Dynamic characteristics and functional analysis provide new insights into the role of GauERF105 for resistance against Verticillium dahliae in cotton.

BACKGROUND: The cotton industry suffers significant yield losses annually due to Verticillium wilt, which is considered the most destructive disease affecting the crop. However, the precise mechanisms behind this disease in cotton remain largely unexplored. METHODS: Our approach involved utilizing transcriptome data from G. australe which was exposed to Verticillium dahliae infection. From this data, we identified ethylene-responsive factors and further investigated their potential role in resistance through functional validations via Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in cotton and overexpression in Arabidopsis. RESULTS: A total of 23 ethylene response factors (ERFs) were identified and their expression was analyzed at different time intervals (24 h, 48 h, and 72 h post-inoculation). Among them, GauERF105 was selected based on qRT-PCR expression analysis for further investigation. To demonstrate the significance of GauERF105, VIGS was utilized, revealing that suppressing GauERF105 leads to more severe infections in cotton plants compared to the wild-type. Additionally, the silenced plants exhibited reduced lignin deposition in the stems compared to the WT plants, indicating that the silencing of GauERF105 also impacts lignin content. The overexpression of GauERF105 in Arabidopsis confirmed its pivotal role in conferring resistance against Verticillium dahliae infection. Our results suggest that WT possesses higher levels of the oxidative stress markers MDA and H2O2 as compared to the overexpressed lines. In contrast, the activities of the antioxidant enzymes SOD and POD were higher in the overexpressed lines compared to the WT. Furthermore, DAB and trypan staining of the overexpressed lines suggested a greater impact of the disease in the wild-type compared to the transgenic lines. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide confirmation that GauERF105 is a crucial candidate in the defense mechanism of cotton against Verticillium dahliae invasion, and plays a pivotal role in this process. These results have the potential to facilitate the development of germplasm resistance in cotton.

A Randomized Trial Comparing the NeoVas Sirolimus-Eluting Bioresorbable Scaffold and Metallic Everolimus-Eluting Stents.

OBJECTIVES: The authors sought to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the NeoVas bioresorbable scaffold (BRS) compared with metallic drug-eluting stents. BACKGROUND: BRS have the potential to improve very late outcomes compared with metallic drug-eluting stents, but some BRS have been associated with increased rates of device thrombosis before complete bioresorption. NeoVas is a new poly-l-lactic acid BRS that elutes sirolimus from a poly-D, l-lactide coating. METHODS: Eligible patients with a single de novo native coronary artery lesion with a reference vessel diameter 2.5 to 3.75 mm and a lesion length ≤20 mm were randomized 1:1 to NeoVas BRS versus cobalt-chromium everolimus-eluting stents (CoCr-EES). Angiographic follow-up was performed in all patients at 1 year. The primary endpoint was angiographic in-segment late loss (LL), and the major secondary endpoint was the rate of angina. Baseline and follow-up optical coherence tomography and fractional flow reserve were performed in a pre-specified subgroup of patients. RESULTS: The authors randomized 560 patients at 32 centers to treatment with NeoVas (n = 278) versus CoCr-EES (n = 282). One-year in-segment LL with NeoVas and CoCr-EES were 0.14 ± 0.36 mm versus 0.11 ± 0.34 mm (difference 0.03 mm; upper 1-sided 97.5% confidence interval 0.09 mm; pnoninferiority < 0.0001; psuperiority = 0.36). Clinical outcomes at 1 year were similar in the 2 groups, as were the rates of recurrent angina (27.9% vs. 32.1%; p = 0.26). Optical coherence tomography at 1 year demonstrated a higher proportion of covered struts (98.7% vs. 96.2%; p < 0.001), less strut malapposition (0% vs. 0.6%; p <0.001), and a smaller minimal lumen area (4.71 ± 1.64 vs. 6.00 ± 2.15 mm2; p < 0.001) with NeoVas compared with CoCr-EES respectively, with nonsignificant differences in fractional flow reserve (0.89 ± 0.08 vs. 0.91 ± 0.06; p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: The NeoVas BRS was noninferior to CoCr-EES for the primary endpoint of 1-year angiographic in-segment LL, and resulted in comparable 1-year clinical outcomes, including recurrent angina. (NeoVas Bioresorbable Coronary Scaffold Randomized Controlled Trial; NCT02305485).

Multi-link Vision and MiniVision stent registry in Asian patients with coronary artery disease: a prospective, multi-center study.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have showed that the fine mesh stents are associated with a significant reduction in both clinical and angiographic re-stenosis of the coronary arteries. To maintain a very satisfactory radio-opacity using the stents, Guidant of the USA has designed a new type of bare metal stents (BMS)-Multi-link (ML) Vision/ML MiniVision stents. The clinical outcomes of Asian patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) after implanting the Multi-link Vision or MiniVision stent were investigated in this study. METHODS: An observational, prospective, multi-center, non-randomized post marketing registry was conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the BMS-ML Vision/ML MiniVision stents. The primary end point of the registry was clinical target lesion revascularization (TLR) at a 6-month follow-up. The major secondary end points included the rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and serious adverse events (SAE) in hospital and at 6 months; and the rate of clinical TLR as a function of the type of angina. A total of 429 Asian people with 449 lesions from 14 centers were selected for this study. The average reference diameter of the lesions was (3.0 +/- 0.5) mm, and the mean length was (15.7 +/- 5.0) mm. RESULTS: The successful rate of the procedure was 99.3%. Twenty-five percent of the lesions were treated by direct stenting without pre-dilation. Eighty-six percent of the lesions were implanted with ML Vision stent. After the 6-month follow-up, the rate of clinical TLR was 1.4%. The MACE, SAE and target vessel revascularization (TVR) were 6.8%, 3.5% and 1.4% respectively. CONCLUSION: The current registry showed the excellent 6-month clinical outcomes of ML Vision/ML MiniVision stents in Asian patients with CAD.