Search

Genome-scale target identification promises to guide microbial cell factory engineering for higher-titer production of biomolecules such as recombinant proteins (r-protein), but challenges remain due to the need not only for comprehensive genotypic perturbation but also in conjunction with high-throughput phenotypic screening strategies. Here, we developed a CRISPRi-microfluidics screening platform to systematically identify crucial gene targets that can be engineered to enhance r-protein secretion in Corynebacterium glutamicum. We created a CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) library containing 46,549 single-guide RNAs, where we aimed to unbiasedly target all genes for repression. Meanwhile, we developed a highly efficient droplet-based microfluidics system integrating the FlAsH-tetracysteine assay that enables screening of millions of strains to identify potential knockdowns conducive to nanobody VHH secretion. Among our highest-ranking candidates are a slew of previously unknown targets involved in transmembrane transport, amino-acid metabolism and redox regulation. Guided by these findings, we eventually constructed a hyperproducer for multiple proteins via combinatorial engineering of redox-response transcription factors. As the near-universal applicability of CRISPRi technology and the FlAsH-based screening platform, this procedure might be expanded to include a varied variety of microbial species and recombinant proteins.

The ApxII toxin and outer membrane lipoprotein (Oml) of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (A. pleuropneumoniae) are vital vaccine antigens against porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP), a prevalent infectious disease in the swine industry worldwide. Previous studies have reported the recombinant expression of ApxII and Oml in Escherichia coli (E. coli). However, their yields were not satisfactory. Here, we aimed to enhance the production of ApxII and Oml in E. coli by constructing a bicistronic expression system based on the widely used T7 promoter. To create efficient T7 bicistronic expression cassettes, 16 different fore-cistron sequences were introduced downstream of the T7 promoter. The four most potent expression vectors were screened, and the expression of three vaccine antigens Oml1, Oml7, and ApxII in these four bicistronic vectors were enhanced compared to the monocistronic control. Further optimization of the fermentation conditions in micro-well plates led to improved production of Oml1, Oml7, and ApxII. Finally, the production yields reached unprecedented levels of 2.43 g/L, 2.59 g/L, and 1.21 g/L, respectively, in a 5 L bioreactor. These three antigens also demonstrated well-protective immunity against A. pleuropneumoniae infection. In conclusion, this study established a highly efficient bicistronic T7 expression system and achieved the hyper-production of PCP vaccine proteins. This bicistronic T7 expression system could be a valuable tool for the improved production of other proteins, especially recombinant vaccines, in E. coli.

Ubiquitin specific peptidase 18 (USP18), previously known as UBP43, is the IFN-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) deconjugase. USP18 removes ISG15 from substrate proteins. This study reports that USP18-null mice (vs. wild-type mice) exhibited lower lipolysis rates, altered fat to body weight ratios, and cold sensitivity. USP18 is a regulator of lipid and fatty acid metabolism. Prior work established that USP18 promotes lung tumorigenesis. We sought to learn whether this occurs through altered lipid and fatty acid metabolism. Loss of USP18 repressed adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) expression; gain of USP18 expression upregulated ATGL in lung cancer cells. The E1-like ubiquitin activating enzyme promoted ISG15 conjugation of ATGL and destabilization. Immunoprecipitation assays confirmed that ISG15 covalently conjugates to ATGL. Protein expression of thermogenic regulators was examined in brown fat of USP18-null versus wild-type mice. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) was repressed in USP18-null fat. Gain of USP18 expression augmented UCP1 protein via reduced ubiquitination. Gain of UCP1 expression in lung cancer cell lines enhanced cellular proliferation. UCP1 knockdown inhibited proliferation. Beta-hydroxybutyrate colorimetric assays performed after gain of UCP1 expression revealed increased cellular fatty acid beta-oxidation, augmenting fatty acid beta-oxidation in Seahorse assays. Combined USP18, ATGL, and UCP1 profiles were interrogated in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Intriguingly, lung cancers with increased USP18, ATGL, and UCP1 expression had an unfavorable survival. These findings reveal that USP18 is a pharmacologic target that controls fatty acid metabolism.Implications:USP18 is an antineoplastic target that affects lung cancer fatty acid metabolism.

Supplementary table

S1. USP18 regulates metabolism-related proteins by Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) in A549 lung cancer cells. S2. This figure compares CellTiter-Glo assays and manual counting for lung cancer cell proliferation at day 3. S3. The mRNA expression profiles of USP18, ATGL and UCP1 in the indicated different cancer types using TCGA database. S4. Combined USP18, ATGL and UCP1 expression profiles in cancers that were using TCGA database. S5. USP18 regulates lipid metabolism in lung cancer cell lines. S6. Differential ATGL expression profiles by immunohistochemical staining of human lung cancer cases using the Human Protein Atlas.

Supplementary figures

Supplementary Fig. S4 FAT10 stabilizes eEF1A1 protein levels by attenuating eEF1A1 ubiquitination and degradation in cancer cells.

Supplementary Figures Legends

Supplementary Fig. S3 Identification of the Ub binding site in eEF1A1.

Supplementary Fig. S2 shRNA-resistant FAT10 plasmid rescues the expression of eEF1A1 and recovers cell proliferation in shFAT10 cancer cells.

Human HLA-F adjacent transcript 10 (FAT10) is the only ubiquitin-like protein that can directly target substrates for degradation by proteasomes, but it can also stabilize the expression of certain substrates by antagonizing ubiquitination, through mechanisms as yet uncharacterized. In this study, we show how FAT10 stabilizes the translation elongation factor eEF1A1, which contributes to cancer cell proliferation. FAT10 overexpression increased expression of eEF1A1, which was sufficient to promote proliferation of cancer cells. Mechanistic investigations revealed that FAT10 competed with ubiquitin (Ub) for binding to the same lysines on eEF1A1 to form either FAT10–eEF1A1 or Ub–eEF1A1 complexes, respectively, such that FAT10 overexpression decreased Ub–eEF1A1 levels and increased FAT10–eEF1A1 levels. Overall, our work establishes a novel mechanism through which FAT10 stabilizes its substrates, advancing understanding of the biological function of FAT10 and its role in cancer. Cancer Res; 76(16); 4897–907. ©2016 AACR.

Supplementary Fig. S1 FAT10, eEF1A1, Rpn10, Ub, expression decreased after transfection of the corresponding shRNA plasmids.

Primers and shRNA target sequences

Supplementary Material and Methods

Supplementary Figure S2. An shRNA-resistant FAT10 plasmid rescues the expression of HOXB9 and recovers the cell migration and invasion phenotype in shFAT10 HCC cells.

IntroductionDanceSport is described as a dance involving a male–female partner. It is important to comprehend the partnership between dance couples so that their competitive performance can be effectively supported. However, only a few studies have verified the influence of partnership between DanceSport couples on competitive performance and explored its psychological mechanism to provide means to deal with the partnership. The reason was that there was a lack of appropriate assessment tools.AimsThis multi-study outlines the development, content, and construct validity of a novel, mixed-method tool to assess DanceSport partnership.MethodsThe development of the Partnership Scale-DanceSport Couples (PS-DSC) included four studies and data from four samples of Chinese elite dancers (N = 914 total). In stage 1, outlined in study 1, PS-DSC items were generated and then refined using the feedback provided by academics, sports coaches, and elite dancers. In stage 2, outlined in studies 2 and 3, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to examine the structure of the PS-DSC items. In stage 3, outlined in study 4, composite reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent validity were assessed. The result of this process was a 13-item three-factor instrument. Based on these initial findings, the PS-DSC provided the first valid and reliable way of measuring partnerships between DanceSport couples.ConclusionThis study has taken the promising first step in developing a tool to comprehensively measure partnerships between DanceSport couples.

Outer membrane lipoprotein A (OmlA) is a vaccine antigen against porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP), a disease severely affecting the swine industry. Here, we aimed to systematically potentiate the secretory production of OmlA in Corynebacterium glutamicum (C. glutamicum), a widely used microorganism in the food industry, by establishing a holistic development process based on our high-throughput culture platform. The expression patterns, expression element combinations, medium composition, and induction conditions were comprehensively screened or optimized in microwell plates (MWPs), followed by fermentation parameter optimization in a 4 × 1 L parallel fermentation system (CUBER4). An unprecedented yield of 1.01 g/L OmlA was ultimately achieved in a 5-L bioreactor following the scaling-up strategy of fixed oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa), and the produced OmlA antigen showed well-protective immunity against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae challenge. This result provides a rapid and reliable pipeline to achieve the hyper-production of OmlA, and possibly other recombinant vaccines, in C. glutamicum. Key Points • Established a holistic development process and applied it to potentiate the secretion of OmlA. • The secretion of OmlA reached an unprecedented yield of 1.01 g/L. • The recombinant OmlA antigen induced efficient protective immunity.

Linoleic acid (LA), a potentially algae-inhibiting chemical released by macroalgae, has been shown to hinder the growth of numerous bloom-forming species. The allelopathic effects of LA (varying from 100 μg/L to 900 μg/L) on harmful microalgae K. mikimotoi were examined using population growth dynamics and physiological levels of K. mikimotoi. LA (>500 μg/L) strongly inhibited algal growth with most cells halted at the S and G2 phases and an evident drop in photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a (chl a), chlorophyll c (chl c) and carotenoids). Furthermore, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters such as Fv/Fm, PI, ETo/RC showed a declining trend whereas ABS/RC, DIo/RC, TRo/RC showed an increasing trend with increasing LA exposure concentrations. The level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was considerably higher, indicating that LA promoted oxidative stress in K. mikimotoi. Excessive ROS promoted apoptosis in K. mikimotoi, which was noted by increased activity of caspase-3, caspase-9, and flow cytometry (FCM) data. Furthermore, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and N-Acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-CHO (Ac-DEVD-CHO) lowered the apoptotic rates of the LA-treated algal cells, indicating that the aforementioned inhibitors delayed K. mikimotoi apoptosis under LA treatment. To summarize, cell cycle arrest of K. mikimotoi is less sensitive to ROS, but the overproduction of ROS generated by LA activated caspase-3 and caspase-9, which further promoted the apoptosis of K. mikimotoi. This research showed that LA might have great potential and application prospects in controlling the outbreak of harmful algae.

The bicistronic design (BCD) is characterized by a short fore-cistron sequence and a second Shine-Dalgarno (SD2) sequence upstream of the target gene. The outstanding performance of this expression cassette in promoting recombinant protein production has attracted attention. Recently, the application of the BCD has been further extended to gene expression control, protein translation monitoring, and membrane protein production. In this review, we summarize the characteristics, molecular mechanisms, applications, and structural optimization of the BCD expression cassette. We also specifically discuss the challenges that the BCD system still faces. This is the first review of the BCD expression strategy, and it is believed that an in-depth understanding of the BCD will help researchers to better utilize and develop it. KEY POINTS: • Summary of the characteristics and molecular mechanisms of the BCD system. • Review of the actual applications of the BCD expression cassette. • Summary of the structural optimization of the BCD system.

In recent years, the modern medical system has achieved deepening reforms, and the management systems of domestic hospitals have changed accordingly, which has improved the level of modern management to a certain extent. However, the development of hospitals is easily affected by many factors, which gradually highlights the problems of internal human resource management. This is not conducive for improvement in terms of the enthusiasm and initiative of internal employees in addition to restricting the quality of medical services. Based on this, in hope to provide assistance, this article uses incentive theory as the main research object and focuses on its specific application in hospitals’ human resource management.

Co-localizing biochemical processes is a great strategy when expressing the heterologous metabolic pathway for product biosynthesis. The RNA scaffold is a flexible and efficient synthetic compartmentalization method to co-localize the enzymes involved in the metabolic pathway by binding to the specific RNA, binding domains fused with the engineered enzymes. Herein, we designed two artificial RNA scaffold structures─0D RNA scaffolds and 2D RNA scaffolds─using the reported aptamers PP7 and BIV-Tat and the corresponding RNA-binding domains (RBDs). We verified the interaction of the RBD and RNA aptamer in vitro and in vivo. Then, we determined the efficiencies of these RNA scaffolds by co-localizing fluorescent proteins. We employed the RNA scaffolds combined with the enzyme fusion strategies to increase the metabolic flux involved in the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway for mevalonate and isoprene production. Compared with the no RNA scaffold strain, the mevalonate levels of the 0D RNA scaffolds and 2D RNA scaffolds increased by 84.1% (3.13 ± 0.03 g/L) and 76.5% (3.00 ± 0.09 g/L), respectively. We applied the 0D RNA scaffolds for increasing the isoprene production by localizing the enzymes involved in a heterologous multi-enzyme pathway. When applying the RNA scaffolds for co-localizing the enzymes

Sesquiterpenes are a large variety of terpene natural products, widely existing in plants, fungi, marine organisms, insects, and microbes. Value-added sesquiterpenes are extensively used in industries such as: food, drugs, fragrances, and fuels. With an increase in market demands and the price of sesquiterpenes, the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes by microbial fermentation methods from renewable feedstocks is acquiring increasing attention. Synthetic biology provides robust tools of sesquiterpene production in microorganisms. This review presents a summary of metabolic engineering strategies on the hosts and pathway engineering for sesquiterpene production. Advances in synthetic biology provide new strategies on the creation of desired hosts for sesquiterpene production. Especially, metabolic engineering strategies for the production of sesquiterpenes such as: amorphadiene, farnesene, bisabolene, and caryophyllene are emphasized in: Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and other microorganisms. Challenges and future perspectives of the bioprocess for translating sesquiterpene production into practical industrial work are also discussed.

Soil microbial necromass plays a critical role in soil organic C (SOC) sequestration, while the long-term response of microbial necromass to climate change remains largely unclear. Here, we used amino sugars as biomarkers and examined their variation after 8 years of continuous manipulation of elevated CO2 (eCO2), warming, and their combined interaction in a paddy soil. Our results showed that eCO2 increased the concentrations of all amino sugar compounds by 6.5–28.9% while warming had no effect on the accumulation of glucosamine and galactosamine but increased muramic acid concentration by 22.1–29.1%. Elevated CO2 increased the contribution of microbial necromass C to SOC storage, mainly by increasing fungal-derived C, whereas warming increased the bacterial-derived C proportion in SOC. Furthermore, the combined effect of eCO2 and warming yielded the highest total microbial necromass and SOC accumulation, although the ratio of fungal to bacterial necromass C in SOC remained unchanged. Structural equation models showed that root biomass had an indirect positive effect on total amino sugar concentration, mainly through increased microbial biomass, whereas N-acetylglucosaminidase activity had a direct negative effect on total amino sugar accumulation. These differential responses of microbial necromass to climate change may further alter the sequestration of SOC. This study is only based on one sampling time, and future research should involve more sampling times so as to have the temporal dynamics of the studied properties. Our findings emphasize the contribution of the microbial-derived C to soil C stock under long-term elevated CO2 and warming in a rice-wheat rotation system, which reveals an important mechanism of microbial-mediated C sequestration under climate change.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) antagonism inhibits clustering of excessive centrosomes at mitosis, causing multipolar cell division and apoptotic death. This is called anaphase catastrophe. To establish induced anaphase catastrophe as a clinically tractable antineoplastic mechanism, induced anaphase catastrophe was explored in different aneuploid cancers after treatment with CYC065 (Cyclacel), a CDK2/9 inhibitor. Antineoplastic activity was studied in preclinical models. CYC065 treatment augmented anaphase catastrophe in diverse cancers including lymphoma, lung, colon, and pancreatic cancers, despite KRAS oncoprotein expression. Anaphase catastrophe was a broadly active antineoplastic mechanism. Reverse phase protein arrays (RPPAs) revealed that along with known CDK2/9 targets, focal adhesion kinase and Src phosphorylation that regulate metastasis were each repressed by CYC065 treatment. Intriguingly, CYC065 treatment decreased lung cancer metastases in in vivo murine models. CYC065 treatment also significantly reduced the rate of lung cancer growth in syngeneic murine and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models independent of KRAS oncoprotein expression. Immunohistochemistry analysis of CYC065-treated lung cancer PDX models confirmed repression of proteins highlighted by RPPAs, implicating them as indicators of CYC065 antitumor response. Phospho-histone H3 staining detected anaphase catastrophe in CYC065-treated PDXs. Thus, induced anaphase catastrophe after CYC065 treatment can combat aneuploid cancers despite KRAS oncoprotein expression. These findings should guide future trials of this novel CDK2/9 inhibitor in the cancer clinic.

All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), a pan-agonist for retinoic acid receptors (RARs), regulates diverse cellular functions including growth, differentiation and immune function. We report here that ATRA-treatment represses tumor growth in syngeneic, immunocompetent but not in immunodeficient mice. Tumor immune microenvironment was implicated since depletion of cytotoxic T lymphocytes antagonized these effects in syngeneic mice. Combining ATRA with immune checkpoint blockade did not inhibit lung cancer growth in mice. We sought to augment retinoid anti-tumor effects without affecting its pro-tumorigenicity. We previously reported that CD38 mediated resistance to checkpoint blockade in murine 344SQ lung cancer cells via RARα transcriptional activation of CD38 expression. Yet, combining the RARα antagonist (IRX6696) with anti-PD-L1 did not augment anti-tumorigenicity in transplanted 344SQ cells in syngeneic mice. Prior work implicated RARγ in regulating T cell response. Combining the novel RARγ agonist (IRX4647) with anti-PD-L1 statistically-significantly repressed 344SQ lung cancer cell growth in syngeneic mice. This line is relatively resistant to checkpoint blockade. Immunofluorescent analysis of these treated tumors revealed that combined IRX4647 and anti-PD-L1 treatments reduced CD38 expression in the tumor stroma relative to IRX4647 or anti-PD-L1 treatment alone. Statistically-significantly elevated helper (CD4+) T cells were detected in treated tumors along with increased IL-5 and IL-13 expression observed in plasma and tumors. These cytokines can activate helper T cells, altering lung cancer growth. These microenvironment effects were associated with in vivo anti-tumorigenicity. IRX4647-treatment did not appreciably alter in vitro growth of lung cancer cells although retinoid receptors expression profiles were affected. Pharmacokinetic study of IRX4647 found its plasma half-life was 6 hours. Combining an RARγ agonist with immune checkpoint blockade exerted superior anti-neoplastic efficacy against lung cancer versus an ATRA-based regimen. Given these findings we propose exploring activity of this RARγ agonist with an optimal checkpoint inhibitor in a lung cancer clinical trial. Citation Format: Cheng-Hsin Wei, Lu Huang, Blair Kreh, Xiuxia Liu, Liliya Tyutyunyk-Massey, Zibo Chen, Mi Shi, Vidyasagar Vuligonda, Martin Sanders, Serguei Kozlov, King Chan, Amir Horowitz, Mary Carrington, Patrick Hwu, Weiyi Peng, Ethan Dmitrovsky, Xi Liu. Combining a novel retinoic acid receptor-γ agonist with immune checkpoint blockade represses lung cancer growth in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1836.

Cancer metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related mortality. Strategies to reduce metastases are needed especially in lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer mortality. We previously reported increased ubiquitin-specific peptidase 18 (USP18) expression in lung and other cancers. Engineered reduction of USP18 expression repressed lung cancer growth and promoted apoptosis. This deubiquitinase (DUB) stabilized targeted proteins by removing the complex interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15). This study explores if the loss of USP18 reduced lung cancer metastasis. USP18 knock-down in lung cancer cells was independently achieved using small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). USP18 knock-down reduced lung cancer growth, wound-healing, migration, and invasion versus controls (P .001) and markedly decreased murine lung cancer metastases (P .001). Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPAs) in shRNA knock-down lung cancer cells showed that 14-3-3ζ protein was regulated by loss of USP18. ISG15 complexed with 14-3-3ζ protein reducing its stability. Survival in lung adenocarcinomas (P .0015) and other cancers was linked to elevated 14-3-3ζ expression as assessed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The findings were confirmed and extended using 14-3-3ζ immunohistochemical assays of human lung cancer arrays and syngeneic murine lung cancer metastasis models. A direct 14-3-3ζ role in controlling lung cancer metastasis came from engineered 14-3-3ζ knock-down in lung cancer cell lines and 14-3-3ζ rescue experiments that reversed migration and invasion inhibition. Findings presented here revealed that USP18 controlled metastasis by regulating 14-3-3ζ expression. These data provide a strong rationale for developing a USP18 inhibitor to combat metastases.

Fixed-bed bioreactors packed with macrocarriers show great potential to be used for vaccine process development and large-scale production due to distinguishing features of low shear force, high cell adhering surface area, and easy replacement of culture media in situ. As an initial step of utilizing this type of bioreactors for Pseudorabies virus production (PRV) by African green monkey kidney (Vero) cells, we developed a tube-fixed-bed bioreactor in the previous study, which represents a scale-down model for further process optimization. By using this scale-down model, here we evaluated impacts of two strategies (use of serum-free medium and low cell inoculum density) on PRV production, which have benefits of simplifying downstream process and reducing risk of contamination. We first compared Vero cell cultures with different media, bioreactors and inoculum densities, and conclude that cell growth with serum-free medium is comparable to that with serum-containing medium in tube-fixed-bed bioreactor, and low inoculum density supports cell growth only in this bioreactor. Next, we applied serum-free medium and low inoculum cell density for PRV production. By optimization of time of infection (TOI), multiplicity of infection (MOI) and the harvesting strategy, we obtained total amount of virus particles ~ 9 log10 TCID50 at 5 days post-infection (dpi) in the tube-fixed-bed bioreactor. This process was then scaled up by 25-fold to a Xcell 1-L fixed-bed bioreactor, which yields totally virus particles of 10.5 log10 TCID50, corresponding to ~ 3 × 105 doses of vaccine. The process studied in this work holds promise to be developed as a generic platform for the production of vaccines for animal and human health.

To identify the zinc transport function of the membrane proteins Gt1 and Zrt1 in Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) and study their regulatory mode. Two membrane proteins that might have zinc transport function were found in K. phaffii. GT1 was known to encode a glycerol transporter belonging to the Major Facilitator Superfamily. ZRT1 was predicted to resemble the zinc transporter gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Consistent with the prediction, protein plasma-membrane localizations were confirmed by ultracentrifugation and confocal microscopy. Their zinc binding abilities were identified by ITC in vitro, and the impaired zinc uptake activity caused by their deficiencies was confirmed by zinc fluorescence quantification in vivo. Furthermore, zinc excess could turn the two channels off, while zinc deficiency induced their expressions. Gt1 could only function to maintain zinc homeostasis in glycerol, while the block of Gt1 function might lead to Zrt1 upregulation in glucose. The zinc transport capabilities of Gt1 and Zrt1 were identified in vivo and in vitro. Their regulatory mode to maintain zinc homeostasis in K. phaffii is a new inspiration.

In this study, a novel tube-fixed-bed bioreactor which consists of a TubeSpin bioreactor 50 tube and 0.44 g macrocarriers was developed as the scale-down model of a fixed-bed bioreactor. The adherent Vero cell–based pseudorabies virus (PRV) production process was tested in this novel model. The Vero cells grew well in the tube-fixed-bed bioreactor, and the cell density reached 5.8 × 106 cells/mL after 7 days of culture. The PRV production parameters (time of infection, multiplicity of infection, and harvest process) were optimized in the tube-fixed-bed bioreactor. Then the optimized process (time of infection = 3 days, multiplicity of infection = 0.001 and multiple harvest process) was scaled up 25-fold to an Xcell 1-L laboratory-scale fixed-bed bioreactor and 125-fold to an Xcell 5-L fixed-bed bioreactor successfully. The total PRV harvest in the Xcell 1-L bioreactor at 5 days after infection (dpi) was 10.25 log10 TCID50 which corresponds to 177,827 doses of vaccine. The total PRV harvest in the Xcell 5-L bioreactor at 5 dpi was 11.13 log10 TCID50 which corresponded to 1,348,962 doses of vaccine. The comparable growth curve, metabolism, and PRV production profile of the scaled-up bioreactors confirmed the feasibility and scalability of the tube-fixed-bed bioreactor as a scale-down model of the fixed-bed bioreactor for virus production process development.

Background Neonatal pneumonia (NP) has a high fatality rate in neonatal illness. This research investigated the functions of emodin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-evoked inflammatory injury in WI-38 cells. Methods Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometry were utilized for examining the impacts of LPS and emodin on viability and apoptosis, respectively. Taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) level was altered through cell transfection and investigated by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Moreover, RT-qPCR, western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were utilized for investigating expressions of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin (IL)-6. Western blot was carried out for investigating the levels of Bcl-2, Bax, pro-Caspase-3, cleaved-Caspase-3 and NF-κB and p38MAPK pathway-related proteins. Results LPS treatment restrained cell viability, enhanced apoptosis, and expressions of inflammation-related IL-6 and MCP-1. Emodin alleviated LPS-evoked inflammatory injury and restrained the NF-κB and p38MAPK pathways. Furthermore, emodin positively regulated TUG1 expression and TUG1 silencing could reverse the efficacy of emodin on IL-6 and MCP-1 expressions. Finally, TUG1 regulates the expression of inflammatory factors through NF-κB and p38MAPK pathways. Conclusion Emodin alleviated LPS-evoked inflammatory injury by raising TUG1 expression via NF-κB and p38MAPK pathways in WI-38 cells.

Apple replant disease (ARD) is a complex syndrome caused by various biotic and abiotic stresses contained in replanted soil, leading to reduced plant growth and fruit yields and causing serious economic loss. Breeding disease-resistant varieties is an effective and practical method to control ARD. Effective plant defense depends in part on the plant immune responses induced by the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). BAK1 participates in the regulation of plant immunity as an important PRR-binding protein. In this study, MdBAK1 overexpression activated indeterminate immune responses in tissue-cultured apple plants. MdBAK1-overexpressing rooted apple plants exhibited enhanced resistance to ARD, as the inhibition of plant growth was significantly alleviated during the replanted soil treatment. In addition, MdBAK1-overexpressing apple plants showed abolished growth inhibition, wilting and root rot induced by Fusarium oxysporum, which is the main pathogen that causes ARD in China. MdBAK1 overexpression changed the microbial community structure in the rhizosphere soil, as reflected by the increase in bacterial content and the decrease in fungal content, and the root exudates of MdBAK1-overexpressing plants inhibited F. oxysporum spore germination compared with that of wild-type plants. Furthermore, the constitutive immunity and cell necrosis induced by the upregulation of MdBAK1 expression were involved in the inhibition of colonization and expansion of F. oxysporum in host plants. In short, MdBAK1 plays an important role in the regulation of apple resistance to ARD, suggesting that MdBAK1 may be a valuable gene for molecular breeding of ARD resistance.

Background Infantile pneumonia (IP) is a usual disease in infants and young children. The function and underlying mechanism of circZNF652 on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-triggered inflammatory damage in WI-38 cells were detected in this article. Methods WI-38 cells were induced by dosages of LPS to construct inflammatory injury model. WI-38 cell viability and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. CircZNF652 and miR-181a levels were changed and detected by cell transfection and qRT-PCR. The levels of apoptosis and JNK/p38 and NF-κB pathways-related proteins, as well as the level of Cox-2 were detected by western blot. Finally, the concentrations of inflammatory factors were detected by ELISA. Results LPS induced inflammatory injury showing as notably decreased the viability, while increased the numbers of apoptotic cells, as well as the levels of apoptosis and inflammatory factors in a dose dependent way. Besides, LPS inducement remarkably enhanced the expression of circZNF652. However, knockdown of circZNF652 remitted LPS-triggered inflammatory damage and restrained NF-κB and JNK/p38 pathways. Moreover, circZNF652 knockdown promoted miR-181a expression. Whereas, miR-181a inhibition markedly relieved circZNF652 knockdown-induced impacts. Conclusion Knockdown of circZNF652 remitted LPS-triggered WI-38 cells inflammatory damage through deactivation of NF-κB and JNK/p38pathways by up-regulating miR-181a.

Outer membrane lipoprotein A (OmlA) is a vaccine antigen against porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP), a disease severely affecting the swine industry. Here, we aimed to systematically potentiate the secretory production of OmlA in Corynebacterium glutamicum (C. glutamicum), a widely used microorganism in the food industry, by establishing a holistic development process based on our high-throughput culture platform. The expression patterns, expression element combinations, medium composition, and induction conditions were comprehensively screened or optimized in microwell plates (MWPs), followed by fermentation parameter optimization in a 4×1 L parallel fermentation system (CUBER4). An unprecedented yield of 1.01 g/L OmlA was ultimately achieved in a 5-L bioreactor following the scaling-up strategy of fixed oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa), and the produced OmlA antigen showed well-protective immunity against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae challenge. This result provides a rapid and reliable pipeline to achieve the hyper-production of OmlA, and possibly other recombinant vaccines, in C. glutamicum.

D-allulose is a rare low-calorie sugar that has many fundamental biological functions. D-allulose 3-epimerase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens (AT-DAEase) catalyzes the conversion of D-fructose to D-allulose. The enzyme has attracted considerable attention because of its mild catalytic properties. However, the bioconversion efficiency and reusability of AT-DAEase limit its industrial application. Magnetic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have uniform pore sizes and large surface areas and can facilitate mass transport and enhance the capacity for enzyme immobilization. Here, we successfully encapsulated cobalt-type AT-DAEase into the cobalt-based magnetic MOF ZIF-67@Fe3O4 using a self-assembly strategy. The AT-DAEase@ZIF-67@Fe3O4 nanoparticles had higher catalytic activity (65.1 U mg-1) and bioconversion ratio (38.1%) than the free AT-DAEase. The optimal conditions for maximum enzyme activity of the AT-DAEase@ZIF-67@Fe3O4 nanoparticles were 55°C and pH 8.0, which were significantly higher than those of the free AT-DAEase (50°C and pH 7.5). The AT-DAEase@ZIF-67@Fe3O4 nanoparticles displayed significantly improved thermal stability and excellent recycling performance, with 80% retention of enzyme activity at temperature range of 45-70°C and >45% of its initial activity after eight cycles of enzyme use. The AT-DAEase@ZIF-67@Fe3O4 nanoparticles have great potential for large-scale industrial preparation of D-allulose by immobilizing cobalt-type AT-DAEase into magnetic MOF ZIF-67@Fe3O4.

The aim of our study was to explore the conceptions related to partnership between dance sport couples. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 registered athletes of the Chinese Dance Sports Federation (CDSF) about partnership between dance couples, using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method. Results revealed that partnership tended to stem from seven domains: (1) mutual understanding, (2) instant intimacy, (3) long-term affection, (4) obligational ties, (5) instrumental ties, (6) tacit factors, and (7) mutual self-disclosure. Each domain included several categories of core ideas, most of which were general and typical across the respondents. The general and most typical core ideas were related to mutual understanding in all aspects (17T), pleasure (18T), sense of substitution (15T), intimacy (20G), harmony (20G), mutual help (20G), mutual tolerance (20G), mutual attraction (15T), responsibility (20G), training plan (12T), consistent goals (20G), skills improvement (20G), image matching (16T), mutual self-disclosure (18T), which suggested a general belief in the equity perspective regarding partnership between Chinese dance sport couples. Future studies need to examine diverse samples of athlete–athlete dyads to advance interpersonal theory in sports and add to emerging theories of performance behavior and expertise in sport.

The PhoPR two-component system, a highly conserved system in corynebacteria and mycobacteria, is involved in the cellular response to environmental stress. When analysing the transcriptomic data of Corynebacterium glutamicum strains under different dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, PhoPR was found to be the most responsive two-component system to DO changes. Here, we systematically investigated the expression of PhoPR in response to different DO levels and its impact on genes related to global regulation and energy metabolism. Using Green fluorescent protein as a reporter, we confirmed that PhoPR was significantly upregulated upon decrease of DO. Through real-time quantitative PCR and electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we found that the effector protein PhoP directly activated glxR (encoding a global regulator), pfk and gapA (encoding the glycolytic enzymes) and ctaD (encoding cytochrome c in the electron transport chain), while downregulated aceE and gltA (encoding the TCA cycle enzymes). Overexpression of phoP or phoR resulted in a decreased intracellular NAD+/NADH ratio and increased intracellular ATP level, consistent with the gene expression changes regulated by PhoP. These results reveal the PhoPR system respond to oxygen deficiency and is responsible for the regulation of pathways involved in the sustainability of the energy levels required under low oxygen conditions. Our findings in this study not only provide new insights into the adaptation pathways of C. glutamicum in response to low oxygen conditions but also identify new possible genetic targets for the construction of the new cell factories aimed toward industrial applications.

Recently, immune response modulation at the epigenetic level is illustrated in studies, but the possible function of RNA 5-methylcytosine (m5C) modification in cell infiltration within the tumor microenvironment (TME) is still unclear. Three different m5C modification patterns were identified, and high differentiation degree was observed in the cell infiltration features within TME under the above three identified patterns. A low m5C-score, which was reflected in the activated immunity, predicted the relatively favorable prognostic outcome. A small amount of effective immune infiltration was seen in the high m5C-score subtype, indicating the dismal patient survival. Our study constructed a diagnostic model using the 10 signature genes highly related to the m5C-score, discovered that the model exhibited high diagnostic accuracy for PTC, and screened out five potential drugs for PTC based on this m5C-score model. m5C modification exerts an important part in forming the TME complexity and diversity. It is valuable to evaluate the m5C modification patterns in single tumors, so as to enhance our understanding towards the infiltration characterization in TME.

Background: The disruption of tumour cell metabolism can inhibit tumour metastasis, indicating that aerobic glycolysis is central to tumour development. However, the key factors responsible for mediating aerobic glycolysis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. Methods: This study investigated the function and clinical significance of RBCK1 protein expression in HCC. We analyzed RBCK1 expression from the TCGA-LIHC dataset and surgical specimens of 216 HCC patients. The correlation between the clinical characteristics and prognosis was also determined. Furthermore, over-expression and knockdown experiments of RBCK1 were developed to explore their effects on HCC cell migration, invasion and aerobic glycolysis. Moreover, a molecular mechanism of RBCK1 promotes HCC metastasis was explored.Results: Here, we observed that RBCK1 expression was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues. Our clinical study showed that high RBCK1 expression significantly correlated with poor tumour survival and distant invasion. Functional assays using HCC cells revealed that RBCK1 promoted migration and invasion by enhancing the Warburg effect, and that GLUT1 was critical for RBCK1-mediated aerobic glycolysis. Furthermore, RBCK1-mediated regulation of WNT/β-catenin/GLUT1 pathway-induced HCC cell migration and aerobic glycolysis was dependent on the destruction of the PPARγ/PGC1α complex. Mechanistically, RBCK1 promoted PPARγ ubiquitination and degradation, causing RBCK1 overexpression to enhance the transcriptional activity of WNT/β-catenin. This consequently upregulated the expression of GLUT1-mediated aerobic glycolysis in HCC cells, promoting tumour cell metastasis and invasion.Conclusion: Altogether, our findings identify a mechanism used by HCC cells to survive the nutrient-poor tumour microenvironment and also provide insight into the role of RBCK1 in HCC cell adaptation to metabolic stresses.

While biochar soil amendment has been widely proposed as a soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration strategy to mitigate detrimental climate changes in global agriculture, the SOC sequestration was still not clearly understood for the different effects of fresh and aged biochar on SOC mineralization. In the present study of a two‐factorial experiment, topsoil samples from a rice paddy were laboratory‐incubated with and without fresh or aged biochar pyrolyzed of wheat residue and with and without crop residue‐derived dissolved organic matter (CRM) for monitoring soil organic matter decomposition under controlled conditions. The six treatments included soil with no biochar, with fresh biochar and with aged biochar treated with CRM, respectively. For fresh biochar treatment, the topsoil of a same rice paddy was amended with wheat biochar directly from a pyrolysis wheat straw, the soil with aged biochar was collected from the same soil 6 years following a single amendment of same biochar. Total CO2 emission from the soil was monitored over a 64 day time span of laboratory incubation, while microbial biomass carbon and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) were determined at the end of incubation period. Without CRM, total organic carbon mineralization was significantly decreased by 38.8% with aged biochar but increased by 28.9% with fresh biochar, compared to no biochar. With CRM, however, the significantly highest net carbon mineralization occurred in the soil without biochar compared to the biochar‐amended soil. Compared to aged biochar, fresh biochar addition significantly increased the total PLFA concentration by 20.3%–33.8% and altered the microbial community structure by increasing 17:1ω8c (Gram‐negative bacteria) and i17:0 (Gram‐positive bacteria) mole percentages and by decreasing the ratio of fungi/bacteria. Furthermore, biochar amendment significantly lowered the metabolic quotient of SOC decomposition, thereby becoming greater with aged biochar than with fresh biochar. The finding here suggests that biochar amendment could improve carbon utilization efficiency by soil microbial community and SOC sequestration potential in paddy soil can be enhanced by the presence of biochar in soil over the long run.