Enhanced resistance to stripe rust disease in transgenic wheat expressing the rice chitinase gene RC24

Stripe rust is a devastating fungal disease of wheat worldwide which is primarily caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp tritici. Transgenic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) expressing rice class chitinase gene RC24 were developed by particle bombardment of immature embryos and tested for resistance to Puccinia striiformis f.sp tritici. under greenhouse and field conditions. Putative transformants were selected on kanamycin-containing media. Polymease chain reaction indicated that RC24 was transferred into 17 transformants obtained from bombardment of 1,684 immature embryos. Integration of RC24 was confirmed by Southern blot with a RC24-labeled probe and expression of RC24 was verified by RT-PCR. Nine transgenic T₁ lines exhibited enhanced resistance to stripe rust infection with lines XN8 and BF4 showing the highest level of resistance. Southern blot hybridization confirmed the stable inheritance of RC24 in transgenic T₁ plants. Resistance to stripe rust in transgenic T₂ and T₃ XN8 and BF4 plants was confirmed over two consecutive years in the field. Increased yield (27–36 %) was recorded for transgenic T₂ and T₃ XN8 and BF4 plants compared to controls. These results suggest that rice class I chitinase RC24 can be used to engineer stripe rust resistance in wheat.     

Relationship between leptin receptor and polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders, which is involved in the multi-system disease, and its etiology is still not clearly understood. It is currently considered that not only the genetic factors but also the environment factors play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. Obesity plays an important role through the insulin, leptin and endocannabinoid system in the pathological process of PCOS, leading to more severe clinical manifestations. The aim of our present study is to investigate whether there is association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Gln223Arg and Pro1019Pro in the leptin receptor gene (LEPR) and PCOS in a Korean population. Interestingly, a significant association was found between the Pro1019Pro in LEPR gene and PCOS, and a highly significant association was found between the Gln223Arg in LEPR gene and PCOS (P = 0.033, OR = 1.523, 95% confidence interval and P < 0.0001, OR = 0.446, 95% confidence interval). Moreover, genotype combination and haplotype analyses indicate that Gln223Arg and Pro1019Pro polymorphisms of LEPR are significantly associated with the risk of PCOS.     

甜菜碱醛脱氢酶在菠菜叶细胞中的定位

将菠菜叶片匀浆后．用差速离心和梯度率心分离叶绿体、过氧物酶体、微粒体等细胞器和１０００００×ｇ上清法部分。用酶活测定法测定各部分甜菜碱醛脱氢酶（ＢＡＤＨ）的活性;用免疫扩散法鉴定各组分的ＢＡＤＨ。除叶绿体外,过氧物酶体、微粒体．以及１０００００×ｇ上清液中也存在ＢＡＤＨ。     

Existence of memory in membrane channels: analysis of ion current through a voltage‐dependent potassium single channel

Ion current fluctuation of voltage‐dependent potassium channel in LβT2 cells has been investigated by autocorrelation function and DFA (detrended fluctuation analysis) methods. The calculation of the autocorrelation function exponent and DFA exponent of the sample was based on the digital signals or the 0–1 series corresponding to closing and opening of channels after routine evolution, rather than the sequence of sojourn times. The persistent character of the correlation of the time series was evident from the slow decay of the autocorrelation function. DFA exponent α was significantly greater than 0.5. The main outcome has been the demonstration of the existence of memory in this ion channel. Thus, the ion channel current fluctuation provided information about the kinetics of the channel protein. The result suggests the correlation character of the ion channel protein non‐linear kinetics indicates whether the channel is open or not.     

Inflammatory stress in SARS-COV-2 associated Acute Kidney Injury

Increasing clinical evidence shows that acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and severe complication in critically ill COVID-19 patients. The older age, the severity of COVID-19 infection, the ethnicity, and the history of smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease are the risk factor for AKI in COVID-19 patients. Of them, inflammation may be a key player in the pathogenesis of AKI in patients with COVID-19. It is highly possible that SARS-COV-2 infection may trigger the activation of multiple inflammatory pathways including angiotensin II, cytokine storm such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), TGF-β signaling, complement activation, and lung-kidney crosstalk to cause AKI. Thus, treatments by targeting these inflammatory molecules and pathways with a monoclonal antibody against IL-6 (Tocilizumab), C3 inhibitor AMY-101, anti-C5 antibody, anti-TGF-β OT-101, and the use of CRRT in critically ill patients may represent as novel and specific therapies for AKI in COVID-19 patients.     

Cloning and functional verification of U6 and 7SK promoter of small RNA from Bama mini-pig in Guangxi

To investigate the functions of U6 and 7SK of Bama mini-pig and produce Bama mini-pig with silenced GGTA1 gene, the siRNA promoters U6 and 7SK were cloned, ligated into pMD18-shEGFP, and co-transfected with PEGFP- N1 into PK-15 kidney cells of pigs to be used in RNAi experiments. The functions of the two promoters in pig cells were verified using pMD18-hU6-shEGFP as the positive control, pMD18-shEGFP vector without promoter as the negative control, PEGFP-N1 as the first blank control, ddH2O in replacement of the plasmid as the second blank control. The results showed that the lengths of U6 and 7SK in Bama mini-pig were 553 bp and 437 bp, respectively. Vectors pMD18-pU6- shEGFP and pMD18-p7SK-shEGFP were constructed and transfected into PK-15 cells from pigs. Promoters pU6 and p7SK proved to express high levels of siRNA activity and can be used in the experiment of silencing α-1,3galactosyltransferase gene.     

Protective Antioxidant Effects of Amentoflavone and Total Flavonoids from Hedyotis diffusa on H2O2‐Induced HL‐O2 Cells through ASK1/p38 MAPK Pathway

In this study, total flavonoids and total triterpenoid acid were extracted with ethyl acetate from Hedyotis diffusa Willd, and hepatoprotective activities of them and five compounds from total flavonoids against H₂O₂ induced hepatocyte damage on HL‐02 cells were determined. In particular, amentoflavone and total flavonoids had influence on the leakage of ALT, AST, LDH, the activities of SOD and the content of MDA. They effectively reduced the loss of MMP, the release of Cyt C, and then inhibited activation of caspase‐3/caspase‐9 cascade in hepatotoxic cells. The contents of ROS were significantly reduced to inhibit p38 in amentoflavone and flavonoids groups which decreased ASK1 and p‐p38 levels through increasing thioredoxin Trx1 and reductase TrxR1. These results suggesting that the antioxidant protection of amentoflavone and flavonoids might be reducing ROS to inhibit the H₂O₂‐induced upstream of pathway via increasing levels of Trx1 and TrxR1, which were pivotal in blocking the down streaming effectors of ASK1/p38 MAPK pathway and alleviating hepatotoxicity.     

Molecular Characterization of Phytoplasma Associated with Rose Witches'-Broom in China

In 2005, rose plants (Rosa rugosa cv. ‘Plena’) exhibiting typical phytoplasma disease symptoms of stunting, yellowing, witches’‐broom and dieback were observed in Pingyin, Shandong Province, China. The disease, rose witches’‐broom (RoWB), is progressively destructive and can be graft‐transmitted. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing of PCR products and electron microscopy were used to investigate the possible association of phytoplasma with RoWB. All results indicated that presence of phytoplasma in the symptomatic rose plants. Sequence alignment of 16S rRNA gene, tuf gene and rp gene confirmed that the phytoplasma associated with RoWB is the causal agent of Paulownia witches’‐broom disease, which might be transmitted from the paulownia tree that is several meters away. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the molecular characterization of phytoplasma infecting rose in China.