The Vitis yeshanensis U-box E3 ubiquitin ligase VyPUB21 enhances resistance to powdery mildew by targeting degradation of NIM1-interacting (NIMIN) protein.

KEY MESSAGE: VyPUB21 plays a key role during the defense against powdery mildew in grapes. Ubiquitin-ligating enzyme (E3), a type of protein widely found in plants, plays a key role in their resistance to disease. Yet how E3 participates in the disease-resistant response of Chinese wild grapevine (Vitis yeshanensis) remains unclear. Here we isolated and identified a U-box type E3 ubiquitin ligase, VyPUB21, from V. yeshanensis. This gene's expression level rose rapidly after induction by exogenous salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ETH) and powdery mildew. In vitro ubiquitination assay results revealed VyPUB21 could produce ubiquitination bands after co-incubation with ubiquitin, ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1), and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2); further, mutation of the conserved amino acid site in the U-box can inhibit the ubiquitination. Transgenic VyPUB21 Arabidopsis had low susceptibility to powdery mildew, and significantly fewer conidiophores and spores on its leaves. Expression levels of disease resistance-related genes were also augmented in transgenic Arabidopsis, and its SA concentration also significantly increased. VyPUB21 interacts with VyNIMIN and targets VyNIMIN protein hydrolysis through the 26S proteasome system. Thus, the repressive effect of the NIMIN-NPR complex on the late systemic acquired resistance (SAR) gene was attenuated, resulting in enhanced resistance to powdery mildew. These results indicate that VyPUB21 encoding ubiquitin ligase U-box E3 activates the SA signaling pathway, and VyPUB21 promotes the expression of late SAR gene by degrading the important protein VyNIMIN of SA signaling pathway, thus enhancing grape resistance to powdery mildew.

Transcription factor VviWOX13C regulates fruit set by directly activating VviEXPA37/38/39 in grape (Vitis vinifera L).

KEY MESSAGE: VviWOX13C plays a key regulatory role in the expansin during fruit set. Expansins as a type of non-enzymatic cell wall proteins, are responsible for the loosening and extension in cell walls leading to the enlargement of the plant cells. However, the current studies are still lacking in expansin genes associated with promoting fruit set. Here, 29 members of the expansin gene family were identified in the whole genome of grapes (Vitis vinifera L.), and the functional prediction of expansins was based on the gene annotated information. Results showed that the 29 members of grape expansin gene family could be mainly divided into four subfamilies (EXPA, EXPB, LIKE A, and LIKE B), distributed on 16 chromosomes. Replication analysis showed that there were four segmental duplications and two tandem duplications. Each expansins sequence contained two conserved domain features of grape EXPs (DPBB_1 and Expansin_C) through protein sequence analysis. The transcriptome sequencing results revealed that VviEXPA37, VviEXPA38, and VviEXPA39 were induced and upregulated by CPPU. Furthermore, transcriptional regulatory prediction network indicated that VviWOX13C targeted regulates VviEXPA37, VviEXPA38, and VviEXPA39 simultaneously. EMSA and dual luciferase assays demonstrated that VviWOX13C directly activated the expression of VviEXPA37, VviEXPA38, and VviEXPA39 by directly binding to its promoter. These results provide a basis for further studies on the function and regulatory mechanisms of expansin genes in fruit set.

Comparative microbiome analysis reveals the variation in microbial communities between 'Kyoho' grape and its bud mutant variety.

Microbes are an important part of the vineyard ecosystem, which significantly influence the quality of grapes. Previously, we identified a bud mutant variety (named 'Fengzao') from 'Kyoho' grapes. The variation of microbial communities in grape and its bud mutant variety has not been studied yet. So, in this study, with the samples of both 'Fengzao' and 'Kyoho', we conducted high-throughput microbiome sequencing and investigated their microbial communities in different tissues. Obvious differences were observed in the microbial communities between 'Fengzao' and 'Kyoho'. The fruit and the stem are the tissues with relatively higher abundance of microbes, while the leaves contained less microbes. The fruit and the stem of 'Kyoho' and the stem of 'Fengzao' had relatively higher species diversity based on the alpha diversity analysis. Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Rhodobacteraceae had significantly high abundance in 'Fengzao'. Firmicutes and Pseudomonas were highly abundant in the stems of 'Kyoho', and family of Spirochaetaceae, Anaplasmataceae, Chlorobiaceae, and Sphingomonadaceae, and genera of Spirochaeta, Sphingomonas, Chlorobaculum and Wolbachia were abundant in the fruits of 'Kyoho'. These identified microbes are main components of the microbial communities, and could be important regulators of grapevine growth and development. This study revealed the differences in the microbial compositions between 'Kyoho' and its bud mutant, and these identified microbes will be significant resources for the future researches on the quality regulation and disease control of grapevines.

Genome-wide characterization of long terminal repeat retrotransposons provides insights into trait evolution of four cucurbit species.

Cucurbits are a diverse plant family that includes economically important crops, such as cucumber, watermelon, melon, and pumpkin. Knowledge of the roles that long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) have played in diversification of cucurbit species is limited; to add to understanding of the roles of LTR-RTs, we assessed their distributions in four cucurbit species. We identified 381, 578, 1086, and 623 intact LTR-RTs in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. var. sativus cv. Chinese Long), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus subsp. vulgaris cv. 97103), melon (Cucumis melo cv. DHL92), and Cucurbita (Cucurbita moschata var. Rifu), respectively. Among these LTR-RTs, the Ale clade of the Copia superfamily was the most abundant in all the four cucurbit species. Insertion time and copy number analysis revealed that an LTR-RT burst occurred approximately 2 million years ago in cucumber, watermelon, melon, and Cucurbita, and may have contributed to their genome size variation. Phylogenetic and nucleotide polymorphism analyses suggested that most LTR-RTs were formed after species diversification. Analysis of gene insertions by LTR-RTs revealed that the most frequent insertions were of Ale and Tekay and that genes related to dietary fiber synthesis were the most commonly affected by LTR-RTs in Cucurbita. These results increase our understanding of LTR-RTs and their roles in genome evolution and trait characterization in cucurbits.

Expressing a Short Tandem Target Mimic (STTM) of miR164b/e-3p enhances poplar leaf serration by co-regulating the miR164-NAC module.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs (21-24 nt) that play important roles in plant growth and development. The miR164 family is highly conserved in plants and the miR164-NAM/ATAF/CUC (NAC) module is validated to regulate leaf and flower development, lateral root initiation and stress response. However, our knowledge of its role in Populus remains limited. In this study, two mature miRNA species, miR164e-5p and miR164e-3p, were identified in Populus deltoides. Their nucleotide sequences were identical to those of miR164a/b/c/d/e-5p and miR164b/e-3p in P. tremula × P. alba clone 717-1B4 (hereinafter poplar 717), respectively. Transgenic plants of poplar 717, including overexpression lines (35S::pri-miR164e) and Short Tandem Target Mimic lines (STTM-miR164a-d,e-5p and STTM-miR164b/e-3p), were generated to study the roles of miR164e-5p and miR164e-3p in poplar. Compared with poplar 717, the leaf margins of 35S::pri-miR164e lines were smoother, the leaves of STTM-miR164b/e-3p line were more serrated, while the leaf morphology of STTM-miR164a-d,e-5p lines had no obvious change. In addition, both 35S::pri-miR164e and STTM-miR164b/e-3p plants had a dwarf phenotype. Expressions of miR164a-d,e-5p target genes, including PtaCUC2a, PtaCUC2b and PtaORE1, was significantly reduced in the apex of 35S::pri-miR164e lines. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter assay showed that PtaCUC2a/2b and PtaORE1 were cleaved by miR164a-d,e-5p, and the cleavage was inhibited by STTM-miR164b/e-3p. Therefore, miR164b/e-3p may cooperate with miR164a-d,e-5p to regulate certain NAC members, such as PtaCUC2a/2b and PtaORE1, thereby regulating leaf development and plant growth in poplar. Our findings add new insights into the mechanisms by which the miR164-NAC module regulates plant development.

miR171-targeted SCARECROW-LIKE genes CsSCL2 and CsSCL3 regulate somatic embryogenesis in citrus.

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a key regeneration pathway in various biotechnology approaches to crop improvement, especially for economically important perennial woody crops like citrus. However, maintenance of SE capability has long been a challenge and becomes a bottleneck in biotechnology-facilitated plant improvement. In the embryogenic callus (EC) of citrus, we identified 2 csi-miR171c-targeted SCARECROW-LIKE genes CsSCL2 and CsSCL3 (CsSCL2/3), which exert positive feedback regulation on csi-miR171c expression. Suppression of CsSCL2 expression by RNA interference (RNAi) enhanced SE in citrus callus. A thioredoxin superfamily protein CsClot was identified as an interactive protein of CsSCL2/3. Overexpression of CsClot disturbed reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis in EC and enhanced SE. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) and RNA-Seq identified 660 genes directly suppressed by CsSCL2 that were enriched in biological processes including development-related processes, auxin signaling pathway, and cell wall organization. CsSCL2/3 bound to the promoters of regeneration-related genes, such as WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX 2 (CsWOX2), CsWOX13, and Lateral Organ Boundaries Domain 40 (LBD40), and repressed their expression. Overall, CsSCL2/3 modulate ROS homeostasis through the interactive protein CsClot and directly suppress the expression of regeneration-related genes, thus regulating SE in citrus. We uncovered a regulatory pathway of miR171c-targeted CsSCL2/3 in SE, which shed light on the mechanism of SE and regeneration capability maintenance in citrus.

Overexpression of miR390b promotes stem elongation and height growth in Populus.

MicroRNA390 (miR390) is involved in plant growth and development by down-regulating the expression of the downstream genes trans-acting short interfering RNA3 (TAS3) and AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs (ARFs). There is a scarcity of research on the involvement of the miR390-TAS3-ARFs pathway in the stem development of Populus. Here, differentially expressed miRNAs during poplar stem development were screened by small RNA sequencing analysis, and a novel function of miR390b in stem development was revealed. Overexpression of miR390b (OE-miR390b) resulted in a large increase in the number of xylem fiber cells and a slight decrease in the cell length at the longitudinal axis. Overall increases in stem elongation and plant height were observed in the OE-miR390b plants. According to transcriptome sequencing results and transient co-expression analysis, TAS3.1 and TAS3.2 were identified as the target genes of miR390 in poplar and were negatively regulated by miR390 in the apex. The transcription levels of ARF3.2 and ARF4 were significantly repressed in OE-miR390b plants and strongly negatively correlated with the number of xylem fiber cells along the longitudinal axis. These findings indicate that the conserved miR390-TAS3-ARFs pathway in poplar is involved in stem elongation and plant height growth.

Rational Design Hierarchical SnS2 Uniformly Adhered to Three-Sided Carbon Active Sites to Enhance Sodium Storage.

Reducing material accumulation and designing reasonable sizes are critical strategies for increasing the rate and cycling stability of electrode materials. Herein, we presented a double-walled hollow carbon spheres (DWHCSs) loading strategy for achieving ultrafine SnS2 nanosheet adhesion by utilizing three-sided active sites of the interior/exterior carbon walls. The structure effectively shortened the electron/ion transport path, increased the effective contact between electrolyte and electrode material, and promoted ion diffusion kinetics. Furthermore, the hollow structure can adapt to the volume change of the electrode during the cycle, preventing active substances from draining. Based on the above advantages, SnS2@DWHCSs as an anode material for sodium ion batteries (SIBs) exhibited a distinguished reversible capacity of 665.7 mA h g-1 at 2 A g-1 after 1000 cycles, and a superior rate ability of 377.6 mA h g-1 at an ultrahigh rate of 10 A g-1. The outstanding electrochemical performance revealed that the structure exhibited a broad application prospect in the field of energy storage and provided a reference for the rational design of other 2D materials.

miR171 modulates induction of somatic embryogenesis in citrus callus.

KEY MESSAGE: Overexpression of miR171 restored SE competence in the recalcitrant citrus callus, and inhibition of miR171 function weakened SE competence in the strongly embryogenic citrus callus. Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is an important way of in vitro regeneration for plants. For perennial woody crops such as citrus, embryogenic callus is usually induced from unfertilized aborted ovules and widely used in biotechnology aided breeding. However, SE capacity always declines in callus during subculture, which makes regeneration difficult and hinders the application of biotechnology. We previously found that miR171 may be a regulator of SE in citrus, based on the abundant expression of csi-miR171c in the embryogenic callus and during SE of citrus. Here, we report that miR171 promotes SE and is required for SE in citrus. Overexpression of miR171 restored SE competence in the recalcitrant callus of 'Guoqing No.1' Satsuma mandarin (G1), whereas inhibition of miR171 function by Short Tandem Target Mimic (STTM) weakened SE competence in the strongly embryogenic callus of 'Valencia' sweet orange (V). The comparative transcriptomic analysis in miR171 overexpressed callus line (OE) and the wild type callus (WT) indicated that overexpression of miR171 decreased the expression level of its SCARECROW-LIKE (CsSCL) targets, and activated stress response related biological processes and metabolic processes that are required for cell differentiation. However, CsSCLs were up-regulated in the OE callus during SE induction process, which activated the cell division and developmental processes that are required for embryogenesis progress. Our results validate the function of miR171 in regulation of SE and reveal the biological responses provoked by miR171 in citrus that may promote SE.

Rapid analysis of quinones in complex matrices by derivatization-based wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

Quinones are important components participating in various biological processes as well as hazardous substances to human health. Rapid determination of quinones in environmental samples and biofluids is the basis for assessing their health effect. Here, we presented a rapid, straightforward, highly sensitive and environmental-friendly wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) method for the determination of quinones in PM2.5, urine and serum. An amine group "tag" was introduced to the quinone structure through in situ derivatization with cysteamine to improve ionization efficiency of quinones in wooden-tip ESI-MS. The toothpicks were treated by sharpening and acidification with HNO3. Experimental parameters, including sample volume, spray voltage, and spray solvent composition were optimized to be 1 µL, 3.5 kV, and ACN/CH3COOC2H5 (v/v, 9:1), respectively. The limits of detection for the determination of 1,4-benzoquinone, methyl-p-benzoquinone, 1,4-naphthoquinone and 1,4-anthraquinone in ACN under the optimal conditions were 1.00, 0.96, 0.13, 0.16 ng (1.00, 0.96, 0.13, 0.16 µg/mL, sample volume, 1 µL), respectively. This approach was successfully applied to the determination of 1,4-naphthoquinone and 1,4-anthraquinone in complex matrices, including PM2.5, urine and serum without or with minimal sample preparation (LOD range: 0.22-1.48 ng).

Atomic Welded Dual-Wall Hollow Nanospheres for Three-in-One Hybrid Storage Mechanism of Alkali Metal Ion Batteries.

The rational design of hierarchical hollow nanomaterials is of critical significance in energy storage materials. Herein, dual-wall hollow nanospheres (DWHNS) Sn/MoS2@C are constructed by in situ confined growth and interface engineering. The inner hollow spheres of Sn/MoS2 are formed by atomic soldering MoS2 nanosheets with liquid Sn at high temperature. The formation mechanism of the hierarchical structure is explored by the morphology evolutions at different temperatures. The DWHNS Sn/MoS2@C manifest abundant inner space and high specific surface area, which provides more support sites for Li+/Na+/K+ storage and alleviates the volume effect of tin-based electrode materials to a certain extent. The composite material manifests an outstanding specific capacity and satisfactory reversibility of lithium ion batteries (∼931 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 after 500 cycles), sodium ion batteries (∼432 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 after 400 cycles), and potassium ion batteries (∼226 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 after 300 cycles). Additionally, the morphology evolution and mechanism analysis of DWHNS Sn/MoS2@C in alkali metal ion batteries are verified by ex situ measurement, which confirms the three-in-one hybrid storage mechanism, i.e., intercalation reaction of carbon shells, conversion reaction of MoS2, and alloying reaction of tin.

Facile synthesis of Cu-CuFe2O4 nanozymes for sensitive assay of H2O2 and GSH.

Artificial enzymes have drawn substantial research interest from the scientific community due to their advantages over natural enzymes. However, majority of artificial enzymes exhibit low affinity towards H2O2, which means that a high H2O2 concentration is needed for the oxidation of a substrate such as 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to blue-colored oxTMB. With this concern, Cu-CuFe2O4 was facilely synthesized, wherein, Cu0 accelerates the redox capacity of Cu-CuFe2O4 as well as the electron transfer between CuFe2O4 and H2O2. These materials induce excellent activity as a peroxidase. Cu-CuFe2O4 shows high affinity towards H2O2 with lower Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) than the reported values for ferrites and Horseradish enzyme (HRP). Moreover, it took only 5 min to detect hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and glutathione (GSH) through a colorimetric assay using Cu-CuFe2O4. Compared with CuFe2O4, the limit of detection (LOD) is about 90-fold lower for H2O2 using Cu-CuFe2O4. In addition, Cu-CuFe2O4 shows high stability as a nanozyme. Thus, the mechanism of the peroxidase-like nanozyme Cu-CuFe2O4 is proposed.

Electrocatalytic oxidation toward dopamine and acetaminophen based on AuNPs@TCnA/GN modified glassy carbon electrode.

In this paper, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified by thiolated calix[n]arene (TCnA, n = 4, 6, 8) were anchored on graphene nanosheets (GN) by π-π stacking interaction between TCnA molecules and GN. Testing of various electrochemical techniques display that the AuNPs@TCnA/GN modified glass carbon electrodes (GCE) show good electrocatalytic property, molecular recognition and enrichment performance toward dopamine (DA) and acetaminophen (AC), and exhibit high current response. In all of modified electrodes, AuNPs@TC8A/GN/GCE shows an outstanding electrochemical response for DA and AC with high sensitivity of 5.08 and 9.76 mA mmol-1 L cm-2, respectively. The analytical curves for DA obtained by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) are linear in the range from 0.5 to 150 µM and from 0.3 to 1.0 mM. The linear range for AC obtained by DPV is from 0.5 to 120 µM. Besides, AuNPs@TC8A/GN/GCE can be applied to determinate of DA and AC simultaneously, implying the prospect to develop a dual sensor under the same construction platform.

Xanthine biosensor based on the direct oxidation of xanthine at an electrogenerated oligomer film.

Poly(o-aminophenol-co-pyrogallol) (PAP) was first synthesized via the electrochemical copolymerization of o-aminophenol and pyrogallol in the acidic solution, using a reduced graphene oxide/glassy carbon (RGO/GC) electrode as a working electrode. Reduced graphene oxide played an important role in increasing PAP amount deposited on the RGO/GC electrode compared to that on the bare GC electrode, which is due to that RGO has the large specific surface area. The results from the spectra of IR, (1)H NMR and ESR and the measurement of molecular weight demonstrated that PAP is an oligomer with the free radicals and exhibited good redox activity in a wide pH range from pH<1-9.0 and can effectively catalyze xanthine oxidation due to the presence of the free radicals and the reversible redox groups in the copolymer chain. On the basis of the direct oxidation of xanthine on PAP, the PAP/RGO/GC electrode was used as a xanthine biosensor. The biosensor showed a linear range from 1.0 to 120µM xanthine at pH 6.0 with a correction coefficient of 0.9965 and fast response to xanthine oxidation. The peak potential of xanthine oxidation shifted from 0.814 to 0.668V as pH increased from 5.0 to 7.5.

Development of a high analytical performance amperometric glucose biosensor based on glucose oxidase immobilized in a composite matrix: layered double hydroxides/chitosan.

This paper aimed at showing the interest of the composite material based on layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and chitosan (CHT) as suitable host matrix likely to immobilize enzyme onto electrode surface for amperometric biosensing application. This hybrid material combined the advantages of inorganic LDHs and organic biopolymer, CHT. Glucose oxidase (GOD) immobilized in the composite material maintained its activity well as the usage of glutaraldehyde was avoided. The process parameters for the fabrication of the enzyme electrode and various experimental variables such as pH, applied potential and temperature, were explored for optimum analytical performance of the enzyme electrode. The enzyme electrode provided a linear response to glucose over a concentration range of 1 x 10(-6) to 3 x 10(-3) M with a high sensitivity of 62.6 mA M(-1) cm(-2) and a detection limit of 0.1 microM based on the signal-to-noise ratio of 3.

Inhibitive detection of benzoic acid using a novel phenols biosensor based on polyaniline-polyacrylonitrile composite matrix.

A novel sensitive and stable phenols amperometric biosensor, based on polyaniline-polyacrylonitrile composite matrix, was applied for determination of benzoic acid. The electrochemical biosensor functioning was based on the inhibition effect of benzoic acid on the biocatalytic activity of the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to its substrate (catechol) in 0.1M phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.5). A potential value of -50 mV versus SCE, and a constant catechol concentration of 20 microM were selective to carry out the amperometric inhibition measurement. The kinetic parameters Michaelis-Menten constant (K(M)(app)) and maximum current (I(max)) in the absence and in the presence of benzoic acid were also evaluated and the possible inhibition mechanism was deduced. The inhibiting action of benzoic acid on the polyphenol oxidase electrode was reversible and of the typical competitive type, with an apparent inhibition constant of 38 microM. This proposed biosensor detected levels of benzoic acid as low as 2x10(-7)M in solution. In addition, the effects of temperature, pH value of solution on the inhibition and the interferences were investigated and discussed herein. Inhibition studies revealed that the proposed electrochemical biosensor was applicable for monitoring benzoic acid in real sample such as milk, yoghurt, sprite and cola.