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- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
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In: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
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- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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- Liao, Shih-Fen, et al.
(author)
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Immunization of fucose-containing polysaccharides from Reishi mushroom induces antibodies to tumor-associated Globo H-series epitopes.
- 2013
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 110:34, s. 13809-13814
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Carbohydrate-based vaccines have shown therapeutic efficacy for infectious disease and cancer. The mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) containing complex polysaccharides has been used as antitumor supplement, but the mechanism of immune response has rarely been studied. Here, we show that the mice immunized with a l-fucose (Fuc)-enriched Reishi polysaccharide fraction (designated as FMS) induce antibodies against murine Lewis lung carcinoma cells, with increased antibody-mediated cytotoxicity and reduced production of tumor-associated inflammatory mediators (in particular, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1). The mice showed a significant increase in the peritoneal B1 B-cell population, suggesting FMS-mediated anti-glycan IgM production. Furthermore, the glycan microarray analysis of FMS-induced antisera displayed a high specificity toward tumor-associated glycans, with the antigenic structure located in the nonreducing termini (i.e., Fucα1-2Galβ1-3GalNAc-R, where Gal, GalNAc, and R represent, respectively, D-galactose, D-N-acetyl galactosamine, and reducing end), typically found in Globo H and related tumor antigens. The composition of FMS contains mainly the backbone of 1,4-mannan and 1,6-α-galactan and through the Fucα1-2Gal, Fucα1-3/4Man, Fucα1-4Xyl, and Fucα1-2Fuc linkages (where Man and Xyl represent d-mannose and d-xylose, respectively), underlying the molecular basis of the FMS-induced IgM antibodies against tumor-specific glycans.
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- Aad, G, et al.
(author)
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- 2015
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swepub:Mat__t
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- Chen, Nai-Chen, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Controlling factors on patterns of dissolved organic carbon and volatile fatty acids in a submarine mud volcano offshore southwestern Taiwan
- 2023
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In: Frontiers in Earth Science. - 2296-6463. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) play key roles in the carbon cycling of marine sediment. Both microbially or thermally activated cracking of organic matter often produces high quantities of DOC and VFAs. To uncover the distribution pattern of DOC and VFAs in sediments under both impacts, a submarine mud volcano (SMV), was chosen to denote a model system that could witness how microbial activities react under the mixing of seawater and deeply-sourced fluids in a subsurface environment. We examined the concentration profiles of DOC and several VFAs (lactate, formate, acetate, propionate, and butyrate) in pore water, covering both sulfate reduction and methanogenesis zones, and further numerically modeled six porewater species (DOC, bromide, calcium, magnesium, ammonium, and total alkalinity) to quantify their fluxes from depth as well as the rates of in-situ microbial processes. Apparently, bulk DOC concentrations fluctuated with depths, probably primarily controlled by in situ microbial processes. Lactate was detectable in some samples, while propionate and butyrate were under detection limit. Acetate and formate concentrations were consistently and uniformly low throughout all biogeochemical zones, with a slightly increasing trend with depth at the center of the SMV, suggesting active utilization and turnover by the terminal steps of organic matter mineralization. The numerical modeling suggests that most DOC patterns were primarily influenced by in-situ organic matter degradation, while the impact of upward migrating fluid become more significant at center sites. The calculation of the Gibbs energy of metabolic redox reactions reveals that acetoclastic sulfate reduction yields the highest energy throughout sediment columns and may co-exist with methanogenesis below sulfate reduction zone. In contrast, acetoclastic methanogenesis yields higher energy within sulfate reduction zone than below that region, suggesting it is thermodynamically feasible to co-occur with sulfate reduction in dynamic SMV environments.
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