Expression of PDLIM5 Spliceosomes and Regulatory Functions on Myogenesis in Pigs.

Meat yield, determined by muscle growth and development, is an important economic trait for the swine industry and a focus of research in animal genetics and breeding. PDZ and LIM domain 5 (PDLIM5) are cytoskeleton-related proteins that play key roles in various tissues and cells. These proteins have multiple isoforms, primarily categorized as short (PDLIM5-short) and long (PDLIM5-long) types, distinguished by the absence and presence of an LIM domain, respectively. However, the expression patterns of swine PDLIM5 isoforms and their regulation during porcine skeletal muscle development remain largely unexplored. We observed that PDLIM5-long was expressed at very low levels in pig muscles and that PDLIM5-short and total PDLIM5 were highly expressed in the muscles of slow-growing pigs, suggesting that PDLIM5-short, the dominant transcript in pigs, is associated with a slow rate of muscle growth. PDLIM5-short suppressed myoblast proliferation and myogenic differentiation in vitro. We also identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (-258 A > T and -191 T > G) in the 5' flanking region of PDLIM5, which influenced the activity of the promoter and were associated with muscle growth rate in pigs. In summary, we demonstrated that PDLIM5-short negatively regulates myoblast proliferation and differentiation, providing a theoretical basis for improving pig breeding programs.

Genetic introgression from commercial European pigs to the indigenous Chinese Lijiang breed and associated changes in phenotypes.

BACKGROUND: Gene flow is crucial for enhancing economic traits of livestock. In China, breeders have used hybridization strategies for decades to improve livestock performance. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of a native Chinese Lijiang pig (LJP) breed. By integrating previously published data, we explored the genetic structure and introgression of genetic components from commercial European pigs (EP) into the LJP, and examined the impact of this introgression on phenotypic traits. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed significant introgression of EP breeds into the LJP and other domestic pig breeds in China. Using a haplotype-based approach, we quantified introgression levels and compared EP to LJP and other Chinese domestic pigs. The results show that EP introgression is widely prevalent in Chinese domestic pigs, although there are significant differences between breeds. We propose that LJP could potentially act as a mediator for the transmission of EP haplotypes. We also examined the correlation between EP introgression and the number of thoracic vertebrae in LJP and identified VRTN and STUM as candidate genes for this trait. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence of introgressed European haplotypes in the LJP breed and describes the potential role of EP introgression on phenotypic changes of this indigenous breed.

APP1/NTL9-CalS8 module ensures proper phloem differentiation by stabilizing callose accumulation and symplastic communication.

Phloem sieve elements (PSE), the primary conduits collaborating with neighboring phloem pole pericycle (PPP) cells to facilitate unloading in Arabidopsis roots, undergo a series of developmental stages before achieving maturation and functionality. However, the mechanism that maintains the proper progression of these differentiation stages remains largely unknown. We identified a gain-of-function mutant altered phloem pole pericycle 1 Dominant (app1D), producing a truncated, nuclear-localized active form of NAC with Transmembrane Motif 1-like (NTL9). This mutation leads to ectopic expression of its downstream target CALLOSE SYNTHASE 8 (CalS8), thereby inducing callose accumulation, impeding SE differentiation, impairing phloem transport, and inhibiting root growth. The app1D phenotype could be reproduced by blocking the symplastic channels of cells within APP1 expression domain in wild-type (WT) roots. The WT APP1 is primarily membrane-tethered and dormant in the root meristem cells but entries into the nucleus in several cells in PPP near the unloading region, and this import is inhibited by blocking the symplastic intercellular transport in differentiating SE. Our results suggest a potential maintenance mechanism involving an APP1-CalS8 module, which induces CalS8 expression and modulates symplastic communication, and the proper activation of this module is crucial for the successful differentiation of SE in the Arabidopsis root.

Self-Supervised Node Representation Learning via Node-to-Neighbourhood Alignment.

Self-supervised node representation learning aims to learn node representations from unlabelled graphs that rival the supervised counterparts. The key towards learning informative node representations lies in how to effectively gain contextual information from the graph structure. In this work, we present simple-yet-effective self-supervised node representation learning via aligning the hidden representations of nodes and their neighbourhood. Our first idea achieves such node-to-neighbourhood alignment by directly maximizing the mutual information between their representations, which, we prove theoretically, plays the role of graph smoothing. Our framework is optimized via a surrogate contrastive loss and a Topology-Aware Positive Sampling (TAPS) strategy is proposed to sample positives by considering the structural dependencies between nodes, which enables offline positive selection. Considering the excessive memory overheads of contrastive learning, we further propose a negative-free solution, where the main contribution is a Graph Signal Decorrelation (GSD) constraint to avoid representation collapse and over-smoothing. The GSD constraint unifies some of the existing constraints and can be used to derive new implementations to combat representation collapse. By applying our methods on top of simple MLP-based node representation encoders, we learn node representations that achieve promising node classification performance on a set of graph-structured datasets from small- to large-scale.

AGIDB: a versatile database for genotype imputation and variant decoding across species.

The high cost of large-scale, high-coverage whole-genome sequencing has limited its application in genomics and genetics research. The common approach has been to impute whole-genome sequence variants obtained from a few individuals for a larger population of interest individually genotyped using SNP chip. An alternative involves low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (lcWGS) of all individuals in the larger population, followed by imputation to sequence resolution. To overcome limitations of processing lcWGS data and meeting specific genotype imputation requirements, we developed AGIDB (https://agidb.pro), a website comprising tools and database with an unprecedented sample size and comprehensive variant decoding for animals. AGIDB integrates whole-genome sequencing and chip data from 17 360 and 174 945 individuals, respectively, across 89 species to identify over one billion variants, totaling a massive 688.57 TB of processed data. AGIDB focuses on integrating multiple genotype imputation scenarios. It also provides user-friendly searching and data analysis modules that enable comprehensive annotation of genetic variants for specific populations. To meet a wide range of research requirements, AGIDB offers downloadable reference panels for each species in addition to its extensive dataset, variant decoding and utility tools. We hope that AGIDB will become a key foundational resource in genetics and breeding, providing robust support to researchers.

Evidential support for garlic supplements against diabetic kidney disease: a preclinical meta-analysis and systematic review.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a popular spice that is widely used for food and medicinal purposes and has shown potential effects on diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Nevertheless, systematic preclinical studies are still lacking. In this meta-analysis and systematic review, we evaluated the role and potential mechanisms of action of garlic and its derived components in animal models of DKD. We searched eight databases for relevant studies from the establishment of the databases to December 2022 and updated in April 2023 before the completion of this review. A total of 24 trials were included in the meta-analysis. It provided preliminary evidence that supplementing with garlic could improve the indicators of renal function (BUN, Scr, 24 h urine volume, proteinuria, and KI) and metabolic disorders (BG, insulin, and body weight). Meanwhile, the beneficial effects of garlic and its components in DKD could be related to alleviating oxidative stress, suppressing inflammatory reactions, delaying renal fibrosis, and improving glucose metabolism. Furthermore, time-dose interval analysis exhibited relatively greater effectiveness when garlic products were supplied at doses of 500 mg kg-1 with interventions lasting 8-10 weeks, and garlic components were administered at doses of 45-150 mg kg-1 with interventions lasting 4-10 weeks. This meta-analysis and systematic review highlights for the first time the therapeutic potential of garlic supplementation in animal models of DKD and offers a more thorough evaluation of its effects and mechanisms to establish an evidence-based basis for designing future clinical trials.

E3 ligases MAC3A and MAC3B ubiquitinate UBIQUITIN-SPECIFIC PROTEASE14 to regulate organ size in Arabidopsis.

The molecular mechanisms controlling organ size during plant development ultimately influence crop yield. However, a deep understanding of these mechanisms is still lacking. UBIQUITIN-SPECIFIC PROTEASE14 (UBP14), encoded by DA3, is an essential factor determining organ size in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Here, we identified two suppressors of the da3-1 mutant phenotype, namely SUPPRESSOR OF da3-1 1 and 2 (SUD1 and SUD2), which encode the E3 ligases MOS4-ASSOCIATED COMPLEX 3A (MAC3A) and MAC3B, respectively. The mac3a-1 and mac3b-1 mutations partially suppressed the high ploidy level and organ size phenotypes observed in the da3-1 mutant. Biochemical analysis showed that MAC3A and MAC3B physically interacted with and ubiquitinated UBP14/DA3 to modulate its stability. We previously reported that UBP14/DA3 acts upstream of the B-type cyclin-dependent kinase CDKB1;1 and maintains its stability to inhibit endoreduplication and cell growth. In this work, MAC3A and MAC3B were found to promote the degradation of CDKB1;1 by ubiquitinating UBP14/DA3. Genetic analysis suggests that MAC3A and MAC3B act in a common pathway with UBP14/DA3 to control endoreduplication and organ size. Thus, our findings define a regulatory module, MAC3A/MAC3B-UBP14-CDKB1;1, that plays a critical role in determining organ size and endoreduplication in Arabidopsis.

326K at E Protein Is Critical for Mammalian Adaption of TMUV.

Outbreaks of Tembusu virus (TMUV) infection have caused huge economic losses to the poultry industry in China since 2010. However, the potential threat of TMUV to mammals has not been well studied. In this study, a TMUV HB strain isolated from diseased ducks showed high virulence in BALB/c mice inoculated intranasally compared with the reference duck TMUV strain. Further studies revealed that the olfactory epithelium is one pathway for the TMUV HB strain to invade the central nervous system of mice. Genetic analysis revealed that the TMUV HB virus contains two unique residues in E and NS3 proteins (326K and 519T) compared with duck TMUV reference strains. K326E substitution weakens the neuroinvasiveness and neurovirulence of TMUV HB in mice. Remarkably, the TMUV HB strain induced significantly higher levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, and interferon (IFN)-α/ß than mutant virus with K326E substitution in the brain tissue of the infected mice, which suggested that TMUV HB caused more severe inflammation in the mouse brains. Moreover, application of IFN-ß to infected mouse brain exacerbated the disease, indicating that overstimulated IFN response in the brain is harmful to mice upon TMUV infection. Further studies showed that TMUV HB upregulated RIG-I and IRF7 more significantly than mutant virus containing the K326E mutation in mouse brain, which suggested that HB stimulated the IFN response through the RIG-I-IRF7 pathway. Our findings provide insights into the pathogenesis and potential risk of TMUV to mammals.

Conserved and unique functions of NIN-like proteins in nitrate sensing and signaling.

Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the atmosphere and serves as the foundation block of life, including plants on earth. Unlike carbon fixation through photosynthesis, plants rely heavily on external supports to acquire nitrogen. To this end, plants have adapted various strategies such as forming mutualistic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and evolving a large regulatory network that includes multiple transporters, sensors, and transcription factors for fine-tuning nitrate sensing and signaling. Nodule Inception (NIN) and NIN-like protein (NLP) are central in this network by executing multiple functions such as initiating and regulating the nodule symbiosis for nitrogen fixation, acting as the intracellular sensor to monitor the nitrate fluctuations in the environment, and activating the transcription of nitrate-responsive genes for optimal nitrogen uptake, assimilation, and usage. The involvement of NLPs in intracellular nitrate binding and early nitrate responses highlight their pivotal role in the primary nitrate response (PNR). Genome-wide reprogramming in response to nitrate by NLP is highly transient and rapid, requiring regulation in a precise and dynamic manner. This review aims to summarize recent progress in the study of NIN/NLP for a better understanding of the molecular basis of their roles and regulations in nitrate sensing and signaling, with the hope of shedding light on increasing biological nitrogen fixation and improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) to minimize fertilizer input in agriculture.

Cu-doped mesoporous SnO2 nanoparticles with rich grain boundaries and oxygen vacancies for photocatalytic CO2-to-CO conversion.

Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels provides an effective approach to realize carbon resource utilization. However, the photocatalytic efficiency is still relatively low due to the recombination of photogenerated charges. Herein, we have designed Cu-doped SnO2 nanoparticles (Cu-SnO2) using a glucose-involved hydrothermal crystallization method for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2. The rich oxygen vacancies facilitated the separation and transfer of photogenerated charges, and the confined effect of the typical mesoporous structure promoted the adsorption of CO2, especially a high density of grain boundaries (GBs) and the doping of atomic Cu would introduce new active sites to activate CO2 molecules. This elaborately designed catalyst exhibited super and stable photocatalytic conversion activity of CO2-into-CO, with a CO optimal yield of 107 µmol g-1 in 4 h, which was 2.75 times that over pure SnO2. In situ Raman results indicated that the CO2 reduction reaction followed a *COOH pathway on Cu-SnO2. This work provides implications for the construction of a catalyst with rich defects in the field of energy and environmental catalysis.

Generation and characterization of chimeric Tembusu viruses containing pre-membrane and envelope genes of Japanese encephalitis virus.

Since its outbreak in 2010, Tembusu virus (TMUV) has spread widely throughout China and Southeast Asia, causing significant economic losses to the poultry industry. In 2018, an attenuated vaccine called FX2010-180P (180P) was licensed for use in China. The 180P vaccine has demonstrated its immunogenicity and safety in mice and ducks. The potential use of 180P as a backbone for flavivirus vaccine development was explored by replacing the pre-membrane (prM) and envelope (E) genes of the 180P vaccine strain with those of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Two chimeric viruses, 180P/JEV-prM-E and 180P/JEV-prM-ES156P with an additional E protein S156P mutation were successfully rescued and characterized. Growth kinetics studies showed that the two chimeric viruses replicated to similar titers as the parental 180P virus in cells. Animal studies also revealed that the virulence and neuroinvasiveness of the 180P/JEV-prM-E chimeric virus was decreased in mice inoculated intracerebrally (i.c.) and intranasally (i.n.), respectively, compared to the wild-type JEV strain. However, the chimeric 180P/JEV-prM-E virus was still more virulent than the parent 180P vaccine in mice. Additionally, the introduction of a single ES156P mutation in the chimeric virus 180P/JEV-prM-ES156P further attenuated the virus, which provided complete protection against challenge with a virulent JEV strain in the mouse model. These results indicated that the FX2010-180P could be used as a promising backbone for flavivirus vaccine development.

A Data-Driven Analysis Method for the Trajectory of Power Carbon Emission in the Urban Area.

"Industry 4.0" aims to build a highly versatile, individualized digital production model for goods and services. The carbon emission (CE) issue needs to be addressed by changing from centralized control to decentralized and enhanced control. Based on a solid CE monitoring, reporting, and verification system, it is necessary to study future power system CE dynamics simulation technology. In this article, a data-driven approach is proposed to analyzing the trajectory of urban electricity CEs based on empirical mode decomposition, which suggests combining macro-energy thinking and big data thinking by removing the barriers among power systems and related technological, economic, and environmental domains. Based on multisource heterogeneous mass data acquisition, effective secondary data can be extracted through the integration of statistical analysis, causal analysis, and behavior analysis, which can help construct a simulation environment supporting the dynamic interaction among mathematical models, multi-agents, and human participants.

Persistence of Abscisic Acid Analogs in Plants: Chemical Control of Plant Growth and Physiology.

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a plant hormone that regulates numerous plant processes, including plant growth, development, and stress physiology. ABA plays an important role in enhancing plant stress tolerance. This involves the ABA-mediated control of gene expression to increase antioxidant activities for scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS). ABA is a fragile molecule that is rapidly isomerized by ultraviolet (UV) light and catabolized in plants. This makes it challenging to apply as a plant growth substance. ABA analogs are synthetic derivatives of ABA that alter ABA's functions to modulate plant growth and stress physiology. Modifying functional group(s) in ABA analogs alters the potency, selectivity to receptors, and mode of action (i.e., either agonists or antagonists). Despite current advances in developing ABA analogs with high affinity to ABA receptors, it remains under investigation for its persistence in plants. The persistence of ABA analogs depends on their tolerance to catabolic and xenobiotic enzymes and light. Accumulated studies have demonstrated that the persistence of ABA analogs impacts the potency of its effect in plants. Thus, evaluating the persistence of these chemicals is a possible scheme for a better prediction of their functionality and potency in plants. Moreover, optimizing chemical administration protocols and biochemical characterization is also critical in validating the function of chemicals. Lastly, the development of chemical and genetic controls is required to acquire the stress tolerance of plants for multiple different uses.

Maize LOST SUBSIDIARY CELL encoding a large subunit of ribonucleotide reductase is required for subsidiary cell development and plant growth.

The four-celled stomatal complex consists of a pair of guard cells (GCs) and two subsidiary cells (SCs) in grasses, which supports a fast adjustment of stomatal aperture. The formation and development of SCs are thus important for stomatal functionality. Here, we report a maize lost subsidiary cells (lsc) mutant, with many stomata lacking one or two SCs. The loss of SCs is supposed to have resulted from impeded subsidiary mother cell (SMC) polarization and asymmetrical division. Besides the defect in SCs, the lsc mutant also displays a dwarf morphology and pale and striped newly-grown leaves. LSC encodes a large subunit of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), an enzyme involved in deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs) synthesis. Consistently, the concentration of dNTPs and expression of genes involved in DNA replication, cell cycle progression, and SC development were significantly reduced in the lsc mutant compared with the wild-type B73 inbred line. Conversely, overexpression of maize LSC increased dNTP synthesis and promoted plant growth in both maize and Arabidopsis. Our data indicate that LSC regulates dNTP production and is required for SMC polarization, SC differentiation, and growth of maize.

An efficient and scalable synthesis of a persistent abscisic acid analog (+)-tetralone ABA.

The plant hormone (S)-abscisic acid (ABA) is a signalling molecule found in all plants that triggers plants' responses to environmental stressors such as heat, drought, and salinity. Metabolism-resistant ABA analogs that confer longer lasting effects require multi-step syntheses and high costs that prevent their application in crop protection. To solve this issue, we have developed a two-step, efficient and scalable synthesis of (+)-tetralone ABA from (S)-ABA methyl ester. A challenging three-carbon insertion and a bicyclic ring formation on (S)-ABA methyl ester was achieved through a highly regioselective Knoevenagel condensation, cyclization, and oxidation in one-pot. Further we have studied the biological activity and metabolism of (+)-tetralone ABA in planta and found the analog is hydroxylated similarly to ABA. The biologically active hydroxylated tetralone ABA has greater persistence than 8'-hydroxy ABA as cyclization to the equivalent of phaseic acid is prevented by the aromatic ring. (+)-tetralone ABA complemented the growth retardation of an Arabidopsis ABA-deficient mutant more effectively than (+)-ABA. Taken together, this new synthesis allows the production of the potent ABA agonist efficiently on an industrial scale.

Immunoadjuvant efficacy of CpG plasmids for H9N2 avian influenza inactivated vaccine in chickens with maternal antibodies.

Maternal-derived antibodies (MDAs) are one of reasons why vaccination with the H9N2 inactivated whole virus (IWV) vaccine failed in poultry. Unmethylated CpG motif-containing oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN) shows great potential to overcome MDAs interference in mammals, but whether it has similar characteristics in poultry is still unknown. In the present study, different classes and various copies of CpG ODN motifs were cloned into two different plasmids (pCDNA3.1 or T vector). Immunomodulatory activities and immunoadjuvant efficacy of these CpG ODN plasmids were tested in vitro and in vivo in the presence of passively transferred antibodies (PTAs) that were used to mimic MDAs. Results showed that the T vector enriched with 30 copies of CpG-A ODN and 20 copies of CpG-B ODN (T-CpG-AB) significantly up-regulated mRNA expression of chicken-interferon-α (ch-IFN-α), chicken-interferon-ß (ch-IFN-ß) and chicken-interleukin-12 protein 40 (ch-IL-12p40). When administered as adjuvant of the H9N2 IWV vaccine, the minimal dose of T-CpG-AB plasmid was 30 µg per one-day-old chicken, which could induce strong humoral immune responses in the presence of PTAs. Furthermore, T-CpG-AB plasmid-based vaccine triggered both strong humoral immune responses and cytokines expression in the presence of PTAs in chickens. Overall, our findings suggest that T-CpG-AB plasmid can be an excellent adjuvant candidate for the H9N2 IWV vaccine to overcome MDAs interference in chickens.

Genome-wide association study reveals genetic loci and candidate genes for meat quality traits in a four-way crossbred pig population.

Meat quality traits (MQTs) have gained more attention from breeders due to their increasing economic value in the commercial pig industry. In this genome-wide association study (GWAS), 223 four-way intercross pigs were genotyped using the specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) and phenotyped for PH at 45 min post mortem (PH45), meat color score (MC), marbling score (MA), water loss rate (WL), drip loss (DL) in the longissimus muscle, and cooking loss (CL) in the psoas major muscle. A total of 227, 921 filtered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) evenly distributed across the entire genome were detected to perform GWAS. A total of 64 SNPs were identified for six meat quality traits using the mixed linear model (MLM), of which 24 SNPs were located in previously reported QTL regions. The phenotypic variation explained (PVE) by the significant SNPs was from 2.43% to 16.32%. The genomic heritability estimates based on SNP for six meat-quality traits were low to moderate (0.07-0.47) being the lowest for CL and the highest for DL. A total of 30 genes located within 10 kb upstream or downstream of these significant SNPs were found. Furthermore, several candidate genes for MQTs were detected, including pH45 (GRM8), MC (ANKRD6), MA (MACROD2 and ABCG1), WL (TMEM50A), CL (PIP4K2A) and DL (CDYL2, CHL1, ABCA4, ZAG and SLC1A2). This study provided substantial new evidence for several candidate genes to participate in different pork quality traits. The identification of these SNPs and candidate genes provided a basis for molecular marker-assisted breeding and improvement of pork quality traits.

Intercellular Communication during Stomatal Development with a Focus on the Role of Symplastic Connection.

Stomata are microscopic pores on the plant epidermis that serve as a major passage for the gas and water exchange between a plant and the atmosphere. The formation of stomata requires a series of cell division and cell-fate transitions and some key regulators including transcription factors and peptides. Monocots have different stomatal patterning and a specific subsidiary cell formation process compared with dicots. Cell-to-cell symplastic trafficking mediated by plasmodesmata (PD) allows molecules including proteins, RNAs and hormones to function in neighboring cells by moving through the channels. During stomatal developmental process, the intercellular communication between stomata complex and adjacent epidermal cells are finely controlled at different stages. Thus, the stomata cells are isolated or connected with others to facilitate their formation or movement. In the review, we summarize the main regulation mechanism underlying stomata development in both dicots and monocots and especially the specific regulation of subsidiary cell formation in monocots. We aim to highlight the important role of symplastic connection modulation during stomata development, including the status of PD presence at different cell-cell interfaces and the function of relevant mobile factors in both dicots and monocots.

Fabricating biodegradable calcium phosphate/calcium sulfate cement reinforced with cellulose: in vitro and in vivo studies.

Osteoporosis is a growing public health concern worldwide. To avoid extra surgeries, developing biodegradable bone cement is critical for the treatment of osteoporosis. Herein, we designed calcium phosphate/calcium sulfate cement reinforced with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC/OPC). It presents an appropriate physicochemical performance for clinical handling. Meanwhile, CMC/OPC bone cement promotes osteogenic differentiation in vitro. Results of the immune response in vitro and in vivo confirmed that increasing the cellulose content triggered macrophage switching into the M2 phenotype and CMC/OPC exhibited significant anti-inflammation. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo degradation demonstrated that cellulose tailors the degradation rate of composite bone cement, which achieved a linear degradation process and could degrade by more than 90% for 12 weeks. In summary, the composite bone cement CMC/OPC is a promising candidate for bone repair applications.

CK2 promotes jasmonic acid signaling response by phosphorylating MYC2 in Arabidopsis.

Jasmonic acid (JA) signaling plays a pivotal role in plant development and defense. MYC2 is a master transcription factor in JA signaling, and was found to be phosphorylated and negatively regulated by MAP kinase and receptor-like kinase. However, the kinases that positively regulate MYC2 through phosphorylation and promote MYC2-mediated activation of JA response have not been identified. Here, we identified CK2 as a kinase that phosphorylates MYC2 and thus regulates the JA signaling. CK2 holoenzyme can interact with MYC2 using its regulatory subunits and phosphorylate MYC2 at multiple sites with its catalytic subunits. Inhibition of CK2 activity in a dominant-negative plant line, CK2mut, repressed JA response. On the other hand, increasing CK2 activity by overexpression of CKB4, a regulatory subunit gene of CK2, enhanced JA response in a MYC2-dependent manner. Substitution of the Ser and Thr residues at phosphorylation sites of MYC2 by CK2 with Ala impaired MYC2 function in activating JA response. Further investigations evidenced that CK2 facilitated the JA-induced increase of MYC2 binding to the promoters of JA-responsive genes in vivo. Our study demonstrated that CK2 plays a positive role in JA signaling, and reveals a previously undiscovered mechanism that regulates MYC2 function.