The correlation between systemic inflammatory markers and efficiency for advanced gastric cancer patients treated with ICIs combined with chemotherapy.

Currently lacking research to explore the correlation between inflammatory markers and the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. This study is a retrospective study and included patients with advanced gastric cancer who receiving ICIs combined with chemotherapy from January 2020 to December 2022. We analysed the relationship between systemic inflammatory markers and the efficacy of ICIs combined chemotherapy and constructed a clinical prediction model. A nomogram was constructed based on the results of the bidirectional stepwise regression model. A total of 197 patients were enrolled in the training group, with a median follow-up period of time 26 months. Kaplan Meier analysis showed that the median OS of patients with low systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) and low platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) was superior to those with high SII and PLR. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that SII, NLR, PLR, and N stage as independent prognostic factors for OS. Adding SII to the conventional model improved the predictive ability of the 12-month OS. A total of 95 patients were included in the validation group, and external validation of the SII-based nomogram showed favourable predictive performance. Baseline SII, PLR, and N stage may serve as independent predictive factors for survival outcomes in advanced gastric cancer patients undergoing ICIs combined with chemotherapy. The SII-based nomogram can provide intuitive and accurate prognosis prediction of individual patients.

SlNAC3 suppresses cold tolerance in tomatoes by enhancing ethylene biosynthesis.

Low temperature stress poses a significant challenge to the productivity of horticultural crops. The dynamic expression of cold-responsive genes plays a crucial role in plant cold tolerance. While NAC transcription factors have been extensively studied in plant growth and development, their involvement in regulating plant cold tolerance remains poorly understood. In this study, we focused on the identification and characterisation of SlNAC3 as the most rapid and robust responsive gene in tomato under low temperature conditions. Manipulating SlNAC3 through overexpression or silencing resulted in reduced or enhanced cold tolerance, respectively. Surprisingly, we discovered a negative correlation between the expression of CBF and cold tolerance in the SlNAC3 transgenic lines. These findings suggest that SlNAC3 regulates tomato cold tolerance likely through a CBF-independent pathway. Furthermore, we conducted additional investigations to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying SINAC3-mediated cold tolerance in tomatoes. Our results revealed that SlNAC3 controls the transcription of ethylene biosynthetic genes, thereby bursting ethylene release in response to cold stress. Indeed, the silencing of these genes led to an augmentation in cold tolerance. This discovery provides valuable insights into the regulatory pathways involved in ethylene-mediated cold tolerance in tomatoes, offering potential strategies for developing innovative approaches to enhance cold stress resilience in this economically important crop species.

Combined application of myo-inositol and corn steep liquor enhances seedling growth and cold tolerance in cucumber and tomato.

Low temperatures pose a common challenge in the production of cucumbers and tomatoes, hindering plant growth and, in severe cases, leading to plant death. In our investigation, we observed a substantial improvement in the growth of cucumber and tomato seedlings through the application of corn steep liquor (CSL), myo-inositol (MI), and their combinations. When subjected to low-temperature stress, these treatments resulted in heightened levels of photosynthetic pigments, thereby fostering enhanced photosynthesis in both tomato and cucumber plants. Furthermore, it contributed to a decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and electrolyte leakage (REP). The effectiveness of the treatment was further validated through the analysis of key gene expressions (CBF1, COR, MIOX4, and MIPS1) in cucumber. Particularly, noteworthy positive outcomes were noted in the treatment involving 0.6 mL L-1 CSL combined with 72 mg L-1 MI. This study provides valuable technical insights into leveraging the synergistic effects of inositol and maize leachate to promote early crop growth and bolster resistance to low temperatures.

Screening Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Predicting the Efficacy of Electroacupuncture for Fatigue Treatment in Patients with Breast Cancer Following Adjuvant Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy-induced fatigue reduces not only the quality of life of patients but also effect their recurrence-free survival rate. Although electroacupuncture can relieve fatigue, it has limited affect on some patients. Therefore, appropriate biomarkers are needed to help screen patients who can benefit from electroacupuncture treatment of fatigue. We conducted this study to explore the predictive ability of SNPs on the efficacy of electroacupuncture in the treatment of fatigue in patients with breast cancer after adjuvant chemotherapy. Our study included breast cancer patients with fatigue after receiving paclitaxel and/or anthracycline based adjuvant chemotherapy. The patients were divided into the electroacupuncture group and the control group. The electroacupuncture treatment group received adjuvant chemotherapy and electroacupuncture treatment, while the control group only received adjuvant chemotherapy, and then compared the fatigue relief degree of two groups. In addition, we used NCBI dbSNP and PharmGKB databases to select fatigue related genes and their SNPs. We collected peripheral blood from the included patients for SNPs typing, and recorded the efficacy of electroacupuncture to analyzed the correlation between different SNPs and therapeutic efficacy. The side effects of electroacupuncture treatment were also recorded. 76 patients in the electroacupuncture group and 48 patients in the control group were enrolled. In the electroacupuncture group, 63 patients (82.9%) experienced moderate to severe fatigue (BFI score > 3). After electroacupuncture treatment, the number of patients with a BFI score of > 3 was 46 (60.5%). Therefore, the fatigue symptoms of 26.9% patients were significantly improved (P < 0.05). In the control group, which did not receive electroacupuncture treatment, 40 of 48 patients had a BFI score of > 3. Following the same observation time used in the electroacupuncture group, 36 patients had a BFI score of > 3 points. Thus, fatigue was not significantly relieved in the control group (83.3% vs. 75.0%, P > 0.05). We included 56 patients in our analysis of the correlation between SNPs and electroacupuncture treatment effects. We divided the patients into an effective group and ineffective group according to therapeutic effects. Our results indicated that the effective rate of electroacupuncture treatment with IL1A rs3783550 AC and CC genotypes was higher than that with other genotypes (AC: 84.6%, CC: 81.8%, AA: 33.0%, P < 0.05). Similarly, the effective rate of electroacupuncture treatment with HTR1A rs6295 GG and CC genotypes was higher than that with other genotypes (GG: 63.0%, CC: 55.6%, GC: 18.2%, P < 0.05). However, no other genotypes were related to the effect of electroacupuncture treatment on fatigue. Our result showed that electroacupuncture has therapeutic effect on fatigue after adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer and the side effects are tolerable. In addition, IL1A rs3763550 and HTR1A rss6295 can predict the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture on fatigue after adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer, which helps to better screen patients who can benefit from electroacupuncture treatment.

A transcriptional landscape underlying sugar import for grain set in maize.

Developing seed depends on sugar supply for its growth and yield formation. Maize (Zea mays L.) produces the largest grains among cereals. However, there is a lack of holistic understanding of the transcriptional landscape of genes controlling sucrose transport to, and utilization within, maize grains. By performing in-depth data mining of spatio-temporal transcriptomes coupled with histological and heterologous functional analyses, we identified transporter genes specifically expressed in the maternal-filial interface, including (i) ZmSWEET11/13b in the placento-chalazal zone, where sucrose is exported into the apoplasmic space, and (ii) ZmSTP3, ZmSWEET3a/4c (monosaccharide transporters), ZmSUT1, and ZmSWEET11/13a (sucrose transporters) in the basal endosperm transfer cells for retrieval of apoplasmic sucrose or hexoses after hydrolysis by extracellular invertase. In the embryo and its surrounding regions, an embryo-localized ZmSUT4 and a cohort of ZmSWEETs were specifically expressed. Interestingly, drought repressed those ZmSWEETs likely exporting sucrose but enhanced the expression of most transporter genes for uptake of apoplasmic sugars. Importantly, this drought-induced fluctuation in gene expression was largely attenuated by an increased C supply via controlled pollination, indicating that the altered gene expression is conditioned by C availability. Based on the analyses above, we proposed a holistic model on the spatio-temporal expression of genes that likely govern sugar transport and utilization across maize maternal and endosperm and embryo tissues during the critical stage of grain set. Collectively, the findings represent an advancement towards a holistic understanding of the transcriptional landscape underlying post-phloem sugar transport in maize grain and indicate that the drought-induced changes in gene expression are attributable to low C status.

Designing Multimodal Informative Sensing with an Exosome-Mediated Signal Coupling Transduction Strategy Based on a Single-Stimulus Multiresponse Recognition Interface.

Given that exosomes released from cancer cells carry various tumor-specific proteins on their surface, they have emerged as a source of biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. However, developing accurate and reliable assays to detect exosomes in the early stages of disease with low abundance and complex systems remains challenging. Here, the prepared PDIG film has the ability to sense multiple signals from a single stimulus, in which the presence of cobalt(II) chloride and deep eutectic solvents (DES) endows PDIG with thermochromic and thermosensitive properties. Concretely, the PDIG served as the recognition interface in series with a bipolar electrode (BPE) that exhibits a highly sensitive color and conductivity response to temperature stimuli triggered by the light-harvesting probe TiO2@CNOs introduced via proximity hybridization assay triggering a rolling circle amplification strategy, resulting in the output of colorimetric, photoacoustic, and electrochemiluminescent signals for the detection of colorectal cancer exosomes. This work is expected to provide a new direction for exploring the multisignal amplification strategy of BPE, broaden the application of BPE in biological analysis, and provide new insights for developing highly information-sensing elements to ensure the multimodal coupling for cancer-specific exosome detection.

Mutation of CsARC6 affects fruit color and increases fruit nutrition in cucumber.

KEY MESSAGE: A mutation of CsARC6 not only causes white fruit color in cucumber, but also affects plant growth and fruit quality. Fruit color of cucumber is a very important agronomic trait, but most of the genes affecting cucumber white fruit color are still unknow, and no further studies were reported on the effect of cucumber fruit quality caused by white fruit color genes. Here, we obtained a white fruit mutant em41 in cucumber by EMS mutagenesis. The mutant gene was mapped to a 548 kb region of chromosome 2. Through mutation site analysis, it was found to be a null allele of CsARC6 (CsaV3_2G029290). The Csarc6 mutant has a typical phenotype of arc6 mutant that mesophyll cells contained only one or two giant chloroplasts. ARC6 protein was not detected in em41, and the level of FtsZ1 and FtsZ2 was also reduced. In addition, FtsZ2 could not form FtsZ ring-like structures in em41. Although these are typical arc6 mutant phenotypes, some special phenotypes occur in Csarc6 mutant, such as dwarfness with shortened internodes, enlarged fruit epidermal cells, decreased carotenoid contents, smaller fruits, and increased fruit nutrient contents. This study discovered a new gene, CsARC6, which not only controls the white fruit color, but also affects plant growth and fruit quality in cucumber.

Epstein-Barr virus infection with non-tumor-associated Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor encephalitis: a case report and review of literature.

To study a case of a middle-aged male with a non-tumor-associated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection associated with Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis (NMDARE), to explore the role of EBV in the pathogenesis of anti-NMDARE. The patient was diagnosed with "Anti-NMDARE, EBV infection" by using Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) autoimmune encephalitis profile, and Metagenomics Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS) pathogenic microbial assays, we discuss the relationship between EBV and NMDARE by reviewed literature. EBV infection may trigger and enhance anti-NMDARE, and the higher the titer of NMDAR antibody, the more severe the clinical presentation.

Versatile MXene composite probe-mediated homogeneous electrochemiluminescence biosensor with integrated signal transduction and near-infrared modulation strategy for concanavalin A detection.

Based on the highly specific interaction between concanavalin A (Con A) and glucose (Glu), a competitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor was constructed for ultrasensitive detection of Con A. Nanocomposites with excellent electrocatalytic and photothermal properties were obtained by covalently bonding zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) to vanadium carbide MXene (V2C MXene) surfaces. The modification of ZnO QDs hinders the aggregation of V2C MXene and increases the catalytic activity of oxygen reduction reaction, thus amplifying the luminol cathodic emission. In addition, the excellent photothermal performance of the V2C MXene-ZnO QDs can convert light energy into heat energy under the irradiation of 808 nm near infrared laser, thus increasing the temperature of the reaction system and accelerating the electron transfer process to realize the synergistic amplified homogeneous ECL system. This innovative work not only enriches the fundamental research on multifunctional MXene nanomaterials for biosensing, but also provides an effective strategy for ECL signal amplification.

Tomato Maturity Detection and Counting Model Based on MHSA-YOLOv8.

The online automated maturity grading and counting of tomato fruits has a certain promoting effect on digital supervision of fruit growth status and unmanned precision operations during the planting process. The traditional grading and counting of tomato fruit maturity is mostly done manually, which is time-consuming and laborious work, and its precision depends on the accuracy of human eye observation. The combination of artificial intelligence and machine vision has to some extent solved this problem. In this work, firstly, a digital camera is used to obtain tomato fruit image datasets, taking into account factors such as occlusion and external light interference. Secondly, based on the tomato maturity grading task requirements, the MHSA attention mechanism is adopted to improve YOLOv8's backbone to enhance the network's ability to extract diverse features. The Precision, Recall, F1-score, and mAP50 of the tomato fruit maturity grading model constructed based on MHSA-YOLOv8 were 0.806, 0.807, 0.806, and 0.864, respectively, which improved the performance of the model with a slight increase in model size. Finally, thanks to the excellent performance of MHSA-YOLOv8, the Precision, Recall, F1-score, and mAP50 of the constructed counting models were 0.990, 0.960, 0.975, and 0.916, respectively. The tomato maturity grading and counting model constructed in this study is not only suitable for online detection but also for offline detection, which greatly helps to improve the harvesting and grading efficiency of tomato growers. The main innovations of this study are summarized as follows: (1) a tomato maturity grading and counting dataset collected from actual production scenarios was constructed; (2) considering the complexity of the environment, this study proposes a new object detection method, MHSA-YOLOv8, and constructs tomato maturity grading models and counting models, respectively; (3) the models constructed in this study are not only suitable for online grading and counting but also for offline grading and counting.

Molecular Mechanisms Associated with the Resistance of Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 Isolates to the Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor Thifluzamide.

Thifluzamide, a succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) inhibitor, possesses high activity against Rhizoctonia. In this study, 144 Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 (4HGI, 4HGII, and 4HGIII) isolates, the predominate pathogen associated with sugar beet seedling damping-off, were demonstrated to be sensitive to thifluzamide with a calculated mean median effective concentration of 0.0682 ± 0.0025 µg/ml. Thifluzamide-resistant isolates were generated using fungicide-amended media, resulting in four AG-4HGI isolates and eight AG-4HGII isolates with stable resistance and almost no loss in fitness. Evaluation of cross-resistance of the 12 thifluzamide-resistant isolates and their corresponding parental-sensitive isolates revealed a moderately positive correlation between thifluzamide resistance and the level of resistance to eight other fungicides from three groups, the exception being fludioxonil. An active efflux of fungicide through ATP-binding cassette and major facilitator superfamily transporters was found to be correlated to the resistance of R. solani AG-4HGII isolates to thifluzamide based on RNA-sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analyses. Sequence analysis of sdhA, sdhB, sdhC, and sdhD revealed replacement of isoleucine by phenylalanine at position 61 in SDHC in 9 of the 12 generated thifluzamide-resistant isolates. No other mutations were found in any of the other genes. Collectively, the data indicate that the active efflux of fungicide and a point mutation in sdhC may contribute to the resistance of R. solani AG-4HGI and AG-4HGII isolates to thifluzamide in vitro. This is the first characterization of the potential molecular mechanism associated with the resistance of R. solani AG-4 isolates to thifluzamide and provides practical guidance for the use of this fungicide.

Involvement of boron transporter BOR1 in growth under low boron and high nitrate conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana.

BOR1 is an efflux transporter of boron (B), responsible for loading B into the xylem. It has been reported that nitrate (NO3 - ) concentrations significantly influence B concentrations in leaves and BOR1 mRNA accumulation in roots. Here, to unravel the interactive effects of B and NO3 - on plant growth and the function of BOR1 under the combination of B and NO3 - , seedling growth was analyzed in Col-0 and bor1 mutants. The growth of bor1 mutants was negatively affected by high NO3 - but neither by potassium chloride (KCl) nor ammonium (NH4 + ) under low B conditions, suggesting the involvement of BOR1 in growth under high NO3 - . Mutants of bor2 and bor4 did not exhibit such growth responses, suggesting that this effect was specific to BOR1 among the BORs tested. Under low B conditions, loss of the BOR1 function led to a more significant decrease in B concentrations in the presence of high NO3 - compared to normal NO3 - . Additionally, grafting experiments demonstrated that these effects of NO3 - occurred when BOR1 is absent in roots. High NO3 - treatment elevated BOR1 mRNA accumulation while the BOR1 protein accumulation was downregulated. These apparent opposite responses indicated that the transcriptional and (post-)translational regulations follow different patterns. Our work provides evidence of a novel regulation of BOR1 and another B transport system by both B and NO3 - in an interactive manner.

Nutrition and exercise interventions could ameliorate age-related cognitive decline: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of nutrition combined physical exercise interventions on age-related cognitive decline by a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: We searched 9 databases, including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Information, China Biological Medical Database (CBM) and Wanfang for studies published until the end of December 2019. The selected trials should meet the following criteria, study objects: healthy adults aged 65 and over with cognitive dysfunction or diagnosed as MCI, but not meet the diagnostic criteria for dementia as well as no restriction on follow-up time, race or gender. Study interventions: multiple interventions including nutrition and exercise. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: (1) studies included elderly people with any type of dementia or patients with cognitive impairment induced by secondary causes, including drug, alcohol, severe organic brain diseases, mental disorders. (2) Republished literature. (3) Studies with significant differences in baseline data between groups. (4) The data in the study cannot be converted into the required data format. We reviewed and extracted information and assessed the risk of bias of recruited studies independently. Meta-analysis was performed using STATA v.15.1 software. The bias of publication was estimated by Egger test. RESULTS: A total of six RCTs representing 1039 participates were included in our meta-analysis. In terms of global cognitive function that has been assessed by neuropsychological test in different combinations, the result showed that the beneficial effect of nutrition combined exercise interventions was statistically significant [SMD = 0.23, 95% CI (0.1, 0.36), P = 0.0004]. There were no statistical differences from assays on MMSE scores, Memory, Executive Function, Attention, and Information Processing Speed across groups. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that nutrition combined exercise interventions can improve global cognitive function in the aged with cognitive decline. Further researches emphasizing on longer follow-up time, experimental randomness, credibility and scale would better elucidate the effect of nutrition combined exercise interventions on cognitive function, particularly in older adults. (registration number: CRD42020159291, date of registration: 28/04/2020).

Engineering Trienoic Fatty Acids into Cottonseed Oil Improves Low-Temperature Seed Germination, Plant Photosynthesis and Cotton Fiber Quality.

Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3Δ9,12,15) and γ-linolenic acid \ (GLA, 18:3Δ6,9,12) are important trienoic fatty acids, which are beneficial for human health in their own right, or as precursors for the biosynthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. ALA and GLA in seed oil are synthesized from linoleic acid (LA, 18:2Δ9,12) by the microsomal ω-3 fatty acid desaturase (FAD3) and Δ6 desaturase (D6D), respectively. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seed oil composition was modified by transforming with an FAD3 gene from Brassica napus and a D6D gene from Echium plantagineum, resulting in approximately 30% ALA and 20% GLA, respectively. The total oil content in transgenic seeds remained unaltered relative to parental seeds. Despite the use of a seed-specific promoter for transgene expression, low levels of GLA and increased levels of ALA were found in non-seed cotton tissues. At low temperature, the germinating cottonseeds containing the linolenic acid isomers elongated faster than the untransformed controls. ALA-producing lines also showed higher photosynthetic rates at cooler temperature and better fiber quality compared to both untransformed controls and GLA-producing lines. The oxidative stability of the novel cottonseed oils was assessed, providing guidance for potential food, pharmaceutical and industrial applications of these oils.

Down-regulation of the Sucrose Transporter CsSUT1 Causes Male Sterility by Altering Carbohydrate Supply.

In plants, male sterility is an important agronomic trait, especially in hybrid crop production. Many factors are known to affect crop male sterility, but it remains unclear whether Suc transporters (SUTs) participate directly in this process. Here, we identified and functionally characterized the cucumber (Cucumis sativus) CsSUT1, a typical plasma membrane-localized energy-dependent high-affinity Suc-H+ symporter. CsSUT1 is expressed in male flowers and encodes a protein that is localized primarily in the tapetum, pollen, and companion cells of the phloem of sepals, petals, filaments, and pedicel. The male flowers of CsSUT1-RNA interference (RNAi) lines exhibited a decrease in Suc, hexose, and starch content, relative to those of the wild type, during the later stages of male flower development, a finding that was highly associated with male sterility. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that numerous genes associated with sugar metabolism, transport, and signaling, as well as with auxin signaling, were down-regulated, whereas most myeloblastosis (MYB) transcription factor genes were up-regulated in these CsSUT1-RNAi lines relative to wild type. Our findings demonstrate that male sterility can be induced by RNAi-mediated down-regulation of CsSUT1 expression, through the resultant perturbation in carbohydrate delivery and subsequent alteration in sugar and hormone signaling and up-regulation of specific MYB transcription factors. This knowledge provides a new approach for bioengineering male sterility in crop plants.

A critical literature review of dyadic web-based interventions to support cancer patients and their caregivers, and directions for future research.

OBJECTIVE: With the rapid development of the Internet, e-health interventions are becoming popular and are showing positive impacts. Cancer affects not only patients but also their caregivers, leading to a recognition that cancer patient-caregiver dyads cope with cancer as a unit rather than as individuals. The objectives of this paper are to explore web-based interventions for cancer patient-caregiver dyads coping with cancer from the aspects of intervention content, delivery format, outcome measurements, and outcomes and to provide recommendations on developing patient-caregiver dyadic web-based interventions for future research. METHODS: Literature focused on cancer patient-caregiver dyadic web-based interventions, published in English or Chinese from the launch of five databases (CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBase, Medline, Science Citation Index Expanded) to April 2019, was systematically searched. Manual searching through the references of full-text articles was also conducted. RESULTS: Of a total of 812 articles, 17 articles met the inclusion criteria. The content of these web-based dyadic interventions mainly included information support, communication and support, skills-building, and psycho-education. These web-based interventions reported a small to large positive impact on patients with cancer and their caregivers in terms of physical health (d = 0.17-0.75), psychological health (d = 0.04-0.80), overall quality of life (d = 0.20-0.68), and dyadic relationship (d = 0.30-0.95). CONCLUSIONS: Web-based dyadic interventions can be designed for tailored content, which benefits both patients and their caregivers. Future research on cancer patient-caregiver web-based interventions should be conducted in diverse cultures.

The subcellular localization of two isopentenyl diphosphate isomerases in rice suggests a role for the endoplasmic reticulum in isoprenoid biosynthesis.

KEY MESSAGE: Both OsIPPI1 and OsIPPI2 enzymes are found in the endoplasmic reticulum, providing novel important insights into the role of this compartment in the synthesis of MVA pathway isoprenoids. Isoprenoids are synthesized from the precursor's isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphosphate (DMAPP), which are interconverted by the enzyme isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IPPI). Many plants express multiple isoforms of IPPI, the only enzyme shared by the mevalonate (MVA) and non-mevalonate (MEP) pathways, but little is known about their specific roles. Rice (Oryza sativa) has two IPPI isoforms (OsIPPI1 and OsIPPI2). We, therefore, carried out a comprehensive comparison of IPPI gene expression, protein localization, and isoprenoid biosynthesis in this species. We found that OsIPPI1 mRNA was more abundant than OsIPPI2 mRNA in all tissues, and its expression in de-etiolated leaves mirrored the accumulation of phytosterols, suggesting a key role in the synthesis of MVA pathway isoprenoids. We investigated the subcellular localization of both isoforms by constitutively expressing them as fusions with synthetic green fluorescent protein. Both proteins localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as well as peroxisomes and mitochondria, whereas only OsIPPI2 was detected in plastids, due to an N-terminal transit peptide which is not present in OsIPPI1. Despite the plastidial location of OsIPPI2, the expression of OsIPPI2 mRNA did not mirror the accumulation of chlorophylls or carotenoids, indicating that OsIPPI2 may be a redundant component of the MEP pathway. The detection of both OsIPPI isoforms in the ER indicates that DMAPP can be synthesized de novo in this compartment. Our work shows that the ER plays an as yet unknown role in the synthesis of MVA-derived isoprenoids, with important implications for the metabolic engineering of isoprenoid biosynthesis in higher plants.

Identification of Long-Distance Transmissible mRNA between Scion and Rootstock in Cucurbit Seedling Heterografts.

: Grafting has been widely used to improve plant growth and tolerance in crop production, as well as for clarifying systemic mRNA signaling from donor to recipient tissues in organ-to-organ communication. In this study, we investigated graft partner interaction mechanisms of Cucumis sativus (Csa) and Cucurbita moschata (Cmo) using a large-scale endogenous mRNA transport. The results indicated that most mobile transcripts followed an allocation pathway from source to sink. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that mRNA mobility functions are universally common and individually specific. Identification of mRNA mobility between distant tissues in heterografts with RT-PCR (reverse transcription PCR), RT-qPCR (reverse transcriptional quantitative real time PCR), and clone sequencing were used to estimate 78.75% of selected mobile transcripts. Integration of bioinformatic analysis and RT-qPCR identification allowed us to hypothesize a scion-to-rootstock-to-scion feedback signal loop of Csa move-down and Cmo move-up mRNAs, where Csa scion move-down mRNAs were involved in carbon fixation and biosynthesis of amino acid pathways, and Cmo root received Csa move-down mRNA and then delivered the corresponding Cmo upward mRNA to scion to improve photosynthesis of cucumber scion. This formed a feedback signal loop of scion-to-rootstock-to scion to explain why pumpkin rootstock enhanced cucumber production in the industry, which was utilized for organ communication and mediates photosynthesis processes in heterograft cucurbit crops.

Genome-Wide Characterization of GRAS Family and Their Potential Roles in Cold Tolerance of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the most important cucurbit vegetables but is often subjected to stress during cultivation. GRAS (gibberellic acid insensitive, repressor of GAI, and scarecrow) genes encode a family of transcriptional factors that regulate plant growth and development. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, GRAS family genes function in formation of axillary meristem and root radial structure, phytohormone (gibberellin) signal transduction, light signal transduction and abiotic/biological stress. In this study, a gene family was comprehensively analyzed from the aspects of evolutionary tree, gene structure, chromosome location, evolutionary and expression pattern by means of bioinformatics; 37 GRAS gene family members have been screened from cucumber. We reconstructed an evolutionary tree based on multiple sequence alignment of the typical GRAS domain and conserved motif sequences with those of other species (A. thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum). Cucumber GRAS family was divided into 10 groups according to the classification of Arabidopsis and tomato genes. We conclude that tandem and segmental duplication have played important roles in the expansion and evolution of the cucumber GRAS (CsaGRAS) family. Expression patterns of CsaGRAS genes in different tissues and under cold treatment, combined with gene ontology annotation and interaction network analysis, revealed potentially different functions for CsaGRAS genes in response to cold tolerance, with members of the SHR, SCR and DELLA subfamilies likely playing important roles. In conclusion, this study provides valuable information and candidate genes for improving cucumber tolerance to cold stress.

How to rescue high-dose methotrexate induced nephrotoxicity and literature review about hemodiafiltration?

Methotrexate (MTX) is a highly renal and liver toxicity drug used in hematological malignancy treatment in children and adults. High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) therapy may cause impairment of kidney and decrease the elimination of MTX, at the same time, the serum concentration of MTX increased. Today the treatment for preventing MTX toxicity after renal shutdown is Carboxypeptidase. We report a patient who experienced nephrotoxicity after the HD-MTX infusions during the treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and received hemodiafiltration (HDF) with large dose of leucovorin (LV) to treat MTX intoxication. LV is very potent in the prevention of neurotoxicity and administration of LV could protect the normal cells, but the dosage and duration of LV should be according to the MTX concentration. Although a large dose of LV was applied, the patient's condition did not improve. It was found that the HDF with large dose of LV to save the patient and steadily improved the patient's clinical condition.