Yixingensin (ombuin-3-O-glucoside) is a flavonoid glycoside previously reported to activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors in mammalian cells. Whether it affects lifespan in vivo remains unclear. In the present study, the effects of yixingensin were evaluated in wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans using bacterial growth assays, lifespan and healthspan phenotyping, a high-glucose-induced lipid accumulation model, transcriptome sequencing, and qRT-PCR validation. Yixingensin (25~100 μM) did not inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli OP50. Treatment with yixingensin significantly extended the mean lifespan of C. elegans without adversely affecting general physiological parameters and, at selected concentrations, improved pharyngeal pumping and body-bending activity. Yixingensin also reduced high-glucose-induced triglyceride accumulation. Consistently, imaging analyses revealed decreased lipofuscin autofluorescence and Oil Red O staining following yixingensin treatment. RNA sequencing identified 4677 differentially expressed genes, including 1313 upregulated and 3364 downregulated genes. These genes were significantly enriched in pathways related to xenobiotic metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and longevity regulation in C. elegans. qRT-PCR validation further showed that the stress-responsive genes hsp-12.3, hsp-16.2, and mtl-1 were upregulated, whereas sod-3 expression was downregulated. Overall, yixingensin treatment was associated with lifespan extension and remodeling of metabolic and stress-response gene programs.
Sida rhombifolia L. is traditionally used for the treatment of conditions associated with inflammation. In this study, hexane (SrHex), ethyl acetate (SrAcOEt), and methanolic (SrMeOH) extracts were evaluated in a TPA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate)-induced auricular edema assay in male CF-1 mice. SrHex, the most active extract, was fractionated into H-F1–H-F5. Selected fractions were further evaluated by histological analysis and in RAW-Blue™ macrophage-derived cells stimulated with TPA or LPS (lipopolysaccharide). Cell viability and NF-κB/AP-1-driven SEAP reporter activity were determined, and fractions H-F3 and H-F5 were chemically characterized by GC-MS. SrHex showed the greatest anti-inflammatory activity among the extracts, whereas H-F3 was the most active fraction in the TPA-induced edema model. Histological and morphometric analyses showed that SrHex and fractions H-F1–H-F3 attenuated TPA-induced increases in epidermal/subcutaneous tissue thickness and collagen layer thickness. In TPA-stimulated RAW-Blue™ cells, SrHex and H-F1–H-F3 reduced NF-κB/AP-1-driven SEAP reporter activity without a substantial loss of cell viability. In LPS-stimulated cells, SrHex and H-F2–H-F5 produced concentration-dependent reductions in SEAP reporter activity while largely preserving cell viability. H-F5 showed the highest apparent potency in the reporter assay, with an IC50 of 20.63 µg/mL and an Emax of 98.04%. H-F1 also reduced SEAP reporter activity, although the effects at higher concentrations should be interpreted cautiously because of the concomitant reduction in the cell viability signal. A preliminary analysis by GC-MS enabled the identification of dihydroactinidiolide, 2-methylene-5α-cholestan-3β-ol, and hexanedioic acid, mono(2-ethylhexyl) ester in H-F3, whereas in the H-F5 fraction, cyclopropanetetradecanoic acid, 2-octyl-methyl ester, and 3′,8,8′-trimethoxy-3-piperidyl-2,2′-binaphthalene-1,1′,4,4′-tetrone were identified. Overall, S. rhombifolia showed anti-inflammatory activity in the TPA model and modulated NF-κB/AP-1-associated reporter activity in the stimulated RAW-Blue™ cells.
The conceptual landscape of clinical oncology and cancer biology has undergone a profound transformation in recent decades, evolving from static anatomical staging and broad histopathological classification into a dynamic, molecularly stratified discipline [...]
TGA transcription factors are key regulators within the plant bZIP superfamily, coordinating stress adaptation as well as plant growth and development. Rapid-cycling Brassica rapa (RCBr) is a valuable genetic resource for investigating gene functions in Brassica rapa; however, systematic investigations of its TGA gene family remain limited. In this study, we performed a genome-wide identification of the TGA gene family and identified 19 BrTGA genes in RCBr. Subsequent bioinformatic analyses revealed that the BrTGA family exhibited conserved protein sequences but divergent gene structures. Quantitative expression profiling across multiple tissues revealed that most BrTGA genes were predominantly expressed in roots, with several members exhibiting distinct tissue-preferential expression patterns. These findings provide valuable insights and genetic resources for further investigating the regulatory functions of TGA transcription factors in B. rapa.
Turning one newly sequenced bacterial genome into a view of its biosynthetic potential still means running several cluster detectors and annotation tools and comparing their output by hand. We present BGC-XPLORER, a containerized Snakemake workflow for a single assembled bacterial genome, deployed locally with Docker and operated through a browser. It annotates the genome with Bakta, runs antiSMASH, GECCO and DeepBGC, and groups their predictions gene-by-gene, defining a locus by the genes that at least two callers agree on. Each locus carries gene-resolved evidence from Bakta, eggNOG and dbCAN, ARTS self-resistance hits and MIBiG comparisons in an interactive report with searchable tables and annotated gene maps. Against 42 MIBiG reference loci in four actinomycete genomes from two genera, the grouping recovered 41, at least as many as any single caller in every genome. Applied to the newly sequenced soil isolate Streptomyces albidoflavus STR-S001 (GenBank CP158056), the workflow reported 49 loci, of which 27 had support from at least two callers, 22 a MIBiG comparison and five an ARTS known-resistance hit. An optional, remotely generated AI summary of a single locus is offered as an aid to reading the report. The workflow is not a replacement for laboratory verification but a complementary step that precedes it.
