The Importance of a Genome-Wide Association Analysis in the Study of Alternative Splicing Mutations in Plants with a Special Focus on Maize.

Alternative splicing is an important mechanism for regulating gene expressions at the post-transcriptional level. In eukaryotes, the genes are transcribed in the nucleus to produce pre-mRNAs and alternative splicing can splice a pre-mRNA to eventually form multiple different mature mRNAs, greatly increasing the number of genes and protein diversity. Alternative splicing is involved in the regulation of various plant life activities, especially the response of plants to abiotic stresses and is also an important process of plant growth and development. This review aims to clarify the usefulness of a genome-wide association analysis in the study of alternatively spliced variants by summarizing the application of alternative splicing, genome-wide association analyses and genome-wide association analyses in alternative splicing, as well as summarizing the related research progress.

Comprehensive transcriptome and proteome analyses reveal a novel sodium chloride responsive gene network in maize seed tissues during germination.

Germination is a plant developmental process by which radicle of mature seeds start to penetrate surrounding barriers for seedling establishment and multiple environmental factors have been shown to affect it. Little is known how high salinity affects seed germination of C4 plant, Zea mays. Preliminary germination assay suggested that isolated embryo alone was able to germinate under 200 mM NaCl treatment, whereas the intact seeds were highly repressed. We hypothesized that maize endosperm may function in perception and transduction of salt signal to surrounding tissues such as embryo, showing a completely different response to that in Arabidopsis. Since salt response involves ABA, we analysed in vivo ABA distribution and quantity and the result demonstrated that ABA level in isolated embryo under NaCl treatment failed to increase in comparison with the water control, suggesting that the elevation of ABA level is an endosperm dependent process. Subsequently, by using advanced profiling techniques such as RNA sequencing and SWATH-MS-based quantitative proteomics, we found substantial differences in post-transcriptional and translational changes between salt-treated embryo and endosperm. In summary, our results indicate that these regulatory mechanisms, such as alternative splicing, are likely to mediate early responses to salt stress during maize seed germination.

[Cognitive behavioral therapy for depression in advanced schistosomiasis patients].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression in advanced schistosomiasis patients. METHODS: A total of 60 advanced schistosomiasis patients with major depressive disorder were divided into a combination therapy group (30 cases) who received sertraline plus cognitive behavior therapy and a monotherapy group (30 cases) who received sertraline only. Before the treatment and at the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th week after the treatment, the efficacy and safety were assessed with the HAMD17 item score and the related factor points and TESS. The effective rate, side effect rate and relapse rate in six months were calculated and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: At the end of 8th week after the treatment, the total scores of HAMD, factor scores of cognitive impairment, retardation factor scores and sleep disturbance factor scores in the 2 groups were statistically decreased compared with those before the treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The factor scores in the combined therapy group were lower than those in the monotherapy group. The effective rate in the combination therapy group was 86.7% (26/30), and it was significantly higher than that in the monotherapy group (56.7%, 17/30), (chi2 = 6.65, P < 0.05). The doses of the drug were lower in the combination therapy group than those in the monotherapy group (t = 2.25, P < 0.05). Within six months, the relapse rate was 13.3% in the combination therapy group, and it was significantly lower than that in the monotherapy group (46.7%) (chi2 = 7.937, P < 0.025). The side effect rate was 23.3% in the combination therapy group and that was 26.7% in the monotherapy group, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The combination therapy (drug combined with cognitive behavioral therapy) is effective in advanced schistosomiasis patients with depression, and it also can reduce the amount of medication and the relapse.