Structure–property–function relationships of natural and engineered wood

2020-05-05

The complex structure of wood, one of the most abundant biomaterials on Earth, has been optimized over 270 million years of tree evolution. This optimization has led to the highly efficient water and nutrient transport, mechanical stability and durability of wood. The unique material structure and pronounced anisotropy of wood endows it with an array of remarkable properties, yielding opportunities for the design of functional materials. In this Review, we provide a materials and structural perspective on how wood can be redesigned via structural engineering, chemical and/or thermal modification to alter its mechanical, fluidic, ionic, optical and thermal properties. These modifications enable a diverse range of applications, including the development of high-performance structural materials, energy storage and conversion, environmental remediation, nanoionics, nanofluidics, and light and thermal management. We also highlight advanced characterization and computational-simulation approaches for understanding the structure–property–function relationships of natural and modified wood, as well as informing bio-inspired synthetic designs. In addition, we provide our perspective on the future directions of wood research and the challenges and opportunities for industrialization.

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

2020-05-06

Article Published: 04 May 2020 Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis Fang Dong, Sha Hao, Sen Zhang, Caiying Zhu, Hui Cheng, Zining Yang, Fiona K. Hamey, Xiaofang Wang, Ai Gao, Fengjiao Wang, Yun Gao, Ji Dong, Chenchen Wang, Jinyong Wang, Yu Lan, Bing Liu, Hideo Ema, Fuchou Tang, Berthold Göttgens, Ping Zhu & Tao Cheng Nature Cell Biology (2020)Cite this article Metricsdetails Abstract How transplanted haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) behave soon after they reside in a preconditioned host has not been studied due to technical limitations. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing, we first obtained the transcriptome-based classifications of 28 haematopoietic cell types. We then applied them in conjunction with functional assays to track the dynamic changes of immunophenotypically purified HSCs in irradiated recipients within the first week after transplantation. Based on our transcriptional classifications, most homed HSCs in bone marrow and spleen became multipotent progenitors and, occasionally, some HSCs gave rise to megakaryocytic–erythroid or myeloid precursors. Parallel in vitro and in vivo functional experiments supported the paradigm of robust differentiation without substantial HSC expansion during the first week. Therefore, this study uncovers the previously inaccessible kinetics and fate choices of transplanted HSCs in myeloablated recipients at early stage, with implications for clinical applications of HSCs and other stem cells.

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

2020-05-05

How transplanted haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) behave soon after they reside in a preconditioned host has not been studied due to technical limitations. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing, we first obtained the transcriptome-based classifications of 28 haematopoietic cell types. We then applied them in conjunction with functional assays to track the dynamic changes of immunophenotypically purified HSCs in irradiated recipients within the first week after transplantation. Based on our transcriptional classifications, most homed HSCs in bone marrow and spleen became multipotent progenitors and, occasionally, some HSCs gave rise to megakaryocytic–erythroid or myeloid precursors. Parallel in vitro and in vivo functional experiments supported the paradigm of robust differentiation without substantial HSC expansion during the first week. Therefore, this study uncovers the previously inaccessible kinetics and fate choices of transplanted HSCs in myeloablated recipients at early stage, with implications for clinical applications of HSCs and other stem cells.

Nanopore sequencing and the Shasta toolkit enable efficient de novo assembly of eleven human genomes

2020-05-06

De novo assembly of a human genome using nanopore long-read sequences has been reported, but it used more than 150,000?CPU hours and weeks of wall-clock time. To enable rapid human genome assembly, we present Shasta, a de novo long-read assembler, and polishing algorithms named MarginPolish and HELEN. Using a single PromethION nanopore sequencer and our toolkit, we assembled 11 highly contiguous human genomes de novo in 9?d. We achieved roughly 63× coverage, 42-kb read N50 values and 6.5× coverage in reads >100?kb using three flow cells per sample. Shasta produced a complete haploid human genome assembly in under 6?h on a single commercial compute node. MarginPolish and HELEN polished haploid assemblies to more than 99.9% identity (Phred quality score QV?=?30) with nanopore reads alone. Addition of proximity-ligation sequencing enabled near chromosome-level scaffolds for all 11 genomes. We compare our assembly performance to existing methods for diploid, haploid and trio-binned human samples and report superior accuracy and speed.

Identification of Isopeptides Between Human Tissue Transglutaminase and Wheat, Rye, and Barley Gluten Peptides

2020-05-05

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated enteropathy of the small intestine, which is triggered by the ingestion of storage proteins (gluten) from wheat, rye, and barley in genetically predisposed individuals. Human tissue transglutaminase (TG2) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of CD, because it is responsible for specific gluten peptide deamidation and covalent crosslinking, resulting in the formation of N?-(?-glutamyl)-lysine isopeptide bonds. The resulting TG2-gluten peptide complexes are assumed to cause the secretion of anti-TG2 autoantibodies, but the underlying mechanisms are only partly known. To gain more insight into the structures of these complexes, the aim of our study was to identify TG2-gluten isopeptides. With the use of discovery-driven as well as targeted nanoscale liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we detected 29 TG2-gluten isopeptides in total, involving seven selected TG2 lysine residues (K205, K265, K429, K468, K590, K600, K677). Several gluten peptides carried known B-cell epitopes and/or T-cell epitopes, either intact 9-mer core regions or partial sequences, as well as sequences bearing striking similarities to already known epitopes. These novel insights into the molecular structures of TG2-gluten peptide complexes may help clarify their physiological relevance in the initiation of CD autoimmunity and the role of anti-TG2 autoantibodies.

Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia

2020-05-05

Pre-eclampsia (typically characterized by new-onset hypertension and proteinuria in the second half of pregnancy) represents a major determinant of the global burden of disease1,2. Its pathophysiology involves placental dysfunction, but the mechanism is unclear. Viral infection can cause organ dysfunction, but its role in placentally related disorders of human pregnancy is unknown3. We addressed this using RNA sequencing metagenomics4,5,6 of placental samples from normal and complicated pregnancies. Here, we show that human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6, A or B) RNA was detected in 6.1% of cases of pre-eclampsia and 2.2% of other pregnancies. Fetal genotyping demonstrated that 70% of samples with HHV-6 RNA in the placenta exhibited inherited, chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (iciHHV-6). We genotyped 467 pre-eclampsia cases and 3,854 controls and found an excess of iciHHV-6 in the cases (odds ratio of 2.8, 95% confidence intervals of 1.4–5.6, P?=?0.008). We validated this finding by comparing iciHHV-6 in a further 740 cases with controls from large-scale population studies (odds ratio of 2.5, 95% confidence intervals of 1.4–4.4, P?=?0.0013). We conclude that iciHHV-6 results in the transcription of viral RNA in the human placenta and predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia.

Routine Karyotyping Reveals Frequent Mosaic Reciprocal Chromosome Translocations in Swine: Prevalence, Pedigree, and Litter Size

2020-05-07

In the routine commercial karyotype analysis on 5,481 boars, we identified 32 carriers of mosaic reciprocal translocations, half of which were carrying a specific recurrent translocation, mos t(7;9). An additional 7 mosaic translocations were identified through lymphocyte karyotype analysis from parents and relatives of mosaic carriers (n?=?45), a control group of non-carrier boars (n?=?73), and a mitogen assessment study (n?=?20), bringing the total number of mosaic carriers to 39 cases. Mosaic translocations in all carriers were recognized to be confined to hematopoietic cells as no translocations were identified in fibroblasts cells of the carriers. In addition, negative impact on reproduction was not observed as the fertility of the carriers and their relatives were comparable to breed averages, and cryptic mosaicism was not detected in the family tree. This paper presents the first study of mosaic reciprocal translocations identified in swine through routine screening practices on reproductively unproven breeding boars while presenting evidence that these type of chromosome abnormalities are not associated with any affected phenotype on the carrier animals. In addition, the detection of recurrent mosaic translocations in this study may emphasize the non-random nature of mosaic rearrangements in swine and the potential role of genomic elements in their formation.

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Structure–property–function relationships of natural and engineered wood

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

Nanopore sequencing and the Shasta toolkit enable efficient de novo assembly of eleven human genomes

Identification of Isopeptides Between Human Tissue Transglutaminase and Wheat, Rye, and Barley Gluten Peptides

Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia

Routine Karyotyping Reveals Frequent Mosaic Reciprocal Chromosome Translocations in Swine: Prevalence, Pedigree, and Litter Size

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Microbial Biotechnology and Future Bio-industries

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Structure–property–function relationships of natural and engineered wood

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

Differentiation of transplanted haematopoietic stem cells tracked by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

Nanopore sequencing and the Shasta toolkit enable efficient de novo assembly of eleven human genomes

Identification of Isopeptides Between Human Tissue Transglutaminase and Wheat, Rye, and Barley Gluten Peptides

Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia

Routine Karyotyping Reveals Frequent Mosaic Reciprocal Chromosome Translocations in Swine: Prevalence, Pedigree, and Litter Size