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Two new isoprenylated flavone, 8,4′-dimethoxy-6-(4-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-flavone (1), 8-hydroxy-4′-methoxy-6-(4-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-flavone (2), together with seven known isoprenylated flavonoids (3–9) were isolated from the whole plants of Desmodium caudatum. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. In addition, compounds 1–9 were tested for their anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new stilbenes, 5-methoxy-6-(4-methoxystyryl)-3-methylbenzofuran (1) and 5-methoxy-6-(4- hydroxystyryl)-3-methylbenzofuran (2), together with six known ones, bauhiniastatin D (3), gramideoxybenzoin B (4), gramistilbenoid A (5), gramistilbenoid B (6), gramniphenol H (7), and pterostilbene (8), were isolated from the whole plants of Arundina graminifolia. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. Compounds 1 and 2 were tested for their anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity. The results revealed that compound 1 exhibited potential activity with IC50 of 17.4 μM for delta strain and 28.5 μM for Omicron BA.1 strain, compound 2 also showed potential activity with IC50 of 15.3 μM for delta strain and 22.6 μM for Omicron BA.1 strain, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of screening more bioactivity metabolites, in this study, two new stilbenes, 5-methoxy-6-(4- methoxystyryl)benzofuran (1) and 6-(4-methoxystyryl)benzofuran-5-ol (2) were isolated from the leaves and stems of Bletilla striata. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. Interestingly, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity revealed that compound 1 exhibited potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity with IC50 of 15.2 μM for the delta strain and 22.8 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain; compound 2 also showed potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity with IC50 of 10.2 μM for the delta strain and 16.8 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain. These values are lower than that of a positive control (with IC50 of 1.2 μM for the delta strain and 3.4 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an obligate intracellular parasite, which can affect the pregnancy outcomes in infected females by damaging the uterus, and the intrauterine environment as well as and the hypothalamus resulting in hormonal imbalance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the parasite-induced poor pregnancy outcomes and the key genes regulating these mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the gene expression in the mouse's uterus following experimentally-induced acute infection with T. gondii RH strain. Three groups of female mice were intraperitoneally injected with tachyzoites as follow; 3 days before pregnancy (FBD6), after pregnancy (FAD6), and after implantation (FID8) as the experimental groups. Another corresponding three groups served as control, were injected with normal saline at the same time. Transcriptome analysis of the total RNA extracted from both infected and non-infected mouse uterus samples was performed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Results: The three experimental groups (FBD6, FAD6, and FID8) had a total of 4,561, 2,345, and 2,997 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) compared to the controls. The significantly upregulated and downregulated DEGs were 2,571 and 1,990 genes in FBD6, 1,042 and 1,303 genes in FAD6 and 1,162 and 1,835 genes in FID8 group, respectively. The analysis of GO annotation, and KEGG pathway showed that DEGs were mainly involved in anatomical structure development, transport, cell differentiation, embryo development, hormone biosynthetic process, signal transduction, immune system process, phagosome, pathways in cancer, and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathways. Conclusion: T. gondii infection can induce global transcriptomic changes in the uterus that may cause pregnancy hypertension, destruct the intrauterine environment, and hinder the normal development of placenta and embryo. Our results may help to understand the molecular mechanisms of the acute T. gondii infection, which could promote the development of new therapeutics or prophylactics for toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some researchers have reported that Toxoplasma gondii can cause serious reproductive impairment in male animals. Specifically, T. gondii destroy the quality of sperm in the epididymis, which affects their sexual ability. However, among such studies, none have investigated the male reproductive transcriptome. Therefore, to investigate the relationship between T. gondii and sperm maturation, we infected mice with T. gondii prugniaud (PRU) strain and performed transcriptome sequencing of the epididymis. Results: Compared with the control group, 431 upregulated and 229 downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found (P-value < 0.05, false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05 and |log2 (fold change)| ≥ 1). According to results of a bioinformatics analysis, Gene Ontology (GO) function is divided into three categories: cellular component, molecular function and biological process. Upon performing GO analysis, we found that some DEGs correlated with an integral part of membrane, protein complex, cell surface, ATP binding, immune system process, signal transduction and metabolic process which are responsible for the epididymal injury. DEGs were mapped to 101 unique KEGG pathways. Pathways such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and apoptosis are closely related to sperm quality. Moreover, Tnfsf10 and spata18 can damage the mitochondria in sperm, which decreases sperm motility and morphology. Conclusions: We sequenced the reproductive system of male mice chronically infected with T. gondii, which provides a new direction for research into male sterility caused by Toxoplasma infection. This work provides valuable information and a comprehensive database for future studies of the interaction between T. gondii infection and the male reproductive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to characterize the fish community structure and identify the drivers contributing to homogenization/differentiation processes in four tributaries to the Pearl River, Guangxi Province, China, over the past few decades. We sampled 22 sites seasonally from 2013 through 2015, and these sites were selected based on archived records of previous sampling conducted in the 1980s. Jaccard's faunal similarity index, cluster analysis, and canonical correspondence analysis ( CCA) were applied to describe the homogenization/differentiation of fish community and illustrate the potential effectors. The number of fish species present in three of the four sampled tributaries declined dramatically over the past 30 years, leading toward a trend of increased fish community homogeneity throughout the watershed. Results from multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses allowed us to divide the study area into two distinct ecoregions. Four species ( yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, pond loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, and sharpbelly Hemiculter leucisculus) were considered to be indicative fish species contributing more than 5% of the dissimilarity between the two eco-regions according to the results of similarity percentage procedure. Results from CCA revealed that pH and latitude corresponded with the dominant fish species of each respective tributary. More specifically, CCA results allowed us to classify dominant fish species into three distinct groups. The first group was mainly located in Guijiang characterized by higher latitudes and lower pH values, the second group was widespread in the four tributaries, and the last group was primarily distributed in Yujiang, Youjiang, and Zuojiang characterized by lower latitudes and higher pH values. Spatial differentiation of fish community structure and temporal homogeneity of species composition were attributed to the joint actions of human interventions including construction of dams and introductions of exotic fish species that led to habitat degeneration and fragmentation, and unequal interspecies competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the effect of dietary protein and lipid on growth and body composition in juvenile red swamp crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii). Nine groups of crayfish were fed nine experimental diets containing three levels of protein (24, 27, and 30 %) and three levels of lipid (4, 7, and 10 %) for 8 weeks. We used a 3 × 3 factorial model with four replicates and 12 crayfish (initial average weight, 2.52 ± 0.04 g) per replicate. We measured weight gain ratio (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and body composition. WG and SGR were significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by dietary lipid but not significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by dietary protein. When grouped by lipid levels, the WG of crayfish fed diets containing 7 % lipid was higher than that of crayfish fed diets containing 4 or 10 % lipid. The diet containing 30 % protein and 7 % lipid promoted the most efficient growth (WG: 483.38 %, SGR: 3.14 % day). Dietary protein and lipid had no effect on condition factor or the viscous content (VC). Dietary protein, but not lipid, had a significant ( P = 0.038) effect on the muscle content (MC). Crayfish fed a diet containing 27 % protein and 4 % lipid had the highest ( P < 0.05) MC (16.16 %). Dietary protein levels also had a significant ( P = 0.04) effect on the shell content (SC). SC was higher in crayfish fed a 30 % protein diet than in those fed 24 or 27 % protein. Proximate analysis suggested that crayfish fed a diet containing 27 % protein had a significantly higher nutritive composition than fish fed 24 or 30 % protein. Dietary protein also affected both whole body and muscle dry matter (DM) content. Similarly, both dietary protein and lipid affected whole-body crude lipid. Hepatopancreas DM, lipid content, and protein content were affected by dietary lipid. In conclusion, a diet containing 4-7 % lipid and 27 % protein with a protein to digestible energy ratio of 17-21 g protein·MJ appeared optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Zn-doped CuAlS2 bulk samples was synthesized by spark plasma sintering, and the CuAl0.90Zn0.10S2 film was prepared on a glass substrate by channel spark ablation. Their electrical and optical properties were carefully investigated. A sharp increase in conductivity due to the enhancement of both Hall mobility and carrier concentration was observed with the introduction of Zn. p-type conduction was confirmed by both the positive Seebeck coefficient and Hall coefficient. The conductivity of the thin film is as high as 63.5 S cm-1 at room temperature, and the average transmittance in the visible region is above 80%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]