Listening to plant's Esperanto via root exudates: reprogramming the functional expression of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria.

Rhizomicrobiome plays important roles in plant growth and health, contributing to the sustainable development of agriculture. Plants recruit and assemble the rhizomicrobiome to satisfy their functional requirements, which is widely recognized as the 'cry for help' theory, but the intrinsic mechanisms are still limited. In this study, we revealed a novel mechanism by which plants reprogram the functional expression of inhabited rhizobacteria, in addition to the de novo recruitment of soil microbes, to satisfy different functional requirements as plants grow. This might be an efficient and low-cost strategy and a substantial extension to the rhizomicrobiome recruitment theory. We found that the plant regulated the sequential expression of genes related to biocontrol and plant growth promotion in two well-studied rhizobacteria Bacillus velezensis SQR9 and Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 through root exudate succession across the plant developmental stages. Sixteen key chemicals in root exudates were identified to significantly regulate the rhizobacterial functional gene expression by high-throughput qPCR. This study not only deepens our understanding of the interaction between the plant-rhizosphere microbiome, but also provides a novel strategy to regulate and balance the different functional expression of the rhizomicrobiome to improve plant health and growth.

Potassium Phosphite Enhances the Antagonistic Capability of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens to Manage Tomato Bacterial Wilt.

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a distributed and worldwide soilborne disease. The application of biocontrol microbes or agricultural chemicals has been widely used to manage tomato bacterial wilt. However, whether and how agricultural chemicals affect the antagonistic ability of biocontrol microbes is still unknown. Here, we combined potassium phosphite (K-Phite), an environmentally friendly agricultural chemical, and the biocontrol agent Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QPF8 (strain F8) to manage tomato bacterial wilt disease. First, K-Phite at a concentration of 0.05% (wt/vol) could significantly inhibit the growth of R. solanacearum. Second, 0.05% K-Phite enhanced the antagonistic capability of B. amyloliquefaciens F8. Third, the greenhouse soil experiments showed that the control efficiency for tomato bacterial wilt in the combined treatment was significantly higher than that of the application of B. amyloliquefaciens F8 or K-Phite alone. Overall, our results highlighted a novel strategy for the control of tomato bacterial wilt disease via application and revealed a new integrated pattern depending on the enhancement of the antagonistic capability of biocontrol microbes by K-Phite.

Bacterial Tomato Pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum Invasion Modulates Rhizosphere Compounds and Facilitates the Cascade Effect of Fungal Pathogen Fusarium solani.

Soil-borne pathogen invasions can significantly change the microbial communities of the host rhizosphere. However, whether bacterial Ralstonia solanacearum pathogen invasion influences the abundance of fungal pathogens remains unclear. In this study, we combined high-throughput sequencing, qPCR, liquid chromatography and soil culture experiments to analyze the rhizosphere fungal composition, co-occurrence of fungal communities, copy numbers of functional genes, contents of phenolic acids and their associations in healthy and bacterial wilt-diseased tomato plants. We found that R. solanacearum invasion increased the abundance of the soil-borne pathogen Fusarium solani. The concentrations of three phenolic acids in the rhizosphere soil of bacterial wilt-diseased tomato plants were significantly higher than those in the rhizosphere soil of healthy tomato plants. In addition, the increased concentrations of phenolic acids significantly stimulated F. solani growth in the soil. Furthermore, a simple fungal network with fewer links, nodes and hubs (highly connected nodes) was found in the diseased tomato plant rhizosphere. These results indicate that once the symptom of bacterial wilt disease is observed in tomato, the roots of the wilt-diseased tomato plants need to be removed in a timely manner to prevent the enrichment of other fungal soil-borne pathogens. These findings provide some ecological clues for the mixed co-occurrence of bacterial wilt disease and other fungal soil-borne diseases.

Palladium-catalyzed C-H olefination of uracils and caffeines using molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant.

The palladium-catalyzed oxidative C-H olefination of uracils or caffeines with alkenes using an atmospheric pressure of molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant has been disclosed. This novel strategy offers an efficient and environmentally friendly method to biologically important C5-alkene uracil derivatives or C8-alkene caffeine derivatives.

Rhodium-Catalyzed NH-Indole-Directed C-H Carbonylation with Carbon Monoxide: Synthesis of 6H-Isoindolo[2,1-a]indol-6-ones.

An efficient synthesis of 6H-isoindolo[2,1-a]indol-6-ones through rhodium-catalyzed NH-indole-directed C-H carbonylation of 2-arylindoles with carbon monoxide has been developed. Preliminary mechanistic studies revealed that this reaction proceeds via N-H bond cleavage and subsequent C-H bond cleavage. Reaction monitoring via ESI-MS was used to support the formation of five-membered rhodacycle species in the catalytic cycle.

Treatment of Sepsis-associated Encephalopathy by Xingnaojing Injection: a Clinical Observation / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the efficacy of Xingnaojing Injection (XI) in treatment of sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 65 SAE patients were retrospectively analyzed at EICU from September 2010 to September 2013. They were assigned to the control group (32 cases) and the treatment group (33 cases) according to whether they received XI. Patients in the control group received anti-infection and symptomatic support, while those in the treatment group were intravenously injected with XI at 20 mL per day for additional 7-10 days. The fever clearance time, Glasgow coma scale (GCS), C-reactive protein (CRP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and improvement of electroen-cephalogram (EEG) were observed in the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the fever clearance time was shortened, CRP levels decreased, GCS score and efficacy of EEG was alleviated in the treatment group after treatment with statistical difference (P < 0.05). No adverse reaction occurred during medication.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>X1 was safe and effective in treatment of SAE.</p>

MR Imaging Features of Residual Liver and Tumor Recurrence after Hepatic Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma / 中国普外基础与临床杂志

Objective To investigate the MR imaging (MRI) appearances of postoperative residual liver after hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the MRI features of tumor recurrences.Methods Twenty patients with previous surgical resection of HCC underwent MR examination of upper abdomen for routine follow-up study or due to clinical suspicion of tumor recurrence. MRI protocol included T1W axial unenhanced images and Gadolinium-enhanced sequences, Gadolinium-enhanced VIBE sequence, unenhanced T2W axial images and coronal TrueFisp sequence.Results Thirteen patients showed normal edge of surgical resection, while 6 patients demonstrated MR signs of incision edge recurrence of HCC and 1 patient was suspicious of tumor recurrence at the incision edge. Among the 20 patients, 12 had MRI features of tumor recurrence of the residual liver, including invasion of left, right and common hepatic ducts 3 cases. Three patients had metastatic lymphadenopathy in portal hepatis, portacaval space and retroperitoneal space. Two patients showed extensive tumor implantation of peritoneum and mesentery. Conclusion MRI is effective in differentiating normal surgical incision edge of residual liver from tumor recurrence. It is also very useful for the early detection of intra-hepatic and extra-hepatic tumor lesions.