Phytophthora infestans RXLR effector Pi23014 targets host RNA-binding protein NbRBP3a to suppress plant immunity.

Phytophthora infestans is a destructive oomycete that causes the late blight of potato and tomato worldwide. It secretes numerous small proteins called effectors in order to manipulate host cell components and suppress plant immunity. Identifying the targets of these effectors is crucial for understanding P. infestans pathogenesis and host plant immunity. In this study, we show that the virulence RXLR effector Pi23014 of P. infestans targets the host nucleus and chloroplasts. By using a liquid chromatogrpahy-tandem mass spectrometry assay and co-immunoprecipitation assasys, we show that it interacts with NbRBP3a, a putative glycine-rich RNA-binding protein. We confirmed the co-localization of Pi23014 and NbRBP3a within the nucleus, by using bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR assays showed that the expression of NbRBP3a was induced in Nicotiana benthamiana during P. infestans infection and the expression of marker genes for multiple defence pathways were significantly down-regulated in NbRBP3-silenced plants compared with GFP-silenced plants. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient overexpression of NbRBP3a significantly enhanced plant resistance to P. infestans. Mutations in the N-terminus RNA recognition motif (RRM) of NbRBP3a abolished its interaction with Pi23014 and eliminated its capability to enhance plant resistance to leaf colonization by P. infestans. We further showed that silencing NbRBP3 reduced photosystem II activity, reduced host photosynthetic efficiency, attenuated Pi23014-mediated suppression of cell death triggered by P. infestans pathogen-associated molecular pattern elicitor INF1, and suppressed plant immunity.

Risk Factors of Suicide Attempt among Adolescents with Suicide Ideation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries across the Globe.

Suicide is a serious public health problem for adolescents. Based on the framework of ideation-to-action, it is important to examine the factors associated with the translation from suicide ideation to suicide attempt. The present study aimed to investigate the risk factors of suicide attempts among adolescents with suicide ideation in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We analyzed data of students aged 12-18 years who participated in the 2009-2013 Global School-based Health Surveys (GSHS) in 39 LMICs. The Chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of suicide attempts among participants with suicide ideation, the multilevel logistic regression model was used to identify significant factors associated with suicide attempts among suicide ideators. Among 22,655 adolescents with suicide ideation, 55.1% of them reported having made a suicide attempt in the past year. Loneliness, anxiety, alcohol use, and drug use were risk factors for suicide attempts among suicide ideators. Strategies should be implemented to reduce the likelihood of adolescents acting on their suicidal thoughts, such as community psychological crisis line, school-based mental health and skills training programs, and family support for adolescents with psychological problems.

Molecule-Enhanced Electrocatalysis of Sustainable Oxygen Evolution Using Organoselenium Functionalized Metal-Organic Nanosheets.

Remolding the reactivity of metal active sites is critical to facilitate renewable electricity-powered water electrolysis. Doping heteroatoms, such as Se, into a metal crystal lattice has been considered an effective approach, yet usually suffers from loss of functional heteroatoms during harsh electrocatalytic conditions, thus leading to the gradual inactivation of the catalysts. Here, we report a new heteroatom-containing molecule-enhanced strategy toward sustainable oxygen evolution improvement. An organoselenium ligand, bis(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)selenide containing robust C-Se-C covalent bonds equipped in the precatalyst of ultrathin metal-organic nanosheets Co-SeMON, is revealed to significantly enhance the catalytic mass activity of the cobalt site by 25 times, as well as extend the catalyst operation time in alkaline conditions by 1 or 2 orders of magnitude compared with these reported metal selenides. A combination of various in situ/ex situ spectroscopic techniques, ab initio molecular dynamics, and density functional theory calculations unveiled the organoselenium intensified mechanism, in which the nonclassical bonding of Se to O-containing intermediates endows adsorption-energy regulation beyond the conventional scaling relationship. Our results showcase the great potential of molecule-enhanced catalysts for highly efficient and economical water oxidation.

Highly sensitive sensing device based on highly luminescent lanthanide nanocluster for biomarker in human urine and serum.

The level of L-kynurenine (L-kyn) can reflect the health state of human body, and the determination of L-kyn can be used for the medical diagnosis of several cancers and neurological diseases. In this work, a series of air-, water-, and thermo-stable dinuclear lanthanide nanoclusters [Ln2(2,5-DFBA)6(phen)2] (Tb 1, Eu 2, Gd 3, 2,5-DFBA = 2,5-difluorobenzoic acid, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) are obtained by a facial method. 1 and 2 show very high luminescence quantum yields (QYs) of 71.7% and 81.8%, respectively. Interestingly, investigation reveals that 1 is a quick, highly sensitive and selective sensor for L-kyn in real samples of urine and serum. Furthermore, transmission electron microscope (TEM) results reveal that nanocluster 1 is stable in solution and can be uniform distributed on the base, suggesting it can be deposited on various supports to fabricate sensing devices. Thus, 1 is fabricated into a sensitive test paper for the eye-readable detection of L-kyn in real samples of human urine and serum. The limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.3 µM, which is enough to rapidly determine L-kyn in human body liquor (usually 5 µM in healthy human body).

Research on estimation models of the spectral characteristics of soil organic matter based on the soil particle size.

Soil organic matter (SOM) is an important part of soil fertility and the main nutrient source for crop growth. The establishment of an effective SOM content estimation model can provide technical support for the improvement of saline soil and the implementation of precision agriculture. In this paper, a laboratory spectrometer was used to measure the spectral reflectance of saline soils with particle sizes of 1 mm, 0.50 mm, 0.25 mm and 0.15 mm collected from Kenli County. After spectral preprocessing and spectral transformation, the characteristic bands of the SOM spectrum were extracted by the successive projections algorithm (SPA). Finally, stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR), principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were used to establish SOM content estimation models based on soil particle size. The results showed the following. (i) Soil particle size had a significant impact on soil spectral reflectance. The smaller the soil particle size was, the greater the soil spectral reflectance. (ii) The sensitive bands for SOM were mainly concentrated in the visible light region (400-760 nm). First derivative (FD) transformation can effectively improve the characteristic spectral information obtained from SOM. (iii) Among the three models established with the characteristic bands, the estimation ability of the PLSR model was better than that of the PCR and SMLR models. (iv) The FD of the original spectral reflectance of the 0.25 mm particles combined with the PLSR model gave the best estimation of the SOM content. When the soil particle size was less than 0.25 mm, the estimation results of the model were not improved. These results provide a basis for effective estimation of the SOM content and improvement of saline-alkali soil in Kenli County in the Yellow River Delta.

Real-time and visual sensing devices based on pH-control assembled lanthanide-barium nano-cluster.

Real-time and visual monitoring of pollutants in the air is of great importance since they are usually cannot be seen, smelled, or touched. Lanthanide nano-cluster is a kind of luminescent sensor for various species. However, controlling synthesis of lanthanide nano-cluster remains experimentally challenging. In this work, four series of lanthanide-barium (Ln-Ba) nano-clusters of Dy2Ba (1), Tb2Ba2 (2), Ln4Ba3 (Ln = Tb, 3a; Eu, 3b), Tb4Ba4 (4) were assembled through precisely controlling the pH of the reactant solutions. The work features the first example that the number of cluster's nuclei changes regularly with the pH. Moreover, investigation reveals that nano-cluster 3a is a highly selective and sensitive sensor towards acetylacetone (acac) and aniline. Interestingly, easy-to-use sensing devices of test paper, agarose gel, and five kinds of film on CaCO3, polyfoam, coin, mask, and wall that based on 3a were fabricated by facile methods. The seven sensing devices showed remarkable ability to sense aniline and acac vapors with visibility to the naked eyes. This is the first work on multiple real-time and visual sensing devices based on the lanthanide nano-cluster.

Negative regulators of plant immunity derived from cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenases are targeted by multiple Phytophthora Avr3a-like effectors.

Oomycete pathogens secrete numerous effectors to manipulate host immunity. While some effectors share a conserved structural fold, it remains unclear if any have conserved host targets. Avr3a-like family effectors, which are related to Phytophthora infestans effector PiAvr3a and are widely distributed across diverse clades of Phytophthora species, were used to study this question. By using yeast-two-hybrid, bimolecular fluorescence complementation and co-immunoprecipitation assays, we identified members of the plant cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase 7 (CAD7) subfamily as targets of multiple Avr3a-like effectors from Phytophthora pathogens. The CAD7 subfamily has expanded in plant genomes but lost the lignin biosynthetic activity of canonical CAD subfamilies. In turn, we identified CAD7s as negative regulators of plant immunity that are induced by Phytophthora infection. Moreover, AtCAD7 was stabilized by Avr3a-like effectors and involved in suppression of pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity, including callose deposition, reactive oxygen species burst and WRKY33 expression. Our results reveal CAD7 subfamily proteins as negative regulators of plant immunity that are exploited by multiple Avr3a-like effectors to promote infection in different host plants.

The Inhibitory Effect of Celangulin V on the ATP Hydrolytic Activity of the Complex of V-ATPase Subunits A and B in the Midgut of Mythimna separata.

Celangulin V (CV) is a compound isolated from Celastrus angulatus Max that has a toxic activity against agricultural insect pests. CV can bind to subunits a, H, and B of the vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) in the midgut epithelial cells of insects. However, the mechanism of action of CV is still unclear. In this study, the soluble complex of the V-ATPase A subunit mutant TSCA which avoids the feedback inhibition by the hydrolysate ADP and V-ATPase B subunit were obtained and then purified using affinity chromatography. The H⁺K⁺-ATPase activity of the complex and the inhibitory activity of CV on ATP hydrolysis were determined. The results suggest that CV inhibits the ATP hydrolysis, resulting in an insecticidal effect. Additionally, the homology modeling of the AB complex and molecular docking results indicate that CV can competitively bind to the AB complex at the ATP binding site, which inhibits ATP hydrolysis. These findings suggest that the AB subunits complex is one of the potential targets for CV and is important for understanding the mechanism of interaction between CV and V-ATPase.

Structural data of highly luminescent lanthanide complexes constructed by bis-tridentate ligand and as sensor for Et2O.

In this data article, we present the structural and PXRD data of the lanthanide complexes constructed by bis-tridentate ligand tppz (2,3,5,6-tetra-2-pyridinylpyrazine). Detailed structure, luminescence and sensing properties were discussed in "highly luminescent lanthanide complexes constructed by bis-tridentate ligand and as sensor for Et2O" (Zheng et al., 2018). The data includes the structure of Tb-complex, PXRD of Tb-complex, and also detailed structure information listed in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3.

Recurrent multiple-organ involvement of disseminated alveolar echinococcosis in 3 patients: Case report.

RATIONALE: Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a rare but highly malignant form of echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus multilocularis. There have been very few reports on multiple-organ AE, especially AE in bones. Here we report 3 rare cases of disseminated multiple-organ AE from western China and its neighboring areas. PATIENT CONCERNS: Patient 1 had back and left hip pain, headache, and weakness in left lower limb, often with minor epilepsy and fluctuation of blood pressure. Lower limbs Babinski sign was positive and muscular tension was above normal range. The second patient had pain in lower limbs and chest discomfort without fever, cough, sputum, chest tightness, or hemoptysis. Patient 3 had masses and pain in the back side of his right shoulder. DIAGNOSES: The patients had been treated for AE multiple times and were positive for serum hydatid antigens. They were diagnosed as multiorgan AE involving liver, spinal cord, and many other organs. INTERVENTIONS: The patients had undergone surgeries to decompress the spinal cord, remove lesions from tissues as required, and were put on albendazole for at least 2 years. OUTCOMES: The patients responded well and AE recurrence has not occurred. LESSONS: All 3 cases experienced multiple recurrences of AE due to missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or inappropriate treatment, which resulted in metastatic multiorgan AE. These cases demonstrated the need for more policy attention to battle AE endemic in western China.

The potential role of heat shock proteins in acute spinal cord injury.

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the differential expression proteins profile of spinal cord tissues after acute spinal cord injury (ASCI), provide preliminary results for further study and explore the secondary injury mechanisms underlying ASCI. METHODS: Using Allen's frame to establish ASCI model of Sprague-Dawley rats, then a stable isotope-labelled strategy using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) coupled with two-dimensional (2D) liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC-MS/MS) was performed to separate and identify differentially expressed proteins. RESULTS: A total of 220 differentially expressed proteins were identified in the spinal cord tissues of H-8 group (acute spinal cord injury after 8 h) compared with H-0 group (acute spinal cord injury after 0 h); Up to 116 proteins were up-regulated, whereas 104 proteins were down-regulated in the spinal cord tissues. Three of the differentially expressed Heat shock proteins (HSPs) namely, Hsp90ab1, Hspa4 and Hspe1 were down-regulated. CONCLUSION: The differentially expressed proteins of spinal cord tissues after ASCI will provide scientific foundation for further study to explore the secondary injury mechanism of ASCI.

A preliminary study of neck-stomach syndrome.

AIM: To determine the expression of c-Fos, caspase-3 and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) in the cervical cord and stomach of rats with cervical spondylosis, to analyze their relationship, and to offer an explanation of one possible cause for functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) caused by cervical spondylosis. METHODS: The cervical spondylosis model in rats was established by destroying the stability of cervical posterior column. The cord segments C4-6 and gastric antrum were collected 3 mo and 5 mo after the operation. Rats with the sham operation were used as controls. The expressions of c-Fos, caspase-3 and IL-1beta in the cervical cord and gastric antrum were determined by immunohistochemistry and/or Western blot. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical staining showed a few c-Fos, caspase-3 and IL-1beta-positive cells in the cervical cord and antrum in the control. There was a significant increase in c-Fos, caspase-3 and IL-1beta expression in model groups compared to the control groups at 3 mo and 5 mo after operation. More importantly, there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in c-Fos, caspase-3 and IL-1beta expression in the model group rats at 3 mo compared to those at 5 mo after the operation (c-Fos: 11.20 +/- 2.26 vs 27.68 +/- 4.36 in the cervical cord, 11.3 +/- 2.3 vs 29.3 +/- 4.6 in the gastric antrum; caspase-3: 33.83 +/- 3.71 vs 36.32 +/- 4.01 in the cervical cord, 13.23 +/- 3.21 vs 26.32 +/- 4.01 in the gastric antrum; IL-1beta: 42.06 +/- 2.95 vs 45.91 +/- 3.98 in the cervical cord, 26.56 +/- 2.65 vs 32.01 +/- 2.98 in the gastric antrum). Western blot analysis showed time-dependent changes of caspase-3 and IL-1beta protein in the cervical cord and gastric antrum of rats with cervical spondylosis; there was no significant expression of caspase-3 and IL-1beta protein in the control group at 3 mo and 5 mo after the sham operation, whereas there was a significant difference in caspase-3 and IL-1beta protein levels between the model group rats followed up for 3 mo and those for 5 mo (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There is a significant association of c-Fos, caspase-3 and IL-1beta expressions in the gastric antrum with that in the spinal cord in rats with cervical spondylosis, suggesting that the gastrointestinal function may be affected by cervical spondylosis.