TaCAMTA4 negatively regulates H2O2-dependent wheat leaf rust resistance by activating catalase 1 expression.

Leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina Erikss. (Pt), is a serious disease threatening wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production worldwide. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) triggered by Pt infection in resistant wheat cultivars cause oxidative damage directly to biomolecules or is activated by calcium signaling and mediates the hypersensitive response. Calmodulin-binding transcriptional activator 4 (TaCAMTA4) has been reported to negatively regulate wheat resistance to Pt. In this study, we found that TaCAMTA4 was induced by Pt race 165 in its compatible host harboring the Pt resistant locus Lr26, TcLr26, and silencing of TaCAMTA4 increased local H2O2 accumulation and Pt resistance. Subcellular localization and autoactivation tests revealed that TaCAMTA4 is a nucleus-localized transcriptional activator. Furthermore, four DNA motifs recognized by TaCAMTA4 were identified by transcription factor-centered Y1H. Through analyzing the transcriptome database, four gene clusters were identified, each containing a different DNA motif on each promoter. Among them, the expression of catalase 1 (TaCAT1) with motif-1 was highly induced in the compatible interaction and was decreased when TaCAMTA4 was silenced. The results of EMSA, ChIP-qPCR, and RT-qPCR further showed that TaCAMTA4 directly bound motif-1 in the TaCAT1 promoter. Furthermore, silencing of TaCAT1 resulted in enhanced resistance to Pt and increased local H2O2 accumulation in wheat, which is consistent with that of TaCAMTA4. Since CAMTAs are Ca2+ sensors and catalases catalyze the decomposition of H2O2, we hypothesize that Ca2+ regulates the plant immune networks that are controlled by H2O2 and implicate a potential mechanism for Pt to suppress resistance by inducing the expression of the TaCAMTA4-TaCAT1 module, which consequently enhances H2O2 scavenging and attenuates H2O2-dependent resistance.

Illness uncertainty and dysphagia in Chinese oral cancer patients: the mediation effect of catastrophic cognition.

PURPOSE: Dysphagia, a serious symptom of oral cancer, is also the most common. Further, patients who are more uncertain regarding their illness tend to catastrophize, which may affect their rehabilitation and long-term survival rate. Considering this relationship, this study aimed to investigate the occurrence of dysphagia in Chinese patients with oral cancer and explore the correlation between catastrophic cognition, illness uncertainty, and dysphagia. METHODS: Applying a cross-sectional design, convenience sampling was used to recruit 180 patients with oral cancer. Advanced statistical methods were employed to analyze the mediating effects of catastrophic cognition on illness uncertainty and dysphagia. RESULTS: Chinese patients with oral cancer had a mean dysphagia score of 52.88 ± 10.95. Catastrophic cognition and illness uncertainty in patients with oral cancer were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.447, P < 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between dysphagia score and catastrophic cognition (r = -0.385, P < 0.001), and between dysphagia and illness uncertainty (r = -0.522, P < 0.001). Bootstrapping results indicated that the mediating effect of catastrophic cognition between illness uncertainty and dysphagia was -0.07 (95% CI: [-0.15, -0.03]) and significant, and the mediation effect accounted for 15.6% of the total effect. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese patients with oral cancer have poor swallowing function. Results suggest that catastrophic cognition partially mediated the relationship between illness uncertainty and dysphagia in patients with oral cancer. Medical staff can improve patients' swallowing function by reducing the level of catastrophic cognition via decreasing the level of illness uncertainty.

A comprehensive analysis of the WRKY family in soybean and functional analysis of GmWRKY164-GmGSL7c in resistance to soybean mosaic virus.

BACKGROUND: Soybean mosaic disease caused by soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is one of the most devastating and widespread diseases in soybean producing areas worldwide. The WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are widely involved in plant development and stress responses. However, the roles of the GmWRKY TFs in resistance to SMV are largely unclear. RESULTS: Here, 185 GmWRKYs were characterized in soybean (Glycine max), among which 60 GmWRKY genes were differentially expressed during SMV infection according to the transcriptome data. The transcriptome data and RT-qPCR results showed that the expression of GmWRKY164 decreased after imidazole treatment and had higher expression levels in the incompatible combination between soybean cultivar variety Jidou 7 and SMV strain N3. Remarkably, the silencing of GmWRKY164 reduced callose deposition and enhanced virus spread during SMV infection. In addition, the transcript levels of the GmGSL7c were dramatically lower upon the silencing of GmWRKY164. Furthermore, EMSA and ChIP-qPCR revealed that GmWRKY164 can directly bind to the promoter of GmGSL7c, which contains the W-box element. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that GmWRKY164 plays a positive role in resistance to SMV infection by regulating the expression of GmGSL7c, resulting in the deposition of callose and the inhibition of viral movement, which provides guidance for future studies in understanding virus-resistance mechanisms in soybean.

The development of a Cancer Pain Belief Modification Program for patients with oral cancer in China: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Acceptance-based pain management interventions have been receiving growing attention in cancer pain care. This study aimed to develop a cancer pain management program based on belief modification to improve the cancer pain experience of Chinese oral cancer survivors and to explore the acceptability and preliminary outcomes of the Cancer Pain Belief Modification Program (CPBMP). METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was applied to develop and revise the program. The CPBMP was developed and revised using the Delphi technique, and its further improvement was explored with a one-group pre- and post-trial designed with a sample of 16 Chinese oral cancer survivors, and semi-structured interviews. Research instruments included Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Chinese version of Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised for Cancer Pain (IPQ-CaCP), and the University of Washington Quality of Life assessment scale (UW-QOL). Descriptive statistics, t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyse the data. The semi-structured questions were analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: The six-module CPBMP was endorsed by most experts and patients. The expert authority coefficient value was 0.75 in the first round of the Delphi survey and 0.78 in the second round. The "pain intense", "negative pain beliefs" scores of pre- and post-testing decreased from 5.63 ± 0.48 to 0.81 ± 0.54 (t = -3.746, p < 0.001); from 140.63 ± 9.02 to 52.75 ± 7.27 (Z = 12.406, p < 0.001); and the "positive pain beliefs", "quality of life" scores increased from 55.13 ± 4.54 to 66.00 ± 4.70 (Z = -6.983, p < 0.001); from 66.97 ± 15.01 to 86.69 ± 8.42 (Z = 7.283, p < 0.001). The qualitative data also indicated that CPBMP was well acceptable. CONCLUSION: Our study showed the acceptability and preliminary outcomes of CPBMP patients. CPBMP improves the pain experience of Chinese oral cancer patients and provides a reference for cancer pain management in the future. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The feasibility study has already been registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) ( www.chictr.org.cn ) in 11/09/2021. (ChiCTR2100051065).

Chinese Oral Cancer Patients' Pain Beliefs: An Application of Leventhal's Common-Sense Model.

BACKGROUND: Patients' pain beliefs are the main obstacle to effective pain management. Assessing and correcting negative perceptions is important for improving pain intensity and quality of life of patients with cancer pain. AIMS: To explore pain beliefs among oral cancer patients using the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation as a theoretical framework. The primary components of the model, cognitive representations, emotional representations, and coping responses, were examined. DESIGN: A qualitative method was used. SETTINGS: PARTICIPANTS/SUBJECTS:   METHODS: Semi-structured, qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with patients newly diagnosed with oral cancer in a tertiary care hospital. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Interviews with 15 patients revealed that the pain beliefs of patients with oral cancer included three themes: pain cognitive representations of oral cancer, pain emotional representations of oral cancer, and pain coping responses. CONCLUSIONS: Negative pain beliefs are common among oral cancer patients. This novel application of the self-regulatory model demonstrates that it can be used to capture the key pain beliefs (i.e., cognitions, emotions, and coping responses) of oral cancer patients within a single, unifying framework.

MiR319-targeted OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb regulate tillering and grain yield in rice.

Multiple genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) improve grain yield by promoting tillering. MiR319s are known to regulate several aspects of plant development; however, whether miR319s are essential for tillering regulation remains unclear. Here, we report that miR319 is highly expressed in the basal part of rice plant at different development stages. The miR319 knockdown line Short Tandem Target Mimic 319 (STTM319) showed higher tiller bud length in seedlings under low nitrogen (N) condition and higher tiller bud number under high N condition compared with the miR319a-overexpression line. Through targets prediction, we identified OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb as downstream targets of miR319. Moreover, OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb overexpression lines and STTM319 had increased tiller bud length and biomass, whereas both were decreased in OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb knockout lines and OE319a. These data suggest that miR319 regulates rice tiller bud development and tillering through targeting OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb. Notably, the tiller number and grain yield increased in STTM319 and overexpression lines of OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb but decreased in OE319a and knockout lines of OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb. Taken together, our findings indicate that miR319s negatively affect tiller number and grain yield by targeting OsTCP21 and OsGAmyb, revealing a novel function for miR319 in rice.

Spatiotemporal Resolved Leaf Angle Establishment Improves Rice Grain Yield via Controlling Population Density.

Leaf angle is mainly determined by the lamina joint (LJ) and contributes to ideal crop architecture for high yield. Here, we dissected five successive stages with distinct cytological features of LJs spanning organogenesis to leaf angle formation and obtained the underlying stage-specific mRNAs and small RNAs, which well explained the cytological dynamics during LJ organogenesis and leaf angle plasticity. Combining the gene coexpression correlation with high-throughput promoter analysis, we identified a set of transcription factors (TFs) determining the stage- and/or cytological structure-specific profiles. The functional studies of these TFs demonstrated that cytological dynamics determined leaf angle and that the knockout rice of these TFs with erect leaves significantly enhanced yield by maintaining the proper tiller number under dense planting. This work revealed the high-resolution mechanisms of how the cytological dynamics of LJ determined leaf erectness and served as a valuable resource to remodel rice architecture for high yield by controlling population density.

Transcriptomic and physiological analyses of rice seedlings under different nitrogen supplies provide insight into the regulation involved in axillary bud outgrowth.

BACKGROUND: N is an important macronutrient required for plant development and significantly influences axillary bud outgrowth, which affects tillering and grain yield of rice. However, how different N concentrations affect axillary bud growth at the molecular and transcriptional levels remains unclear. RESULTS: In this study, morphological changes in the axillary bud growth of rice seedlings under different N concentrations ranging from low to high levels were systematically observed. To investigate the expression of N-induced genes involved in axillary bud growth, we used RNA-seq technology to generate mRNA transcriptomic data from two tissue types, basal parts and axillary buds, of plants grown under six different N concentrations. In total, 10,221 and 12,180 DEGs induced by LN or HN supplies were identified in the basal parts and axillary buds, respectively, via comparisons to expression levels under NN level. Analysis of the coexpression modules from the DEGs of the basal parts and axillary buds revealed an abundance of related biological processes underlying the axillary bud growth of plants under N treatments. Among these processes, the activity of cell division and expansion was positively correlated with the growth rate of axillary buds of plants grown under different N supplies. Additionally, TFs and phytohormones were shown to play roles in determining the axillary bud growth of plants grown under different N concentrations. We have validated the functions of OsGS1;2 and OsGS2 through the rice transgenic plants with altered tiller numbers, illustrating the important valve of our transcriptomic data. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that different N concentrations affect the axillary bud growth rate, and our study show comprehensive expression profiles of genes that respond to different N concentrations, providing an important resource for future studies attempting to determine how axillary bud growth is controlled by different N supplies.

Genetic dissection of the maize kernel development process via conditional QTL mapping for three developing kernel-related traits in an immortalized F2 population.

Kernel development is an important dynamic trait that determines the final grain yield in maize. To dissect the genetic basis of maize kernel development process, a conditional quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis was conducted using an immortalized F2 (IF2) population comprising 243 single crosses at two locations over 2 years. Volume (KV) and density (KD) of dried developing kernels, together with kernel weight (KW) at different developmental stages, were used to describe dynamic changes during kernel development. Phenotypic analysis revealed that final KW and KD were determined at DAP22 and KV at DAP29. Unconditional QTL mapping for KW, KV and KD uncovered 97 QTLs at different kernel development stages, of which qKW6b, qKW7a, qKW7b, qKW10b, qKW10c, qKV10a, qKV10b and qKV7 were identified under multiple kernel developmental stages and environments. Among the 26 QTLs detected by conditional QTL mapping, conqKW7a, conqKV7a, conqKV10a, conqKD2, conqKD7 and conqKD8a were conserved between the two mapping methodologies. Furthermore, most of these QTLs were consistent with QTLs and genes for kernel development/grain filling reported in previous studies. These QTLs probably contain major genes associated with the kernel development process, and can be used to improve grain yield and quality through marker-assisted selection.