The clubroot pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae: A profile update.

BACKGROUND: Plasmodiophora brassicae is the causal agent of clubroot disease of cruciferous plants and one of the biggest threats to the rapeseed (Brassica napus) and brassica vegetable industry worldwide. DISEASE SYMPTOMS: In the advanced stages of clubroot disease wilting, stunting, yellowing, and redness are visible in the shoots. However, the typical symptoms of the disease are the presence of club-shaped galls in the roots of susceptible hosts that block the absorption of water and nutrients. HOST RANGE: Members of the family Brassicaceae are the primary host of the pathogen, although some members of the family, such as Bunias orientalis, Coronopus squamatus, and Raphanus sativus, have been identified as being consistently resistant to P. brassicae isolates with variable virulence profile. TAXONOMY: Class: Phytomyxea; Order: Plasmodiophorales; Family: Plasmodiophoraceae; Genus: Plasmodiophora; Species: Plasmodiophora brassicae (Woronin, 1877). DISTRIBUTION: Clubroot disease is spread worldwide, with reports from all continents except Antarctica. To date, clubroot disease has been reported in more than 80 countries. PATHOTYPING: Based on its virulence on different hosts, P. brassicae is classified into pathotypes or races. Five main pathotyping systems have been developed to understand the relationship between P. brassicae and its hosts. Nowadays, the Canadian clubroot differential is extensively used in Canada and has so far identified 36 different pathotypes based on the response of a set of 13 hosts. EFFECTORS AND RESISTANCE: After the identification and characterization of the clubroot pathogen SABATH-type methyltransferase PbBSMT, several other effectors have been characterized. However, no avirulence gene is known, hindering the functional characterization of the five intercellular nucleotide-binding (NB) site leucine-rich-repeat (LRR) receptors (NLRs) clubroot resistance genes validated to date. IMPORTANT LINK: Canola Council of Canada is constantly updating information about clubroot and P. brassicae as part of their Canola Encyclopedia: https://www.canolacouncil.org/canola-encyclopedia/diseases/clubroot/. PHYTOSANITARY CATEGORIZATION: PLADBR: EPPO A2 list; Annex designation 9E.

Short dual antiplatelet therapy in patients with high bleeding risk undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy and safety of an abbreviated duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients with high bleeding risk (HBR) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (PCI-HBR patients) remain controversial. METHODS: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, and Ovid MEDLINE databases were searched. Studies that enrolled PCI-HBR patients as research subjects, compared different DAPT durations, and reported incidences of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and net adverse clinical events (NACE) in PCI-HBR patients were obtained. The studies were stratified according to the DAPT duration (1, 3, and 6 months), and meta-analysis was subsequently performed. RESULTS: Nine studies (10 cohorts) were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with those who received DAPT for >1 month, PCI-HBR patients who received the 1-month DAPT regimen had comparable risks of NACE and MACE. Compared to those who received DAPT for >3 months, the risk of developing MACE in PCI-HBR patients who received the 3-month DAPT was not increased; however, the risk of ischemic stroke and stent thrombosis increased. Compared to those who received DAPT for >6 months, patients who received the 6-month DAPT had a reduction in the risk of major bleeding without an increase in NACE and MACE. CONCLUSIONS: Shortening the DAPT regimen to 1 or 6 months did not increase the risk of MACE, and the 6-month DAPT regimen reduced the risk of major bleeding. However, the 3-month DAPT regimen increased the risk of ischemic stroke. Thus, shortened DAPT reduced the risk of MACE and bleeding, with a small absolute increase in ischemic strokes.

BrassicaEDB: A Gene Expression Database for Brassica Crops.

The genus Brassica contains several economically important crops, including rapeseed (Brassica napus, 2n = 38, AACC), the second largest source of seed oil and protein meal worldwide. However, research in rapeseed is hampered because it is complicated and time-consuming for researchers to access different types of expression data. We therefore developed the Brassica Expression Database (BrassicaEDB) for the research community. In the current BrassicaEDB, we only focused on the transcriptome level in rapeseed. We conducted RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of 103 tissues from rapeseed cultivar ZhongShuang11 (ZS11) at seven developmental stages (seed germination, seedling, bolting, initial flowering, full-bloom, podding, and maturation). We determined the expression patterns of 101,040 genes via FPKM analysis and displayed the results using the eFP browser. We also analyzed transcriptome data for rapeseed from 70 BioProjects in the SRA database and obtained three types of expression level data (FPKM, TPM, and read counts). We used this information to develop the BrassicaEDB, including "eFP", "Treatment", "Coexpression", and "SRA Project" modules based on gene expression profiles and "Gene Feature", "qPCR Primer", and "BLAST" modules based on gene sequences. The BrassicaEDB provides comprehensive gene expression profile information and a user-friendly visualization interface for rapeseed researchers. Using this database, researchers can quickly retrieve the expression level data for target genes in different tissues and in response to different treatments to elucidate gene functions and explore the biology of rapeseed at the transcriptome level.