Lien Thi Kim Vu

Breast cancer remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in women, with around 2.3 million new cases and 670,000 deaths worldwide in 2022. Daidzin, a soy isoflavone glycoside from Glycine max , is a candidate bioactive scaffold, but its breast cancer-relevant mechanisms remain poorly defined. This study used an integrated in silico strategy combining network pharmacology and molecular modeling to prioritize daidzin targets and validate key interactions, with sirtinol as a reference compound. Target prediction identified 101 putative daidzin targets, and intersection with breast cancer-associated genes yielded 97 common targets. Protein-protein interaction analysis highlighted hub genes including ALB, TNF, MMP9, CASP3, SRC, ITGB1, MMP2, ESR1, IL2, and HSP90AA1. Enrichment analyses suggested convergence on extracellular/vesicle-related functions, metallopeptidase activity, and pathway modules spanning metabolism, inflammation, endocrine signaling, and cancer circuitry. Docking against ten hub proteins produced binding energies from −6.00 to −11.49 kcal/mol, with the strongest affinity for MMP9 (6ESM; −11.49 kcal/mol), exceeding B9Z (−10.54 kcal/mol) and sirtinol (−10.59 kcal/mol). Molecular dynamics simulations indicated stable complexes, and Molecular Mechanics Generalized Born Surface Area (MMGBSA) supported stronger binding for daidzin-MMP9 (−46.86 ± 3.83 kcal/mol) than sirtinol-MMP9 (−14.12 ± 8.99 kcal/mol). Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity (ADMET) prediction indicated favorable safety-related flags for daidzin, although lower predicted intestinal absorption and Caco2 permeability than sirtinol suggest potential exposure-related limitations. Density Functional Theory (DFT) analysis supported comparatively greater electronic stability. Collectively, the results prioritize a daidzin-MMP9 axis for experimental validation.

A TeO₂–Nb₂O₅–LiO₂–CaO (TNLC) lithium–niobium–tellurite glass single-doped and co-doped with Tb³⁺, Sm³⁺, and Yb³⁺ ions was synthesized via a conventional melt-quenching method. The Tb³⁺–Sm³⁺ co-doped TNLC glass could be tuned to emit white light effectively by controlling the ratio of Tb³⁺ and Sm³⁺ in the glass. The fluorescence lifetime of the Tb³⁺–Sm³⁺ co-doped TNLC glass indicated the existence of multiple energy transfer channels, including from Tb³⁺ to Sm³⁺ ions and the reverse energy transfer from Sm³⁺ to Tb³⁺ ions. Taking advantage of these energy transfer channels, the color coordinates of the material could be changed from yellowish-pink and yellowish-green emissions to white emission by controlling the ratio of ions doped in TNLC glasses. The optimal molar concentration ratio between Tb³⁺ and Sm³⁺ ions for the best white light emission was 0.83 for the TNLC-0.5Tb0.6Sm sample. Changing the ratio of these rare-earth (RE) ions allowed tuning the color temperature of the material from 5616 to 7699 K. Thus, Tb³⁺–Sm³⁺ co-doped and Tb³⁺–Sm³⁺–Yb³⁺ tri-doped TNLC glasses are promising materials for color display applications and white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs).

Ficus simplicissima Lour. is an Asian species of fig tree in the family Moraceae. The chloroplast (cp) genome of F. simplicissima m3 was sequenced using the Pacbio sequel platform. The F. simplicissima cpDNA has a size of 160,321 bp in length, of which GC content accounts for 36.13%. The cp genome of F. simplicissima consists of a single large copy (LSC) with a size of 91,346 bp, a single small copy (SSC) with a size of 20,131 bp, and a pair of inverted repeats with a size of 24,421 to 24,423 bp. The cp genome of F. simplicissima has 127 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, eight rRNA genes, and 34 tRNA genes; 92 simple sequence repeats and 39 long repeats were detected in the cpDNA of F. simplicissim. A comparative cp genome analysis among six species in the Ficus genus indicated that the genome structure and gene content were highly conserved. The non-coding regions show more differentiation than the coding regions, and the LSC and SSC regions show more differences than the inverted repeat regions. Phylogenetic analysis supported that F. simplicissima m3 had a close relationship with F. hirta. The complete cp genome of F. simplicissima was proposed as a chloroplast DNA barcoding for genus-level in the Moraceae family and the psbA-trnH gene region for species-level identification.

Soybean plants are sensitive to the effects of abiotic stress and belong to the group of crops that are less drought and salt tolerant. The identification of genes involved in mechanisms targeted to cope with water shortage is an essential and indispensable task for improving the drought and salt tolerance of soybean. One of the approaches for obtaining lines with increased tolerance is genetic modification. The dehydration-responsive element binding proteins (DREBs), belonging to the AP2 family, are trans-active transcription factors that bind to the cis-sequences of the promoter for activating the expression of the target genes that mediate drought and salt tolerant responses. In this study, the GmDREB6 transgene was introduced into DT84 cultivar soybean plants, using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The efficacy of GmDREB6 overexpression in enhancing the transcriptional level of GmP5CS and proline accumulation in genetically modified (GM) soybean plants was also assayed. The results demonstrated that ten GM soybean plants (T0 generation) were successfully generated from the transformed explants after selecting with kanamycin. Among these plantlets, the presence of the GmDREB6 transgene was confirmed in nine plants by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and eight plants showed positive results in Southern blot. In the T1 generation, four GM lines, labelled T1-2, T1-4, T1-7, and T1-10, expressed the recombinant GmDREB6 protein. In the T2 generation, the transcriptional levels of the GmP5CS gene were higher in the GM lines than in the non-transgenic plants, under normal conditions and also under conditions of salt stress and drought, ranging from 1.36 to 2.01 folds and 1.58 to 3.16 folds that of the non-transgenic plants, respectively. The proline content was higher in the four GM soybean lines, T2-2, T2-4, T2-7, and T2-10 than in the non-transgenic plants, ranging from 0.82 μmol/g to 4.03 μmol/g. The proline content was the highest in the GM T2-7 line (7.77 μmol/g). In GM soybean lines, T2-2, T2-4, T2-7, and T2-10 proline content increased after plants were subjected to salt stress for seven days, in comparison to that under normal conditions, and ranged from 247.83% to 300%, while that of the non-GM plants was 238.22%. These results suggested that GmDREB6 could act as a potential candidate for genetic engineering for improving tolerance to salt stresses.

Extracts from the rhizomes of Paris species have been used in Asia to help treat inflammation, infection, analgesia, detoxification, dysentery, etc. Analysis of the chemical components from the rhizomes of Paris vietnamensis showed that they contained polyphenols, flavons, flavonols, flavonoids, tannins and steroidal and triterpenoid saponins. In this study, P. vietnamensis was identified from the sample collected from Sapa, Laocai province, Vietnam and three steroidal glycosides from rhizomes of this species were evaluated for anticancer and antimicrobial activity in vitro. The samples were identified as belonging to P. vietnamensis species through a combination of morphological characteristics and DNA barcodes based on the nucleotide sequence of the ITS and matK. All three steroidal glycosides exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against SK-LU-1, HeLa and MKN7 cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 1.07 to 4.37 µmol L⁻¹, and exhibited high antimicrobial activity against strains of Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus subtilis. This study provides information on the antibacterial and inhibitory activities of steroidal glycosides derived from the rhizomes of P. vietnamensis collected from Sapa, Laocai province, Vietnam on cancer cell lines. Thus, P. vietnamensis could be used as an alternative to other species of the Paris genus for anticancer and antimicrobial treatment.