分类: 核科学技术 >> 核材料与工艺技术 提交时间: 2023-06-18 合作期刊: 《Nuclear Science and Techniques》
摘要: To study cytotoxic effect of heavy ion irradiation in the plateau region, and investigate whether autophagy induced by heavy ion irradiation is cytoprotective, HeLa cells were irradiated with 350 MeV/u carbon ions beams, and the clonogenic survival was analyzed. The results showed that cell survival decreased with increasing doses. It was also found that G2/M-phase cells increased, and the autophagy-related activity was significantly higher than the control. When autophagy was blocked by 3-methyladenine in carbon-ion irradiated cells, G2/M phase arrest and the percentage of apoptosis cells were further elevated, and cell survival decreased significantly, indicating the induction of cytoprotective autophagy by carbon-ion irradiation. Our results demonstrated that autophagy induced by carbon ion irradiation provided a self-protective mechanism in HeLa cells, short-time inhibition of autophagy before carbon-ion irradiation could enhance radiation cytotoxicity in HeLa cells.
分类: 医学、药学 >> 临床医学 分类: 生物学 >> 遗传学 提交时间: 2020-03-06
摘要: Germline polymorphisms have been linked with differential survival outcomes in cancers but have not been well studied in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, two-phase association study is conducted to discover germline polymorphisms that are associated with the prognosis of NPC. The discovery phase includes two consecutive hospital cohorts of patients with NPC from Southern China. Exome-wide genotypes at 246,173 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are determined, followed by survival analysis for each SNP under Cox proportional hazards regression model. Candidate SNP is replicated in another two independent cohorts from Southern China and Singapore. Meta-analysis of all samples (n = 5,553) confirm that the presence of rs1131636-T, located in the 3′-UTR of RPA1, confers an inferior overall survival (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.20-1.47, P = 6.31 × 10-8). Bioinformatics and biological assays show that rs1131636 has regulatory effects on upstream RPA1. Functional studies further demonstrate that RPA1 promoted the growth, invasion, migration, and radioresistance of NPC cells. Additionally, miR-1253 has been identified as a suppressor for RPA1 expression, likely through regulation of its binding affinity to rs1131636 locus. Collectively, these findings provide a promising biomarker aiding in stratifying patients with poor survival, as well as a potential drug target for NPC.
分类: 物理学 >> 核物理学 提交时间: 2017-08-22
摘要: The stability of excited superheavy nuclei (SHN) with 100 Z 134 against neutron emission and fission is investigated by using a statistical model. In particular, a systematic study of the survival probability against fission in the 1n-channel of these SHN is made. In present calculations the neutron separation energies and shell correction energies are consistently taken from the calculated results of the finite range droplet model which predicts an island of stability of SHN around Z = 115 and N = 179. It turns out that this island of stability persists for excited SHN in the sense that the calculated survival probabilities in the 1n-channel of excited SHN at the optimal excitation energy are maximized around Z = 115 and N = 179. This indicates that the survival probability in the 1n-channel is mainly determined by the nuclear shell effects.
分类: 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间: 2021-08-06 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要: Drought is one of the most significant natural disasters in the arid and semi-arid areas of China. Populations or plant organs often differ in their responses to drought and other adversities at different growth stages. At present, little is known about the size- and leaf age-dependent differences in the mechanisms of shrub-related drought resistance in the deserts of China. Here, we evaluated the photosynthetic and physiological responses of Artemisia ordosica Krasch. to drought stress using a field experiment in Mu Us Sandy Land, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China in 2018. Rainfall was manipulated by installing outdoor shelters, with four rainfall treatments applied to 12 plots (5 m×5 m). There were four rainfall levels, including a control and rainfall reductions of 30%, 50% and 70%, each with three replications. Taking individual crown size as the dividing basis, we measured the responses of A. ordosica photosynthetic and physiological responses to drought at different growth stages, i.e., large-sized (>0.5 m2) and small-sized (≤0.5 m2) plants. The leaves of A. ordosica were divided into old leaves and young leaves for separate measurement. Results showed that: (1) under drought stress, the transfer efficiency of light energy captured by antenna pigments to the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center decreased, and the heat dissipation capacity increased simultaneously. To resist the photosynthetic system damage caused by drought, A. ordosica enhanced its free radical scavenging capacity by activating its antioxidant enzyme system; and (2) growth stage and leaf age had effects on the reaction of the photosynthetic system to drought. Small A. ordosica plants could not withstand severe drought stress (70% rainfall reduction), whereas large A. ordosica individuals could absorb deep soil water to ensure their survival in severe drought stressed condition. Under 30% and 50% rainfall reduction conditions, young leaves had a greater ability to resist drought than old leaves, whereas the latter were more resistant to severe drought stress. The response of A. ordosica photosynthetic system reflected the trade-off at different growth stages and leaf ages of photosynthetic production under different degrees of drought. This study provides a more comprehensive and systematic perspective for understanding the drought resistance mechanisms of desert plants.
分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间: 2016-05-12
摘要: One of the major challenges in prostate cancer therapy remains the development of effective treatments for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), as the underlying mechanisms for its progression remain elusive. Previous studies showed that androgen receptor (AR) is crucially involved in regulation of metabolism in prostate cancer (PCa) cells throughout the transition from early stage, androgen-sensitive PCa to androgen-independent CRPC. AR achieves such metabolic rewiring directively either via its transcriptional activity or via interactions with AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). However, due to the heterogeneous expression and activity status of AR in PCa cells, it remains a challenge to investigate the links between AR status and metabolic alterations. To this end, we compared the proteomes of three pairs of androgen-sensitive (AS) and androgen-independent (AI) PCa cell lines, namely, PC3-AR(+)/PC3, 22Rv1/Du145, and LNCaP/C42B, using an iTRAQ labeling approach. Our results revealed that most of the differentially expressed proteins between each pair function in metabolism, indicating a metabolic shift between AS and AT cells, as further validated by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-based quantification of nucleotides and relative comparison of fatty acids between these cell lines. Furthermore, increased adenylate kinase isoenzyme 1 (AK1) in AS relative to AT cells may result in activation of AMPK, representing a major regulatory factor involved in the observed metabolic shift in PCa cells.
分类: 地球科学 >> 地球科学史 提交时间: 2020-10-20 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要: Degradation processes affect a vast area of arid and semi-arid lands around the world and damage the environment and people′s health. Degradation processes are driven by human productive activities that cause direct and indirect effects on natural resources, such as species extinction at regional scale, reduction and elimination of vegetation cover, soil erosion, etc. In this context, ecological rehabilitation is an important tool to recover key aspects of the degraded ecosystem. Rehabilitation trials rely on the use of native plant species with characteristics that allow them to obtain high survival and growth rates. The aim of this work was to assess the survival and growth of native woody species in degraded areas of northeastern Patagonia and relate them to plant functional traits and environmental variables. We observed high early and late survival rates, and growth rates in Prosopis flexuosa DC. var. depressa F.A. Roig and Schinus johnstonii F.A. Barkley, and low values in Condalia microphylla Cav. and Geoffroea decorticans (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart. Early survival rates were positively associated with specific leaf area (SLA) and precipitation, but negatively associated with wood density, the maximum mean temperature of the warmest month and the minimum mean temperature of the coldest month. Late survival rates were positively associated with SLA and soil organic matter, but negatively associated with plant height and precipitation. The temperature had a positive effect on late survival rates once the plants overcame the critical period of the first summer after they were transplanted to the field. Prosopis flexuosa and S. johnstonii were the most successful species in our study. This could be due to their functional traits that allow these species to acclimatize to the local environment. Further research should focus on C. microphylla and G. decorticans to determine how they relate to productive conditions, acclimation to environmental stress, auto-ecology and potential use in ecological rehabilitation trials.
分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间: 2016-05-12
摘要: The biotin biosynthesis pathway is an attractive target for development of novel drugs against mycobacterial pathogens, however there are as yet no suitable inhibitors that target this pathway in mycobacteria. 7-Keto-8-aminopelargonic acid synthase (KAPA synthase, BioF) is the enzyme which catalyzes the first committed step of the biotin synthesis pathway, but both its structure and function in mycobacteria remain unresolved. Here we present the crystal structure of Mycobacterium smegmatis BioF (MsBioF). The structure reveals an incomplete dimer, and the active site organization is similar to, but distinct from Escherichia coli 8-amino-7-oxononanoate synthase (EcAONS), the E. coli homologue of BioF. To investigate the influence of structural characteristics on the function of MsBioF, we deleted bioF in M. smegmatis and confirmed that BioF is required for growth in the absence of exogenous biotin. Based on structural and mutagenesis studies, we confirmed that pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) binding site residues His129, Lys235 and His200 are essential for MsBioF activity in vivo and residue Glul 71 plays an important, but not essential role in MsBioF activity. The N-terminus (residues 1-37) is also essential for MsBioF activity in vivo. The structure and function of MsBioF reported here provides further insights for developing new anti-tuberculosis inhibitors aimed at the biotin synthesis pathway. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.