Neuroinflammation caused by local deposits of Aβ42 in the brain is key for the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. However, inflammation in the brain is not always a response to local primary insults. Gut microbiota dysbiosis, which is recently emerging as a risk factor for psychiatric disorders, can also initiate a brain inflammatory response. It still remains unclear however, whether enteric dysbiosis also contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. Here we show that in a Drosophila Alzheimer’s disease model, enterobacteria infection exacerbated progression of Alzheimer’s disease by promoting immune hemocyte recruitment to the brain, thereby provoking TNF-JNK mediated neurodegeneration. Genetic depletion of hemocytes attenuates neuroinflammation and alleviated neurodegeneration. We further found that enteric infection increases the motility of the hemocytes, making them more readily attracted to the brain with an elevated oxidative stress status. This work highlights the importance of gut–brain crosstalk as a fundamental regulatory system in modulating Alzheimer’s disease neurodegeneration.

We investigated the relaxation dynamics of bis(2-phenylpyridinato-)(2,2'-bipyridine)iridium(III), [Ir(ppy)(2)bpy](+) using the technique of time-resolved spectroscopy. In the visible emission spectra this molecule exhibits triple phosphorescence: displaying blue, green, and orange bands. From the dependence of spectral shifts with polarity of solvent, decay lifetimes, and the results of calculations using time-dependent density functional theory, we assigned these three emitting states to be triplet interligand charge-transfer ((3)LLCT), metal-to-ligand ppy charge transfer ((3)MLCT(ppy)), and metal-to-ligand bpy charge transfer ((3)MLCT(bpy)) states. The blue states were formed promptly after excitation at wavelength 355 nm; the one lying at higher energy decaying with a time coefficient 0.79-2.56 ns is assigned to be a triplet MLCT, and the other at lower energy decaying in 1.5-2.8 μs is assigned to (3)LLCT(A), A symmetry. This decay time coefficient of (3)LLCT(A) decreases with increasing dielectric constant of the solvent indicating this state mixing of some MLCT character. The green state (3)MLCT(ppy) decays in 0.13-4.8 ns to a nearby intermediate state either (3)MLCT(ppy) or (3)MLCT(bpy). The orange state (3)MLCT(bpy) is coupled to the intermediate state to have a rise time about 0.36-0.84 ns and decays in 425-617 ns. Although many triplet states exist in a small energy range, they couple weakly to display triple emission. All (3)LLCT and (3)MCLT states are coupled to the singlet (1)LLCT manifold directly and/or indirectly and contribute to the emission in the visible range.

Local infections can trigger immune responses in distant organs, and this interorgan immunological crosstalk helps maintain immune homeostasis. We find that enterobacterial infection or chemically and genetically stimulating reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced stress responses in the Drosophila gut triggers global antimicrobial peptide (AMP) responses in the fat body, a major immune organ in flies. ROS stress induces nitric oxide (NO) production in the gut, which triggers production of the AMP Diptericin, but not Drosomycin, in the fat body. Hemocytes serve as a signaling relay for communication between intestinal ROS/NO signaling and fat body AMP responses. The induction of AMP responses requires Rel/NF-κB activation within the fat body. Although Rel-mediated Drosomycin induction is repressed by the AP-1 transcription factor, this repressor activity is inhibited by intestinal ROS. Thus, intestinal ROS signaling plays an important role in initiating gut-to-fat body immunological communication in Drosophila.

Five iridium bis(carbene) complexes, [Ir(pmi)(2)(pypz)] (1), [Ir(mpmi)(2)(pypz)] (2), [Ir(fpmi)(2)(pypz)] (3), [Ir(fpmi)(2)(pyim)] (4), and [Ir(fpmi)(2)(tfpypz)] (5) (pmi=1-phenyl-3-methylimdazolin-2-ylidene-C,C(2'); fpmi=1-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-methylimdazolin-2-ylidene-C,C(2'); mpmi=1-(4-methyl-phenyl)-3-methylimdazolin-2-ylidene-C,C(2'); pypz=2-(1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyridinato; pyim=2-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)pyridinato; and tfpypz=2-(3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyridinato), were synthesized and their structures were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. These complexes showed phosphorescent emission with the emission maxima between 453 and 490 nm. Various spectrophotometric measurements, cyclic voltammetric studies, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that, unlike most of the phosphorescent cyclometalated iridium complexes, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy and the emissive state of these iridium complexes are mainly controlled by the N,N'-heteroaromatic (N^N) ligand. Despite the fact that the LUMO levels of these complexes are mainly on the N^N ligands, the efficiencies of the electroluminescent (EL) devices are very high. For example, the EL devices using [Ir(mpmi)(2)(pypz)], [Ir(fpmi)(2)(pypz)], and [Ir(fpmi)(2)(tfpypz)] as the dopant emitters exhibited light- to deep-blue electrophosphorescence with external quantum efficiencies of 15.2, 14.1, and 7.6% and Commission Internationale d'Énclairage (x,y) coordinates (CIE(x,y)) of (0.14, 0.27), (0.14, 0.18) and (0.14, 0.10), respectively.

A novel microbial transglutaminase (TGase) from the cultural filtrate of Streptomyces netropsis BCRC 12429 (Sn) was purified. The specific activity of the purified TGase was 18.2 U/mg protein with an estimated molecular mass of 38 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. The TGase gene of S. netropsis was cloned and an open reading frame of 1,242 bp encoding a protein of 413 amino acids was identified. The Sn TGase was synthesized as a precursor protein with a preproregion of 82 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mature S. netropsis TGase shares 78.9-89.6% identities with TGases from Streptomyces spp. A high level of soluble Sn TGase with its N-terminal propeptide fused with thioredoxin was expressed in E. coli. A simple and efficient process was applied to convert the purified recombinant protein into an active enzyme and showed activity equivalent to the authentic mature TGase.

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Photodissociation of 1,1-difluoroethylene (F 2 CCH 2 ) at 157 nm has been investigated using photofragment translational spectroscopy. Five dissociation channels have been experimentally observed; molecular HF elimination, H atom elimination, molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) elimination, F atom elimination, and double bond breaking. Molecular HF elimination and H atom elimination channels are found to be the two major dissociation pathways in photodissociation of F 2 CCH 2 at 157 nm excitation. Molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) elimination and double bond cleavage are also significant, while F atom elimination is a minor process. Product translational energy distributions for all dissociation channels have also been measured. All translational energy releases are peaked at energies away from zero, indicating that the dissociation of F 2 CCH 2 at 157 nm excitation most likely occurs with exit barriers on the ground electronic potential surface through internal conversion from the initially excited electronic state. Branching ratios and averaged energy partitions for different channels have also been estimated.

Photodissociation of a series of C 3 -C 9 alkanes following 157 nm excitation has been investigated using the photofragment translational spectroscopy (PTS) technique. Three series of alkanes, normal alkanes, branched alkanes, and cyclic alkanes, were studied and the atomic hydrogen (H) and molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) elimination from their photodissociation were experimentally investigated. Experimental results show that the dynamics of the H and H 2 elimination processes from larger n-alkanes is quite similar to that of propane. Dissociation of the branched alkanes is, however, significantly different from that of the normal alkanes. C-C bond fission is more significant in the branched alkanes. There are also notable differences among the branched alkanes for the H and H 2 elimination processes. Photodissociation dynamics of small cyclic alkanes are significantly different from that of the acyclic alkanes. This is likely due to their significantly different electronic structures caused by the large ring strain in small cyclic alkanes. The H and H 2 elimination channels for larger cyclic alkanes are quite similar to the normal alkanes. Relative branching ratios of the H and H 2 elimination channels for all the alkane molecules are determined and compared.