Understanding the metabolic basis of glucose intolerances and insulin resistance is essential to facilitate early diagnosis, satisfactory therapies and personalized treatments of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Here, we analyzed the serum metabolic variations from 231 human participants with normal glucose tolerance (NGT, n = 80, M/F = 34/46, mean age 53 +/- 10 years), impaired glucose regulation (IGR, n = 77, M/F = 33/44, mean age 51 +/- 10 years) and T2DM (n = 74, M/F = 32/42, mean age 51 +/- 9 years) to establish the relationship between the serum metabolite compositions and the development of diabetes. By using the proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in conjunction with the multivariate data analysis, we found that the development of both glucose intolerances and insulin resistances are closely correlated with the progressive changes of human serum metabonome. Compared with NGT subjects, the IGR and T2DM participants showed clear dysfunctions of choline metabolism, glucose metabolism, lipid and amino acid metabolisms, and disruptions of TCA cycle. The insulin resistance statuses were closely associated with the serum metabonomic changes in terms of glucose, fatty acid and protein/amino acid metabolisms. We also found greater metabonomic heterogeneity among the populations with T2DM and high insulin resistance status. These findings provide useful information to bridge the gaps in our understandings to the metabolic alterations associated with the progression of glucose intolerances and insulin resistance status.

Microalgae cultivation is booming in agriculture, aquaculture, and bioenergy sectors. A wide range of bioactive compounds with attractive properties can be produced with microalgae, including pigments, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. The biofuel yields from microalgae can exceed the yields obtained with energy crops by 10-100 times. Therefore, such cultivation is promising for the regulation of the biosynthesis of microalagae with phytohormones, which can enhance the production of high-valued bioproducts. This review reports the effect of auxins, abscisic acid, cytokinins, gibberellins, and ethylene on microalgal growth and metabolites, as well as the crosstalk of different phytohormones. The use of phytohormones is also promising because it can also reduce the inputs necessary to grow the selected microalgae and maximize the yields.

IntroductionBody composition is closely related to metabolic health status. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) dysfunction contributes to metabolic syndrome. However, results regarding subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and skeletal muscle are controversial. We aimed to determine the association of indices of body composition with abnormal metabolic phenotype in China.MethodsA total of 3, 954 subjects (age 50.2 ± 11.7 years) with body mass index (BMI) more than 18.5 kg/m2 from Pinggu Metabolic Disease Study were analyzed. Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) was performed to measure total adipose tissue (TAT), VAT, SAT area, and lumbar skeletal muscle area (SMA). Participants were divided into six groups on the basis of BMI category (normal weight/overweight/obesity) and metabolic status (healthy/unhealthy), as defined by the presence or absence of components of the metabolic syndrome by Chinese Diabetes Society criteria.Results63.4%, 39.5%, and 23.3% participants were classified as metabolically healthy phenotype in individuals with normal weight, overweight and obese, respectively. Individuals in the highest TAT, VAT, and VAT/TAT ratio category had higher risk of being metabolically unhealthy than individuals in the lowest group (all p<0.01). While, risk for metabolically unhealthy was reduced significantly in the highest SMA/TAT ratio category when compared with the lowest category in individuals with normal wight and overweight (both p<0.05). Risk for metabolically unhealthy was reduced significantly in the highest SAT category when compared with the lowest category (OR=0.555, 95%CI: 0.360-0.856, p=0.008) in individuals with obese after adjustment for age, sex and BMI. However, skeletal muscle index (SMI) showed no significant association with the metabolically healthy status in different BMI categories (p>0.05). The VAT and VAT/TAT ratio were better diagnostic values of indicators to differentiate metabolically unhealthy subjects from controls compared with other indicators, such as TAT, SAT, SMI, SMA/TAT ratio.ConclusionsHigher visceral adipose tissue was closely associated with metabolically unhealthy phenotype in Chinese adults. Subcutaneous adipose tissue might be a protective factor for metabolic health status only in obese individuals.