Knockdown of Long Noncoding RNA 01124 Inhibits the Malignant Behaviors of Colon Cancer Cells via miR-654-5p/HAX-1.

Background: Previous studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a key role in cancer, including colon cancer (CC). However, the exact role of long noncoding RNA 01124 (LINC01124) in CC and its mechanisms of action remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the functional effects and the possible mechanism of LINC01124 in CC. Methods: We first determined the expression of LINC01124 in CC tissues (The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database) and cell lines (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR)). Functional analysis via Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, cell cycle, wound healing and Transwell assays were performed, and a mechanistic experiment was performed with the western blotting. The function of LINC01124 was also determined in vivo using nude BALB/c mice. Results: The results showed that LINC01124 was upregulated in CC tissues and cell lines. Functional studies showed that knockdown of LINC01124 significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Subsequent mechanistic experiments indicated that LINC01124 acted as a sponge to suppress microRNA 654-5p, which targeted HAX-1. Downregulation of LINC01124 decreased the expression of HAX-1, and overexpression of the miR-654-5p inhibitor attenuated the sh-LINC01124-induced inhibition of CC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Conclusion: Collectively, this study revealed that the knockdown of LINC01124 inhibited the malignant behaviors of CC via the miR-654-5p/HAX-1 axis, suggesting that LINC01124 might be a therapeutic target for CC treatment.

[Effects of nitrogen application rate on the growth traits in seedlings of different quinoa cultivars]. / 施氮量对不同藜麦品种幼苗生长的影响.

Effects of five different nitrogen application rates (i.e., N0, 0 g·kg-1; N1, 0.05 g·kg-1; N2, 0.1 g·kg-1; N3, 0.15 g·kg-1; N4, 0.2 g·kg-1) on the growth of seedlings of eight different quinoa cultivars were investigated in a pot experiment. The results showed that: 1) Across different nitrogen application rates, cultivar GB22 and OY had the highest biomass, but cultivar B2 had the lowest value. The highest flower mass ratio, stem mass ratio, root mass ratio, and leaf mass ratio were found in cultivar B2, GB22, R1, and W23, respectively. 2) The rate of nitrogen application significantly affected seedling growth. Compared with the control (N0), the maximum net photosynthetic rate and biomass accumulation were significantly higher in the lower nitrogen applications (i.e., N1 and N2 treatments), but were lower in the higher nitrogen applications (i.e., N3 and N4 treatments). The significant interactions between cultivar and nitrogen application rate on plant biomass indicated that different quinoa cultivars responded differently to nitrogen rate. The optimum nitrogen application rate (Nopt) required for cultivar R1, MY11, GB22 and OY was 0.05 g·kg-1; while that of cultivar GB11, DB, and B2 was 0.1 g·kg-1; but for cultivar W23, Nopt was less than 0.05 g·kg-1. 3) The interactions between cultivar and nitrogen application rate significantly affected biomass allocation. Below the highest nitrogen rate used (i.e., less than 0.2 g·kg-1), the flower and leaf biomass allocation increased with the increasing nitrogen rates. 4) Across different cultivars and nitrogen application rates, plant biomass was positively correlated to the maximum net photosynthetic rate, plant height, ground diameter, and specific leaf area, respectively. These results provided valuable information for the nutrition management of different quinoa cultivars.

Comparative physiological and biochemical mechanisms of salt tolerance in five contrasting highland quinoa cultivars.

BACKGROUND: Chenopodium quinoa Willd., a halophytic crop, shows great variability among different genotypes in response to salt. To investigate the salinity tolerance mechanisms, five contrasting quinoa cultivars belonging to highland ecotype were compared for their seed germination (under 0, 100 and 400 mM NaCl) and seedling's responses under five salinity levels (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mM NaCl). RESULTS: Substantial variations were found in plant size (biomass) and overall salinity tolerance (plant biomass in salt treatment as % of control) among the different quinoa cultivars. Plant salinity tolerance was negatively associated with plant size, especially at lower salinity levels (< 300 mM NaCl), but salt tolerance between seed germination and seedling growth was not closely correlated. Except for shoot/root ratio, all measured plant traits responded to salt in a genotype-specific way. Salt stress resulted in decreased plant height, leaf area, root length, and root/shoot ratio in each cultivar. With increasing salinity levels, leaf superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and lipid peroxidation generally increased, but catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities showed non-linear patterns. Organic solutes (soluble sugar, proline and protein) accumulated in leaves, whereas inorganic ion (Na+ and K+) increased but K+/Na+ decreased in both leaves and roots. Across different salinity levels and cultivars, without close relationships with antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, or CAT), salinity tolerance was significantly negatively correlated with organic solute and malondialdehyde contents in leaves and inorganic ion contents in leaves or roots (except for root K+ content), but positively correlated with K+/Na+ ratio in leaves or roots. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that leaf osmoregulation, K+ retention, Na+ exclusion, and ion homeostasis are the main physiological mechanisms conferring salinity tolerance of these cultivars, rather than the regulations of leaf antioxidative ability. As an index of salinity tolerance, K+/Na+ ratio in leaves or roots can be used for the selective breeding of highland quinoa cultivars.

Yield and resource use efficiency of Plukenetia volubilis plants at two distinct growth stages as affected by irrigation and fertilization.

This study is to test how seedlings (vegetative) and large plants (reproductive) of an oilseed crop (Plukenetia volubilis) responded to regulated deficit irrigation techniques (conventional deficit irrigation, DI; alternative partial root-zone irrigation, APRI) in a tropical humid monsoon area. Seedlings were more sensitive to water deficit than large plants. Although APRI did better than DI in saving water for both seedlings and large plants at the same amount of irrigation, full irrigation (FI) is optimal for faster seedling growth at the expense of water-use efficiency (WUE). The seed number per unit area was responsible for the total seed oil yield, largely depending on the active process of carbon and nitrogen storages at the whole-plant level. The magnitude of the increase in total seed and seed oil yield by fertilization was similar under different irrigation regimes. Compared with FI, DI can save water, but reduced the total seed yield and had lower agronomic nutrient-use efficiency (NUEagr); whereas APRI had similar total seed yield and NUEagr, but reduced water use greatly. Although the dual goal of increasing the yield and saving water was not compatible, maintaining a high yield and NUEagr at the cost of WUE is recommended for P. volubilis plantation in t he water-rich areas.

Seasonal differences in leaf-level physiology give lianas a competitive advantage over trees in a tropical seasonal forest.

Lianas are an important component of most tropical forests, where they vary in abundance from high in seasonal forests to low in seasonal forests. We tested the hypothesis that the physiological ability of lianas to fix carbon (and thus grow) during seasonal drought may confer a distinct advantage in seasonal tropical forests, which may explain pan-tropical liana distributions. We compared a range of leaf-level physiological attributes of 18 co-occurring liana and 16 tree species during the wet and dry seasons in a tropical seasonal forest in Xishuangbanna, China. We found that, during the wet season, lianas had significantly higher CO(2) assimilation per unit mass (A(mass)), nitrogen concentration (N(mass)), and delta(13)C values, and lower leaf mass per unit area (LMA) than trees, indicating that lianas have higher assimilation rates per unit leaf mass and higher integrated water-use efficiency (WUE), but lower leaf structural investments. Seasonal variation in CO(2) assimilation per unit area (A(area)), phosphorus concentration per unit mass (P(mass)), and photosynthetic N-use efficiency (PNUE), however, was significantly lower in lianas than in trees. For instance, mean tree A(area) decreased by 30.1% from wet to dry season, compared with only 12.8% for lianas. In contrast, from the wet to dry season mean liana delta(13)C increased four times more than tree delta(13)C, with no reduction in PNUE, whereas trees had a significant reduction in PNUE. Lianas had higher A(mass) than trees throughout the year, regardless of season. Collectively, our findings indicate that lianas fix more carbon and use water and nitrogen more efficiently than trees, particularly during seasonal drought, which may confer a competitive advantage to lianas during the dry season, and thus may explain their high relative abundance in seasonal tropical forests.

[Variation patterns of Coptis teeta biomass and its major active compounds along an altitude gradient].

An investigation was made on the biomass and major active compounds of wild and cultivated Coptis teeta along an altitude gradient in Nujiang of Yunnan. The results showed that the rhizome and root biomass of wild C. teeta increased from the altitude 2100 m to 2700 m, but the difference was not significant. The rhizome biomass of cultivated C. teeta was 87.5 kg x hm(-2) at 2600 m and 97.0 kg x hm(-2) at 2700 m, being much higher than 34.8 kg x hm(-2) at 2300 m (P < 0.05). At the same altitudes (2300 m, 2600 m, and 2700 m), cultivated C. teeta had higher rhizome and root biomass than wild C. teeta, but the difference was not significant. There was a significant positive correlation between the rhizome and root biomass and the whole plant biomass of wild C. teeta. Wild C. teeta had the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.60%) and root (1.93%) at 2700 m, plamatinein in rhizome, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome and root at 2600-2700 m, and plamatinein in root at 2 300 m; while cultivated C. teeta had the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.41%) and root (1.90%) at 2600 m, plamatinein in rhizome and root, and berberine and jatrorrhizine in root at 2600-2700 m, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome at 2300 m. The content of major active compounds in wild C. teeta rhizome and root were significantly higher at 2600 m and 2700 m than at 2100 m and 2300 m (P < 0.05), and the rhizome biomass, root biomass, leaf biomass, total biomass, height, and canopy diameter of wild C. teeta ramet increased first and decreased then from the altitude 2100 m to 2700 m. Increasing planting density and enhancing artificial management could improve the biomass of C. teeta and its major active compounds concentrations.

Seedling growth strategies in Bauhinia species: comparing lianas and trees.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lianas are expected to differ from trees in their growth strategies. As a result these two groups of woody species will have different spatial distributions: lianas are more common in high light environments. This study determines the differences in growth patterns, biomass allocation and leaf traits in five closely related liana and tree species of the genus Bauhinia. METHODS: Seedlings of two light-demanding lianas (Bauhinia tenuiflora and B. claviflora), one shade-tolerant liana (B. aurea), and two light-demanding trees (B. purpurea and B. monandra) were grown in a shadehouse at 25% of full sunlight. A range of physiological, morphological and biomass parameters at the leaf and whole plant level were compared among these five species. KEY RESULTS: The two light-demanding liana species had higher relative growth rate (RGR), allocated more biomass to leaf production [higher leaf mass fraction (LMF) and higher leaf area ratio (LAR)] and stem mass fraction (SMF), and less biomass to the roots [root mass fraction (RMF)] than the two tree species. The shade-tolerant liana had the lowest RGR of all five species, and had a higher RMF, lower SMF and similar LMF than the two light-demanding liana species. The two light-demanding lianas had lower photosynthetic rates per unit area (A(area)) and similar photosynthetic rates per unit mass (A(mass)) than the trees. Across species, RGR was positively related to SLA, but not to LAR and A(area). CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the faster growth of light-demanding lianas compared with light-demanding trees is based on morphological parameters (SLA, LMF and LAR), and cannot be attributed to higher photosynthetic rates at the leaf level. The shade-tolerant liana exhibited a slow-growth strategy, compared with the light-demanding species.