低氧运动对Nrf2基因敲除大鼠运动能力和氧化应激的影响

Nrf2可调节多种抗氧化酶的表达,Nrf2的缺失可能影响机体的运动能力,而低氧可提高机体的抗氧化能力并改善运动能力。为了考察低氧运动对Nrf2基因敲除大鼠运动能力和氧化应激的影响,本研究分别在常氧和低氧环境(12%氧浓度)中对野生型大鼠和Nrf2敲除大鼠进行4周的跑台运动。研究显示,低氧运动可提高野生型大鼠的跑台运动力竭时间,Nrf2敲除可缩短大鼠的力竭时间;低氧运动可上调大鼠的Nrf2 m RNA表达量;Nrf2敲除明显抑制HIF-1α蛋白表达,而低氧运动可上调野生型和Nrf2敲除大鼠的HIF-1α蛋白表达;Nrf2敲除大鼠的骨骼肌ROS水平明显升高,并且低氧均可降低野生型和Nrf2敲除大鼠骨骼肌ROS水平。低氧运动可上调Nrf2敲除大鼠的CAT和GSH-PX蛋白表达。苏木精和伊红(HE)染色显示,Nrf2敲除大鼠在力竭跑台运动完成后出现更严重的骨骼肌病理改变,而低氧运动可减轻骨骼肌损伤。本研究认为,Nrf2敲除导致了大鼠骨骼肌中抗氧化酶的抑制及ROS的过量累积,从而造成了骨骼肌损伤并降低了运动能力。此外,低氧可通过上调Nrf2的表达,进而激活HIF-1α及抗氧化酶活性,从而提高运动能力,并防止骨骼肌损伤。     

维生素D缺乏与儿童反复呼吸道感染的关系及机制

呼吸道感染是常见的儿科疾病,有着显著的发病率和死亡率,反复呼吸道感染会严重影响儿童的生活质量和身体健康。维生素D具有一系列与人体健康有关的作用,包括与呼吸道的感染有关。为了分析维生素D与儿童反复呼吸道感染的关系,探讨维生素D影响呼吸道感染的机制,本研究通过临床分析了维生素D缺乏与儿童反复呼吸道发生之间的相关性,通过构建炎症模型,观察了外源维生素D对人气道上皮细胞增殖分化的影响,运用ELISA检测了维生素D对人气道上皮细胞和中性粒细胞释放炎症因子(IL-1β,IL-6和TNF-α)的影响。本结果表明,维生素D缺乏与儿童反复呼吸道感染相关,并且维生素D能促进人气道上皮细胞的增殖分化,但对人气道上皮细胞和中性粒细胞炎症因子的产生无显著影响。     

芍药乙烯受体PlETR1基因过表达载体的构建及烟草转化

芍药是乙烯敏感型花卉,乙烯受体感知并传导乙烯信号,在乙烯信号转导途径中发挥重要作用。芍药PlETR1基因cDNA全长序列已分离,为了鉴定芍药PlETR1基因的功能,本研究基于PlETR1基因和表达载体序列,应用Primer Premier 5.0软件设计了一对特异性PCR引物,采用RT-PCR技术扩增出了PlETR1编码区片段,进一步构建了芍药PlETR1基因过表达载体。基于优化的模式植物烟草的组培体系和筛选出的潮霉素抗性浓度,应用农杆菌介导的叶盘法开展了芍药PlETR1基因转化烟草的研究,对转基因抗性烟草植株进行了PCR检测,结果表明HPT基因和芍药PlETR1基因已导入到烟草基因组中,且芍药PlETR1基因转录表达成功,为下一步鉴定芍药PlETR1基因的功能提供科学依据。     

The fungal community and its interaction with the concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the faeces of Chenghua,Yorkshire and Tibetan pigs

Despite their important roles in host nutrition and metabolism, and potential to cause disease, our knowledge of the fungal community in the mammalian gut is quite limited. To date, diversity and composition of fungi in swine gut still remains unknown. Therefore, the first internal transcribed spacer of fungi in faecal samples from three breeds of pigs (10 pigs for each breed) was sequenced based on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform, and the relationship between the fungal community and the concentrations of main short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) was also analysed. Results indicated that Chenghua (local, higher body fat rate), Yorkshire (foreign, higher lean meat and growth rate) and Tibetan (plateau, stronger disease resistance) pigs harboured distinct fungal community. The Basidiomycota and Ascomycota presented as the two predominant phyla, with Loreleia, Russula and Candida as the top three genera in all samples. Network analysis revealed a total of 35 correlations among different fungal genera, with 27 (77.14%) positive and 8 (22.86%) negative pairwise interactions. Canonical correspondence analysis suggested that fungi in the faeces of pigs were more correlated to the concentration of acetate and butyrate rather than propionate. Spearman’s correlation further showed that Tomentella was positively correlated to both acetate and butyrate, and Loreleia was positively correlated to propionate (P < 0.05), while Nephroma and Taiwanofungus were negatively correlated to acetate and propionate (P < 0.05). These findings expanded our knowledge on the intestinal fungi in pigs with different genotypes and phenotypes, indicating that fungi may play an indispensable role during the metabolism of host and the maintenance of intestinal health. The cross-feeding between fungi and other microorganisms may be crucial during the digestion of dietary carbohydrates and the associated physiological processes, which is worthy to be further studied.     

Dominance complementation of Hd1 and Ghd8 contributes to extremely late flowering in two rice hybrids

Molecular Breeding - Lack of seed dormancy, a major cause of pre-harvest sprouting in rice and other cereal crops, causes significant reductions in grain yield and quality. Weedy rice is often...     

A Cu-only superoxide dismutase from stripe rust fungi functions as a virulence factor deployed for counter defense against host-derived oxidative stress

Plants quickly accumulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) to resist against pathogen invasion, while pathogens strive to escape host immune surveillance by degrading ROS. However, the nature of the strategies that fungal pathogens adopt to counteract host-derived oxidative stress is manifold and requires deep investigation. In this study, a superoxide dismutase (SOD) from Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) PsSOD2 with a signal peptide (SP) and the glycophosphatidyl inositol (GPI) anchor, strongly induced during infection, was analysed for its biological characteristics and potential role in wheat–Pst interactions. The results showed that PsSOD2 encodes a Cu-only SOD and responded to ROS treatment. Heterologous complementation assays in Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggest that the SP of PsSOD2 is functional for its secretion. Transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves revealed that PsSOD2 is localized to the plasma membrane. In addition, knockdown of PsSOD2 by host-induced gene silencing reduced Pst virulence and resulted in restricted hyphal development and increased ROS accumulation. In contrast, heterologous transient assays of PsSOD2 suppressed flg22-elicited ROS production. Taken together, our data indicate that PsSOD2, as a virulence factor, was induced and localized to the plasma membrane where it may function to scavenge host-derived ROS for promoting fungal infection.     

Osmotic stress induces gut microbiota community shift in fish

Alteration of the gut microbiota plays an important role in animal health and metabolic diseases. However, little is known with respect to the influence of environmental osmolality on the gut microbial community. The aim of the current study was to determine whether the reduction in salinity affects the gut microbiota and identify its potential role in salinity acclimation. Using Oryzias melastigma as a model organism to perform progressive hypotonic transfer experiments, we evaluated three conditions: seawater control (SW), SW to 50% sea water transfer (SFW) and SW to SFW to freshwater transfer (FW). Our results showed that the SFW and FW transfer groups contained higher operational taxonomic unit microbiota diversities. The dominant bacteria in all conditions constituted the phylum Proteobacteria, with the majority in the SW and SFW transfer gut comprising Vibrio at the genus level, whereas this population was replaced by Pseudomonas in the FW transfer gut. Furthermore, our data revealed that the FW transfer gut microbiota exhibited a reduced renin–angiotensin system, which is important in SW acclimation. In addition, induced detoxification and immune mechanisms were found in the FW transfer gut microbiota. The shift of the bacteria community in different osmolality environments indicated possible roles of bacteria in facilitating host acclimation.     

Quorum sensing regulation confronts the development of a viable but non-culturable state in Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae can enter a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state when it encounters unfavourable environments; VBNC cells serve as important reservoirs and still pose threats to public health. The genetic regulation of V. cholerae entering its VBNC state is not well understood. Here, we show a confrontation strategy adapted by V. cholerae O1 in which it utilizes a quorum sensing (QS) system to prevent transition into a VBNC state under low nutrition and temperature conditions. The upregulation of hapR resulted in a prolonged culturable state of V. cholerae in artificial sea water at 4°C, whereas the mutation of hapR led to fast entry into the VBNC state. We also observed that different V. cholerae O1 natural isolates with distinct QS functions present a variety of abilities to maintain culturability during the transition to a VBNC state. The strain groups with higher or constitutive expression of QS genes exhibit a greater tendency to maintain the culturable state during VBNC induction than those lacking QS functional groups. In summary, HapR-mediated QS regulation is associated with the transition to the VBNC state in V. cholerae. HapR expression causes V. cholerae to resist VBNC induction and become dominant over competitors in changing environments.     

Fungal endophytes promote the accumulation of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in Lycoris radiata

Lycoris radiata is a main source of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids; however, the low content of these alkaloids in planta remains a limit to their pharmaceutical development and utilization. The accumulation of secondary metabolites can be enhanced in plants inoculated with fungal endophytes. In this study, we analysed the diversity of culturable fungal endophytes in different organs of L. radiata. Then, by analysing the correlation between the detectable rate of each fungal species and the content of each tested alkaloid, we proposed several fungal candidates implicated in the increase of alkaloid accumulation. This was verified by inoculating these candidates to L. radiata plants. Based on the results of two independent experiments conducted in May 2018 and October 2019, the individual inoculation of nine fungal endophytes significantly increased the total content of the tested alkaloids in the entire L. radiata plants. This is the first study in L. radiata to show that fungal endophytes are able to improve the accumulation of various alkaloids. Therefore, our results provide insights into a better understanding of interactions between plants and fungal endophytes and suggest an effective strategy for enhancing the alkaloid content in the cultivation of L. radiata.     

Functional analyses of small secreted cysteine-rich proteins identified candidate effectors in Verticillium dahliae

Secreted small cysteine-rich proteins (SCPs) play a critical role in modulating host immunity in plant–pathogen interactions. Bioinformatic analyses showed that the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae encodes more than 100 VdSCPs, but their roles in host–pathogen interactions have not been fully characterized. Transient expression of 123 VdSCP-encoding genes in Nicotiana benthamiana identified three candidate genes involved in host–pathogen interactions. The expression of these three proteins, VdSCP27, VdSCP113, and VdSCP126, in N. benthamiana resulted in cell death accompanied by a reactive oxygen species burst, callose deposition, and induction of defence genes. The three VdSCPs mainly localized to the periphery of the cell. BAK1 and SOBIR1 (associated with receptor-like protein) were required for the immunity triggered by these three VdSCPs in N. benthamiana. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that cysteine residues that form disulphide bonds are essential for the functioning of VdSCP126, but not VdSCP27 and VdSCP113. VdSCP27, VdSCP113, and VdSCP126 individually are not essential for V. dahliae infection of N. benthamiana and Gossypium hirsutum, although there was a significant reduction of virulence on N. benthamiana and G. hirsutum when inoculated with the VdSCP27/VdSCP126 double deletion strain. These results illustrate that the SCPs play a critical role in the V. dahliae–plant interaction via an intrinsic virulence function and suppress immunity following infection.