Ticarcillin degradation product thiophene acetic acid is a novel auxin analog that promotes organogenesis in tomato.

Efficient regeneration of transgenic plants from explants after transformation is one of the crucial steps in developing genetically modified plants with desirable traits. Identification of novel plant growth regulators and developmental regulators will assist to enhance organogenesis in culture. In this study, we observed enhanced shoot regeneration from tomato cotyledon explants in culture media containing timentin, an antibiotic frequently used to prevent Agrobacterium overgrowth after transformation. Comparative transcriptome analysis of explants grown in the presence and absence of timentin revealed several genes previously reported to play important roles in plant growth and development, including Auxin Response Factors (ARFs), GRF Interacting Factors (GIFs), Flowering Locus T (SP5G), Small auxin up-regulated RNAs (SAUR) etc. Some of the differentially expressed genes were validated by quantitative real-time PCR. We showed that ticarcillin, the main component of timentin, degrades into thiophene acetic acid (TAA) over time. TAA was detected in plant tissue grown in media containing timentin. Our results showed that TAA is indeed a plant growth regulator that promotes root organogenesis from tomato cotyledons in a manner similar to the well-known auxins, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). In combination with the cytokinin 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), TAA was shown to promote shoot organogenesis from tomato cotyledon in a concentration-dependent manner. To the best of our knowledge, the present study reports for the first time demonstrating the function of TAA as a growth regulator in a plant species. Our work will pave the way for future studies involving different combinations of TAA with other plant hormones which may play an important role in in vitro organogenesis of recalcitrant species. Moreover, the differentially expressed genes and long noncoding RNAs identified in our transcriptome studies may serve as contender genes for studying molecular mechanisms of shoot organogenesis.

tRNA derived small RNAs-Small players with big roles.

In the past 2 decades, small non-coding RNAs derived from tRNA (tsRNAs or tRNA derived fragments; tRFs) have emerged as new powerful players in the field of small RNA mediated regulation of gene expression, translation, and epigenetic control. tRFs have been identified from evolutionarily divergent organisms from Archaea, the higher plants, to humans. Recent studies have confirmed their roles in cancers and other metabolic disorders in humans and experimental models. They have been implicated in biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants as well. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on tRFs including types of tRFs, their biogenesis, and mechanisms of action. The review also highlights recent studies involving differential expression profiling of tRFs and elucidation of specific functions of individual tRFs from various species. We also discuss potential considerations while designing experiments involving tRFs identification and characterization and list the available bioinformatics tools for this purpose.

Bacillus subtilis B21 and Bacillus licheniformis B26 improve intestinal health and performance of broiler chickens with Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis.

This study investigated the influence of Bacillus-based probiotics on performance and intestinal health in broiler challenged with Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis. One-day-old Arbor Acre (n = 480) were randomly assigned to four treatments with 10 cages of 12 birds: (a) basal diet negative control (NC), with no probiotics nor antibiotics formulated to contain 2,930 and 3,060 kcal/kg with 24.07 and 15.98% CP, for starter and finisher diet, respectively, (b) basal diet + enramycin (5 mg/kg), an antibiotic growth promoter (AGP); (c) basal diet + Bacillus subtilis B21 at 2 × 109 CFU per g (BS); (d) basal diet + Bacillus licheniformis B26 at 2 × 109 CFU per g (BL); growth performance, intestinal morphology, intestinal lesion scores, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and mucosal barrier tight junction's (TJ) mRNA expression were assessed. NC- and BL-fed groups showed higher (p = 0.005) average daily feed intake from d1 to d21 than AGP and BS, whereas BS- and AGP-fed groups showed higher average daily weight gain from d22 to d42 and d1 to d42 of age. Higher mortality rate of (12.5%) and lower of (5.5%) were recorded in AGP and NC fed-groups respectively, lesion score was higher in BS and BL than in AGP, while no lesion was observed in NC group, results revealed higher duodenum and jejunum villus height to crypt depth (VH:CD) compared with NC and BS. Probiotics-fed groups showed higher total (SCFAs), acetic and butyric acid concentrations at d21 post-challenge (PC) than other groups. The expression of claudin-1 was upregulated in duodenum (d7) PC and in jejunum (d7) and (d21) PC in BL group, while at d21 PC, the expression of occludens was higher in jejunum and ileum by AGP and BL. The present study indicated both BS and BL have some similarity with AGP in preventing or partially preventing NE effect in broilers.

Comparison of Drug-Eluting Stents With Bare-Metal Stents for PCI of Saphenous Vein Graft Lesions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The superiority of drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation over bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation in saphenous vein graft (SVG) lesions is controversial, with significant heterogeneity demonstrated in the literature. METHODS: A study search was conducted from January 2003 to October 2015, and identified four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 35 observational studies comparing DES vs BMS in SVG interventions. Clinical endpoint data were abstracted and analyzed by combining the odds ratios (ORs) of individual studies into a pooled OR using a random-effects model. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 39,213 patients in the DES group and 26,461 patients in the BMS group. Patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with DES had lower major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) rate (OR, 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-0.74; P<.001), lower all-cause mortality rate (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.84; P<.001), lower target-vessel revascularization (TVR) rate (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.57-0.86; P<.001), and lower target-lesion revascularization (TLR) rate (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.50-0.84; P<.01), with no difference in stent thrombosis (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.61-1.32; P=.58). There was no significant reduction in myocardial infarction (MI) in the DES group compared with the BMS group (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.73-1.04; P=.13). Benefits were sustained at long-term follow-up of 36 months without an increased risk of early and/or late stent thrombosis. The observed benefit for MACE was only seen in observational studies (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.53-0.75; P<.001) with no benefit in RCTs (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.20-1.40; P=.20). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that patients with DES in comparison with BMS implantation for PCI to SVG lesions had lower MACE, all-cause mortality, and TVR rates, without a significant reduction in MI and TLR.