ABSTRACT
Blochmannia endosymbionts, belonging to Gammaproteobacteria, live in bacteriocytes, which are specialized cells for these bacterial species in the Camponotus genus (carpenter ants). In this announcement, we describe the complete genome sequence of the Blochmannia endosymbiont of Camponotus nipponensis, which originated from a C. nipponensis colony collected in the Republic of Korea.
ABSTRACT
Cirsium rhinoceros (H.Lév. & Vaniot) Nakai has been used a traditional medicine. Complete chloroplast genome of C. rhinoceros is 152,576 bp long and has four subregions: 87,262 bp of large single copy (LSC) and 21,486 bp of small single copy (SSC) regions that are separated by 18,742 bp of inverted repeat (IR) regions including 133 genes (88 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNAs, and 37 tRNAs). The overall GC content of this chloroplast genome is 37.7% and in the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 36.0%, 31.4%, and 43.8%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees show that Cirsium species are clustered along with their distribution.
ABSTRACT
In an effort to find topical agents that prevent or retard cutaneous aging, seven functional lipids were screened for their procollagen-upregulating and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1-downregulating activities in human dermal fibroblasts by Western blotting. The preventive effect on ultraviolet (UV)-induced decrease of procollagen was demonstrated in phosphatidylserine (PS), lysophosphatidylserine (LPS), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), N-acetyl phytosphingosine (NAPS), and tetraacetyl phytosphingosine (TAPS). Furthermore, PS, LPS, and LPA upregulated procollagen expression in unirradiated basal conditions. The inhibitory effect on UV-induced MMP-1 expression was seen in NAPS, TAPS, LPA, PS, lysophosphatidylglycerol, and LPS. PS was chosen as the most suitable candidate anti-aging chemical for the subsequent in vivo studies. We investigated the effects of PS on acute UV response and chronologic skin aging by topically applying it to young skin before UV irradiation and to aged human skin, respectively. Real-time PCR and Western blot revealed that in the young skin, PS treatment prevented UV-induced reduction in procollagen expression and inhibited UV-induced MMP-1 expression. PS also blocked UV-induced IL-6 and COX-2 gene expression in cultured fibroblasts dose-dependently. In the aged skin, PS caused increased procollagen transcription and procollagen immunostaining in the upper dermis, and a significant decrease in MMP-1 expression at both mRNA and protein levels. These results indicate that topical PS has anti-skin-aging properties and point to the potential use of PS as a therapeutic agent in the prevention and treatment of cutaneous aging.
