A nanopore-based cucumber genome assembly reveals structural variations at two QTLs controlling hypocotyl elongation.

The Xishuangbanna (XIS) cucumber (Cucumis sativus var. xishuangbannanesis) is a semiwild variety that has many distinct agronomic traits. Here, long reads generated by Nanopore sequencing technology helped assembling a high-quality genome (contig N50 = 8.7 Mb) of landrace XIS49. A total of 10,036 structural/sequence variations (SVs) were identified when comparing with Chinese Long (CL), and known SVs controlling spines, tubercles, and carpel number were confirmed in XIS49 genome. Two QTLs of hypocotyl elongation under low light, SH3.1 and SH6.1, were fine-mapped using introgression lines (donor parent, XIS49; recurrent parent, CL). SH3.1 encodes a red-light receptor Phytochrome B (PhyB, CsaV3_3G015190). A ∼4 kb region with large deletion and highly divergent regions (HDRs) were identified in the promoter of the PhyB gene in XIS49. Loss of function of this PhyB caused a super-long hypocotyl phenotype. SH6.1 encodes a CCCH-type zinc finger protein FRIGIDA-ESSENTIAL LIKE (FEL, CsaV3_6G050300). FEL negatively regulated hypocotyl elongation but it was transcriptionally suppressed by long terminal repeats retrotransposon insertion in CL cucumber. Mechanistically, FEL physically binds to the promoter of CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1a (COP1a), regulating the expression of COP1a and the downstream hypocotyl elongation. These above results demonstrate the genetic mechanism of cucumber hypocotyl elongation under low light.

[Research progress on mechanisms of ligustilide in treatment of nervous system diseases].

Ligustilide is the main active component of the volatile oil from Angelica sinensis and Ligusticum chuanxiong in the Umbelliferae family. It is a phthalein compound with anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-atherosclerosis, neuroprotective, and other pharmacological effects. It can improve the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and has important potential in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and other nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, ischemic stroke, Parkinson's disease, vascular dementia, and depression. Therefore, the mechanism of ligustilide in the treatment of nervous system diseases was summarized to provide a reference for drug development and clinical application.

CHMFL-26 is a highly potent irreversible HER2 inhibitor for use in the treatment of HER2-positive and HER2-mutant cancers.

Oncogene HER2 is amplified in 20%-25% of human breast cancers and 6.1%-23.0% of gastric cancers, and HER2-directed therapy significantly improves the outcome for patients with HER2-positive cancers. However, drug resistance is still a clinical challenge due to primary or acquired mutations and drug-induced negative regulatory feedback. In this study, we discovered a potent irreversible HER2 kinase inhibitor, CHMFL-26, which covalently targeted cysteine 805 of HER2 and effectively overcame the drug resistance caused by HER2 V777L, HER2 L755S, HER2 exon 20 insertions, and p95-HER2 truncation mutations. CHMFL-26 displayed potent antiproliferation efficacy against HER2-amplified and mutant cells through constant HER2-mediated signaling pathway inhibition and apoptosis induction. In addition, CHMFL-26 suppressed tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner in xenograft mouse models. Together, these results suggest that CHMFL-26 may be a potential novel anti-HER2 agent for overcoming drug resistance in HER2-positive cancer therapy.

A high-density genetic map and QTL mapping of leaf traits and glucosinolates in Barbarea vulgaris.

BACKGROUND: Barbarea vulgaris is a wild cruciferous plant and include two distinct types: the G- and P-types named after their glabrous and pubescent leaves, respectively. The types differ significantly in resistance to a range of insects and diseases as well as glucosinolates and other chemical defenses. A high-density linkage map was needed for further progress to be made in the molecular research of this plant. RESULTS: We performed restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) on an F2 population generated from G- and P-type B. vulgaris. A total of 1545 SNP markers were mapped and ordered in eight linkage groups, which represents the highest density linkage map to date for the crucifer tribe Cardamineae. A total of 722 previously published genome contigs (50.2 Mb, 30% of the total length) can be anchored to this high density genetic map, an improvement compared to a previously published map (431 anchored contigs, 38.7 Mb, 23% of the assembly genome). Most of these (572 contigs, 31.2 Mb) were newly anchored to the map, representing a significant improvement. On the basis of the present high-density genetic map, 37 QTL were detected for eleven traits, each QTL explaining 2.9-71.3% of the phenotype variation. QTL of glucosinolates, leaf size and color traits were in most cases overlapping, possibly implying a functional connection. CONCLUSIONS: This high-density linkage map and the QTL obtained in this study will be useful for further understanding of the genetic of the B. vulgaris and molecular basis of these traits, many of which are shared in the related crop watercress.

[Optimization for preparation technology of shangke jiefu lotion by orthogonal test].

OBJECTIVE: To optimize the preparation technology of Shangke Jiefu lotion. METHODS: The extraction process was optimized by orthogonal test, with water addition, extraction times and time used for extraction as factors of investigation. In refined process test, alcohol precipitation concentration, time, and the relative density of extract were studied. Each factor had three levels. The content of sophorcarpidine and the yield of dry extract were used as the evaluation indexes. The content of sophorcarpidine was determined by HPLC, and dry extract rates were determined by drying method. RESULTS: The best extraction condition was as follows: the amount of water was 10 times of the medicinal materials, the decoction duration was 2 h and for 3 times. The optimum purification process was: alcohol precipitation concentration was 50%, time was 15 hours, relative density of extract was 1.05 g/mL. CONCLUSION: The optimized preparation technology of Shangke Jiefu lotion is stable, feasible and convenient. It provides a theoretical basis for standardized production.

[Study on the flax seed enzymatic degumming process by central composite design and response surface method].

OBJECTIVE: To optimize extraction condition of degumming from flax seed by the response surface method. METHODS: The central composite design-response surface method selected the best technology and forecasting analysis with the ratio of material to liquid, sodium chloride dosage, soaks time as the independent variable and flax seed dry rubber weight for the dependent variable, through to the level of the independent variable multiple linear regression and binomial fitting. RESULTS: The optimum process condition was as follows: ratio of liquid to materials was 37:1, sodium chloride dosage was 2 g, soaks time was 120 min. CONCLUSION: The method is simple, reasonable, stable and predictability.

Higher Phytohormone Contents and Weaker Phytohormone Signal Transduction Were Observed in Cold-Tolerant Cucumber.

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) originated from the South Asian subcontinent, and most of them are fragile to cold stress. In this study, we evaluated the cold tolerance of 115 cucumber accessions and screened out 10 accessions showing high resistance to cold stress. We measured and compared plant hormone contents between cold-tolerant cucumber CT90R and cold-sensitive cucumber CT57S in cold treatment. Most of the detected plant hormones showed significantly higher content in CT90R. To elucidate the role of plant hormones, we compared the leaf- and root-transcriptomes of CT90R with those of CT57S in cold stress treatment. In leaves, there were 1209 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CT90R and CT57S, while there were 703 in roots. These DEGs were not evenly distributed across the chromosomes and there were significant enrichments at particular positions, including qLTT6.2, a known QTL controlling cucumber cold tolerance. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the pathway of plant hormone transductions between CT90R and CT57S in leaves. In short, genes involved in plant hormone transductions showed lower transcription levels in CT90R. In roots, the most significantly different pathway was phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. CT90R seemed to actively accumulate more monolignols by upregulating cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) genes. These results above suggest a new perspective on the regulation mechanism of cold tolerance in cucumbers.

Differential expression of salt tolerance related genes in Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis (L.) Makino var. communis Tsen et Lee.

We examined salt tolerance responsive genes in Pak-choi under salt stress and analyze their potential function. The mRNA differential display was used to screen the transcript derived fragments (TDFs) related to salinity tolerance in tolerant and moderately tolerant Pak-choi germplasm. Seventy-eight primer combinations generated 101 differential cDNA fragments, which were divided into 10 expression types. Seven cDNA sequences (GenBank accession Nos. DQ006915~DQ006921) obtained and sequenced were highly homologous to some known expression genes or the genes related to the signaling pathways in plants under different abiotic stress.