Gene expression profiling of Sinapis alba leaves under drought stress and rewatering growth conditions with Illumina deep sequencing.

Sinapis alba has many desirable agronomic traits including tolerance to drought. In this investigation, we performed the genome-wide transcriptional profiling of S. alba leaves under drought stress and rewatering growth conditions in an attempt to identify candidate genes involved in drought tolerance, using the Illumina deep sequencing technology. The comparative analysis revealed numerous changes in gene expression level attributable to the drought stress, which resulted in the down-regulation of 309 genes and the up-regulation of 248 genes. Gene ontology analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in cell division and catalytic and metabolic processes. Our results provide useful information for further analyses of the drought stress tolerance in Sinapis, and will facilitate molecular breeding for Brassica crop plants.

[Early incision, decompression and screw fixation for the treatment of Lisfranc injuries with foot osteofascial compartment syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical effect of early incision and decompression combined with screw fixation in treating Lisfranc injury and foot osteofascial compartment syndrome. METHODS: Clinical data of 5 patients with Lisfranc injury and foot osteofascial compartment syndrome were retrospective analysized from January 2017 to December 2018, including 4 males and 1 female, aged from 19 to 62 years old. All patients were suffered from closed injuries. The time from injury to treatment ranged from 1 to 14 h. According to Myerson classification, 1 patient was type A, 1 patient was type B, and 3 patients were type C. All patients were performed early incision decompression and screw fixation. Maryland foot functional scoring standard at 12 months after opertaion was used to evaluate clinical effect. RESULTS: All patients were followed up for 10 to 48 months. All fractures were achieved bone union, and healing time ranged from 3 to 9 months. All metatarsal and tarsal joints were reached to anatomical reduction. No infection, osteomyelitis, loosening or breaking of internal fixation occurred. Postopertaive Maryland foot function score at 12 months was from 44 to 97, and 2 patients got excellent result, 2 good, and 1 poor. CONCLUSION: Early incision and decompression with screw fixation for the treatment of Lisfranc injury and foot osteofascial compartment syndrome, which has advantages of simple opertaion, thoroughly decompression, screw fixation does not occupy space, stable decompression and fixation, and could receive satisfied clinical effect.

Trace metals and macroelements in mussels from Chinese coastal waters: National spatial patterns and normalization.

Metal contamination is one of the most ubiquitous and complex problems in the Chinese coastal environment. To explore the large-scale spatial patterns of bioavailable metals, we sampled three major mussels, including 784 blue mussels (Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758) of 14 sites, 224 hard-shelled mussels (Mytilus unguiculatus Valenciennes, 1858) of 4 sites, and 392 green mussels (Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)) of 7 sites, ranging from temperate to tropical coastlines of China, during August and September 2015. The concentrations of macroelements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, and P) and toxic trace metals (Ag, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Ti, and Zn) in the mussel's whole soft tissues were determined. Among the four Chinese coastal basins, Cd, Ti and Cr in the mussel tissues were the highest at Bohai Sea (BS) and Yellow Sea (YS), and Cu, Ni, Pb and Ag in the mussel tissues were the highest at East China Sea (ECS) and South China Sea (SCS). Zinc concentrations in mussels from YS were significantly higher than those from the other regions. Given the variability of environmental conditions such as salinity and nutrients, we further normalized the measured tissue metal concentrations with tissue Na and P levels. After Na normalization as the salinity proxy, the variability of Cd, Cu, Zn, Ag, and Ni was reduced. Trace elements accumulation in the mussel tissues was significantly related to both macroelements (Na or P) and body dry weight. The present study demonstrated that nonlinear optimization of different elements was necessary in assessing metal bioaccumulation patterns in marine mussels at a large spatial scale.

Oyster-based national mapping of trace metals pollution in the Chinese coastal waters.

To investigate the distribution and variability of trace metal pollution in the Chinese coastal waters, over 1000 adult oyster individuals were collected from 31 sites along the entire coastline, spanning from temperate to tropical regions (Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea), between August and September 2015. Concentrations of macroelements [sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P)] and trace elements [cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), silver (Ag), and titanium (Ti)] in these oysters were concurrently measured and analyzed. The results showed high Ti, Zn and Cu bioaccumulation in oysters from Guangdong (South China Sea) and Zhejiang (East China Sea). Oysters at Nanji Island (Wenzhou) and Daya Bay (Huizhou) accumulated significantly high concentrations of Ni and Cr. The elements in these oysters were several times higher than the national food safety limits of China. On the other hand, the present study found that normalization of metals by salinity (Na) and nutrient (P) could reflect more details of metal pollution in the oysters. Biomonitoring of metal pollution could benefit from incorporating the macroelement calibration instead of focusing only on the total metal concentrations. Overall, simultaneous measurement of macroelements and trace metals coupled with non-linear analysis provide a new perspective for revealing the underlying mechanism of trace metal bioavailability and bioaccumulation in marine organisms.

[Molecular mapping of the gene(s) controlling petal-loss trait in Brassica napus].

An F2 population derived from a cross between apetalous line' APT02 'and normal petalled cultivar 'ZS NO.4' was used for molecular marker searching and chromosomal mapping of the gene(s) controlling petal-loss trait in Brassica napus. Twenty pairs of AFLP primers and 170 pairs of SRAP primers were selected and screened from two parents. In further selection through bulked segregant analysis (BSA) approach, one SRAP marker e8m3_4 (600 bp) and one AFLP marker E3247_15 (150 bp) were obtained and found to be linked to the gene(s) controlling petal-loss trait, with the genetic distance of 5 cM and 13.5 cM. A linkage map in Brassica napus was constructed. It consisted of 213 AFLP56 SSR loci and a morphology marker throughout 17 main linkage groups, two triplet and four linkage pairs. Total length of the map covered 2,487.1 cM, and average interval between markers was 10.09 cM. By genetic mapping, the gene(s) controlling petal-loss trait (WHB)was mapped in LG4.

Graphene oxide modulates root growth of Brassica napus L. and regulates ABA and IAA concentration.

Researchers have proven that nanomaterials have a significant effect on plant growth and development. To better understand the effects of nanomaterials on plants, Zhongshuang 11 was treated with different concentrations of graphene oxide. The results indicated that 25-100mg/l graphene oxide treatment resulted in shorter seminal root length compared with the control samples. The fresh root weight decreased when treated with 50-100mg/l graphene oxide. The graphene oxide treatment had no significant effect on the Malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Treatment with 50mg/l graphene oxide increased the transcript abundance of genes involved in ABA biosynthesis (NCED, AAO, and ZEP) and some genes involved in IAA biosynthesis (ARF2, ARF8, IAA2, and IAA3), but inhibited the transcript levels of IAA4 and IAA7. The graphene oxide treatment also resulted in a higher ABA content, but a lower IAA content compared with the control samples. The results indicated that graphene oxide modulated the root growth of Brassica napus L. and affected ABA and IAA biosynthesis and concentration.

[Linkage map construction and mapping of a dominant genic male sterility gene (Ms) in Brassica napus].

A backcross population derived from a cross between the dominant genic male sterile line Rs1046A and the double-low cultivar 'Samourai' was used for linkage map construction in Brassica napus. A linkage map with a total length of 2 646 cM was developed using 138 AFLP markers, 83 SSR markers and one morphology trait, which were distributed over 18 major linkage groups, two triplets and one linkage pair. 11.7% of the mapped markers distorted from the expected 1:1 ratio. The dominant genic male sterility gene (Ms) was mapped in LG10 and surrounded by five closely linked AFLP markers. Meanwhile,two evident marker segregation distortion regions were observed in both LG8 and LG16. The map constructed in the present study and the mapping of Ms gene are highly valuable in designing marker-assisted breeding program for the genic male sterile two-type line in Brassica napus. They are also important to map-based cloning of the Ms gene and to better understanding of the mechanism of genic male sterility at molecular level.