Institutional Repository of Chengdu Institute of Biology, CAS
Not a member yet
6513 research outputs found
Sort by
Effects of gamma-Valerolactone/H2O Solvent on the Degradation of pubescens for Its Fullest Utilization
No full textSolvent-thermal conversion of biomass was promising for obtaining value-added chemicals. However, little was known about the interactions between solvents and biomass in the process, which hindered the effective utilization of biomass. The effects of gamma-valerolactone (GVL) and H2O on enhancing pubescens degradation via the cleavage of inter-and intramolecular linkages were studied. At 160 degrees C, H2O selectively promoted the cleavage of the intermolecular linkages by forming hydrogen bonds, making mainly contributions to hemicellulose dissolution, while GVL and H2O promoted lignin dissolution by forming hydrogen bonds with -OCH3 group of lignin. H2O promoted the cleavage of beta-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds in hemicellulose derived oligomers to xylose, while the oxygen in the ring of GVL might interact with hydroxyl groups of xylose unit to enhance the dehydration of xylose to furfural, whereas GVL with H2O promoted the depolymerization of lignin to oligomers mainly including beta-O-4' and beta-beta' linkages connecting to G and S units
Colorimetric PCR-Based microRNA Detection Method Based on Small Organic Dye and Single Enzyme
No full textmicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been a class of promising disease diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for their important biological functions. However, because of the high homology, interference from precursors (pri-miRNA, pre-miRNA), as well as limitations in the current assay technologies, it poses high demand and challenge for a specific, efficient, and economic miRNA assay method. Here, we propose a new miRNA detection method based on a label-free probe and a small organic dye with sequence dependence, realizing the sequence-specific and colorimetric detection of target miRNA. What is pleasantly surprising, only one enzyme is enough to propel the whole miRNA assay process, greatly simplifying the reaction component and detection process. Together with PCR amplification for the high enough sensitivity a nd three checks for specificity control, a detection limit of 5 fM was obtained and even one mutation could be discriminated visually. Overall, the new method makes much progress in convenience and economy of PCR-based miRNA assay method so that miRNA assay is going to be more friendly and affordable
Tomato SIAN11 regulates flavonoid biosynthesis and seed dormancy by interaction with bHLH proteins but not with MYB proteins
No full textThe flavonoid compounds are important secondary metabolites with versatile human nutritive benefits and fulfill a multitude of functions during plant growth and development. The abundance of different flavonoid compounds are finely tuned with species-specific pattern by a ternary MBW complex, which consists of a MYB, a bHLH, and a WD40 protein, but the essential role of SIAN11, which is a WD40 protein, is not fully understood in tomato until now. In this study, a tomato WD40 protein named as SIAN11 was characterized as an effective transcription regulator to promote plant anthocyanin and seed proanthocyanidin (PA) contents, with late flavonoid biosynthetic genes activated in 35S::SIAN77 transgenic lines, while the dihydroflavonol flow to the accumulation of flavonols or their glycosylated derivatives was reduced by repressing the expression of SIFLS in this SIAN/1-overexpressed lines. The above changes were reversed in 35S::SIAN77-RNAi transgenic lines except remained levels of flavonol compounds and SIFLS expression. Interestingly, our data revealed that SIAN11 gene could affect seed dormancy by regulating the expressions of abscisic acid (ABA) signaling-related genes SIABI3 and SIABI5, and the sensitivity to ABA treatment in seed germination is conversely changed by SIAN/ 1-overexpressed or -downregulated lines. Yeast two-hybrid assays demonstrated that SIAN11 interacted with bHLH but not with MYB proteins in the ternary MBW complex, whereas bHLH interacted with MYB in tomato. Our results indicated that low level of anthocyanins in tomato fruits, with low expression of bHLH (SITT8) and MYB (SIANT1 and SIAN2) genes, remain unchanged upon modification of SIAN11 gene alone in the transgenic lines. These results suggest that the tomato WD40 protein SIAN11, coordinating with bHLH and MYB proteins, plays a crucial role in the fine adjustment of the flavonoid biosynthesis and seed dormancy in tomato
Low-cost and convenient ballpoint tip-protected liquid-phase microextraction for sensitive analysis of organic molecules in water samples
No full textSimplification and miniaturization in analytical procedures are highly preferred by analysts and other researchers. In this study, a low-cost, convenient and efficient liquid-phase microextraction method, termed ballpoint tip-protected liquid-phase microextraction (BT-LPME), was established. The bullet-shaped BT possessed a hollow cavity of several microliters for solvent storage and an opening tail for solute extraction. Magnetic field-induced BT spinning significantly accelerated the extraction process. By virtue of the adhesion between a stainless steel sheath and an organic solvent, along with cave protection, finely stable storage of extractant was achieved even under high spinning speeds (>1000 rpm). The BT-LPME performance was evaluated by extracting five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from aqueous solution, followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. Compared to static single drop microextraction (SDME), the BT-LPME method provided higher enrichments (128-173-fold) for the five PAHs. Good linearities (from 0.01 similar to 0.05 mu g L-1 to 50 mu g L-1) with a regression coefficient (r(2)) >= 0.9993, as well as low limits of detection (LODs, 0.002-0.011 mu g L-1) and limits of quantification (LOQs, 0.007-0.023 mu g L-1), were obtained. Relative recoveries varied from 92.3% to 103.4% at three spiked levels of 0.1, 1 and 10 mu g L-1. The BT-LPME technique was also successfully applied to the enrichment of other organic compounds, such as organophosphorus compounds, organochlorines and triazines. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Planar Chiral Ferrocene Cyclopalladated Derivatives Induce Caspase-Dependent Apoptosis and Antimetastasis in Cancer Cells
No full textA series of planar chiral ferrocene cydopalladated compounds were synthesized and characterized. The absolute configurations of four compounds were determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The cytotoxic activities of the synthesized compounds and cisplatin exhibited different inhibition potencies on the viability of human liver, breast, and colon cancer cell lines. The dinuclear compound 7 was 16-fold more potent than cisplatin in hepatoma cells. Compound 7 was also more effective than cisplatin in the inhibition of hepatoma cell metastasis. Flow cytometry analysis and caspase activity assays indicated that compound 7 exerted antiproliferative activity in cancer cells through the induction of caspase-dependent apoptosis
A New Species of the Genus Trimeresurus from Southwest China (Squamata: Viperidae)
Full text linkSpecies from the Trimeresurus popeiorum complex (Subgenus: Popeia) is a very complex group. T. popeiorum is the only Popeia species known from China. During the past two years, five adult Popeia specimens (4 males, 1 female) were collected from Yingjiang County, Southern Yunnan, China. Molecular, morphological and ecological data show distinct differences from known species, herein we describe these specimens as a new species Trimeresurus yingjiangensis sp. nov Chen, Ding, Shi and Zhang, 2018. Morphologically, the new species distinct from other Popeia species by a combination of following characters: (1) dorsal body olive drab,without cross bands on the scales; (2) a conspicuous bicolor ventrolateral stripe present on each side of males, first row of dorsal scales firebrick with a white ellipse dot on posterior upper part in male, these strips absent in females; (3) eyes firebrick in both gender; (4) suboculars separated from 3rd upper labial by one scale on each side; (5) ventrals 164–168 (n = 5); (6) MSR 21
Effective Formaldehyde Capture by Green Cyclodextrin-Based Metal-Organic Framework
No full textA kind of metal organic framework made from gamma-cydodextrin (gamma-CD) and potassium ions were explored as excellent formaldehyde (HCHO) absorbents. The adsorption capacity and speed of gamma-CD-MOF-K are both about 9 times higher than those of activated carbon, which are attributed to the porous structure and synergistic effect of hydrogen bonding and host guest interactions
Turion, an innovative duckweed-based starch production system for economical biofuel manufacture
No full textTurion is a kind of dormant tissue from Spirodela polyrrhiza (L) Schleid and represents another duckweed-based starch production system, which owns several potential technical merits than the conventional one. This paper systematically investigated the physiological, biochemical and production characteristics of turion and preliminarily evaluate its feasibility for bioetbanol production. Turion productivity of 3.78 g/m(2)/d and starch productivity of 2.90 g/m(2)/d was achieved in strain 0196. Full-component analysis revealed that turion is high quality substrate as it contained high starch content (65.63%) and low lignocellulose content (12.82%). Besides, turion can be continuously produced by strain 0196 up to 6 weeks, indicating a sustainable manufacture of them is possible. Finally, harvested tin-ion was used for ethanol fermentation for the first time with an ethanol yield of 0.34 g g(-1)(turion), resulted in an annual yield of 4,69 t/ha. This research elucidated that onion from duckweed is a novel biomass for biofuel production
A high-throughput in vivo selection method for luciferase variants
No full textLuciferase catalyzes its special substrate and light emits during the oxidation reaction, which is widely used as an optical sensor to monitor gene expression, protein-protein interaction and tumor response to therapy. However, limitations like the rapid decay, low stability and poor intensity of light emission make the optical signal hard to be captured in the sample detection. To obtain luciferase variants with improved features, traditional methods are usually based on CCD imaging technology or colony picking, which are low-throughput, time and labor consuming. Herein, we describe a novel luciferase screening method called fast library shrink method (FLSM), which could efficiently help select the desired mutant from the huge and complicated pool without analyzing the variants one by one. Based on FLSM, we successfully obtained one Gluc variant named M43IL119Q, which shows a 3-fold increase in the intensity of light emission as well as a stable light emission kinetics. The selection method is ready-to-use and cost-effective, thus making it a promising platform for the fast evolution of luciferases