Esterase has been reported to be involved in malathion resistance in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). However, the underlying molecular mechanism of the esterase‐mediated ...resistance remains largely unknown in this species. Here, with the use of a strain selected for malathion resistance in the laboratory (MR), we found that two overexpressed α‐esterase genes, namely BdCarE4 and BdCarE6, predominant in the adult midgut and fat body, function in conferring malathion resistance in B. dorsalis. Notably, these two genes were found to be mostly close to the esterase E3, which are usually implicated in detoxifying organophosphate insecticides. The transcript levels of BdCarE4 and BdCarE6 were investigated and compared between the MR and a susceptible (MS) strain of B. dorsalis. Both genes were significantly up‐regulated in the MR strain, which was consistent with the enhanced esterase activity in the MR strain. However, no changes in either the coding sequence or gene copy number were observed between the two strains. Subsequently, heterologous expression combined with cytotoxicity assay in Sf9 cells demonstrated that BdCarE4 and BdCarE6 can probably detoxify malathion. Furthermore, RNA interference‐mediated knockdown of each of these two genes significantly increased malathion susceptibility in the MR strain adults. In conclusion, these results expand our molecular understanding of the important role of α‐esterases during the development of resistance to organophosphorous insecticides in B. dorsalis.
This review critically examines the multiple effects of low-temperature, atmospheric pressure plasma stress on the “on top” (collectively termed cutaneous) materials, to reveal the effects of this ...stress on the materials that lay underneath, collectively termed sub-cutaneous materials. Plasma generated reactive agents presents stress and trigger relayed effects within the cutaneous layers, leading to transcutaneous penetration of the plasma-induced stress into sub-cutaneous materials. Among the many possibilities from the areas spanning soft matter and life sciences, the effects of reactive plasma agents help improve the outcomes of cutaneous wound healing, reduce skin cancer tumors, and eradicate biofilms on biomedical implant materials. Cutaneous materials include animal skin or laboratory models using soft matter such as liquid media, gels, and cell cultures. Here we examine permeable interfaces of cutaneous materials and sub-cutaneous living tissues subjected to low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasmas as a multi-modal reactive system producing stress on materials through multiple reactive agents including radicals, excited atoms and molecules, ions, heat, UV, and electric fields. Interaction of plasma-radiative stress with cutaneous materials leads to the unexpected, yet effective transmission of the reactive agents through to sub-cutaneous tissues, potentially systemically through the body. We examine the penetration of plasma-generated stress through the skin or skin models leading to the many interesting effects. In a broader context, this knowledge is relevant to several fields of materials science and engineering from soft matter to biomaterials and may help advance diverse applications ranging from non-thermal processing of soft and flexible materials for flexible electronics and soft robotics to direct skin disease treatment in vivo.
Aim
Bacteriocins with antimicrobial activity are considered as potential natural bio‐preservatives to control the growth of food spoilage bacteria. The aim of this work was to characterize a novel ...bacteriocin BM1029 discovered from Lactobacillus crustorum MN047 and evaluate its antibacterial mechanism.
Methods and Results
Bacteriocin BM1029 was purified by cation‐exchange chromatography and reversed‐phase chromatography. Antibacterial activity assay showed that BM1029 is antagonistic against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. Furthermore, it was found that BM1029 showed low haemolysis with high stability to the pretreatment with different temperatures, pH and surfactants. Moreover electron microscopy and flow cytometry suggested that BM1029 inhibit indicator strains by damaging the cell envelope integrity. Cell cycle assay suggested that BM1029 arrested cell cycle in R‐phase.
Conclusion
The novel bacteriocin BM1029 showed high bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus through a cell envelope‐associated mechanism.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Application of BM1029 inhibited the growth of indicator strains on beef meat storage at 4°C suggesting that this bacteriocin is promising to be used as a novel preservative in food processing and preservation.
Aging is the most prominent risk factor for osteoarthritis onset, but the etiology of aging-associated cartilage degeneration is not fully understood. Recent studies by Guilak and colleagues have ...highlighted the crucial roles of cell-matrix interactions in cartilage homeostasis and disease. This study thus quantified aging-associated changes in cartilage biomechanics and chondrocyte intracellular calcium signaling, Ca2+i, activities in wild-type mice at 3, 12 and 22 months of age. In aged mice, articular cartilage exhibits reduced staining of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs), indicating decreased aggrecan content. On cartilage surface, collagen fibrils undergo significant thickening while retaining their transverse isotropic architecture, and exhibit signs of fibril crimping in the 22-month group. These compositional and structural changes contribute to a significant decrease in cartilage modulus at 22 months of age (0.55 ± 0.25 MPa, mean ± 95 % CI, n = 8) relative to those at 3 and 12 months (1.82 ± 0.48 MPa and 1.45 ± 0.46 MPa, respectively, n ≥ 8). Despite the decreases in sGAG content and tissue modulus, chondrocytes do not exhibit significantly demoted Ca2+i activities in situ, in both physiological (isotonic) and osmotically instigated (hypo- and hypertonic) conditions. At 12 months of age, there exists a sub-population of chondrocytes with hyper-active Ca2+i responses under hypotonic stimuli, possibly indicating a phenotypic shift of chondrocytes during aging. Together, these results yield new insights into aging-associated biomechanical and mechanobiological changes of murine cartilage, providing a benchmark for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of age-related changes in cell-matrix interactions.
Background
Atherosclerosis is a chronical inflammatory disease in arterial walls, which is involved in oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction. Aromatherapy is one of the complementary therapies ...that use essential oils as the major therapeutic agents to treat several diseases. Citronellal (CT) is a monoterpene predominantly formed by the secondary metabolism of plants, producing antithrombotic, antiplatelet, and antihypertensive activities.
Aim
The aim of the present study is to explore whether aromatherapy with CT improves endothelial function to prevent the formation of atherosclerotic plaque in vivo.
Methods
An AS model in carotid artery was induced by balloon injury and vitamin D3 injection in rats fed with a high‐fat diet. The size of the carotid atherosclerotic plaque was determined by ultrasound, oil red, and hematoxylin‐eosin staining. Endothelial function was assessed by measuring acetylcholine‐induced vessel relaxation in an organ chamber.
Results
Administrations of CT (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg) as well as lovastatin dramatically reduced the size of carotid atherosclerotic plaque in rats in a dose‐dependent manner, compared with atherosclerotic rats fed with a high‐fat diet plus balloon injury and vitamin D3. Mechanically, CT improved endothelial dysfunction, increased cell migration, and suppressed oxidative stress and inflammation in vascular endothelium in rats feeding on the high‐fat diet plus balloon injury. Further, CT downregulated the protein levels of sodium‐hydrogen exchanger 1 in rats with atherosclerosis.
Conclusion
CT improves endothelial dysfunction and prevents the growth of atherosclerosis in rats by reducing oxidative stress. Clinically, CT is potentially considered as a medicine to treat patients with atherosclerosis.
Aromatherapy is one of the complementary therapies that use essential oils as the major therapeutic agents to treat several diseases. In this study, we reported, for the first time, that aromatherapy with essential oil citronellal (CT) prevents the growth of atherosclerosis in rats by reducing oxidative stress and improving endothelial function. Clinically, aromatherapy with CT is potentially considered as a medicine to treat patients with atherosclerosis
The Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) River of Myanmar is ranked as having the fifth‐largest suspended load and the fourth‐highest total dissolved load of the world’s rivers, and the combined Irrawaddy and ...Salween (Thanlwin) system is regarded as contributing 20% of the total flux of material from the Himalayan‐Tibetan orogen. The estimates for the Irrawaddy are taken from published quotations of a nineteenth‐century data set, and there are no available published data for the Myanmar reaches of the Salween. Apart from our own field studies in 2005 and 2006, no recent research documenting the sediment load of these important large rivers has been conducted, although their contribution to biogeochemical cycles and ocean geochemistry is clearly significant. We present a reanalysis of the Irrawaddy data from the original 550‐page report of Gordon covering 10 yr of discharge (1869–1879) and 1 yr of sediment concentration measurements (1877–1878). We describe Gordon’s methodologies, evaluate his measurements and calculations and the adjustments he made to his data set, and present our revised interpretation of nineteenth‐century discharge and sediment load with an estimate of uncertainty. The 10‐yr average of annual suspended sediment load currently cited in the literature is assessed as being underestimated by 27% on the basis of our sediment rating curve of the nineteenth‐century data. On the basis of our sampling of suspended load, the nineteenth‐century concentrations are interpreted to be missing about 18% of their total mass, which is the proportion of sediment recovered by a 0.45‐μm filter. The new annual Irrawaddy suspended sediment load is
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MT. Our revised estimate of the annual sediment load from the Irrawaddy‐Salween system for the nineteenth century (600 MT) represents more than half the present‐day Ganges‐Brahmaputra flux to the Indian Ocean. Since major Chinese rivers have reduced their load due to damming, the Irrawaddy is likely the third‐largest contributor of sediment load in the world.
Summary
Clonostachys rosea is a promising saprophytic filamentous fungus that belongs to phylum Ascomycota. Clonostachys rosea is widespread around the world and exists in many kinds of habitats, ...with the highest frequency in soil. As an excellent mycoparasite, C. rosea exhibits strong biological control ability against numerous fungal plant pathogens, nematodes and insects. These behaviours are based on the activation of multiple mechanisms such as secreted cell‐wall‐degrading enzymes, production of antifungal secondary metabolites and induction of plant defence systems. Besides having significant biocontrol activity, C. rosea also functions in the biodegradation of plastic waste, biotransformation of bioactive compounds, as a bioenergy sources and in fermentation. This mini review summarizes information about the biology and various applications of C. rosea and expands on its possible uses.
Calcium signaling plays an essential role in chondrocyte mechanotransduction. Guilak and colleagues have revealed the roles of TRPV4 and Piezo channels in chondrocyte calcium signaling and ...metabolism. This study compared the calcium responses of primary chondrocytes and ATDC5 cells induced by two different stimuli: osmotic stress and intense mechanical stimulus. Roles of three essential calcium signaling pathways, including extracellular calcium source, intracellular ER calcium store and mechanical-sensitive ion channels, were also investigated and compared between cells. Primary chondrocytes showed more vigorous calcium peaks under osmotic stress than under mechanical stimuli, while an opposite trend was found for ATDC5 cells. Extracellular calcium source, intracellular ER store, and PLC/IP3 pathway each played significant roles in the calcium responses of ATDC5 cells under both osmotic and mechanical stimuli. However, high level shear stress can directly cause ER release in primary cells without the presence of extracellular Ca2+ or involvement of PLC-IP3 pathway. TRPV4 channel is essential for the responses of ATDC5 cells, but not for primary chondrocytes. In contrast, inhibition of mechano-sensitive channels had no significant effects on the ATDC5 cells. Therefore, primary chondrocytes and ATDC5 cells rely on distinct calcium sources and ion channels to initiate intracellular calcium signaling. Together, these results contribute to our understanding of stimulation-induced calcium signaling in primary chondrocytes and ATDC5 cells, and the different roles of three essential pathways between the two cell types.
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