Rapid improvement of rice eating and cooking quality through gene editing toward glutelin as target

Rice eating and cooking quality (ECQ) is a major concern of breeders and consumers, determining market competitiveness worldwide. Rice grain protein content (GPC) is negatively related to ECQ, making it possible to improve ECQ by manipulating GPC. However, GPC is genetically complex and sensitive to environmental conditions; therefore, little progress has been made in traditional breeding for ECQ. Here, we report that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of genes encoding the grain storage protein glutelin rapidly produced lines with downregulated GPC and improved ECQ. Our finding provides a new strategy for improving rice ECQ.     

Mediator structure and conformation change

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Pr-SNTX,a short-chain three-finger toxin from Papuan pigmy mulga snake,is an antagonist of muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α2βδε)

Three-finger toxins (3FTxs) are one of the major components in snake venoms. In this study, we isolated a cDNA encoding a short-chain 3FTx, Pr-SNTX, from Pseudechis rossignolii. The amino acid sequence of Pr-SNTX is nearly identical to that of its ortholog in Pseudechis australis. Pr-SNTX protein inhibited muscle-type (α₂βδε), but not neuronal α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) activity.     

Genome‐wide scans to detect positive selection in Large White and Tongcheng pigs

Due to the direction, intensity, duration and consistency of genetic selection, especially recent artificial selection, the production performance of domestic pigs has been greatly changed. Therefore, we reasoned that there must be footprints or selection signatures that had been left during domestication. In this study, with porcine 60K BeadChip genotyping data from both commercial Large White and local Chinese Tongcheng pigs, we calculated the extended haplotype homozygosity values of the two breeds using the long‐range haplotype method to detect selection signatures. We found 34 candidate regions, including 61 known genes, from Large White pigs and 25 regions comprising 57 known genes from Tongcheng pigs. Many selection signatures were found on SSC1, SSC4, SSC7 and SSC14 regions in both populations. According to quantitative trait loci and network pathway analyses, most of the regions and genes were linked to growth, reproduction and immune responses. In addition, the average genetic differentiation coefficient F_ST was 0.254, which means that there had already been a significant differentiation between the breeds. The findings from this study can contribute to further research on molecular mechanisms of pig evolution and domestication and also provide valuable references for improvement of their breeding and cultivation.     

Interactions of chloride and amiloride with the renal Na+/H/ antiporter

Amiloride is a reversible inhibitor of the Na+/H+ antiporter which acts at the external aspect of the transport system. The kinetics of inhibition of the Na+/H+ antiporter with amiloride have been controversial, with the usual finding of simple competitive inhibition, but with other reports of mixed and noncompetitive inhibition of the transporter by amiloride. The present experiments demonstrate that the chloride content of the external transport buffer affects the kinetics of amiloride inhibition. Either simple competitive or mixed inhibition by amiloride was observed in the same vesicle preparations depending on the presence of chloride or gluconate in the buffer. The effect of chloride on the inhibitory effect of amiloride was dependent on the concentration of chloride and amiloride. Similar effects were observed with more potent analogues of amiloride. These findings suggest that the external aspect of the antiporter has a site or sites at which the inhibitory effects of amiloride on the Na+/H+ antiporter can be modified by chloride, even though chloride has only slight effects on the kinetics of the Na+/H+ antiporter in the absence of amiloride.