Abstract:Editorial: for the 40th anniversary of first report on artemisinin 3D structure

Abstract:Historical retrospect on determining of molecular and stereo-structures of artemisinin

Abstract:X-ray crystallography is a unique method to determine 3D structure of artemisinin

Abstract:Chromothripsis is a type of complex chromosomal rearrangements that was originally observed in cancer cells. In this event, one or several chromosomes of the cell shatter into pieces, and then randomly reassembled to create derivative chromosomes. This type of event generates a great number of chromosomal rearrangements, DNA copy number aberrations and fusion genes. It will convert a normal cell to a cancer cell in relatively short-time period. This is different from the classical theory of cancer initiation, in which gene mutations are accumulated step-by-step. Thus, chromothripsis may reveal a new paradigm in cancer initiation. The molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon are not fully understood, and some controversy exists in terms of chromothripsis detection criteria. This review highlights recent advances made in the chromothripsis identification criteria and mechanisms. We also discussed the relationship between chromothripsis and cancer initiation and progression. It provides a reference for further chromothripsis research.

Abstract:Succinate dehydrogenase(SDH), a cruciral multiprotein enzymatic complex in the Krebs cycle/transport chain, is located in the cristate of the mitochondria, and composed of A, B, C, and D subunits, which are encoded by SDHA, SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD, respectively. The SDH mutations play a crucial oncogenic role in paraganglioma (PGL, types 1-5), pheochromocytoma (PHEO), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), rare hypophyseal adenomas, and Leigh syndromes. Mutated SDH has been proved to be an important biomarker for diagnosis and a therapeutic target in these cancers. This review summarized and updated a variety of SDH mutations in the neoplasms and discussed the oncogenic role of SDH mutants in proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, tumorgenesis and senescence.

Abstract:Endocytosis plays important roles in the internalization of micronutrients and turnover of membrane components. Endophilin has always being considered involving in clathrin-mediated endocytosis process. However, it was reported that endophilin marks and controls a clathrin-independent endocytic pathway on Nature in 2015 by two research groups. This review introduces recent advances in endophilin A2 and highlights the functions and mechanisms of endophilin A2 in clathrin-independent endocytosis.

Abstract:Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the main component of the cell wall of most gram-negative bacteria, can activate the innate immune response of host cells, and play important roles during the process of recognition, adhesion, metastasis and pathopoiesis of bacteria. Importantly, the structure of LPS determines both the serotype and the pathogenicity of a bacterial infection. Therefore, accurate analysis of its structure is essential for a better understanding of the relationship between LPS structure and its biological effects. Furthermore, reliable determination of its structure might assist in identification of hitherto unknown strains, as well as in the development of novel antibiotic compounds and vaccines. However, the amphiphilic, multi-charged and structural complicated nature of LPS presents a major challenge for its structural analysis. In this review, we summarize recently developed tools for the analysis of bacterial LPS, covering the latest approaches to extracting, separating, purifying and identifying LPS & its oligosaccharide chains.

Abstract:Next-generation sequencing is changing research methods in biological fields. Microbial identification and detection technologies based on next-generation sequencing have advantage of high-precision and radial-velocity need， and the capability to replace previous culture-based and molecular methods, such as using nucleic acid amplification and hybridization technologies for rapid response to known and unknown biological threats. In this paper, we compared current computational analysis approaches on next-generation sequencing data for microbial identification and detection, including design principles, computational pipeline, and benchmark testing. Furthermore, some possible problems were summarized involving the use of these computational approaches.

Abstract:Approximately more than half of mammalian proteins are glycosylated. O-linked glycan, attached to protein via serine or threonine residue, is one of common post-translation modifications on proteins. Its main functions include maintaining the conformation of the protein connected, protecting it from proteolysis, and covering some antigenic determinant. Analysis of O-linked glycan structure of glycoproteins can contribute to a clearer understanding of glycoproteins and their functions. This study describes a new strategy, involving enrichment and separation of total O-glycan from the glycoproteins based on a filter assisted sample preparation method (O-glycan-FASP), which was developed using ultrafiltration units according to the molecular mass differences among the glycans and proteins. The glycans were characterized and confirmed by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS. A total of 105, 29, 33 and 85 distinctive O-glycan were characterized from bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM), human cell, serum and urine respectively.

Abstract:Based on the multilayer dielectric model, this paper presents an equivalent circuit model about pulsed electric field, which adapted to spherical bio-cells. In the same frequency domain, the variation tendency of intracellular membranes and epicyte are same, and spectral analysis shows that different frequency spectrum electric field can cause different biomedicine effect. This paper will introduce our work about how to calculate trans-membrane voltage and discuss the relationship among pulse, trans-membrane voltage and impedance, which indicates that different frequency domain and different duration have an effect on the selectivity of intracellular membranes and epicyte. Analysis of time domain and frequency domain shows that on the surface of the cell exists a window, when the duration is between 10^-8～10^-6 s, and the voltage of intracellular membranes will exceed the epicyte’s. The result also indicates as t increases, the outer and inner membrane field intensity decreases but bounce back when t is about 3.2×10^-7ns of parameters group, which means this is a minimum and is a very meaningful value for the following research. The Window Effect provides a research approach to accounts for biomedicine effect about electrical pulses.