Comparative Analysis of Environment-Responsive Alternative Splicing in the Inflorescences of Cultivated and Wild Tomato Species.

Cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is bred for fruit production in optimized environments, in contrast to harsh environments where their ancestral relatives thrive. The process of domestication and breeding has profound impacts on the phenotypic plasticity of plant development and the stress response. Notably, the alternative splicing (AS) of precursor message RNA (pre-mRNA), which is one of the major factors contributing to transcriptome complexity, is responsive to developmental cues and environmental change. To determine a possible association between AS events and phenotypic plasticity, we investigated environment-responsive AS events in the inflorescences of cultivated tomato and its ancestral relatives S. pimpinellifolium. Despite that similar AS frequencies were detected in the cultivated tomato variety Moneymaker and two S. pimpinellifolium accessions under the same growth conditions, 528 genes including splicing factors showed differential splicing in the inflorescences of plants grown in open fields and plastic greenhouses in the Moneymaker variety. In contrast, the two S. pimpinellifolium accessions, LA1589 and LA1781, had 298 and 268 genes showing differential splicing, respectively. Moreover, seven heat responsive genes showed opposite expression patterns in response to changing growth conditions between Moneymaker and its ancestral relatives. Accordingly, there were eight differentially expressed splice variants from genes involved in heat response in Moneymaker. Our results reveal distinctive features of AS events in the inflorescences between cultivated tomato and its ancestral relatives, and show that AS regulation in response to environmental changes is genotype dependent.

Manipulation and elimination of circulating tumor cells using multi-responsive nanosheet for malignant tumor therapy.

Tumor recurrence caused by metastasis is a major cause of death for patients. Thus, a strategy to manipulate the circulating tumor cells (CTCs, initiators of tumor metastasis ) and eliminate them along with the primary tumor has significant clinical significance for malignant tumor therapy. In this study, a magnet-NIR-pH multi-responsive nanosheet (Fe3O4@SiO2-GO-PEG-FA/AMP-DOX, FGPFAD) was fabricated to capture CTCs in circulation, then magnetically transport them to the primary tumor, and finally perform NIR-dependent photothermal therapy as well as acidic-environment-triggered chemotherapy to destroy both the CTCs and the primary tumor. The FGPFAD nanosheet consists of silica-coated ferroferric oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2, magnetic targeting agent), graphene oxide (GO, photothermal therapy agent), polyethylene glycol (PEG, antifouling agent for sustained circulation), folic acid (FA, capturer of CTCs) and antimicrobial-peptide-conjugated doxorubicin (AMP-DOX, agent for chemotherapy), in which the AMP-DOX was bound to the FGPFAD nanosheet via a cleavable Schiff base to achieve acidic-environment-triggered drug release for tumor-specific chemotherapy. Both in vitro and in vivo results indicated that the effective capture and magnetically guided transfer of CTCs to the primary tumor, as well as the multimodal tumor extermination performed by our FGPFAD nanosheet, significantly inhibited the primary tumor and its metastasis.

Poly[[[aqua(2,2'-bipyridine-kappa2N,N')manganese(II)]-mu-croconato-kappa4O,O':O'',O'''] monohydrate]: a one-dimensional coordination polymer connected by hydrophilic-hydrophilic and lipophilic-lipophilic interactions at 135 K.

In the title one-dimensional coordination polymer, {[Mn(C(5)O(5))(C(10)H(8)N(2))(H(2)O)].H(2)O}(n), each Mn(II) ion is seven-coordinated by four O atoms from two croconate ligands, two N atoms from a 2,2'-bipyridine (2,2'-bipy) ligand and one O atom from an aqua ligand. The croconate ligand bridges the Mn(II) ions in a bis-bidentate chelation mode, forming an extended [Mn(C(5)O(5))](n) chain running parallel to the [001] direction, with the lipophilic 2,2'-bipy ligands lying along one side and the hydrophilic water molecules along the opposite side. Coordinated water and solvent water molecules are arranged in the hydrophilic layer, which is characterized by O-H...O hydrogen bonds between croconate ligands. Meanwhile, 2,2'-bipy ligands from adjacent chains partially overlap and exhibit pi-pi interactions to form a lipophilic layer. The hydrophilic and lipophilic layers are arranged alternately to build a layer structure.

Highly controlled coating of strontium-doped hydroxyapatite on electrospun poly(ɛ-caprolactone) fibers.

Electrospun fibers show great potential as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering due to their architectural biomimicry to the extracellular matrix (ECM). Cation substitution of strontium for calcium in hydroxyapatite (HAp) positively influences the mechanism of bone remodeling including enhancing bone regeneration and reducing bone resorption. The objective of this study was to attach strontium-doped HAp (SrHAp) to electrospun poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers for creation of novel composite scaffolds that can not only mimic the architecture and composition of ECM but also affect bone remodeling favorably. We demonstrated for the first time the highly controlled SrHAp coatings on electrospun PCL fibers. We showed the reproducible manufacturing of composite fiber scaffolds with controllable thickness, composition, and morphology of SrHAp coatings. We further showed that the released strontium and calcium cations from coatings could reach effective concentrations within 1 day and endure more than 28 days. Additionally, the Young's modulus of the SrHAp-coated PCL fibers was up to around six times higher than that of raw fibers dependent on the coating thickness and composition. Together, this novel class of composite fiber scaffolds may hold great promise for bone regeneration. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 753-763, 2017.