Targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome in psoriasis.

The NLRP3 inflammasome, a complex consisting of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3, has emerged as a critical mediator of pathological inflammation and a significant therapeutic target for various inflammatory diseases. Psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin condition without a definitive cure, has shown promising results in animal models through the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome. This review aims to explore the development of the NLRP3 inflammasome in psoriasis and the molecular mechanisms responsible for its inhibition by natural products and small molecules currently being developed for psoriasis treatment. Furthermore, we are examining clinical trials using agents that block the NLRP3 pathway for the treatment of psoriasis. This study is timely to provide a new perspective on managing psoriasis.

Identification and validation of serum tumor-markers based nomogram to predict the prognostic value of patients with cervical adenocarcinoma.

Unlike cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), no uniform standard has been implemented to identify serum biomarkers for adenocarcinoma of the cervix (ADC). In the present study, we aimed to determine whether pretreatment serum tumor markers were of prognostic value in patients with ADC and constructed and validated the novel accurate nomogram for stratifying the risk groups. Patients with ADC who underwent curative hysterectomy or definitive radiotherapy from January 2011 to December 2016 were included. Significant factors independently predicting prognosis were selected by univariate multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models and adopted for constructing the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) prediction nomograms. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and concordance index (C-index) with calibration curve was used to determine the accuracy of the nomogram in the prediction and determination of performance. We enrolled a total of 295 samples and randomized them as the training set (n = 207) or validation set (n = 88). Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Staging Guidelines (FIGO) stage, para-aortic lymph node (PALN), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and HCG-ß were assessed as the common factors independently predicting OS and PFS. For our constructed nomograms, its C-index values in OS and PFS prediction were 0.896 (95% CI, 0.879-0.913) and 0.895 (95% CI, 0.878-0.912) in training set, whereas 0.845 (95% CI:0.796-0.894) and 0.846 (95% CI:0.797-0.895) in validation set. ROC and calibration curves for our constructed nomograms predicted the excellent consistency of nomogram-predicted values with real measurements of 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS. We explored novel prognostic serum tumor markers of ADC and constructed effective nomograms comprising NSE, HCG-ß, FIGO stage, PALN, and CEA, which could estimate OS and PFS for patients with ADC. These nomograms performed well in predicting patient prognosis, which was a potentially useful approach for stratifying ADC risk, thus contributing to clinical decision-making and individualized follow-up planning.

Analysis of Treatment Outcomes and Prognosis After Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer.

The aims of this study were to investigate the short-term and long-term efficacies and chronic radiotoxicity of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) combined with image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) and identify prognostic factors in this patient population. The clinical data of 204 patients with cervical cancer who completed CCRT and subsequent brachytherapy in our hospital between February 2015 and March 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Short-term and long-term outcomes, chronic radiotoxicity, and prognostic factors were assessed. The median follow-up was 61.1 months. The short-term objective response (OR) rate was 85%. Lymph node metastasis before treatment was an independent predictor of OR (HR = 6.290, 95% CI: 2.211-17.897, p = 0.001). Fifty-two patients developed recurrence, with a median recurrence-free survival of 9.9 months (range, 2.4-52.2 months) and a post-recurrence survival of 12.1 months (range, 2.9-58.1 months). At 3 years, the cumulative incidence of overall recurrence was 26% (95% CI: 17-36). Multivariate analysis showed that Stage IIIB (HR = 2.332, 95% CI: 1.195-4.551, p = 0.013; reference, Stage IIB) and lymph node metastasis (HR = 4.462, 95% CI: 2.365-8.419, p < 0.001) were significant independent predictors of recurrence. Fifty-three patients developed chronic radiation proctitis (CRP). The incidence of severe CRP was approximately 5%, and the average rectal D 2 c m 3 accumulation in patients with severe CRP was 73.4 Gy which is 3.9 Gy higher than that in patients without CRP (p = 0.013). At 4 years, the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival rates were 65% and 62%, respectively, and lymph node metastasis before treatment was an independent prognostic risk factor for OS. The short-term and long-term efficacies of CCRT combined with IGABT for the treatment of LACC patients were relatively satisfactory. However, the short-term and long-term efficacies of patients with lymph node metastasis before treatment were poor. For patients with lymph node metastasis before treatment, more active individualized treatment strategies should be adopted. When designing a radiotherapy plan, it is necessary to strictly limit the rectal D 2 c m 3 accumulation to prevent serious CRP.

Phase I study of adjuvant immunotherapy with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in locally advanced cervical cancer.

BACKGROUNDAdoptive cell therapy (ACT) with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has achieved remarkable clinical efficacy in metastatic cancers such as melanoma and cervical cancer (CC). Here, we explored the safety, feasibility, and preliminary tumor response and performed translational investigations of adjuvant immunotherapy using infusion of autogenous TILs (auto-TILs) following concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in patients with CC who had locally advanced disease.METHODSTwenty-seven patients with CC with stage III-IV disease were recruited in this single-center, phase I study. TILs were isolated from lesions in the uterine cervix and generated under good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions and then infused after CCRT plus i.m. IL-2 injections.RESULTSTILs from 20 of the 27 patients were successfully expanded, with a feasibility of 74.1%. Twelve patients received TILs following CCRT. Adverse events (AEs) were primarily attributable to CCRT. Only 1 (8.3%) patient experienced severe toxicity with a grade 3 hypersensitivity reaction after TIL infusion. No autoimmune AEs, such as pneumonitis, hepatitis, or myocarditis, occurred, and there were no treatment-related mortalities. Nine of 12 patients (75.0%) attained a complete response, with a disease control duration of 9-22 months. Translational investigation showed that the transcriptomic characteristics of the infused TIL products and some immune biomarkers in the tumor microenvironment and serum of patients with CC at baseline were correlated with the clinical response.CONCLUSIONTIL-based ACT following CCRT was safe in an academic center setting, with potentially effective responses in patients with locally advanced CC. "Hot" inflammatory immune environments were beneficial to the clinical efficacy of TIL-based ACT as adjuvant therapy.TRIAL REGISTRATIONClinicalTrials.gov NCT04443296.FUNDINGNational Key R&D Program; Sci-Tech Key Program of the Guangzhou City Science Foundation; the Guangdong Province Sci-Tech International Key Program; the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Effectiveness of Sequential Chemoradiation vs Concurrent Chemoradiation or Radiation Alone in Adjuvant Treatment After Hysterectomy for Cervical Cancer: The STARS Phase 3 Randomized Clinical Trial.

IMPORTANCE: There is no current consensus on the role of chemotherapy in addition to radiation for postoperative adjuvant treatment of patients with early-stage cervical cancer with adverse pathological factors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical benefits of sequential chemoradiation (SCRT) and concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) compared with radiation alone (RT) as a postoperative adjuvant treatment in early-stage cervical cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: After radical hysterectomy at 1 of 8 participating hospitals in China, patients with FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage IB to IIA cervical cancer with adverse pathological factors were randomized 1:1:1 to receive adjuvant RT, CCRT, or SCRT. Data were collected from February 2008 to December 2018. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received adjuvant RT (total dose, 45-50 Gy), CCRT (weekly cisplatin, 30-40 mg/m2), or SCRT (cisplatin, 60-75 mg/m2, plus paclitaxel, 135-175 mg/m2) in a 21-day cycle, given 2 cycles before and 2 cycles after radiotherapy, respectively. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary end point was the rate of disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 years. RESULTS: A total of 1048 women (median [range] age, 48 [23-65] years) were included in the analysis (350 in the RT group, 345 in the CCRT group, and 353 in the SCRT group). Baseline demographic and disease characteristics were balanced among the treatment groups except that the rate of lymph node involvement was lowest in the RT group (18.3%). In the intention-to-treat population, SCRT was associated with a higher rate of DFS than RT (3-year rate, 90.0% vs 82.0%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.52; 95% CI, 0.35-0.76) and CCRT (90.0% vs 85.0%; HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.44-0.96). Treatment with SCRT also decreased cancer death risk compared with RT (5-year rate, 92.0% vs 88.0%; HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35-0.95) after adjustment for lymph node involvement. However, neither DFS nor cancer death risk was different among patients treated with CCRT or RT. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial, conducted in a postoperative adjuvant treatment setting, SCRT, rather than CCRT, resulted in a higher DFS and lower risk of cancer death than RT among women with early-stage cervical cancer. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00806117.

InDel marker development and QTL analysis of agronomic traits in mung bean [Vigna radiate (L.) Wilczek].

The stem color of young mung bean is a very useful tool in germplasm identification. Flowering time and plant height (PH) are known to be strongly correlated with crop adaption and yield. However, few studies have focused on elucidating the genetic mechanisms that regulate these five particular traits: young stem color (YSC), days to first flowering (DFF), days to maturity (DM), PH, and nodes on the main stem (NMS). In this study, a genetic linkage map for the F2 population was constructed using 129 InDel markers that were developed based on the sequence variations between parents. A total of 14 QTLs related to YSC, DFF, DM, PH, and NMS were detected. These QTLs were distributed on six chromosomes (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10), which individually accounted for 1.32 to 90.07% of the total phenotypic variation. Using a short and high-density linkage map for the F3 population, six of the seven QTLs which clustered at two intervals on chromosomes 3 and 10 were detected again. Further analysis found that four QTLs between InDel markers R3-15 and R3-19 controlled DFF, DM, PH, and NMS, and each QTL accounted for a large percent of the total phenotypic variation. Analysis of two separated F2:3 lines also found that the phenotype was highly corresponded to its genotype which was between R3-15 and R3-19. Phenotype and genotype analysis for 30 mung bean accessions showed that the major effect QTL qDFF3 was a key regulator for DFF. Using a map-based cloning method, the major effect QTL qYSC4 for YSC was mapped in a 347 Kb interval on chromosome 4. Candidate gene analysis showed that sequence variations and expression level differences existed in the predicted candidate gene between the parents. These results provide a theoretical basis for cloning these QTLs and marker-assisted selection. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-021-01233-0.

Dosimetric parameters predict radiation-induced choanal stenosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Radiation-induced choanal stenosis (RICS) severely decreases life quality of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and originates from nasal mucositis, which depends on radiation dose. This self-controlled study aimed to find the correlations between dosimetric parameters and RICS. METHODS: Totally 49 NPC patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy from May 2010 to Aug. 2013 and diagnosed with RICS during follow-up were enrolled into this study. Minimum point dose, maximum point dose, mean dose (Dmean), dose covering ≥33% volume (D33), dose covering ≥66% volume (D66), and volume receiving ≥60 Gy (V60) were compared between the nasal cavities with and without RICS, through paired t-test. The parameters with difference would enter receiver operating characteristic analysis to determine their cutoff values. Then predicting abilities of the cutoff values were tested by Chi-square test. RESULT: The nasal cavities with RICS appeared to have higher Dmean, D33, D66 and V60, compared with those without RICS (P values were 0.014, 0.003, 0.006 and 0.010). Dmean ≥54.22 Gy, D33 ≥ 61.96 Gy, D66 ≥ 46.50 Gy and V60 ≥ 48.13% were demonstrated to be related with a higher risk of RICS. CONCLUSION: Dmean, D33, D66 and V60 of nasal cavity might be used as predictors of RICS. Their values needed to be controlled whenever possible, for ameliorating life quality of NPC patients.

Optimize the dose of oxaliplatin for locally advanced rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Addition of oxaliplatin to capecitabine remains controversial for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). And cumulative oxaliplatin dose (COD) varied among clinical trials showing different therapeutic effects of this regimen. The objective of this study was to explore how COD affected tumor metastasis and patient survival. METHODS: Totally 388 patients diagnosed with stage cII-III rectal cancer and treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy were consecutively enrolled into this study and retrospectively reviewed. After grouping by total chemotherapy cycle (TCC), influences of COD on adverse effects and patients' survivals were analyzed in each group. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed through Kaplan-Meier approach and COX proportional hazards model, respectively. Age, gender, anemia, differentiation, carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19-9, pretreatment clinical stage and postsurgical pathologic stage were used as covariates. RESULTS: COD < 460 mg/m2 emerged as an independent predictor of poorer overall, metastasis-free and disease-free survivals, in patients treated with TCC ≤ 7. The hazard ratios were 1.972, 1.763 and 1.637 (P values were 0.021, 0.028 and 0.041), respectively. But it was note-worthy that COD ≥460 mg/m2 increased incidence of acute toxicities from 38.4 to 70.8% (P < 0.001). And in patients treated with TCC ≥ 8, COD failed to be a prognosticator. CONCLUSIONS: For LARC patients treated with insufficient TCC (≤ 7), oxaliplatin of ≥460 mg/m2 might be needed to improve survival, though it might resulted in more acute toxicities.

Regular aspirin intake and prognosis of TxN2-3M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A cohort study based on propensity score matching.

OBJECTIVES: Distant metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with N2-3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). And aspirin is found to reduce metastasis and improve prognosis in some other malignancies, such as colorectal cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical value of regular aspirin intake (RAI) in N2-3 NPC treated with standard chemoradiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally 2064 patients diagnosed with TxN2-3M0 NPC from Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2015 and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy were involved. According to RAI, these patients were divided into 2 groups between which a propensity score matching was made, with a ratio of 1:3 and a series of clinical characteristics (age, gender, T stage, N stage and EBV DNA) as covariates. Then survivals and acute toxicities were compared in the 464 matched patients. RESULTS: RAI appeared to bring better overall (87.7% vs. 79.6%, P = 0.031), metastasis-free (87.8% vs. 76.5%, P = 0.017) and disease-free (85.9% vs. 75.5%, P = 0.033) survivals. It simultaneously increased total incidences of myelosuppression (55.2% vs. 32.2%, P < 0.001), oral mucositis (60.3% vs. 38.2%, P < 0.001), cervical dermatitis (60.3% vs. 38.5%, P < 0.001) and xerostomia (49.1% vs. 33.3%, P = 0.002). But RAI failed to affect incidence of any grade 3/4 toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: Post-diagnosis RAI might be a tolerable approach to control distant metastasis and provide survival benefit for N2-3 NPC in combination with standard chemoradiotherapy.

Is long interval from neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy to surgery optimal for rectal cancer in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy?: a prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of interval between neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) and surgery on therapeutic and adverse effects of surgery, and long-term outcome of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (RC), in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients diagnosed with stage II-III RC and treated with IMRT-based NACRT followed by radical surgery were enrolled consecutively from April 2011 to March 2014. The data of all the patients were collected prospectively and grouped according to their NACRT-to-surgery interval. The therapeutic and adverse effects of surgery, and survivals were compared between the patients with interval ≤7 weeks and those with interval ≥8 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 231 patients were eligible for analysis, including 106 cases with interval ≤7 weeks and 125 cases with interval ≥8 weeks. The therapeutic and adverse effects of surgery were similar between these two groups of patients. However, interval ≥8 weeks appeared to lead to poorer overall, distant-metastasis-free and disease-free survivals, compared with interval ≤7 weeks. The HRs were 1.805, 1.714, and 1.796 (P-values were 0.045, 0.049, and 0.028), respectively. CONCLUSION: For patients with locally advanced RC, a long NACRT-to-surgery interval might bring a potential risk of increased distant metastasis rather than a better tumor regression in the era of IMRT.

Single-point Mutation of an Histidine-aspartic Domain-containing Gene involving in Chloroplast Ribosome Biogenesis Leads to White Fine Stripe Leaf in Rice.

Plant leaves are a crucial organ associated closely with chloroplast development, photosynthesis rate and crop productivity. In this study, a white fine stripe leaf 1 (wfsl1) mutant was isolated and characterized from the japonica rice Zhonghua11 (ZH11) after ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis. The wfsl1 displayed white fine stripe leaves since tillering stage and abnormal chloroplast structure. Map-based cloning and Bioinformatic analysis indicated that WFSL1 on chromosome 1 contains an "A" to "T" substitution in protein coding region, and encodes a putative metal-dependent phosphohydrolase with HD domain at the N-terminus. WFSL1 was targeted to the chloroplasts and had higher expression in mature leaves and sheaths. RNA-seq analysis revealed that chloroplast development and photosynthesis genes were significantly affected in wfsl1 plants. Levels of WFSL1 and chloroplast encoded proteins were decreased in wfsl1 mutants via western blot analysis. Compared with WT, wfsl1 exhibits lower Chl content and defective in biogenesis of chloroplast ribosomes, which resulted in reduced grain yield. Taken together, our results show that WFSL1 is critical for chloroplast development, ribosome biogenesis, and light energy utilization, finally affects grain yield.

Down-Regulation of a Nicotinate Phosphoribosyltransferase Gene, OsNaPRT1, Leads to Withered Leaf Tips.

Premature leaf senescence affects plant growth and yield in rice. NAD plays critical roles in cellular redox reactions and remains at a sufficient level in the cell to prevent cell death. Although numerous factors affecting leaf senescence have been identified, few involving NAD biosynthetic pathways have been described for plants. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of Leaf Tip Senescence 1 (LTS1) in rice (Oryza sativa), a recessive mutation in the gene encoding O. sativa nicotinate phosphoribosyltransferase (OsNaPRT1) in the NAD salvage pathway. A point mutation in OsNaPRT1 leads to dwarfism and the withered leaf tip phenotype, and the lts1 mutant displays early leaf senescence compared to the wild type. Leaf nicotinate and nicotinamide contents are elevated in lts1, while NAD levels are reduced. Leaf tissue of lts1 exhibited significant DNA fragmentation and H2O2 accumulation, along with up-regulation of genes associated with senescence. The lts1 mutant also showed reduced expression of SIR2-like genes (OsSRT1 and OsSRT2) and increased acetylation of histone H3K9. Down-regulation of OsSRTs induced histone H3K9 acetylation of senescence-related genes. These results suggest that deficiency in the NAD salvage pathway can trigger premature leaf senescence due to transcriptional activation of senescence-related genes.

White stripe leaf 12 (WSL12), encoding a nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (OsNDPK2), regulates chloroplast development and abiotic stress response in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Chloroplast is a crucial organelle for plant photosynthesis and maintaining normal life activities in higher plants. Although some genes related to chloroplast development and pigment synthesis have been identified or cloned in rice, little is known about the relationship between these genes and abiotic stress response. In this study, we identified a novel mutant white stripe leaf 12 (wsl12) affecting pigment synthesis, chloroplast development and abiotic stress response in rice. The mutant phenotype was obvious at seeding and tillering stages and in response to the temperature change. Genetic analysis of reciprocal crosses between wsl12 and wild-type plants showed that wsl12 was a recessive mutant in a single nuclear locus. Map-based cloning revealed that the WSL12 locus encoded OsNDPK2, one of the three nucleoside diphosphate kinases (OsNDPKs). WSL12 expressed in all tested tissues, while it highly expressed in leaves and young tissues. The WSL12 protein localized to the chloroplast. The wsl12 mutant showed higher superoxide anion level and enhanced sensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA) and salinity. The transcription pattern of many genes involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis, ABA synthesis, light signaling pathway, reactive oxygen species-scavenging pathway and the other two OsNDPKs was altered in the wsl12 mutant. These results indicate that the OsNDPK2 encoded by WSL12 plays an important role in chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis by regulating the expression levels of related genes. In addition, WSL12 also affects the response to abiotic stress, such as ABA and salinity in rice, and is beneficial to molecular breeding of stress tolerance.

Whole genome sequence of Pantoea ananatis R100, an antagonistic bacterium isolated from rice seed.

Pantoea ananatis is a group of bacteria, which was first reported as plant pathogen. Recently, several papers also described its biocontrol ability. In 2003, P. ananatis R100, which showed strong antagonism against several plant pathogens, was isolated from rice seeds. In this study, whole genome sequence of this strain was determined by SMRT Cell technology. The total genome size of R100 is 4,857,861bp with 4659 coding genes (CDS), 82 tRNAs and 22 rRNAs. The genome sequence of R100 may shed a light on the research of antagonism P. ananatis.

Copy number variation at the GL7 locus contributes to grain size diversity in rice.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are associated with changes in gene expression levels and contribute to various adaptive traits. Here we show that a CNV at the Grain Length on Chromosome 7 (GL7) locus contributes to grain size diversity in rice (Oryza sativa L.). GL7 encodes a protein homologous to Arabidopsis thaliana LONGIFOLIA proteins, which regulate longitudinal cell elongation. Tandem duplication of a 17.1-kb segment at the GL7 locus leads to upregulation of GL7 and downregulation of its nearby negative regulator, resulting in an increase in grain length and improvement of grain appearance quality. Sequence analysis indicates that allelic variants of GL7 and its negative regulator are associated with grain size diversity and that the CNV at the GL7 locus was selected for and used in breeding. Our work suggests that pyramiding beneficial alleles of GL7 and other yield- and quality-related genes may improve the breeding of elite rice varieties.

Genetic analysis of flag leaf size and candidate genes determination of a major QTL for flag leaf width in rice.

BACKGROUND: Flag leaf is the most essential organ for photosynthesis in rice and its size plays an important role in rice breeding for ideal plant-type. Flag leaf size affect photosynthesis to a certain extent, thereby influencing rice production. Several genes controlling leaf size and shape have been identified with mutants. Although a number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for leaf size and shape have been detected on 12 chromosomes with different populations of rice, few of them were cloned. RESULTS: The pair-wise correlation analysis was conducted on length, width and length-width ratio of the flag leaf, and yield per plant in the core recombinant inbred lines of Liang-You-Pei-Jiu (LYP9) developed in Hainan and Hangzhou. There were significant correlations among the three flag leaf size and shape traits. Interestingly, a positive correlation was found between flag leaf width and yield per plant. Based on the high-resolution linkage map we constructed before, 43 QTLs were detected for three flag leaf size and shape traits and yield per plant, among which 31 QTLs were unreported so far. Seven QTLs were identified common in two environments. And qFLW7.2, a new major QTL for flag leaf width, was fine mapped within 27.1 kb region on chromosome 7. Both qFLW7.2 and qPY7 were located in the interval of 45.30 ~ 53.34 cM on chromosome 7, which coincided with the relationship between yield per plant (PY) and flag leaf width (FLW). CONCLUSION: qFLW7.2, which explained 14% of the phenotypic variation, increased flag leaf width with 93-11 allele. Two candidate genes were selected based on sequence variation and expression difference between two parents, which facilitated further QTL cloning and molecular breeding in super rice.

Full genome sequence of Brevibacillus laterosporus strain B9, a biological control strain isolated from Zhejiang, China.

Brevibacillus laterosporus was newly classified from Bacillus laterosporus, which has ability to be used as a biological control agent in crop field. B. laterosporus strain B9 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-positive, spore-forming rod that was isolated from a field of Oryza sativa in Zhejiang, China in 2011. This bacterium has been confirmed to be a strong antagonist against bacterial brown strip of rice caused by Acidovorex avenae subsp. avenae. Here we describe the features of B. laterosporus strain B9, together with the complete genome sequence and its annotation. The 5,272,435bp genome contains 4804 protein-coding genes and 227 RNA-only encoding genes with 2 plasmids.

Genome sequence of Xanthomonas sacchari R1, a biocontrol bacterium isolated from the rice seed.

Xanthomonas sacchari, was first identified as a pathogenic bacterium isolated from diseased sugarcane in Guadeloupe. In this study, R1 was first isolated from rice seed samples from Philippines in 2002. The antagonistic ability against several rice pathogens raises our attention. The genomic feature of this strain was described in this paper. The total genome size of X. sacchari R1 is 5,000,479 bp with 4315 coding sequences (CDS), 59 tRNAs, 2rRNAs and one plasmid.

LSCHL4 from Japonica Cultivar, which is allelic to NAL1, increases yield of indica super rice 93-11.

The basic premise of high yield in rice is to improve leaf photosynthetic efficiency and coordinate the source-sink relationship in rice plants. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to morphological traits and chlorophyll content of rice leaves were detected at the stages of heading to maturity, and a major QTL (qLSCHL4) related to flag leaf shape and chlorophyll content was detected at both stages in recombinant inbred lines constructed using the indica rice cultivar 93-11 and the japonica rice cultivar Nipponbare. Map-based cloning and expression analysis showed that LSCHL4 is allelic to NAL1, a gene previously reported in narrow leaf mutant of rice. Overexpression lines transformed with vector carrying LSCHL4 from Nipponbare and a near-isogenic line of 93-11 (NIL-9311) had significantly increased leaf chlorophyll content, enlarged flag leaf size, and improved panicle type. The average yield of NIL-9311 was 18.70% higher than that of 93-11. These results indicate that LSCHL4 had a pleiotropic function. Exploring and pyramiding more high-yield alleles resembling LSCHL4 for super rice breeding provides an effective way to achieve new breakthroughs in raising rice yield and generate new ideas for solving the problem of global food safety.