The evolution of the SARS‐CoV‐2 new variants reported to be 70% more contagious than the earlier one is now spreading fast worldwide. There is an instant need to discover how the new variants ...interact with the host receptor (ACE2). Among the reported mutations in the Spike glycoprotein of the new variants, three are specific to the receptor‐binding domain (RBD) and required insightful scrutiny for new therapeutic options. These structural evolutions in the RBD domain may impart a critical role to the unique pathogenicity of the SARS‐CoV‐2 new variants. Herein, using structural and biophysical approaches, we explored that the specific mutations in the UK (N501Y), South African (K417N‐E484K‐N501Y), Brazilian (K417T‐E484K‐N501Y), and hypothetical (N501Y‐E484K) variants alter the binding affinity, create new inter‐protein contacts and changes the internal structural dynamics thereby increases the binding and eventually the infectivity. Our investigation highlighted that the South African (K417N‐E484K‐N501Y), Brazilian (K417T‐E484K‐N501Y) variants are more lethal than the UK variant (N501Y). The behavior of the wild type and N501Y is comparable. Free energy calculations further confirmed that increased binding of the spike RBD to the ACE2 is mainly due to the electrostatic contribution. Further, we find that the unusual virulence of this virus is potentially the consequence of Darwinian selection‐driven epistasis in protein evolution. The triple mutants (South African and Brazilian) may pose a serious threat to the efficacy of the already developed vaccine. Our analysis would help to understand the binding and structural dynamics of the new mutations in the RBD domain of the Spike protein and demand further investigation in in vitro and in vivo models to design potential therapeutics against the new variants.
This study precisely explored the mechanism of the interaction of the spike RBD with the host ACE2 and revealed the differences in the binding of the reference and new variants. The systematic investigation revealed that the South African and Brazilian variants are more lethal than the others due to inter‐protein contacts specifically the electrostatic while the N501Y is comparable with the wild type. We hypothesized that the residue at 501Y is continuously subjected to positive selection pressure. We further demonstrated the dynamic behavior is also changed with the protein evolution. Conclusively, this study provides strong basis for structure and rationale‐based drug designing against the new variant by exploring the noticeable differences.
The development of high‐efficiency bifunctional electrocatalysts toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline surroundings is essential and challenging ...for the large‐scale generation of clean hydrogen. Herein, a novel self‐assembled two‐dimensional (2 D) NiO/CeO2 heterostructure (HS) consisting of NiO and CeO2 nanocrystals is prepared through a facile two‐step approach, and utilized as an enhanced bifunctional electrocatalyst for the HER and OER under alkaline conditions. It is concluded that this 2 D NiO/CeO2 HS, rich in oxygen vacancies, demonstrates attractive electrocatalytic properties for both the HER and OER in 1 m KOH, including low onset overpotential (η1), η10 and Tafel slope, excellent durability, as well as large active surface area. Therefore, the self‐assembled 2 D NiO/CeO2 HS is believed to be an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst toward the HER and OER.
Bifunctional electrocatalysts: A high‐efficiency bifunctional NiO/CeO2 heterostructure (HS) electrocatalyst is fabricated. The unique self‐assembled NiO/CeO2 HSs consisting of NiO and CeO2 nanocrystals is rich in oxygen vacancies and has a large active surface area. These features contribute to the outstanding HER and OER performance in 1 m KOH. Therefore, these self‐assembled 2 D NiO/CeO2 HSs are expected to find use in numerous renewable energy systems.
The gut microbiota regulates the biological processes of organisms acting like 'another' genome, affecting the health and disease of the host. MicroRNAs, as important physiological regulators, have ...been found to be involved in health and disease. Recently, the gut microbiota has been reported to affect host health by regulating host miRNAs. For example, Fusobacterium nucleatum could aggravate chemoresistance of colorectal cancer by decreasing the expression of miR-18a* and miR-4802. What's more, miRNAs can shape the gut microbiota composition, ultimately affecting the host's physiology and disease. miR-515-5p and miR-1226-5p could promote the growth of Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) and Escherichia coli (E.coli), which have been reported to drive colorectal cancer. Here, we will review current findings of the interactions between the gut microbiota and microRNAs and discuss how the gut microbiota-microRNA interactions affect host pathophysiology including intestinal, neurological, cardiovascular, and immune health and diseases.
Gut microbiota, an integral part of the human body, comprise bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protozoa. There is consensus that the disruption of the gut microbiota (termed “gut dysbiosis”) is ...influenced by host genetics, diet, antibiotics, and inflammation, and it is closely linked to the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Macrophages are the key players in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis by eliminating invading pathogens and exhibit extreme plasticity of their phenotypes, such as M1 or M2, which have been demonstrated to exert pro- and anti-inflammatory functions. Microbiota-derived metabolites, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), exert anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory effects by acting on macrophages. Understanding the role of macrophages in gut microbiota-inflammation interactions might provide us a novel method for preventing and treating inflammatory diseases. In this review, we summarize the recent research on the relationship between gut microbiota and inflammation and discuss the important role of macrophages in this context.
The gut microbiota, as the main member in gut microecology, is an essential mediator in health and disease. The gut microbiota interacts with various organs and systems in the body, including brain, ...lung, liver, bone, cardiovascular system, and others. Microbiota-derived metabolites such as the short chain fatty acid (SCFA) butyrate are primary signals, which link the gut microbiota and physiology. Recently, the gut microbiota has been identified as the origin of a number of diseases by influencing the related cell signaling pathways such as WNT/beta-catenin pathway in colorectal cancer and T cell receptor signaling in the central nervous system. Moreover, several microRNAs participate in signaling networks through the intervention of the gut microbiota. The interaction between the gut microbiota and miRNAs plays a crucial role in vascular dysfunction and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this review, we will report and discuss recent findings about the crosstalk between the gut microbiota and physical organs and how the gut microbiota and miRNAs regulate each other while influencing the host via genes, proteins, or metabolites.
Previous studies have revealed the involvement of coffee and tea in the development of stroke and dementia. However, little is known about the association between the combination of coffee and tea ...and the risk of stroke, dementia, and poststroke dementia. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the associations of coffee and tea separately and in combination with the risk of developing stroke and dementia.
This prospective cohort study included 365,682 participants (50 to 74 years old) from the UK Biobank. Participants joined the study from 2006 to 2010 and were followed up until 2020. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the associations between coffee/tea consumption and incident stroke and dementia, adjusting for sex, age, ethnicity, qualification, income, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, alcohol status, smoking status, diet pattern, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), history of cancer, history of diabetes, history of cardiovascular arterial disease (CAD), and hypertension. Coffee and tea consumption was assessed at baseline. During a median follow-up of 11.4 years for new onset disease, 5,079 participants developed dementia, and 10,053 participants developed stroke. The associations of coffee and tea with stroke and dementia were nonlinear (P for nonlinear <0.01), and coffee intake of 2 to 3 cups/d or tea intake of 3 to 5 cups/d or their combination intake of 4 to 6 cups/d were linked with the lowest hazard ratio (HR) of incident stroke and dementia. Compared with those who did not drink tea and coffee, drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee and 2 to 3 cups of tea per day was associated with a 32% (HR 0.68, 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.79; P < 0.001) lower risk of stroke and a 28% (HR, 0.72, 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.89; P = 0.002) lower risk of dementia. Moreover, the combination of coffee and tea consumption was associated with lower risk of ischemic stroke and vascular dementia. Additionally, the combination of tea and coffee was associated with a lower risk of poststroke dementia, with the lowest risk of incident poststroke dementia at a daily consumption level of 3 to 6 cups of coffee and tea (HR, 0.52, 95% CI, 0.32 to 0.83; P = 0.007). The main limitations were that coffee and tea intake was self-reported at baseline and may not reflect long-term consumption patterns, unmeasured confounders in observational studies may result in biased effect estimates, and UK Biobank participants are not representative of the whole United Kingdom population.
We found that drinking coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia. Intake of coffee alone or in combination with tea was associated with lower risk of poststroke dementia.
ObjectiveGastrointestinal microbiota may be involved in Helicobacter pylori-associated gastric cancer development. The aim of this study was to explore the possible microbial mechanisms in gastric ...carcinogenesis and potential dysbiosis arising from H. pylori infection.DesignDeep sequencing of the microbial 16S ribosomal RNA gene was used to investigate alterations in paired gastric biopsies and stool samples in 58 subjects with successful and 57 subjects with failed anti-H. pylori treatment, relative to 49 H . pylori negative subjects.ResultsIn H. pylori positive subjects, richness and Shannon indexes increased significantly (both p<0.001) after successful eradication and showed no difference to those of negative subjects (p=0.493 for richness and p=0.420 for Shannon index). Differential taxa analysis identified 18 significantly altered gastric genera after eradication. The combination of these genera into a Microbial Dysbiosis Index revealed that the dysbiotic microbiota in H. pylori positive mucosa was associated with advanced gastric lesions (chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia/dysplasia) and could be reversed by eradication. Strong coexcluding interactions between Helicobacter and Fusobacterium, Neisseria, Prevotella, Veillonella, Rothia were found only in advanced gastric lesion patients, and were absent in normal/superficial gastritis group. Changes in faecal microbiota included increased Bifidobacterium after successful H. pylori eradication and more upregulated drug-resistant functional orthologs after failed treatment.Conclusion H. pylori infection contributes significantly to gastric microbial dysbiosis that may be involved in carcinogenesis. Successful H. pylori eradication potentially restores gastric microbiota to a similar status as found in uninfected individuals, and shows beneficial effects on gut microbiota.
Mycotoxins are highly toxic metabolites produced by fungi that pose a huge threat to human and animal health. Contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a worldwide issue, which leads to huge ...financial losses, annually. Decades of research have developed various approaches to degrade mycotoxins, among which the biological methods have been proved to have great potential and advantages. This review provides an overview on the important advances in the biological removal of mycotoxins over the last decade. Here, we provided further insight into the chemical structures and the toxicity of the main mycotoxins. The innovative strategies including mycotoxin degradation by novel probiotics are summarized in an in-depth discussion on potentialities and limitations. We prospected the promising future for the development of multifunctional approaches using recombinant enzymes and microbial consortia for the simultaneous removal of multiple mycotoxins.
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