Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection causes a myriad of diseases from mild hand-foot-and-mouth disease or herpangina to fatal brain stem encephalitis complicated with pulmonary edema. Several severe EV71 endemics have occurred in Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, and have become a serious threat to children’s health. EV71 infection is initiated by the attachment of the virion to the target cell surface. Although this process relies primarily upon interaction between viruses and cell surface receptors, soluble factors may also influence the binding of EV71 to host cells.Galectin-1 has been reported to participate in several virus infections, but is not addressed in EV71. In this study, we found that the serum levels of galectin-1 in EV71-infected children were higher than those in non-infected people. In EV71 infected cells, galectin-1 was found to be associated with the EV71 VP1 and VP3 via carbohydrate residues and subsequently released and bound to another cell surface along with the virus. EV71 propagated from galectin-1 knockdown SK-N-SH cells exhibited lower infectivity in cultured cells and less pathogenicity in mice than the virus propagated from parental cells. In addition, this galectin-1-free EV71 virus was sensitive to high temperature and lost its viability after long-term storage, which could be restored following supplement of recombinant galectin-1. Taken together, our findings uncover a new role of galectin-1 in facilitating EV71 virus infection.
A novel halophilic heterotrophic bacterium, designated strain DN34, was isolated from seawater in Nanwan Bay of Kenting National Park, Taiwan. It was Gram negative and facultatively anaerobic. Cells in late exponential to early stationary phase of growth were predominantly straight or curved rods, but Yor V-shaped forms were also observed; straight and curved rods achieved motility by one to several lateral or subpolar flagella. The G + C content of the DNA was 51.7 mol%. Strain DN34 grew optimally at about 30°C and pH 8.0. Growth depended on the presence of NaCl with optimal concentration at about 3%. Aerobically, strain DN34 grew much better and tolerated NaCl at a greater range of concentration with sufficient Mg2+ and Ca2+ than under deficient conditions; Mg2+ or Ca2+ was indispensable for growth under anaerobic conditions. The strain was capable of anaerobic growth by carrying out denitrifying metabolism using nitrate, nitrite, or nitrous oxide as terminal electron acceptors or, alternatively, by fermenting glucose or mannose as substrates. Halophilic heterotrophic bacteria capable of both denitrification and fermentation have not been reported previously.
A 2-μm-long Ni ion-chelated DNA molecule (Ni-DNA) was found for the first time to possess both memcapacitor and memristor properties; this Ni-DNA molecule is known as a dual memory circuit element (memelement). As a memelement, the state of impedance on Ni-DNA is proportional to the unit number of Ni ions containing a base pair complex (Ni-bp), which is determined by the previously applied external voltage. Interestingly, the impedances of Ni-DNA change in response to a change in the sweeping frequencies of the external bias. Our simulation results also indicate that changes in the effective resistance and capacitance of Ni-bp may be attributed to changes in the Ni ion redox species in the Ni-bp of a Ni-DNA nanowire. Therefore, the working mechanism of a nanowire-type memcapacitor and memristor is revealed. In summary, the Ni-DNA nanowire is shown to be a multi-dimensional memory device, whose memory state depends on the length of DNA and applied external voltages/frequencies.
Plants growing under reduced water availability can affect insect herbivores differently, in some instances benefitting them. However, the forces mediating these positive impacts remain mostly unclear. To identify how water availability impacts plant quality and multi-trophic interactions, we conducted manipulative field studies with two populations of the specialist herbivore Pieris rapae, and its host plant, Rorippa indica. We found that P. rapae larvae experienced higher survival on R. indica growing under low water availability compared with plants grown under high water availability. Higher survival of eggs and larvae was related to the reduced abundance of other herbivores and natural enemies. Water availability had differential impacts on other members of the herbivore community by altering plant quality. Low water availability decreased the quality of R. indica to most herbivores, as indicated by reduced abundance in the field and decreased relative growth rate in laboratory feeding assays. In contrast, P. rapae larval performance was not affected by sympatric R. indica grown under different water availability. These results indicate that local P. rapae populations possess physiological adaptations to overcome fluctuations in host quality. Our findings illustrate that reduced water availability is beneficial to a specialist herbivore but detrimental to most other herbivores. Our work highlights the complex effects of the arthropod communities associated with plants in determining the impacts of water availability on insect herbivores.
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