• Shaw Odgaard posted an update 4 hours, 1 minute ago

    The molecular mechanisms how Skp2 stabilize Ku70 would be clarified in our following research work.

    The direct interaction between Skp2 and Ku70 proteins mediates the DNA damage repair and cellular apoptosis by regulating Ku70 stability and function via post-translational modification. The molecular mechanisms how Skp2 stabilize Ku70 would be clarified in our following research work.Polystyrene (PS) and chemically modified compounds in the PS family have long been used in commercial and industrial fields. However, it is poorly understood whether nanoscale-PS microplastic or PS nanoplastic exposure leads to perturbations in fundamental cellular functions, such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Herein, we cultured three types of primary cells, including mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), mixed neuronal cells isolated from embryonic cortex, and cortical astrocytes, and investigated the effects of their exposure to PS nanoplastics with a 100 nm diameter. Although PS nanoplastic exposure did not affect the viability of MEFs or astrocytes, it significantly reduced the viability of mixed neuronal cells. Consistent with the observed effect on cellular viability, levels of the apoptosis marker, cleaved caspase-3, were elevated exclusively in mixed neuronal cells. To investigate whether cells uptake PS nanoplastics into the cytoplasm, we exposed MEFs and neurons to fluorescent PS latex beads and monitored fluorescence over time. We found that PS nanoplastics were deposited and accumulated in the cytoplasm in a concentration-dependent manner. Although astrocytes were not apoptotic upon exposure to PS nanoplastics, they underwent reactive astrocytosis, with increased levels of lipocalin-2 and proinflammatory cytokines. Ruboxistaurin Therefore, our findings suggested that the vulnerability of cells to the deposition and accumulation of PS nanoplastics in the cytoplasm was dependent on cell type. Furthermore, based on our data from primary cells originating from mouse brains, we suggest that reactive astrocytosis may contribute to the neuronal apoptosis seen in defective neurons with PS nanoplastics accumulated in the cell body.Polysaccharides are a structurally diverse class of biomolecules with a wide variety of bioactivities. Natural polysaccharides isolated from plants and fungi are used as raw materials in food and pharmaceutical industries due to their therapeutic properties, non-toxicity, and negligible side effects, but many natural polysaccharides possess low bioactivities when compared to synthetic medicines due to their structure and physicochemical properties. Literature studies revealed that carboxymethylation of polysaccharides enhances the bioactivities and water solubility of native polysaccharides significantly, and provide structural diversity and even the addition of new bioactivities. This review article mainly focuses on the recent research on carboxymethylation of polysaccharides including preparation, characterization, and bioactivities. This article also throws light on future directions and scope to develop new carboxymethylated polysaccharide derivatives for many industries such as food processing, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceutical industry.Drug resistance has become a major threat due to the frequent use of commercial antibiotics and there is an urgent need to combat this problem. Having this in mind, the present research was aimed at developing a novel P. aeruginosa puBac bacteriocin molecule. The bacteriocin was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by Sepharose FF and Sephadex G15 column purification and the purified bacteriocin has been reported to have the molar mass of 43 kDa. The findings of the optimization showed that 3500 AU/mL of bacteriocin was obtained at 37 °C, 3410 AU/mL of bacteriocin at 6.5 pH and 3780 AU/mL of bacteriocin at 48 h of incubation time. In addition, 3863 AU/mL of bacteriocin activity was obtained with Tween-80 followed by 3789 AU/mL with a concentration of 2% NaCl and 4200 AU/mL for Fe2+. PuBac bacteriocin has been shown to have a significant effect on test pathogens. For example, E. coli was found to have 3.6 μM of MIC, followed by Staphylococcus sp. with 6.15 μM of MIC and Bacillus sp. with a 7.5 μM of MIC. The remarkable properties of bacteriocin suggest that it could be used in various pharmaceutical and food industries.Research on nanocomposite film from natural polymers such as cellulose and chitosan is of great importance to promote the development and highly efficient utilization of green and renewable bioresources. In this study, enzymatic pretreatment cellulose nanofibril (ETCNF) derived from licorice residues was prepared, and further processed into nanocomposite film with addition of chitosan nanofibril (CHN). This study focused on the effects of CHN dosage on the main properties of resultant nanocomposite film in terms of crystallinity, thermal stability, light transmittance, hydrophobicity, mechanical properties, and antibacterial activity. The results showed that ETCNF/CHN nanocomposite film exhibited good hydrophobicity especially at higher dosage of CHN, good light transmittance and mechanical properties (tensile strain can reach 39.6 MPa for ETCNF/CHN-10.0%). The as-prepared ETCNF/CHN nanocomposite film also showed good antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. It was expected that the ETCNF/CHN nanocomposite film would help to realize transformation and high value-added utilization of these biomass residues.Effects of xanthan gum (XG) addition and oil contents on the structural and rheological properties of Pickering emulsion stabilized by xanthan gum/Lysozyme nanoparticles (XG/Ly NPs) were analyzed by microstructure, creaming index, and rheological analysis. The results showed that XG addition reduced the droplet size of the emulsion, and a denser three-dimensional network structure was formed between droplets in the continuous phase. Thus, the migration of droplets slowed down, and the stability of Pickering emulsion increased. Rheological studies indicated that the network structure of Pickering emulsion depends on XG addition and oil content. The critical strain (γco) displayed three regimes. For low oil content (20%), γco decreased with the increase of XG concentration. For Pickering emulsion with medium oil content (40%, v/v), γco increased with increasing addition of XG. When high oil content (60-80%) was provided, γco was almost independent of XG addition. The results showed that the microstructure, stability and rheological properties of Pickering emulsion stabilized by XG/Ly NPs could be regulated by XG addition and oil content.