Evolution and diversity of axon guidance Robo receptor family genes

The diversity of axon guidance (AG) receptors reflects gains in complexity of the animal nervous system during evolution. Members of the Roundabout (Robo) family of receptors interact with Slit proteins and play important roles in many developmental processes, including AG and neural crest cell migration. There are four members of the Robo gene family. However, the evolutionary history of Robo family genes remain obscure. We analyzed the distribution of Robo family members in metazoan species ranging in complexity from hydras to humans. We undertook a phylogenetic analysis in metazoans, synteny analysis, and ancestral chromosome mapping in vertebrates, and detected selection pressure and functional divergence among four mammalian Robo paralogs. Based on our analysis, we proposed that the ancestral Robo gene could have undergone a tandem duplication in the vertebrate ancestor; then one round of whole genome duplication events occurred before the divergence of ancestral lamprey and gnathostome, generating four paralogs in early vertebrates. Robo4 paralog underwent segmental loss in the following evolutionary process. Our results showed that Robo3 paralog is under more powerful purifying selection pressure compared with other three paralogs, which could correlate with its unique expression pattern and function. Furthermore, we found four sites under positive selection pressure on the Ig1‐2 domains of Robo4 that might interfere with its binding to Slits ligand. Diverge analysis at the amino acid level showed that Robo4 paralog have relatively greater functional diversifications than other Robo paralogs. This coincides with the fact that Robo4 predominantly functions in vascular endothelial cells but not the nervous system.     

中国人胎盘组织ABCB1基因多态性与P-gp表达水平的相关性

为了探讨中国人群胎盘组织中ABCB1基因单核苷酸多态性与其mRNA及蛋白表达水平的相关性,为妊娠期安全用药提供理论依据,本研究选取2016年6月至2018年5月于昆明医科大学第一附属医院正常分娩的200例中国汉族妇女的胎盘组织为研究对象,剪取母体侧胎盘组织,用于DNA、RNA和蛋白质的提取.通过测序确定ABCB1基因rs1045642、rs1128503及rs2032582多态性位点的基因型;采用实时荧光定量PCR和Western blot法测定组织中P-gp的mRNA和蛋白表达水平;对ABCB1基因多态性与P-gp的mRNA及蛋白表达水平的相关性进行分析.研究发现,对于rs1045642、rs1128503及rs2032582多态性位点,各基因型之间P-gp的mRNA及蛋白表达水平差异均无统计学意义(F=0.813,0.219,P＞0.05;F=0.132,0.086,P＞0.05;F=1.617,0.794,P＞0.05).本研究表明ABCB1 rs1045642、rs1128503及rs2032582基因多态性与中国汉族人群胎盘组织P-gp mRNA及蛋白表达水平可能无关.     

The spatial variation of soil bacterial community assembly processes affects the accuracy of source tracking in ten major Chinese cities

Urban soils harbor billions of bacterial cells and millions of species. However, the distribution patterns and assembly processes of bacterial communities remain largely uncharacterized in urban soils. It is also unknown if we can use the bacteria to track soil sources to certain cities and districts. Here, Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to survey soil bacterial communities from 529 random plots spanning 61 districts and 10 major cities in China. Over a 3,000 km range, community similarity declined with increasing geographic distance(Mantel r=0.62), and community composition was clustered by city(R~2=0.50). Within cities(100 km), the aforementioned biogeographic patterns were weakened. Process analysis showed that homogenizing dispersal and dispersal limitation dominated soil bacterial assembly at small and large spatial scales, respectively. Accordingly, the probabilities of accurately tracking random soil sources to certain cities and districts were 90.0% and 66.7%, respectively. When the tested samples originated from cities that were more than 1,265 km apart, the soil sources could be identified with nearly 100% accuracy. Overall, this study demonstrates the strong distance-decay relationship and the clear geographic zoning of urban soil bacterial communities among cities. The varied importance of different community assembly processes at multiple spatial scales strongly affects the accuracy of microbial source tracking.     

氨基酸影响尖孢镰孢菌古巴专化型厚垣孢子的形成

香蕉枯萎病是由尖孢镰孢菌古巴专化型Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense（Foc）侵染引起的一种土传真菌病害,已严重威胁香蕉产业的健康发展。该病菌产生的厚垣孢子可在土壤中存活多年,是香蕉枯萎病的初侵染源。本研究通过氨基酸添加试验,证明添加甘氨酸可抑制厚垣孢子的形成;通过对该病菌厚垣孢子形成前期、初期、中期和后期的转录组分析,发现氨基酸合成通路中有93个基因的表达水平在厚垣孢子形成过程中发生了显著变化;In silico 分析表明其中10个基因参与调控真菌的氨基酸合成,11个基因参与调控真菌种的生长发育和产孢,19个基因参与调控真菌种的致病性和毒素产生。由此推测,氨基酸合成通路不仅与尖孢镰孢菌古巴专化型厚垣孢子的形成相关,其有可能参与调控该病菌的致病性。     

Drought stress and plant ecotype drive microbiome recruitment in switchgrass rhizosheath

The rhizosheath, a layer of soil grains that adheres firmly to roots, is beneficial for plant growth and adaptation to drought environments. Switchgrass is a perennial C4 grass which can form contact rhizosheath under drought conditions. In this study, we characterized the microbiomes of four different rhizocompartments of two switchgrass ecotypes (Alamo and Kanlow) grown under drought or well-watered conditions via 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing. These four rhizocompartments, the bulk soil, rhizosheath soil, rhizoplane, and root endosphere, harbored both distinct and overlapping microbial communities. The root compartments (rhizoplane and root endosphere) displayed low-complexity communities dominated by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Compared to bulk soil, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes were selectively enriched, while Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were selectively depleted, in rhizosheath soil. Taxa from Proteobacteria or Firmicutes were specifically selected in Alamo or Kanlow rhizosheath soil. Following drought stress, Citrobacter and Acinetobacter were further enriched in rhizosheath soil, suggesting that rhizosheath microbiome assembly is driven by drought stress. Additionally, the ecotype-specific recruitment of rhizosheath microbiome reveals their differences in drought stress responses. Collectively, these results shed light on rhizosheath microbiome recruitment in switchgrass and lay the foundation for the improvement of drought tolerance in switchgrass by regulating the rhizosheath microbiome.     

The ScCas9++ variant expands the CRISPR toolbox for genome editing in plants

The development of clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein (Cas) variants with a broader recognition scope is critical for further improvement of CRISPR/Cas systems. The original Cas9 protein from Streptococcus canis (ScCas9) can recognize simple NNG-protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) targets, and therefore possesses a broader range relative to current CRISPR/Cas systems, but its editing efficiency is low in plants. Evolved ScCas9⁺ and ScCas9⁺⁺ variants have been shown to possess higher editing efficiencies in human cells, but their activities in plants are currently unknown. Here, we utilized codon-optimized ScCas9, ScCas9⁺ and ScCas9⁺⁺ and a nickase variant ScCas9n⁺⁺ to systematically investigate genome cleavage activity and cytidine base editing efficiency in rice (Oryza sativa L.). This analysis revealed that ScCas9⁺⁺ has higher editing efficiency than ScCas9 and ScCas9⁺ in rice. Furthermore, we fused the evolved cytidine deaminase PmCDA1 with ScCas9n⁺⁺ to generate a new evoBE4max-type cytidine base editor, termed PevoCDA1-ScCas9n⁺⁺. This base editor achieved stable and efficient multiplex-site base editing at NNG-PAM sites with wider editing windows (C₋₁–C₁₇) and without target sequence context preference. Multiplex-site base editing of the rice genes OsWx (three targets) and OsEui1 (two targets) achieved simultaneous editing and produced new rice germplasm. Taken together, these results demonstrate that ScCas9⁺⁺ represents a crucial new tool for improving plant editing.