Endophytic fungi, living in the inner tissues of living plants, have attracted increasing attention among ecologists, taxonomists, chemists and agronomists. They are ubiquitously associated with almost all plants studied to date. Numerous studies have indicated that these fungi have an impressive array of biotechnological potential, such as enzyme production, biocontrol agents, plantgrowth promoting agents, bioremediation, biodegradation, biotransformation, biosynthesis and nutrient cycling. These fungi may represent an underexplored reservoir of novel biological resources for exploitation in the pharmaceutical, industry and agriculture. This review focuses on new findings in isolation methods, biodiversity, ecological distribution and biotechnological potential.

Phellinus linteus is a popular medicinal mushroom that is widely used in China, Korea, Japan, and other Asian countries. P. linteus comprises various bioactive components, such as polysaccharides, triterpenoids, phenylpropanoids, and furans, and has proven to be an effective therapeutic agent in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment and the prevention of various diseases. A number of studies have reported that P. linteus possesses many biological activities useful for pharmacological applications, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antioxidative, and antifungal activities, as well as antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective effects. This review article briefly presents the recent progress made in understanding the bioactive components, biological activities, pharmacological applications, safety, and prospects of P. linteus, and provides helpful references and promising directions for further studies of P. linteus.

Airborne microplastics (MPs) are receiving increasing attention due to their ubiquitous nature and the potential human health consequences resulting from inhalation. The limited data for airborne MP concentrations vary widely among studies (∼4 orders of magnitude), but comparisons are tenuous due to the inconsistent collection and detection/enumeration methodologies among studies. Herein, we used uniform methodologies to obtain comparable airborne MP concentration data to assess MP exposure intensity in five Chinese megacities. Airborne MP concentrations in northern cities (358 ± 132 items/m 3 ) were higher than those in southeast cities (230 ± 94 items/m 3 ) but of a similar order of magnitude, unlike previous studies. The majority (94.7%) of MPs found in air samples were smaller than 100 μm, and the main shape of airborne MPs was fragments (88.2%). Polyethylene, polyester, and polystyrene were the dominant polymers comprising airborne MPs. No consistent relationships were detected between airborne MP concentration and typical socioeconomic indices, and the spatial and diurnal patterns for airborne MPs were different from various components of air quality indices (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , etc.). These findings reflect the contrasting source/generation dynamics between airborne MPs and other airborne pollutants. Maximum annual exposure of humans to airborne MPs was estimated in the range of 1−2 million/year in these megacities, highlighting the need for additional research examining the human health risks from the inhalation of airborne MPs.

Rationale: Dysbiotic gut microbiota (GM) and NLRP3 inflammasome are proarrhythmic factors in atrial fibrillation (AF). Herein, whether short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) produced from GM fermentation of dietary fiber serving as invisible mediators is yet unclear. Thus, the current study aimed to determine whether SCFA alleviated from NLRP3 signaling-mediated atrial remodeling protects AF development. Methods: First, a cross-sectional study based on the GC-MS metabolomics was performed to explore the association between fecal SCFA levels and AF traits in a cohort consisted of 48 individuals. Then, a well-established mice model fed diet deficient or enriched in dietary fiber was established to elucidate the pathophysiological role of SCFA involved in AF susceptibility, atrial remodeling, and G-protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR43)/NLRP3 signaling. Finally, the effects of SCFA were verified on HL-1 cells. Results: Fecal SCFA levels were remarkably reduced in AF patients with a declining trend from paroxysmal to persistent AF. Prolonged P wave duration based on surface ECG and increased left atrial diameter gained from echocardiography was identified in low-fiber diet mice but lost in SCFA-supplemented group. Lack of dietary fiber enhanced susceptibility to AF under burst pacing, whereas SCFA might exert a protective effect. The supplementation of SCFA prevented dietary fiber deficiency-upregulated phosphorylation of calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II and ryanodine receptor 2, the disarray fibrosis, collagen expression, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in atrial tissue. Finally, the AF protective roles of SCFA were identified through GPR43 mediated deactivation of NLRP3 by GPR43 knockdown in HL-1 cells. Conclusions: SCFA derived from dietary fiber fermentation by gut commensals alleviates AF development via GPR43/NLRP3 signaling.

Large rivers are commonly regulated by damming, yet the effects of such disruption on bacterioplankton community structures have not been adequately studied. The aim of this study was to explore the biogeographical patterns present under dam regulation and to uncover the major drivers structuring bacterioplankton communities. Bacterioplankton assemblages in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) were analyzed using Illumina Miseq sequencing by comparing seven sites located within the TGR before and after impoundment. This approach revealed ecological and spatial-temporal variations in bacterioplankton community composition along the longitudinal axis. The community was dynamic and dominated by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria phyla, encompassing 39.26% and 37.14% of all sequences, respectively, followed by Bacteroidetes (8.67%) and Cyanobacteria (3.90%). The Shannon-Wiener index of the bacterioplankton community in the flood season (August) was generally higher than that in the impoundment season (November). Principal Component Analysis of the bacterioplankton community compositions showed separation between different seasons and sampling sites. Results of the relationship between bacterioplankton community compositions and environmental variables highlighted that ecological processes of element cycling and large dam disturbances are of prime importance in driving the assemblages of riverine bacterioplankton communities.

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Comprehensive microbial risk assessment requires high-throughput quantification of diverse microbial risks in the environment. Current metagenomic next-generation sequencing approaches can achieve high-throughput detection of genes indicative of microbial risks, but lacks quantitative capabilities. This study developed and tested a quantitative metagenomic next-generation sequencing (qmNGS) approach. Numerous xenobiotic synthetic internal DNA standards were used to determine the sequencing yield (Y seq ) of the qmNGS approach, which can then be used to calculate absolute concentration of target genes in environmental samples based on metagenomic sequencing results. The qmNGS approach exhibited excellent linearity as indicated by a strong linear correlation (r 2 = 0.98) between spiked and detected concentrations of internal standards. High-throughput capability of the qmNGS approach was demonstrated with artificial E. coli mixtures and cattle manure samples, for which 95 ± 3 and 208 ± 4 types of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were detected and quantified simultaneously. The qmNGS approach was further compared with qPCR and demonstrated comparable levels of accuracy and less variation for the quantification of six target genes (16S, tetO , sulI , tetM , ermB and qnrS ). IMPORTANCE Monitoring and comprehensive assessment of microbial risks in the environment requires high-throughput gene quantification. The quantitative mNGS (qmNGS) approach developed in this study incorporated numerous xenobiotic and synthetic DNA internal standard fragments into metagenomic NGS workflow, which are used to determine a new parameter called sequencing yield that relates sequence base reads to absolute concentration of target genes in the environmental samples. The qmNGS approach demonstrated excellent method linearity and comparable performance as the qPCR approach with high-throughput capability. This new qmNGS approach can achieve high-throughput and accurate gene quantification in environmental samples, and has the potential to become a useful tool in monitoring and comprehensively assessing microbial risks in the environment.

Background Conventional immunohistochemistry technologies were limited by the inability to simultaneously detect multiple markers and the lack of identifying spatial relationships among cells, hindering understanding of the biological processes in cancer immunology. Methods Tissue slices of primary tumours from 553 IA∼IIIB non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases were stained by multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF) assay for 10 markers, including CD4, CD38, CD20, FOXP3, CD66b, CD8, CD68, PD‐L1, CD133 and CD163, evaluating the amounts of 26 phenotypes of cells in tumour nest and tumour stroma. StarDist depth learning model was utilised to determine the spatial location of cells based on mIF graphs. Single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) on four primary NSCLC cases was conducted to investigate the putative cell interaction networks. Results Spatial proximity among CD20+ B cells, CD4+ T cells and CD38+ T cells ( r 2 = 0.41) was observed, whereas the distribution of regulatory T cells was associated with decreased infiltration levels of CD20+ B cells and CD38+ T cells ( r 2 = −0.45). Univariate Cox analyses identified closer proximity between CD8+ T cells predicted longer disease‐free survival (DFS). In contrast, closer proximity between CD133+ cancer stem cells (CSCs), longer distances between CD4+ T cells and CD20+ B cells, CD4+ T cells and neutrophils, and CD20+ B cells and neutrophils were correlated with dismal DFS. Data from scRNA‐seq further showed that spatially adjacent N1‐like neutrophils could boost the proliferation and activation of T and B lymphocytes, whereas spatially neighbouring M2‐like macrophages showed negative effects. An immune‐related risk score (IRRS) system aggregating robust quantitative and spatial prognosticators showed that high‐IRRS patients had significantly worse DFS than low‐IRRS ones (HR 2.72, 95% CI 1.87–3.94, p < .001). Conclusions We developed a framework to analyse the cell interaction networks in tumour microenvironment, revealing the spatial architecture and intricate interplays between immune and tumour cells.