分类: 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间: 2021-01-15 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要: Pollution of arable land caused by heavy metals in livestock and poultry manure has become a potential threaten to human health in China. Safe disposal of the contained toxic pollution with animal manure by co-composting with biochar is one of the alternative methods. Biochars from different sources (wheat straw, peanut shells and rice husks) amended with different loading rates were investigated for passivations of copper and zinc (Cu and Zn) in swine manure composting. Results showed that the passivation effects of the three types of biochar on Cu and Zn were enhanced with increasing biochar dose. Contents of Cu and Zn measured by diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and Community Bureau of Reference (CBR) showed that wheat straw biochar with the loading rates of 10%–13% (w/w) was superior to the other two types of biochar in this study. Compared with the control, sample from wheat straw biochar was more favorable for the bacterial growth of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. In addition, pot experiment showed that organic fertilizer amended with wheat straw biochar could significantly improve the growth of Chinese pakchoi and enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and catalase) as compared with the control. Cu and Zn contents of Chinese pakchoi in the organic fertilizer group containing wheat straw biochar reduced by 73.2% and 45.2%, 65.8% and 33.6%, respectively, compared with the group without loading biochar. There was no significant difference in the contents of vitamin C and reducing sugar between the groups of organic fertilizer amended with/without wheat straw biochar, however, there was significant difference compared with the heavy metal addition group. The application of organic fertilizer formed by adding biochar can effectively reduce the adverse effects of heavy metals on crops.
分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间: 2016-05-11
摘要: Human BST-2 inhibits HIV-1 replication by tethering nascent virions to the cell surface. HIV-1 codes Vpu that counteracts BST-2 by down-regulating this restriction factor from the cell surface. This important function makes Vpu a potential therapeutic target. Yet, no agents have been reported to block Vpu from antagonizing BST-2. In this study, we report a small molecule compound IMB-LA that abrogates the function of Vpu and thereby strongly suppresses HIV-1 replication by sensitizing the virus to BST-2 restriction. Further studies revealed that IMB-LA specifically inhibits Vpu-mediated degradation of BST-2 and restores the expression of BST-2 at the cell surface. Although IMB-LA does not prevent Vpu from interacting with BST-2 or beta-TrCP2-containing ubiquitin E3 ligase, sorting of BST-2 into lysosomes in Vpu-expressing cells is blocked by IMB-LA. Most importantly, HIV-1 release and infection is inhibited by IMB-LA only in BST-2-expressing cells. In summary, results herein demonstrated that IMB-LA could specifically inhibit the degradation of BST-2 induced by Vpu, and impair HIV-1 replication in a BST-2 dependent manner, suggesting the feasibility of utilizing small molecule compounds to disable the antagonist function of Vpu and thereby expose HIV-1 to the restriction by BST-2.
分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间: 2016-05-12
摘要: Werner syndrome (WS) is a premature aging disorder caused by WRN protein deficiency. Here, we report on the generation of a human WS model in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Differentiation of WRN-null ESCs to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) recapitulates features of premature cellular aging, a global loss of H3K9me3, and changes in heterochromatin architecture. We show that WRN associates with heterochromatin proteins SUV39H1 and HP1 alpha and nuclear lamina-heterochromatin anchoring protein LAP2 beta. Targeted knock-in of catalytically inactive SUV39H1 in wild-type MSCs recapitulates accelerated cellular senescence, resembling WRN-deficient MSCs. Moreover, decrease in WRN and heterochromatin marks are detected in MSCs from older individuals. Our observations uncover a role for WRN in maintaining heterochromatin stability and highlight heterochromatin disorganization as a potential determinant of human aging.