Genome-wide identification, evolution, and role of SPL gene family in beet (Beta vulgaris L.) under cold stress.

BACKGROUND: SPL transcription factors play vital roles in regulating plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), one of the world's main sugar-producing crops, is a major source of edible and industrial sugars for humans. Although the SPL gene family has been extensively identified in other species, no reports on the SPL gene family in sugar beet are available. RESULTS: Eight BvSPL genes were identified at the whole-genome level and were renamed based on their positions on the chromosome. The gene structure, SBP domain sequences, and phylogenetic relationship with Arabidopsis were analyzed for the sugar beet SPL gene family. The eight BvSPL genes were divided into six groups (II, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII). Of the BvSPL genes, no tandem duplication events were found, but one pair of segmental duplications was present. Multiple cis-regulatory elements related to growth and development were identified in the 2000-bp region upstream of the BvSPL gene start codon (ATG). Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), the expression profiles of the eight BvSPL genes were examined under eight types of abiotic stress and during the maturation stage. BvSPL transcription factors played a vital role in abiotic stress, with BvSPL3 and BvSPL6 being particularly noteworthy. CONCLUSION: Eight sugar beet SPL genes were identified at the whole-genome level. Phylogenetic trees, gene structures, gene duplication events, and expression profiles were investigated. The qRT-PCR analysis indicated that BvSPLs play a substantial role in the growth and development of sugar beet, potentially participating in the regulation of root expansion and sugar accumulation.

Computational Screening of Promising Deep-Ultraviolet Light Emitters.

Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light sources are technologically highly important, but DUV light-emitting materials are extremely rare; AlN and its alloys are the only materials known so far, significantly limiting the chemical and structural spaces for materials design. Here, we perform a high-throughput computational search for DUV light emitters based on a set of carefully designed screening criteria relating to the sophisticated electronic structure. In this way, we successfully identify 5 promising material candidates that exhibit comparable or higher radiative recombination coefficients than AlN, including BeGeN2, Mg3NF3, KCaBr3, KHS, and RbHS. Further, we unveil the unique features in the atomic and electronic structures of DUV light emitters and elucidate the fundamental genetic reasons why DUV light emitters are extremely rare. Our study not only guides the design and synthesis of efficient DUV light emitters but also establishes the genetic nature of ultrawide-band-gap semiconductors in general.

Genome-wide identification, structural characterization and gene expression analysis of the WRKY transcription factor family in pea (Pisum sativum L.).

BACKGROUND: The WRKY gene family is one of the largest families of transcription factors in higher plants, and WRKY transcription factors play important roles in plant growth and development as well as in response to abiotic stresses; however, the WRKY gene family in pea has not been systematically reported. RESULTS: In this study, 89 pea WRKY genes were identified and named according to the random distribution of PsWRKY genes on seven chromosomes. The gene family was found to have nine pairs of tandem duplicates and 19 pairs of segment duplicates. Phylogenetic analyses of the PsWRKY and 60 Arabidopsis WRKY proteins were performed to determine their homology, and the PsWRKYs were classified into seven subfamilies. Analysis of the physicochemical properties, motif composition, and gene structure of pea WRKYs revealed significant differences in the physicochemical properties within the PsWRKY family; however, their gene structure and protein-conserved motifs were highly conserved among the subfamilies. To further investigate the evolutionary relationships of the PsWRKY family, we constructed comparative syntenic maps of pea with representative monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants and found that it was most recently homologous to the dicotyledonous WRKY gene families. Cis-acting element analysis of PsWRKY genes revealed that this gene family can respond to hormones, such as abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin (GA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and salicylic acid (SA). Further analysis of the expression of 14 PsWRKY genes from different subfamilies in different tissues and fruit developmental stages, as well as under five different hormone treatments, revealed differences in their expression patterns in the different tissues and fruit developmental stages, as well as under hormone treatments, suggesting that PsWRKY genes may have different physiological functions and respond to hormones. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we systematically identified WRKY genes in pea for the first time and further investigated their physicochemical properties, evolution, and expression patterns, providing a theoretical basis for future studies on the functional characterization of pea WRKY genes during plant growth and development.

Accuracy improvement of two-dimensional shape reconstruction based on OFDR using first-order differential local filtering.

The accuracy of two-dimensional (2D) shape reconstruction is highly susceptible to fake peaks in the strain distribution measured by optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). In this paper, a post-processing method using first-order differential local filtering is proposed to suppress fake peaks and further improve the accuracy of shape reconstruction. By analyzing the principles of 2D shape reconstruction, an explanation of how fake peaks lead to shape reconstruction errors is provided, along with the introduction of an error evaluation standard. The principle of first-order differential local filtering is presented, and its feasibility is verified by simulation. An OFDR 2D shape reconstruction system is built, with three groups of 2D shape reconstruction experiments carried out, including up bending, down bending and arch bending. The experimental results show that the end errors of the three groups of shape reconstruction are respectively reduced from 2.33%, 2.97%, and 1.07% to 0.25%, 0.78%, and 0.20%, at the shape reconstruction length of 0.5 m. The research demonstrates that the accuracy of OFDR 2D shape reconstruction can be improved by using first-order differential local filtering.

Time-domain slicing optical frequency domain reflectometry.

A time-domain slicing (TDS) optical frequency domain reflectometry is proposed for large strain sensing with better spatial resolution. Compared with the conventional frequency domain slicing (FDS) method, the TDS with a Burg spectrum estimation is capable of enhancing the similarity of a local spectrum under large strain and mostly suppressing the fake peaks during the strain resolving. The experimental results demonstrated that it enables measurements of strain ranging from 600 to 4200 µÎµ with a spatial resolution of 2.4 mm and a narrow optical frequency scanning range of only 10 nm. Moreover, the measurement accuracy is improved by six times by decreasing the root mean square error (RMSE) from 8.6611 to 1.3396 µÎµ without any hardware modification.

Chromosome-level genome assembly and population genomic analysis provide novel insights into the immunity and evolution of Sogatella furcifera.

Sogatella furcifera is a destructive agricultural pest causing large threats to rice production in China and Southeast Asian countries. Despite recent breakthroughs in long-read sequencing, high quality genomic data are very limited in S. furcifera. In present study, a chromosome-level assembly of the S. furcifera genome was completed (0.64 GB), comprising 15 chromosomes covered 95.04% of the estimated genome size, along with other 624 small scaffolds making up the remaining 4.96% of the genome of S. furcifera. A total of 24,669 protein-coding genes, 1211 long noncoding RNA and 7595 circular RNA transcripts were predicted in this study. Comparative genomic analysis revealed rapidly evolved genes were associated with multiple immune-related pathways in S. furcifera. Genome resequencing of 44 individuals from 12 geographic populations revealed frequent gene flow among populations. The systemic genomic analysis will provide more insights into the understanding of the immunity and evolutionary adaptation of S. furcifera.

A Novel Heptasegmented Positive-Sense Single-Stranded RNA Virus from the Phytopathogenic Fungus Colletotrichum fructicola.

In this study, a novel positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) mycovirus, tentatively named Colletotrichum fructicola RNA virus 1 (CfRV1), was identified in the phytopathogenic fungus Colletotrichum fructicola. CfRV1 has seven genomic components, encoding seven proteins from open reading frames (ORFs) flanked by highly conserved untranslated regions (UTRs). Proteins encoded by ORFs 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are more similar to the putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), hypothetical protein (P2), methyltransferase, and two hypothetical proteins of Hadaka virus 1 (HadV1), a capsidless 10- or 11-segmented +ssRNA virus, while proteins encoded by ORFs 4 and 7 showed no detectable similarity to any known proteins. Notably, proteins encoded by ORFs 1 to 3 also share considerably high similarity with the corresponding proteins of polymycoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis conducted based on the amino acid sequence of CfRV1 RdRp and related viruses placed CfRV1 and HadV1 together in the same clade, close to polymycoviruses and astroviruses. CfRV1-infected C. fructicola strains demonstrate a moderately attenuated growth rate and virulence compared to uninfected isolates. CfRV1 is capsidless and potentially encapsulated in vesicles inside fungal cells, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. CfRV1 and HadV1 are +ssRNA mycoviruses closely related to polymycoviruses and astroviruses, represent a new linkage between +ssRNA viruses and the intermediate double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) polymycoviruses, and expand our understanding of virus diversity, taxonomy, evolution, and biological traits. IMPORTANCE A scenario proposing that dsRNA viruses evolved from +ssRNA viruses is still considered controversial due to intergroup knowledge gaps in virus diversity. Recently, polymycoviruses and hadakaviruses were found as intermediate dsRNA and +ssRNA stages, respectively, between +ssRNA and dsRNA viruses. Here, we identified a novel +ssRNA mycovirus, Colletotrichum fructicola RNA virus 1 (CfRV1), isolated from Colletotrichum fructicola in China. CfRV1 is phylogenetically related to the 10- or 11-segmented Hadaka virus 1 (HadV1) but consists of only seven genomic segments encoding two novel proteins. CfRV1 is naked and may be encapsulated in vesicles inside fungal cells, representing a potential novel lifestyle for multisegmented RNA viruses. CfRV1 and HadV1 are intermediate +ssRNA mycoviruses in the linkage between +ssRNA viruses and the intermediate dsRNA polymycoviruses and expand our understanding of virus diversity, taxonomy, and evolution.

RGCC balances self-renewal and neuronal differentiation of neural stem cells in the developing mammalian neocortex.

During neocortical development, neural stem cells (NSCs) divide symmetrically to self-renew at the early stage and then divide asymmetrically to generate post-mitotic neurons. The molecular mechanisms regulating the balance between NSC self-renewal and neurogenesis are not fully understood. Using mouse in utero electroporation (IUE) technique and in vitro human NSC differentiation models including cerebral organoids (hCOs), we show here that regulator of cell cycle (RGCC) modulates NSC self-renewal and neuronal differentiation by affecting cell cycle regulation and spindle orientation. RGCC deficiency hampers normal cell cycle process and dysregulates the mitotic spindle, thus driving more cells to divide asymmetrically. These modulations diminish the NSC population and cause NSC pre-differentiation that eventually leads to brain developmental malformation in hCOs. We further show that RGCC might regulate NSC spindle orientation by affecting the organization of centrosome and microtubules. Our results demonstrate that RGCC is essential to maintain the NSC pool during cortical development and suggest that RGCC defects could have etiological roles in human brain malformations.

Metal Cation-Doped ns-Cucurbit[10]uril: Adsorption of Para-Phenylenediamine.

The separation of phenylenediamine (PDA) isomers is crucial in the field of chemical manufacturing. Herein, we presented a strategy for the separation of PDA isomers (para-phenylenediamine, p-PDA; meta-phenylenediamine, m-PDA; ortho-phenylenediamine, o-PDA) using four supramolecular framework materials of ns-cucurbit[10]uril (ns-Q[10]), (1) ns-Q[10](Cd), (2) ns-Q[10](Mn), (3) ns-Q[10](Cu), (4) ns-Q[10](Pb). Our findings indicated that these supramolecular framework materials of ns-Q[10] showed remarkable selectivity for para-phenylenediamine (p-PDA) in p-PDA, m-PDA, and o-PDA mixtures, respectively. The variations in selectivity observed in these four single-crystal structures arose from variations in the thermodynamic stabilities and binding modes of the host-guest complexes. Importantly, the supramolecular framework based on ns-Q[10] exhibited selective accommodation of p-PDA over its isomers. This study highlighted the practical application of ns-Q[10] in effectively separating PDA isomers and demonstrated the potential utility of ns-Q[10] in isolating other organic molecules.

Red Room-Temperature Phosphorescence Supramolecular Assemblies Based on Cucurbit[7]uril: Reversible Temperature Stimulation Response and Cell-Specific Silver Ion Imaging.

Solid-state materials with efficient room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission have been widely used in materials science, and organic RTP-emitting systems with heavy-metal doping in aqueous solutions have attracted much attention in recent years. A novel supramolecular interaction was induced by host-guest assembly using cucurbit[7]uril (Q[7]) as the host and brominated naphthalimide phosphor as the guest. This interaction was further enhanced through synergistic chelation stimulated by analytical silver ion complexation. This approach facilitated the system's structural rigidity, intersystem crossing, and oxygen shielding. We achieved deep red phosphorescence emission in aqueous solution and ambient conditions along with quantitative determination of silver ions. The new complex exhibited good reversible thermoresponsive behavior and was successfully applied for the first time to target phosphorescence imaging of silver ions in the mitochondria of A549 cancer cells. These results are beneficial for constructing novel RTP systems with stimulus-responsive luminescence in aqueous solution, contributing to future research in bioimaging, detection, optical sensors, and thermometry materials.

Crystal-liquid duality enhanced dynamical stability of hybrid perovskites.

The organic molecules in hybrid perovskites can easily rotate within the inorganic lattice at room temperature, leading to a crystal-liquid duality. The liquid-like behavior of the organic molecules is commonly believed to play a critical role in the dynamical stability, but the microscopic mechanism remains unclear. Furthermore, the presence of dynamically rotating molecules raises concerns regarding the reliability of assessing the stability of hybrid perovskites based on simple yet commonly used descriptors such as the Goldschmidt tolerance factor. Here we assess the finite-temperature phonons of hybrid perovskites by mapping ab initio molecular dynamics configurations onto an equivalent dynamical pseudo-inorganic lattice and extracting the effective force constants. We find that as compared to the formamidinium or cesium cations, stronger anisotropy and wider range of the thermal motion of the methylammonium molecule are essential for enhancing the dynamical stability of hybrid perovskites. The cation radius that determines the tolerance factor is, in fact, less important. This work not only enables a pathway to further improve the stability of hybrid perovskites, but also provides a general scheme to assess the stability of hybrid materials with dynamical disorder.

Effect of chemotherapy and different chemotherapy regimens on bone health among Chinese breast cancer women in different menstrual status: a self-control study.

PURPOSE: Although the therapy-related bone loss attracts increasing attention nowadays, the differences in chemotherapy-induced bone loss and bone metabolism indexes change among breast cancer (BC) women with different menstrual statuses or chemotherapy regimens are unknown. The aim of the study is to explore the effects of different regimens of chemotherapy on bone health. METHOD: The self-control study enrolled 118 initially diagnosed BC women without distant metastasis who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone mineral density (BMD) screening and (or) bone metabolism index monitoring during chemotherapy at Chongqing Breast Cancer Center. Mann-Whitney U test, Cochran's Q test, and Wilcoxon sign rank test were performed. RESULTS: After chemotherapy, the BMD in the lumbar 1-4 and whole lumbar statistically decreased (- 1.8%/per 6 months), leading to a significantly increased proportion of osteoporosis (27.1% vs. 20.5%, P < 0.05), which were mainly seen in the premenopausal group (- 7.0%/per 6 months). Of the chemotherapeutic regimens of EC (epirubicin + cyclophosphamide), TC (docetaxel + cyclophosphamide), TEC (docetaxel + epirubicin + cyclophosphamide), and EC-T(H) [epirubicin + cyclophosphamide-docetaxel and/or trastuzumab], EC regimen had the least adverse impact on BMD, while the EC-TH regimen reduced BMD most (P < 0.05) inspite of the non-statistical difference between EC-T regimen, which was mainly seen in the postmenopausal group. Chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea (estradiol 94 pg/ml vs, 22 pg/ml; FSH 9.33 mIU/ml vs. 61.27 mIU/ml) was proved in premenopausal subgroup (P < 0.001). Except the postmenopausal population with calcium/VitD supplement, the albumin-adjusted calcium increased significantly (2.21 mmol/l vs. 2.33 mmol/l, P < 0.05) after chemotherapy. In postmenopausal group with calcium/VitD supplement, ß-CTX decreased significantly (0.56 ng/ml vs. 0.39 ng/ml, P < 0.05) and BMD were not affected by chemotherapy (P > 0. 05). In premenopausal group with calcium/VitD supplement, PTH decreased significantly (52.90 pg/ml vs. 28.80 pg/ml, P = 0. 008) and hip BMD increased after chemotherapy (0.845 g/m2 vs. 0.952 g/m2, P = 0. 006). As for both postmenopausal and premenopausal group without calcium/VitD supplement, there was a significant decrease in bone mass in hip and lumbar vertebrae after chemotherapy (0.831 g/m2 vs. 0.776 g/m2; 0.895 g/m2 vs. 0.870 g/m2, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy might induce lumbar vertebrae BMD loss and spine osteoporosis with regimen differences among Chinese BC patients. Calcium/VitD supplementation could improve bone turnover markers, bone metabolism indicators, and bone mineral density. Early interventions on bone health are needed for BC patients during chemotherapy.

Adrenocortical pheochromocytoma diagnosed during pregnancy: a case report.

This paper reports a rare case of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) diagnosed during pregnancy presenting with gestational hypertension. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy should receive enough attention to identify and exclude the possibility of adrenal diseases, thereby making a timely diagnosis and active treatment.

Mechanism of Pacemaker Activity in Zebrafish DC2/4 Dopaminergic Neurons.

Zebrafish models are used increasingly to study the molecular pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), owing to the extensive array of techniques available for their experimental manipulation and analysis. The ascending dopaminergic projection from the posterior tuberculum (TPp; diencephalic populations DC2 and DC4) to the subpallium is considered the zebrafish correlate of the mammalian nigrostriatal projection, but little is known about the neurophysiology of zebrafish DC2/4 neurons. This is an important knowledge gap, because autonomous activity in mammalian substantia nigra (SNc) dopaminergic neurons contributes to their vulnerability in PD models. Using a new transgenic zebrafish line to label living dopaminergic neurons, and a novel brain slice preparation, we conducted whole-cell patch clamp recordings of DC2/4 neurons from adult zebrafish of both sexes. Zebrafish DC2/4 neurons share many physiological properties with mammalian dopaminergic neurons, including the cell-autonomous generation of action potentials. However, in contrast to mammalian dopaminergic neurons, the pacemaker driving intrinsic rhythmic activity in zebrafish DC2/4 neurons does not involve calcium conductances, hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels, or sodium leak currents. Instead, voltage clamp recordings and computational models show that interactions between three components - a small, predominantly potassium, leak conductance, voltage-gated sodium channels, and voltage-gated potassium channels - are sufficient for pacemaker activity in zebrafish DC2/4 neurons. These results contribute to understanding the comparative physiology of the dopaminergic system and provide a conceptual basis for interpreting data derived from zebrafish PD models. The findings further suggest new experimental opportunities to address the role of dopaminergic pacemaker activity in the pathogenesis of PD.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Posterior tuberculum (TPp) DC2/4 dopaminergic neurons are considered the zebrafish correlate of mammalian substantia nigra (SNc) neurons, whose degeneration causes the motor signs of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our study shows that DC2/4 and SNc neurons share a number of electrophysiological properties, including depolarized membrane potential, high input resistance, and continual, cell-autonomous pacemaker activity, that strengthen the basis for the increasing use of zebrafish models to study the molecular pathogenesis of PD. The mechanisms driving pacemaker activity differ between DC2/4 and SNc neurons, providing: (1) experimental opportunities to dissociate the contributions of intrinsic activity and underlying pacemaker currents to pathogenesis; and (2) essential information for the design and interpretation of studies using zebrafish PD models.

Quantification of functional recovery in a larval zebrafish model of spinal cord injury.

Human spinal cord injury (SCI) is characterized by permanent loss of damaged axons, resulting in chronic disability. In contrast, zebrafish can regenerate axonal projections following central nervous system injury and re-establish synaptic contacts with distant targets; elucidation of the underlying molecular events is an important goal with translational potential for improving outcomes in SCI patients. We generated transgenic zebrafish with GFP-labeled axons and transected their spinal cords at 10 days post-fertilization. Intravital confocal microscopy revealed robust axonal regeneration following the procedure, with abundant axons bridging the transection site by 48 h post-injury. In order to analyze neurological function in this model, we developed and validated new open-source software to measure zebrafish lateral trunk curvature during propulsive and turning movements at high temporal resolution. Immediately following spinal cord transection, axial movements were dramatically decreased caudal to the lesion site, but preserved rostral to the injury, suggesting the induction of motor paralysis below the transection level. Over the subsequent 96 h, the magnitude of movements caudal to the lesion recovered to baseline, but the rate of change of truncal curvature did not fully recover, suggesting incomplete restoration of caudal strength over this time course. Quantification of both morphological and functional recovery following SCI will be important for the analysis of axonal regeneration and downstream events necessary for restoration of motor function. An extensive array of genetic and pharmacological interventions can be deployed in the larval zebrafish model to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Random coding method for SNR enhancement of BOTDR.

A random coding method for a Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) fiber sensor is proposed. In this method, a series of pulses modulated by random code are injected into the optical fiber to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and further improve the measurement accuracy. Random coding method allows the sensing range to be extended to several tens of kilometers while maintaining meter-scale spatial resolution and lower detection peak power, without modifying the conventional configuration of BOTDR. The decoding principle and the coding gain of random coding method are analyzed and simulated. We experimentally implement the method and evaluate its influence on the performance optimization of BOTDR. Compared with the single pulse with peak power of 10 mW, the measured BFS uncertainty over 4.93 km sensing fiber is reduced from 5.34 MHz to 0.38 MHz when 512-bit random coding pulses with the same peak power are utilized. The experimental results show that the coding gain of 11.93 dB is obtained by 512-bit random coding. Benefitting from the SNR enhancement, the sensing range is extended from 4.93 km to 64.76 km within a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 3 MHz, when the pulse peak power is only 10 mW and the spatial resolution is 2 m.

Value of nonenhanced CT combined with laboratory examinations in the diagnosis of acute suppurative cholecystitis treated with percutaneous cholecystostomy: a retrospective study.

PURPOSES: In this study, we aimed to identify the distribution of presenting laboratory and nonenhanced computed tomography (CT) imaging features within 48 h before percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) and create a model to appropriately guide the diagnosis of acute suppurative cholecystitis (ASC). METHODS: The study population included 204 acute cholecystitis patients who underwent PC. Based on the timing of the last laboratory and CT examinations before PC, the patients were divided into two groups: within 48 h before PC (Group 1, n = 138) and over 48 h before PC (Group 2, n = 63). The clinical features of the ASC patients in the two groups were compared. A multivariable model for the diagnosis of ASC in the patients in Group 1 was developed. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients in Group 1 had ASC (28.3%). Gallbladder stones, common bile duct stones, gallbladder wall thickness > 2.85 mm, and neutrophil granulocytes > 82.55% were confirmed to be independent risk factors for ASC. The receiver operating characteristic curve of the recurrence prediction model verified its accuracy (area under the curve: 0.803). Compared with the ASC patients in Group 2, the ASC patients in Group 1 had a higher proportion of pericholecystic exudation or fluid (P = 0.013) and thicker gallbladder walls (P = 0.033). CONCLUSIONS: Using nonenhanced CT imaging features and cutoffs for neutrophil granulocytes, we were able to identify a simple algorithm to discriminate ASC. The degree of local inflammation of the gallbladder in ASC patients progressively increases over time, and these changes can be observed on nonenhanced CT images. However, the symptoms of abdominal pain are of little help in estimating the disease duration in elderly patients.

Ghrelin infusion into the basolateral amygdala suppresses CTA memory formation in rats via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and PLC/PKC signaling pathways.

Ghrelin is a circulating orexigenic hormone that promotes feeding behavior and regulates metabolism in humans and rodents. We previously reported that local infusion of ghrelin into the basolateral amygdala (BLA) blocked memory acquisition for conditioned taste aversion (CTA) by activating growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a. In this study, we further explored the underlying mechanism and signaling pathways mediating ghrelin modulation of CTA memory in rats. Pharmacological agents targeting distinct signaling pathways were infused into the BLA during conditioning. We showed that preadministration of the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 abolished the repressive effect of ghrelin on CTA memory. Moreover, LY294002 pretreatment prevented ghrelin from inhibiting Arc and zif268 mRNA expression in the BLA triggered by CTA memory retrieval. Preadministration of rapamycin eliminated the repressive effect of ghrelin, while Gsk3 inhibitors failed to mimic ghrelin's effect. In addition, PLC and PKC inhibitors microinfused in the BLA blocked ghrelin's repression of CTA acquisition. These results demonstrate that ghrelin signaling in the BLA shapes CTA memory via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and PLC/PKC pathways. We conducted in vivo multichannel recordings from mouse BLA neurons and found that microinjection of ghrelin (20 µM) suppressed intrinsic excitability. By means of whole-cell recordings from rat brain slices, we showed that bath application of ghrelin (200 nM) had no effect on basal synaptic transmission or synaptic plasticity of BLA pyramidal neurons. Together, this study reveals the mechanism underlying ghrelin-induced interference with CTA memory acquisition in rats, i.e., suppression of intrinsic excitability of BLA principal neurons via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and PLC/PKC pathways.

Isolation and neuronal apoptosis inhibitory property of bacoside-A3 via downregulation of ß-amyloid induced inflammatory response.

Alzheimer's disease is one of the neurodegenerative disorders caused by neuronal degeneration and apoptosis in brain. Bacoside A and B isolated from the Bacopa monniera plant are responsible for cognitive effects. These compounds repair damaged neurons by promoting activity of kinases, synaptic activity restoration, and improvement of nerve transmission. The present study explored the effect of bacoside-A3 on ß-amyloid-induced reduction of U87MG cell viability, generation of oxidative radicals, and activation of nuclear factor-κB. The U87MG cells were stimulated with ß-amyloid (10 µM) after 24 h of bacoside-A3 pretreatment or without pretreatment to induce characteristics of Alzheimer disease in vitro. Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay was used to count viable cells and ELISA kit for analysis of PGE2 secretion. The pretreatment with bacoside-A3 prevented ß-amyloid-mediated suppression of U87MG cell proliferation. Pretreatment of U87MG cells with bacoside-A3 prior to ß-amyloid stimulation suppressed generation of ROS in a concentration-based manner. The ß-amyloid-mediated formation of iNOS in U87MG cells was suppressed by bacoside-A3 in a dose-based manner. The ß-amyloid-mediated PGE2 secretion was suppressed by bacoside-A3 pretreatment in U87MG cells in the dose-based manner. The overexpression of COX-2 by ß-amyloid stimulation was suppressed in bacoside-A pretreated cells in the dose-based manner. The bacoside-A3 pretreatment prevented nuclear translocation of NF-κB in U87MG cells in the dose-based manner. In summary, bacoside-A3 prevented ß-amyloid-mediated suppression of U87MG cell viability, inhibited generation of oxidative radicals, PGE2, and synthesis of iNOS. Therefore, bacoside-A3 has therapeutic potential for Alzheimer disease and further in vivo studies need to be performed.

Changes of Barley Stripe Rust Populations in the United States from 1993 to 2017.

Barley stripe rust is a relatively new disease in the United States. The pathogen, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei (Psh), was first observed in Texas in 1991 and has spread north and westwards and mainly caused epidemics in the western United States. A total of 447 isolates collected from 1993 to 2017 were identified as 382 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) using 14 simple sequence repeat markers. The MLGs were clustered into six molecular groups (MGs) using the discriminant analysis of principal components and the hierarchical cluster analysis, and the MGs had significant differences in frequency in different years. MG1 was present in the population prior to the year 2000. MG2, MG3, and MG4 became predominate after 2000. MG5 was detected in all 24 years but more frequent from 2010 to 2017. MG6 was the most recent group detected mainly from 2011 to 2017 and had the highest correlation coefficient with the virulence phenotypes among the MGs. The heterozygosity and genotypic diversity of the Psh populations increased from 2000 to 2017, even more from 2010 to 2017. The results indicate rapid genetic changes from year to year, with major molecular group changes around 2000 and 2010. The possible mechanisms underlying the population changes are discussed.