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Infections of Exophiala dermatitidis are often chronic and recalcitrant. Combination therapies with novel compounds and azoles could be an effective solution. Previously, we have demonstrated that pyrvinium pamoate exerted antifungal activity alone and favorable synergy with azoles against planktonic E. dermatitidis. Herein, the underlying antifungal mode of action were investigated. Pyrvinium alone showed sessile MIC50 (SMIC50) of 8->16 μg/ml against E. dermatitidis biofilms. However, synergism of PP with itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole were observed against 16 (88.9%), 9 (50%), and 13 (72.2%) strains of E. dermatitidis biofilms. In accordance with in vitro susceptibilities, pyrvinium alone at concentration of 2 μg/ml resulted in significant growth restriction of planktonic E. dermatitidis. Pyrvinium alone resulted in reduction of biofilm formation. Higher concentration of pyrvinium was associate with more progressive reduction of biofilm mass. The in vivo activity of pyrvinium alone and combined with azoles was evaluated using Galleria mellonella model. Pyrvinium alone significantly improved the survival rate of larvae (P < 0.0001). The combination of pyrvinium and voriconazole or posaconazole acted synergistically in vivo (P < 0.05). Fungal burden determination revealed significant reduction of numbers of colony forming unit (CFU) in larvae treated with pyrvinium-itraconazole and pyrvinium-posaconazole compared to itraconazole or posaconazole alone group, respectively. The effect of pyrvinium on apoptosis, expression of TOR and HSP90, and drug efflux reversal were evaluated by PI/Annexin V staining, Real-Time Quantitative PCR and Rhodamine 6G assay, respectively. Pyrvinium alone or combined with azoles significantly (P < 0.05) increased late apoptosis or necrosis of E. dermatitidis cells. Pyrvinium combined with posaconazole significantly decreased the expression of TOR and Hsp90 compared to posaconazole alone group (P < 0.05). Pyrvinium resulted in significant (P < 0.05) decrease of the efflux of Rhodamine 6G. These findings suggested pyrvinium could be a promising synergist with azoles. The underlying mechanisms could be explained by inducing apoptosis/necrosis, inhibition of drug efflux pumps, and signaling pathways related with stress response and growth control.

In vitro and in vivo interactions of minocycline and azoles, including itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole, against filamentous pathogenic fungi were investigated. A total of 56 clinical isolates were studied in vitro via broth microdilution checkerboard technique, including 20 strains of Aspergillus fumigatus, 7 strains of Aspergillus flavus, 16 strains of Exophiala dermatitidis, 10 strains of Fusarium solani, and 3 strain s of Fusarium oxysporum. The results revealed that minocycline did not exhibit any significant antifungal activity against any of the tested strains. However, favorable synergy of minocycline with itraconazole, voriconazole, or posaconazole was observed against 34 (61%), 28 (50%), and 38 (68%) isolates, respectively, including azole-resistant A. fumigatus and Fusarium spp. with inherently high MICs of azoles. Synergistic combinations resulted in 4-fold to 16-fold reduction of effective MICs of minocycline and azoles. No antagonism was observed. In vivo effects of minocycline-azole combinations were evaluated by survival assay in a Galleria mellonella model infected with E. dermatitidis strain BMU00034; F. solani strain FS9; and A. fumigatus strains AF293, AFR1, and AFR2. Minocycline acted synergistically with azoles and significantly increased larvae survival in all isolates (P

Two recently engineered SpCas9 variants, namely xCas9 and Cas9-NG, show promising potential in improving targeting specificity and broadening the targeting range. In this study, we evaluated these Cas9 variants in the model and crop plant, rice. We first tested xCas9-3.7, the most effective xCas9 variant in mammalian cells, for targeted mutagenesis at 16 possible NGN PAM (protospacer adjacent motif) combinations in duplicates. xCas9 exhibited nearly equivalent editing efficiency to wild-type Cas9 (Cas9-WT) at most canonical NGG PAM sites tested, whereas it showed limited activity at non-canonical NGH (H = A, C, T) PAM sites. High editing efficiency of xCas9 at NGG PAMs was further demonstrated with C to T base editing by both rAPOBEC1 and PmCDA1 cytidine deaminases. With mismatched sgRNAs, we found that xCas9 had improved targeting specificity over the Cas9-WT. Furthermore, we tested two Cas9-NG variants, Cas9-NGv1 and Cas9-NG, for targeting NGN PAMs. Both Cas9-NG variants showed higher editing efficiency at most non-canonical NG PAM sites tested, and enabled much more efficient editing than xCas9 at AT-rich PAM sites such as GAT, GAA, and CAA. Nevertheless, we found that Cas9-NG variants showed significant reduced activity at the canonical NGG PAM sites. In stable transgenic rice lines, we demonstrated that Cas9-NG had much higher editing efficiency than Cas9-NGv1 and xCas9 at NG PAM sites. To expand the base-editing scope, we developed an efficient C to T base-editing system by making fusion of Cas9-NG nickase (D10A version), PmCDA1, and UGI. Taken together, our work benchmarked xCas9 as a high-fidelity nuclease for targeting canonical NGG PAMs and Cas9-NG as a preferred variant for targeting relaxed PAMs for plant genome editing.

Hepatitis B remains a major global public health challenge, with particularly high prevalence in medically disadvantaged western Pacific and African regions. Although clinically available technologies for the qPCR detection of HBV are well established, research on point-of-care testing has not progressed substantially. The development of a rapid, accurate point-of-care test is essential for the prevention and control of hepatitis B in medically disadvantaged rural areas. The development of the CRISPR/Cas system in nucleic acid detection has allowed for pathogen point-of-care detection. Here, we developed a rapid and accurate point-of-care assay for HBV based on LAMP-Cas12a. It innovatively solves the problem of point-of-care testing in 10 min, particularly the problem of sample nucleic acid extraction. Based on LAMP-Cas12a, visualization of the assay results is presented by both a fluorescent readout and by lateral flow test strips. The lateral flow test strip technology can achieve results visible to the naked eye, while fluorescence readout can achieve real-time high-sensitivity detection. The fluorescent readout-based Cas12a assay can achieve HBV detection with a limit of detection of 1 copy/μL within 13 min, while the lateral flow test strip technique only takes 20 min. In the evaluation of 73 clinical samples, the sensitivity and specificity of both the fluorescence readout and lateral flow test strip method were 100%, and the results of the assay were fully comparable to qPCR. The LAMP-Cas12a-based HBV assay relies on minimal equipment to provide rapid, accurate test results and low costs, providing significant practical value for point-of-care HBV detection.

Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties of three open-chain pentapyrroles and the corresponding sapphyrins were examined in pyridine containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate and dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) or benzonitrile (PhCN) containing tetra-n-butylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH). The investigated compounds are represented as (Ar)4PPyH3 and (Ar)4SH3, where Ar is a F(-) or Cl(-) substituted phenyl group, PPy is a trianion of the open-chain pentapyrrole, and S is a trianion of the sapphyrin. The pentapyrroles, (Ar)4PPyH3, undergo two reversible one-electron reductions in pyridine, while the structurally related sapphyrins exhibit four reductions in this solvent, the first two of which are irreversible due to coupled chemical reactions following the electron transfers. Both series of neutral compounds could be deprotonated in CH2Cl2 or PhCN by addition of TBAOH to solution, and the progress of these reactions was monitored as a function of the base concentration by cyclic voltammetry and UV-vis spectroscopy. The neutral pentapyrroles were spectroscopically shown to undergo a loss of two protons in a single step to generate the [(Ar)4PPyH](2-) dianion while the sapphyrins could only be monodeprotonated, leading to formation of the [(Ar)4SH2](-) monoanion under the same solution conditions. The deprotonation constants were measured for each series of compounds in benzonitrile, and oxidation-reduction mechanisms are examined as a function of the solution 'basicity'.

Open-chain pentapyrroles were isolated as side-products from the synthesis of triaryl-corroles and then converted to the corresponding sapphyrins by catalytic oxidation in acidic media. The investigated compounds were characterized by UV-vis and (1)H NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, electrochemistry, and spectroelectrochemistry and are represented as (Ar)4PPyH3 and (Ar)4SH3, where Ar is a F(-) or Cl(-) substituted phenyl group, PPy is a trianion of the open-chain pentapyrrole, and S is a trianion of the sapphyrin. Cyclic voltammetry and thin-layer UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry measurements were carried out in PhCN and CH2Cl2 containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate. The open-chain pentapyrroles undergo two reversible one-electron reductions and two reversible one-electron oxidations to generate [(Ar)PPyH3](-), [(Ar)PPyH3](2-), [(Ar)PPyH3](+), and [(Ar)PPyH3](2+) which were spectroscopically characterized. The corresponding sapphyrins exhibit two or three reversible one-electron oxidations in PhCN, but the reductions of these compounds are irreversible because of coupled chemical reactions following electron transfer. Comparisons are made between redox potentials and spectral properties of the open-chain pentapyrroles, sapphyrins, and structurally related corroles. Protonation of the open-chain pentapyrroles and sapphyrins was also carried out in CH2Cl2, and equilibrium constants were calculated by monitoring the spectral changes during titrations with trifluoroacetic acid. The pentapyrroles undergo a simultaneous two-proton addition to generate [(Ar)4PPyH5](2+) while the sapphyrins undergo two stepwise single proton additions to give [(Ar)4SH4](+) and [(Ar)4SH5](2+), respectively.

Two meso-dichlorophenyl substituted metallocorroles were synthesized and characterized as to their electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties in dichloromethane, benzonitrile, and pyridine containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate (TBAP) as supporting electrolyte. The examined compounds are represented as (Cl2Ph)3CorFeIVCl and (Cl2Ph)3CorMnIVCl where (Cl2Ph)3Cor is the trianion of 5,10,15-tri(2,4-dichlorophenyl)corrole. Each metallocorrole was examined as to its catalytic activity for the electoreduction of dioxygen when coated on an edge-plane pyrolytic graphite electrode in 1.0 M HClO4. Cyclic voltammetry combined with linear sweep voltammetry at a rotating disk electrode (RDE) and a rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) was utilized to evaluate the catalytic activity for the electroreduction of O2. The main O2 reduction product is hydrogen peroxide under the given experimental conditions.