Abstract
Wild teas are valuable genetic resources for studying domestication and breeding. Here we report the assembly of a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome for an ancient tea tree. The ...further RNA sequencing of 217 diverse tea accessions clarifies the pedigree of tea cultivars and reveals key contributors in the breeding of Chinese tea. Candidate genes associated with flavonoid biosynthesis are identified by genome-wide association study. Specifically, diverse allelic function of
CsANR
,
CsF3’5’H
and
CsMYB5
is verified by transient overexpression and enzymatic assays, providing comprehensive insights into the biosynthesis of catechins, the most important bioactive compounds in tea plants. The inconspicuous differentiation between ancient trees and cultivars at both genetic and metabolic levels implies that tea may not have undergone long-term artificial directional selection in terms of flavor-related metabolites. These genomic resources provide evolutionary insight into tea plants and lay the foundation for better understanding the biosynthesis of beneficial natural compounds.
Recent developments in the fields of composite materials for cesium adsorption and environmental remediation are reviewed.
Display omitted
•Emerging composite materials for Cs+ adsorption and ...environmental remediation.•Review of species, synthesis and performance of composite materials.•Future prospects of different categories composite materials are discussed.•Need for novel porous composites with high capacity and fast kinetics recommended.
Considering the urgency of removing hazardous radioactive 137Cs, Cs+ adsorption and environmental remediation from aqueous solutions has been given widespread concern. Composite materials (CMs) have recently emerged with good potential application in Cs+ adsorption. Herein, recent developments in the field of Cs+ adsorption covering the synthesis and performance of composite materials are reviewed. This is followed by a preliminary summary for composite materials and their further prospects in Cs+ adsorption. Based on the scope of the core and supporting materials, composite materials are classified into several categories. Along this line, the representative composite materials are introduced in view of synthesis methods and adsorption performance. Moreover, some emerging novel materials are also briefly described. Overall, this review intends to provide a preliminary database for composite materials and further guide the exploration and design of more composite materials with excellent adsorption performance in respective fields of radioactive contamination, wastewater treatment and radioisotope recycling.
Display omitted
•Lithium in underground brine was recovered by centrifugal extraction.•A novel extraction system and technical process were developed.•The recycling of Fe3+ was successfully ...solved.•Without any washing steps were required.
The recovery of lithium from brine is a focus of worldwide due to the increasing demand of lithium in modern energy industry. Multistage centrifugal extraction was used in this work to recover lithium from underground brine. It was found that the centrifugal extraction rate of lithium is low by conventional methods, during which a multimolecular reaction with slow equilibrium time is involved. This problem was successfully solved by using an extraction system containing 80% tri-isobutyl phosphate (TIBP) and 20% sulfonated kerosene in combination with a novel operating method. The recycling of co-extractant (Fe3+) which is one of the bottleneck problems to limit the application of solvent extraction was also solved based on an innovative technical process. The recovery rate of lithium in underground brine reached to 90.05% by five-stage centrifugal extraction at optimized conditions. The stripping rate of lithium in organic phase was almost 100% using a solution containing 1.0 mol/L HCl at R(O/A) = 2:1. Lithium was not only separated from brine but also fourfold concentrated without any washing of the organic phase. This developed method is simple and thus is promising to be applied for the industrialized recovery of lithium from underground brine.
Display omitted
•Lithium in geothermal water was recovered by ion sieve adsorption.•Three kinds of LMOs were synthesized and compared.•Powdery Li4Mn5O12 was granulated and then cross-linked.•The ...stability of CTS/LMO was improved by cross-linking with EGDE.
As a new-type liquid lithium resource, the recovery of lithium from geothermal water is of great significance due to the increasing importance of lithium in modern industry. In this work, different lithium manganese oxides (LMOs), including LiMn2O4, Li1.66Mn1.66O4, and Li4Mn5O12, were synthesized and applied for selective recovery of lithium from geothermal water. It was found that the powdery Li4Mn5O12 exhibits high performances for low concentrations of Li+ and was then successfully granulated using chitosan (CTS) at a mass ratio of CTS/LMO = 3:2. The hydrophily of CTS leaded to a serious dissolution loss of CTS/LMO under acidic conditions, but it was successfully solved by direct cross-link of the spherical material using ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE), by which the dissolution loss in 0.25 mol/L HCl was decreased from 27.65% to no more than 0.6%. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of Li+ in geothermal water reached 8.98 mg/g at 303.15 K, while the attenuation of adsorption capacity was no more than 1.1% after five times adsorption-desorption cycles. The separation factors between Li+ and other ions were all higher than 51 with a distribution coefficient of Li+ reaching up to 1113.27 mL/g. All these properties demonstrate that the developed material has high selectivity and stability, and can be used as a candidate for selective recovery of lithium from geothermal water or other solutions.
Rheum tanguticum (R. tanguticum) has been widely used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases in clinical. However, limited research exist on the quality evaluation of various R. tanguticum ...locations, which has certain drawbacks. In this study, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to comparative study on the chemical contents of R. tanguticum, to clarify the relationship between the chemical contents and the spatial distribution of R. tanguticum. First of all, the FTIR spectra of 18 batches of R. tanguticum were examined. Following the cluster analysis, the FTIR spectra of various production locations differed. To some extent, establishing the double index analysis sequence of common and variation peaks may differentiate distinct production locations of medicinal materials. The HPLC fingerprint of R. tanguticum was constructed to further explore the link between components and their origin. PCA of common peaks of 18 batches of R. tanguticum indicated that R. tanguticum grown in Gannan and Qinghai had a tendency to separate t2, however this trend was not noticeable. Then, OPLS-DA model was established, and the key differential components of R. tanguticum produced in Gannan and Qinghai were discovered to be R16, R37, R46, and R47 (Aloe emodin) (VIP ≥ 1 and P < 0.05). At last, Pearson's test was used to examine the relationship between longitude, latitude, altitude, and composition. Longitude was significantly positively correlated with R28 and R30 (P < 0.05), and a very significantly positively correlated with R35, R36, R37, R46, and R47 (P < 0.01). Latitude was significantly negatively correlated with R34, R35, and R40 (P < 0.05), and extremely significantly negatively correlated with R28, R30, R36, R37, R46, and R47 (P < 0.01). Altitude was significantly positive correlation with R36 and R37 (P < 0.01). The results of our study can provide insights into R. tanguticum quality control and aid in establishing a natural medication traceability system.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In order to obtain a well understanding of the toxicity and ecological effects of trace elements in the environment, it is necessary to determine not only the total amount, but also their existing ...species. Speciation analysis has become increasingly important in making risk assessments of toxic elements since the toxicity and bioavailability strongly depend on their chemical forms. Effective separation of different species in combination with highly sensitive detectors to quantify these particular species is indispensable to meet this requirement. In this paper, we present the recent progresses on the speciation analysis of trace arsenic, mercury, selenium and antimony in environmental and biological samples with an emphasis on the separation and detection techniques, especially the recent applications of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) hyphenated to atomic spectrometry or mass spectrometry.
The tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) is one of the most economically significant crops worldwide because of its positive effects on human health. The health benefits of tea are mainly ...attributed to catechins, which are the predominant polyphenols that accumulate in tea. Catechins are products of the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways. Although catechins were identified in tea leaves long ago, the molecular mechanisms regulating catechins biosynthesis remain unclear. To identify candidate genes involved in catechins biosynthesis, we analyzed the transcriptomes of tea leaves during five different leaf stages of development using RNA-seq. Approximately 809 million high-quality reads were obtained, trimmed, and assembled into 299,113 unigenes with an average length of 565 bp. A total of 15,817 unigenes were differentially expressed during the different stages of leaf development. These differentially expressed genes were enriched in a variety of processes such as the regulation of the cell cycle, starch and sucrose metabolism, photosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, and flavonoid biosynthesis. Based on their annotations, 51 of these differentially expressed unigenes are involved in phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, transcription factors such as MYB, bHLH and MADS, which may involve in the regulation of catechins biosynthesis, were identified through co-expression analysis of transcription factors and structural genes. Real-time PCR analysis of candidate genes indicated a good correlation with the transcriptome data. These findings increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating catechins biosynthesis in the tea plant.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world. Relapse and metastasis are important factors endangering the life of breast cancer patients, but the mechanism is still unclear. The ...stabilization of p53 is essential for preventing carcinogenesis, and ubiquitination is one of the main ways to regulate the stability of p53. Tripartite motif-containing 31 (TRIM31) is a new member of the TRIM family and functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. It acts as a cancer promoter or suppressor in the malignant processes of multiple cancers. However, the function of TRIM31 in breast cancer progression remains unknown. In this study, we showed that TRIM31 is downregulated in breast cancer tissues and negatively correlated with breast cancer progression. Both gain- and loss-of-function assays indicated that TRIM31 inhibits the proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells. Further investigation demonstrated that TRIM31 directly interacts with p53, and inducing the K63-linked ubiquitination of p53 via its RING domain, Meanwhile, TRIM31 suppresses the MDM2-mediated K48-linked ubiquitination of p53 through competitive inhibiting the interaction of MDM2 and p53, leading to the p53 stabilization and activation. Knockdown of p53 reversed the inhibitory effects of TRIM31 on the growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Moreover, we found that the RING and coiled-coil (C-C) domains of TRIM31 were essential for its tumor suppressor function. Taken together, our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which TRIM31 suppresses breast cancer development through the stabilization and activation of p53 and define a promising therapeutic strategy for restoring TRIM31 to treat breast cancer.
Copper-catalysed asymmetric C–C bond-forming reactions using organometallic reagents have developed into a powerful tool for the synthesis of complex molecules with single or multiple stereogenic ...centres over the past decades. Among the various acceptors employed in such reactions, those with a heterocyclic core are of particular importance because of the frequent occurrence of heterocyclic scaffolds in the structures of chiral natural products and bioactive molecules. Hence, this review focuses on the progress made over the past 20 years for heterocyclic acceptors.
Proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) recruits an E3 ligase to a target protein to induce its ubiquitination and subsequent degradation. We reported success in the development of two PROTACs (C3 and ...C5) that potently and selectively induce the degradation of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 (DC50 = 0.7 and 3.0 μM), respectively, by introducing the E3 ligase cereblon-binding ligand pomalidomide to Mcl-1/Bcl-2 dual inhibitors S1-6 and Nap-1 with micromolar-range affinity. C3-induced Mcl-1 ubiquitination translated into much more lethality in Mcl-1-dependent H23 cells than the most potent Mcl-1 occupancy-based inhibitor A-1210477 with nanomolar-range affinity. Moreover, structure–activity relationship analysis and molecular dynamic simulations discovered the structural basis for turning nonselective or promiscuous Bcl-2 family ligands into selective PROTACs. C3 and C5 exhibited reversible depletion in living cells, which provides a new potent toolkit for gain-of-function studies to probe the dynamic roles of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 in apoptosis networks.
PDF
