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Background In gut microbiome studies, the cultured gut microbial resource plays essential roles, such as helping to unravel gut microbial functions and host-microbe interactions. Although several major studies have been performed to elucidate the cultured human gut microbiota, up to 70% of the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome species have not been cultured to date. Large-scale gut microbial isolation and identification as well as availability to the public are imperative for gut microbial studies and further characterizing human gut microbial functions. Results In this study, we constructed a human Gut Microbial Biobank (hGMB; homepage: hgmb.nmdc.cn) through the cultivation of 10,558 isolates from 31 sample mixtures of 239 fresh fecal samples from healthy Chinese volunteers, and deposited 1170 strains representing 400 different species in culture collections of the International Depository Authority for long-term preservation and public access worldwide. Following the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, 102 new species were characterized and denominated, while 28 new genera and 3 new families were proposed. hGMB represented over 80% of the common and dominant human gut microbial genera and species characterized from global human gut 16S rRNA gene amplicon data (n = 11,647) and cultured 24 “most-wanted” and “medium priority” taxa proposed by the Human Microbiome Project. We in total sequenced 115 genomes representing 102 novel taxa and 13 previously known species. Further in silico analysis revealed that the newly sequenced hGMB genomes represented 22 previously uncultured species in the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome (UHGG) and contributed 24 representatives of potentially “dark taxa” that had not been discovered by UHGG. The nonredundant gene catalogs generated from the hGMB genomes covered over 50% of the functionally known genes (KEGG orthologs) in the largest global human gut gene catalogs and approximately 10% of the “most wanted” functionally unknown proteins in the FUnkFams database. Conclusions A publicly accessible human Gut Microbial Biobank (hGMB) was established that contained 1170 strains and represents 400 human gut microbial species. hGMB expands the gut microbial resources and genomic repository by adding 102 novel species, 28 new genera, 3 new families, and 115 new genomes of human gut microbes.

Mice are widely used as experimental models for gut microbiome (GM) studies, yet the majority of mouse GM members remain uncharacterized. Here, we report the construction of a mouse gut microbial biobank (mGMB) that contains 126 species, represented by 244 strains that have been deposited in the China General Microorganism Culture Collection. We sequence and phenotypically characterize 77 potential new species and propose their nomenclatures. The mGMB includes 22 and 17 species that are significantly enriched in ob/ob and wild-type C57BL/6J mouse cecal samples, respectively. The genomes of the 126 species in the mGMB cover 52% of the metagenomic nonredundant gene catalog (sequence identity ≥ 60%) and represent 93–95% of the KEGG-Orthology-annotated functions of the sampled mouse GMs. The microbial and genome data assembled in the mGMB enlarges the taxonomic characterization of mouse GMs and represents a useful resource for studies of host-microbe interactions and of GM functions associated with host health and diseases., Here, the authors established and characterized the mouse gut microbial biobank (mGMB), which includes 244 strains and 126 species that enlarges previous mouse intestinal bacterial collections and represents a resource for studies using mouse models to investigate microbiome-associated health and disease.

Both open and closed loop self-expandable stents were used in carotid artery stenting (CAS) for carotid bifurcation stenosis. We sought to compare the efficacy of two types of stents in CAS. The data of 212 patients treated with CAS (42 and 170 cases implanted with closed and open loop stents, respectively) for carotid bifurcation stenosis and distal filtration protection devices were retrospectively analyzed. Between closed and open loop stents, there were no significant differences in hospitalization duration, NIHSS score before and after the treatment, stenosis at 12th month, and cumulative incidence of primary endpoint events within 30 days or from the 31st day to the 12th month; while there were significant differences in hemodynamic changes and rate of difficulty in recycling distal filtration protection devices. Use of open vs. closed loop stents for carotid bifurcation stenosis seems to be associated with similar incidence of complications, except for greater rate of hemodynamic changes and lower rate of difficulty in recycling the distal filtration protection devices.

Rice straw is one of the most abundant agricultural wastes, and has potential as the feedstock for biofuel production. In this study, rice straw was pretreated with 1.5 % (m/m) sulfuric acid at 121 °C for 60 min and then subjected to consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) by Clostridium thermocellum at 55 °C. The composition, morphology, surface area and cellulose crystal structure of rice straw were determined to evaluate effects of the pretreatment on physicochemical characteristics of rice straw, and CBP performance was evaluated by the production of H2 and ethanol. The results showed that 90 % of hemicellulose was removed, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area was increased by 5.2-fold, amorphous cellulose lost, and lignin amount increased by 53 % after the pretreatment. The maximum H2 productions from unpretreated (Unpre) and pretreated (Pre) rice straw were 33.3 and 35.7 mmol L−1, respectively, the values were 0.6 and 0.8 g L−1 respectively for ethanol. Over the first 4 days, the H2 productions from Unpre and Pre made up 46.2 and 70.6 % of their maximum H2 productions respectively, and the values were about 62.6 and 70.5 % for ethanol. The differences of physicochemical characteristics and metabolic pathways between Unpre and Pre both contributed to the different accelerating effects of the pretreatment on H2 and ethanol production.

Several studies showed that the up-regulation of glial glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) participates in the acquisition of brain ischemic tolerance induced by cerebral ischemic preconditioning or ceftriaxone pretreatment in rats. To explore whether GLT-1 plays a role in the acquisition of brain ischemic tolerance induced by intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (IH) preconditioning (mimicking 5,000 m high-altitude, 6 h per day, once daily for 28 days), immunohistochemistry and western blot were used to observe the changes in the expression of GLT-1 protein in hippocampal CA1 subfield during the induction of brain ischemic tolerance by IH preconditioning, and the effect of dihydrokainate (DHK), an inhibitor of GLT-1, on the acquisition of brain ischemic tolerance in rats. The basal expression of GLT-1 protein in hippocampal CA1 subfield was significantly up-regulated by IH preconditioning, and at the same time astrocytes were activated by IH preconditioning, which appeared normal soma and aplenty slender processes. The GLT-1 expression was decreased at 7 days after 8-min global brain ischemia. When the rats were pretreated with the IH preconditioning before the global brain ischemia, the down-regulation of GLT-1 protein was prevented clearly. Neuropathological evaluation by thionin staining showed that 200 nmol DHK blocked the protective role of IH preconditioning against delayed neuronal death induced normally by 8-min global brain ischemia. Taken together, the up-regulation of GLT-1 protein participates in the acquisition of brain ischemic tolerance induced by IH preconditioning in rats.