Harnessing Electro-Descriptors for Mechanistic and Machine Learning Analysis of Photocatalytic Organic Reactions.

Photocatalysis has emerged as an effective tool for addressing the contemporary challenges in organic synthesis. However, the trial-and-error-based screening of feasible substrates and optimal reaction conditions remains time-consuming and potentially expensive in industrial practice. Here, we demonstrate an electrochemical-based data-acquisition approach that derives a simple set of redox-relevant electro-descriptors for effective mechanistic analysis and performance evaluation through machine learning (ML) in photocatalytic synthesis. These electro-descriptors correlate to the quantification of shifted charge transfer processes in response to the photoirradiation and enabled construction of reactivity diagram where high-yield reactive "hot zones" can reflect subtle changes of the reaction system. For the model reaction of photocatalytic deoxygenation reaction, the influence of varying carboxylic acids (substrate A, oxidation-intended) and alkenes (substrate B, reduction-intended) and varying reaction conditions on the reaction yield can be visualized, while mathematical analysis of the electro-descriptor patterns further revealed distinct mechanistic/kinetic impacts from different substrates and conditions. Additionally, in the application of ML algorithms, the experimentally derived electro-descriptors reflect an overall redox kinetic outcome contributed from vast reaction parameters, serving as a capable means to reduce the dimensionality in the case of complex multiparameter chemical space. As a result, utilization of electro-descriptors enabled efficient and robust quantitative evaluation of chemical reactivity, demonstrating promising potential of introducing operando-relevant experimental insights in the data-driven chemistry.

Divergent Synthesis of Sulfur-Containing Bridged Cyclobutanes by Lewis Acid Catalyzed Formal Cycloadditions of Pyridinium 1,4-Zwitterionic Thiolates and Bicyclobutanes.

Bridged cyclobutanes and sulfur heterocycles are currently under intense investigation as building blocks for pharmaceutical drug design. Two formal cycloaddition modes involving bicyclobutanes (BCBs) and pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolate derivatives were described to rapidly expand the chemical space of sulfur-containing bridged cyclobutanes. By using Ni(ClO4)2 as the catalyst, an uncommon higher-order (5+3) cycloaddition of BCBs with quinolinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolate was achieved with broad substrate scope under mild reaction conditions. Furthermore, the first Lewis acid-catalyzed asymmetric polar (5+3) cycloaddition of BCB with pyridazinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolate was accomplished. In contrast, pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates undergo an Sc(OTf)3-catalyzed formal (3+3) reaction with BCBs to generate thia-norpinene products, which represent the initial instance of synthesizing 2-thiabicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes (thia-BCHeps) from BCBs. Moreover, we have successfully used this (3+3) protocol to rapidly prepare thia-BCHeps-substituted analogues of the bioactive molecule Pitofenone. Density functional theory (DFT) computations imply that kinetic factors govern the (5+3) cycloaddition reaction between BCB and quinolinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolate, whereas the (3+3) reaction involving pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates is under thermodynamic control.

Overexpression of herbaceous peony HSP70 confers high temperature tolerance.

BACKGROUND: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are found extensively in Eukaryotes and are involved in stress tolerance. However, their functions in herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) under high temperature stress are poorly characterized. RESULTS: In this study, the genomic sequence of P. lactiflora HSP70, designated PlHSP70, was isolated. Its full-length was 3635 bp, and it contained a large 1440-bp intron. The encoded protein with a molecular weight of 71 kDa was localized in the cytoplasm of the cell. PlHSP70 transcription was detected in P. lactiflora and increased with the treatment of high temperature stress. The constitutive overexpression of PlHSP70 in Arabidopsis thaliana obviously conferred tolerance to high temperature stress by affecting different physiological and biochemical indices. Transgenic A. thaliana plants exhibited higher chlorophyll fluorescence values than the wild-type (WT) when exposed to high temperature stress. The accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anion free radical (O2·-) and relative electric conductivity (REC) were significantly lower in the transgenic A. thaliana plants compared to the WT. In addition, more intact cell membranes, chloroplasts and starch grains, and fewer plastoglobuli were found in the PlHSP70-overexpressing transgenic lines than in the WT. CONCLUSIONS: All of these results indicated that PlHSP70 possessed the ability to improve the tolerance to high temperature in transgenic A. thaliana, which could provide a theoretical basis to improve high temperature tolerance of P. lactiflora by future genetic manipulation.

Identification and comparative profiling of miRNAs in herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) with red/yellow bicoloured flowers.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is popular worldwide because of its gorgeous flower colour, and the yellow flower is the rarest. However, its mechanism of yellow formation is still unexplored from the post-translational level. In this study, the anatomy of the petal, cell sap pH and metal elements were investigated in bicoloured flower cultivar 'Jinhui' with red outer-petal and yellow inner-petal, and the yellow formation was influenced by the anatomy of petal, while not by the cell sap pH and metal elements. Subsequently, microRNAs sequencing (miRNA-seq) was used to identify small RNAs (sRNAs). A total of 4,172,810 and 3,565,152 specific unique sRNAs were obtained, 207 and 204 conserved miRNAs and 38 and 42 novel miRNAs were identified from red outer-petal and yellow inner-petal, respectively, which were confirmed by subcloning. Among these miRNAs, 163 conserved and 28 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed in two wheel of petals. And 5 differentially expressed miRNAs and their corresponding target genes related to yellow formation were screened, and their dynamic expression patterns confirmed that the yellow formation might be under the regulation of miR156e-3p-targeted squamosa promoter binding protein-like gene (SPL1). These results improve the understanding of miRNA regulation of the yellow formation in P. lactiflora.

Overexpression of herbaceous peony miR156e-3p improves anthocyanin accumulation in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lateral branches.

microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical regulatory roles in plant growth and development. In the present study, the function of herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) miR156e-3p in the regulation of color formation has been investigated. Firstly, P. lactiflora miR156e-3p precursor sequence (pre-miR156e-3p) was isolated. Subsequently, the overexpression vector of pre-miR156e-3p was constructed and transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana. Moreover, the medium screening, GUS staining, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the GUS region and real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) of miR156e-3p all confirmed that the purpose gene had been successfully transferred into Arabidopsis plants and expressed, which resulted in apparent purple lateral branches. And this change in color was caused by the improved anthocyanin accumulation. In addition, expression analysis had shown that the level of miR156e-3p transcript was increased, while transcription level of target gene squamosa promoter binding protein-like gene (SPL1), encoding SPL transcription factor that negatively regulated anthocyanin accumulation, was repressed in miR156e-3p-overexpressing transgenic plants, and its downstream gene dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene (DFR) that was directly involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis was strongly expressed, which resulted in anthocyanin accumulation of Arabidopsis lateral branches. These findings would improve the understanding of miRNAs regulation of color formation in P. lactiflora.

Anatomical and biochemical analysis reveal the role of anthocyanins in flower coloration of herbaceous peony.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is particularly appreciated because of its elegant and gorgeous flower color, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms of flower coloration. In this study, three P. lactiflora cultivars 'Xuefeng', 'Fenyulou' and 'Dahonglou' with white, pink and red flower were selected as the materials. Their anatomical structures, cell sap pH and metal elements were investigated, and the colored pigment mainly distributed in palisade mesophyll was only found in 'Fenyulou' and 'Dahonglou', and their shape of epidermal cells, cell sap pH and metal elements were not the key factors deciding phenotype color. Moreover, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoids were performed, their total anthocyanin, anthoxanthin and flavonoid contents were decreased during flower development, and only anthocyanin content in 'Dahonglou' was always higher than that in 'Xuefeng' and 'Fenyulou'. Subsequently, three anthocyanin compositions were found, and peonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside (Pn3G5G) was identified as the main anthocyanin composition. In addition, the full-length of flavonol synthase gene (FLS) was isolated with the GenBank accession number KM259902, and the expression patterns of eight flavonoid biosynthetic genes showed that only PlDFR and PlANS basically had the highest levels in 'Dahonglou' and the lowest levels in 'Xuefeng', and they basically displayed a descended trend during flower development especially PlDFR, suggesting that these two genes might play a key role in the anthocyanin biosynthesis which resulted in the shift from white to pink and red in flowers. These results would contribute to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of flower coloration in P. lactiflora.

Digital Gene Expression Analysis to Screen Disease Resistance-Relevant Genes from Leaves of Herbaceous Peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) Infected by Botrytis cinerea.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is a well-known traditional flower in China and is widely used for landscaping and garden greening due to its high ornamental value. However, disease spots usually appear after the flowering of the plant and may result in the withering of the plant in severe cases. This study examined the disease incidence in an herbaceous peony field in the Yangzhou region, Jiangsu Province. Based on morphological characteristics and molecular data, the disease in this area was identified as a gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea. Based on previously obtained transcriptome data, eight libraries generated from two herbaceous peony cultivars 'Zifengyu' and 'Dafugui' with different susceptibilities to the disease were then analyzed using digital gene expression profiling (DGE). Thousands of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by comparing the eight samples, and these genes were annotated using the Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) database. The pathways related to plant-pathogen interaction, secondary metabolism synthesis and antioxidant system were concentrated, and 51, 76, and 13 disease resistance-relevant candidate genes were identified, respectively. The expression patterns of these candidate genes differed between the two cultivars: their expression of the disease-resistant cultivar 'Zifengyu' sharply increased during the early stages of infection, while it was relatively subdued in the disease-sensitive cultivar 'Dafugui'. A selection of ten candidate genes was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to validate the DGE data. These results revealed the transcriptional changes that took place during the interaction of herbaceous peony with B. cinerea, providing insight into the molecular mechanisms of host resistance to gray mold.