Genome-wide association mapping of phenolic acids in tetraploid wheats

Phenolic acids are major components of cell walls in wheat and have important implications on human health as antioxidants with anti-tumor activity. Our objectives were to identify phenolic acid genes in wheat by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) detected within the coding sequences of candidate genes, and to identify chromosomal regions associated with single phenolic acids and total soluble phenolic compounds. A set of candidate genes involved in the biosynthesis of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives were identified by comparative genomics. SNPs found in the coding sequences of six genes (PAL1, PAL2, C4H, C3H, COMT1 and COMT2) were used to determine their chromosomal location and accurate map position on two reference consensus linkage maps. The genome-wide association study (GWAS), based on genotyping a tetraploid wheat collection with 81,587 gene-associated SNPs, detected 22 quantitative trait loci (QTL) distributed on almost all durum wheat chromosomes. Two QTL for p-coumaric acid were coincident with the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL2) and p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) genes on chromosome arms 2AL and 1AL, respectively. The availability of candidate gene-based markers can allow elucidating the mechanism of phenolic acids accumulation in wheat kernels and exploiting the genetic variability of phenolic acids content for the nutritional improvement of wheat end-products.     

外源水杨酸诱导的部分甜瓜自毒作用相关基因的表达分析

以甜瓜(Cucumis melo)品种‘新银辉’为材料,采取根灌法,以水杨酸(10μmol/L)处理甜瓜幼苗,通过Real-Time PCR对叶片中部分自毒作用相关基因的表达量进行定量分析,以探究外源水杨酸诱导对甜瓜自毒作用的影响。结果显示,经外源水杨酸诱导后:(1)在催化苯丙烷类代谢途径的3个初始反应的蛋白酶编码基因中,PAL和C4H随处理后时间增加,呈逐渐上调趋势,但PAL比C4H更快响应胁迫,而4CL转录水平没有显著变化;(2)在类黄酮生物合成的3个关键酶的基因中,CHI、F3H均显示出不同程度的下调,CHS于处理后1 d略微上调,然后恢复至处理前水平;(3)两个转录因子基因WD40、R2R3-MYB分别在不同处理时间后显著下调;(4)WD40与CHI的表达相关性较高。据上述结果 ,水杨酸诱导后:(Ⅰ)CHI表达可能与转录因子WD40蛋白相关;(Ⅱ)WD40、R2R3-MYB与PAL、C4H、4CL、CHS间不存在简单、明确的调控关系;(Ⅲ)柚皮苷、表儿茶素、芦丁等甜瓜主要化感物质合成减少。     

Cepharanthine induces autophagy via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells

AIM: To investigate the autophagy of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells induced by cepharanthine and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: The effect of cepharanthine on the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells was measured by CCK-8 assay. The SKOV3 cells were treated with cepharanthine, and then the formation of autophagosome was observed with acridine orange staining under fluorescence microscope. The protein levels of LC3, AKT, p-AKT, mTOR, p-mTOR and GAPDH in the SKOV3 cells treated with cepharanthine were determined by Western blot.RESULTS: Cepharanthine significantly inhibited the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). The number of the intracellular acidic autophagosomes with bright red fluorescence was significantly increased after cepharanthine treatment in the SKOV3 cells. The expression of LC3-Ⅱ in SKOV3 cells was significantly enhanced after cepharanthine treatment. Furthermore, treatment with cepharanthine in the SKOV3 cells also resulted in a significant down-regulation of phosphorylated form of AKT and mTOR (P<0.01), while the total protein level was not changed. Combination of cepharanthine and 3-methyladenine resulted in a substantial decrease in the cell viability compared with using cepharanthine alone.CONCLUSION: Cepharanthine significantly inhibits the growth of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and induces the autophagy, which may be correlated with down-regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.     

程序性细胞死亡因子10抑制Ⅰ型干扰素表达并促进FMDV复制

旨在探究宿主蛋白程序性细胞死亡因子10（programmed cell death factor 10，PDCD10）通过抑制Ⅰ型干扰素表达进而促进口蹄疫病毒（foot-and-mouth disease virus，FMDV）的复制。首先，本研究验证了过表达和沉默PDCD10对FMDV复制的影响，接着利用双荧光素酶报告系统探究PDCD10对Ⅰ型干扰素信号通路活化的影响，最后，利用实时荧光定量PCR探究PDCD10对Ⅰ型干扰素通路下游刺激基因（IFN-stimulated genes，ISGs）转录的影响。结果表明，过表达PDCD10显著促进FMDV的复制，沉默PDCD10显著抑制FMDV的复制。与对照相比，过表达PDCD10后感染仙台病毒（Sendai virus，SeV）的细胞培养液上清液显著促进FMDV复制，进一步，PDCD10显著抑制SeV诱导的IFN-β启动子以及NF-κB的激活且呈剂量依赖性，并且PDCD10负调控Ⅰ型干扰素通路信号分子转录，最后还发现PDCD10负调控Ⅰ型干扰素下游ISGs转录。本研究结果为深入探究PDCD10在抗病毒天然免疫中的作用积累了资料。     

c-GMP诱导对盐胁迫下番茄的转录组分析

以市场常见的番茄为材料,采用Illumina高通量测序技术对NaCl胁迫、c-GMP诱导以及两者组合处理下番茄幼苗进行转录组测序。结果表明:共获得83.35 Gb的原始数据,Q30碱基百分比在90.91%及以上,分别将各样品的原始读数与指定的参考基因组进行序列比对,比对效率从88.03%到92.74%不等。同时将得到的31 734条序列注释到不同的数据库(GO、KEGG、KOG、NR、Pfam、Swiss-Prot和egg NOG),通过GO数据库,将其划分到细胞组分、分子功能以及生物学过程三大注释类别下的51个亚功能组中,通过COG数据库与KEGG数据库将其分别注释到25个类别与128个代谢通路。在NaCl胁迫、c-GMP诱导以及两者组合处理下共发现SNP位点127 944个,其中仅有22.6%的SNP位点位于非编码区。差异基因结果显示,c-GMP能诱导盐胁迫下更多基因的表达。该转录组测序数据可靠,结果覆盖面广,为番茄c-GMP诱导盐胁迫下基因挖掘与功能研究提供了理论依据。     

Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes and Lipid Metabolism Signaling Pathways between Muscle and Fat Tissues in Broiler Chickens

In this study, signaling pathways and key differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in lipid metabolism in muscle and fat tissues were investigated. Muscle and abdominal fat tissues were obtained from 35-day-old female broilers for RNA sequencing. DEGs between muscle and fat tissues were identified. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses of DEGs were performed. A total of 6130 DEGs were identified to be significantly enriched in 365 GO terms, most of which were involved in biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions in muscle and fat tissues. Three important lipid signaling pathways (pyruvate metabolism, the insulin signaling pathway, and the adipocytokine signaling pathway) were identified among the fat and muscle tissues of broilers. The key common DEGs in these pathways included phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2 (PCK2), acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 alpha and beta (ACACA and ACACB), and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (AMPK) gene family. Hence, our findings revealed the pathways and key genes and gene families involved in the regulation of fat deposition in the muscle and fat tissues of broilers.     

Turnip crinkle virus with nonviral gene cancels the effect of silencing suppressors of P19 and 2b in Arabidopsis thaliana

In plants, green fluorescent protein (GFP) has become a preferred molecular marker for gene expression and cellular localization, and plant viral vectors are valuable tools for heterologous gene expression. Some plant viruses have been used for expression of GFP, and the activities of these viruses are barely affected by the extra GFP gene. In contrast, the packaging and the length of Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) genome is strictly limited when foreign genes are inserted into the coding sequences of TCV genome. In this report, we removed the silencing suppressor p38 from TCV, and constructed GFP derivatives of TCV. Then the resulting TCV mutants were used to infect Arabidopsis plants containing mutations in key silencing pathway genes, including triple dcl2/dcl3/dcl4, dcl2, dcl4 and ago mutant plants. Our results demonstrate that the activity of TCV is affected by nonviral GFP insert in Arabidopsis plants, and RNA silencing appears not play an important role. AGOs appear to be more efficient at slicing RNAs of viral origin, especially AGO2 and AGO7. Although the viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) P19 and 2b can enhance the accumulation of viral RNAs, neither P19 nor 2b can significantly increase the expression of TCV mutants with nonviral genes. TCV is an example of an RNA virus that is recalcitrant to add nonviral gene sequences.     

Aldh3a2a敲除对斑马鱼体色的影响

本研究探讨了Aldh3a2a在斑马鱼色素细胞发育中的意义及其对醛代谢和肝脏健康的影响。利用CRISPR/Cas9技术,我们成功敲除斑马鱼体内的aldh3a2a,导致黑色素细胞、黄色素细胞和虹彩细胞合成数量减少。转录组分析揭示了基因表达谱的变化,特别是与钾通道和类固醇生物合成途径相关的基因表达谱。我们的研究结果表明,aldh3a2a和aldh1a2之间存在调控关系,对视黄酸受体信号传导有影响。GO和KEGG富集分析强调了对色素细胞发育以外的细胞过程的更广泛影响。此外,aldh3a2a基因敲除会导致醛积累,导致肝脏异常,类似于Sj?gren-Larsson综合征,本研究揭示了aldh3a2a在斑马鱼中的多方面作用及其与人类遗传疾病的相关性。     

外源ACC通过激活乙烯合成及信号转导诱导小豆抗锈性

大量研究表明, 乙烯可激发植物对死体营养型真菌的抗性, 但我们前期研究发现, 乙烯合成前体ACC可提高小豆对活体营养型真菌——锈菌的抗性, 为初步明确其机制, 本研究分析了ACC处理对小豆乙烯合成及信号转导的影响, 结果表明, ACC处理显著提高了乙烯合成基因VaACS1及信号通路关键基因VaEIN2?VaEIN3?VaERF5的表达水平?此外, ACC处理后再接种锈菌, 小豆锈病的发病程度显著降低?对接种锈菌后不同时间VaPR2和VaPR4的表达分析表明, 相比ACC处理后不接种对照, ACC处理后再接种锈菌的处理, 接种后1~5 d这两个基因表达量显著升高; 与水处理不接种锈菌相比, 水处理接种锈菌5~8 d后VaPR2和VaPR4的表达量虽显著上调, 但应答时间较ACC处理滞后, 且总体表达水平低, 表明ACC激活乙烯通路进而诱导防卫反应基因上调表达是其诱导小豆抗锈性的关键?