Spatiotemporal expression analysis of jasmonic acid and saponin-related genes uncovers a potential biosynthetic regulation in Panax notoginseng.

BACKGROUND: Sanqi, the root of Panax notoginseng, has long been recognized for its therapeutic effects on cardiovascular diseases. Saponins, including ginsenosides and notoginsenosides, are the main bioactive components of P. notoginseng. The biosynthesis of saponins is closely related to the defense responses orchestrated by endogenous hormones. RESULTS: To provide new insights into the underlying role of phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) in the synthesis and regulation of saponins, we performed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography analysis of different tissues of P. notoginseng aged 2-4 years. Moreover, by combined evaluation of saponin content and transcriptome profiling of each tissue, the spatial and temporal distribution of saponins was analyzed. N notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rb1 and ginsenoside Rd accumulated in the underground tissues, including the root, tuqi, fibril and rhizome. In agreement with this data, the corresponding genes of the endogenous hormone JAs, especially coronatine insensitive 1 (COI1) and myelocytomatosis proteins 2 (MYC2), were predominantly expressed in the underground tissues. The tissue- and age-specific distribution of saponins was consistent with the expression of genes involved in JA biosynthetic, metabolic and signaling pathways. CONCLUSION: The present study has revealed the temporal and spatial effects of endogenous phtohormones in the synthesis and regulation of notoginsenosides, which will provide a significant impact on improving the ecological planting technology, cultivating new high-quality varieties and protecting the rare resources of medicinal P. notoginseng. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Prevalence and risk factors associated with poor sleep among firefighters in Taiwan: An observational study.

Sleep quality is directly correlated with overall health and quality of life. Firefighters have a higher workload and injury rate than those in other occupations. This study investigated the prevalence of and risk factors for poor sleep quality among firefighters in Taiwan. This cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2019 and August 2020. Sociodemographic information of the study participants was collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate the subjective sleep quantity and quality of firefighters during the previous month. A t test for continuous variables and χ2 test for categorical variables were performed for univariate analysis. Logistic regression analysis was conducted for multivariate analysis. Eight hundred eighty-nine firefighters completed the questionnaire during the study period, with a response rate of 88.9%. Among them, 447 (50.3%) reported poor sleep quality. Logistic regression analysis showed that female sex, longer work duration (>5 years) for firefighters, on-call shift work, and no leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) was significantly correlated with an increased risk of poor sleep quality. Advanced analysis of partaking in LTPA revealed that high-intensity LTPA is significantly associated with higher rates of poor sleep quality. In contrast, adequate rest after LTPA correlated with lower rates of poor sleep quality. Firefighters are at higher risk of poor sleep quality. Emphasis should be placed on firefighters' regular LTPA, particularly when experiencing sleep problems.

Visualizing dynamic data with heat triangles.

In this paper, an overview-based interactive visualization for temporally long dynamic data sequences is described. To reach this goal, each data object at a certain time point can be mapped to a number value based on a given property. Among others, a property is application-dependent and can be number of vertices, number of edges, average degree, density, number of self-loops, degree (maximum and total), or edge weight (minimum, maximum, and total) for dynamic graph data, but it can as well be the number of ball contacts in a football match, or the time-dependent visual attention paid to a stimulus in an eye tracking study. To achieve an overview over time, an aggregation strategy based on either the mean, minimum, or maximum of two values is applied. This temporal value aggregation generates a triangular shape with an overview of the entire data sequence as the peak. The color coding can be adjusted, forming visual patterns that can be rapidly explored for certain data features over time, supporting comparison tasks between the properties. The usefulness of the approach is illustrated by means of applying it to dynamic graphs generated from US domestic flight data as well as to dynamic Covid-19 infections on country levels.

Genome-wide identification and analysis of AP2/ERF transcription factors related to camptothecin biosynthesis in Camptotheca acuminata.

Camptotheca acuminata produces camptothecin (CPT), a monoterpene indole alkaloid (MIA) that is widely used in the treatment of lung, colorectal, cervical, and ovarian cancers. Its biosynthesis pathway has attracted significant attention, but the regulation of CPT biosynthesis by the APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor (AP2/ERF) transcription factors (TFs) remains unclear. In this study, a systematic analysis of the AP2/ERF TFs family in C. acuminata was performed, including phylogeny, gene structure, conserved motifs, and gene expression profiles in different tissues and organs (immature bark, cotyledons, young flower, immature fruit, mature fruit, mature leaf, roots, upper stem, and lower stem) of C. acuminata. A total of 198 AP2/ERF genes were identified and divided into five relatively conserved subfamilies, including AP2 (26 genes), DREB (61 genes), ERF (92 genes), RAV (18 genes), and Soloist (one gene). The combination of gene expression patterns in different C. acuminata tissues and organs, the phylogenetic tree, the co-expression analysis with biosynthetic genes, and the analysis of promoter sequences of key enzymes genes involved in CPT biosynthesis pathways revealed that eight AP2/ERF TFs in C. acuminata might be involved in CPT synthesis regulation, which exhibit relatively high expression levels in the upper stem or immature bark. Among these, four genes (CacAP2/ERF123, CacAP2/ERF125, CacAP2/ERF126, and CacAP2/ERF127) belong to the ERF-B2 subgroup; two genes (CacAP2/ERF149 and CacAP2/ERF152) belong to the ERF-B3 subgroup; and two more genes (CacAP2/ERF095 and CacAP2/ERF096) belong to the DREB-A6 subgroup. These results provide a foundation for future functional characterization of the AP2/ERF genes to enhance the biosynthesis of CPT compounds of C. acuminata.

Chinese herbal medicine resources: Where we stand.

In recent years, the development of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been challenged by shortages of CHM resources and drug safety concerns related to end products. There have been significant efforts by Chinese scholars to tackle these challenges, which are revealed by analyzing the research trend of CHM resources via surveying Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs (Zhong Cao Yao), a representative journal in CHM. Our study focused on 781 articles in CHM resources from 2013 to 2018 and included four subject areas: germplasm resources, quality analysis and evaluation, cultivation, and bioengineering of CHM. Discussion and prospective for future investigations were also presented, including: construct the core germplasm of medicinal plants and expand germplasms; combine molecular research with field experiments and promote the deeper study of cultivation of CHM plants; improve the quality evaluation method of CHM and strengthen the identification of Chinese patented medicines; promote the sustainable development of CHM resources by utilizing bioengineering and synthetic biology. This study helps international scholars understand the status quo of CHM research and provides theoretical support for the healthy, modern, and international development of CHM, and it will facilitate the sustainable development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

[Cloning and bioinformatics analysis of ent-kaurene oxidase synthase gene in Salvia miltiorrhiza].

Based on the transcriptome database of Salvia miltiorrhiza, specific primers were designed to clone a full-length cDNA of ent-kaurene oxidase synthase (SmKOL) using the RACE strategy. ORF Finder was used to find the open reading frame of SmKOL cDNA, and ClustalW has been performed to analysis the multiple amino acid sequence alignment. Phylogenetic tree has been constructed using MEGA 5.1. The transcription level of SmKOL from the hairy roots induced by elicitor methyl jasmonate (MeJA) was qualifiedby real-time quantitative PCR. The full length of SmKOL cDNA was of 1 884 bp nucleotides encoding 519 amino acids. The molecular weight of the SmKOL protein was about 58.88 kDa with isoelectric point (pI) of 7.62. Results of real-time quantitative PCR analyses indicated that the level of SmKOL mRNA expression in hairy roots was increased by elicitor oMeJA, and reached maximum in 36 h. The full-length cDNA of SmKOL was cloned from S. miltiorrhiza hairy root, which provides a target gene for further studies of its function, gibberellin biosynthesis and regulation of secondary metabolites.

Magnetically actuated artificial cilia for optimum mixing performance in microfluidics.

Contemporary lab-chip devices require efficient, high-performance mixing capability. A series of artificial cilia with embedded magnetic particles was fabricated to achieve precise flow manipulation through magnetically driven control. These fabricated structures were actuated in a homogeneous magnetic field generated by a built-in magnetic coil system for various beating cycles inside a microchannel. Three representative trajectories, namely, circular motion, back-and-forth oscillation, and a figure-of-eight pattern, of artificial cilia were designed and generated to mimic the motion of actual cilia. Homogeneous mixing of two highly viscous (>25 centipoise) dyed solutions by using the figure-of-eight trajectory achieved a mixing efficiency of approximately 86%. The underlying relationship between ciliated structures and the induced flow fields was further elucidated by performing a hydrodynamic analysis with micro-particle image velocimetry. In addition, a numerical modeling method which used a fluid structure interaction module was applied to provide quantitative 3D illustrations of induced flow patterns, including vortical structures and vortex core locations. The results reveal that both the magnitude and distribution of induced vortices primarily affect the mixing performance of two viscous flow streams. By using magnetically controlled artificial cilia along with the presented analytical paradigms, a new active flow mixing strategy was suggested to efficiently transport/agitate flows for microfluidics and biomedical applications.

Adiponectin inhibits KISS1 gene transcription through AMPK and specificity protein-1 in the hypothalamic GT1-7 neurons.

Adiponectin secreted from adipose tissues plays a role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, food intake, and reproduction in the hypothalamus. We have previously demonstrated that adiponectin significantly inhibited GNRH secretion from GT1-7 hypothalamic GNRH neuron cells. In this study, we further investigated the effect of adiponectin on hypothalamic KISS1 gene transcription, which is the upstream signal of GNRH. We found that globular adiponectin (gAd) or AICAR, an artificial AMPK activator, decreased KISS1 mRNA transcription and promoter activity. Conversely, inhibition of AMPK by Compound C or AMPKα1-SiRNA augmented KISS1 mRNA transcription and promoter activity. Additionally, gAd and AICAR decreased the translocation of specificity protein-1 (SP1) from cytoplasm to nucleus; however, Compound C and AMPKα1-siRNA played an inverse role. Our experiments in vivo demonstrated that the expression of Kiss1 mRNA was stimulated twofold in the Compound C-treated rats and decreased about 60-70% in gAd- or AICAR-treated rats compared with control group. The numbers of kisspeptin immunopositive neurons in the arcuate nucleus region of Sprague Dawley rats mimicked the same trend seen in Kiss1 mRNA levels in animal groups with different treatments. In conclusion, our results provide the first evidence that adiponectin reduces Kiss1 gene transcription in GT1-7 cells through activation of AMPK and subsequently decreased translocation of SP1.

Glutamine protects ischemia-reperfusion induced acute lung injury in isolated rat lungs.

Glutamine has been used to treat a number of diseases via modulating the inflammatory response. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether glutamine has a beneficial effect in ischemia-reperfusion (IR) induced acute lung injury in an isolated rat lung model. Typical acute lung injury in rats was successfully induced by 60 min of ischemia and 60 min of reperfusion. At the end of experiment, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), perfusate and lung tissues were collected to evaluate the degree of lung injury. Glutamine (20 mM) was administrated before ischemia or after ischemia. IR caused a significant increase in the capillary filtration coefficient; lung weight gain; lung weight to body weight ratio; wet to dry weight ratio; pulmonary arterial pressure; and protein concentration and lactate dehydrogenase level in BALF. Tumor necrosis factor-α and cytokine induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 in perfusate, and malondialdehyde levels, carbonyl content and myeloperoxidase activities in lung tissue were also significantly increased. In addition, the lung tissues showed increased septal thickness and neutrophil infiltration. Furthermore, NF-κB activity and degradation of IκB-α were significantly increased in the lungs. Treatment with glutamine before ischemia or after ischemia significantly decreased the increase in these parameters. Our study showed that glutamine treatment decreased IR-induced acute lung injury. The protective mechanism may be due to the inhibition of NF-κB activation and the attenuation of oxidative stress.

Globular adiponectin regulates energy homeostasis through AMP-activated protein kinase-acetyl-CoA carboxylase (AMPK/ACC) pathway in the hypothalamus.

Adiponectin is a newly researched adipokine which participates in the regulation of energy homeostasis. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) represents an energy sensor that responds to hormone and nutrition status in vivo and exerts a regulatory effect in the hypothalamus and multiple peripheral tissues. We investigated the possible mechanisms involved in appetite regulation by adiponectin in vitro with GT1-7 cells, a mouse immortalized hypothalamic neuron. The results showed that adiponectin increased the phosphorylation of AMPK, activated AMPK phosphorylated and inactivated acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), and subsequently increased expression of agouti-related peptide (AgRP) mRNA. Our results also indicated that adiponectin had no effect on signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3). Together these findings suggest that adiponectin regulated energy homeostasis through the AMPK/ACC pathway but not the JAK/STAT3 pathway in the hypothalamus.

Orientational packing of a confined discotic mesogen in the columnar phase.

The stacking of discotic molecules (hexakis(alkoxy)diquinoxalino[2,3-a:2',3'-c]phenazines) in the columnar phase sandwiched between two flat glass substrates has been studied. The surface free energy of the substrates, measured by means of sessile drop technique, is found to have significant influence on the way that the discotic molecules anchor on the surface, and a steady thermal state of the system is crucial for a homogenous orientation of the discotic columns. On a surface of high free energy, the discotic molecules anchor with their disc-face toward the surface. A decrease in the surface free energy of the substrate causes the discotic columns to tilt away from the normal of the substrate.