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Hydroxyequols are promising analogues of the biologically active flavonoid, equol. We recently found that the flavin-dependent monooxygenase HpaBro-3 of Rhodococcus opacus ...regioselectively synthesizes 3′-hydroxyequol from equol, whereas HpaBpl-1 of Photorhabdus luminescens synthesizes 6-hydroxyequol. In this study, we investigated the cascade synthesis of a dihydroxyequol compound from equol using these two enzymes. When Escherichia coli cells expressing HpaBro-3 and cells expressing HpaBpl-1 were simultaneously incubated with equol, the cells efficiently synthesized 6,3′-dihydroxyequol (8.7 mM, 2.4 g/L) via 3′- and 6-hydroxyequols in one pot. The antioxidant activity of the equol derivatives increased with an increase in the number of hydroxyl groups on the equol scaffold. 6,3′-Dihydroxyequol exhibited potent antioxidant activity. In addition, 6-hydroxyequol significantly inhibited the growth of E. coli. Cell survival studies suggested that 6-hydroxyequol is a bactericidal rather than bacteriostatic compound. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the antibacterial activity of hydroxyequols.
The balance between bacterial colonization and its containment in the intestine is indispensable for the symbiotic relationship between humans and their bacteria. One component to maintain ...homeostasis at the mucosal surfaces is immunoglobulin A (IgA), the most abundant immunoglobulin in mammals
. Several studies have revealed important characteristics of poly-reactive IgA
, which is produced naturally without commensal bacteria. Considering the dynamic changes within the gut environment, however, it remains uncertain how the commensal-reactive IgA pool is shaped and how such IgA affects the microbial community. Here we show that acetate-one of the major gut microbial metabolites-not only increases the production of IgA in the colon, but also alters the capacity of the IgA pool to bind to specific microorganisms including Enterobacterales. Induction of commensal-reactive IgA and changes in the IgA repertoire by acetate were observed in mice monocolonized with Escherichia coli, which belongs to Enterobacterales, but not with the major commensal Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, which suggests that acetate directs selective IgA binding to certain microorganisms. Mechanistically, acetate orchestrated the interactions between epithelial and immune cells, induced microbially stimulated CD4 T cells to support T-cell-dependent IgA production and, as a consequence, altered the localization of these bacteria within the colon. Collectively, we identified a role for gut microbial metabolites in the regulation of differential IgA production to maintain mucosal homeostasis.
Cryogenic neon pellets of 3 mm in diameter were injected into neutral beam injection (NBI) heated discharges on the Large Helical Device (LHD). The time response of far infrared (FIR) interferometer ...has pointed out a relatively slow assimilation of the ablated materials compared to the cases of hydrogen injection. This is consistent with the neutral gas and plasma shielding (NGPS) model prediction, showing that strong line emission inside the ablation cloud limits the cloud temperature and the expansion velocity along the magnetic field line. Measured penetration depths were also compared, being well reproduced by the code prediction when the contribution from 180 keV fast ions produced by tangential NBI is taken into account.
Monooxygenases exhibiting high activity and differing regioselectivity for the dietary isoflavone metabolite equol were discovered among enzymes in the HpaBC family by a genome mining approach. These ...enzymes enabled the one-step product-selective synthesis of 3′- and 6-hydroxyequols from equol and molecular oxygen.
A one-step product-selective approach for synthesizing hydroxyequols from equol using oxidation biocatalysts was developed.
The runaway electron (RE) beam formation in JA DEMO is simulated using the integrated disruption code INDEX. It is shown that the gamma-ray flux is comparable with that of the published results for ...ITER and the Compton scattering of gamma rays governs an irreducible minimum of the RE seed (~ 0.01 - 0.1 A), which can lead to multi-mega-ampere RE beams in the absence of significant radial transport of REs.
A set of homozygous diploid deletion mutants of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was screened for the genes required for tolerance to aliphatic alcohols. The screen identified 137, 122 and 48 ...deletion mutants sensitive to ethanol, 1-propanol and 1-pentanol, respectively. A number of the genes required for ethanol tolerance were those also required for tolerance to other alcohols. Numerous mutants with defective genes encoding for vacuolar H⁺-ATPase (V-ATPase) were cosensitive to these alcohols. A global screening approach of yeast deletion library mutants was useful in elucidating the mechanisms of alcohol tolerance based on different lipophilicities.
The effects of impurities on runaway electron generation are studied using a zero-dimensional disruption simulation code. For describing collisions between fast electrons and partially stripped ions, ...a charge-resolved expression of the Coulomb logarithm is employed. Numerical analysis of the avalanche growth rate using the adjoint Fokker-Planck method is compared with two existing semi-analytic models, showing (i) the convergence of the growth rate to strong electric field limit of the Rosenbluth-Putvinski (R-P) model and (ii) the cancellation of the effect of second-order collisional diffusion for intermediate electric fields. Using the developed current quench (CQ) simulations, the parametric study is performed with the aid of the power balance analysis, which characterizes the onset of strong avalanche amplification in the presence of low-Z and noble gas species. Thermal quench (TQ) simulations are also developed for self-consistent evaluation of hot-tail seed electrons. The deposition timescale of impurity neutrals is shown to have significant impacts on hot-tail seeds, depending non-monotonically on the pre-TQ temperature and the injected impurity density.
To realize the development of a long plasma source with a uniform electron density distribution in the axial direction, the spatial distribution of plasma under a multi-cusp magnetic field was ...analyzed using a KEIO-MARC code. Considering a cylindrical plasma source with an axial length of 3000 mm and a cross-sectional diameter of 100 mm, in which the filament electrode was the electron source, the electron density distribution was calculated using the residual magnetic flux density, Bres, and the number of permanent magnets installed at different locations surrounding the device, Nmag, as design parameters. The results show that both Bres and Nmag improved the uniformity of the electron density distribution in the axial direction. The maximum axial electron density decreased with increasing Nmag and increased with increasing Bres. These trends can be explained by considering the nature of the multi-cusp field, where particles are mainly confined to the field-free region (FFR) near the center of the plasma column, and the loss of particles due to radial particle transport. The use of multiple filaments at intervals shorter than the plasma decay length dramatically improved axial uniformity. To further improve axial uniformity, the filament length and FFR must be properly set so that electrons are emitted inside the FFR.
We have recently incorporated the occupation probability formalism (OPF) in the simulation model C. Stehlé and S. Jacquemot, Astron. Astrophys. 271, 348 (1993) to have a smooth transition from ...discrete lines to continuum spectrum in the wavelength range near the Balmer series limit. We have analyzed spectra measured for the hydrogen pellet ablation cloud in the Large Helical Device with the revised model, and have found that the electron density in the ablation cloud has a close correlation with the electron temperature of the background plasma. This type of correlation is first confirmed in the present analysis and should give a new insight in the simulation studies of pellet ablation for the magnetically confined fusion plasma.
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