Functional differentiation and genetic diversity of rice cation exchanger (CAX) genes and their potential use in rice improvement.

Cation exchanger (CAX) genes play an important role in plant growth/development and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we tried to obtain important information on the functionalities and phenotypic effects of CAX gene family by systematic analyses of their expression patterns, genetic diversity (gene CDS haplotypes, structural variations, gene presence/absence variations) in 3010 rice genomes and nine parents of 496 Huanghuazhan introgression lines, the frequency shifts of the predominant gcHaps at these loci to artificial selection during modern breeding, and their association with tolerances to several abiotic stresses. Significant amounts of variation also exist in the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) of the OsCAX gene promoters in 50 high-quality rice genomes. The functional differentiation of OsCAX gene family were reflected primarily by their tissue and development specific expression patterns and in varied responses to different treatments, by unique sets of CREs in their promoters and their associations with specific agronomic traits/abiotic stress tolerances. Our results indicated that OsCAX1a and OsCAX2 as general signal transporters were in many processes of rice growth/development and responses to diverse environments, but they might be of less value in rice improvement. OsCAX1b, OsCAX1c, OsCAX3 and OsCAX4 was expected to be of potential value in rice improvement because of their associations with specific traits, responsiveness to specific abiotic stresses or phytohormones, and relatively high gcHap and CRE diversity. Our strategy was demonstrated to be highly efficient to obtain important genetic information on genes/alleles of specific gene family and can be used to systematically characterize the other rice gene families.

Biotransformation approach to produce rare ginsenosides F1, compound Mc1, and Rd2 from major ginsenosides.

The stems and leaves of Panax notoginseng contain high saponins, but they are often discarded as agricultural waste. In this study, the predominant ginsenosides Rg1, Rc, and Rb2, presented in the stems and leaves of ginseng plants, were biotransformed into value-added rare ginsenosides F1, compound Mc1 (C-Mc1), and Rd2, respectively. A fungal strain YMS6 (Penicillium sp.) was screened from the soil as a biocatalyst with high selectivity for the deglycosylation of major ginsenosides. Under the optimal fermentation conditions, the yields of F1, C-Mc1, and Rd2 were 97.95, 68.64, and 79.58%, respectively. This study provides a new microbial resource for the selective conversion of protopanaxadiol-type and protopanaxatriol-type major saponins into rare ginsenosides via the whole-cell biotransformation and offers a solution for the better utilization of P. notoginseng waste.

Naringenin protects against septic cardiomyopathy in mice by targeting HIF-1α.

Myocardial dysfunction is a prevalent complication of sepsis (septic cardiomyopathy) with a high mortality rate and limited therapeutic options. Naringenin, a natural flavonoid compound with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, holds promise as a potential treatment for sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction. This study investigated the pharmacological effects of naringenin on septic cardiomyopathy. In vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that naringenin improved cardiomyocyte damage. Network pharmacology and database analysis revealed that HIF-1α is a key target protein of naringenin. Elevated expression of HIF-1α was observed in damaged cardiomyocytes, and the HIF-1α inhibitor effectively protected against LPS-induced cardiomyocyte damage. Molecular docking studies confirmed the direct binding between naringenin and HIF-1α protein. Importantly, our findings demonstrated that naringenin did not provide additional attenuation of cardiomyocyte injury on the biases of HIF-1α inhibitor treatment. In conclusion, this study proves that naringenin protects against septic cardiomyopathy through HIF-1α signaling. Naringenin is a promising therapeutic candidate for treating septic cardiomyopathy.

Integrated Multiomics Reveals Silencing of has_circ_0006646 Promotes TRIM21-Mediated NCL Ubiquitination to Inhibit Hepatocellular Carcinoma Metastasis.

Recent studies suggest that circular RNA (circRNA)-mediated post-translational modification of RNA-binding proteins (RBP) plays a pivotal role in metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the specific mechanism and potential clinical therapeutic significance remain vague. This study attempts to profile the regulatory networks of circRNA and RBP using a multi-omics approach. Has_circ_0006646 (circ0006646) is an unreported circRNA in HCC and is associated with a poor prognosis. Silencing of circ0006646 significantly hinders metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, circ0006646 prevents the interaction between nucleolin (NCL) and the E3 ligase tripartite motif-containing 21 to reduce the proteasome-mediated degradation of NCL via K48-linked polyubiquitylation. Furthermore, the change of NCL expression is proven to affect the phosphorylation levels of multiple proteins and inhibit p53 translation. Moreover, patient-derived tumor xenograft and lentivirus injection, which is conducted to simulate clinical treatment confirmed the potential therapeutic value. Overall, this study describes the integrated multi-omics landscape of circRNA-mediated NCL ubiquitination degradation in HCC metastasis and provides a novel therapeutic target.

Genome-wide identification of the N6-methyladenosine regulatory genes reveals NtFIP37B increases drought resistance of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).

BACKGROUND: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the common internal RNA modifications found in eukaryotes. The m6A modification can regulate various biological processes in organisms through the modulation of alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, folding, translation, localization, transport, and decay of multiple types of RNA, without altering the nucleotide sequence. The three components involved in m6A modification, namely writer, eraser, and reader, mediate the abundance of RNA m6A modification through complex collaborative actions. Currently, research on m6A regulatory genes in plants is still in its infancy. RESULTS: In this study, we identified 52 candidate m6A regulatory genes in common tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). Gene structure, conserved domains, and motif analysis showed structural and functional diversity among different subgroups of tobacco m6A regulatory genes. The amplification of m6A regulatory genes were mainly driven by polyploidization and dispersed duplication, and duplicated genes evolved through purified selection. Based on the potential regulatory network and expression pattern analysis of m6A regulatory genes, a significant number of m6A regulatory genes might play important roles in growth, development, and stress response processes. Furthermore, we have confirmed the critical role of NtFIP37B, an m6A writer gene in tobacco, in enhancing drought resistance. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides useful information for better understanding the evolution of m6A regulatory genes and the role of m6A modification in tobacco stress response, and lays the foundation for further elucidating the function of m6A regulatory genes in tobacco.

Longitudinal relationship between social participation, depressive symptoms, and activity impairment among older patients with arthritis: a moderated mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Arthritis primarily affects older people and is a prominent cause of their activity impairment. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of depressive symptoms in the relationship between social participation and activity impairment, as well as to determine whether sex moderated the mediating effect. METHODS: A total of 2247 older patients with arthritis were included from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study between 2015 and 2018. We first examined a simple mediation model where depressive symptoms were a mediator between social participation and activity impairment. Furthermore, sex was systematically integrated into the model as a moderator. The mediation model and moderated mediation model were analyzed using PROCESS macro. RESULTS: Mediation analysis revealed that the association between social participation and activity impairment was partially mediated by depressive symptoms (B = -0.10, 95% CI = [-0.14, -0.06]) with intermediary effect of 28.6%. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that mediation model was moderated by sex. The indirect effect of social participation on activity impairment among female patients (B = -0.15, 95% CI = [-0.21, -0.09]) was stronger than male patients (B = -0.04, 95% CI = [-0.09, -0.01]). CONCLUSION: Social participation was the key protective factor associated with depressive symptoms and activity impairment among arthritis patients. Encouraging arthritis patients to social participation and improving the depressive symptoms might avoid activity impairment, especially for female patients.

Genome-wide identification and analysis of WD40 proteins reveal that NtTTG1 enhances drought tolerance in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum).

BACKGROUND: WD40 proteins, which are highly prevalent in eukaryotes, play important roles in plant development and stress responses. However, systematic identification and exploration of WD40 proteins in tobacco have not yet been conducted. RESULTS: In this study, a total of 399 WD40 regulatory genes were identified in common tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Gene structure and motif analysis revealed structural and functional diversity among different clades of tobacco WD40 regulatory genes. The expansion of tobacco WD40 regulatory genes was mainly driven by segmental duplication and purifying selection. A potential regulatory network of NtWD40s suggested that NtWD40s might be regulated by miRNAs and transcription factors in various biological processes. Expression pattern analysis via transcriptome analysis and qRT-PCR revealed that many NtWD40s exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns and might be involved in various biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, we have validated the critical role of NtTTG1, which was located in the nuclei of trichome cells, in enhancing the drought tolerance of tobacco plants. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides comprehensive information to better understand the evolution of WD40 regulatory genes and their roles in different stress responses in tobacco.

Ten-eleven translocation-2-mediated macrophage activation promotes liver regeneration.

BACKGROUND: The remarkable regenerative capacity of the liver enables recovery after radical Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) resection. After resection, macrophages secrete interleukin 6 and hepatocyte growth factors to promote liver regeneration. Ten-eleven translocation-2 (Tet2) DNA dioxygenase regulates pro-inflammatory factor secretion in macrophages. In this study, we explored the role of Tet2 in macrophages and its function independent of its enzymatic activity in liver regeneration. METHODS: The model of liver regeneration after 70% partial hepatectomy (PHx) is a classic universal model for studying reparative processes in the liver. Mice were euthanized at 0, 24, and 48 h after PHx. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, immunofluorescence analysis, and flow cytometry were performed to explore immune cell infiltration and liver regenerative capability. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the interaction between Tet2 and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (Stat1). RESULTS: Tet2 in macrophages negatively regulated liver regeneration in the partial hepatectomy mice model. Tet2 interacted with Stat1, inhibiting the expression of proinflammatory factors and suppressing liver regeneration. The Tet2 inhibitor attenuated the interaction between Stat1 and Tet2, enhanced Stat1 phosphorylation, and promoted hepatocyte proliferation. The proliferative function of the Tet2 inhibitor relied on macrophages and did not affect hepatocytes directly. CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore that Tet2 in macrophages negatively regulates liver regeneration by interacting with Stat1. Targeting Tet2 in macrophages promotes liver regeneration and function after a hepatectomy, presenting a novel target to promote liver regeneration and function.

QTL epistasis plays a role of homeostasis on heading date in rice.

If there was no gene interaction, the gene aggregation effect would increase infinitely with the increase of gene number. Epistasis avoids the endless accumulation of gene effects, playing a role of homeostasis. To confirm the role, QTL epistases were analyzed by four single-segment substitution lines with heading date QTLs in this paper. We found that QTLs of three positive effects and one negative effect generated 62.5% negative dual QTL epistatic effects and 57.7% positive triple QTL epistatic effects, forming the relationship "positive QTLs-negative one order interactions-positive two order interactions". In this way, the aggregation effect of QTLs was partially neutralized by the opposite epistatic effect sum. There also were two exceptions, QTL OsMADS50 and gene Hd3a-2 were always with consistent effect directions with their epistases, implying they could be employed in pyramiding breeding with different objectives. This study elucidated the mechanism of epistatic interactions among four QTLs and provided valuable genetic resources for improving heading date in rice.

Carbon nanosol-induced assemblage of a plant-beneficial microbiome consortium.

Carbon nanosol (CNS) is a carbon-based nanomaterial that promotes plant growth; however, its functional mechanisms and effects on the microbiome are not fully understood. Here, we explored the effects of CNS on the relationship between the soil, endophytic microbiomes and plant productivity. CNS treatment increased the fresh biomass of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants by 27.4% ± 9.9%. Amplicon sequencing analysis showed that the CNS treatment significantly affected the composition and diversity of the microbial communities in multiple ecological niches associated with tobacco, especially the bulk soil and stem endophytic microbiome. Furthermore, the application of CNS resulted in enhanced network connectivity and stability of the microbial communities in different niches, particularly in the soil, implying a strengthening of certain microbial interactions. Certain potentially growth-promoting root endophytic bacteria were more abundant under the CNS treatment. In addition, CNS increased the abundance of some endophytic microbial functional genes known to enhance plant growth, such as those associated with nutrient metabolism and the plant hormone biosynthesis pathways. We isolated two bacterial strains (Sphingopyxis sp. and Novosphingobium sp.) that were enriched under CNS treatment, and they were confirmed to promote tobacco plant growth in vitro. These results suggested that CNS might, at least in part, promote plant growth by enriching beneficial bacteria in the microbiome.

Biotransformation of Sclareol by a Fungal Endophyte of Salvia sclarea.

Microbial endophytes are known as versatile producers of useful metabolites, which have extensive applications in pharmacy, fragrance, agriculture and food. This study aims to screen sclareol-biotransforming microorganisms from Salvia sclarea, an untapped source of diverse endophytes. In this study, 50 culturable endophytes were isolated from S. sclarea grown in Xinjiang using sclareol as the sole carbon source and screened for their potential to transform sclareol into analogues. A fungal endophyte, identified as the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) strain Aspergillus tubingensis, can produce labd-14-ene-3ß,8α,13ß-triol and 8α,13ß-dihydroxylabd-14-en-3-one from sclareol, involving hydroxylation and carbonylation at the C3 site. Structures of the two metabolites were elucidated by HR-ESI-MS and NMR analysis. S. sclarea was proven to be a good source of endophytes that are prospective producers of secondary metabolites with valuable chemical and biological properties. This study is the first report regarding the isolation of endophytes from S. sclarea.

Knockdown of PHLDA1 alleviates sepsis-induced acute lung injury by downregulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory mechanism of pleckstrin homology-like domain, family A, member 1 (PHLDA1) in sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI). METHOD: Mice model of sepsis were established by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). The expression of PHLDA1 was reduced by injecting short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-PHLDA1 into the tail vein. The levels of PHLDA1, pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-1ß, IL-18, super-oxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione (GSH), molecular mechanism related to pyroptosis, such as caspase 1, adaptor apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and gasdermin D (GSDMD)-N, and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) were tested by Western blot analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay. Pathological changes in lung tissues were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Wet-dry weight ratio of lung tissues was observed. RESULTS: The expression of PHLDA1 was up-regulated in lung tissues from CLP-induced septic mice. Knockdown of PHLDA1 could reduce lung injury and wet-dry weight ratio in mice with sepsis-induced ALI. Moreover, silencing of PHLDA1 decreased the expressions of IL-1ß, TNF-α, IL-18, IL-6, and MDA but increased SOD and GSH expressions in CLP-induced septic mice. The expressions of NLRP3, GSDMD-N, ASC, and caspase 1 were decreased by PHLDA1 silencing. CONCLUSION: Knockdown of PHLDA1 inhibited lung inflammation and pyroptosis in mice with sepsis-induced ALI by down-regulating NLRP3.

OsGSTU17, a Tau Class Glutathione S-Transferase Gene, Positively Regulates Drought Stress Tolerance in Oryza sativa.

As a great threat to the normal growth of rice, drought not only restricts the growth of rice, but also affects its yield. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) have antioxidant and detoxification functions. In rice, GSTs can not only effectively cope with biological stress, but also play a defense role against abiotic stress. In this study, we selected OsGSTU17, a member gene that was induced by drought, to explore the role of GSTs and analyze their physiological mechanisms that are involved in rice drought tolerance. With the CRISPR/Cas9 knockout system techniques, we obtained two independent mutant lines of osgstu17. After 14 days of drought stress treatment, and then re-supply of the water for 10 days, the survival rate of the osgstu17 mutant lines was significantly reduced compared to the wild-type (WT). Similarly, with the 10% (w/v) PEG6000 hydroponics experiment at the seedling stage, we also found that compared with the WT, the shoot and root biomass of osgstu17 mutant lines decreased significantly. In addition, both the content of the MDA and H2O2, which are toxic to plants, increased in the osgtu17 mutant lines. On the other hand, chlorophyll and proline decreased by about 20%. The activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase, which react with peroxides, also decreased by about 20%. Under drought conditions, compared with the WT, the expressions of the drought stress-related genes OsNAC10, OsDREB2A, OsAP37, OsP5CS1, OsRAB16C, OsPOX1, OsCATA, and OsCATB in the osgtu17 mutant lines were significantly decreased. Finally, we concluded that knocking out OsGSTU17 significantly reduced the drought tolerance of rice; OsGSTU17 could be used as a candidate gene for rice drought-tolerant cultivation. However, the molecular mechanism of OsGSTU17 involved in rice drought resistance needs to be further studied.

Microwave Regenerable Nickel, Zinc Co-doped Nitrogen-Coordinated Porous Carbon Catalyst for Nitrogen Fixation.

More than 90% of the global NH3 synthesis is dominated by the Haber-Bosch process, which consumes 2% of the worldwide energy and generates 1.44% of the global carbon emission. The electrochemical N2 reduction reaction (NRR) is regarded as an attractive alternative route to produce NH3 under mild reaction conditions, but the electrocatalysts suffer from the difficulty of N≡N cleavage. In this work, we report a leaf-like MOF-derived Ni/Zn bimetallic co-doped nitrogen-coordinated porous carbon (Ni/Zn-NPC) as a cost-effective NH3 synthesis electrocatalyst. The resultant electrocatalyst achieved a high NH3 production rate of 22.68 µg h-1 mgcat-1 at -1.0 V vs a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in a 0.1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. The Ni/Zn-NPC material can be called a microwave regenerable catalyst because microwave treatment has proven to be a crucial part of the multi-field coupling to detoxify and make the catalyst reactive, further improving its stability. Density functional theory (DFT) was chosen to explore the mechanism of Ni/Zn-NPC for NRR, providing a profound prediction of the structure of the active site and related reaction pathways and revealing that trace Ni doping optimizes the local coordination environment and N2 adsorption of Zn atoms.

Knockdown of PHLDA1 alleviates sepsis-induced acute lung injury by downregulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation

Objective: To investigate the regulatory mechanism of pleckstrin homology-like domain, family A, member 1 (PHLDA1) in sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI). Method: Mice model of sepsis were established by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). The expression of PHLDA1 was reduced by injecting short hairpin RNA (shRNA)–PHLDA1 into the tail vein. The levels of PHLDA1, pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-1β, IL-18, super-oxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione (GSH), molecular mechanism related to pyroptosis, such as caspase 1, adaptor apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and gasdermin D (GSDMD)-N, and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) were tested by Western blot analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay. Pathological changes in lung tissues were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Wet–dry weight ratio of lung tissues was observed. Results: The expression of PHLDA1 was up-regulated in lung tissues from CLP-induced septic mice. Knockdown of PHLDA1 could reduce lung injury and wet–dry weight ratio in mice with sepsis-induced ALI. Moreover, silencing of PHLDA1 decreased the expressions of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-18, IL-6, and MDA but increased SOD and GSH expressions in CLP-induced septic mice. The expressions of NLRP3, GSDMD-N, ASC, and caspase 1 were decreased by PHLDA1 silencing. Conclusion: Knockdown of PHLDA1 inhibited lung inflammation and pyroptosis in mice with sepsis-induced ALI by down-regulating NLRP3 (AU)

Sparse Phenotyping and Haplotype-Based Models for Genomic Prediction in Rice.

The multi-environment genomic selection enables plant breeders to select varieties resilient to diverse environments or particularly adapted to specific environments, which holds a great potential to be used in rice breeding. To realize the multi-environment genomic selection, a robust training set with multi-environment phenotypic data is of necessity. Considering the huge potential of genomic prediction enhanced sparse phenotyping on the cost saving of multi-environment trials (MET), the establishment of a multi-environment training set could also benefit from it. Optimizing the genomic prediction methods is also crucial to enhance the multi-environment genomic selection. Using haplotype-based genomic prediction models is able to capture local epistatic effects which could be conserved and accumulated across generations much like additive effects thereby benefitting breeding. However, previous studies often used fixed length haplotypes composed by a few adjacent molecular markers disregarding the linkage disequilibrium (LD) which is of essential role in determining the haplotype length. In our study, based on three rice populations with different sizes and compositions, we investigated the usefulness and effectiveness of multi-environment training sets with varying phenotyping intensities and different haplotype-based genomic prediction models based on LD-derived haplotype blocks for two agronomic traits, i.e., days to heading (DTH) and plant height (PH). Results showed that phenotyping merely 30% records in multi-environment training set is able to provide a comparable prediction accuracy to high phenotyping intensities; the local epistatic effects are much likely existent in DTH; dividing the LD-derived haplotype blocks into small segments with two or three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) helps to maintain the predictive ability of haplotype-based models in large populations; modelling the covariances between environments improves genomic prediction accuracy. Our study provides means to improve the efficiency of multi-environment genomic selection in rice.

Genetic Dissection of Salt Tolerance and Yield Traits of Geng (japonica) Rice by Selective Subspecific Introgression.

Salinity is a major factor limiting rice productivity, and developing salt-tolerant (ST) varieties is the most efficient approach. Seventy-eight ST introgression lines (ILs), including nine promising lines with improved ST and yield potential (YP), were developed from four BC2F4 populations from inter-subspecific crosses between an elite Geng (japonica) recipient and four Xian (indica) donors at the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Genome-wide characterization of donor introgression identified 35 ST QTLs, 25 of which harbor 38 cloned ST genes as the most likely QTL candidates. Thirty-four are Xian-Geng differentiated ones with the donor (Xian) alleles associated with ST, suggesting differentiated responses to salt stress were one of the major phenotypic differences between the two subspecies. At least eight ST QTLs and many others affecting yield traits were identified under salt/non-stress conditions. Our results indicated that the Xian gene pool contains rich 'hidden' genetic variation for developing superior Geng varieties with improved ST and YP, which could be efficiently exploited by selective introgression. The developed ST ILs and their genetic information on the donor alleles for ST and yield traits would provide a useful platform for developing superior ST and high-yield Geng varieties through breeding by design in the future.

Janus membranes at the water-energy nexus: A critical review.

Membrane technology has emerged as a highly efficient strategy for alleviating water and energy scarcity globally. As the key component, the membrane plays a fatal role in different membrane systems; however, traditional membranes still suffer from shortcomings including low permeability, low selectivity, and high fouling tendency. Janus membranes are promising to overcome those shortcomings and appealing for applications in the realm of water-energy nexus, due to their special transport behaviors and separation properties as a result of their unique asymmetric wetting or surface charge properties. Recently, numerous research studies have been conducted on the design, fabrication, and application of Janus membranes. In this review, we aim to provide a state-of-the-art summary and a critical discussion on the research advances of Janus membranes at the water-energy nexus. The innovative design strategies of different types of Janus membranes are summarized and elucidated in detail. The fundamental working principles of various Janus membranes and their applications in oil/water separation, membrane distillation, solar evaporation, electrodialysis, nanofiltration, and forward osmosis are discussed systematically. The mechanisms of directional transport properties, switchable permeability, and superior separation properties of Janus membranes in those different applications are elucidated. Lastly, future research directions and challenges are highlighted in improving Janus membrane performance for various membrane systems.

A moderated mediation analysis of depression and age on the relationship between resilience and frailty among HIV-positive adults.

Background: Given the continuing challenges frailty poses among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLHIV), accumulating evidence suggests that frailty is linked to psychological factors. However, the mutual influences of resilience, depression, and frailty have not yet been clarified. This study aimed to identify the potential mechanistic pathway through which psychological factors mitigate frailty. Methods: Data were collected from June to August 2019 by trained investigators through face-to-face interviews with 375 HIV-positive Chinese adults. Each participant completed structured questionnaires to collect data in respect of their socio-demographic characteristics, and levels of frailty, depression, and resilience. These assessment measures included a self-designed questionnaire, the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10), and the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). SPSS PROCESS macro was used to analyze the mediation and moderated mediation models. Results: The overall prevalence of frailty was 26.4%, and the prevalence of frailty among older and younger adults living with HIV was 22 and 31.4%, respectively. Mediation analysis showed that an association between resilience and frailty was mediated by depression, whereas resilience did not mediate the relationship between depression and frailty. Compared to physical frailty, depression was a stronger mediator of resilience to psychological frailty. We further found that age moderated the indirect effect of resilience on psychological frailty, with resilience being a stronger negative predictor of depression and depression being a stronger positive predictor of psychological frailty for older PLHIV than for younger PLHIV. Conclusion: Lower levels of resilience and greater levels of depression may be significant risk factors for frailty among PLHIV. Levels of resilience influenced frailty directly and frailty was indirectly affected by depression. Therefore, it is recommended that PLHIV, especially older patients, should be encouraged to establish positive psychological coping strategies to slow the progression of frailty.

Mapping QTLs and gene validation studies for Mg2+ uptake and translocation using a MAGIC population in rice.

Magnesium (Mg) is an essential element for plant growth and development. Rice is an important food crop in the world, but there are few studies on the uptake and translocation of Mg2+ in rice. We used a multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population constructed using four parental lines and genotyped by a 55 K rice SNP array for association analysis to locate QTLs related to Mg2+ uptake and translocation in rice at the seedling stage. Four QTLs (qRMg1, qRMg2, qRMg7 and qRMg8) were detected for the root Mg2+ concentration, which explained 11.45-13.08% of the phenotypic variation. The Mg2+ transporter gene, OsMGT1, was within the region of qRMg1. Three QTLs (qSMg3, qSMg7 and qSMg10) were detected for the shoot Mg2+ concentration, which explained 4.30-5.46% of the phenotypic variation. Two QTLs (qTrMg3 and qTrMg8) were found to affect the translocation of Mg2+ from the roots to the shoots, and explained 10.91% and 9.63% of phenotypic variation. qSMg3 and qTrMg3 might be the same, since they are very close to each other on chromosome 3. Analysis of candidate genes in the region of qSMg3 and qTrMg3 through qRT-PCR, complementation assay in the yeast Mg2+ transport-defective mutant CM66, and sequence analysis of the parental lines suggested that LOC_Os03g04360 may play important roles in Mg2+ uptake, translocation and accumulation in rice. Overexpression of LOC_Os03g04360 can significantly increase the Mg2+ concentration in rice seedlings, especially under the condition of low Mg2+ supply.