In vivo tunable CRISPR mediates efficient somatic mutagenesis to generate tumor models

Dear Editor, CRISPR/Cas9 has revolutionized genome editing technology due to its simplicity and robustness (Mali et al., 2013). Several inducible CRISPR/Cas9 systems recently developed make spatiotemporal genome editing possible (Kon ermann et al., 2013;Balboa et al., 2015;Dow et al., 2015;Zetsche et al., 2015;Liu et al., 2016;Kleinjan et al., 2017;Maji et al.. 2017;Senturk et al., 2017;Lu et al., 2018).     

Volatiles produced by bacteria alleviate antagonistic effects of one associated fungus on Dendroctonus valens larvae

正Dear Editor,Microbes play important roles in various symbiotic systems(Douglas,2015;Xing et al.,2017;Zhu and Wu,2016;Xu et al.,2016a).In the symbiosis formed by bark beetles and microbial associates,beetles formed symbiotic relationships with some fungi including mutualistic and antagonistic ones(Cheng et al.,2015;Lu et al.,2016;Scott et al.,2008),and these interactions,indirectly affected by a third or even fourth participator in a community context,may change from antagonistic ones to mutualistic ones.For example,associated bacterial volatiles can alleviate antagonistic effects     

Cotton variant genomes—a breakthrough in population genetics analysis

正Cotton is not only an important cash crop for its fiber,but also an excellent model system for studying polyploidization,cell elongation and cell wall biosynthesis(Yang et al.,2014;Fang et al.,2017;Wang et al.,2016;Zou et al.,2016).A focus for scientists is to dissect the genetic basis underlying important agronomic traits(Gong et al.,2018;Huang et al.,2016).The advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has boosted unveiling the cotton genome(Wang et al.,2012;Li et al.,2014;Li et al.,2015).High-throughput     

Interaction between Bms1 and Rcl1,two ribosome biogenesis factors,is evolutionally conserved in zebrafish and human

正Ribosomes are large RNA and protein complexes that function as the machinery for translation protein synthesis(Boisvert et al.,2007;Ben-Shem et al.,2011;Henras et al.,2015;Khatter et al.,2015;McCann et al.,2015).The eukaryotic ribosome is composed of two subunits,the 60S large subunit(LSU)and the 40S small subunit(SSU),which collectively comprise of four different ribosomal RNA(rRNA)species and more than 70 proteins(Ben-Shem et al.,2011;Henras et al.,2015;Khatter et al.,2015).The LSU contains     

SOCS-3 contributes to bisphenol a exposure-induced insulin resistance in hepatocytes

<正>Dear Editor,Bisphenol A (BPA), a common and widely used monomer in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin,(Healy et al., 2015; De Filippis et al., 2018) has been defined as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) associated with the etiology of insulin resistance (IR)(Gioiosa et al., 2015;Wei et al., 2017) and metabolic disorders (Padmanabhan et al., 2010; Fang et al., 2015; Balistrieri et al., 2018). However,     

Interspecies embryo transfer between rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys

正Nonhuman primates (NHPs) present significant advantages over rodents for physiological and pharmacological investigations because of their higher genetic and physiological similarity to humans. Both rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) monkeys are considered ideal animal models in biomedical research (Phillips et al., 2014), especially in modeling normal development and diseases in the nervous system (Izpisua Belmonte et al., 2015; Ng et al., 2015; Niu et al., 2015; Poo et al.,     

Targeted mutagenesis in rice using CRISPR-Cpf1 system

正Cpfl is a class 2/type V CRISPR effector that has been recently harnessed for genome editing(Zetsche et al.,2015;Hur et al.,2016;Kim et al.,2016).Cpfl recognizes thymidine-rich sequence as the protospacer-adjacent motif(PAM)at the 5'end of target sequences.In addition,Cpfl requires only a single shorter crRNA and     

Strengthening the functional research on the interaction between host genes and microbiota

正In recent years, many studies have focused on the interaction between host genes and microbiota and their mutual influence (Bonder et al., 2016; Goodrich et al., 2014; Rothschild et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2019). Host genetic variation influences the composition of the microbial community, for instance in inflammatory bowel disease, host genetic susceptibilities induce pathological shifts in micro-     

The post-genomics era of cotton

正As one of the important industrial crops and also an excellent model organism for studying cell elongation,cell wall biosynthesis as well as polyploidy evolution,cotton has always been in the limelight of the world(Shi et al.,2006;Qin and Zhu,2011).With the publication of the allotetraploid Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense genomes this year(Li et al.,2015;Zhang et al.,2015;Liu et al.,2015),all three important cotton genomes,including the two ancestor diploid Gossypium raimondii(DD)(Wang et al.,2012;Paterson et al.,2012)and Gossypium arboreum(AA)(Li et al.,2014)have been successfully sequenced by scientists from China and from the United States of America.Since functional studies of Arabidopsis thaliana and     

Transposon-based screen identifies a XRE family regulator crucial for candicidin biosynthesis in Streptomyces albus J1074

正Dear Editor,Polyene macrolides are a group of natural products with potent antifungal activity (Caffrey et al., 2016). Candicidin/FR-008, a potent broad-spectrum anti-fungal agent, is produced by several Streptomycetes, including Streptomycetes sp. strain FR-008 (Chen et al., 2003), S. griseus 3570(Campelo and Gil, 2002) and S. albus J1074 (Olano et al.,2014). Due to its medical importance, considerable effort has been applied to elucidate its biosynthetic pathway and identify key regulatory genes (Chen et al., 2003; Zhang et al.,2015).     

Engrafted newborn neurons could functionally integrate into the host neuronal network

The limited capability to regenerate new neurons following injuries of the central neural system (CNS) still remains a major challenge for basic and clinical neuroscience.Neural stem cells (NSCs) could nearly have the potential to differentiate into all kinds of neural cells in vitro.Previous studies verified that exogenous transplanted NSCs are capable of differentiating into neurons and projecting onto the host neurons in the rat brain (Tabar et al.,2005;Dong JR et al.,2012),which could lead to behavioral recovery from neuronal damages such as spinal cord injury (McDonald et al.,1999),Parkinson's disease (Gonzalez et al.,2015;Kim et al.,2002;Lindvall,2001),and stroke (Zhang et al.,2016).     

A new record of the capped langur (Trachypithecus pileatus) in China

DEAR EDITOR, The distribution of the capped langur (Trachypithecus pileatus)in China has become controversial since Shortridge's langur (Trachypithecus shortridgei) was upgraded to a full species.The capped langur is considered to be distributed in northeast India,Bangladesh,Bhutan,and northwest Myanmar only (Brandon-Jones et al.,2004;Choudhury,2008,2014;Das et al.,2008;Groves,2001).In our field survey,however,we obtained photos of the capped langur,demonstrating its existence in China. Following the species promotion of Shortridge's langur (Brandon-Jones et al.,2004;Groves,2001) and the delimiting of its distribution range to northwestern Yunnan in China and northeastern Myanmar (Brandon-Jones et al.,2004;Cui et al.,2016;Das et al.,2008;Groves,2001;Htun et al.,2008),with a new record in southeastern Tibet (Wu et al.,2016),the capped langur has been deleted from the checklist of mammals in China (Jiang et al.,2015).Despite this,Dr.George Schaller has suggested that capped langurs might exist in the northeastern section of the Yarlung-Zangbo River (Choudhury,2008).     

Understanding the pathogenic evolution of Zika virus

正Unlike the previous circulating strains that were not associated with significant human pathology,recent circulating Zika virus(ZIKV)strains isolated during the 2015–2016Brazilian Outbreak are highly suspected to cause neuropathology,including disorders of fetal brain development and Guillain-Barrésyndrome(Broutet et al.,2016).Studies have revealed that recent ZIKV strains can be spread through maternal-fetal(Calvet et al.,2016)and sexual(Hills et al.,2016)transmission,in addition to the traditional route     

Genetically modified (GM) rice versus non-GM rice: Pesticide use and yield

正Dear Editor,The economic benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops have been well-documented in the literature (Huang et al.,2002; Huang et al., 2005; Qiao, 2015; Qiao et al., 2016).Previous studies showed that the global economic gain that the GM crops had generated at the farm level approximated100 billion USD in 1996–2011 (Brookes and Barfoot, 2013).     

Generation of marker-free transgenic rice using CRISPR/Cas9 system controlled by ?oral speci?c promoters

Recently, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been used as a powerful tool for genome editing in many species (Jinek et al., 2012;Cong et al., 2013;Wright et al., 2016;Li et al., 2017;Deng et al., 2018). The CR1SPR/Cas9 system can not only be used as a useful technology to disrupt endogenous genes but also expand numerous other applications, such as precise base editing (Komor et al., 2016;Zong et al., 2017), regulation of gene expression (Gilbert et al., 2013), and gene replacement or insertion (Wang et al., 2017).     

Bmelo12, an elongase of very long-chain fatty acids gene,regulates silk yield in Bombyx mori

<正>In silkworm, cocoon shell weight (CSW), an index of silk yield, is a quantitative trait (Nagaraju and Goldsmith, 2002), and multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs) located on different chromosomes have been found(Zhan et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2010; Li et al., 2015; Fang et al., 2020).     

Breeding cotton with superior fiber quality: identification and utilization of multiple elite loci and exotic genetic resources

正In the last decade, cotton genomics had great progress in genome assembling(Li et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2020) and agriculturally important locus identification(Du et al., 2018;Ma et al., 2018; Li et al., 2021).Upland cotton(Gossypium hirsutum) is one of the most important cash crops cultivated worldwide. The fiber quality of cotton directly determines its economic value, and therefore enhancing fiber quality is always the primary task in cotton breeding practices(Xia et al., 2019; Huang et al.,2021).     

Plant genome editing using xCas9 with expanded PAM compatibility

CRISPR/Cas enables robust genome editing and has revolution-ized both functional genomics and crop breeding.The specificity of Cas-directed DNA cleavage is strictly determined by a chimeric single guide RNA(SgRNA)and a short protospacer adjacent motif(PAM)in the genome(Cong et al,2013;Zetsche et al,2015).The widely used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes(SpCas9)generally recognizes the canonical NGG PAM(where N indicates any nucleicacid base)(Miao et al.,2013;Ma et al,2015),making many regionsuntargetable by Cas9.SpCas9 VQR and VRER variants,which recog-nize the non-canonical PAM sequences of NGA and NGCG,respectively,have been used to expand targetable sequences in plants(Hu et al.,2016).In addition,the applications of other Cas endonucleases such as SaCas9(Staphylococcus aureus Cas9)(Ran et al..2015).     

Nanoscale storage encryption: data storage in synthetic DNA using a cryptosystem with a neural network

<正>Dear Editor,Synthetic DNA is emerging as a new data storage medium with high density and durable preservation capability potential(Ceze et al., 2019; Yazdi et al., 2015), thus enhancing the security of data stored in DNA is particularly important(Cherian et al., 2013; El-Zoghabi et al., 2013; Kalsi et al.,2018).     

Carotenoid isomerase regulates rice tillering and grain productivity by its biosynthesis pathway

<正>Tillers are unique inflorescence-like branches in grasses,and their number determines the panicle number, plant architecture, and yield(Shang et al., 2021). Tiller formation mainly undergoes axillary meristem(AM) initiation and tiller bud outgrowth(Wang et al., 2018; Yan et al., 2023). The rice(Oryza sativa) KNOX gene OSH1 is expressed in AMs, and an osh1 mutant produces fewer tillers(Tanaka et al., 2015).