Novel SNPs of the Caprine Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor (GHSR) Gene and Their Association with Growth Traits in Goats

Growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), a G protein-coupled receptor that binds ghrelin, plays an important role in the central regulation of pituitary growth hormone secretion, food intake, and energy homeostasis. This study analyzed polymorphism of the caprine GHSR gene as a genetic marker candidate for growth traits in goats. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (GU014697:g.165G→A and GU014697:g.548T→C) were identified in exon 2 of the caprine GHSR gene by PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism and DNA sequencing methods. Their associations with growth traits were analyzed in 313 Xuhuai goats. The results indicated that GU014697:g.548T→C had significant effects on growth traits. Body length and body length index were significantly higher in individuals with genotype TT than CC and CT in (P < 0.05). TT individuals also tended to have better performance in other traits, such as body height and chest circumference, although there were no statistical differences (P > 0.05). This suggests that GHSR is a strong candidate gene that affects growth traits in goats.     

Role of Tomato Lipoxygenase D in Wound-Induced Jasmonate Biosynthesis and Plant Immunity to Insect Herbivores

In response to insect attack and mechanical wounding, plants activate the expression of genes involved in various defense-related processes. A fascinating feature of these inducible defenses is their occurrence both locally at the wounding site and systemically in undamaged leaves throughout the plant. Wound-inducible proteinase inhibitors (PIs) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) provide an attractive model to understand the signal transduction events leading from localized injury to the systemic expression of defense-related genes. Among the identified intercellular molecules in regulating systemic wound response of tomato are the peptide signal systemin and the oxylipin signal jasmonic acid (JA). The systemin/JA signaling pathway provides a unique opportunity to investigate, in a single experimental system, the mechanism by which peptide and oxylipin signals interact to coordinate plant systemic immunity. Here we describe the characterization of the tomato suppressor of prosystemin-mediated responses8 (spr8) mutant, which was isolated as a suppressor of (pro)systemin-mediated signaling. spr8 plants exhibit a series of JA-dependent immune deficiencies, including the inability to express wound-responsive genes, abnormal development of glandular trichomes, and severely compromised resistance to cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and Botrytis cinerea. Map-based cloning studies demonstrate that the spr8 mutant phenotype results from a point mutation in the catalytic domain of TomLoxD, a chloroplast-localized lipoxygenase involved in JA biosynthesis. We present evidence that overexpression of TomLoxD leads to elevated wound-induced JA biosynthesis, increased expression of wound-responsive genes and, therefore, enhanced resistance to insect herbivory attack and necrotrophic pathogen infection. These results indicate that TomLoxD is involved in wound-induced JA biosynthesis and highlight the application potential of this gene for crop protection against insects and pathogens.     

Long noncoding RNA HNF1A‐AS1 regulates proliferation and apoptosis of glioma through activation of the JNK signaling pathway via miR‐363‐3p/MAP2K4

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to exert important functions in the various biological processes of human cancers. It has been reported that lncRNA HNF1 homeobox A antisense RNA 1 (HNF1A‐AS1) was abnormally expressed and played a role in the initiation and development of various human cancers. In this study, we confirmed that the expression level of HNF1A‐AS1 was increased in glioma tissues and cells. Knockdown of HNF1A‐AS1 inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis in glioma. Then, we disclosed the downregulation of miR‐363‐3p in glioma tissues and cell lines. The interaction between HNF1A‐AS1 and miR‐363‐3p was identified in glioma cells. Furthermore, an inverse correlation between HNF1A‐AS1 and miR‐363‐3p was observed in glioma tissues. Afterwards, we recognized that MAP2K4 was a direct target of miR‐363‐3p. The expression of MAP2K4 was negatively correlated with miR‐363‐3p while positively related to HNF1A‐AS1 in glioma tissues. We also found the regulatory effect of HNF1A‐AS1 on the MAP2K4‐dependent JNK signaling pathway. All findings indicated that HNF1A‐AS1 induces the upregulation of MAP2K4 to activate the JNK signaling pathway to promote glioma cell growth by acting as a miR‐363‐3p sponge.     

Pepper osmotin-like protein 1 (CaOSM1) is an essential component for defense response, cell death, and oxidative burst in plants

Osmotin or osmotin-like protein, a PR-5 family member, is differentially induced in plants by abiotic and biotic stresses. Here, we demonstrate that the pepper (Capsicum annuum) osmotin-like protein 1 gene, CaOSM1, was required for the defense and hypersensitive cell death response and oxidative burst signaling during Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv) infection. CaOSM1 protein was localized to the plasma membrane in leaf cells of Nicotiana benthamiana. Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression of CaOSM1 in pepper distinctly induced the hypersensitive cell death response and H₂O₂ accumulation. Knock-down of CaOSM1 in pepper by virus-induced gene silencing increased the susceptibility to Xcv infection, which was accompanied by attenuation of the cell death response and decreased accumulation of H₂O₂. CaOSM1 overexpression in transgenic Arabidopsis conferred reduced susceptibility and accelerated cell death response and H₂O₂ accumulation to infection by Pseudomonas syringe pv. tomato and Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. Together, these results suggest that CaOSM1 is involved in cell death and oxidative burst responses during plant defense against microbial pathogens.     

Redox-state dependent blinking of single photosystem I trimers at around liquid-nitrogen temperature

Efficient light harvesting in a photosynthetic antenna system is disturbed by a ragged and fluctuating energy landscape of the antenna pigments in response to the conformation dynamics of the protein. This situation is especially pronounced in Photosystem I (PSI) containing red shifted chlorophylls (red Chls) with the excitation energy much lower than the primary donor. The present study was conducted to clarify light-harvesting dynamics of PSI isolated from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 by using single-molecule spectroscopy at liquid?nitrogen temperatures. Fluorescence emission at around 720?nm from the red Chls in single PSI trimers was monitored at 80–100?K. Intermittent variations in the emission intensities, so-called blinking, were frequently observed. Its time scale lay in several tens of seconds. The blinking amplitude depended on the redox state of the phylloquinone (A₁). Electrochromic shifts of Chls induced by the negative charge on A₁ were calculated based on the X-ray crystallographic structure. A Chl molecule, Chl-A839 (numbering according to PDB 5OY0), bound near A₁ was found to have a large electrochromic shift. This Chl has strong exciton coupling with neighboring Chl (A838) whose site energy was predicted to be determined by interaction with an arginine residue (ArgF84) [Adolphs et al., 2010]. A possible scenario of the blinking was proposed. Conformational fluctuations of ArgF84 seesaw the excitation-energy of Chl-A838, which perturbs the branching ratio of excitation-energy between the red Chl and the cationic form of P700 as a quencher. The electrochromic shift of Chl-A839 enhances the effect of the conformation dynamics of ArgF84.