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Genetic variation in human populations can result in the misfolding and aggregation of proteins, giving rise to systemic and neurodegenerative diseases that require management by proteostasis. Here, we define the role of GRP94, the endoplasmic reticulum Hsp90 chaperone paralog, in managing alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency on a residue-by-residue basis using Gaussian process regression-based machine learning to profile the spatial covariance relationships that dictate protein folding arising from sequence variants in the population. Covariance analysis suggests a role for the ATPase activity of GRP94 in controlling the N- to C-terminal cooperative folding of alpha-1-antitrypsin responsible for the correction of liver aggregation and lung-disease phenotypes of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. Gaussian process-based spatial covariance profiling provides a standard model built on covariant principles to evaluate the role of proteostasis components in guiding information flow from genome to proteome in response to genetic variation, potentially allowing us to intervene in the onset and progression of complex multi-system human diseases. Pei et al. applied Gaussian process-based machine learning to capture dynamic spatial covariance relationships managed by proteostasis to mediate cooperative folding on a residue basis as a standard model for precision disease management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this study, we developed a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay based on a dual-labeled hydrolysis probe to simultaneously detect both duck circovirus (DuCV) 1 and DuCV-2. The reproducibility, sensitivity and specificity of the primer set and probe were evaluated using other duck pathogens. The detection limit was 20 copies per µL. The intra-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) were ≤ 0.73% and the inter-assay CVs were ≤ 1.89%. No cross-reaction occurred with other duck pathogens. In addition, the qPCR assay was successfully applied to the simultaneous detection of DuCV-1 and DuCV-2 in clinical field samples. Therefore, this assay will be useful for laboratory diagnosis and epidemiological field studies of DuCV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To access the nutritional quality of the Ruditapes philippinarum, a comprehensive quality evaluation procedure is always important to be established. In this study, fifteen nutritional quality evaluation indicators of R. philippinarum from 7 months were analyzed, and the most important indicators were determined using a combination of multiple chemometric methods such as correlation analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), and system cluster analysis (SCA). Significant differences in nutritional quality were observed across the 7 months, as per the ANOVA results (P < 0.05). The coefficient of variation values for the fifteen evaluation indicators for R. philippinarum across 7 months was 1.67–43.47%. The CA results revealed that some indicators were correlated to each other within a certain range. Four principal components with eigen-values > 1 were obtained with PCA, and a cumulative contribution of 92.11% was achieved. In addition, four essential quality indicators were extracted using SCA. Using these four indicators, a simple and efficient procedure can be applied for quality control in aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu3SnS4 (CTS) films were successfully prepared on FTO glass via DC magnetron sputtering by using a single ceramic target. The CTS/FTO glass was used as a Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The effects of substrate temperatures (150 ~ 450 °C) and sulfurization temperatures (450 ~ 550 °C) on the surface morphology of the CTS/FTO and the DSSC properties were investigated, among which the DSSC prepared at 250 °C and sulfurized at 550 °C had an optimum photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE, 6.45%). To further investigate the effects of film thickness, 400 nm and 200 nm films were deposited. It was found that the 400 nm film had the best PCE (7.75%), which was close to the PCE of commercial Pt/FTO electrodes (8.19%) under the same conditions. We also observed that the PCE values under back illumination were 0.73% (400 nm) and 0.89% (200 nm), respectively. The above studies show that the preparation of CTS film with this method can be used as a Pt-free electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-component chalcogenide (Cu1−xAgx)2ZnSnS4 (CAZTS, x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) nanoparticles were synthesized by incorporation of Ag into wurtzite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) using a simple one-pot method and were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectrum, respectively. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibit the phase transition from wurtzite to kesterite structure when the substitution ratio (x) of Ag is around 0.3. The bandgaps of CAZTS nanoparticles are in the range of 1.43–1.64 eV. This finding indicates that Ag substitution in wurtzite CZTS is an effective way to adjust the bandgap and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly sensitive melamine electrochemical sensor was successfully constructed by self-assembling based on the composite of chitosan with polyvinyl pyrrolidone-dispersed reduced graphene oxide (CTS-PVP-rGO), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and metal-organic framework MIL-101. The characterizations of modified materials and electrodes were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The results indicated that the sensor of MIL-101/AuNPs/CTS-PVP-rGO/GCE exhibited a high sensitivity and selectivity as well as a good stability and reproducibility for the determination of melamine since CTS-PVP-rGO or AuNPs could enhance the conductivity of the sensor greatly and MIL-101 could promote the adsorption of melamine on the surface of the modified electrode remarkably. At pH 7.0, the scan rate of 100 mV/s and the frequency of 50 Hz, the determination limit of melamine was as low as 5.00 × 10–11 mol/L with the linear range from 5.00 × 10–11 to 1.00 × 10–8 mol/L and the correlation coefficient (R) of 0.996. Based on the electrochemical behavior of melamine on MIL-101/AuNPs/CTS-PVP-rGO/GCE, the possible redox procedure of melamine was put forward. Furthermore, the sensor of MIL-101/AuNPs/CTS-PVP-rGO/GCE was applied to the determination of melamine in milk products and a satisfying result was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most insects and some other protostomes, a small stretch of nucleotides can be removed from mature 28S rRNA molecules, which could create two 28S rRNA subunits (28Sα and 28Sβ). Thus, during electrophoresis, the rRNA profiles of these organisms may differ significantly from the standard benchmark since the two subunits co-migrate with the 18S rRNA. To understand the structure and mechanism of the atypical 28S rRNA molecule, partial fragments of 28Sα and 28Sβ in brine shrimp Artemia parthenogenetica and planarian Dugesia japonica were cloned using a modified technology based on terminal transferase. Alignment with the corresponding sequences of 28S rDNAs indicates that there are 41 nucleotides in A. parthenogenetica and 42 nucleotides in D. japonica absent from the mature rRNAs. The AU content of the gap sequences of D. japonica and A. parthenogenetica is high. Both the gaps may form stem-loop structure. In D. japonica a UAAU cleavage signal is identified in the loop, but it is absent in A. parthenogenetica. Thus, it is proposed that the gap processing of 28S rRNA was a late enzyme-dependent cleavage event in the rRNA maturational process based on the AU rich gap sequence and the formation of the stem-loop structure to expose the processing segment, while the deletion of the gap region would not affect the structure and function of the 28S rRNA molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmonella is a common and important pathogen for both human and animals. All Salmonella except Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum have flagellum. Flagellin (FliC) is the main subunit protein forming the bacterial filament, which is present in large amounts on the surface of all flagellated Salmonella. After bioinformatics analysis, the most highly conserved region (locates position from 1 to 102 amino acid residue of FliC, we named it as FliC′) was selected, and corresponding recombinant FliC′ (rFliC′) protein was tailored as an immunogen to generate monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against Salmonella flagellin. BALB/c mice were immunized with the purified recombinant protein rFliC′, which were prepared by prokaryotic expression system pET22b (+) expressing FliC′. After fusion of spleen cells from the immunized mice and SP2/0 cells, three hybridoma cells (1D6, 2G6 and 3E2) producing MAbs against targeted flagellate Salmonella FliC′ were generated and screened. The ability of MAb 3E2 to recognize and bind to Salmonella flagella was demonstrated by immunogold electron microscopy (IEM) method. Western blot (WB) analysis demonstrated that MAb 3E2 could specifically recognize flagellated Salmonella strains. Moreover, MAb 3E2 has a direct agglutination activity against Salmonella strains with visible agglutination reaction. To further verify this agglutination activity, a total of 52 flagellated Salmonella strains (23 serovars), 8 non-flagellate Salmonella strains (2 serovars) and 16 other non-Salmonella bacteria strains were used to evaluate the specificity of the MAb by direct Slide Agglutination Test (SAT). Results showed that MAb 3E2 reacted with all Salmonella strains possessing flagellum and had no cross-reaction with non-flagellate Salmonella strains or other non-Salmonella bacteria strains. Sequentially, the ability to detect the presence of Salmonella in raw samples of the MAb 3E2-based SAT method was evaluated. The conventional culture-based detection method was performed as the standard reference method for detection of Salmonella. Altogether, 369 samples collected from laying hens were tested, and the results indicated that the MAb 3E2-based SAT method could specifically detect Salmonella. Furthermore, the SAT results were obtained more quickly, as compared with the standard method. As a whole, the MAbs against the tailored conserved region of Salmonella flagellin were prepared in this study, and MAb 3E2-based SAT is a promising candidate for the flagellated Salmonella spp. rapid detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]