1.Intelligent mining, engineering, and de novo design of proteins.
Cui LIU ; Zhenkun SHI ; Hongwu MA ; Xiaoping LIAO
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2025;41(3):993-1010
Natural components serve the survival instincts of cells that are obtained through long-term evolution, while they often fail to meet the demands of engineered cells for efficiently performing biological functions in special industrial environments. Enzymes, as biological catalysts, play a key role in biosynthetic pathways, significantly enhancing the rate and selectivity of biochemical reactions. However, the catalytic efficiency, stability, substrate specificity, and tolerance of natural enzymes often fall short of industrial production requirements. Therefore, exploring and modifying enzymes to suit specific biomanufacturing processes has become crucial. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has played an increasingly important role in the discovery, evaluation, engineering, and de novo design of proteins. AI can accelerate the discovery and optimization of proteins by analyzing large amounts of bioinformatics data and predicting protein functions and characteristics by machine learning and deep learning algorithms. Moreover, AI can assist researchers in designing new protein structures by simulating and predicting their performance under different conditions, providing guidance for protein design. This paper reviews the latest research advances in protein discovery, evaluation, engineering, and de novo design for biomanufacturing and explores the hot topics, challenges, and emerging technical methods in this field, aiming to provide guidance and inspiration for researchers in related fields.
Protein Engineering/methods*
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Artificial Intelligence
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Proteins/genetics*
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Computational Biology
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Machine Learning
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Data Mining
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Algorithms
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Deep Learning
2.Discussion on Acupuncture in the Treatment of Female Stress Urinary Incontinence Based on the Theory of Channel Sinew
Li SHI ; Zhenkun ZHOU ; Min JIANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2023;64(18):1922-1925
Female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) caused by support structure damage or relaxation of the urethra and bladder belongs to the category of “channel sinew disease” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The pathogenesis of this disease is “loss of nourishment in the channel sinews, and failure to contract because of relaxation”, which can be divided into two situations: deficiency syndrome mainly refers to qi deficiency, closely related to the three zang (脏) organs including lung, spleen, and kidney; and the excess syndrome mainly refers to heat pathogen and blood stasis. Therefore, the treatment principle of “nourishing the channel sinews, regulating sinews and controlling fluid” is proposed. The acupoints in the lower abdomen, lumbosacral region, and lower limbs are mainly selected in the treatment of SUI with channel sinew needling, such as Qihai (RN 6), Guanyuan (RN 4), and Baliao. The selection of acupoints also emphasizes the pain area. Channel sinew needling includes floating needling, round-sharp needling, penetrating needling, and prickly needling, which reflects the integrity of channel sinew system, and emphasizes the local therapeutic effects highlighting arrival of needling effects at the location of disease. The theory of channel sinew opens up new ideas for treating SUI with acupuncture and moxibustion.
3.Volumetric Imaging of Neural Activity by Light Field Microscopy.
Lu BAI ; Zhenkun ZHANG ; Lichen YE ; Lin CONG ; Yuchen ZHAO ; Tianlei ZHANG ; Ziqi SHI ; Kai WANG
Neuroscience Bulletin 2022;38(12):1559-1568
Recording the highly diverse and dynamic activities in large populations of neurons in behaving animals is crucial for a better understanding of how the brain works. To meet this challenge, extensive efforts have been devoted to developing functional fluorescent indicators and optical imaging techniques to optically monitor neural activity. Indeed, optical imaging potentially has extremely high throughput due to its non-invasive access to large brain regions and capability to sample neurons at high density, but the readout speed, such as the scanning speed in two-photon scanning microscopy, is often limited by various practical considerations. Among different imaging methods, light field microscopy features a highly parallelized 3D fluorescence imaging scheme and therefore promises a novel and faster strategy for functional imaging of neural activity. Here, we briefly review the working principles of various types of light field microscopes and their recent developments and applications in neuroscience studies. We also discuss strategies and considerations of optimizing light field microscopy for different experimental purposes, with illustrative examples in imaging zebrafish and mouse brains.
Animals
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Mice
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Microscopy/methods*
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Zebrafish
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Neurons/physiology*
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Brain/physiology*
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Neurosciences
4.The preventive and therapeutic effect of Bushen Jiedu prescription on radiation induced sex hormone disorder
Xue ZHAO ; Yunshuang YANG ; Rong ZHANG ; Zhenkun KUANG ; Lei DU ; Lei YU ; Pengzhan SHI
Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection 2017;37(8):565-569
Objective To investigate the preventive and therapeutic effect of Bushen Jiedu prescription on ionizing radiation induced sex hormone disorder.Methods Totally 72 adult rats with half male and half female were randonly divided into 6 groups,including control group,radiation group,Bushen Jiedu prescription group with male and female,with 12 rats in each group.After adaptive breeding for 2 d,the rats of Bushen Jiedu prescription group were given 0.2 ml water soluble granules of Bushen Jiedu prescription (1.38 g/ml) by gavage once a day for 10 days.At 11 d,the rats were irradiated by 5 Gy of 60Co γ-rays.24 h after radiation,6 rats in each group were executed to measure the level of sex hormone.The other rats were further gavaged with Bushen Jiedu prescription or its control once a day for 14 d,then were executed for sex hormone testing.Results At 1 d after radiation,the estrogen (E2) of female of Bushen Jiedu prescription group was significantly higher than that of radiation group (t =2.686,P < 0.01).Compared with control group,the levels of follicule-stimulating hormone (FSH) (t =4.305,4.642,P <0.01) of male and female,the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) of male radiation group,and Bushen Jiedu prescription group were increased (t =4.537,2.336,P < 0.01).At 14 d after radiation,the levels of testosterone and luteinizing hormone in male rats of radiation group was higher than those in control group (t =-3.730,2.963,P < 0.05),and the levels of E2 and progesterone of female was lower than those in control group (t =-5.424,-3.178,-2.690,-3.215,P<0.01).Conclusions Ionizing radiation can induced sex hormone disorder,and Bushen Jiedu prescription can effectively inhibit this alteration,which indicates that Bushen Jiedu prescription is an ideal radiation protectant.

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