Exploring the Targets and Molecular Mechanisms of Curcumin for the Treatment of Bladder Cancer Based on Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics.

Curcumin, a phenolic compound derived from turmeric, has demonstrated anti-tumor properties in preclinical models of various cancers. However, the exact mechanism of curcumin in treating bladder cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the therapeutic targets and molecular mechanisms of curcumin in the treatment of BC through an integrated approach of network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations. PharmMapper, SuperPred, TargetNet, and SwissTargetPrediction were utilized to acquire targets associated with curcumin, while GeneCards, CTD, DisGeNET, OMIM, and PharmGKB databases were utilized to obtain targets related to bladder cancer. The drug-disease interaction targets were obtained using Venny 2.1.0, and GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were then conducted with the DAVID tool. We constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and identified tenkey targets. In conclusion, AutoDock Tools 1.5.7 was utilized to conduct molecular docking simulations, followed by additional analysis of the central targets through the GEPIA, HPA, cBioPortal, and TIMER databases. A total of 305 potential anticancer targets of curcumin were obtained. The analysis of GO functional enrichment resulted in a total of 1105 terms, including 786 terms related to biological processes (BP), 105 terms related to cellular components (CC), and 214 terms related to molecular functions (MF). In addition, KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified 170 relevant signaling pathways. Treating bladder cancer could potentially involve inhibiting pathways like the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, and IL-17 signaling pathway. Activating TNF, ALB, CASP3, and ESR1 while inhibiting AKT1, EGFR, STAT3, BCL2, SRC, and HSP90AA1 can also hinder the proliferation of bladder tumor cells. According to the results of molecular docking, curcumin binds to these central targets in a spontaneous manner, exhibiting binding energies lower than - 1.631 kJ/mol. These findings were further validated at the transcriptional, translational and immune infiltration levels. By utilizing network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques, it was discovered that curcumin possesses diverse effects on multiple targets and pathways for treating bladder cancer. It has the potential to impede the growth of bladder tumor cells by suppressing various pathways including the PI3K-Akt and MAPK signaling pathways, as well as pathways associated with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance and the IL-17 signaling pathway. Curcumin could potentially disrupt the cell cycle advancement in bladder cancer cells by increasing the expression of TNF, ALB, CASP3, and ESR1 while decreasing AKT1, EGFR, STAT3, BCL2, SRC, HSP90AA1, and other targeted genes. These findings reveal the possible molecular pathways through which curcumin exerts its anticancer effects in bladder cancer, and this novel research strategy not only provides an important basis for an in-depth understanding of the anticancer mechanism of curcumin, but also offers new potential drugs and targets for the clinical treatment of bladder cancer. Therefore, this study is of great scientific significance and practical application value for promoting the development of bladder cancer therapeutic field. This finding provides strong support for the development of novel, safe and effective drugs for bladder cancer treatment.

Inhibition of Potato Fusarium Wilt by Bacillus subtilis ZWZ-19 and Trichoderma asperellum PT-29: A Comparative Analysis of Non-Targeted Metabolomics.

Potato Fusarium Wilt is a soil-borne fungal disease that can seriously harm potatoes throughout their growth period and occurs at different degrees in major potato-producing areas in China. To reduce the use of chemical agents and improve the effect of biocontrol agents, the inhibitory effects of the fermentation broth of Bacillus subtilis ZWZ-19 (B) and Trichoderma asperellum PT-29 (T) on Fusarium oxysporum were compared under single-culture and co-culture conditions. Furthermore, metabolomic analysis of the fermentation broths was conducted. The results showed that the inhibitory effect of the co-culture fermentation broth with an inoculation ratio of 1:1 (B1T1) was better than that of the separately cultured fermentation broths and had the best control effect in a potted experiment. Using LC-MS analysis, 134 metabolites were determined and classified into different types of amino acids. Furthermore, 10 metabolic pathways had the most significant variations, and 12 were related to amino acid metabolism in the KEGG analysis. A correlation analysis of the 79 differential metabolites generated through the comprehensive comparison between B, T, and B1T1 was conducted, and the results showed that highly abundant amino acids in B1T1 were correlated with amino acids in B, but not in T.

m6A/m1A/m5C-Associated Methylation Alterations and Immune Profile in MDD.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric condition often accompanied by severe impairments in cognitive and functional capacities. This research was conducted to identify RNA modification-related gene signatures and associated functional pathways in MDD. Differentially expressed RNA modification-related genes in MDD were first identified. And a random forest model was developed and distinct RNA modification patterns were discerned based on signature genes. Then, comprehensive analyses of RNA modification-associated genes in MDD were performed, including functional analyses and immune cell infiltration. The study identified 29 differentially expressed RNA modification-related genes in MDD and two distinct RNA modification patterns. TRMT112, MBD3, NUDT21, and IGF2BP1 of the risk signature were detected. Functional analyses confirmed the involvement of RNA modification in pathways like phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling in MDD. NUDT21 displayed a strong positive correlation with type 2 T helper cells, while IGF2BP1 negatively correlated with activated CD8 T cells, central memory CD4 T cells, and natural killer T cells. In summary, further research into the roles of NUDT21 and IGF2BP1 would be valuable for understanding MDD prognosis. The identified RNA modification-related gene signatures and pathways provide insights into MDD molecular etiology and potential diagnostic biomarkers.

First Report of Enterobacter roggenkampii and E. cloacae complex sp. Caused Tomato Pith Necrosis in Guangdong Province, China.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important greenhouse and field-grown vegetable. During 2019 to 2021, a new bacterial pith necrosis broke out in tomato producing areas in China. The disease incidence rate in the field was approximately 10% to 30% in a few tomato planting areas of Guangdong province, and even 100% in Dianbai distinct, Maoming city. Diseased plants showed yellowing of the lower leaves, brown vascular tissues, and wilting along with brown necrotic spots and a large number of adventitious roots on the stem. Diseased plants were collected, and short fragments of the diseased stems were sterilized with 75% alcohol for 2 minutes, washed with sterile water twice, and stripped the cortex (Fang 1998). Dilutions of xylem specimen soaking solution were plated onto the TTC medium (peptone 10.0 g, acid hydrolyzed casein 1.0 g, glucose 5.0 g, agar 15.0 g, distilled water 1000 mL, 0.5% 2, 3, 5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride, pH7.0), and cultured at 28℃ for 24 h. Three pink single colonies (A2 from Guangzhou (113°21' E, 23°9' N), Guangdong, and K6, and K7 from Maoming (110°55' E, 21°25' N), Guangdong) were selected and purified. Strains A2, K6, and K7 were Gram-negative, motile, and showed white fluidal colonies with pink center on TTC medium, and white, round, and smooth-surface colonies on NA medium (peptone 10 g, beef extract 3 g, sodium chloride 5 g, agar 15 g, distilled water 1000 mL, pH7.0) at 28℃ for 24 h. Three strains could utilize citrate, sorbitol, lactose and arginine, and were negative for methylred reaction test, determination of phenylalanine amino acid deaminase, lysine decarboxylase, urease, soluble starch decomposition and gelatin liquefaction, whereas were positive for Voges-Proskauer test, which conformed to the characteristics of genus Enterobacter (Davin-Regli et al. 2019). To determine the species of the Enterobacter isolates, partial sequences 16S rDNA, gyrB, and rpoB of strain A2, K6, and K7 were amplified. The PCR products were purified, sequenced, and deposited to GenBank. The BLASTN analysis of 16S rDNA, rpoB and gyrB sequences showed strain A2 (MW785888, OL364948, OL364943) was 99.20%, 99.17% and 98.57% identity with E. roggenkampii DSM16690, respectively, strain K6 (MW785890, OL364950, OL364945) was 99.73%, 99.63%, 99.63% identity with E. cloacae complex sp. N13-01531, and strain K7 (MW785893, OL364951, OL364946) was 99.8%, 98.81%, 98.99% identity with the E. roggenkampii Ed-982 and Ek140. Nucleotide sequences of 3 strains were aligned using ClustalW program, and neighbor-joining method (NJ) was used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree using MEGA7 program. Phylogenetic trees based on gyrB sequence, rpoB sequence, and the concatenated sequence of 16S rDNA-rpoB-gyrB and rpoB-gyrB showed strain A2 and K7 were clustered to E. roggenkampii, strain K6 was clustered to E. cloacae complex sp. The roots of tomato material 'Moneymaker' at stage of 4-5 true leaves were cut and irrigated 10 mL bacterial suspension (OD600=0.6) of strains A2, K6, and K7, respectively. As a control, the tomato roots were treated with 10 mL sterile water. All plants were incubated at 30°C. The experiments were conducted with 20 tomato seedlings for each tested strain and control, and repeated twice. All plants inoculated showed yellowing in the lower leaves 6-7 days after inoculation (DAI), subsequently the stems of some plants were rotten, along with bacterial pus in the internodes. The plants wilted, and stems were hollow 20 DAI, which is similar to the field symptoms. No symptoms were observed in control plants. Strains were successfully reisolated from wilting plants, and identified as A2, K6, and K7, respectively, based on gyrB sequence analysis, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Zhou et al. (2021) reported that E. roggenkampii caused bacterial wilt of mulberry in Guangxi, China. Chen et al. (2021) reported E. asburiae caused tomatoes pith necrosis in Fujian and Zhejiang, China. To our knowledge, this is the first report of E. roggenkampii and E. cloacae complex sp. causing bacterial pith necrosis of tomato. Further research would focus on exploring the pathogenic mechanism of the pathogen, and providing reference of controlling the disease.

Pavement Cracks Segmentation Algorithm Based on Conditional Generative Adversarial Network.

In long-term use, cracks will show up on the road, delivering monetary losses and security hazards. However, the road surface with a complex background has various disturbances, so it is challenging to segment the cracks accurately. Therefore, we propose a pavement cracks segmentation method based on a conditional generative adversarial network in this paper. U-net3+ with the attention module is used in the generator to generate segmented images for pavement cracks. The attention module highlights crack features and suppresses noise features from two dimensions of channel and space, then fuses the features generated by these two dimensions to obtain more complementary crack features. The original image is stitched with the manual annotation of cracks and the generated segmented image as the input of the discriminator. The PatchGAN method is used in the discriminator. Moreover, we propose a weighted hybrid loss function to improve the segmentation accuracy by exploiting the difference between the generated and annotated images. Through alternating gaming training of the generator and the discriminator, the segmentation image of cracks generated by the generator is very close to the actual segmentation image, thus achieving the effect of crack detection. Our experimental results using the Crack500 datasets show that the proposed method can eliminate various disturbances and achieve superior performance in pavement crack detection with complex backgrounds.

Melatonin Maintains Fruit Quality and Reduces Anthracnose in Postharvest Papaya via Enhancement of Antioxidants and Inhibition of Pathogen Development.

Papaya fruit is widely grown in tropical regions because of its sweet taste, vibrant color, and the huge number of health benefits it provides. Melatonin is an essential hormone that governs many plants' biological processes. In the current study, the impact of melatonin on fruit ripening and deterioration in postharvest papaya fruit was explored. An optimum melatonin dose (400 µmol L-1, 2 h) was found to be effective in delaying fruit softening and reducing anthracnose incidence. Melatonin enhanced antioxidant activity and decreased fruit oxidative injury by lowering superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde content by enhancing the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and by improving the antioxidant capacity of papaya fruit. Melatonin increased catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, NADH oxidase, glutathione reductase, polyphenol oxidase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase activity, as well as induced total phenol, total flavonoid, and ascorbic acid accumulation. Melatonin also enhanced the activity of defense-related enzymes, such as chitinase, 4-coumaric acid-CoA-ligase, and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, while it repressed lipid metabolism. Additionally, melatonin inhibited the development of anthracnose in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that exogenous melatonin application improves papaya fruit quality by boosting antioxidant and defense-related mechanisms.

Isolation and Identification of Trichoderma asperellum, the Novel Causal Agent of Green Mold Disease in Sweetpotato.

Postharvest disease is an important limiting factor for sweetpotato production. Recently, a new green mold disease was found in sweetpotato storage roots. To investigate the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of the disease, the pathogen was isolated and identified based on morphological and molecular features, and its characteristics were further analyzed by pathogenic and antagonistic evaluations. The results showed that the isolated pathogen (CRI-Ta1) was identified as Trichoderma asperellum based on the similar growth and morphological features with Trichoderma spp., 99% homology of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence, and membership to the same phylogenetic group with the model strain of T. asperellum (CBS 433.97). The pathogenic analysis revealed that CRI-Ta1 could cause green mold disease through wound infection on the storage roots and the strains reisolated from infected storage roots could cause disease in different sweetpotato varieties, which was fulfilled in Koch's postulate. Moreover, CRI-Ta1 could also infect other common crop species, including chestnut, carrot, apple, pear, and others. It indicated that CRI-Ta1 was the pathogen to the storage roots of sweetpotato and had a wide host range. Additionally, in vitro antagonistic evaluation showed that CRI-Ta1 effectively inhibited the growth of common sweetpotato pathogens, including Fusarium solani and Rhizopus nigricans. However, further research is needed on the potential of CRI-Ta1 to control sweetpotato diseases in vivo. Collectively, our findings provided valuable insights into the characteristics of the T. asperellum CRI-Ta1 in sweetpotato and would be helpful to the prevention and control of sweetpotato green mold disease.

Comparative Proteomic Analysis of Two Ralstonia solanacearum Isolates Differing in Aggressiveness.

Ralstonia solanacearum is a soil-borne, plant xylem-infecting pathogen that causes the devastating bacterial wilt (BW) disease in a number of plant species. In the present study, two R. solanacearum strains with different degrees of aggressiveness-namely RsH (pathogenic to Hawaii 7996, a tomato cultivar resistant against most strains) and RsM (non-pathogenic to Hawaii 7996) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that both RsM and RsH belonged to phylotype I. To further elucidate the underlying mechanism of the different pathotypes between the two strains, we performed a comparative proteomics study on RsM and RsH in rich and minimal media to identify the change in the level of protein abundance. In total, 24 differential proteins were identified, with four clusters in terms of protein abundance. Further bioinformatics exploration allowed us to classify these proteins into five functional groups. Notably, the pathogenesis of RsM and RsH was particularly characterized by a pronounced difference in the abundance of virulence- and metabolism-related proteins, such as UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (epsC) and isocitrate lyase (ICL), which were more abundant in the high pathogenicity strain RsH. Thus, we propose that the differences in pathogenicity between RsM and RsH can possibly be partially explained by differences in extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) and glyoxylate metabolism-related proteins.

Identification of endophytic bacterial strain MGP1 selected from papaya and its biocontrol effects on pathogens infecting harvested papaya fruit.

BACKGROUND: Traditional approaches to the control of diseases of papaya fruit rely on the use of synthetic chemicals, which can cause serious human health and environmental problems. Endophytes might be used as an alternative to chemicals to effectively control diseases of harvested papaya fruit. RESULTS: MGP1 was one of the biological control agents that was selected from the pericarp of papaya and identified as Pseudomonas putida biovar A. The bacterium was able to colonise in the lamina, leafstalk, pericarp and pulp of papaya and strongly inhibit ten kinds of phytopathogen. Positive control effects were achieved when fruits were challenged with Phytophthora nicotianae at 24 and 48 h after MGP1 treatment. The control effect of MGP1 on anthracnose of harvested papaya fruit reached 54%. The application of MGP1 at five preharvest stages of papaya significantly reduced the disease index of anthracnose, with the best control effect reaching 63% after application at the florescence stage. However, the rate of latent infection of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was significantly reduced only after application at the fluorescence stage. CONCLUSION: The results indicated the powerful ability of MGP1 as a biological agent.

Distribution of Mating Type and Sexual Status in Chinese Rice Blast Populations.

A collection of 520 field isolates of the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) originating from five provinces in China was assessed for mating type and sexual fertility. One of the two tester sets was composed of isolates collected from barley and the other from rice. Two mating types (MAT1-1 and MAT1-2) were identified among the 443 fertile isolates. The two mating types were roughly in balance with one another in the southwestern region but one or the other predominated in the southeastern and southern regions. Male-only fertile isolates were the most common, and only a few hermaphroditic and no female only fertile isolates were detected. The fertility level of the isolates was variable. Isolates from Jiangsu were more fertile than those from Fujian. The mating capacity of the testers collected from barley was higher than that of those collected from rice, but this was because the MAT1-2 testers differed very significantly from one another. In contrast, the mating capacities of the two MAT1-1 testers were similar to one another.

Identification and fine mapping of AvrPi15, a novel avirulence gene of Magnaporthe grisea.

Avirulence of Magnaporthe grisea isolate CHL346 on rice cultivar GA25 was studied with 242 ascospore progenies derived from the cross CHL346 x CHL42. Segregation analysis of the avirulence in the progeny population was in agreement with the existence of a single avirulence (Avr) gene, designated as AvrPi15. For mapping the Avr gene, we developed a total of 121 microsatellite DNA markers [simple sequence repeat (SSR)], which evenly distributed in the whole-genome of M. grisea through bioinformatics analysis (BIA) using the publicly available sequence. Linkage analysis of the AvrPi15 gene with these SSR markers showed that six markers on chromosome 6, MS6-1, MS6-2, MS6-3, MS6-7, MS6-8 and MS6-10, were linked to the AvrPi15 locus. To further define the chromosomal location of the AvrPi15 locus, two additional markers, MS6-17 and STS6-6, which were developed based on the sequences of telomeric region 11 (TEL11), were subjected to linkage analysis. The results showed that MS6-17 and STS6-6 were associated with the locus by 3.3 and 0.8 cM, respectively. To finely map the Avr gene, two additional candidate avirulence gene (CAG) markers, CAG6-1 and CAG6-2, were developed based on the gene annotation of the sequence of TEL 11. Linkage analysis of the Avr gene with these two markers revealed that both of them completely cosegregated with the AvrPi15 locus. Finally, this locus was physically mapped into approximately 7.2-kb interval of the TEL11 by BIA using these sequence-ready markers. This is the key step toward positional cloning of the AvrPi15 gene.