Comparative effectiveness and safety of four traditional Chinese medicine injections with invigorating blood circulation, equivalent effect of anticoagulation or antiplatelet in acute myocardial infarction: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine injections with invigorating blood circulation (TCMI-IBCs), which have been used as antithrombosis therapies, are widely employed by Chinese clinicians as adjuvant therapy for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Objective: A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted to contrast the effectiveness and safety of four TCMI-IBCs in AMI. Methods: Eight Databases were thoroughly searched before 31 December 2023, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on the application of TCMI-IBCs combined with conventional treatments (CT) to treat AMI. All-cause mortality (ACM) was the major endpoint. Secondary outcomes included bleeding events, malignant arrhythmia (MA), recurrent myocardial infarction (RMI), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and adverse events. Stata17.0 and GeMTC software were employed for Bayesian network meta-analysis. Results: A total of 73 eligible RCTs involving 7,504 patients were enrolled. Puerarin injection (PI), Danhong injection (DI), sodium Tanshinone IIA Sulfonate injection (STSI), and Danshen Chuanxiongqin injection (DCI) combined with CT can significantly reduce the occurrence of ACM and improve LVEF in AMI (P < 0.05), while without significant impact on bleeding events or MA (P > 0.05). STSI + CT would be the optimal treatment strategy in lowering RMI and ACM. DI + CT was the most likely to be the optimal strategy in reducing MA occurrence and improving LVEF. CT was likely the most effective strategy in reducing bleeding events. However, DI + CT exhibited the least favorable safety. Conclusion: TCMI-IBCs + CT had potential benefits in the treatment of AMI. STSI + CT showed the most favorable performance in treating AMI, followed by DI combined with CT. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=384067, identifier CRD42022384067.

Dehydroabietylamine exerts antitumor effects by affecting nucleotide metabolism in gastric cancer.

Nucleotide metabolism is the ultimate and most critical link in the self-replication process of tumors, including gastric cancer (GC). However, in clinical treatment, classic anti-tumor drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) are mostly metabolic analogues of purines or pyrimidines, which lack specificity for tumor cells and therefore have significant side effects. It is unclear whether there are other drugs that can target nucleotide metabolism, except for nucleic acid analogues. Here, we found that a natural compound, dehydroabietylamine (DHAA), significantly reduced the viability and proliferation of GC cells and organoids. DHAA disrupts purine and pyrimidine metabolism of GC cells, causing DNA damage and further inducing apoptosis. DHAA treatment decreased transcription and protein levels of key enzymes involved in nucleotide metabolism pathway, with significant reductions in the expression of pyrimidine metabolism key enzymes CAD, DHODH, and purine metabolism key enzymes PAICS. We also found that DHAA directly binds to and reduces the expression of Forkhead box K2 (FOXK2), a common transcription factor for these metabolic enzymes. Ultimately, DHAA was shown to delay tumorigenesis in K19-Wnt1/C2mE transgenic mice model and reduce levels of CAD, DHODH, and PAICS in vivo. We demonstrate that DHAA exerts an anticancer effect on GC by targeting transcription factor FOXK2, reducing transcription of key genes for nucleotide metabolism and impairing nucleotide biosynthesis, thus DHAA is a promising candidate for GC therapy.

Cocconeiscrisscrossis sp. nov., a new monoraphid diatom (Bacillariophyta) from southern China.

A novel monoraphid diatom species, Cocconeiscrisscrossis You, Yu, Kociolek & Wang, sp. nov. is examined and described from the Qingyi River and Maolan Nature Reserve of southern China. The morphological description is based on light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy observations and the new species is compared with similar taxa in this genus. The characteristics unique to Cocconeiscrisscrossissp. nov. include its central area extending irregularly to both sides, it having closed valvocopulae with heavily silicified fimbriate margins and poles of the valvocopulae have 'sword-shaped' siliceous extensions. These features differentiate this new species from others in the genus. This new species was found in alkaline waterbodies, including streams, waterfall and ponds. It was usually found as an epiphyte on the stones; however, it was present on other substrates such as mosses.

Traditional chinese medicine injections with activating blood circulation, equivalent effect of anticoagulation or antiplatelet, for acute myocardial infarction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine injection for Activating Blood Circulation (TCMi-ABC), which exhibits comparable anticoagulant and antiplatelet effects, is commonly used as an adjuvant treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in China. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of TCMi-ABC in combination with conventional western medicine in reducing mortality associated with AMI. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, CBM, WanFang Data, and CNKI databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the use of TCMi-ABC (including Danhong injection, sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate injection, salvia miltiorrhiza ligupyrazine injection, and puerarin injection) for the treatment of AMI were included. The search included studies published from the inception of the databases up to December 2022. Two authors independently screened RCTs, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 17.0. The quality of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE approach. RESULTS: A total of 52 RCTs involving 5363 patients were included in the analysis, none of which described independent testing of the purity or potency of the TCMi-ABC product used. 19/52 reported random sequence generation. All RCTs lack adequate description of allocation concealment. 51/52 failed to assess blinding. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that the combined application of TCMi-ABC, compared with conventional western medicine treatment alone, significantly reduced in-hospital mortality in AMI patients [RR= 0.41, 95% CI (0.29, 0.59), P < 0.05], decreased the incidence of malignant arrhythmia [RR= 0.40, 95% CI (0.26, 0.61), P < 0.05], and increased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) [MD= 5.53, 95% CI (3.81, 7.26), P < 0.05]. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups (P > 0.05). The GRADE evidence quality classification indicated that the evidence for in-hospital mortality, malignant arrhythmia, and adverse events was of moderate quality, while the evidence for LVEF was of low quality. CONCLUSION: TCMi-ABC demonstrates additional clinical value in reducing mortality and the risk of malignant arrhythmia in patients with AMI. However, further validation of these findings is warranted through high-quality clinical trials due to methodological weaknesses in randomization, blinding, allocation concealment, and insufficient assessing for the purity/potency of herbs and the gram amount of active constituents. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: [INPLASY], identifier [INPLASY202170082].

Molecular module GmPTF1a/b-GmNPLa regulates rhizobia infection and nodule formation in soybean.

Nodulation begins with the initiation of infection threads (ITs) in root hairs. Though mutual recognition and early symbiotic signaling cascades in legumes are well understood, molecular mechanisms underlying bacterial infection processes and successive nodule organogenesis remain largely unexplored. We functionally investigated a novel pectate lyase enzyme, GmNPLa, and its transcriptional regulator GmPTF1a/b in soybean (Glycine max), where their regulatory roles in IT development and nodule formation were elucidated through investigation of gene expression patterns, bioinformatics analysis, biochemical verification of genetic interactions, and observation of phenotypic impacts in transgenic soybean plants. GmNPLa was specifically induced by rhizobium inoculation in root hairs. Manipulation of GmNPLa produced remarkable effects on IT and nodule formation. GmPTF1a/b displayed similar expression patterns as GmNPLa, and manipulation of GmPTF1a/b also severely influenced nodulation traits. LI soybeans with low nodulation phenotypes were nearly restored to HI nodulation level by complementation of GmNPLa and/or GmPTF1a. Further genetic and biochemical analysis demonstrated that GmPTF1a can bind to the E-box motif to activate transcription of GmNPLa, and thereby facilitate nodulation. Taken together, our findings potentially reveal novel mediation of cell wall gene expression involving the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor GmPTF1a/b acts as a key early regulator of nodulation in soybean.

Chemical Structure Diversity and Extensive Biological Functions of Specialized Metabolites in Rice.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is thought to have been domesticated many times independently in China and India, and many modern cultivars are available. All rice tissues are rich in specialized metabolites (SPMs). To date, a total of 181 terpenoids, 199 phenolics, 41 alkaloids, and 26 other types of compounds have been detected in rice. Some volatile sesquiterpenoids released by rice are known to attract the natural enemies of rice herbivores, and play an indirect role in defense. Momilactone, phytocassane, and oryzalic acid are the most common diterpenoids found in rice, and are found at all growth stages. Indolamides, including serotonin, tryptamine, and N-benzoylserotonin, are the main rice alkaloids. The SPMs mainly exhibit defense functions with direct roles in resisting herbivory and pathogenic infections. In addition, phenolics are also important in indirect defense, and enhance wax deposition in leaves and promote the lignification of stems. Meanwhile, rice SPMs also have allelopathic effects and are crucial in the regulation of the relationships between different plants or between plants and microorganisms. In this study, we reviewed the various structures and functions of rice SPMs. This paper will provide useful information and methodological resources to inform the improvement of rice resistance and the promotion of the rice industry.

Unique Electron-Transfer-Mediated Electrochemiluminescence of AuPt Bimetallic Nanoclusters and the Application in Cancer Immunoassay.

Noble Metal nanoclusters (NCs) are promising electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitters due to their amazing optical properties and excellent biocompatibility. They have been widely used in the detection of ions, pollutant molecules, biomolecules, etc. Herein, we found that glutathione-capped AuPt bimetallic NCs (GSH-AuPt NCs) emitted strong anodic ECL signals with triethylamine as co-reactants which had no fluorescence (FL) response. Due to the synergistic effect of bimetallic structures, the ECL signals of AuPt NCs were 6.8 and 94 times higher than those of monometallic Au and Pt NCs, respectively. The electric and optical properties of GSH-AuPt NCs differed from those of Au and Pt NCs completely. An electron-transfer mediated ECL mechanism was proposed. The excited electrons may be neutralized by Pt(II) in GSH-Pt and GSH-AuPt NCs, resulting in the vanished FL. Furthermore, abundant TEA radicals formed on the anode contributed electrons to the highest unoccupied molecular orbital of GSH-Au2.5Pt NCs and Pt(II), booming intense ECL signals. Because of the ligand effect and ensemble effect, bimetallic AuPt NCs exhibited much stronger ECL than GSH-Au NCs. A sandwich-type immunoassay for alpha fetoprotein (AFP) cancer biomarkers was fabricated with GSH-AuPt NCs as signal tags, which displayed a wide linear range from 0.01 to 1000 ng·mL-1 and a limit of detection (LOD) down to 1.0 pg·mL-1 at 3S/N. Compared to previous ECL AFP immunoassays, this method not only had a wider linear range but also a lower LOD. The recoveries of AFP in human serum were around 108%, providing a wonderful strategy for fast, sensitive, and accurate cancer diagnosis.

Te-induced fabrication of Pt3PdTe0.2 alloy nanocages by the self-diffusion of Pd atoms with unique MOR electrocatalytic performance.

The key to the application of direct methanol fuel cells is to improve the activity and durability of Pt-based catalysts. Based on the upshift of the d-band centre and exposure to more Pt active sites, Pt3PdTe0.2 catalysts with significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) were designed in this study. A series of different Pt3PdTex (x = 0.2, 0.35, and 0.4) alloy nanocages with hollow and hierarchical structures were synthesized using cubic Pd nanoparticles as sacrificial templates and PtCl62- and TeO32- metal precursors as oxidative etching agents. The Pd nanocubes were oxidized into an ionic complex, which was further co-reduced with Pt and Te precursors by reducing agents to form the hollow Pt3PdTex alloy nanocages with a face-centred cubic lattice. The sizes of the nanocages were around 30-40 nm, which were larger than the Pd templates (18 nm) and the thicknesses of the walls were 7-9 nm. The Pt3PdTe0.2 alloy nanocages exhibited the highest catalytic activities and stabilities toward the MOR after electrochemical activation in sulfuric acid solution. CO-stripping tests suggested the enhanced CO-tolerant ability due to the doping of Te. The specific activity of Pt3PdTe0.2 for the MOR reached 2.71 mA cm-2 in acidic conditions, which was higher than those of Pd@Pt core-shell and PtPd1.5 alloy nanoparticles and commercial Pt/C. A DMFC with Pt3PdTe0.2 as the anodic catalyst output a higher power density by 2.6 times than that of commercial Pt/C, demonstrating its practicable application in clean energy conversions. Density functional theory (DFT) confirmed that the alloyed Te atoms altered the electron distributions of Pt3PdTe0.2, which could lower the Gibbs free energy of the rate-determining methanol dehydrogenation step and greatly improve the MOR catalytic activity and durability.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals the function of SlPRE2 in multiple phytohormones biosynthesis, signal transduction and stomatal development in tomato.

KEY MESSAGE: Transcriptomic, physiological, and qRT-PCR analysis revealed the potential mechanism by which SlPRE2 regulates plant growth and stomatal size via multiple phytohormone pathways in tomato. Paclobutrazol resistance proteins (PREs) are atypical members of the basic/helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family that regulate plant morphology, cell size, pigment metabolism and abiotic stress in response to different phytohormones. However, little is known about the network regulatory mechanisms of PREs in plant growth and development in tomato. In this study, the function and mechanism of SlPRE2 in tomato plant growth and development were investigated. The quantitative RT-PCR results showed that the expression of SlPRE2 was regulated by multiple phytohormones and abiotic stresses. It showed light-repressed expression during the photoperiod. The RNA-seq results revealed that SlPRE2 regulated many genes involved in photosynthesis, chlorophyll metabolism, phytohormone metabolism and signaling, and carbohydrate metabolism, suggesting the role of SlPRE2 in gibberellin, brassinosteroid, auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid and salicylic acid regulated plant development processes. Moreover, SlPRE2 overexpression plants showed widely opened stomata in young leaves, and four genes involved in stomatal development showed altered expression. Overall, the results demonstrated the mechanism by which SlPRE2 regulates phytohormone and stress responses and revealed the function of SlPRE2 in stomatal development in tomato. These findings provide useful clues for understanding the molecular mechanisms of SlPRE2-regulated plant growth and development in tomato.

Structurally diverse specialized metabolites of maize and their extensive biological functions.

Maize originated in southern Mexico and various hybrid varieties have been bred during domestication. All maize tissues are rich in specialized plant metabolites (SPMs), which allow the plants to resist the stresses of herbivores and pathogens or environmental factors. To date, a total of 95 terpenoids, 91 phenolics, 31 alkaloids, and 6 other types of compounds have been identified from maize. Certain volatile sesquiterpenes released by maize plants attract the natural enemies of maize herbivores and provide an indirect defensive function. Kauralexins and dolabralexins are the most abundant diterpenoids in maize and are known to regulate and stabilize the maize rhizosphere microbial community. Benzoxazinoids and benzoxazolinones are the main alkaloids in maize and are found in maize plants at the highest concentrations at the seedling stage. These two kinds of alkaloids directly resist herbivory and pathogenic infection. Phenolics enhance the cross-links between maize cell walls. Meanwhile, SPMs also regulate plant-plant relationships. In conclusion, SPMs in maize show a large diversity of chemical structures and broad-spectrum biological activities. We use these to provide ideas and information to enable the improvement of maize resistances through breeding and to promote the rapid development of the maize industry.

Metagenomic sequencing combined with flow cytometry facilitated a novel microbial risk assessment framework for bacterial pathogens in municipal wastewater without cultivation.

A workflow that combined metagenomic sequencing with flow cytometry was developed. The absolute abundance of pathogens was accurately estimated in mock communities and real samples. Metagenome-assembled genomes binned from metagenomic data set is robust in phylogenetic analysis and virulence profiling.

Metabolomic Profiling in Combination with Data Association Analysis Provide Insights about Potential Metabolic Regulation Networks among Non-Volatile and Volatile Metabolites in Camellia sinensis cv Baijiguan.

The non-volatile and volatile metabolites in tea confer the taste and odor characteristics of tea fusion, as well as shape the chemical base for tea quality. To date, it remains largely elusive whether there are metabolic crosstalks among non-volatile metabolites and volatile metabolites in the tea tree. Here, we generated an F1 half-sib population by using an albino cultivar of Camellia sinensis cv Baijiguan as the maternal parent, and then we quantified the non-volatile metabolites and volatile metabolites from individual half-sibs. We found that the EGC and EGCG contents of the albino half-sibs were significantly lower than those of the green half-sibs, while no significant differences were observed in total amino acids, caffeine, and other catechin types between these two groups. The phenylpropanoid pathway and the MEP pathway are the dominant routes for volatile synthesis in fresh tea leaves, followed by the MVA pathway and the fatty acid-derivative pathway. The total volatile contents derived from individual pathways showed large variations among half-sibs, there were no significant differences between the albino half-sibs and the green half-sibs. We performed a comprehensive correlation analysis, including correlations among non-volatile metabolites, between volatile synthesis pathways and non-volatile metabolites, and among the volatiles derived from same synthesis pathway, and we identified several significant positive or negative correlations. Our data suggest that the synthesis of non-volatile and volatile metabolites is potentially connected through shared intermediates; feedback inhibition, activation, or competition for common intermediates among branched pathways may co-exist; and cross-pathway activation or inhibition, as well as metabolome channeling, were also implicated. These multiple metabolic regulation modes could provide metabolic plasticity to direct carbon flux and lead to diverse metabolome among Baijiguan half-sibs. This study provides an essential knowledge base for rational tea germplasm improvements.

Photosynthetic carbon and nitrogen metabolism of Camellia oleifera Abel during acclimation to low light conditions.

Tea-oil tree (Camellia oleifera Abel) is an important woody oil crop with high economic value. However, it has low photosynthetic production considering the low light intensity of its growth environment. To understand the acclimation mechanism of tea-oil trees to low light conditions, three light intensity treatments were conducted: high light (450-500 µmol. m-2. s-1), medium light (180-200 µmol. m-2. s-1), and low light (45-50 µmol. m-2. s-1). The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolism network were constructed by investigating the leaf anatomy, photosynthetic characteristics, N partitioning, transcriptome and metabolome. Results demonstrated that a larger proportion light energy was used for photochemical reactions in an environment with lower light intensity, which resulted in an increase in photosystem II photochemical efficiency and instantaneous light use efficiency (LUE) at the leaf level. As the light intensity increased, decreased electron transfer and carboxylation efficiencies, photorespiration and dark respiration rates, LUE at plant level, and N use efficiency (PNUE) were observed. Leaves trended to harvest more light using higher expression levels of light-harvesting protein genes, higher chlorophyll content, more granum and more tightly stacked granum lamella under lower light intensity. At transcriptional and metabolic levels, the TCA cycle, and the synthesis of starch and saccharides were weakened as light intensity decreased, while the Calvin cycle did not show the regularity between different treatments. Less N was distributed in Rubisco, respiration, and cell wall proteins as light decreased. Storage N was prominently accumulated in forms of amino acids (especially L-arginine) and amino acid derivatives as under medium and low light environments, to make up for C deficiency. Therefore, tea-oil trees actively improve light-harvesting capacity and enlarges the storage N pool to adapt to a low light environment, at the cost of a decrease of photosynthetic C assimilation and PNUE.

Negative Interactions Balance Growth and Defense in Plants Confronted with Herbivores or Pathogens.

Plants have evolved a series of defensive mechanisms against pathogens and herbivores, but the defense response always leads to decreases in growth or reproduction, which has serious implications for agricultural production. Growth and defense are negatively regulated not only through metabolic consumption but also through the antagonism of different phytohormones, such as jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA). Meanwhile, plants can limit the expression of defensive metabolites to reduce the costs of defense by producing constitutive defenses such as glandular trichomes or latex and accumulating specific metabolites, determining the activation of plant defense or the maintenance of plant growth. Interestingly, plant defense pathways might be prepared in advance which may be transmitted to descendants. Plants can also use external organisms to protect themselves, thus minimizing the costs of defense. In addition, plant relatives exhibit cooperation to deal with pathogens and herbivores, which is also a way to regulate growth and defense.

Shoot-to-root translocated GmNN1/FT2a triggers nodulation and regulates soybean nitrogen nutrition.

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) provides sufficient nitrogen (N) to meet most legume nutrition demands. In return, host plants feed symbionts carbohydrates produced in shoots. However, the molecular dialogue between shoots and symbionts remains largely mysterious. Here, we report the map-based cloning and characterization of a natural variation in GmNN1, the ortholog of Arabidopsis thaliana FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT2a) that simultaneously triggers nodulation in soybean and modulates leaf N nutrition. A 43-bp insertion in the promoter region of GmNN1/FT2a significantly decreased its transcription level and yielded N deficiency phenotypes. Manipulating GmNN1/GmFT2a significantly enhanced soybean nodulation, plant growth, and N nutrition. The near-isogenic lines (NILs) carrying low mRNA abundance alleles of GmNN1/FT2a, along with stable transgenic soybeans with CRISPR/Cas9 knockouts of GmNN1/FT2a, had yellower leaves, lower N concentrations, and fewer nodules than wild-type control plants. Grafting together with split-root experiments demonstrated that only shoot GmNN1/FT2a was responsible for regulating nodulation and thereby N nutrition through shoot-to-root translocation, and this process depends on rhizobial infection. After translocating into roots, shoot-derived GmNN1/FT2a was found to interact with GmNFYA-C (nuclear factor-Y subunit A-C) to activate symbiotic signaling through the previously reported GmNFYA-C-ENOD40 module. In short, the description of the critical soybean nodulation regulatory pathway outlined herein sheds novel insights into the shoot-to-root signaling required for communications between host plants and root nodulating symbionts.

Traditional Chinese medicine injections with activating blood circulation, equivalent effect of anticoagulation or antiplatelet, for acute myocardial infarction: A protocol for the systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: In spite of a growing number in the use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in China, the mortality of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not decreased. Traditional Chinese medicine injections for Activating Blood Circulation (TCMi-ABC), equivalent effect of anticoagulation or antiplatelet, are widely used in China; however, the improvement of fatality towards AMI is unclear. Therefore, we intend to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCMi-ABC in treatment with AMI. METHODS: Based on the "National Medical Products Administration of China," TCMi-ABC with AMI treatment indication will be selected, including Danhong injection, Sodium Tanshinone IIA Sulfonate injection, Danshen Chuanxiongqin injection, and Puerarin injection. Randomized controlled studies will be searched from as follows: PubMed, Embase, the CENTRAL in Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform. Two researchers will work independently on literature selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. The outcomes focus on the effects of TCMi-ABC on fatality of patients with AMI in hospitalization and in the long term, the incidence of malignant arrhythmia, left ventricular ejection fraction, and adverse events. RevMan 5.4.1 software was used for mate analysis. RESULTS: This study will conduct a comprehensive literature search and provide a systematic synthesis of current published data to explore the efficacy and safety of TCMi-ABC for AMI. CONCLUSION: This study will provide high-quality evidence for treatment of AMI with TCMi-ABC in terms of efficacy and safety, which may help clinicians make a better complementary treatment schedule of patients with AMI.

MicroSugar: A database of comprehensive miRNA target prediction framework for sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.).

microRNA (miRNA) is a group of small non-coding RNA that plays important role in post-transcription of gene expression. With the studies about miRNA increase in sugarcane, the researchers lack an exhaustive resource to achieve the data. To fill this gap, we developed MicroSugar, a database that supported mRNA and miRNA annotation for sugarcane (http://suc.gene-db.com). MicroSugar is an integrated resource developed for 194,528 genes including 80,746 unigenes from long reads of Pacbio platform and 468 miRNAs from 72 samples. Internode elongation (jointing) is the key biological characteristic for the growth of sugarcane tillers into sugarcane stems. The present study combined the sequencing data from the different stages in internode elongation of stem and tiller. In total, the 14,300 3' untranslated region (UTR) sequences were extracted from the gene sequences and 3019 mRNAs as target of 327 miRNA were identified by miRanda algorithm and Spearman's Rho of expression levels. To determine the gene functions regulated by these miRNAs, the gene ontology enrichment analysis was performed and it confirmed that the over-represented Gene Ontology (GO) terms were associated with organism formation indicating the growth controlling function by miRNAs in sugarcane. Moreover, MicroSugar is a comprehensive and integrated database with a user-friendly responsive template. By browsing, searching and downloading of the nucleotide sequences, expression and miRNA targets, the user can retrieve information promptly. The database provides a valuable resource to facilitate the understanding of miRNA in sugarcane development and growth which will contribute to the study of sugarcane and other plants.

Transcriptome and metabolome analyses reveal new insights into chlorophyll, photosynthesis, metal ion and phenylpropanoids related pathways during sugarcane ratoon chlorosis.

BACKGROUND: Ratoon sugarcane is susceptible to chlorosis, characterized by chlorophyll loss, poor growth, and a multitude of nutritional deficiency mainly occurring at young stage. Chlorosis would significantly reduce the cane production. The molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains unknown. We analyzed the transcriptome and metabolome of chlorotic and non-chlorotic sugarcane leaves of the same age from the same field to gain molecular insights into this phenomenon. RESULTS: The agronomic traits, such as plant height and the number of leaf, stalk node, and tillers declined in chlorotic sugarcane. Chlorotic leaves had substantially lower chlorophyll content than green leaves. A total of 11,776 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were discovered in transcriptome analysis. In the KEGG enriched chlorophyll metabolism pathway, sixteen DEGs were found, eleven of which were down-regulated. Two photosynthesis pathways were also enriched with 32 genes downregulated and four genes up-regulated. Among the 81 enriched GO biological processes, there were four categories related to metal ion homeostasis and three related to metal ion transport. Approximately 400 metabolites were identified in metabolome analysis. The thirteen differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were all found down-regulated. The phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway was enriched in DEGs and DEMs, indicating a potentially vital role for phenylpropanoids in chlorosis. CONCLUSIONS: Chlorophyll production, metal ion metabolism, photosynthesis, and some metabolites in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway were considerably altered in chlorotic ratoon sugarcane leaves. Our finding revealed the relation between chlorosis and these pathways, which will help expand our mechanistic understanding of ratoon sugarcane chlorosis.

The Impact of Job Burnout on Employees' Safety Behavior Against the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract.

Employee safety behavior is critical for occupational health in work environments threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the widespread and increasingly serious job burnout of employees is a complex and difficult problem for enterprises to handle during any epidemic. Therefore, it is helpful to identify and discuss job burnout and other main psychological factors that affect safety behavior to find appropriate solutions. Using the PLS-SEM method, the study explored the relationship between job burnout and safety behavior against the epidemic, as well as the mediating role of psychological contract. According to the local guidelines for controlling COVID-19, this study revised the safety behavior scale. Data were collected by structured questionnaires in May to July 2020 from Chinese employees (N = 353) who resumed their work after the outbreak of the pandemic. The findings confirmed that job burnout has a negative impact on safety behavior, and psychological contract play a partial mediating role in mitigating the negative impact. Specifically, the transaction dimension and relationship dimension of psychological contract negatively affected safety behavior while the development dimension of the psychological contract was not directly related to safety behavior. It is suggested that enterprises should take effective measures to reduce employees' job burnout and implement flexible psychological contract management and intervention, so as to effectively improve the performance of work safety behavior. Based on the multidimensional model, the findings of this study shed light on promoting safety behavior to prevent the spread of epidemics.