Increasing the robustness of Escherichia coli for aromatic chemicals production through transcription factor engineering.

Engineering microbial cell factories has been widely used to produce a variety of chemicals, including natural products, biofuels, and bulk chemicals. However, poor robustness limits microbial production on an industrial scale. Microbial robustness is essential to ensure reliable and sustainable production of targeted chemicals.

Strategies to increase the robustness of microbial cell factories.

Engineering microbial cell factories have achieved much progress in producing fuels, natural products and bulk chemicals. However, in industrial fermentation, microbial cells often face various predictable and stochastic disturbances resulting from intermediate metabolites or end product toxicity, metabolic burden and harsh environment. These perturbances can potentially decrease productivity and titer.

Polygonum perfoliatum L. ethanol extract ameliorates 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene-induced atopic dermatitis-like skin inflammation.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Polygonum perfoliatum L. (PP) is classified as a heat-clearing and detoxifying agent in traditional Chinese medicine, and is believed to possess therapeutic properties for treating eczema, furuncles, and venomous snake bites. Previous studies have demonstrated that PP extract exhibits multiple bioactivities, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antioxidation, and antiviral properties.

Triptolide interrupts rRNA synthesis and induces the RPL23‑MDM2‑p53 pathway to repress lung cancer cells.

Lung cancer has one of the highest mortalities of any cancer worldwide. Triptolide (TP) is a promising tumor suppressor extracted from the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii. Our previous proteomics analysis revealed that TP significantly interfered with the ribosome biogenesis pathway; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains poorly understood.

Instabilities in dielectric elastomers: buckling, wrinkling, and crumpling.

Instabilities in a thin sheet are ubiquitous and can be induced by various stimuli, such as a uniaxial force, liquid-vapor surface tension, etc. This paper investigates voltage-induced instabilities in a membrane of a dielectric elastomer. Instabilities including buckling, wrinkling, and crumpling are observed in the experiments.

[Metabolic Characteristics of Leucocyte-deplated and Suspended RBC Produced by Using Lipid Whole Blood During Routine Storage].

Objective: To investigate the differences of metabolic pathways of leucocyte-deplated RBCs prepared by using lipid whole blood and nomal blood during routine storage so as to provide some reference for clinical blood use.

Methods: Twenty U whole blood from 20 donors, including 10 U lipid blood and 10 U normal whole blood, were selected for preparing leukodepleted red blood cells, red blood cells were taken from storage bags on day 0, 14 and 35, respectively. Metabolites in the red blood cells were analyzed, red blood cell metabolic extracts were detected by UPLC-MS/MS.

Suppression of Epstein-Barr virus DNA load in latently infected nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells by CRISPR/Cas9.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects more than 90% of the world's adult population. Once established, latent infection of nasopharyngeal epithelial cells with EBV is difficult to eradicate and might lead to the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in a small subset of individuals. In this study we explored the anti-EBV potential of CRISPR/Cas9 targeting of EBV genome in infected NPC cells.

Dynamic pattern of wrinkles in a dielectric elastomer.

A membrane of a dielectric elastomer may undergo electromechanical phase transition from the flat to wrinkled state, when the applied voltage reaches a critical value. The wrinkled region is observed to expand at the expense of the flat region during the phase transition. In this paper, we report on a dynamic pattern of wrinkles in a circular membrane of a dielectric elastomer.

Pharmacodynamic study on insomnia-curing effects of Shuangxia Decoction in Drosophila melanogaster.

The present study aimed to establish a pharmacodynamic method using the pySolo software to explore the influence of freeze-dried powders of Shuangxia Decoction (SXD) on the sleep of normal Drosophila melanogaster and the Drosophila melanogaster whose sleep was divested by light. The dose-effect and the time-effect relationships of SXD on sleep were examined. The effect-onset concentration of SXD was 0.

Ethylene/propylene copolymerization catalyzed by vanadium complexes containing N-heterocyclic carbenes.

Various vanadium complexes containing N-heterocyclic carbenes, VOCl3[1,3-R2(NCH=)2C:] (V1, R = 2,6-Me2C6H3; V2, R = 2,6-Et2C6H3; V3, R = 2,6-(i)Pr2C6H3; V4, R = 2,4,6-Me3C6H2), have been synthesized and employed as catalyst precursors for ethylene/propylene copolymerization after activation by Et3Al2Cl3. Complex V4 showed higher catalytic activity of ca. 38 kg copolymer per (mol of V) per h and an ethylene/propylene copolymer with random monomer distribution could be prepared.

PBX3 promotes migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells via activation of MAPK/ERK signaling pathway.

Aim: To investigate the role of pre-B-cell leukemia homeobox (PBX)3 in migration and invasion of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells.

Methods: We detected PBX3 expression in five cell lines and surgical specimens from 111 patients with CRC using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. We forced expression of PBX3 in low metastatic HT-29 and SW480 cells and knocked down expression of PBX3 in highly metastatic LOVO and HCT-8 cells.

A smoothed finite element method for analysis of anisotropic large deformation of passive rabbit ventricles in diastole.

The smoothed FEM (S-FEM) is firstly extended to explore the behavior of 3D anisotropic large deformation of rabbit ventricles during the passive filling process in diastole. Because of the incompressibility of myocardium, a special method called selective face-based/node-based S-FEM using four-node tetrahedral elements (FS/NS-FEM-TET4) is adopted in order to avoid volumetric locking. To validate the proposed algorithms of FS/NS-FEM-TET4, the 3D Lame problem is implemented.

Let-7c functions as a metastasis suppressor by targeting MMP11 and PBX3 in colorectal cancer.

Accumulating evidence shows that microRNAs, functioning as either oncogenes or tumour suppressors by negatively regulating downstream target genes that are actively involved in tumour initiation and progression, may be promising biomarkers and therapy targets. Data mining through a microRNA chip database indicated that let-7c may be associated with tumour metastasis. Here, we confirmed that down-regulation of let-7c in primary cancer tissues was significantly associated with metastases, advanced TNM stages and poor survival of colorectal cancer patients.

Suppression of lung cancer cell invasion and metastasis by connexin43 involves the secretion of follistatin-like 1 mediated via histone acetylation.

Although connexin has been recognized as a tumor suppressor in many types of cancer, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We have previously shown that transfection of connexin43 (Cx43) cDNA retarded the growth of a highly metastatic human pulmonary giant cell carcinoma cell line, PG, both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we further demonstrate that the metastasis and invasion, but not the migration, of PG cells are also inhibited following Cx43 transfection.

The properties of tumor-initiating cells from a hepatocellular carcinoma patient's primary and recurrent tumor.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with a high morbidity and mortality due to its high rate of recurrence. However, little is known about the biological characteristics of recurrent HCC cells. A single patient's primary and recurrent HCC-derived cell lines, Hep-11 and Hep-12, respectively, were established by primary culture.

Sarcomeric-alpha-actinin defective in vinculin-binding causes Z-line expansion and nemaline-like body formation in cultured chick myotubes.

The Z-line in each striated muscle has a precisely defined width that corresponds to muscle fiber type, and it can enlarge several fold in nemaline myopathy. To explore the mechanism(s) underlying Z-line width and structure maintenance, a series of sarcomeric-alpha-actinin mutants tagged with myc-epitope was transfected into cultured chick myotubes. By double-staining transfected myotubes with myc and myofibrillar protein antibodies, we found that alpha-actinin mutants with deletion of the region from the beginning of the fourth spectrin repeat to the start of the EF-hands resulted in expansion of Z-line width, often displayed a doublet staining pattern, and resulted in formation of nemaline-like bodies in older myotubes under fluorescence microscope.

High level expression and purification of recombinant PEX protein in cultured skeletal muscle cell expression system.

Large quantities of recombinant proteins are needed for specific therapeutic and diagnostic applications. To achieve high-level expression in eukaryotic cells, the choice of cell line as well as the expression vector is critical. In this report, we demonstrate that a combination of the skeletal muscle cell line, QM7 and a cytomegalovirus promoter-based expression vector can achieve high-level expression of secretory recombinant proteins in eukaryotic cells.

Conversion of cadherin isoforms in cultured human gastric carcinoma cells.

Aim: To explore the expression of cadherin isoforms in cultured human gastric carcinoma cells and its regulation.

Methods: The expressions of cell adhesion molecules (including E-cadherin, N-cadherin, alpha-catenin, beta-catenin) and cadherin transcription factors including snail, slug and twist were determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), immunoblotting and immunofluorescence in SV40-immortalized human gastric cell line Ges-1 and human gastric cancer cell lines MGC-803, BGC-823 and SGC-7901.

Results: All cell lines expressed N-cadherin, but not E-cadherin.

[MEF2 and myogenesis].

Recent genetic and biochemical studies have demonstrated that skeletal muscle growth and differentiation in vertebrates are controlled by a core regulatory network which consists of two families of transcriptional factors, the MyoD group basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) muscle regulatory factors (MRFs) and the myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) group of MADS-box regulators. During development, MEF2 interacts genetically and physically with different members of this myogenic network and together they cooperate to positively or negatively regulate transcription of downstream muscle-specific differentiation genes. This paper reviews current understanding of molecular mechanism of these interactions and essential roles that MEF2 plays in skeletal muscle growth and differentiation during development.

[Selective heterologous communication among human lung epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and lung cancer PG cells].

Objective: To further understand the roles of gap junctional intercellular communication in carcinogenesis and progression of human lung cancer.

Methods: The heterologous communication was characterized among human lung epithelial cells HLEC, human lung fibroblasts HLF, human lung giant carcinoma PG cells and its Cx43 transfectants PG/C4 by using a preloading assay. Cx43 immunofluorescent staining and Northern blot were performed to examine Cx43 gene expression.

Cisplatin-induced premature senescence with concomitant reduction of gap junctions in human fibroblasts.

To examine the role of gap junctions in cell senescence, the changes of gap junctions in cisplatin-induced premature senescence of primary cultured fibroblasts were studied and compared with the replicative senescent human fibroblasts. Dye transfer assay for gap junction function and immunofluorescent staining for connexin 43 protein distribution were done respectively. Furthermore, cytofluorimetry and DAPI fluorescence staining were performed for cell cycle and apoptosis analysis.

[Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and its complex in the urine of breast cancer patients].

Objective: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and its complex in the urine of the patient with breast cancer.

Methods: Using substract gel electrophoresis and western-blot analysis, expressions of MMP-9 and MMP-9/NGAL complex in breast cancer (n = 97), breast benign (n = 41) and normal (n = 60) were observed.

Results: There MMP-9 and MMP-9/NGAL complex expressions were 76.

Effective asymmetry in gap junctional intercellular communication between populations of human normal lung fibroblasts and lung carcinoma cells.

The dysfunction of homologous and/or heterologous gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) has been implicated in tumorigenesis of many kinds of cells. Here we have characterized GJIC and the expression of connexins in six human lung carcinoma cell lines and normal lung fibroblasts (HLF). Compared with HLF, all the carcinoma cells showed reduced or little homologous GJIC.