The SmMYC2-SmMYB36 complex is involved in methyl jasmonate-mediated tanshinones biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza.

The jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway plays an important role in promoting the biosynthesis of tanshinones. While individual transcription factors have been extensively studied in the context of tanshinones biosynthesis regulation, the influence of methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-induced transcriptional complexes remains unexplored. This study elucidates the positive regulatory role of the basic helix-loop-helix protein SmMYC2 in tanshinones biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza. SmMYC2 not only binds to SmGGPPS1 promoters, activating their transcription, but also interacts with SmMYB36. This interaction enhances the transcriptional activity of SmMYC2 on SmGGPPS1, thereby promoting tanshinones biosynthesis. Furthermore, we identified three JA signaling repressors, SmJAZ3, SmJAZ4, and SmJAZ8, which interact with SmMYC2. These repressors hindered the transcriptional activity of SmMYC2 on SmGGPPS1 and disrupted the interaction between SmMYC2 and SmMYB36. MeJA treatment triggered the degradation of SmJAZ3 and SmJAZ4, allowing the SmMYC2-SmMYB36 complex to subsequently activate the expression of SmGGPPS1, whereas SmJAZ8 inhibited MeJA-mediated degradation due to the absence of the LPIARR motif. These results demonstrate that the SmJAZ-SmMYC2-SmMYB36 module dynamically regulates the JA-mediated accumulation of tanshinones. Our results reveal a new regulatory network for the biosynthesis of tanshinones. This study provides valuable insight for future research on MeJA-mediated modulation of tanshinones biosynthesis.

[Construction of yeast two-hybrid library of Salvia miltiorrhiza and screening of SmJAZ8 interaction protein].

The study is aimed to construct high quality Salvia miltiorrhiza cDNA library and obtain the SmJAZ8 gene of S. miltiorrhiza by yeast two-hybrid system. In this study， full-length cDNA was synthesized from roots， stems， leaves， flowers and hairy roots of S. miltiorrhiza. The full-length cDNA library was synthesized by SMART method and constructed with DSN homogenization technique. The results showed that the library capacity was 1.45×106， the recombination rate was 100%， and the average size of the insert was 500-2 000 bp. The recombinant vector of pDEST-pGADT7-SmJAZ8 was constructed and transformed into Y2HGold strain. The interaction protein was screened by yeast two-hybrid system. The DnaJ protein and UBQ protein were screened by yeast two-hybrid system. This study has successfully constructed a full-length cDNA library of S. miltiorrhiza， and laid the foundation for the follow-up study on functional gene screening and gene function of S. miltiorrhiza.

Effect of SBRT plus immunotherapy on immune status and survival quality of NSCLC patients: A study of combined radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for more than 80% of all lung cancer populations. Stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) is mainly suitable for early NSCLC patients who are not suitable for surgery or refuse surgery. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) plus immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients on their immune status and survival quality. METHODS: NSCLC patients admitted to our hospital from 2019-2022 were divided into 61 cases in control group (SBRT) and 60 cases in observation group (SBRT plus immunotherapy) by the randomized numerical table method to compare the efficacy, the level of tumor markers in the serum, the level and activity of the immune cells in the peripheral blood and the Kahlil's functional status (KPS) scores. RESULTS: The observation group had a higher efficacy rate than that of the control group (P< 0.05). There was no statistical difference between the two groups in serum tumor marker content, immune cell level and activity in peripheral blood and KPS score before treatment (P> 0.05). After treatment, serum tumor markers were lower than those in control group, and immune cell level, NK cell-related activity and KPS score were higher than those in control group (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: SBRT plus immunotherapy can reduce the level of various tumor markers, improve the immune status and quality of survival for NSCLC patients.

Fast gelling, high performance MXene hydrogels for wearable sensors.

Hydrogel-based functional materials had attracted great attention in the fields of artificial intelligence, soft robotics, and motion monitoring. However, the gelation of hydrogels induced by free radical polymerization typically required heating, light exposure, and other conditions, limiting their practical applications and development in real-life scenarios. In this study, a simple and direct method was proposed to achieve rapid gelation at room temperature by incorporating reductive MXene sheets in conjunction with metal ions into the chitosan network and inducing the formation of a polyacrylamide network in an extremely short time (10 s). This resulted in a dual-network MXene-crosslinked conductive hydrogel composite that exhibited exceptional stretchability (1350 %), remarkably low dissipated energy (0.40 kJ m-3 at 100 % strain), high sensitivity (GF = 2.86 at 300-500 % strain), and strong adhesion to various substrate surfaces. The study demonstrated potential applications in the reliable detection of various motions, including repetitive fine movements and large-scale human body motions. This work provided a feasible platform for developing integrated wearable health-monitoring electronic systems.

High-Strength, Antiswelling Directional Layered PVA/MXene Hydrogel for Wearable Devices and Underwater Sensing.

Hydrogel sensors are widely utilized in soft robotics and tissue engineering due to their excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. However, in high-water environments, traditional hydrogels can experience significant swelling, leading to decreased mechanical and electrical performance, potentially losing shape, and sensing capabilities. This study addresses these challenges by leveraging the Hofmeister effect, coupled with directional freezing and salting-out techniques, to develop a layered, high-strength, tough, and antiswelling PVA/MXene hydrogel. In particular, the salting-out process enhances the self-entanglement of PVA, resulting in an S-PM hydrogel with a tensile strength of up to 2.87 MPa. Furthermore, the S-PM hydrogel retains its structure and strength after 7 d of swelling, with only a 6% change in resistance. Importantly, its sensing performance is improved postswelling, a capability rarely achievable in traditional hydrogels. Moreover, the S-PM hydrogel demonstrates faster response times and more stable resistance change rates in underwater tests, making it crucial for long-term continuous monitoring in challenging aquatic environments, ensuring sustained operation and monitoring.

Recent Advances in MXene-Based Fibers: Fabrication, Performance, and Application.

Two-dimensional transition metal carbide/nitrides (MXenes) have recently received extensive attention due to their diverse material types and versatile structures, large-scale production, and excellent properties. MXene sheets possess abundant hydrophilic functional groups on their surface, which enable them to be assembled into macroscopic fibers or compounded with other functional materials to produce composite fibers. This review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of MXene fibers in terms of their fabrication, structure, properties, and recent applications as flexible and wearable electronics. The review will discuss the principles of different methods used to synthesize MXene fibers and analyze the characteristics of the as-synthesized fibers, with a particular focus on the wet spinning method. The fundamental relationships between the microstructure of MXene fibers and their resulting mechanical and electrical properties will be explored. Furthermore, the review will elaborate on the progress made in MXene-based fibers in the rapidly growing field of wearable electronics applications, provide insights into future development of MXene fiber materials and propose solutions to the challenges facing practical applications.

Toxic mechanism of two cyanobacterial volatiles ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone on the photosynthesis in duckweed by altering gene expression.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) promote cyanobacteria dominating eutrophicated waters, with aquatic plant decrease and even disappearance. To uncover the toxic mechanism of cyanobacterial VOCs on aquatic plants, we investigated the growth, photosynthetic pigment levels, photosynthetic abilities and related gene expression in duckweed treated with ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone, 2 main components in the VOCs. The levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids gradually declined with raising the concentration of the 2 compounds and prolonging the treatment time. Their decline should result from the down-regulation of 8 genes associated with photosynthetic pigment biosynthesis and up-regulation of 2 genes involved in carotenoid degradation. The reduction was also found in the photosystem II (PSII) efficiency and O2 evolution rate, which should result from the lowered photosynthetic pigment levels and down-regulation of 38 genes related with photosynthetic process. The frond numbers, total frond area and fresh weight gradually decreased with raising the 2 compound concentration, which may result from the lowered photosynthetic abilities as well as down-regulated expression of 7 genes associated with growth-promoting hormone biosynthesis and signal transduction. It can be speculated that cyanobacterial VOCs may poison aquatic plants by lowering the photosynthesis and growth through altering related gene expression.

Both levoglucosan kinase activity and transport capacity limit the utilization of levoglucosan in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Manufacturing fuels and chemicals from cellulose materials is a promising strategy to achieve carbon neutralization goals. In addition to the commonly used enzymatic hydrolysis by cellulase, rapid pyrolysis is another way to degrade cellulose. The sugar obtained by fast pyrolysis is not glucose, but rather its isomer, levoglucosan (LG). Here, we revealed that both levoglucosan kinase activity and the transportation of levoglucosan are bottlenecks for LG utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a widely used cell factory. We revealed that among six heterologous proteins that had levoglucosan kinase activity, the 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid kinase from Rhodotorula toruloides was the best choice to construct levoglucosan-utilizing S. cerevisiae strain. Furthermore, we revealed that the amino acid residue Q341 and W455, which were located in the middle of the transport channel closer to the exit, are the sterically hindered barrier to levoglucosan transportation in Gal2p, a hexose transporter. The engineered yeast strain expressing the genes encoding the 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid kinase from R. toruloides and transporter mutant Gal2pQ341A or Gal2pW455A consumed ~ 4.2 g L-1 LG in 48 h, which is the fastest LG-utilizing S. cerevisiae strain to date.

Helicopter parenting and depressive level among non-clinical Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model.

BACKGROUND: Helicopter parenting has been one of major contributing factors to depression, and the occurrence of severe depressive level has been increasing in college students. Based on self-determinant theory (SDT), previous studies have indicated the pathway between helicopter parenting and depressive level, especially focusing on the roles of basic psychological needs, self-control and teacher autonomy support. But few studies focused on the full model of these interactive factors and the Chinese non-clinical college students. METHODS: Non-clinical college students (n = 648), aging from 17 to 28 years old, were recruited as participants from universities in Guangzhou, China, in 2020. The participants were asked to complete five self-report questionnaires, including Helicopter Parenting Scale (HPS), Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ), Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS), Self-Control Scale (SCS), and Beck Depression Scale-II (BDI-II). RESULTS: Results have revealed that basic psychological needs and self-control played a chain-type mediating role between helicopter parenting and depressive scores among non-clinical Chinese college students. In addition, the path between helicopter parenting and basic psychological needs was moderated by teacher autonomy support. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals a potential pathway of how helicopter parenting influence the depressive level among non-clinical college students in the context of Chinese background. These findings give multi-dimensional (parents, teachers, and college students) indications for reducing the effects of helicopter parenting on depressive level among non-clinical Chinese college students, which will be helpful for improving their mental health. However, this is a cross-sectional study and other factors may also play important roles in this pathway.

A sodium alginate-based nano-pesticide delivery system for enhanced in vitro photostability and insecticidal efficacy of phloxine B.

To improve in vitro photostability and enhance insecticidal activity, a novel esterase/glutathione (GSH) responsive photoactivated nano-pesticide delivery system was synthesized by conjugation of photoactivated pesticide phloxine B(PB) to sodium alginate (SA) via esterase/GSH sensitive phenolic ester bond followed by ultrasonic dispersion. The system was stable in PBS (pH 7.4) and could protect effectively the conjugated PB from in vitro photodegradation because of aggregation-caused quenching effect, whose maximum photodegradation rate did not exceed 10 % after 270 min illumination. However, upon exposure to esterase-6 or GSH stimulus, high photoactivity was observed due to the destruction of the system and accompanied by PB release. The combined stimulation could trigger more PB release than any single stimulus and thus resulting in a higher photoactivity. Compared with free PB, The system showed a higher phototoxicity on Sf9 insect cells and the in vitro light exposure had little influence on the phototoxicity.

A Thi2p Regulatory Network Controls the Post-glucose Effect of Xylose Utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The complete and efficient utilization of both glucose and xylose is necessary for the economically viable production of biofuels and chemicals using lignocellulosic feedstocks. Although recently obtained recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains metabolize xylose well when xylose is the sole carbon source in the medium (henceforth referred to as "X stage"), their xylose consumption rate is significantly reduced during the xylose-only consumption phase of glucose-xylose co-fermentation ("GX stage"). This post-glucose effect seriously decreases overall fermentation efficiency. We showed in previous work that THI2 deletion can alleviate this post-glucose effect, but the underlying mechanisms were ill-defined. In the present study, we profiled the transcriptome of a thi2Δ strain growing at the GX stage. Thi2p in GX stage cells regulates genes involved in the cell cycle, stress tolerance, and cell viability. Importantly, the regulation of Thi2p differs from a previous regulatory network that functions when glucose is the sole carbon source, which suggests that the function of Thi2p depends on the carbon source. Modeling research seeking to optimize metabolic engineering via TFs should account for this important carbon source difference. Building on our initial study, we confirmed that several identified factors did indeed increase fermentation efficiency. Specifically, overexpressing STT4, RGI2, and TFC3 increases specific xylose utilization rate of the strain by 36.9, 29.7, 42.8%, respectively, in the GX stage of anaerobic fermentation. Our study thus illustrates a promising strategy for the rational engineering of yeast for lignocellulosic ethanol production.