Iron and copper micronutrients influences cadmium accumulation in rice grains by altering its transport and allocation.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in rice paddy fields constitutes a serious health issue in some parts of China. Here we study the potential for remediation of Cd contaminated alkaline paddy soil with low iron (Fe) and high copper (Cu) background by altering the concentrations of Fe and Cu in the growing media, which has been only seldom considered. We assessed how these two micronutrients (Cu and Fe) affect the absorption and transport of Cd in rice. Adding Cu significantly increased rice biomass and grain yield by reducing root Cd influx and Cd upward transport which, consequently, lowered Cd concentrations in roots, culms and leaves. However, excessive Cu also promoted a relatively higher Cd allocation in grains, especially under Fe deficiency, likely because Cu significantly increased the proportion of bioavailable Cd in leaves. Contrastingly, Fe did not alleviate the toxic effects of Cd on rice growth and yield, but it significantly reduced Cd transfer towards grains, which might be attributed to a sharp decrease in the proportion of bioavailable Cd in leaves. Our results demonstrated that Cd remediation may be achieved through altering Fe and Cu inputs, such that Cd accumulation in rice grains is reduced.

lncRNA XIST promotes gastric cancer progression via regulating miR-337-3p/ HOXC8 axis / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@# Objective: To investigate the mechanism of lncRNA XIST (XIST) on modulating gastric cancer progression via regulating miR-337-3p/HOXC8 axis. Methods: A total of 58 cases of gastric cancer tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues resected from March 2013 to January 2018 in Department of General Surgery, Kailuan General Hospital of Tangshan City were collected for this study; in addition, human gastric cancer cell lines (AGS, MGC803, HGC27) and human gastric mucosal GES-1 cells were also collected. qPCR was used to detect the expressions of XIST and miR-337-3p in above mentioned gastric tissues and cell lines. XIST-knockdown vectors, miR-337-3p mimics, miR-337-3p inhibitor and HOXC8-overexpression vectors were transfected into AGS cells. The proliferation and invasion of AGS cells were detected by CCK-8 and Transwell experiments respectively, and the expression levels of HOXC8, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and vimentin were detected by WB. The targeting relationships between XIST, miR337-3p and HOXC8 were verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. Results: XIST was up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines (all P<0.01). XIST knockdown significantly inhibited proliferation, invasion and EMT of AGS cells (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Moreover, XIST directly interacted with miR-337-3p and down-regulated its expression, while HOXC8 was the target gene of miR-3373p. Furthermore, XIST knockdown suppressed proliferation, invasion and EMT ofAGS cells through up-regulating the inhibitory effect of miR-337-3p on HOXC8 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion: XIST knockdown can suppress the proliferation, invasion and EMT of AGS cells, which may be related with down-regulation of HOXC8 by targeting miR-337-3p.