ZGRF1 promotes end resection of DNA homologous recombination via forming complex with BRCA1/EXO1.

To maintain genomic stability, the mammalian cells has evolved a coordinated response to DNA damage, including activation of DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint processes. Exonuclease 1 (EXO1)-dependent excision of DNA ends is important for the initiation of homologous recombination (HR) repair of DNA breaks, which is thought to play a key role in activating the ATR-CHK1 pathway to induce G2/M cell cycle arrest. But the mechanism is still not fully understood. Here, we report that ZGRF1 forms complexes with EXO1 as well as other repair proteins and promotes DNA repair through HR. ZGRF1 is recruited to DNA damage sites in a MDC1-RNF8-BRCA1 dependent manner. Furthermore, ZGRF1 is important for the recruitment of RPA2 to DNA damage sites and the following ATR-CHK1 mediated G2/M checkpoint in response to irradiation. ZGRF1 null cells show increased sensitivity to many DNA-damaging agents, especially PARPi and irradiation. Collectively,our findings identify ZGRF1 as a novel regulator of DNA end resection and G2/M checkpoint. ZGRF1 is a potential target of radiation and PARPi cancer therapy.

Molecular and Cellular Functions of the Linker Histone H1.2.

Linker histone H1.2, which belongs to the linker histone family H1, plays a crucial role in the maintenance of the stable higher-order structures of chromatin and nucleosomes. As a critical part of chromatin structure, H1.2 has an important function in regulating chromatin dynamics and participates in multiple other cellular processes as well. Recent work has also shown that linker histone H1.2 regulates the transcription levels of certain target genes and affects different processes as well, such as cancer cell growth and migration, DNA duplication and DNA repair. The present work briefly summarizes the current knowledge of linker histone H1.2 modifications. Further, we also discuss the roles of linker histone H1.2 in the maintenance of genome stability, apoptosis, cell cycle regulation, and its association with disease.

Surface modified titania nanotubes containing anti-bacterial drugs for controlled delivery nanosystems with high bioactivity.

Surface functionalization of nanomaterials has been realized to be vital to fabricate drug delivery nanosystems that offer high drug loading and sustained release with remarkable in vivo biocompatibility and bioavailability. From these systems, nanomaterials such as titania nanotubes (TNTs) can be functionalized and designed as specific drug delivery nanosystems. Here, two kinds of novel drug delivery nanosystems, i.e. Enro-NH2-TNTs and Enro-SH-TNTs, were first prepared by combining the characteristic pH adjusted enrofloxacin (Enro) recrystallized loading process and surface silane coupling agent modified titania nanotubes (NH2-TNTs and SH-TNTs). FTIR analysis exhibited that Enro molecules interacted with surface grafted groups, such as -NH2 or -SH, through an electrostatic effect or a hydrogen effect. The recrystallization and loading of Enro molecules into the two types of modified TNTs was identified using X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), surface area analysis (BET), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In vitro experiments exhibited excellent controlled-release properties and further proved that the Enro drugs had been loaded into TiO2 nanotubes, which were influenced by grafted molecules. In vitro cell viability, hemolysis assays and cell apoptosis experiments showed that surface modification could increase the biocompatibility and lower the cytotoxicity of TNT nanomaterials to cells. These modified drug delivery nanosystems afforded higher drug bioavailability and longer drug effects on in vivo administration to chickens. Surface modification combined with a pH adjusted process has a large potential for fabricating long-acting drug delivery nanosystems, especially with hydrochloride drugs.

TiO2 nanotubes as animal drug delivery system and in vitro controlled release.

The enrofloxacin hydrochloride (Enro), an anti-inflammatory drug for the animals, was loaded on the TNTs through physical absorption due to the high specific surface area and excellent surface activity of the TiO2 nanotubes. The samples were characterized by XRD, BET, TEM, TG and FTIR. The in vitro controlled release behavior at different temperatures was studied in detail. The results showed that the obtained TNTs were uniform and mainly amorphous crystal phase with a diameter of 10-15 nm and a length of 350-400 nm. By investigating the effect of the hydrothermal reaction process of the obtained TiO2 nanotubes and the drug loading frequency on the loading content of Enro drugs, the results indicated that the increasing loading frequency of the drug was available for the drug loading and the maximum loading content of drug reached to 33.28%. Enro-TNTs performed a better release profile at low temperature than at high temperature in PBS solution. The Higuchi square root models are suitable to explain the in vitro drug release behavior of Enro from Enro-TNTs.

Fabrication of TiO2 nanoparticles loaded on coal fly ash composite with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

By immobilized on the coal fly ashes, the TiO2 nanoparticles photocatalysts were obviously improved in removing organic compounds of the contaminated water. These composite catalysts were fabricated by three different methods involving hydrothermal method, physical blending and sol-gel method. The resulting materials have been characterized by XRD, SEM and FTIR. The photocatalytic activity of these as-prepared samples was assessed by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution at ambient temperature under UV-light irradiation. The experimental results indicated that TiO2 nanoparticles were tightly dispersed on the surface of spherical coal fly ash particles, where the adsorption ability of the catalysts is effectively promoted. It was found that the catalysts prepared by hydrothermal method exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity than that prepared by physical blending or sol-gel method which mainly resulted from the synergistic effect of TiO2 nanopartcles and coal fly ashes.

Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 derived nanotubes with Ag ions doping.

Ag/TiO2 nanotubes with uniform distribution were successfully prepared by a hydrothermal-dipping method. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, TEM and FTIR, respectively. The results exhibited that the morphological structure of the TiO2 nanotubes was improved by the doping of Ag ions. The photocatalytic degradation experiment indicated that the photocatalytic activity of the Ag/TiO2 nanotubes indicated better photocatalytic activity than pure TiO2 nanotubes since silver was able to help the electron-hole separation by attracting photoelectrons. The optimal mol ration of TiO2 and AgNO3 was 25:1.

Highlighting the possible secondary interactions in the role of balhimycin and its analogues for enantiorecognition in capillary electrophoresis.

It is believed that the enantiorecognition mechanism based on macrocyclic antibiotics involves multimodal interactions via hydrogen bonding, pi-pi interaction, steric hindrance, hydrophobic interaction and so on. A variety of enantiomeric N-benzoylated amino acids were separated using balhimycin (A) or its analogues bromobalhimycin (B) and dechlorobalhimycin (C) as chiral mobile phase additive using a CE method, which combined the partial filling technique with the dynamic coating technique and the co-EOF electrophoresis technique. The enantioresolution and the migration time were highly relevant to the structure of analytes, especially to the substitutions on the N-tagged benzoyl moiety of the amino acids. A steric effect and pi-pi interaction based mechanism is proposed in order to explain some observed enantioresolution differences between positional isomers. Notably dechlorobalhimycin exhibited the best enantioresolution for several N-benzoylated derivatives of leucine, which was rarely observed for N-dansylated amino acid derivatives. The hydrophobicity difference of the aglycone pocket among three chiral selectors was assumed to account for this behaviour.