Correlational analysis of PLIN1 with inflammation in diabetic foot ulcer wounds.

BACKGROUND: The persistent presence of inflammation is a recognized pathogenic mechanisms of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). We aimed to investigate the expression of PLIN1 in tissues from DFU patients and assess its potential association with inflammation-induced damage. METHODS: We performed transcriptome sequencing and correlation analysis of the foot skin from patients with or without DFUs. Additionally, we examined the correlation between PLIN1 and related inflammatory indicators by analyzing PLIN1 expression in tissue and serum samples and through high-glucose stimulation of keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). RESULTS: PLIN1 is upregulated in the tissue and serum from DFU patients. Additionally, PLIN1 shows a positive correlation with leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin in the serum, as well as IL-1ß and TNF-α in the tissues. Experiments with Cells demonstrated that reduced expression of PLIN1 leads to significantly decreased expression of iNOS, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α. PLIN1 may mediate wound inflammatory damage through the NF-κB signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that PLIN1 mediates the inflammatory damage in DFU, offering new prospects for the treatment of DFU.

Fine mapping and candidate gene prediction of a pleiotropic quantitative trait locus for yield-related trait in Zea mays.

The yield of maize grain is a highly complex quantitative trait that is controlled by multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with small effects, and is frequently influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Thus, it is challenging to clone a QTL for grain yield in the maize genome. Previously, we identified a major QTL, qKNPR6, for kernel number per row (KNPR) across multiple environments, and developed two nearly isogenic lines, SL57-6 and Ye478, which differ only in the allelic constitution at the short segment harboring the QTL. Recently, qKNPR6 was re-evaluated in segregating populations derived from SL57-6×Ye478, and was narrowed down to a 2.8 cM interval, which explained 56.3% of the phenotypic variance of KNPR in 201 F(2∶3) families. The QTL simultaneously affected ear length, kernel weight and grain yield. Furthermore, a large F(2) population with more than 12,800 plants, 191 recombinant chromosomes and 10 overlapping recombinant lines placed qKNPR6 into a 0.91 cM interval corresponding to 198Kb of the B73 reference genome. In this region, six genes with expressed sequence tag (EST) evidence were annotated. The expression pattern and DNA diversity of the six genes were assayed in Ye478 and SL57-6. The possible candidate gene and the pathway involved in inflorescence development were discussed.