メタボロミクス:オープンアクセス

Immune cell activation and proliferation are closely linked to their metabolic programming. These activated cells share the ability with tumor cells and are capable to response to stimulations quickly and reprogram their metabolism to fight with invading pathogens. The corresponding changes in metabolism provide immune cells with energy and bio-precursors to match with necessity of immune functions. The major metabolic pathways utilized by immune cells for the purpose of protecting body from invading pathogens are glycolysis, glutaminolysis, fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, and mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation. These pathways play crucial roles in immune cell activation and differentiation. In this review, we describe how immune cells engage in certain metabolic processes according to their functional needs with a focus on T cells and macrophage cells.

The enigma of life origination on Earth is an open question for biomedical scientists. Apart from derivative arguments from Darwin’s theory (gradual evolution), some other evolutionary hypotheses have been established—including the evolutionary step of genetic information duplication from prebiotic broths, outsider living-form landing, from volcanic eruption in deeper sea and cooperative biological origin hypothesis and so on. In this editorial article, we discuss the advantages and limitations of different types of life-origin hypotheses and proposed crucial steps in evolutionary progression of life origin on Earth. The major objective of this editorial is to elucidate the different characters of many existing hypotheses.