GenoBaits Soy40K: a highly flexible and low-cost SNP array for soybean studies

<正>Dear Editor,Soybean(Glycine max [L.] Merr.) provides more than half of the oilseeds and more than a quarter of protein worldwide. It is estimated that the production of soybean has to be doubled by 2050 to meet the needs of the rapidly increasing consumption of soybean seeds along with a continuously increasing population(Ray et al., 2013). As such, development of a genotyping platform with high throughput, high efficiency and high precision but low-cost is urgently needed to accelerate...     

Role of BDNF in the taste system

Neurotrophins are a family of proteins that regulate neural survival, development, function and plasticity in the central and the peripheral nervous system. There are four neurotrophins： NGF, BDNF, NT-3 and NT-4. Among them, BDNF is mostly studied in the taste system due to its high expression. Recent studies have shown BDNF play an important role in the developmental and mature taste system, by regulating survival of taste cells and geniculate ganglion neurons, and maintaining and guiding taste nerve innervations. These studies imply BDNF has great potentialities for therapeutic usage to enhance sensory regeneration following nerve injury, with aging, and in some neurodegenerative diseases.     

贵州喀斯特区C4植物物种组成与水分生态型划分

该研究通过查阅文献、核对贵州大学林学院标本库及现场群落调查与标本采集,并运用碳同位素比值法研究典型C_4植物水分利用特性,探索C_4植物在喀斯特植被恢复中的地位,进而揭示贵州喀斯特地区C_4植物资源的基本特征。结果表明:贵州喀斯特区共有C_4植物141种,隶属于74属15科,分别占全国科属种的62.50%、46.25%、24.48%,以禾本科(Gramineae)和莎草科(Cyperaceae)为主;区内C_4植物种均为一年生或多年生草本,多年生植物种略多于一年生植物种;水分生态型整体偏旱生,旱生和中生植物分别占总数的24.82%和31.21%;喀斯特区C_4植物具有高水分利用效率,但不同水分生态型间差异不显著;贵州喀斯特区C_4植物资源具有资源丰富、利用途径广泛、能长期利用、竞争力强、能大面积分布、偏旱生且水分利用幅度广的基本特征,适合喀斯特区生境,自然状态下多为恢复早期物种,有利于喀斯特区生态恢复。在贵州喀斯特恶劣生态环境下C_4植物有较好的生态适应性,并表现出较高的药用、食用、饲用、景观应用等价值,对其开发利用对贵州经济、社会发展及生态恢复有重要意义。     

Effects of special brain area regional cerebral blood flow abnormal perfusion on learning and memory function and its molecular mechanism in rats

To study the effect of special brain area regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormal perfusion on learning and memory function and its molecular mechanism, 64 adult male healthy Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups, the false operation group (control group) and the operation group (model group). After surgical operation, the operation group undertook bilateral common carotid artery permanent ligation, while the other group did not. Learning and memory function were measured by Y-maze at 4 h, 8 h, 24 h and 3 d after surgical operation, respectively. The rCBF of the right frontal lobe and hippocampus was also detected by the PerifluxPF model laser Doppler flowmetry, and the expressions of c-fos or c-jun or Bcl-2 and Bax were also measured by immune histochemistry S-P method accordingly. Results showed that the rCBF of the right frontal lobe and hippocampus in the operation group was significantly lower than that in the false operation group (P < 0.05). The learning indexes, error number (EN), day of reach standard and total reaction time (TRT) in the operation group, were significantly higher than that in the false operation group (P < 0.05). However, the initiative evasion rate in the operation group was significantly lower than that in the false operation group. The study also found that the rCBF was relatively more, the indexes (EN, the day of reach standard and TRT) relatively fewer, but the initiative evasion rate and the memory keeping rate were relatively more. The positive expression and the average absorbency of Fos and Jun in the operation group were significantly higher than that in the false operation group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, Bax and Bcl-2 positive cells were all increased over time in the operation group, and the expression ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 in the operation group was significantly higher than that in the false operation group (P < 0.01). In conclusion, rCBF decrease can impair the learning and memory function in rats, which may be related to the increase of the expression ratio of c-fos or c-jun or Bcl-2 or Bax in the frontal cortex and hippocampus.     

Association of CVD Candidate Gene Polymorphisms with Ischemic Stroke and Cerebral Hemorrhage in Chinese Individuals

Background

Contribution of cardiovascular disease related genetic risk factors for stroke are not clearly defined. We performed a genetic association study to assess the association of 56 previously characterized gene variants in 34 candidate genes from cardiovascular disease related biological pathways with ischemic stroke and cerebral hemorrhage in a Chinese population.

Methods

There were 1280 stroke patients (1101 with ischemic stroke and 179 with cerebral hemorrhage) and 1380 controls in the study. The genotypes for 56 polymorphisms of 34 candidate genes were determined by the immobilized probe approach and the associations of gene polymorphisms with ischemic stroke and cerebral hemorrhage were performed by logistic regression under an allelic model.

Results

After adjusting for age, sex, BMI and hypertension status by logistic regression analysis, we found that NPPA rs5063 was significantly associated with both ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52 to 0.90; P = 0.006) and cerebral hemorrhage(OR = 0.39; 95%CI, 0.19 to 0.78; P = 0.007). In addition, MTHFR rs1801133 also was associated with cerebral hemorrhage (OR = 1.48; 95%CI, 1.16 to1.89; P = 0.001) but not with ischemic stroke (OR = 1.08; 95%CI, 0.96 to1.22; P = 0.210). After false discovery rate (FDR) correction, the association of NPPA rs5063 and MTHFR rs1801133 with cerebral hemorrhage remained significant.

Conclusions

The NPPA rs5063 is associated with reduced risk for cerebral hemorrhage and MTHFR rs1801133 is associated with increased risk of cerebral hemorrhage in a Chinese population.     

Complete Genome Sequence of Wide-Host-Range Staphylococcus aureus Phage JD007

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-related infections have become a serious problem worldwide. Bacteriophage therapy is an alternative approach against this threat. S. aureus phage JD007, which belongs to the Myoviridae family according to transmission electron microscopic imaging, could lyse nearly 30% of the S. aureus strains from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China, and was isolated from chicken feces in Shanghai, China. The complete genome showed that JD007 is a linear, double-stranded DNA phage 141,836 bp in length with a GC content of 30.4% encoding 217 open reading frames. A BLAST search of the JD007 genome revealed that it was very similar to that of phage GH15.     

基于群落种间关系的桫椤植物保护策略研究进展

桫椤科植物是古老的孑遗植物,现存的桫椤天然群落极为罕见,为了解桫椤(Alsophila spinulosa)及桫椤科(Cyatheaceae)植物在生物群落的中生存与保育状态研究现状,本文通过搜集国内外关于桫椤及桫椤科植物相关文献进行研究。桫椤科植物分布于高温潮湿、光斑直射的生境,常以斑块状分布于常绿阔叶林林缘。现阶段,桫椤科植物保护面临的主要问题是生态旅游、毁林开荒、环境污染、药材的违法采摘和挖掘等,这导致桫椤科植物的生境遭受干扰和破碎,桫椤科植株数量下降。对桫椤科植物的保护方式主要有就地保护、迁地保护,分子生物学技术在桫椤科植物繁育中应用逐渐增加。生物和非生物因素制约着桫椤科植物的分布和多样性,其中,生物因素特别是种间关系对桫椤植物的生长发育和分布有着重要影响,从种间关系的视角出发探讨桫椤科植物的保护或许不失为新时代桫椤科植物保护的有效方式。讨论了桫椤植科物相关的种间关系：桫椤科植物-微生物互作、桫椤科植物-其他植物互作、桫椤科植物-动物互作,探讨了桫椤科植物面临灭绝的因素以及近年来桫椤科植物相关的保护策略及成效,为桫椤科植物的有效利用和保护提供一定理论基础。     

Update soybean Zhonghuang 13 genome to a golden reference

<正>Dear Editor,Soybean is one of the most important crops worldwide. A high-quality reference genome will facilitate its functional analysis and molecular breeding (Wang and Tian, 2015).Previously, we de novo assembled a high-quality Chinese soybean genome Gmax_ZH13 (Shen et al., 2018, Yang and Huang, 2018). However, due to technical limitations at the     

Diabetes aggravates myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury via activating Nox2‐related programmed cell death in an AMPK‐dependent manner

Cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial ischaemia have a high fatality rate in patients with diabetes. This study was designed to expose the crosstalk between oxidative stress and AMPK, a vital molecule that controls biological energy metabolism, in myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury (I/RI) in diabetic rats. Diabetes was stimulated in rats using streptozotocin injection. Rats were separated on random into control, control + I/R, Diabetes, Diabetes + I/R, Diabetes + I/R + N‐acetylcysteine and Diabetes + I/R + Vas2870 groups. Myocardial infarct size was determined, and the predominant Nox family isoforms were analysed. In vitro, the H9C2 cells were administered excess glucose and exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation to mimic diabetes and I/R. The AMPK siRNA or AICAR was used to inhibit or activate AMPK expression in H9C2 cells, respectively. Then, myocardial oxidative stress and programmed cell death were measured. Diabetes or high glucose levels were found to aggravate myocardial I/RI or hypoxia/reoxygenation in H9C2 cells, as demonstrated by an increase in myocardial infarct size or lactate dehydrogenase levels, oxidative stress generation and induction of programmed cell death. In diabetic rat hearts, cardiac Nox1, Nox2 and Nox4 were all heightened. The suppression of Nox2 expression using Vas2870 or Nox2‐siRNA treatment in vivo or in vitro, respectively, protected diabetic rats from myocardial I/RI. AMPK gene knockout increased Nox2 protein expression while AMPK agonist decreased Nox2 expression. Therefore, diabetes aggravates myocardial I/RI by generating of Nox2‐associated oxidative stress in an AMPK‐dependent manner, which led to the induction of programmed cell death such as apoptosis, pyroptosis and ferroptosis.