the somatically mutated genes in a prevalence set of 88 additional individuals with TCC with different tumor stages and grades. In our study, we discovered a variety of genes previously unknown to be mutated in TCC. Notably, we identified genetic aberrations of the chromatin remodeling genes (UTX, MLL-MLL3, CREBBP-EP300, NCOR1, ARID1A and CHD6) in 59% of our 97 subjects with TCC. Of these genes, we showed UTX to be altered substantially more frequently in tumors of low stages and grades, highlighting its potential role in the classification and diagnosis of bladder cancer. Our results provide an overview of the genetic basis of TCC and suggest that aberration of chromatin regulation might be a hallmark of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report on a flexible thermoelectric nanogenerator (NG) based on the MoS2/graphene nanocomposite. The nanocomposite thermoelectric nanogenerator shows enhanced thermoelectric performance, compared with that based solely on MoS2 nanomaterials, which may be due to the enhanced electrical conductivity resulting from the graphene acting as a charge transfer channel in the composites. The NG can be further applied as a self-powered sensor for temperature measurement. This work indicates that the MoS2/graphene nanocomposite is a promising thermoelectric material for harvesting environmental thermal energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple triphenylphosphine-ligated cobalt catalyst is reported for the direct ortho-C-H methylation and ethylation of aromatic, heteroaromatic, alkenyl, and even aliphatic carboxamides with inexpensive organoaluminum reagents in the presence of a cheap alkyl chloride as oxidant. This reaction shows monoselectivity in contrast with previously established C-H methylation methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]