Synthetic biology for Monascus: From strain breeding to industrial production.

Traditional Chinese food therapies often motivate the development of modern medicines, and learning from them will bring bright prospects. Monascus, a conventional Chinese fungus with centuries of use in the food industry, produces various metabolites, including natural pigments, lipid-lowering substances, and other bioactive ingredients. Recent Monascus studies focused on the metabolite biosynthesis mechanisms, strain modifications, and fermentation process optimizations, significantly advancing Monascus development on a lab scale. However, the advanced manufacture for Monascus is lacking, restricting its scale production. Here, the synthetic biology techniques and their challenges for engineering filamentous fungi were summarized, especially for Monascus. With further in-depth discussions of automatic solid-state fermentation manufacturing and prospects for combining synthetic biology and process intensification, the industrial scale production of Monascus will succeed with the help of Monascus improvement and intelligent fermentation control, promoting Monascus applications in food, cosmetic, agriculture, medicine, and environmental protection industries.

Use of dual genomic sequencing to screen mitochondrial diseases in pediatrics: a retrospective analysis.

Mitochondrial diseases (MDs) were a large group multisystem disorders, attributable in part to the dual genomic control. The advent of massively sequencing has improved diagnostic rates and speed, and was increasingly being used as a first-line diagnostic test. Paediatric patients (aged < 18 years) who underwent dual genomic sequencing were enrolled in this retrospective multicentre study. We evaluated the mitochondrial disease criteria (MDC) and molecular diagnostic yield of dual genomic sequencing. Causative variants were identified in 177 out of 503 (35.2%) patients using dual genomic sequencing. Forty-six patients (9.1%) had mitochondria-related variants, including 25 patients with nuclear DNA (nDNA) variants, 15 with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants, and six with dual genomic variants (MT-ND6 and POLG; MT-ND5 and RARS2; MT-TL1 and NARS2; MT-CO2 and NDUFS1; MT-CYB and SMARCA2; and CHRNA4 and MT-CO3). Based on the MDC, 15.2% of the patients with mitochondria-related variants were classified as "unlikely to have mitochondrial disorder". Moreover, 4.5% of the patients with non-mitochondria-related variants and 1.43% with negative genetic tests, were classified as "probably having mitochondrial disorder". Dual genomic sequencing in suspected MDs provided a more comprehensive and accurate diagnosis for pediatric patients, especially for patients with dual genomic variants.

Exosome-Encapsulated microRNA-140-5p Alleviates Neuronal Injury Following Subarachnoid Hemorrhage by Regulating IGFBP5-Mediated PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway.

Recent literature has highlighted the therapeutic implication of exosomes (Exos) released by adipose tissue-originated stromal cells (ADSCs) in regenerative medicine. Herein, the current study sought to examine the potential protective effects of ADSC-Exos on neuronal injury following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) by delivering miR-140-5p. Firstly, isolated primary neurons were co-cultured together with well-identified ADSC-Exos. TDP-43-treated neurons were subsequently treated with PKH67-ADSC-Exos and Cy3-miR-140-5p to assess whether ADSC-Exos could transmit miR-140-5p to the recipient neurons to affect their behaviors. Moreover, a luciferase assay was carried out to identify the presumable binding of miR-140-5p to IGFBP5. IGFBP5 rescue experimentation was also performed to testify whether IGFBP5 conferred the impact of miR-140-5p on neuronal damage. The role of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was further analyzed with the application of its inhibitor miltefosine. Lastly, SAH rat models were developed for in vivo validation. It was found that ADSC-Exos conferred protection against TDP-43-caused neuronal injury by augmenting viability and suppressing cell apoptosis. In addition, miR-140-5p was transmitted from ADSC-Exos to neurons and post-transcriptionally downregulated the expression of IGFBP5. As a result, by means of suppressing IGFBP5 and activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, miR-140-5p from ADSC-Exos induced a neuroprotective effect. Furthermore, in vivo findings substantiated the aforementioned protective role of ADSC-Exos-miR-140-5p, contributing to protection against SAH-caused neurological dysfunction. Collectively, our findings indicated that ADSC-Exos-miR-140-5p could inhibit TDP-43-induced neuronal injury and attenuate neurological dysfunction of SAH rats by inhibiting IGFBP5 and activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Bioinformatics, Microneedle, and Diabetic Wound Healing: A "New Deal" of an Old Drug.

Diabetic wounds severely influence life, facing grand challenges in clinical treatments. The demand for better treatment is growing dramatically. Diabetic wound healing is challenging because of inflammation, angiogenesis disruptions, and tissue remodeling. Based on sequencing results of diabetic patients' skins and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted bioinformatics, we excavate a potential therapeutic agent Trichostatin A (TSA) and a potential target histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) for diabetic wound healing. The molecular docking simulation reveals the favorable interaction between TSA and HDAC4. Taking advantage of the microneedle (MN) minimally invasive way to pierce the skin barrier for drug administration, we develop a swelling modified MN-mediated patch loaded with TSA to reduce the probability of injection-caused iatrogenic secondary damage. The MN-mediated TSA patch has been demonstrated to reduce inflammation, promote tissue regeneration, and inhibit HDAC4, which provides superior results in diabetic wound healing. We envisage that our explored specific drug TSA and the related MN-mediated drug delivery system can provide an innovative approach for diabetic wound treatment with simple, effective, and safe features and find a broad spectrum of applications in related biomedical fields.

Phenotype of heterozygous variants of dehydrodolichol diphosphate synthase.

AIM: To further identify and broaden the phenotypic characteristics and genotype spectrum of the dehydrodolichol diphosphate synthase (DHDDS) gene. METHOD: Pathogenic variants of DHDDS were identified by whole-exome sequencing; clinical data of 10 patients (six males, four females; age range 2-14y; mean age 5y 9mo, SD 3y 3mo) were collected and analysed. RESULTS: All patients had seizures, and myoclonic seizures could be seen in eight patients, with myoclonic status epilepticus in three. The interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) in four patients at seizure onset showed generalized slow waves, slow wave mixed spikes, and spike and waves. Tremor, ataxia, and hypertonia was observed in six, five, and three patients respectively. The results of short-latency somatosensory evoked potential in two patients were normal, and the symptom of tremor was captured on EEG without time-locked discharges in one patient, suggesting that the tremor in both patients was a motor impairment rather than myoclonic seizures. Global developmental delay occurred in all patients, among whom nine showed severe intellectual disability and one moderate. Five DHDDS variants were identified, three of which have not been reported previously. INTERPRETATION: Myoclonic seizure is the most common seizure type in heterozygous DHDDS variants, while myoclonic status epilepticus can also occur. The pattern of interictal EEG discharges is characterized by slow waves rather than spike and waves, and generalized discharges was prominent.

Spiropyran based recognitions of amines: UV-Vis spectra and mechanisms.

As one of the important photochromic molecules, spiropyran (SP) compounds are widely used as detectors and fluorescence probes in the environment and bio-imaging field. Although great achievements have been attained for various sophisticated spiropyrans in metal ion sensing, less success is achieved in sensing organic molecules due to the weak interaction between the spiropyran and the target of the organic molecule. In this study, a spiropyran derivative containing a hydroxyl group (SPOH) was employed for the recognition of four kinds of amines via ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra. The aliphatic primary amines, aromatic primary amines, aliphatic secondary and tertiary amines, aromatic secondary and tertiary amines were successfully distinguished according to the shapes and trends of their UV-Vis absorption spectra. The chemical reaction between aliphatic, aromatic primary amines and SPOH as well as alkalinity are two vital interaction mechanisms for the recognition process which are testified by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Although SP is generally water-insoluble, it is easy to achieve soluble by fixing SPOH inside micelle or vesicle and thus the results in this study is meaningful for amine recognition utility in environments and biological systems.

A Novel Signature of 23 Immunity-Related Gene Pairs Is Prognostic of Cutaneous Melanoma.

In this study, we aimed to identify an immune-related signature for predicting prognosis in cutaneous melanoma (CM). Sample data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA; n = 460) were used to develop a prognostic signature with 23 immune-related gene pairs (23 IRGPs) for CM. Patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups using the TCGA and validation datasets GSE65904 (n = 214), GSE59455 (n = 141), and GSE22153 (n = 79). The ability of the 23-IRGP signature to predict CM was precise, with the stratified high-risk groups showing a poor prognosis, and it had a significant predictive power when used for immune microenvironment and biological analyses. We subsequently established a novel promising prognostic model in CM to determine the association between the immune microenvironment and CM patient results. This approach may be used to discover signatures in other diseases while avoiding the technical biases associated with other platforms.

[Correlation of serum IL-16, IL-18 levels and immunoglobulins in children with asthma].

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the changes of serum levels of interleukin (IL)-16, IL-18 and immunoglobulins and the correlation of serum IL-16, IL-18 levels and immunoglobulins in children with asthma and aimed to explore the role of IL-16, IL-18 and immunoglobulins in the pathogenesis of asthma. METHODS: Thirty-four children with asthma and 21 age and gender-matched healthy children were enrolled in this study. The levels of IL-16, IL-18 and immunoglobulin E (IgE) were determined using ELISA. Immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) were detected by immunoturbidimetry. RESULTS: The levels of IL-16, IL-18 and IgE in patients with asthma at both acute attack and convalescence stages were significantly higher than those in healthy controls. An increased IgG and a decreased IgA levels were found in asthmatic patients at the acute attack stage. There was a positive correlation between the IL-16 and IL-18 levels at both acute attack and convalescence stages of asthma (r=0.70, P < 0.01; r=0.70, P < 0.05). The IL-16 level correlated positively with the IgE level at acute attack stage of asthma (r=0.624, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: IL-16, IL-18 and IgE may be involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. The immunologic imbalance exists in children with asthma at both acute attack and convalescence stages. Anti-allergic therapy should be administered through the acute attack to the convalescence stages of asthma.