Ribosome pausing in amylase producing Bacillus subtilis during long fermentation.

Background: Ribosome pausing slows down translation and can affect protein synthesis. Improving translation efficiency can therefore be of commercial value. In this study, we investigated whether ribosome pausing occurs during production of the α-amylase AmyM by the industrial production organism Bacillus subtilis under repeated batch fermentation conditions.

Multi-metal mixture exposure and cognitive function in urban older adults: The mediation effects of thyroid hormones.

The existing studies on the association between multi-metal mixture exposure and cognitive function in the older adults are limited and controversial, with no studies considering the mediating effect of thyroid hormones on the connection between them. This study of 441 urban older adults assessed 21 urinary metal levels and cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Urinary metal levels were measured via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and thyroid hormones levels were obtained from medical records.

Inactivation of the conserved protease LonA increases production of xylanase and amylase in Bacillus subtilis.

Background: Bacillus subtilis is widely used for industrial enzyme production due to its capacity to efficiently secrete proteins. However, secretion efficiency of enzymes varies widely, and optimizing secretion is crucial to make production commercially viable. Previously, we have shown that overexpression of the xylanase XynA lowers expression of Clp protein chaperones, and that inactivation of CtsR, which regulates and represses clp transcription, increases the production of XynA.

Aldehyde Directed In Situ Loading of Ag Nanodots Around the Open Metal Sites of MOFs for the Tandem Catalysis of Nitrate to Ammonia.

Both spatial arrangement and intrinsic activity of electrocatalysts with dual-active sites are widely designed to match the coupling reaction between nitrate and water, in which most of the reactive intermediates can be optimized to achieve a high yield rate of ammonia. Herein, by introducing the aldehyde group inside metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in advance, an aldehyde-induced method is achieved to direct the in situ nucleation of Ag nanodots depending on the mesopores of MOFs via a simple silver mirror reaction. The key point here is that the spatial arrangement between the aldehyde group and open metal sites is fixed end to end, which makes the aldehyde group a built-in redox-active site to drive the in situ nucleation of Ag nanodots next to the open metal sites of MOFs.

Returned samples indicate volcanism on the Moon 120 million years ago.

There is extensive geologic evidence of ancient volcanic activity on the Moon, but it is unclear how long that volcanism persisted. Magma fountains produce volcanic glasses, which have previously been found in samples of the Moon's surface. We investigated ~3000 glass beads in lunar soil samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission and identified three as having a volcanic origin on the basis of their textures, chemical compositions, and sulfur isotopes.

Membrane depolarization kills dormant Bacillus subtilis cells by generating a lethal dose of ROS.

The bactericidal activity of several antibiotics partially relies on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is generally linked to enhanced respiration and requires the Fenton reaction. Bacterial persister cells, an important cause of recurring infections, are tolerant to these antibiotics because they are in a dormant state. Here, we use Bacillus subtilis cells in stationary phase, as a model system of dormant cells, to show that pharmacological induction of membrane depolarization enhances the antibiotics' bactericidal activity and also leads to ROS production.

Development of a split-luciferase assay to establish optimal protein secretion conditions for protein production by .

is a Gram-positive bacterium that is frequently used in the bioindustry for the production of various proteins, because of its superior protein secretion capacities. To determine optimal conditions for protein secretion by , a quick and sensitive method for measuring protein secretion is crucial. A fast and universal assay is most useful for detecting diverse proteins in a high-throughput manner.

Bridging Nickel-MOF and Copper Single Atoms/Clusters with H-Substituted Graphdiyne for the Tandem Catalysis of Nitrate to Ammonia.

Interfacial engineering of synergistic catalysts is one of the keys to achieving multiple proton-coupled electron transfer processes in nitrate-to-ammonia conversion. Herein, by joining ultrathin nickel-based metal-organic framework (denoted Ni-MOF) nanosheets with few-layered hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne-supported copper single atoms and clusters (denoted HsGDY@Cu), a tandem catalyst of Ni-MOFs@HsGDY@Cu with dual-active interfaces was developed for the concerted catalysis of nitrate-to-ammonia. In such a system, the sandwiched HsGDY layer could serve as a bridge to connect the coordinated unsaturated Ni sites with Cu single atoms/clusters in a limited range of 0 to 3.

Development of toluidine red particle agglutination-based turbidimetric immunoassay for anticardiolipin antibody detection in syphilis.

Introduction: Serological tests of non-treponemal and treponemal types are the most frequently used for syphilis diagnosis. Nontreponemal tests are used to monitor disease activity. Toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST), as one of nontreponemal tests, is generally applicable to hospitals at different levels.

Improving gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) by using regulation directionality.

To infer the biological meaning from transcriptome data, it is useful to focus on genes that are regulated by the same regulator, i.e., regulons.

Induction of the CtsR regulon improves Xylanase production in Bacillus subtilis.

Background: The bacterium Bacillus subtilis is extensively used for the commercial production of enzymes due to its efficient protein secretion capacity. However, the efficiency of secretion varies greatly between enzymes, and despite many years of research, optimization of enzyme production is still largely a matter of trial-and-error. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis seems a useful tool to identify relevant secretion bottlenecks, yet to this day, only a limited number of transcriptome studies have been published that focus on enzyme secretion in B.

Metabolic and chromosomal changes in a mutant.

WhiA is a conserved DNA-binding protein that influences cell division in many Gram-positive bacteria and, in also chromosome segregation. How WhiA works in is unknown. Here, we tested three hypothetical mechanisms using metabolomics, fatty acid analysis, and chromosome confirmation capture experiments.

Hybrid nanoarrays of Cu-MOFs@H-substituted graphdiyne with various levels of Lewis acidity for nitrate electroreduction.

To mimic enzymes in nature, a set of hybrid nanoarrays of Cu-MOFs sealed in hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne has been developed in order to serve as Lewis-acid-promoted catalysts. By regulating the electron-withdrawing capability of the ligands bridging Cu sites, these Cu-MOFs provided different levels of Lewis acidity toward nitrate affinity, a feature crucial for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion.

Interfacial Engineering of Bimetallic Ni/Co-MOFs with H-Substituted Graphdiyne for Ammonia Electrosynthesis from Nitrate.

The electrochemical synthesis of ammonia is highly dependent on the coupling reaction between nitrate and water, for which an electrocatalyst with a multifunctional interface is anticipated to promote the deoxygenation and hydrogenation of nitrate with water. Herein, by engineering the surface of bimetallic Ni/Co-MOFs (NiCoBDC) with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne (HsGDY), a hybrid nanoarray of NiCoBDC@HsGDY with a multifunctional interface has been achieved toward scale-up of the nitrate-to-ammonia conversion. On the one hand, a partial electron transfers from Ni to the coordinatively unsaturated Co on the surface of NiCoBDC, which not only promotes the deoxygenation of *NO on Co but also activates the water-dissociation to *H on Ni.

Dual Action of Eeyarestatin 24 on Sec-Dependent Protein Secretion and Bacterial DNA.

Eeyarestatin 24 (ES24) is a promising new antibiotic with broad-spectrum activity. It shares structural similarity with nitrofurantoin (NFT), yet appears to have a distinct and novel mechanism: ES24 was found to inhibit SecYEG-mediated protein transport and membrane insertion in Gram-negative bacteria. However, possible additional targets have not yet been explored.

Different Resource Allocation in a Bacillus subtilis Population Displaying Bimodal Motility.

To cope with sudden changes in their environment, bacteria can use a bet-hedging strategy by dividing the population into cells with different properties. This so-called bimodal or bistable cellular differentiation is generally controlled by positive feedback regulation of transcriptional activators. Due to the continuous increase in cell volume, it is difficult for these activators to reach an activation threshold concentration when cells are growing exponentially.

A flat embedding method for transmission electron microscopy reveals an unknown mechanism of tetracycline.

Transmission electron microscopy of cell sample sections is a popular technique in microbiology. Currently, ultrathin sectioning is done on resin-embedded cell pellets, which consumes milli- to deciliters of culture and results in sections of randomly orientated cells. This is problematic for rod-shaped bacteria and often precludes large-scale quantification of morphological phenotypes due to the lack of sufficient numbers of longitudinally cut cells.

Bellidifolin Inhibits Proliferation of A549 Cells by Regulating STAT3/COX-2 Expression and Protein Activity.

Objectives: Bellidifolin (BEL) is one type of tetraoxygenated xanthone that is particularly found in and (Gentianaceae). Despite its broad range of pharmacological activities, it is still unclear whether BEL could be used for lung cancer treatment. Hence, we presently demonstrate the roles of BEL towards the proliferative inhibition of the prototypical A549 lung cancer cells.

Immuno-Stimulatory Activity of Escherichia coli Mutants Producing Kdo2-Monophosphoryl-Lipid A or Kdo2-Pentaacyl-Monophosphoryl-Lipid A.

Lipid A is the active center of lipopolysaccharide which also known as endotoxin. Monophosphoryl-lipid A (MPLA) has less toxicity but retains potent immunoadjuvant activity; therefore, it can be developed as adjuvant for improving the strength and duration of the immune response to antigens. However, MPLA cannot be chemically synthesized and can only be obtained by hydrolyzing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) purified from Gram-negative bacteria.

Structure characterization of phospholipids and lipid A of Pseudomonas putida KT2442.

Pseudomonas putida KT2442 is an important bacterium for producing various types of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers. Phospholipids and lipid A in membranes of P. putida play important roles in stress responses, but detailed structural information of these lipids is not known.

Evaluation the quality characteristics of wheat flour and shelf-life of fresh noodles as affected by ozone treatment.

In this study, the effects of ozone treatment on the microorganism mortality in wheat flour and shelf-life of fresh noodles were investigated, as well as the physicochemical properties of wheat flour and textural qualities of cooked noodles. Results showed that the total plate count (TPC) can be largely reduced in wheat flour exposed to ozone gas for 30 min and 60 min. Whiteness of flour and noodle sheet, dough stability, and peak viscosity of wheat starch were all increased by ozone treatment.