Genome-Wide Analysis of the Apple (Malus domestica) Cysteine-Rich Receptor-Like Kinase (CRK) Family: Annotation,Genomic Organization,and Expression Profiles in Response to Fungal Infection

Plant Molecular Biology Reporter - Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) took crucial roles in plant cell growth and development, as well as environmental adaption. Apple (Malus domestica) had...     

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the CrRLK1L Gene Family in Apple (Malus domestica)

It has been reported that members of the Catharanthus roseus receptor-like kinase1-like kinase (CrRLK1L) gene family detect cell wall integrity, cell-to-cell communication, and biotic and abiotic stress. We performed a comprehensive study including the genome-wide identification, characterization, and gene expression analysis of CrRLK1Ls in apple (Malus domestica). Sixty-seven M. domestica CrRLK1Ls (MdCrRLK1Ls) were identified based on their domain structure. Molecular weight and pI ranged from 52.36–141 kDa and 5.05–8.9, respectively. They were distributed across 16 of the 18 chromosomes and classified into five phylogenetic branches. Exon-intron structural analysis indicated a wide range of exon numbers. Collinearity analysis showed that both segmental-and tandem-duplication contributed to the expansion of this family. Cis-elements in the MdCrRLK1L promoter region responded mainly to light, circadian rhythm, phytohormones, and biotic or abiotic stress. Many members exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns and differentially expressed under biotic stresses, which may contribute to the different functional roles of MdCrRLK1Ls under physiological stress and/or pathological conditions. This study provides new insights into the CrRLK1Ls in Malus spp.

     

Methylene blue alleviates nuclear and mitochondrial abnormalities in progeria

Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a fatal premature aging disease, is caused by a single‐nucleotide mutation in the LMNA gene. Previous reports have focused on nuclear phenotypes in HGPS cells, yet the potential contribution of the mitochondria, a key player in normal aging, remains unclear. Using high‐resolution microscopy analysis, we demonstrated a significantly increased fraction of swollen and fragmented mitochondria and a marked reduction in mitochondrial mobility in HGPS fibroblast cells. Notably, the expression of PGC‐1α, a central regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis, was inhibited by progerin. To rescue mitochondrial defects, we treated HGPS cells with a mitochondrial‐targeting antioxidant methylene blue (MB). Our analysis indicated that MB treatment not only alleviated the mitochondrial defects but also rescued the hallmark nuclear abnormalities in HGPS cells. Additional analysis suggested that MB treatment released progerin from the nuclear membrane, rescued perinuclear heterochromatin loss and corrected misregulated gene expression in HGPS cells. Together, these results demonstrate a role of mitochondrial dysfunction in developing the premature aging phenotypes in HGPS cells and suggest MB as a promising therapeutic approach for HGPS.     

Opportunities and feasibilities for biotechnological improvement of Zn, Cd or Ni tolerance and accumulation in plants

Metals contaminate the soil when present in high concentrations causing soil and ultimately environmental pollution. “Phytoremediation” is the use of plants to remove pollutants from contaminated environments. Plants tightly regulate their internal metal concentrations in a process called “metal homeostasis”. Some species have evolved extreme tolerance and accumulation of Zn, Cd and Ni as a way to adapt to exposure to these metals. Such traits are beneficial for phytoremediation, however, most natural metal hyperaccumulator species are not adapted to agriculture and have low yields. A wealth of knowledge has been generated regarding metal homeostasis in plants, including hyperaccumulators, which can be used in phytoremediation of Zn, Cd and Ni. In this review, we describe the current state of Zn, Cd and Ni physiology in plants and the underlying molecular mechanisms. The ways to efficiently utilize this information in designing high biomass metal accumulator plants are discussed. The potential and application of genetic modification has extended our understanding about the mechanisms in plants dealing with the metal environment and has paved the way to achieve the goal of understanding metal physiology and to apply the knowledge for the containment and clean up of metal contaminated soils.     

提高成纤维细胞生长因子-21产率和纯度

成纤维细胞生长因子-21(FGF-21)作为近期发现的新型代谢调节因子,因其具有独立于胰岛素调节糖脂代谢、增加胰岛素敏感性等作用,有望成为治疗糖尿病的新型药物。包涵体形式表达外源蛋白表达量及纯度高,但是以pET载体表达时,FGF-21以包涵体形式表达,且复性率及产率低,蛋白活性降低[1]。针对这一瓶颈问题,用SUMO载体首次以包涵体形式表达带有SUMO标签的hFGF-21,通过优化培养条件,并应用中空纤维柱膜过滤技术对菌体进行富集,对包涵体进行洗涤、变性及复性,经过亲和层析、凝胶过滤层析的纯化方法,得到了成熟的hFGF-21,在保证蛋白活性的同时增加了蛋白的产量及纯度。通过检测HepG2细胞葡萄糖吸收及2型糖尿病db/db小鼠短期及长期血糖变化鉴定其降糖生物学活性。结果表明,以包涵体形式表达hFGF-21(ihFGF-21)的表达量是可溶形式表达的hFGF-21(shFGF-21)的3倍,最终ihFGF-21的收率为20 mg/L,而shFGF-21的收率仅为6 mg/L。ihFGF-21的纯度可达到95%以上,而shFGF-21仅能达到90%左右;在细胞水平和动物水平上两者的降糖生物学活性一致。在保证hFGF-21生物学活性的前提下,与传统包涵体途径提取目的蛋白的方法相比,应用中空纤维柱膜过滤技术使hFGF-21的生产周期缩短了约1/3左右。综上所述,此法为FGF-21中试及工业化生产提供了高效、经济的策略。     

The M1 and pre-M1 segments contribute differently to ion selectivity in ASICs and ENaCs

The ability to discriminate between different ionic species, termed ion selectivity, is a key feature of ion channels and forms the basis for their physiological function. Members of the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel (DEG/ENaC) superfamily of trimeric ion channels are typically sodium selective, but to a surprisingly variable degree. While acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are weakly sodium selective (sodium:potassium ratio ∼10:1), ENaCs show a remarkably high preference for sodium over potassium (>500:1). This discrepancy may be expected to originate from differences in the pore-lining second transmembrane segment (M2). However, these show a relatively high degree of sequence conservation between ASICs and ENaCs, and previous functional and structural studies could not unequivocally establish that differences in M2 alone can account for the disparate degrees of ion selectivity. By contrast, surprisingly little is known about the contributions of the first transmembrane segment (M1) and the preceding pre-M1 region. In this study, we used conventional and noncanonical amino acid–based mutagenesis in combination with a variety of electrophysiological approaches to show that the pre-M1 and M1 regions of mASIC1a channels are major determinants of ion selectivity. Mutational investigations of the corresponding regions in hENaC show that these regions contribute less to ion selectivity, despite affecting ion conductance. In conclusion, our work suggests that the remarkably different degrees of sodium selectivity in ASICs and ENaCs are achieved through different mechanisms. These results further highlight how M1 and pre-M1 are likely to differentially affect pore structure in these related channels.     

A Systematic Composite Service Design Modeling Method Using Graph-Based Theory

The composite service design modeling is an essential process of the service-oriented software development life cycle, where the candidate services, composite services, operations and their dependencies are required to be identified and specified before their design. However, a systematic service-oriented design modeling method for composite services is still in its infancy as most of the existing approaches provide the modeling of atomic services only. For these reasons, a new method (ComSDM) is proposed in this work for modeling the concept of service-oriented design to increase the reusability and decrease the complexity of system while keeping the service composition considerations in mind. Furthermore, the ComSDM method provides the mathematical representation of the components of service-oriented design using the graph-based theoryto facilitate the design quality measurement. To demonstrate that the ComSDM method is also suitable for composite service design modeling of distributed embedded real-time systems along with enterprise software development, it is implemented in the case study of a smart home. The results of the case study not only check the applicability of ComSDM, but can also be used to validate the complexity and reusability of ComSDM. This also guides the future research towards the design quality measurement such as using the ComSDM method to measure the quality of composite service design in service-oriented software system.