Rapid diversification of five Oryza AA genomes associated with rice adaptation.

Comparative genomic analyses among closely related species can greatly enhance our understanding of plant gene and genome evolution. We report de novo-assembled AA-genome sequences for Oryza nivara, Oryza glaberrima, Oryza barthii, Oryza glumaepatula, and Oryza meridionalis. Our analyses reveal massive levels of genomic structural variation, including segmental duplication and rapid gene family turnover, with particularly high instability in defense-related genes. We show, on a genomic scale, how lineage-specific expansion or contraction of gene families has led to their morphological and reproductive diversification, thus enlightening the evolutionary process of speciation and adaptation. Despite strong purifying selective pressures on most Oryza genes, we documented a large number of positively selected genes, especially those genes involved in flower development, reproduction, and resistance-related processes. These diversifying genes are expected to have played key roles in adaptations to their ecological niches in Asia, South America, Africa and Australia. Extensive variation in noncoding RNA gene numbers, function enrichment, and rates of sequence divergence might also help account for the different genetic adaptations of these rice species. Collectively, these resources provide new opportunities for evolutionary genomics, numerous insights into recent speciation, a valuable database of functional variation for crop improvement, and tools for efficient conservation of wild rice germplasm.

Increased cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase drives neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not only a response to pathophysiological events, but also plays a causative role in neurodegeneration. Cytoplasmic cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase (CARS) is considered to be a stimulant for immune responses to diseases; however, it remains unknown whether CARS is involved in the pathogenesis of AD. METHODS: Postmortem human temporal cortical tissues at different Braak stages and AD patient-derived serum samples were used to investigate the changes of CARS levels in AD by immunocytochemical staining, real-time PCR, western blotting and ELISA. After that, C57BL/6J and APP/PS1 transgenic mice and BV-2 cell line were used to explore the role of CARS protein in memory and neuroinflammation, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Finally, the associations of morphological features among CARS protein, microglia and dense-core plaques were examined by immunocytochemical staining. RESULTS: A positive correlation was found between aging and the intensity of CARS immunoreactivity in the temporal cortex. Both protein and mRNA levels of CARS were increased in the temporal cortex of AD patients. Immunocytochemical staining revealed increased CARS immunoreactivity in neurons of the temporal cortex in AD patients. Moreover, overexpression of CARS in hippocampal neurons induced and aggravated cognitive dysfunction in C57BL/6J and APP/PS1 mice, respectively, accompanied by activation of microglia and the TLR2/MyD88 signaling pathway as well as upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines. In vitro experiments showed that CARS treatment facilitated the production of proinflammatory cytokines and the activation of the TLR2/MyD88 signaling pathway of BV-2 cells. The accumulation of CARS protein occurred within dense-core Aß plaques accompanied by recruitment of ameboid microglia. Significant upregulation of TLR2/MyD88 proteins was also observed in the temporal cortex of AD. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the neuronal CARS drives neuroinflammation and induces memory deficits, which might be involved in the pathogenesis of AD.

[Application prospect of new site-specific recombination systems in gene transformation and gene stacking].

Site-specific recombination technology provides an important means for regulating transgene expression and improving efficiency of gene transformation. This technique can lead to the translocation, inversion, deletion, and integration, and the expression of the affected genes can be manipulated in different tissues and organs at different developmental periods. Using site-specific recombination system in gene transformation, we can not only acquire plenty of transformants with precise structural fidelity and faithful expression, but also understand the function of new genes efficiently. Gene stacking technology based on the site-specific recombination can produce transgenic crops with good complex traits, which will accelerate the process of research and development of elite cultivars and provide technical support for the exploration of transgenic crops in China.

The expression of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II-alpha in the hippocampus of patients with Alzheimer's disease and its links with AD-related pathology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized pathologically by selective neuronal loss and by the formation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and senile plaques (SPs). Since calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II-alpha (CaMKII-alpha), one of the most abundant kinases in the brain, is involved in the phosphorylation of tau and amyloid precursor protein (APP), we examined the expression of CaMKII-alpha and its relationships with the neuropathology in the hippocampus of AD patients using immunohistochemistry and double-labeling immunofluorescence methods. The results showed that CaMKII-alpha containing neurons were selectively lost in the CA1 subfield of AD hippocampus and accompanied with enhanced immunoreactivity in the remaining neurons. About 33% hyperphosphorylated tau-containing neurons labeled by monoclonal antibody AT-8 were also immunoreactive for CaMKII-alpha. Moreover, we found for the first time that the immunoreactivity of CaMKII-alpha was largely deposited in the SPs of the AD hippocampus. The pattern of the co-localization of CaMKII-alpha with beta amyloid depended on the type of SPs. Since the co-localization of CaMKII-alpha with hyperphosphorylated tau is relatively rare, we concluded that CaMKII-alpha may be related with beta-amyloid more closely than being involved in tau hyperphosphorylation.

Effect of aging on species-typical behaviors in senescence-accelerated mouse.

The species-typical behaviors have been extensively studied, especially in the rodents. But little is known about whether the aging impacts on these species-typical behaviors. In the present study, the species-typical behaviors, including burrowing, hoarding and nesting, were assessed in the accelerated senescence-prone mouse 8 (SAMP8, P8) and the control strain senescence-resistant mouse 1 (SAMR1, R1). Total 147 SAM mice including 74 P8 mice and 73 R1 mice were grouped according to the age, 3, 7 and 11 months, respectively. In the hoarding test, an age-related increase was observed in the both P8 and R1 mice, whereas in the burrowing task, the age-related increment only took place in the P8 mice. The nesting ability in the P8 mice at different ages was inferior to that in the age-matched R1 mice, and the 3-month P8 mice showed the poorest nesting ability. The principal component analysis revealed that the burrowing, hoarding and nesting tests detected the different aspects of species-typical behaviors respectively for all mice combined. Our findings indicated that all tasks of hoarding, burrowing and nesting could detect the aging effect in the P8 mice, whereas, only the hoarding test could detect the aging effect in the R1 mice. These different species-typical behaviors were dissociable.

Accelerated senescence prone mouse-8 shows early onset of deficits in spatial learning and memory in the radial six-arm water maze.

Available data indicate that the senescence-accelerated prone mouse 8 (SAMP8) is an appropriate model of brain aging, with impairments in nonspatial learning and memory beginning as early as 2 months of age, and spatial learning and memory deficiencies not becoming apparent until after 4 months of age. However, with other strains (e.g., C57BL mice), the impairment in spatial memory was found earlier than that in nonspatial memory. We considered the possibility that the observed differences could be due to strain-specific differences in the training equipment. In the present study, a new optimized testing apparatus-the radial six-arm water maze (RAWM)-for detecting spatial learning and memory in mice, was employed, to determine whether there is impairment of spatial learning and memory in young SAMP8. The relationship between the spatial learning measures observed with the RAWM and the Morris maze, a classic spatial learning and memory testing apparatus, was also explored. It was found that, in the RAWM, rather than in the Morris maze, the impairment in spatial learning could be measured in SAMP8 mice as early as 3 months old, and the impairment in spatial memory in SAMP8 mice aged 5 months. These results suggested that the spatial learning and memory deficiencies could be found in early life of SAMP8 mice, and that RAWM and Morris maze each detect different aspects of spatial learning and memory.

Age- and sex-related disturbance in a battery of sensorimotor and cognitive tasks in Kunming mice.

A battery of tasks, i.e. beam walking, open field, tightrope, radial six-arm water maze (RAWM), novel-object recognition and olfactory discrimination, was used to determine whether there was age- and sex-related memory deterioration in Kunming (KM) mice, and whether these tasks are independent or correlated with each other. Two age groups of KM mice were used: a younger group (7-8 months old, 12 males and 11 females) and an older group (17-18 months old, 12 males and 12 females). The results showed that the spatial learning ability and memory in the RAWM were lower in older female KM mice relative to younger female mice and older male mice. Consistent with this, in the novel-object recognition task, a non-spatial cognitive task, older female mice but not older male mice had impairment of short-term memory. In olfactory discrimination, another non-spatial task, the older mice retained this ability. Interestingly, female mice performed better than males, especially in the younger group. The older females exhibited sensorimotor impairment in the tightrope task and low locomotor activity in the open-field task. Moreover, older mice spent a longer time in the peripheral squares of the open-field than younger ones. The non-spatial cognitive performance in the novel-object recognition and olfactory discrimination tasks was related to performance in the open-field, whereas the spatial cognitive performance in the RAWM was not related to performance in any of the three sensorimotor tasks. These results suggest that disturbance of spatial learning and memory, as well as selective impairment of non-spatial learning and memory, existed in older female KM mice.

Age-related spatial cognitive impairment is correlated with increase of synaptotagmin 1 in dorsal hippocampus in SAMP8 mice.

The age-related decline of learning and memory is a common phenomenon in humans and animals, even though the underlying mechanism is not yet known. In the present study, we propose that synaptotagmin 1 (Syt 1) might be a synaptic protein involved in the loss of learning and memory with aging. To test this hypothesis, the age-related spatial cognitive ability of 36 P8 mice (15 mice aged 4 months, 11 mice aged 8 months and 10 mice aged 13 months) was measured in a Morris water maze. After the behavioral test, both the protein and mRNA levels of Syt 1 were determined in the dorsal hippocampus by means of immunocytochemistry and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. In the Morris water maze, the latency of the 4-month mice to find the submerged platform was significantly shorter than that of the older mice, while there were no significant differences between the 8- and 13-month-old mice in this respect. Compared to the 4-month-old mice, the Syt 1 protein in the 13-month-old mice was significantly increased in almost all layers of each subfield of the hippocampus. The average level of Syt 1 mRNA in the dorsal hippocampus of the P8 mice had not changed with aging. The latency of the 13-month-old P8 mice tested in the Morris water maze was positively correlated with the Syt 1 immunoreactivity in four circuit-specific regions in the dorsal hippocampus. Interestingly, the latency in the Morris water maze was also positively correlated with the level of Syt 1 mRNA in the dorsal hippocampus in individual aged P8 mouse. These results suggest that increased Syt 1 in the dorsal hippocampus in aged mice might be responsible for the age-related impairment of learning and memory.