Insights into Adaptive Regulation of the Leaf-Petiole System: Strategies for Survival of Water Lily Plants under Salt Stress.

The water lily (Nymphaea tetragona) is an ancient angiosperm that belongs to the Nymphaeaceae family. As a rooted floating-leaf plant, water lilies are generally cultivated in fresh water, therefore, little is known about their survival strategies under salt stress. Long-term salt stress causes morphological changes, such as the rapid regeneration of floating leaves and a significant decrease in leaf number and surface area. We demonstrate that salt stress induces toxicity soon after treatment, but plants can adapt by regenerating floating leaves that are photosynthetically active. Transcriptome profiling revealed that ion binding was one of the most-enriched GO terms in leaf-petiole systems under salt stress. Sodium-transporter-related genes were downregulated, whereas K+ transporter genes were both up- and downregulated. These results suggest that restricting intracellular Na+ importing while maintaining balanced K+ homeostasis is an adaptive strategy for tolerating long-term salt stress. ICP-MS analysis identified the petioles and leaves as Na-hyperaccumulators, with a maximum content of over 80 g kg-1 DW under salt stress. Mapping of the Na-hyperaccumulation trait onto the phylogenetic relationships revealed that water lily plants might have a long evolutionary history from ancient marine plants, or may have undergone historical ecological events from salt to fresh water. Ammonium transporter genes involved in nitrogen metabolism were downregulated, whereas NO3--related transporters were upregulated in both the leaves and petioles, suggesting a selective bias toward NO3- uptake under salt stress. The morphological changes we observed may be due to the reduced expression of genes related to auxin signal transduction. In conclusion, the floating leaves and submerged petioles of the water lily use a series of adaptive strategies to survive salt stress. These include the absorption and transport of ions and nutrients from the surrounding environments, and the ability to hyperaccumulate Na+. These adaptations may serve as the physiological basis for salt tolerance in water lily plants.

BRCA2 mutations in familial breast cancer with prostate cancer: a case report and literature review.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common tumor in men globally. Its etiology has been attributed to multiple factors, including age and ethnicity, with family history identified as a significant risk factor. The role of family history in prostate cancer risk appears to be more extensive than previously thought, with evidence suggesting that prostate cancer and breast cancer may occur concurrently within families. BRCA2 mutations have been linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, particularly in patients diagnosed with early-onset disease. It is estimated that BRCA2 mutations account for approximately 5% of familial prostate cancer cases. It is noteworthy that cases of prostate cancer in patients with BRCA2 mutations are rare in clinical practice. Here we report a case of prostatitis carcinoma with a mutation in the BRCA2 gene in a patient who underwent robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy for prostatitis carcinoma after medication was not effective. Genetic testing of him, his son, and his daughter showed that they all had mutations in this gene, and it is noteworthy that the type of BRCA2 mutation in his son has never been reported before, which is rare in clinical practice.

Linking ecological niches to bacterial community structure and assembly in polluted urban aquatic ecosystems.

Introduction: Bacterial communities play crucial roles in the functioning and resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and their responses to water pollution may be assessed from ecological niches. However, our understanding of such response patterns and the underlying ecological mechanisms remains limited. Methods: In this study, we comprehensively investigated the effects of water pollution on the bacterial structure and assembly within different ecological niches, including water, sediment, submerged plant leaf surfaces, and leaf surfaces, using a 16S high-throughput sequencing approach. Results: Ecological niches had a greater impact on bacterial community diversity than pollution, with a distinct enrichment of unique dominant phyla in different niches. This disparity in diversity extends to the bacterial responses to water pollution, with a general reduction in α-diversity observed in the niches, excluding leaf surfaces. Additionally, the distinct changes in bacterial composition in response to pollution should be correlated with their predicted functions, given the enrichment of functions related to biogeochemical cycling in plant surface niches. Moreover, our study revealed diverse interaction patterns among bacterial communities in different niches, characterized by relatively simply associations in sediments and intricate or interconnected networks in water and plant surfaces. Furthermore, stochastic processes dominated bacterial community assembly in the water column, whereas selective screening of roots and pollution events increased the impact of deterministic processes. Discussion: Overall, our study emphasizes the importance of ecological niches in shaping bacterial responses to water pollution. These findings improve our understanding of the complicated microbial response patterns to water pollution and have ecological implications for aquatic ecosystem health.