High Serum Iron level is Associated with Increased Mortality in Patients with Sepsis.

Iron is an essential nutrient for bacterial survival and thus higher iron levels may precipitate bacterial infections. We investigated the association between the serum iron level and prognosis in patients with sepsis by using the single-centre Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. Sepsis patients with iron parameters measured on ICU admission were included and stratified according to quartiles of serum iron levels.

Characterization of the Bombyx mori Cecropin A1 promoter regulated by IMD pathway.

Cecropin A1 (CecA1) promoter from Bombyx mori was cloned and characterized to provide insight into the transcriptional control of this antimicrobial peptide gene upon immune challenges. Reporter gene assays demonstrated that both Escherichia coli and lipopolysaccharide could induce expression in BmE cells but B. bombyseptieus or peptidoglycan failed, and the induction pattern of the reporter gene was coincident with the endogenous CecA1.

[Construction of the recQ double mutants and analysis of adversity in Deinococcus radiodurans].

As a subfamily member of SF1 superfamily, the RecO helicases are highly conserved in evolution and are required for maintaining genome stability in all organisms. Loss of RecO helicase function leads to a breakdown in the maintenance of genome integrity, in particular hyper-recombination. Named after the recQ gene of Escherichia coli, lower eukaryotic species generally only contain a single RecQ family representative; for example, Sgsl in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Rqhl in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Functional analysis of helicase and three tandem HRDC domains of RecQ in Deinococcus radiodurans.

RecQ is a highly conserved helicase necessary for maintaining genome stability in all organisms. Genome comparison showed that a homologue of RecQ in Deinococcus radiodurans designated as DR1289 is a member of RecQ family with unusual domain arrangement: a helicase domain, an RecQ C-terminal domain, and surprisingly three HRDC domain repeats, whose function, however, remains obscure currently. Using an insertion deletion, we discovered that the DRRecQ mutation causes an increase in gamma radiation, hydroxyurea and mitomycine C and UV sensitivity.