Pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) are some nonspecific and highly conserved molecular structures of exogenous specific microbial pathogens, whose products can be recognized by pattern recognition receptor (PRR) on innate immune cells and induce an inflammatory response. Under physiological stress, activated or damaged cells might release some endogenous proteins that can also bind to PRR and cause a harmful aseptic inflammatory response. These endogenous proteins were named damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) or alarmins. Indeed, alarmins can also play a beneficial role in the tissue repair in certain environments. Besides, some alarmin cytokines have been reported to have both nuclear and extracellular effects. This group of proteins includes high-mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), interleukin (IL)-33, IL-1α, IL-1F7b, and IL-16. In this article, we review the involvement of nuclear alarmins such as HMGB1, IL-33, and IL-1α under physiological state or stress state and suggest a novel activity of these molecules as central initiators in the development of sterile inflammation.

Fatty acid desaturases play a key role in producing polyunsaturated fatty acids by converting single bonds to double bonds. In the present study, a total of 13, 12, 8 and 8 candidate fatty acid desaturases genes were identified in the Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans genomes through database searches, which were classified into five different subfamilies based on phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis was performed to characterize conserved motifs and gene structures, which could provide an intuitive comprehension to learn the relationship between structure and functions of the fatty acid desaturases genes in different Aspergillus species. In addition, the expression pattern of 13 fatty acid desaturases genes of A. oryzae was tested in different growth stages and under salt stress treatment. The results revealed that the fatty acid desaturases genes in A. oryzae were highly expressed in adaptive phase growth and up-regulated under salt stress treatment. This study provided a better understanding of the evolution and functions of the fatty acid desaturases gene family in the four Aspergillus species, and would be useful for seeking methods to improve the production of unsaturated fatty acids and enhance efforts for the genetic improvement of strains to adapt to the complex surrounding environment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13568-018-0697-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Acyl-CoA binding protein (ACBP) is involved in lipid metabolism and regulation of gene expression in eukaryotic cells, however, the specific functional roles of this important class of proteins remain to be elucidated.

Author contributions: H.M.L. and Y.M.Q. equally contributed to this work, performed the experiments and drafted the manuscript. M.D.X. analyzed the data. X.Y.D. and H.Z. participated in the experiments. X.L.T. designed the experiments and revised the manuscript. W.D., C.S.O., and Y.H.X. contributed to the edition of the manuscript. All authors have reviewed the results and approved the final manuscript.