Selenite affected photosynthesis of Oryza sativa L. exposed to antimonite: Electron transfer, carbon fixation, pigment synthesis via a combined analysis of physiology and transcriptome.

Selenium (Se) is a microelement that can counteract (a)biotic stresses in plants. Excess antimony (Sb) will inhibit plant photosynthesis, which can be alleviated by appropriate doses of Se but the associated mechanisms at the molecular levels have not been fully explored. Here, a rice variety (Yongyou 9) was exposed to selenite [Se(IV), 0.2 and 0.8 mg L-1] alone or combined with antimonite [Sb(III), 5 and 10 mg L-1]. When compared to the 10 mg L-1 Sb treatment alone, addition of Se in a dose-dependent manner 1) reduced the heat dissipation efficiency resulting from the inhibited donors, Sb concentrations in shoots and roots, leaf concentrations of fructose, H2O2 and O2•-; 2) enhanced heat dissipation efficiency resulting from the inhibited accepters value, concentrations of Chl a, sucrose and starch, and the enzyme activity of adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase, sucrose phosphate synthase, and sucrose synthase; but 3) did not alter gas exchange parameters, concentrations of Chl b and total Chl, enzyme activity of soluble acid invertase, and values of maximum P700 signal, photochemical efficiency of PSI and electron transport rate of PSI. Se alleviated the damage caused by Sb to the oxygen-evolving complex and promoted the transfer of electrons from QA to QB. When compared to the 10 mg L-1 Sb treatment alone, addition of Se 1) up-regulated genes correlated to synthesis pathways of Chl, carotenoid, sucrose and glucose; 2) disturbed signal transduction pathway of abscisic acid; and 3) upregulated gene expression correlated to photosynthetic complexes (OsFd1, OsFER1 and OsFER2).

Toxicity of different forms of antimony to rice plants: Photosynthetic electron transfer, gas exchange, photosynthetic efficiency, and carbon assimilation combined with metabolome analysis.

Antimony (Sb) is a toxic metalloid, and excess Sb causes damage to the plant photosynthetic system. However, the underlying mechanisms of Sb toxicity in the plant photosynthetic system are not clear. Hydroponic culture experiments were conducted to illustrate the toxicity differences of antimonite [Sb(III)] and antimonate [Sb(V)] to the photosynthetic system in a rice plant (Yangdao No. 6). The results showed that Sb(III) showed a higher toxicity than Sb(V), judging from (1) lower shoot and root biomass, leaf water moisture content, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate; (2) higher water vapor deficit, soluble sugar content, starch content, and oligosaccharide content (sucrose, stachyose, and 1-kestose). To further analyze the direction of the photosynthetic products, we conducted a metabonomic analysis. More glycosyls were allocated to the synthesis pathways of oligosaccharides (sucrose, stachyose, and 1-kestose), anthocyanins, salicylic acid, flavones, flavonols, and lignin under Sb stress to quench excess oxygen free radicals (ROS), strengthen the cell wall structure, rebalance the cell membrane, and/or regulate cell permeability. This study provides a complete mechanism to elucidate the toxicity differences of Sb(III) and Sb(V) by exploring their effects on photosynthesis, saccharide synthesis, and the subsequent flow directions of glycosyls.

Functional maps of direct electrical stimulation-induced speech arrest and anomia: a multicentre retrospective study.

Direct electrical stimulation, the transient 'lesional' method probing brain function, has been utilized in identifying the language cortex and preserving language function during epilepsy and neuro-oncological surgeries for about a century. However, comparison of functional maps of the language cortex across languages/continents based on cortical stimulation remains unclear. We conducted a retrospective multicentre study including four cohorts of direct electrical stimulation mapping from four centres across three continents, where three indigenous languages (English, French and Mandarin) are spoken. All subjects performed the two most common language tasks: number counting and picture naming during stimulation. All language sites were recorded and normalized to the same brain template. Next, Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to explore the consistency of the distributions of the language cortex across centres, a kernel density estimation to localize the peak coordinates, and a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to detect the crucial epicenters. A total of 598 subjects with 917 speech arrest sites (complete interruption of ongoing counting) and 423 anomia sites (inability to name or misnaming) were included. Different centres presented highly consistent distribution patterns for speech arrest (Spearman's coefficient r ranged from 0.60 to 0.85, all pair-wise correlations P < 0.05), and similar patterns for anomia (Spearman's coefficient r ranged from 0.37 to 0.80). The combinational speech arrest map was divided into four clusters: cluster 1 mainly located in the ventral precentral gyrus and pars opercularis, which contained the peak of speech arrest in the ventral precentral gyrus; cluster 2 in the ventral and dorsal precentral gyrus; cluster 3 in the supplementary motor area; cluster 4 in the posterior superior temporal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. The anomia map revealed two clusters: one was in the posterior part of the superior and middle temporal gyri, which peaked at the posterior superior temporal gyrus; and the other within the inferior frontal gyrus, peaked at the pars triangularis. This study constitutes the largest series to date of language maps generated from direct electrical stimulation mapping. The consistency of data provides evidence for common language networks across languages, in the context of both speech and naming circuit. Our results not only clinically offer an atlas for language mapping and protection, but also scientifically provide better insight into the functional organization of language networks.

Study on the Shale Gas Reservoir-Forming Characteristics of the Taiyuan Formation in the Eastern Qinshui Basin, China.

Shales are widely developed in the strata of the Carboniferous-Permian coal measures in the Qinshui Basin, and these shales have great potential for shale gas exploration. In this paper, the shales of the Taiyuan Formation in the eastern Qinshui Basin are studied. The shales of the Taiyuan Formation in the study area are investigated through field investigation, organic geochemical testing, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high pressure mercury injection, low temperature liquid nitrogen adsorption and PetroMod simulation and through other tests to study the reservoir characteristics, such as organic geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology, pore permeability, and gas burial history. The results show that the shales of the Taiyuan Formation are well developed over the whole area with a thickness of more than 60 m. The average organic matter content is 2.95%, and the kerogen type is type III. The shale maturity (average value is 2.45%) corresponds to the stage of high maturity evolution, indicating that a large amount of shale gas has been generated in this area. A high content of quartz and clay minerals indicates a high fracturability. The nanopores in the shale reservoir are well developed at pore sizes between 2˜10 nm and greater than 1000 nm; however, the pores at the other pore sizes are poorly developed, resulting in weak pore connectivity in the reservoir. According to the results of the PetroMod simulation, the shale of the Taiyuan Formation has undergone two subsidence and two uplift processes. The Yanshanian magmatic intrusion is the key factor for the rapid increase in gas production. In addition, the geological structure of the area is relatively simple, and the burial history and caprock thickness are also the main controlling factors of gas generation and preservation. The shale-sandstone-shale combination and shale-coal-shale combination are the main models of shale gas preservation. This comprehensive study suggests that the shale gas of the Taiyuan Formation in the eastern Qinshui Bain has good potential for exploration and development.

X-ray radiation excited ultralong (>20,000 seconds) intrinsic phosphorescence in aluminum nitride single-crystal scintillators.

Phosphorescence is a fascinating photoelectronic phenomenon usually observed in rare-earth-doped inorganic crystals and organic molecular crystals, owning great potential in optical information storage, color display and biological dosimetry. Here, we present an ultralong intrinsic phosphorescence (>20,000 seconds) in AlN single-crystal scintillator through X-ray excitation. We suggest that the long afterglow emission originates from the intra-band transition related to native nitrogen vacancy. Some excited states formed by absorbing X-ray photons cannot satisfy the parity difference between initial and final states required by transition selection rule, so they cannot return to the ground state directly through radiation transitions but through several phonon-assisted intra-band transitions slowly. During this process, a long-term broad-spectra phosphorescence emission is formed. Investigating the X-ray excited phosphorescence emission in the AlN is of great significance to understanding the mechanism of phosphorescence in inorganic materials, and to realizing the practical applications in high-energy ray dosimetry.

Efficiency and risks of selenite combined with different water conditions in reducing uptake of arsenic and cadmium in paddy rice.

The co-contamination of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) in soils is a common problem. Selenium (Se) can reduce the uptake of As and Cd in plants, and in practice, the alternate wetting and drying is a common culture mode in rice production. However, it is unknown whether Se can efficiently reduce As and Cd concentrations in crops suffering from a high-level contamination of As and Cd under different soil water conditions. In this study, we assessed the efficiency and risks of selenite [Se(IV)], in a pot experiment, to reduce the uptake of As and Cd in a rice plant (YangDao No 6) growing in a heavily contaminated soil by As and Cd (pH 7.28) under different soil water conditions. The results showed that Se(IV) failed to control the grain total As and Cd concentrations within their individual limited standard (0.2 mg kg-1) despite that Se(IV) significantly reduced the grain total As and Cd concentrations. The soil drying treatment alone could reduce the accumulation of arsenite [As(III)] in the grains, but additional Se(IV) stimulated the accumulation of As(III) in the grains under soil drying conditions. In addition, the addition of Se(IV) enhanced the As and Cd concentrations in the shoots and/or roots of rice plants under certain conditions. The above results all suggested that the utilization of Se(IV) in a high contaminated soil by As and Cd cannot well control the total concentrations of As and Cd in plants. In this study, the available concentrations of As and Cd in the rhizosphere soil, the rhizosphere soil pH, the formation of root iron/manganese plaques and the concentrations of essential elements in the grains were monitored, and the related mechanisms on the changes of these parameters were also discussed. This study will give a guideline for the safe production of rice plants in a heavily co-contaminated soil by As and Cd.

Synthesis and biological activity of thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines as potent JAK3 inhibitors for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a serious and fatal lung disease, with a median survival of only 3-5 years from diagnosis. Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) has a well-established role in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and autoimmune-related pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, through the use of a conformationally-constrained design strategy, a series of thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines were synthesized as potent JAK3 inhibitors for the treatment of IPF. Among them, the most potent JAK3 inhibitor, namely 8e (IC50 = 1.38 nM), significantly reduced the degree of airsacculitis and fibrosis according to hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining assay for the lung tissue in the bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis mouse model. The clear reduction of the lung collagen deposition by the determination of Masson and hydroxyproline (HYP) content also demonstrated its efficacy in the treatment of fibrosis. In addition, 8e also reduced the expression of the inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-17A, TNF-α and malondialdehyde (MDA) in lung tissue, which indicated its higher anti-inflammatory activity compared with that of the reference agents (nintedanib and gefitinib). Furthermore, it possessed low cytotoxicity against normal human bronchial epithelia (HBE) cells (IC50 > 39.0 µM) and C57BL mice. All these evaluated biological properties suggest that 8e may be a potential JAK3 inhibitor for the treatment of IPF.

A novel AP2/ERF family transcription factor from Glycine soja, GsERF71, is a DNA binding protein that positively regulates alkaline stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.

KEY MESSAGE: Here we first found that GsERF71, an ERF factor from wild soybean could increase plant alkaline stress tolerance by up-regulating H+-ATPase and by modifing the accumulation of Auxin. Alkaline soils are widely distributed all over the world and greatly limit plant growth and development. In our previous transcriptome analyses, we have identified several ERF (ethylene-responsive factor) genes that responded strongly to bicarbonate stress in the roots of wild soybean G07256 (Glycine soja). In this study, we cloned and functionally characterized one of the genes, GsERF71. When expressed in epidermal cells of onion, GsERF71 localized to the nucleus. It can activate the reporters in yeast cells, and the C-terminus of 170 amino acids is essential for its transactivation activity. Yeast one-hybrid and EMSA assays indicated that GsERF71 specifically binds to the cis-acting elements of the GCC-box, suggesting that GsERF71 may participate in the regulation of transcription of the relevant biotic and abiotic stress-related genes. Furthermore, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing GsERF71 showed significantly higher tolerance to bicarbonate stress generated by NaHCO3 or KHCO3 than the wild type (WT) plants, i.e., the transgenic plants had greener leaves, longer roots, higher total chlorophyll contents and lower MDA contents. qRT-PCR and rhizosphere acidification assays indicated that the expression level and activity of H+-ATPase (AHA2) were enhanced in the transgenic plants under alkaline stress. Further analysis indicated that the expression of auxin biosynthetic genes and IAA contents were altered to a lower extent in the roots of transgenic plants than WT plants under alkaline stress in a short-term. Together, our data suggest that GsERF71 enhances the tolerance to alkaline stress by up-regulating the expression levels of H+-ATPase and by modifying auxin accumulation in transgenic plants.

GsERF6, an ethylene-responsive factor from Glycine soja, mediates the regulation of plant bicarbonate tolerance in Arabidopsis.

MAIN CONCLUSION: This is an original study focus on ERF gene response to alkaline stress. GsERF6 functions as transcription factor and significantly enhanced plant tolerance to bicarbonate (HCO 3 (-) ) in transgenic Arabidopsis . Alkaline stress is one of the most harmful, but little studied environmental factors, which negatively affects plant growth, development and yield. The cause of alkaline stress is mainly due to the damaging consequence of high concentration of the bicarbonate ion, high-pH, and osmotic shock to plants. The AP2/ERF family genes encode plant-specific transcription factors involved in diverse environmental stresses. However, little is known about their physiological functions, especially in alkaline stress responses. In this study, we functionally characterized a novel ERF subfamily gene, GsERF6 from alkaline-tolerant wild soybean (Glycine soja). In wild soybean, GsERF6 was rapidly induced by NaHCO3 treatment, and its overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced transgenic plant tolerance to NaHCO3 challenge. Interestingly, GsERF6 transgenic lines also displayed increased tolerance to KHCO3 treatment, but not to high pH stress, implicating that GsERF6 may participate specifically in bicarbonate stress responses. We also found that GsERF6 overexpression up-regulated the transcription levels of bicarbonate-stress-inducible genes such as NADP-ME, H (+)-Ppase and H (+)-ATPase, as well as downstream stress-tolerant genes such as RD29A, COR47 and KINI. GsERF6 overexpression and NaHCO3 stress also altered the expression patterns of plant hormone synthesis and hormone-responsive genes. Conjointly, our results suggested that GsERF6 is a positive regulator of plant alkaline stress by increasing bicarbonate ionic resistance specifically, providing a new insight into the regulation of gene expression under alkaline conditions.

Functional characterization of a Glycine soja Ca(2+)ATPase in salt-alkaline stress responses.

It is widely accepted that Ca(2+)ATPase family proteins play important roles in plant environmental stress responses. However, up to now, most researches are limited in the reference plants Arabidopsis and rice. The function of Ca(2+)ATPases from non-reference plants was rarely reported, especially its regulatory role in carbonate alkaline stress responses. Hence, in this study, we identified the P-type II Ca(2+)ATPase family genes in soybean genome, determined their chromosomal location and gene architecture, and analyzed their amino acid sequence and evolutionary relationship. Based on above results, we pointed out the existence of gene duplication for soybean Ca(2+)ATPases. Then, we investigated the expression profiles of the ACA subfamily genes in wild soybean (Glycine soja) under carbonate alkaline stress, and functionally characterized one representative gene GsACA1 by using transgenic alfalfa. Our results suggested that GsACA1 overexpression in alfalfa obviously increased plant tolerance to both carbonate alkaline and neutral salt stresses, as evidenced by lower levels of membrane permeability and MDA content, but higher levels of SOD activity, proline concentration and chlorophyll content under stress conditions. Taken together, for the first time, we reported a P-type II Ca(2+)ATPase from wild soybean, GsACA1, which could positively regulate plant tolerance to both carbonate alkaline and neutral salt stresses.

[EFFECTIVENESS AND SAFETY OF SIMPLY ANTERIOR APPROACH FOR LOWER CERVICAL SPINE FRACTURE DISLOCATION (Allen-Ferguson II OR III TYPE) WITHOUT SPINAL CORD INJURY].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effectiveness and safety of simply anterior approach for lower cervical spine fracture dislocation (Allen-Ferguson II or III type) without spinal cord injury. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with lower cervical spine fracture dislocation (Allen-Ferguson II or III type) without spinal cord injury were treated between June 2013 and June 2015. There were 17 males and 8 females with an average age of 41.2 years (range, 31-57 years). Injury was caused by falling from height in 11 cases, by bruise in 5 cases, by crash of heavy object in 6 cases, and by traffic accident in 3 cases. There were 24 cases of fresh fractures and 1 case of old fracture. According to the Frankel grading criteria, 19 cases were rated as grade E and 6 cases as grade D. The injured levels included C4, 5 in 5 cases, C5, 6 in 14 cases, and C6, 7 in 6 cases. Unilateral locked-facet joint was observed in 9 cases, and bilateral locked-facet joint in 16 cases. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and surgical complications were recorded; the Odom standard was used to evaluate the effectiveness. The Cobb angle and D-value (the degree of cervical kyphosis or lordosis) were measured on the X-ray film, the bone graft fusion rate was recorded. RESULTS: The operation was successfully completed in 25 patients; the operation time was 66 to 115 minutes, the intraoperative blood loss was 80 to 220 mL. The postoperative follow-up time was 12 to 36 months (mean, 19.3 months). Postoperative temporary dysphagia occurred in 1 case, and pain at donor site in 2 cases; there were no complications of spinal cord injury, hematoma, hoarse, and esophageal fistula. The nerve function was improved from preoperative grade D to postoperative grade E at 3 months. The X-ray films showed bone graft fusion; there was no loss of intervertebral height or loosening of internal fixation. At 3 months after operation, the effectiveness was excellent in 18 cases, good in 6 cases, and fair in 1 case, and the excellent and good rate was 96.0%. The postoperative Cobb angle and the D value were significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Simple anterior approach has the advantages of good effectiveness, small trauma, and fast recovery for treating lower cervical spine fracture dislocation (Allen-Ferguson II or III type) without spinal cord injury.

A novel Glycine soja cysteine proteinase inhibitor GsCPI14, interacting with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK, regulated plant tolerance to alkali stress.

It has been well demonstrated that cystatins regulated plant stress tolerance through inhibiting the cysteine proteinase activity under environmental stress. However, there was limited information about the role of cystatins in plant alkali stress response, especially in wild soybean. Here, in this study, we focused on the biological characterization of a novel Glycine soja cystatin protein GsCPI14, which interacted with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK and positively regulated plant alkali stress tolerance. The protein-protein interaction between GsCBRLK and GsCPI14 was confirmed by using split-ubiquitin based membrane yeast two-hybrid analysis and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. Expression of GsCPI14 was greatly induced by salt, ABA and alkali stress in G. soja, and GsCBRLK overexpression (OX) in Glycine max promoted the stress induction of GmCPI14 expression under stress conditions. Furthermore, we found that GsCPI14-eGFP fusion protein localized in the entire Arabidopsis protoplast and onion epidermal cell, and GsCPI14 showed ubiquitous expression in different tissues of G. soja. In addition, we gave evidence that the GST-GsCPI14 fusion protein inhibited the proteolytic activity of papain in vitro. At last, we demonstrated that OX of GsCPI14 in Arabidopsis promoted the seed germination under alkali stress, as evidenced by higher germination rates. GsCPI14 transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings also displayed better growth performance and physiological index under alkali stress. Taken together, results presented in this study demonstrated that the G. soja cysteine proteinase inhibitor GsCPI14 interacted with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK and regulated plant tolerance to alkali stress.

The Arabidopsis AtbZIP1 transcription factor is a positive regulator of plant tolerance to salt, osmotic and drought stresses.

According to the AtGenExpress transcriptome data sets, AtbZIP1 is an Arabidopsis gene induced by several abiotic stresses, such as salt, cold and drought. Here, we isolated AtbZIP1, and used semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR to verify that AtbZIP1 expression was indeed significantly induced by salt, osmotic, and cold stresses in Arabidopsis. AtbZIP1 knockout mutants showed a reduced tolerance to salt and osmotic stresses, coinciding with a suppression of the expression of several stress-responsive genes, such as COR15A, RD17 and RD29A. Consistently, the restoration of AtbZIP1 in the knockout lines restored the plants ability to tolerate salt and osmotic stresses. Furthermore, overexpressing AtbZIP1 in the wild type Arabidopsis resulted in an enhanced tolerance to salt and drought stresses. Sequence analysis shows that AtbZIP1 belongs to the S subfamily of basic leucine zipper transcription factors (TFs). The transient expression of green fluorescent protein-AtbZIP1 in tobacco leaf cells showed that AtbZIP1 localizes in nuclei. A transactivation assay further suggested that AtbZIP1 functions as a transcriptional activator in yeast and the two protein motifs (aa 13-38 and 92-118) are indispensable for transactivation activity. These results indicate that the TF AtbZIP1 is a positive regulator of plant tolerance to salt, osmotic, and drought stresses.

[Comparison of codon optimizations of cry1Ah1 gene in rice].

cry1Ah1, one of holo-type cry genes, cloned in this laboratory from Bacillus thuringiensis strain has been patented in China, and it encoded a protein with strong insecticidal activity against certain lepidopteran insect pests, such as Chilo suppressalis. cry1Ah1 gene is exhibiting good application prospects. In order to improve the expression level of cry1Ah1 gene in rice, and investigate the effect of codon usage preference of gene expression, we designed five different optimized schemes for cry1Ah1 insecticidal critical fragment in accordance with bias of rice codon, to improve G+C content, removed the shear signal and unstable factors. Optimized cry1Ah1 genes were transformed into Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) respectively, and 65 kDa polypeptides was expressed normally in inclusion body separately. All of these expressed polypeptides showed insecticidal activity against 2nd-instar larvae of Plutella xylostella and neonate of Chilo suppressalis. After transformation with modified cry1Ah1 genes into Var nippobare, the transgenic rice seedlings were detected by PCR, the positive rate containing target gene was more than 87%. Afterwards, the results of real-time RT-PCR and ELISA assay indicated that the highest expression level of five modified cry1Ah1 genes was that using the highest frequent codons. Average expression amount of Cry1Ah1 polypeptides was 0.104% of total soluble proteins from the positive transgenic rice.

A sub-space greedy search method for efficient Bayesian Network inference.

Bayesian network (BN) has been successfully used to infer the regulatory relationships of genes from microarray dataset. However, one major limitation of BN approach is the computational cost because the calculation time grows more than exponentially with the dimension of the dataset. In this paper, we propose a sub-space greedy search method for efficient Bayesian Network inference. Particularly, this method limits the greedy search space by only selecting gene pairs with higher partial correlation coefficients. Using both synthetic and real data, we demonstrate that the proposed method achieved comparable results with standard greedy search method yet saved ∼50% of the computational time. We believe that sub-space search method can be widely used for efficient BN inference in systems biology.

Over-expression of a glutathione S-transferase gene, GsGST, from wild soybean (Glycine soja) enhances drought and salt tolerance in transgenic tobacco.

Glycine soja is a species of soybean that survives in adverse environments including high salt and drought conditions. We constructed a cDNA library from G. soja seedlings treated with NaCl and isolated a glutathione S-transferase gene (GsGST: GQ265911) from the library. The cDNA encoding GsGST contains an open reading frame of 660 bp and the predicted protein belongs to the tau class of GST family proteins. Tobacco plants over-expressing the GsGST gene showed sixfold higher GST activity than wild-type plants. Transgenic tobacco plants exhibited enhanced dehydration tolerance. T(2) transgenic tobacco plants showed higher tolerance at the seedling stage than wild-type plants to salt and mannitol as demonstrated by longer root length and less growth retardation.

Over-expression of osa-MIR396c decreases salt and alkali stress tolerance.

Salt and alkali stress are two of the main environmental factors limiting rice production. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of salinity and alkali stress tolerance is necessary to modify rice to increase its resistance to salinity and alkaline stress. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 21-nucleotide RNAs that are ubiquitous regulators of gene expression in eukaryotic organisms. In plants, miRNAs constitute one of five classes of small RNAs that function primarily as negative regulators for gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Several plant miRNAs, such as miR396, play vital roles in plant growth, development and resistance to stresses. In this study, we identified osa-MIR396c, which shows dramatic transcript change under salt and alkali stress conditions in Oryza sativa. We designed an experiment to detect miRNA-target interaction and demonstrated that several transcription factors related to growth, development, and stress tolerance are targeted by osa-MIR396c. Transgenic rice and Arabidopsis thaliana plants constitutively over-expressing osa-MIR396c showed reduced salt and alkali stress tolerance compared to that of wild-type plants. Overall, this study further established a link between salt and alkali stress and osa-MIR396c in rice.

[Drought resistance and heredity of transgenic tobacco with OsMAPK4 gene].

OsMAPK4 gene was obtained by RT-PCR using gene special primer from Liaoyan241 leaf treated with low temperature. Plant expression vector pBME12 was constructed in which OsMAPK4 gene was regulated by E12 promoter. OsMAPK4 gene was transferred into tobacco via Agrobacterium-mediated method and 25 transgenic plants obtained. The results of drought resistance experiments showed that overexpression of OsMAPK4 gene conferred enhanced drought resistance of T1 transgenic plants. Kanamycin-resistance segregation in T1 transgenic plants showed that the most transgenic lines were in single gene inheritance.

[Treatment of scaphoid nonunion with bone flap pedicled on the recurrent branch of radial artery to the styloid process].

OBJECTIVE: To report the clinical outcome of the transposition of the radial styloid bone flap pedicled on the recurrent branch of the radial artery in the treatment of scaphoid nonunion. METHODS: From March 2000 to June 2005, the procedure was done in 18 patients with scaphoid nonunion, a small bone flap (1.5 cm x 3.5 cm x 0.5 cm) pedicled on the recurrent branch of radial artery to the styloid process was raised from the radial styloid process and grafted into the corresponding slot chiseled along the vertical axis of scaphoid crossing the fracture line. Of 18 patients, 15 were males and 3 were females, aging 18-39 years. The locations were lumbar scaphoid in 11 patients and proximal scaphoid in 7 patients, among whom 5 had presented avascular necrosis in the proximal fragments of the scaphoid. Pain occurred in the act of wrist motion, and became obvious in the case of dorsiextension and radial deviation. Compression pain was observed in the stuff nest. The wrist joint activity is subjected to limit. The X-ray showed hardening and cystic degeneration at fracture end and obviously widening fracture line. RESULTS: The scaphoid fracture healed in all 18 cases, the 5 proximal scaphoid fracture fragments which had previously been necrosed survived, a mean healing time of scaphoid was 4 months. A follow-up of 1 to 5 years revealed normal wrist motion without pain in all cases. The life and job was good every day. CONCLUSION: Transposition of the bone flap pedicled on the recurrent branch of the radial artery to the scaphoid is relatively simple and can effectively treat scaphoid nonunion and avascular necrosis with a great value in clinical application.