A mechanism coordinating root elongation,endodermal differentiation,redox homeostasis and stress response

Root growth relies on both cell division and cell elongation, which occur in the meristem and elongation zones, respectively. SCARECROW (SCR) and SHORT-ROOT (SHR) are GRAS family genes essential for root growth and radial patterning in the Arabidopsis root. Previous studies showed that SCR and SHR promote root growth by suppressing cytokinin response in the meristem, but there is evidence that SCR expressed beyond the meristem is also required for root growth. Here we report a previously unknown role for SCR in promoting cell elongation. Consistent with this, we found that the scr mutant accumulated a higher level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the elongation zone, which is probably due to decreased expression of peroxidase gene 3, which consumes hydrogen peroxide in a reaction leading to Casparian strip formation. When the oxidative stress response was blocked in the scr mutant by mutation in ABSCISIC ACID 2 (ABA2) or when the redox status was ameliorated by the upbeat 1 (upb1) mutant, the root became significantly longer, with longer cells and a larger and more mitotically active meristem. Remarkably, however, the stem cell and radial patterning defects in the double mutants still persisted. Since ROS and peroxidases are essential for endodermal differentiation, these results suggest that SCR plays a role in coordinating cell elongation, endodermal differentiation, redox homeostasis and oxidative stress response in the root. We also provide evidence that this role of SCR is independent of SHR, even though they function similarly in other aspects of root growth and development.     

Body mass and behavior in Swiss mice subjected to continuous or discontinuous food restriction and refeeding

Food restriction (FR) is hypothesized to decrease body fat content of an animal and thus prevent obesity. However, the response of energy budget to a continuous (CFR) or discontinuous FR (DFR) remains inconsistent. In the present study, effects of CFR or DFR and refeeding on energy budget and behavior were examined in male Swiss mice. CFR significantly decreased the energy expenditure associated with basal metabolic rate (BMR) and activity behavior, but not sufficiently to compensate for energy deficit and thus resulted in lower body mass and fat content. DFR mice had a significantly higher food intake on ad libitum days and showed increases in BMR and activity after 4 weeks’ DFR, which might resulted in lower body mass and less body fat than controls. After being refed ad libitum, both CFR and DFR mice had similar body mass, BMR, and behavioral patterns to controls but had 95% and 75% higher fat content. This suggested that not only CFR but also DFR would be a significant factor in the process of obesity for animals that were refed ad libitum. It also indicated that food restriction interrupted many times by periods of ad libitum feeding had the same long-term effects like continuous underfeeding.     

The role of SIRT2 in vascular-related and heart-related diseases: A review

At present, cardiovascular disease is one of the important factors of human death, and there are many kinds of proteins involved. Sirtuins family proteins are involved in various physiological and pathological activities of the human body. Among them, there are more and more studies on the relationship between sirtuin2 (SIRT2) protein and cardiovascular diseases. SIRT2 can effectively inhibit pathological cardiac hypertrophy. The effect of SIRT2 on ischaemia-reperfusion injury has different effects under different conditions. SIRT2 can reduce the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which may help to reduce the severity of diabetic cardiomyopathy. SIRT2 can affect a variety of cardiovascular diseases, energy metabolism and the ageing of cardiomyocytes, thereby affecting heart failure. SIRT2 also plays an important role in vascular disease. For endothelial cell damage used by oxidative stress, the role of SIRT2 is bidirectional, which is related to the degree of oxidative stress stimulation. When the degree of stimulation is small, SIRT2 plays a protective role, and when the degree of stimulation increases to a certain level, SIRT2 plays a negative role. In addition, SIRT2 is also involved in the remodelling of blood vessels and the repair of skin damage.     

Genome Sequence of a Nicotine-Degrading Strain of Arthrobacter

We announce a 4.63-Mb genome assembly of an isolated bacterium that is the first sequenced nicotine-degrading Arthrobacter strain. Nicotine catabolism genes of the nicotine-degrading plasmid pAO1 were predicted, but plasmid function genes were not found. These results will help to better illustrate the molecular mechanism of nicotine degradation by Arthrobacter.     

MiR-186-5p对3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖分化的影响研究 *

目的 探究miR-186-5p对小鼠3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖,分化的影响及其潜在的分子机制.方法: qRT-PCR检测miR-186-5p在不同周龄小鼠白色脂肪组织及3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖分化过程中的表达变化;通过脂质体将miR-186-5p mimics,inhibitors转染入增殖液或分化液培养的3T3-L1细胞后,利用CCK-8,EdU和qRT-PCR检测3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖变化,油红O染色观察其脂滴形态;通过生物信息软件TargetScan和双荧光报告系统分别对miR-186-5p靶基因进行预测和确认.结果: (1)miR-186-5p在1~6周龄小鼠的白色脂肪组织及3T3-L1前脂肪细胞自然分化过程中表达量均逐渐上调.(2)与阴性对照相比,mimics或inhibitors转染分别显著地促进或抑制了miR-186-5p的表达.(3)过表达miR-186-5p后,3T3-L1前脂肪细胞的增殖速率减慢,脂滴增大增多;而抑制miR-186-5p后,3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖速率增快,脂滴数量减少,且粒径变小.其中过表达miR-186-5p显著地降低了野生型Wnt5a和Mapk1 3'-UTR活性,而突变相应的绑定位点可解除该抑制作用.结论: miR-186-5p可抑制3T3-L1前脂肪细胞增殖,且通过直接靶向Wnt5a和Mapk1以促进其分化为成熟脂肪细胞.     

致病性念珠菌对常见抗真菌药物的耐药性研究进展

近年来,致病性念珠菌感染引起的侵袭性念珠菌病患者人数逐年增多。白念珠菌仍是引起感染的主要致病菌,但是由非白念念珠菌引起的感染比例显著升高。致病性念珠菌对常见抗真菌药物的耐药现象呈上升趋势,这是导致临床治疗其所致的侵袭性感染失败的重要原因之一。本文就致病性念珠菌耐药性的流行病学以及其耐药机制方面的研究进展进行了介绍。     

BTB/TAZ protein MdBT2 integrates multiple hormonal and environmental signals to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple

BT2 is a BTB/TAZ domain protein with key roles in multiple stress responses and the plant development of Arabidopsis (Figueroa et al. 2005; Ren et al. 2007; Mandadi et al. 2009). Recent studies have demonstrated that apple MdBT2 functions as a negative regulator in diverse hormonal and environmental signal‐induced anthocyanin biosynthesis, suggesting that MdBT2 integrates stress signals and anthocyanin biosynthesis.     

Triptolide prevents bone loss via suppressing osteoclastogenesis through inhibiting PI3K-AKT-NFATc1 pathway

Bone loss (osteopenia) is a common complication in human solid tumour. In addition, after surgical treatment of gynaecological tumour, osteoporosis often occurs due to the withdrawal of oestrogen. The major characteristic of osteoporosis is the low bone mass with micro-architectural deteriorated bone tissue. And the main cause is the overactivation of osteoclastogenesis, which is one of the most important therapeutic targets. Inflammation could induce the interaction of RANKL/RANK, which is the promoter of osteoclastogenesis. Triptolide is derived from the traditional Chinese herb lei gong teng, presented multiple biological effects, including anti-cancer, anti-inflammation and immunosuppression. We hypothesized that triptolide could inhibits osteoclastogenesis by suppressing inflammation activation. In this study, we confirmed that triptolide could suppress RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) and RAW264.7 cells and inhibited the osteoclast bone resorption functions. PI3K-AKT-NFATc1 pathway is one of the most important downstream pathways of RANKL-induced osteogenesis. The experiments in vitro indicated that triptolide suppresses the activation of PI3K-AKT-NFATc1 pathway and the target point located at the upstream of AKT because both NFATc1 overexpression and AKT phosphorylation could ameliorate the triptolide suppression effects. The expression of MDM2 was elevated, which demonstrated the MDM-p53-induced cell death might contribute to the osteoclastogenesis suppression. Ovariectomy-induced bone loss and inflammation activation were also found to be ameliorated in the experiments in vivo. In summary, the new effect of anti-cancer drug triptolide was demonstrated to be anti-osteoclastogenesis, and we demonstrated triptolide might be a promising therapy for bone loss caused by tumour.