p33ING1b regulates acetylation of p53 in oral squamous cell carcinoma via SIR2.

BACKGROUND: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), a form of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has a poor 5-year survival rate. OSCC patients are often treated with cisplatin but resistance to chemotherapy is often observed. This makes it important identification of alternative therapeutic targets which will result in more favorable outcome in OSCC patients. The plant homeodomain (PHD)-containing protein Inhibitor of Growth family of tumor suppressor proteins (p33ING1b) has been indicated as a tumor suppressor in different cancers including OSCC. This protein has been shown to function by modulating transcriptional activity of p53; however, the exact mechanism(s) are not well defined. METHODS: Expression of total and acetylated p53 and p33ING1b protein was determined in OSCC cell lines YD-9, YD-8, and YD-38 by immunoblot analysis. Effect of modulation of p33ING1b protein expression on acetylation of p53 and cell proliferation was determined by immunoblot and MTT assay. Effect of modulation of p33ING1b protein expression on transactivation of p53 was assessed by heterologous promoter-based reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Effect of modulation of expression of p33ING1b on SIR2 mRNA and protein was determined by quantitative real-time PCR and immunoblot analyses. Impact of modulation of p33ING1b alone or in combination with SIR2 on chemosensitivity of YD-9 and YD-8 cells to cisplatin was determined in time and dose-dependent cell proliferation assays. RESULTS: Here, using a panel of OSCC cell lines with wild type or mutant p53, we show that p33ING1b expression is correlated to acetylation of p53 at lysine 382 residue. Increased acetylation of p53 following overexpression of p33ING1b was associated with increased expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins BAX, p21, and cleaved-Caspase 3, and decreased cell proliferation. Reporter assays with p21 and BAX promoters showed that p33ING1b expression levels directly correlated to promoter activity of these 2 genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that transcriptional regulation of p21 and BAX by acetylated p53 is dependent on expression level of p33ING1b. Differential acetylation of p53 following modulation of p33ING1b expression was indirect. Expression of p33ING1b was found to be inversely correlated to the NAD-dependent deacetylase silent information regulator 2 (SIR2). SIR2 was transcriptionally regulated by p33ING1b. Relative expression of p33ING1b was found to dictate chemosensitivity of OSCC cell lines to cisplatin treatment. Concomitant overexpression of p33ING1b and knockdown of SIR2 had a synergistic effect on chemosensitivity of OSCC cell lines to cisplatin, compared to either overexpression of p33ING1b or knockdown of SIR2 alone. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the current study thus elucidate that p33ING1b regulates p53 acetylation irrespective of p53 mutation and subsequent transactivation by transcriptional regulation of SIR2 expression. The results also indicate that p33ING1b and SIR2 are potentially attractive therapeutic targets.

Rice Sucrose Partitioning Mediated by a Putative Pectin Methyltransferase and Homogalacturonan Methylesterification.

Homogalacturonan (HG) is the main component of pectins. HG methylesterification has recently emerged as a key determinant controlling cell attachment, organ formation, and phyllotaxy. However, whether and how HG methylesterification affects intercellular metabolite transport has rarely been reported. Here, we identified and characterized knockout mutants of the rice (Oryza sativa) OsQUA2 gene encoding a putative pectin methyltransferase. Osqua2 mutants exhibit a remarkable decrease in the degree of methylesterification of HG in the culm-sieve element cell wall and a markedly reduced grain yield. The culm of Osqua2 mutant plants contains excessive sucrose (Suc), and a 13CO2 feeding experiment showed that the Suc overaccumulation in the culm was caused by blocked Suc translocation. These and other findings demonstrate that OsQUA2 is essential for maintaining a high degree of methylesterification of HG in the rice culm-sieve element cell wall, which may be critical for efficient Suc partitioning and grain filling. In addition, our results suggest that the apoplastic pathway is involved in long-distance Suc transport in rice. The identification and characterization of the OsQUA2 gene and its functionality revealed a previously unknown contribution of HG methylesterification and provided insight into how modification of the cell wall regulates intercellular transport in plants.

QTL editing confers opposing yield performance in different rice varieties.

Grain yield is one of the most important and complex trait for genetic improvement in crops; it is known to be controlled by a number of genes known as quantitative trait loci (QTLs). In the past decade, many yield-contributing QTLs have been identified in crops. However, it remains unclear whether those QTLs confer the same yield performance in different genetic backgrounds. Here, we performed CRISPR/Cas9-mediated QTL editing in five widely-cultivated rice varieties and revealed that the same QTL can have diverse, even opposing, effects on grain yield in different genetic backgrounds.

Novel rice mutants overexpressing the brassinosteroid catabolic gene CYP734A4.

KEY MESSAGE: Moderate overexpression of CYP734A4 improves grain number per main panicle and seed setting rate. Brassinosteroid (BR) homeostasis and signaling are crucial for plant growth and development. CYP734A genes encode cytochrome P450 monooxygenases that control the level of bioactive BRs by degrading BRs. However, fertile plants overexpressing CYP734As have not been reported in rice. Here, we isolated a novel semi-dominant mutant brd3-D, in which T-DNA was inserted approximately 4 kb upstream of the CYP734A4 gene (GenBank Accession AB488667), causing its overexpression. The mutant is characterized by dwarfism, small grains, and erect leaves and is less sensitive to brassinolide-induced lamina joint inclination and primary root elongation. However, increased grain number per main panicle and improved seed setting rate were also found in heterozygous brd3-D. To our knowledge, these traits have not been reported in other BR deficient mutants. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated that phenotypic severity of the brd3-D mutant is positively correlated with the CYP734A4 transcription level. In accordance with the increased expression of CYP734A4, a lower castasterone (a rice BR) content was detected in the brd3-D mutants. Knockout of brd3-D by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system rescued the mutation. In addition, transgenic plants overexpressing CYP734A4 with the 35S enhancer mimicked the brd3-D phenotypes, confirming that moderate overexpression of the CYP734A4 gene can improve grain number per main panicle and the seed setting rate in rice. Further studies showed that overexpression of CYP734A4 influences the expressions of multiple genes involved in the BR pathway, and the expression of CYP734A4 is induced by exogenous brassinolide, confirming the negative regulatory role of CYP734A4 in the BR pathway. CYP734A4 might provide a useful gene resource for developing new high-yielding rice varieties.

Comparative proteomic analysis reveals alterations in development and photosynthesis-related proteins in diploid and triploid rice.

BACKGROUND: Polyploidy has pivotal influences on rice (Oryza sativa L.) morphology and physiology, and is very important for understanding rice domestication and improving agricultural traits. Diploid (DP) and triploid (TP) rice shows differences in morphological parameters, such as plant height, leaf length, leaf width and the physiological index of chlorophyll content. However, the underlying mechanisms determining these morphological differences are remain to be defined. To better understand the proteomic changes between DP and TP, tandem mass tags (TMT) mass spectrometry (MS)/MS was used to detect the significant changes to protein expression between DP and TP. RESULTS: Results indicated that both photosynthesis and metabolic pathways were highly significantly associated with proteomic alteration between DP and TP based on biological process and pathway enrichment analysis, and 13 higher abundance chloroplast proteins involving in these two pathways were identified in TP. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that 5 of the 13 chloroplast proteins ATPF, PSAA, PSAB, PSBB and RBL in TP were higher abundance compared with those in DP. CONCLUSIONS: This study integrates morphology, physiology and proteomic profiling alteration of DP and TP to address their underlying different molecular mechanisms. Our finding revealed that ATPF, PSAA, PSAB, PSBB and RBL can induce considerable expression changes in TP and may affect the development and growth of rice through photosynthesis and metabolic pathways.

Multi-layered structure and physicochemical properties of reconstituted meat-based products from minced fish by physical extrusion: Impact of extrusion strength.

Multi-layered structure of reconstituted meat-based products from minced fish was formed by physical extrusion, followed by an investigation into the impact of extrusion strength on structural and physicochemical properties before and after frying. Under an appropriate pressure (3-9 kPa), the air within minced fish underwent enrichment and rearrangement to form a stratified phase, promoting the formation of multi-layered structure during frying. Conversely, the lower pressure (≤1.5 kPa) was insufficient for phase separation and directional rearrangement, while the higher pressure (≥15 kPa) would cause the stratified phase to flow out of food system. Moreover, by directly increasing water mobility and meat compactness, physical extrusion indirectly caused more water loss and stronger ionic bonds during frying, which was positively correlated with multi-layered structure. However, an excessive pressure caused an increase in random coil and hydrophobic interactions during frying, which was negatively correlated with multi-layered structure. In conclusion, appropriate physical extrusion strength promoted the formation of multi-layered structure.

A multi-objective brain storm optimization for integrated distributed flexible job shop and distribution problems.

Production and distribution are critical components of the furniture supply chain, and achieving optimal performance through their integration has become a vital focus for both the academic and business communities. Moreover, as economic globalization progresses, distributed manufacturing has become a pioneering production technique. Via leveraging a distributed flexible manufacturing system, mass flexible production at lower costs can be achieved. To this end, this study presents an integrated distributed flexible job shop and distribution problem to minimize makespan and total tardiness. In our research, a set of custom furniture orders from different customers are processed among flexible job shops and then delivered by vehicles to customers as the due date. To distinctly show the presented problem, a mixed integer mathematical programming model is created, and a multi-objective brain storm optimization method is introduced considering the problem's features. In comparison to the other three advanced methods, the superiority of the algorithm created is showcased. The findings of the experiments demonstrate that the constructed model and the introduced algorithm have remarkable competitiveness in addressing the problem being examined.

Improving U-net network for semantic segmentation of corns and weeds during corn seedling stage in field.

Introduction: Weeds are one of the main factors affecting crop growth, making weed control a pressing global problem. In recent years, interest in intelligent mechanical weed-control equipment has been growing. Methods: We propose a semantic segmentation network, RDS_Unet, based on corn seedling fields built upon an improved U-net network. This network accurately recognizes weeds even under complex environmental conditions, facilitating the use of mechanical weeding equipment for reducing weed density. Our research utilized field-grown maize seedlings and accompanying weeds in expansive fields. We integrated the U-net semantic segmentation network, employing ResNeXt-50 for feature extraction in the encoder stage. In the decoder phase, Layer 1 uses deformable convolution with adaptive offsets, replacing traditional convolution. Furthermore, concurrent spatial and channel squeeze and excitation is incorporated after ordinary convolutional layers in Layers 2, 3, and 4. Results: Compared with existing classical semantic segmentation models such as U-net, Pspnet, and DeeplabV3, our model demonstrated superior performance on our specially constructed seedling grass semantic segmentation dataset, CGSSD, during the maize seedling stage. The Q6mean intersection over union (MIoU), precision, and recall of this network are 82.36%, 91.36%, and 89.45%, respectively. Compared to those of the original network, the proposed network achieves improvements of 5.91, 3.50, and 5.49 percentage points in the MIoU, precision, and recall, respectively. The detection speed is 12.6 frames per second. In addition, ablation experiments further confirmed the impactful contribution of each improvement component on the overall semantic segmentation performance. Discussion: This study provides theoretical and technical support for the automated operation of intelligent mechanical weeding devices.

Characterization and fine mapping of a novel rice narrow leaf mutant nal9.

A narrow leaf mutant was isolated from transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) lines carrying a T-DNA insertion. The mutant is characterized by narrow leaves during its whole growth period, and was named nal9 (narrow leaf 9). The mutant also has other phenotypes, such as light green leaves at the seedling stage, reduced plant height, a small panicle and increased tillering. Genetic analysis revealed that the mutation is controlled by a single recessive gene. A hygromycin resistance assay showed that the mutation was not caused by T-DNA insertion, so a map-based cloning strategy was employed to isolate the nal9 gene. The mutant individuals from the F2 generations of a cross between the nal9 mutant and Longtepu were used for mapping. With 24 F2 mutants, the nal9 gene was preliminarily mapped near the marker RM156 on the chromosome 3. New INDEL markers were then designed based on the sequence differences between japonica and indica at the region near RM156. The nal9 gene was finally located in a 69.3 kb region between the markers V239B and V239G within BAC OJ1212_C05 by chromosome walking. Sequence and expression analysis showed that an ATP-dependent Clp protease proteolytic subunit gene (ClpP) was most likely to be the nal9 gene. Furthermore, the nal9 mutation was rescued by transformation of the ClpP cDNA driven by the 35S promoter. Accordingly, the ClpP gene was identified as the NAL9 gene. Our results provide a basis for functional studies of NAL9 in future work.

Dual-objective modeling and optimization of a low-carbon waste-classified collection problem.

With improved quality of life, types of waste have become increasingly complex, and waste classification has become a global issue. As a result, the world is facing a waste-classified collection problem. However, the existing research on waste collection has paid little attention to waste classification. In this paper, we consider the pretreatment and classification of waste transfer stations. In recent years, global warming caused by carbon emissions has become a serious problem. Therefore, this work proposes the first dual-objective multi-depot two-echelon green vehicle routing system with various pickups to optimize waste-classified collection based on a mixed-integer programming model. To ensure the efficiency of our developed model, we designed a multiobjective brainstorming optimization algorithm with a novel clustering strategy based on the rank-clustering method and differential mutation. Compared with two classical multiobjective optimization algorithms in various generated test instances and a real-world case, the experimental results showed that the proposed model can help sanitation departments improve the economic and environmental benefits of waste-classified collection, and the proposed algorithm is an excellent optimizer for solving associated problems.

Small RNAs from MITE-derived stem-loop precursors regulate abscisic acid signaling and abiotic stress responses in rice.

Small silencing RNAs (sRNAs) are non-coding RNA regulators that negatively regulate gene expression by guiding mRNA degradation, translation repression or chromatin modification. Plant sRNAs play crucial roles in various developmental processes, hormone signaling, immune responses and adaptation to a variety of abiotic stresses. miR441 and miR446 were previously annotated as microRNAs (miRNAs) because their precursors can form typical stem-loop structures, but are not considered as real miRNAs because of inconsistency with some ancillary criteria of the recent guidelines for annotation of plant miRNAs. We tentatively rename them small interfering (si)R441 and siR446, respectively, in this study. It has recently been shown that the precursors of siR441 and siR446 might originate from the miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) Stowaway1. In this report, we show that, in contrast with Dicer-like (DCL)3- and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR)2-dependent MITE-derived ra-siRNAs, siR441 and siR446 are processed by OsDCL3a but independent of OsRDR2, indicating that siR441 and siR446 are generated from single-stranded stem-loop precursors. We also show that abscisic acid (ABA) and abiotic stresses downregulate the expression of siR441 and siR446 but, surprisingly, increase the accumulation of their precursors in rice plants, implying that processing of siRNA precursors is inhibited. We provide evidence to show that this defective processing is due to increased precursor accumulation per se, possibly by intermolecular self-pairing of the processing intermediate sequences, thus hindering their normal processing. Functional examinations indicate that siR441 and siR446 are positive regulators of rice ABA signaling and tolerance to abiotic stress, possibly by regulating MAIF1 expression.

Expression of an apoplast-localized BURP-domain protein from soybean (GmRD22) enhances tolerance towards abiotic stress.

The BURP-domain protein family comprises a diverse group of plant-specific proteins that share a conserved BURP domain at the C terminus. However, there have been only limited studies on the functions and subcellular localization of these proteins. Members of the RD22-like subfamily are postulated to associate with stress responses due to the stress-inducible nature of some RD22-like genes. In this report, we used different transgenic systems (cells and in planta) to show that the expression of a stress-inducible RD22-like protein from soybean (GmRD22) can alleviate salinity and osmotic stress. We also performed detailed microscopic studies using both fusion proteins and immuno-electron microscopic techniques to demonstrate the apoplast localization of GmRD22, for which the BURP domain is a critical determinant of the subcellular localization. The apoplastic GmRD22 interacts with a cell wall peroxidase and the ectopic expression of GmRD22 in both transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana and transgenic rice resulted in increased lignin production when subjected to salinity stress. It is possible that GmRD22 regulates cell wall peroxidases and hence strengthens cell wall integrity under such stress conditions.

A multi-stage supply chain disruption mitigation strategy considering product life cycle during COVID-19.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has caused severe damage to the supply chain such that manufacturers may face long-term supply disruptions. In this paper, a disruption recovery strategy of a supply chain system is investigated from the perspective of product change, in which the life cycle and design change time of a new product are both considered in order to minimize the losses of manufacturer after disruptions. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is presented to address the disruption recovery problem for this multi-period, multi-supplier, and multi-stage supply chain system. A two-stage heuristic algorithm is designed to solve the problem. Experimental results show that the proposed disruption mitigation strategy can effectively reduce the profit loss of manufacturer due to supply disruption, and demonstrate the impact of product life cycle in the selection of new product design planning. A sensitivity analysis is performed to ensure the applicability of the model in the actual environment, which illustrates the effect of different parameter changes on the results. This work can help manufacturers establish an optimal recovery strategy whenever the supply chain system experiences supply disruptions.

Cooperative chemoenzymatic synthesis of N-heterocycles via synergizing bio- with organocatalysis.

Inspired by Nature's ingenuity, considerable progress has been made in recent years to develop chemoenzymatic processes by the integration of environmentally friendly feature of biocatalysis with versatile reactivity of chemocatalysis. However, the current types of chemoenzymatic processes are relatively few and mostly rely on metal catalysts. Here, we report a previously unexplored cooperative chemoenzymatic system for the synthesis of N-heterocycles. Starting from alcohols and amines, benzimidazole, pyrazine, quinazoline, indole, and quinoline can be obtained in excellent yields in water with O2 as the terminal oxidant. Synthetic bridged flavin analog is served as a bifunctional organocatalyst for the regeneration of cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide in the bioprocess and oxidative cyclodehydrogenation in the chemoprocess. Compared to the classical acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling strategy, being metal and base free, requiring only water as solvent, and not needing atmosphere protection were observed for the present method, exhibiting a favorable green and sustainable alternative.

Proteomic identification of OsCYP2, a rice cyclophilin that confers salt tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings when overexpressed.

BACKGROUND: High Salinity is a major environmental stress influencing growth and development of rice. Comparative proteomic analysis of hybrid rice shoot proteins from Shanyou 10 seedlings, a salt-tolerant hybrid variety, and Liangyoupeijiu seedlings, a salt-sensitive hybrid variety, was performed to identify new components involved in salt-stress signaling. RESULTS: Phenotypic analysis of one protein that was upregulated during salt-induced stress, cyclophilin 2 (OsCYP2), indicated that OsCYP2 transgenic rice seedlings had better tolerance to salt stress than did wild-type seedlings. Interestingly, wild-type seedlings exhibited a marked reduction in maximal photochemical efficiency under salt stress, whereas no such change was observed for OsCYP2-transgenic seedlings. OsCYP2-transgenic seedlings had lower levels of lipid peroxidation products and higher activities of antioxidant enzymes than wild-type seedlings. Spatiotemporal expression analysis of OsCYP2 showed that it could be induced by salt stress in both Shanyou 10 and Liangyoupeijiu seedlings, but Shanyou 10 seedlings showed higher OsCYP2 expression levels. Moreover, circadian rhythm expression of OsCYP2 in Shanyou 10 seedlings occurred earlier than in Liangyoupeijiu seedlings. Treatment with PEG, heat, or ABA induced OsCYP2 expression in Shanyou 10 seedlings but inhibited its expression in Liangyoupeijiu seedlings. Cold stress inhibited OsCYP2 expression in Shanyou 10 and Liangyoupeijiu seedlings. In addition, OsCYP2 was strongly expressed in shoots but rarely in roots in two rice hybrid varieties. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these data suggest that OsCYP2 may act as a key regulator that controls ROS level by modulating activities of antioxidant enzymes at translation level. OsCYP2 expression is not only induced by salt stress, but also regulated by circadian rhythm. Moreover, OsCYP2 is also likely to act as a key component that is involved in signal pathways of other types of stresses-PEG, heat, cold, or ABA.

Modeling and optimization for noise-aversion and energy-awareness disassembly sequence planning problems in reverse supply chain.

Nowadays, the reverse supply chain management receives much attention because of its critical role in environmental protection and economic development. Disassembly is very important in the reverse supply chain. It aims at dismantling valuable components from end-of-life products which are then remanufactured into like-new ones after reprocessing and reassembly operations. To efficiently organize and manage the remanufacturing process from the perspective of sustainable development, this work proposes a stochastic disassembly sequence planning problem with consideration of noise pollution and energy consumption to achieve disassembly profit maximization. A chance-constrained programming model is formulated to describe it mathematically. Then, a discrete marine predators algorithm combined with a stochastic simulation approach is specially designed. By conducting simulation experiments on some real-life instances and comparing the designed approach with two popularly known methods in literature, we mainly find that the proposed model and approach can make better disassembly plan for the investigated problem with maximal profit subject to the given noise pollution and energy consumption constraints. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can efficiently and effectively handle the considered problem, which contributes to reaching the highly reliable and environmentally sustainable disassembly process.

Rice hypersensitive induced reaction protein 1 (OsHIR1) associates with plasma membrane and triggers hypersensitive cell death.

BACKGROUND: In plants, HIR (Hypersensitive Induced Reaction) proteins, members of the PID (Proliferation, Ion and Death) superfamily, have been shown to play a part in the development of spontaneous hypersensitive response lesions in leaves, in reaction to pathogen attacks. The levels of HIR proteins were shown to correlate with localized host cell deaths and defense responses in maize and barley. However, not much was known about the HIR proteins in rice. Since rice is an important cereal crop consumed by more than 50% of the populations in Asia and Africa, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms of disease responses in this plant. We previously identified the rice HIR1 (OsHIR1) as an interacting partner of the OsLRR1 (rice Leucine-Rich Repeat protein 1). Here we show that OsHIR1 triggers hypersensitive cell death and its localization to the plasma membrane is enhanced by OsLRR1. RESULT: Through electron microscopy studies using wild type rice plants, OsHIR1 was found to mainly localize to the plasma membrane, with a minor portion localized to the tonoplast. Moreover, the plasma membrane localization of OsHIR1 was enhanced in transgenic rice plants overexpressing its interacting protein partner, OsLRR1. Co-localization of OsHIR1 and OsLRR1 to the plasma membrane was confirmed by double-labeling electron microscopy. Pathogen inoculation studies using transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana expressing either OsHIR1 or OsLRR1 showed that both transgenic lines exhibited increased resistance toward the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. However, OsHIR1 transgenic plants produced more extensive spontaneous hypersensitive response lesions and contained lower titers of the invading pathogen, when compared to OsLRR1 transgenic plants. CONCLUSION: The OsHIR1 protein is mainly localized to the plasma membrane, and its subcellular localization in that compartment is enhanced by OsLRR1. The expression of OsHIR1 may sensitize the plant so that it is more prone to HR and hence can react more promptly to limit the invading pathogens' spread from the infection sites.

Isolation and characterization of a rice mutant with narrow and rolled leaves.

Appropriate leaf shape has proved to be useful in improving photosynthesis and increasing grain yield. To understand the molecular mechanism of leaf morphogenesis, we identified a rice mutant nrl1, which was characterized by a phenotype of narrow and rolled leaves. Microscopic observation showed that the mutation significantly decreased the number of vascular bundles of leaf and stem. Genetic analysis revealed that the mutation was controlled by a single nuclear-encoded recessive gene. To isolate the nrl1 gene, 756 F(2) and F(3) mutant individuals from a cross of the nrl1 mutant with Longtepu were used and a high-resolution physical map of the chromosomal region around the nrl1 gene was made. Finally, the gene was mapped in 16.5 kb region between marker RL21 and marker RL36 within the BAC clone OSJNBa0027H05. Cloning and sequencing of the target region from the mutant showed that there was a 58 bp deletion within the second exon of the cellulose synthase-like D4 gene (TIGR locus Os12g36890). The nrl1 mutation was rescued by transformation with the wild-type cellulose synthase-like D4 gene. Accordingly, the cellulose synthase-like D4 gene was identified as the NRL1 gene. NRL1 was transcribed in various tissues and was mainly expressed in panicles and internodes. NAL7 and SLL1 were found to be upregulated, whereas OsAGO7 were downregulated in the nrl1 mutant. These findings suggested that there might be a functional association between these genes in regulating leaf development.

[The role of miR398 in plant stress responses].

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of small RNAs, which act as post-transcriptional negative regulators of gene expression. Plant miRNAs are important in the regulation of plant growth, development and in response to various abiotic and biotic stresses. miR398 is the first reported miRNA to be down-regulated by oxidative stresses. miR398 plays an impor-tant role in stresses, such as regulating copper homeostasis, in response to abiotic stresses including heavy metals, sucrose, and ozone and biotic stresses via down-regulating the expression of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (CSD). This review fo-cused on the crucial role of miR398 in regulation of different stresses and the transcriptional regulation of MIR398 gene.

Downregulation of nuclear ING3 expression and translocalization to cytoplasm promotes tumorigenesis and progression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

ING3 (inhibitor of growth gene 3) is a member of the ING gene family, and is considered as a candidate tumor suppressor gene. In order to explore the roles of ING3 in tumorigenesis and cancer progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), ING3 expression was assessed in 173 cases of HNSCC by immunohistochemistry. The expression of ING3 was also compared to clinicopathological variables, and the expression of several tumorigenic markers. Nuclear expression of ING3 in HNSCC was significantly lower than that in dysplasia and normal epithelium, and was negatively correlated with a poor-differentiated status, T staging and TNM staging. In contrast, cytoplasmic expression of ING3 was significantly increased in HNSCC, and was statistically associated with lymph node metastasis and 14-3-3η expression. In addition, nuclear expression of ING3 was positively correlated with the expression of p300, p21 and acetylated p53. In conclusion, decreases in nuclear ING3 may play important roles in tumorigenesis, progression and tumor differentiation in HNSCC. Increases in cytoplasmic ING3 may be due to 14-3-3η binding and may also be involved in malignant progression. Nuclear ING3 may modulate the transactivation of target genes, promoting apoptosis through interactions with p300 and p21. Moreover, ING3 may interact with p300 to upregulate the level of acetylation of p53, and promote p53-mediated cell cycle arrest, senescence and/or apoptosis. Therefore, ING3 may be a potential tumor suppressor and a possible therapeutic target in HNSCC.