Transcription factor OsWRKY11 induces rice heading at low concentrations but inhibits rice heading at high concentrations.

The heading date of rice is a crucial agronomic characteristic that influences its adaptability to different regions and its productivity potential. Despite the involvement of WRKY transcription factors in various biological processes related to development, the precise mechanisms through which these transcription factors regulate the heading date in rice have not been well elucidated. The present study identified OsWRKY11 as a WRKY transcription factor which exhibits a pivotal function in the regulation of the heading date in rice through a comprehensive screening of a clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) ‒ CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 mutant library that specifically targets the WRKY genes in rice. The heading date of oswrky11 mutant plants and OsWRKY11-overexpressing plants was delayed compared with that of the wild-type plants under short-day and long-day conditions. Mechanistic investigation revealed that OsWRKY11 exerts dual effects on transcriptional promotion and suppression through direct and indirect DNA binding, respectively. Under normal conditions, OsWRKY11 facilitates flowering by directly inducing the expression of OsMADS14 and OsMADS15. The presence of elevated levels of OsWRKY11 protein promote formation of a ternary protein complex involving OsWRKY11, Heading date 1 (Hd1), and Days to heading date 8 (DTH8), and this complex then suppresses the expression of Ehd1, which leads to a delay in the heading date. Subsequent investigation revealed that a mild drought condition resulted in a modest increase in OsWRKY11 expression, promoting heading. Conversely, under severe drought conditions, a significant upregulation of OsWRKY11 led to the suppression of Ehd1 expression, ultimately causing a delay in heading date. Our findings uncover a previously unacknowledged mechanism through which the transcription factor OsWRKY11 exerts a dual impact on the heading date by directly and indirectly binding to the promoters of target genes.

Construction and characterization of a humanized SLCO1B1 rat model with its application in evaluating the uptake of different statins.

Organic anion-transporting polypeptides 1B1 (OATP1B1) plays a crucial role in the transport of statins. However, there are too few animal models related to OATP1B1, especially humanized animal models. In this study, the human SLCO1B1 cDNA was inserted into the second exon of the rat Slco1b2 gene using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Pharmacokinetic characteristics of statins were conducted in wild-type (WT), humanized OATP1B1 (hOATP1B1), and OATP1B2 knockout (OATP1B2 KO) rats, respectively. The results showed that human OATP1B1 was successfully expressed in rat liver and exhibited transport function. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic results revealed that OATP1B1 exhibited varying uptake levels of pivastatin, rosuvastatin, and fluvastatin, leading to different levels of exposure within the body. These results were consistent with those obtained from in vitro experiments using overexpressed cell lines. In conclusion, we established a novel humanized SLCO1B1 transgenic rat model to assess the role of human OATP1B1 in the uptake of different statins. The different uptake mediated by OATP1B1 may be an important reason for the different efficacy of statins. The hOATP1B1 rat is a promising model for improving the prediction of human drug transport.

Effect of Ce doping on the structure-activity relationship of MoVO x composite metal oxides.

A series of Ce-doped MoVO x composite metal oxide catalysts were prepared by the rotary evaporation method. The effects of Ce doping ratio on the crystal phase composition, morphology and surface properties of the catalysts were investigated. The results show that the crystal phase composition of samples with different Ce doping content is also obviously different. When the doping amount is small, V0.95Mo0.97O5 is the main crystal phase, while MoO3 is dominant when the doping amount is large. The Ce-doped catalyst showed obvious rod-shaped morphology and its average single point pore diameter and the number of acidic sites increased. Compared to the un-doped MoVO x , the pore size of the sample synthesized at a Mo/Ce atomic ratio of 10/1 exhibited an increase of 41.11 nm. In addition, the effect of Ce doping on the catalytic performance of MoVO x was investigated with the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol as a probe reaction. After doping, the MoVO x catalyst showed improved benzyl alcohol conversion and selectivity to benzaldehyde. At a Mo/Ce atomic ratio of 10/1, the conversion rate of benzyl alcohol reaches 83.26%, which is 64.56% higher than that without doping, and the highest product yield can reach 76.47%.

Facile sub-/supercritical water synthesis of nanoflake MoVTeNbO x -mixed metal oxides without post-heat treatment and their catalytic performance.

A fast and simple sub-/supercritical water synthesis method is presented in this work in which MoVTeNbO x -mixed metal oxides with various phase compositions and morphologies could be synthesized without post-heat treatment. It was demonstrated that the system temperature for synthesis had a significant influence on the physico-chemical properties of MoVTeNbO x . Higher temperatures were beneficial for the formation of a mixed crystalline phase containing TeVO4, Te3Mo2V2O17, Mo4O11 and TeO2, which are very different from the crystalline phases of conventional Mo-V-Te-Nb-mixed metal oxides. While at lower temperatures, Mo4O11 was replaced by Te. At high temperature, the as-prepared samples presented distinct nanoflake morphologies with an average size of 10-60 nm in width and exhibited excellent catalytic performances in the selective oxidation of propylene to acrylic acid. It is illustrated that the large specific surface area, presence of Mo4O11 and superficial Mo6+ and Te4+ ions are responsible for the high propylene conversion, while suitable acidic sites and superficial Nb5+ ions improved the selectivity to acrylic acid.

TPX2 in malignantly transformed human bronchial epithelial cells by anti-benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide.

In order to elucidate the function of the targeting protein for Xenopus kinesin-like protein 2 (Xklp2) (TPX2) in the malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cells induced by anti-benzo[a]pyrene-trans-7, 8-dihydrodiol-9, 10-epoxide (anti-BPDE), TPX2 was characterized in cells at both the gene and the protein levels. TPX2 was present at higher levels in 16HBE-C cells than in 16HBE cells as demonstrated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, immunocytochemistry, Western blot analysis and RT-PCR. TPX2 was also detected in lung squamous-cell carcinoma tissues by immunohistochemistry, but not in normal lung tissues. Depression of TPX2 by RNA interference in 16HBE-C cells led to a decrease in cell proliferation, S-phase cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis. Abnormal TPX2 tyrosine phosphorylation was detected in 16HBE-C cells, and this could be inhibited, to different degrees, by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Inhibiting tyrosine phosphorylation in 16HBE-C cells by three selected tyrosine protein kinase inhibitors, tyrphostin 47, AG112 and AG555, caused G(0)/G(1)-phase cell cycle arrest. Our results suggest that anti-BPDE can cause the over-expression of TPX2 and its aberrant tyrosine phosphorylation. Misregulation of TPX2 affects the cell cycle state, proliferation rates and apoptosis.