No abstract

The WRKY transcription factor superfamily controls diverse developmental and physiological processes in plants. However, little is known about the factors that directly regulate the function of WRKY genes. In this study, we identified cis-acting elements and their binding proteins of rice OsWRKY13, a gene that plays a pivotal role in disease resistance against bacterial and fungal pathogens. Two novel pathogen-responsive cis-elements, PRE2 and PRE4, were characterized from the promoter region of OsWRKY13. The two cis-elements negatively regulate gene expression without pathogen challenge, and positively regulate gene expression after pathogen-induced protein binding. OsWRKY13 binds to PRE4, which harbours a novel W-like box. Another five proteins (Rad51-like; tubbylike; SWIM zinc finger and nucleotide-binding adaptor shared by APAF-1, certain R proteins and CED-4 (NB-ARC) domain containing proteins; and an unknown protein) also bind to one of the two cis-elements. Different proteins interacting with the same cis-element appear to have different DNA-binding core sequences. These proteins localize in the nucleus and show differential expression upon pathogen challenge. These results suggest that OsWRKY13 expression is regulated by multiple factors to achieve disease resistance.

A microfluidic device was developed for the study of directed invasion of cancer cells in 3-D matrix with concentration gradient. This device consists of two parallel perfusion channels connected by two cell culture chambers. To mimic extracellular matrix (ECM), gelled basement membrane extract (BME) was used to support 3-D distribution of breast cancer cells (MCF7) in cell culture chambers. A stable linear concentration gradient of epidermal growth factor (EGF) was generated across the chambers by continuous perfusion. Using the device, we investigated MCF7 cell invasion induced by different concentrations of EGF in 3-D matrix. It was found that cancer cells responded to EGF stimulation with forming cellular protrusions and migrating towards high EGF concentration. We further investigated the anti-invasion effect of GM 6001, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor. We identified that matrix metalloproteinase inhibition repressed both cellular protrusion formation and cell migration in 3-D matrix. These findings suggest that EGF is able to induce MCF7 cell invasion in 3-D extracellular matrix and this effect is dependent on proteolytic activity. This device is relatively simple to construct and operate. It should be a useful platform for elucidating the mechanism of cancer invasion and screening anti-invasion drugs for cancer therapy.

Achieving higher sensitivity is an earnest purpose for precision metrology. As a response to this goal, the weak value amplification approach has been developed for measuring ultra-small physical effects, realizing sensitivity that had never been reached before. Encouraged by the successes, many efforts have been devoted to obtain ultimate sensitivity of weak value amplification. However, the benefit would be easily compromised in practice, because the cost of significant reduction on signal intensity leads to an ultra-low signal-to-noise ratio. In this work, we bridge this gap by proposing an alternative weak value amplification approach, which provides sensitivity several orders of magnitude higher than the standard approach while being compatible with practical imperfections. In the proof-of-principle experiment of measuring longitudinal phase change in time-domain, sensitivity up to 5 × 10 −4 attosecond is exemplified. Our approach can be applied to measure other small parameters with extremely high sensitivity, providing a new method for future precision metrology.

Degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) in aqueous solution was studied with high-efficiency sulfate radical (SO4(-·)), which was generated by the activation of persulfate (S2O8(2-)) with ferrous ion (Fe(2+)). S2O8(2-) was activated by Fe(2+) to produce SO4(-·), and iron powder (Fe(0)) was used as a slow-releasing source of dissolved Fe(2+). The major oxidation products of BPA were determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer. The mineralization efficiency of BPA was monitored by total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer. BPA removal efficiency was improved by the increase of initial S2O8(2-) or Fe(2+) concentrations and then decreased with excess Fe(2+) concentration. The adding mode of Fe(2+) had significant impact on BPA degradation and mineralization. BPA removal rates increased from 49 to 97% with sequential addition of Fe(2+), while complete degradation was observed with continuous diffusion of Fe(2+), and the latter achieved higher TOC removal rate. When Fe(0) was employed as a slow-releasing source of dissolved Fe(2+), 100% of BPA degradation efficiency was achieved, and the highest removal rate of TOC (85%) was obtained within 2 h. In the Fe(0)-S2O8(2-) system, Fe(0) as the activator of S2O8(2-) could offer sustainable oxidation for BPA, and higher TOC removal rate was achieved. It was proved that Fe(0)-S2O8(2-) system has perspective for future works.

Tumor-derived exosomes have been recognized as promising biomarkers for early-stage cancer diagnosis, tumor prognosis monitoring and individual medical treatment. However, separating exosomes from trace biological samples is a huge challenge...

No abstract

Controlling the chondrocyte phenotype and function in a physiologically relevant microenvironment remains a major challenge for cartilage repair in tissue engineering applications. This work presents a straightforward strategy to create a high throughput concave microwell array used for generating multicellular spheroids of chondrocytes and facilitating the maintenance of the articular chondrocyte phenotype and function by combining 3D spheroid culture with hypoxia. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) concave microwells were simply produced from a concave SU-8 template fabricated using a soft-lithography approach and easily adopted for size-controlled spheroid culture. 3D spheroid culture was observed to facilitate the cartilage-specific phenotype and function maintenance as compared to 2D monolayer culture. Combining hypoxia with spheroid culture markedly increased the expressions of cartilage-specific collagen II and aggrecan at protein and mRNA levels. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling pathway was found to get involved in phenotype maintenance, metabolism and differentiation of chondrocytes by regulating HIF-1α and HIF-2α, respectively. The established approach provides a useful platform for a wide range of applications in the field of cartilage biology, stem cell research and high throughput 3D drug testing in cancer.