Glomus versiforme and intercropping with Sphagneticola calendulacea decrease Cd accumulation in maize.

Little information is available on the influence of the compound use of intercropping (IN) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) on Cd accumulation and the expression of Cd transporter genes in two intercropped plants. A pot experiment was conducted to study the influences of IN and AMF-Glomus versiforme on growth and Cd uptake of two intercropped plants-maize and Cd hyperaccumulator Sphagneticola calendulacea, and the expression of Cd transporter genes in maize in Cd-polluted soils. IN, AMF and combined treatments of IN and AMF (IN + AMF) obviously improved biomass, photosynthesis and total antioxidant capacities of two plants. Moreover, single and compound treatments of IN and AMF evidently reduced Cd contents in maize, and the greatest decreases appeared in the compound treatment. However, Cd contents of S. calendulacea in IN, AMF and IN + AMF groups were notably improved. Furthermore, the single and compound treatments of IN and AMF significantly downregulated the expression levels of Nramp1, HMA1, ABCC1 and ABCC10 in roots and leaves, and the largest decreases were observed in the combined treatment. Our work first revealed that the combined use of IN and AMF appeared to have a synergistic effect on decreasing Cd content by downregulating the expression of Cd transporter genes in maize.

The intercropping and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus decrease Cd accumulation in upland rice and improve phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil by Sphagneticola calendulacea (L.) Pruski.

Little is known about the impact of the combined application of intercropping and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) on the plant growth and Cd accumulation in the two intercropped plants. A greenhouse pot experiment was performed to investigate the effects of intercropping (IC) and AMF-Glomus versiforme (GV) on the growth, photosynthesis, Cd accumulation and antioxidant activities in the two intercropped plants-upland rice and Cd hyperaccumulator Sphagneticola calendulacea (L.) Pruski in the soils added with 5 mg Cd kg-1. It was found that the GV inoculation and the combined treatment of IC and GV (IC + GV) significantly (p < 0.05) increased the biomasses and the P contents of upland rice and S. calendulacea. In addition, the Cd concentrations and uptakes of plants in IC, GV and IC + GV treatments were significantly (p < 0.05) dropped in upland rice but increased in S. calendulacea compared with the monocropping control, and the compound treatment showed better effect on decreasing Cd accumulation in upland rice (especially grains) and increasing Cd uptake by S. calendulacea compared with the single intercropping or AMF treatment. Moreover, IC, GV and IC + GV treatments significantly (p < 0.05) improved the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of the two intercropped plants. Finally, IC, GV and IC + GV treatments all significantly increased the catalase activities and total antioxidant capacities, while decreased the malondialdehyde contents in upland rice and S. calendulacea. The present work could provide a feasible strategy for safe production of upland rice and phytoremediation of Cd contaminated soils.

Transcriptome analysis shows that Glomus versiforme decrease the accumulation and toxicity of cadmium in Ipomoea aquatic Forsk.

So far, the physiological and molecular mechanisms of the impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) on Cd absorption, transport and detoxification in Ipomoea aquatica (water spinach) are still unclear. In the present study, a pot experiment was performed to investigate the impact of AMF-Glomus versiforme (Gv) on the photosynthetic characteristics, Cd uptake, antioxidative system and transcriptome in water spinach in the soils supplemented with 5 mg Cd kg-1. Gv inoculation improved significantly the photosynthetic characteristics and growth of water spinach. Furthermore, Gv colonization significantly promoted the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and glutathione reductase (GR), contents of glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (AsA), and the total antioxidant capacity (TCA), but decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content in water spinach. In addition, Gv inoculation significantly increased pH in rhizosphere soils and decreased the Cd concentrations and uptakes in water spinach. Importantly, 2670 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened in water spinach root colonized with Gv in 5 mg Cd kg-1 soil, of which 2008 DEGs were upregulated and 662 DEGs were downregulated. Especially, the expression levels of POD, CAT, GR, dehydroascorbate reductase 2 (DHAR2), glutathione S-transferase U8 (GSTU8) and glutathione synthetase (GSHS) and cytochrome P450 (Cyt P450) genes were significantly up-regulated in water spinach inoculated with Gv. Meanwhile, the plant cadmium resistance protein 2 (PCR2), metal tolerance protein 4 (MTP4), ATP-binding cassette transporter C family member (ABCC), ABC-yeast cadmium factor 1 (ABC-YCF1) and metallothionein (MT) genes were also up-regulated in mycorrhizal water spinach. Our results firstly elucidated the mechanism by which AMF reduced the uptake and phytotoxicity of Cd in water spinach through a transcriptome analysis.

[Association between estrogen receptor beta gene polymorphism and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy in the Uygurs and the Hans pregnant women].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) gene polymorphisms between the Uygurs and the Hans in Urumqi and the association of the polymorphisms with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). METHODS: ICP cases and controls from a hospital were recruited from April 2008 to April 2011,and a total of 105 ICP patients in Uygurs case group and 105 ICP patients in Hans case group were randomly selected, meanwhile, 105 Uygurs and 105 Hans healthy pregnant women were recruited as control group. The distribution of Rsa I and Alu I of ERbeta gene polymorphism were analyzed by PCR amplification and restriction and other molecular biology approaches. Data were analyzed by chi2 and Fisher exact probability. RESULTS: In Uygurs case group, the genotype frequencies of rr, Rr,RR,aa, Aa and AA were 39.0% (41 cases), 50.5% (53 cases), 10.5% (11 cases), 62.7% (66 cases), 30.5% (32 cases), 6.8% (7 cases). In Uygurs control group, the frequencies were 21.0% (22 cases), 56.2% (59 cases), 22.8% (24 cases), 80.0% (84 cases), 18.1% (19 cases), 1.9% (2 cases). In Hans case group, the genotype frequencies of rr, Rr, RR, aa, Aa and AA were 40. 0% (42 cases), 45.7% (48 cases), 14.3% (15 cases), 66.7% (70 cases), 29.5% (31 cases), 3.8% (4 cases). In Hans control group,the frequencies were 29.5% (31 cases), 57.2% (60 cases), 13.3% (14 cases), 74.2% (78 cases), 23.8% (25 cases), 2.0% (2 cases). The genotype frequencies were not statistically significant between the two case groups and between the two control groups (all P values > 0.05), and between two Hans groups (P > 0.05). The frequencies of RRaa in the Uygur case group was lower(4. 76% ,5 cases)than control group (13.33%, 14 cases) (P <0.05), while the frequencies of rrAa in the Uygur case group was significantly higher (14. 29% ,15 cases)than control group (2.86%, 3 cases) (all P values < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The distribution of ERbeta gene polymorphism is of no significant difference between the Uygurs and Hans, ERbeta gene polymorphism may correlate with pathogenesis of ICP in the Uygurs other than in the Hans, and rrAa might be risk factor for ICP in the Uygurs.

Statistical Approach to Decreasing the Error Rate of Noninvasive Prenatal Aneuploid Detection caused by Maternal Copy Number Variation.

Analyses of cell-free fetal DNA (cff-DNA) from maternal plasma using massively parallel sequencing enable the noninvasive detection of feto-placental chromosome aneuploidy; this technique has been widely used in clinics worldwide. Noninvasive prenatal tests (NIPT) based on cff-DNA have achieved very high accuracy; however, they suffer from maternal copy-number variations (CNV) that may cause false positives and false negatives. In this study, we developed an algorithm to exclude the effect of maternal CNV and refined the Z-score that is used to determine fetal aneuploidy. The simulation results showed that the algorithm is robust against variations of fetal concentration and maternal CNV size. We also introduced a method based on the discrepancy between feto-placental concentrations to help reduce the false-positive ratio. A total of 6615 pregnant women were enrolled in a prospective study to validate the accuracy of our method. All 106 fetuses with T21, 20 with T18, and three with T13 were tested using our method, with sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 99.97%. In the results, two cases with maternal duplications in chromosome 21, which were falsely predicted as T21 by the previous NIPT method, were correctly classified as normal by our algorithm, which demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.

[Relationship between p53, bax and bcl-2 expression and cell apoptosis in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of gene p53, bax and bcl-2 expression and to study the role on cell apoptosis in placenta through apoptosis in placenta with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). METHODS: TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and immuno-histochemistry methods were used for 31 placental samples with ICP and 31 normal placental samples to detect apoptosis index and the expression of p53, bax and bcl-2 in placenta tissues. RESULTS: The apoptosis index in placental cytotrophoblast, syncytiotrophoblast, decidual cells and mediate cell on ICP group was significantly higher than that in control group (P < 0.01). The expression of p53 was higher than those of control. Bax expression in syncytoitrophoblast, decidual cell and mediate cell in ICP group was higher (P < 0.01), but the expression of bax in placental cytotrophoblast cell was not significantly higher (P > 0.05). The expression of bcl-2 of these positions in ICP group was lower than that in control group (P < 0.01) p53, bax and bcl-2 expressions in (chi +/- s)% in the syncytoitrophoblast cells of placenta with ICP is 75.9 +/- 8.2, 65.8 +/- 13.8, 45.3 +/- 11.3. CONCLUSION: The placental dysfunction may closely relate to the apoptosis. Abnormal overexpression of p53, bax and the low expression of bcl-2 on placental tissue of ICP was the main reason of placental apoptosis.