Diverse set of microRNAs are responsive to powdery mildew infection and heat stress in wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis> L.)

Background  

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding regulatory RNAs that regulate gene expression by guiding target mRNA cleavage or translational inhibition. MiRNAs can have large-scale regulatory effects on development and stress response in plants.     

Assessing adhesion forces of type I and type IV pili of Xylella fastidiosa bacteria by use of a microfluidic flow chamber

Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium responsible for Pierce's disease in grapevines, possesses both type I and type IV pili at the same cell pole. Type IV pili facilitate twitching motility, and type I pili are involved in biofilm development. The adhesiveness of the bacteria and the roles of the two pili types in attachment to a glass substratum were evaluated using a microfluidic flow chamber in conjunction with pilus-defective mutants. The average adhesion force necessary to detach wild-type X. fastidiosa cells was 147 +/- 11 pN. Mutant cells possessing only type I pili required a force of 204 +/- 22 pN for removal, whereas cells possessing only type IV pili required 119 +/- 8 pN to dislodge these cells. The experimental results demonstrate that microfluidic flow chambers are useful and convenient tools for assessing the drag forces necessary for detaching bacterial cells and that with specific pilus mutants, the role of the pilus type can be further assessed.     

Pharmacometabonomic phenotyping reveals different responses to xenobiotic intervention in rats

In conventional pharmacological studies, intersubject differences within an animal strain are normally neglected, leading to variations in pharmacological outcomes in response to the same stimulus. Using two classical experimental models, the Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic model of Wistar rats and the high-energy, diet-induced obesity model of Sprague-Dawley rats, we demonstrate that the different outcomes of STZ or diet intervention are closely associated with variation in predose (baseline) urinary metabolic profiles of the rats. The pharmacometabonomic analysis of predose metabolic profiles indicates that the intersubject difference is, to a great extent, associated with gut-microbiota, which predisposes different pathophysiological outcomes upon diet alteration or chemical stimulus. We hypothesize that there may exist an important association between observations from these two models and the obese/diabetic human population in that subtle variations in metabolic phenotype may predetermine different systems' responses to xenobiotic perturbation, ultimately leading to varied pathophysiological processes. Results from two independent models also suggest that the pharmacometabonomics approach is of great importance in the study of pharmacology and clinical drug evaluations, where endogenous metabolite signatures of predose individuals should be taken into consideration to minimize intersubject difference and the resulting variation in the postdose pharmacological outcomes.     

1-辛烯-3-醇防治采后桃果实软腐病的作用

【目的】桃果实易受匍枝根霉(Rhizopus stolonifer)侵染引起软腐病,导致果实采后腐烂损失严重。目前人工合成的化学杀菌剂是控制桃果实采后病害的主要方法,但长期使用容易带来食品安全隐患、病原菌抗药性和环境污染等问题。通过研究生物源抑菌成分1-辛烯-3-醇对桃果实软腐病的控制作用,为减少化学农药使用和控制采后桃果实软腐病提供理论基础。【方法】使用1-辛烯-3-醇熏蒸接种匍枝根霉(R.stolonifer)后的桃果实,对果实抗病相关基因表达和酶活性进行测定。通过离体试验,研究1-辛烯-3-醇熏蒸对匍枝根霉(R.stolonifer)菌丝和孢子的影响。【结果】55.80μg/mL 1-辛烯-3-醇熏蒸处理可以显著降低桃果实的发病率和病斑直径(P<0.05),提高几丁质酶(chitinase,CHI)和β-1,3葡聚糖酶(β-1,3-glucanase,GLU)的活性以及病程相关基因非表达子1(nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related protein 1,NPR1)、病程相关蛋白1(pathogenesis-related protein 1,PR1)、CHI和GLU的基因表达量。离体试验结果显示,1-辛烯-3-醇可抑制平板上匍枝根霉(R.stolonifer)菌丝的生长,使菌丝体细胞结构遭到破坏,同时显著降低麦角固醇含量(P<0.05),抑制孢囊孢子的萌发和芽管伸长,并通过破坏孢子的膜结构,引起活性氧(reactive oxygen species,ROS)暴发与线粒体损伤。【结论】以上结果证实,1-辛烯-3-醇熏蒸处理不仅能直接破坏匍枝根霉(R.stolonifer)的菌丝与孢子,还可通过诱导桃果实的系统获得性抗性(systemic acquired resistance,SAR)抑制采后软腐病的蔓延。     

禽网状内皮组织增殖病病毒gp90蛋白单克隆抗体的制备及其识别区分析

为了制备禽网状内皮组织增殖病病毒(REV)gp90蛋白的单克隆抗体,应用His-gp90融合蛋白免疫BALB/c小鼠,取免疫鼠的脾细胞与骨髓瘤细胞(SP2/0)进行融合,经过筛选、3次亚克隆后获得3株稳定分泌抗REV-gp90蛋白的单克隆抗体杂交瘤细胞株,分别命名为3G5-B8、3G5-A10和1G12。经间接ELISA(Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay)方法检测,单克隆抗体的亲和力解离常数(Kd)分别为6.483×10–10、4.844×10–10和9.330×10–10,3株单抗的亚型分别为Ig G1、Ig G1和Ig G2b。经Western blotting和间接免疫荧光实验检测,3株单抗均能识别REV感染DF-1细胞后产生的gp90蛋白。以Western blotting方法利用单抗检测不同截短的gp90蛋白,初步确定3G5-B8和3G5-A10 2株单抗抗原识别区均位于gp90蛋白第200-245位氨基酸,而1G12株单抗识别区包含第230-235位氨基酸。这些单抗为REV的诊断和致病机理研究奠定了基础。     

Identification and characterization of wheat long non-protein coding RNAs responsive to powdery mildew infection and heat stress by using microarray analysis and SBS sequencing

Background  

Biotic and abiotic stresses, such as powdery mildew infection and high temperature, are important limiting factors for yield and grain quality in wheat production. Emerging evidences suggest that long non-protein coding RNAs (npcRNAs) are developmentally regulated and play roles in development and stress responses of plants. However, identification of long npcRNAs is limited to a few plant species, such as Arabidopsis, rice and maize, no systematic identification of long npcRNAs and their responses to abiotic and biotic stresses is reported in wheat.     

Metabolomic profiling to identify potential serum biomarkers for schizophrenia and risperidone action

Despite recent advances in understanding the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the mechanisms of antipsychotic drug action, the development of biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in schizophrenia remains challenging. Metabolomics provides a powerful approach to discover diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers by analyzing global changes in an individual's metabolic profile in response to pathophysiological stimuli or drug intervention. In this study, we performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomic profiling in serum of unmedicated schizophrenic patients before and after an 8-week risperidone monotherapy, to detect potential biomarkers associated with schizophrenia and risperidone treatment. Twenty-two marker metabolites contributing to the complete separation of schizophrenic patients from matched healthy controls were identified, with citrate, palmitic acid, myo-inositol, and allantoin exhibiting the best combined classification performance. Twenty marker metabolites contributing to the complete separation between posttreatment and pretreatment patients were identified, with myo-inositol, uric acid, and tryptophan showing the maximum combined classification performance. Metabolic pathways including energy metabolism, antioxidant defense systems, neurotransmitter metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and phospholipid metabolism were found to be disturbed in schizophrenic patients and partially normalized following risperidone therapy. Further study of these metabolites may facilitate the development of noninvasive biomarkers and more efficient therapeutic strategies for schizophrenia.