Effect of exogenous γ-aminobutyric acid on physiological property, antioxidant activity, and cadmium uptake of quinoa seedlings under cadmium stress.

Increasing cadmium (Cd) pollution has negative effects on quinoa growth and production. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) confers plants with stress resistance to heavy metals; however, the mechanism remains unclear. We explored the effects of exogenous GABA on the physiological characteristics, antioxidant capacity, and Cd accumulation of quinoa seedlings under Cd stress using hydroponic experiments. Partial least-squares regression was used to identify key physical and chemical indices of seedlings affecting Cd accumulation. Compared with those of the CK group, exposure to 10 and 25 µmol·L-1 Cd significantly reduced the photosynthetic pigment contents, photosynthesis, and biomass accumulation of quinoa seedlings; resulted in shorter and thicker roots; decreased the length of the lateral roots; decreased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxide (POD); and increased H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. Exogenous GABA reduced the Cd content in the stem/leaves and roots of quinoa seedlings under Cd stress by 13.22-21.63% and 7.92-28.32%, decreased Cd accumulation by 5.37-6.71% and 1.91-4.09%, decreased the H2O2 content by 38.21-47.46% and 45.81-55.73%, and decreased the MDA content by 37.65-48.12% and 29.87-32.51%, respectively. GABA addition increased the SOD and POD activities in the roots by 2.78-5.61% and 13.81-18.33%, respectively, under Cd stress. Thus, exogenous GABA can reduce the content and accumulation of Cd in quinoa seedlings by improving the photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activity and reducing the degree of lipid peroxidation in the cell membrane to alleviate the toxic effect of Cd stress on seedling growth.

OsGA3ox genes regulate rice fertility and plant height by synthesizing diverse active GA.

Gibberellin (GA) is an important hormone, which is involved in regulating various growth and development. GA biosynthesis pathway and synthetase have been basically clarified. Gibberellin 3ß hydroxylase (GA3ox) is the key enzyme for the synthesis of various active GA. There are two GA3ox genes (OsGA3ox1 and OsGA3ox2) in rice, and their physiological functions have been preliminarily studied. However, it is not clear how they work together to synthesize active GA to regulate rice development. In this study, the knockout mutants ga3ox1 and ga3ox2 were obtained by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The pollen fertility of ga3ox1 decreased significantly, while the plant height of ga3ox2 decreased significantly. It shows that OsGA3ox1 is necessary for normal pollen development, while OsGA3ox2 is necessary for stem and leaf elongation. Tissue expression analysis showed that OsGA3ox1 was mainly expressed in unopened flowers, while OsGA3ox2 was mainly expressed in unexpanded leaves. The GA in different tissues of wild type (WT), and two ga3ox mutants were detected. It was found that pollen fertility is most closely related to the content of GA7, and plant height is most closely related to the content of GA1. It was found that OsGA3ox1 catalyzes GA9 to GA7 in flowers, which is closely related to pollen fertility; OsGA3ox2 catalyzes the GA20 to GA1 in unexpanded leaves, thereby regulating plant height; OsGA3ox1 catalyzes the GA19 to GA20 in roots, regulating the generation of GA3. OsGA3ox1 and OsGA3ox2 respond to developmental and environmental signals, and cooperate to synthesize endogenous GA in different tissues to regulate rice development. This study provides a reference for clarifying its role in GA biosynthesis pathway and further understanding the function of OsGA3ox.

Reducing expression of TaOTUB1s decreases tiller number in wheat.

Tiller number is an important agronomic trait that affects crop yield. The roles of OTUB1 in regulating tiller numbers in rice have been reported. However, the roles of OTUB1 in wheat remain elusive. In this study, TaOTUB1s were identified in wheat. TaOTUB1 proteins were localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm. Compared with wild-type Fielder, TaOTUB1-RNAi transgenic wheat plants had fewer tillers. Similar to OTUB1 in rice, the yeast double hybrid indicated that the TaOTUB1-A protein could interact with TaSPL17 and TaUBC13 proteins. The results of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that the expression levels of TaOTUB1s decreased while those of TaSPL17 significantly improved in TaOTUB1-RNAi lines. These findings suggested that TaOTUB1s influenced tiller number in wheat.

[The measurement and retrieval of the spectral reflectance of different snow grain size on Northern Xinjiang, China].

The retrieval of snow grain size is one of the important research directions for cryosphere snow remote sensing. In the present study, we designed the measurement plan of different snow grain size by different snow layer. A SVC HR-1024 ground-based spectral radiometer was used for measuring the spectral property of different snow grain size in northern Xinjiang, China. At the same time, the snow grain size and shape were measured by a hand-loupe with scale. Then the DSPP method was used to calculate the equivalent snow grain size. Finally, the asymptotic radiative transfer (ART) theory was applied to retrieve the snow grain size from measured snow spectral reflectance of different snow layer by optimizing the inversion band and the snow grain size factor "b". The retrieved snow grain size was validated by the measured snow grain size from DSPP method. The results showed that the DSPP method is an effective means of measuring the equivalent snow grain size. However, there is a large deviation of the snow grain size sample in the same snow layer. It is necessary to improve the measurement method of the single snow grain size sample; The study showed that the near-infrared bands are the most effective selection for retrieval of snow grain size. The retrieval algorithm from ART is feasible. When the snow is dry, the authors optimize the inversion band and the snow grain size factor b in the Northern Xinjiang, China. The optimal band wavelength is 1.20 microm and b is 3.62.

[Serum GP73 were increased in patients with fatty liver disease].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the levels of serum GP73 in patients with fatty liver disease. METHODS: The sera GP73 were determined by ELISA in 178 patients with fatty liver disease and 100 healthy controls. RESULTS: Serum GP73 levels were significantly increased in patients with various fatty liver diseases(70.62 +/- 60.60 ng/ml), compared with those of control population (35.61 +/- 12.22 ng/ml). In patients with alcoholic fatty liver disease, acute liver injury, chronic hepatitis B, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, their serum GP73 concentration were 81.86 +/- 47.82 ng/ml, 82.77 +/- 77.73 ng/ml, 63.84 +/- 50.62 ng/ml, and 65.75 +/- 62.20 ng/ml, respectively. But no significant difference was found between these groups (P > 0.05). In 68 patients with F > or = 1.0 (71.46 +/- 66.48 ng/ml), 75 patients with F> or = 2.0 (69.58 +/- 62.31 ng/ml), and 34 patients with F3-F4 (71.65 +/- 43.89 ng/ml), there were also no marked differences was observed between these fatty groups (F = 0.02, P = 0.98). CONCLUSION: Serum GP73 levels were increased in patients with different liver diseases, but its concentrations were seems not related with degree of fatty injury.

[Observations of snow mixed pixel spectral characteristics using a ground-based spectral radiometer and comparing with unmixing algorithms].

The unmixing algorithms of mixed snow pixels and the fractional snow cover products are an important research direc- tion for snow remote sensing. In the present study, we first designed the mixed snow pixels of different snow fraction/proportion in Northern Xinjiang, China as ground truth. Then, a SVC HR-1024 ground-based spectral radiometer was used for measuring the spectral property of this designed pixel for different snow fractions and different underlying surfaces. Finally, using the measured spectral data, the four mixed-pixel decomposition models were validated and evaluated for their performance in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. The results showed that the reflectivity does not decline linearly with the reduction of snow ratio in the pixel, and that the unmixing accuracy inversely depends on the scales of the observation. Further, the comparison of the above mentioned unmixing algotihms showed that the linear regression method has the worst accuracy, especially when the snow proportion is less than 50%; the accuracy of sparse regression algorithm and non-negative matrix factorization were slightly higher than the full constrained linear mixed-pixel decomposition; however, full constrained linear mixed-pixel decomposition method had higher computational efficiency than the other two methods; the sparse regression algorithm has lowest computational efficiency. With unmixing remote sensing images, due to the large data volumes, we must consider the algorithms' computational efficiency. This study would promote quantitative researches on snow mixed pixel decomposition, and provide a theoretical basis for accurately extracting the snow coverage of interest area using remote sensing images.

Role of C6ORF120, an N-glycosylated protein, is implicated in apoptosis of CD4⁺ T lymphocytes.

BACKGROUND: Although CD4(+) T cell apoptosis and CD8(+) T cell responses have been extensively studied during HIV infection, how apoptosis signals being initiated in CD4(+) T cells still need to be elucidated. The present study was designed to characterize the function-unknown gene, C6orf120, and elucidates its primary role in tunicamycin-induced CD4(+) T apoptosis. METHODS: The C6orf120 coding sequence was amplified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) total RNA of AIDS patients. The DNA fragment was inserted into the pET-32a expression system, transformed into Escherichia coli, and preparation of C6ORF120 recombinant protein. The magnetic cell separation technology was used to prepare primary CD4(+) T cells and CD8(+) T cells. The primary T cells were cultured at 1 × 10(6) cells/ml, treated with 0, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, and 200 ng/ml of C6orf120 recombinant protein for 48 hours, then harvested for cell cycle and apoptosis analysis. Tunicamycin (0.5 µmol/L) was used to induce endoplasmic reticulum stress in Jurkat cells. The biomarker 78 KDa glucose-regulated protein (GRp78) and growth arrest and DNA damage (GADD) were used to evaluate endoplasmic reticulum stress of Jurkat cells. RESULTS: We prepared C6ORF120 recombinant protein and its polyclonal antibody. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that C6orf120 mainly expressed in hepatocytes and cells in germinal center of lymph node. At concentration of 0.1, 1, 10, 100, and 200 ng/ml, C6orf120 recombinant protein could induce apoptosis of Jurkat cells and primary CD4(+) T cells, and promoting G2 phase of its cell cycle. Western blotting analysis showed that C6ORF120 recombinant protein increased the expression of GRp78 and GADD in Jurkat cells in vitro. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that C6ORF120 could induce apoptosis of CD4(+) T cells, at least in part, mediated with endoplasmic reticulum stress.

[Study on pharmacokinetics of emodin in Rhizoma Polygontum Cuspidatum and its compound].

OBJECTIVE: To study the difference in the pharmacokinetics of emodin in Zhiganning capsules and Rhizoma Polygontum Cuspidatum by nonaqueous RP-HPLC. METHOD: The rats were orally administered with the extraction of Rhizoma Polygontum Cuspidatum and Zhiganning capsules. After hydrolysis and extraction, the content of emodin in the plasma is determined by Nonaqueous RP-HPLC. RESULT: The concentration-time profiles of emodin fit two-compartment model. The pharmacokinetics parameters including, t1/2alpha, AUC(0-infinity), CL(s) and C(max) of emodin in the group of Rhizoma Polygontum Cuspidatum were significantly different from these in the group of its compounds. CONCLUSION: There is a significant difference in pharmacokinetics of emodin between zhiganning capsules and the extraction of Rhizoma Polygontum Cuspidatum.