[The Role of Nrf2 Pathway Activation in Hippocampal Neuron Injury of Neonatal Rats with Bilirubin Encephalopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2) pathway activation on hippocampal neuron damage in neonatal rats with bilirubin encephalopathy. METHODS: Neonatal rats were randomly assigned to a control group (Control), a model group (Model) and an Nrf2 activator TBHQ (tert-Butylhydroquinone) group (TBHQ), with 20 rats in each group. Bilirubin solution was injected through the cerebellomedullary cistern to establish the neonatal rat model of bilirubin encephalopathy. Neurobehavioral changes were observed in rats and the water content of the brain tissue was measured. Nissl staining was done to observe the damage of hippocampal neurons. TUNEL staining was used to observe the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons. Colorimetric analysis was done to determine the Caspase-3 activity in the hippocampus. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the hippocampus were examined by chemical analysis. qRT-PCR and Western blot were done to measure the expression of Nrf2 and heme oxygenase-l (HO-1) mRNA and proteins in the hippocampus. RESULTS: After injection of bilirubin into the cerebellomedullary cistern, the young rats in the Model group and the TBHQ group showed different degrees of neurological abnormalities, while those in the control group showed no significant neurobehavioral abnormalities. Compared with the Control group, the Model group had severe neuronal damage, and the water content of brain tissue, the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons, the activity of Caspase-3 and the content of MDA content significantly increased ( P<0.01), while the SOD activity, GSH content, the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 mRNA and proteins significantly decreased ( P<0.05). Compared with the Model group, neuronal damage was improved in the TBHQ group, and the water content of brain tissue, apoptosis of hippocampal neurons, activity of Caspase-3 and MDA content were all significantly reduced ( P<0.01), while SOD activity, GSH content and the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 mRNA and proteins were significantly increased ( P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Activation of the Nrf2 pathway can improve hippocampal neuronal damage in neonatal rats with bilirubin encephalopathy and inhibit neuronal apoptosis and the oxidation reaction.

AT1R knockdown confers cardioprotection against sepsis-induced myocardial injury by inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway in rats.

Myocardial dysfunction is an important manifestation of sepsis. In addition, inactivation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway has been reported to be beneficial in sepsis. The current study used gene expression profiling to demonstrate the overexpression of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) and activation of the MAPK signaling pathway in sepsis. In this study, we used a rat model of sepsis established by cecal ligation and puncture to explore the mechanism of AT1R silencing in relation to the MAPK signaling pathway on myocardial injury. Various parameters including blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac function changes were observed. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the concentration of cardiac troponin T (TnT), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), and creatine kinase isoenzyme muscle/brain (CK-MB). Myocardial enzyme, tissue antioxidant capacity, mitochondria swelling, and membrane potential were also detected. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling staining was applied to measure cell apoptosis, and messenger RNA and protein levels of apoptosis-related proteins (Fas ligand [Fasl], B-cell CLL/lymphoma [Bcl-2], p53) were also detected. Initially, sepsis rats exhibited decreased survival rate, but increased ejection fraction (EF), heart rate, and concentrations of TnT, cTnI, and CK-MB. Furthermore, decreased AT1R expression inactivated the MAPK signaling pathway (shown as decreased extracellular signal-regulated kinase and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate response element binding protein expression), decreased EF, heart rate, and concentrations of TnT, cTnI, and CK-MB, but increased sepsis rat survival rate. Eventually, decreased AT1R expression inhibited myocardial cell apoptosis (shown as decreased apoptosis rate and p53 and Fasl expression as well as increased Bcl-2 expression). These findings indicated that AT1R silencing plays an inhibitory role in sepsis-induced myocardial injury by inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway.

Compositional features analysis by machine learning in genome represents linear adaptation of monkeypox virus.

Introduction: The global headlines have been dominated by the sudden and widespread outbreak of monkeypox, a rare and endemic zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV). Genomic composition based machine learning (ML) methods have recently shown promise in identifying host adaptability and evolutionary patterns of virus. Our study aimed to analyze the genomic characteristics and evolutionary patterns of MPXV using ML methods. Methods: The open reading frame (ORF) regions of full-length MPXV genomes were filtered and 165 ORFs were selected as clusters with the highest homology. Unsupervised machine learning methods of t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and hierarchical clustering were performed to observe the DCR characteristics of the selected ORF clusters. Results: The results showed that MPXV sequences post-2022 showed an obvious linear adaptive evolution, indicating that it has become more adapted to the human host after accumulating mutations. For further accurate analysis, the ORF regions with larger variations were filtered out based on the ranking of homology difference to narrow down the key ORF clusters, which drew the same conclusion of linear adaptability. Then key differential protein structures were predicted by AlphaFold 2, which meant that difference in main domains might be one of the internal reasons for linear adaptive evolution. Discussion: Understanding the process of linear adaptation is critical in the constant evolutionary struggle between viruses and their hosts, playing a significant role in crafting effective measures to tackle viral diseases. Therefore, the present study provides valuable insights into the evolutionary patterns of the MPXV in 2022 from the perspective of genomic composition characteristics analysis through ML methods.

[Clinical effect of combination therapy with high-frequency oscillation ventilation, pulmonary surfactant and inhaled nitric oxide in the treatment of neonatal hypoxemic respiratory failure].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effect of combination therapy with high-frequency oscillation ventilation (HFOV), pulmonary surfactant (PS) and inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) in the treatment of neonatal hypoxemic respiratory failure (HRF). METHODS: A total of 116 neonates with HRF were studied, and they were randomly divided into two groups: triple therapy (n=58) and dual therapy (n=58). The triple therapy group received HFOV, PS, and iNO, while the dual therapy group received HFOV and iNO. Blood gas values, PaO2/FiO2 (P/F), oxygenation index (OI), and pulmonary arterial pressure (PA) were determined before treatment and after 24 and 48 hours of treatment. Among the neonates with different P/F ratios and OI values and with or without persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), the treatment outcomes of two groups were compared. RESULTS: The durations of mechanical ventilation and iNO therapy in the triple therapy group were significantly shorter than in the dual therapy group (P<0.01). After 24 and 48 hours of treatment, the triple therapy group had significantly improve PaO2 and PaCO2 compared with the dual therapy group (P<0.01). After 24 and 48 hours of treatment, the neonates with PPHN in the triple therapy group had significantly decreased PA compared with the dual therapy group (P<0.01). In the cases with a P/F ratio of ≤50, the triple group had a significantly higher cure rate than the dual therapy group (P<0.05). In both groups, the P/F ratios of the neonates who died were significantly lower than those of survivors (P<0.01). In the cases with an OI of ≥40, the triple group had a significantly higher cure rate than the dual therapy group (P<0.05). In both groups, the OI values of the neonates who died were significantly higher than those of survivors (P<0.01). In neonates with PPHN, the triple group had a significantly higher cure rate than the dual therapy group (P<0.05). The triple therapy group had a significantly shorter length of hospital stay (P<0.01) and a significantly higher cure rate (P<0.05) compared with the dual therapy group. There were no significant differences in complications between the two groups (P>0.05). No severe side effect was found during the treatment in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Triple therapy with HFOV, PS and iNO is a more effective treatment for neonatal HRF compared with the dual therapy with HFOV and iNO. The triple therapy can significantly improve oxygenation and survival rate, providing a new treatment for the neonates with HRF, especially the critical cases who suffer severe lung disease with PPHN and have a P/F ratio of ≤50 or an OI of ≥40.

Genomic representation predicts an asymptotic host adaptation of bat coronaviruses using deep learning.

Introduction: Coronaviruses (CoVs) are naturally found in bats and can occasionally cause infection and transmission in humans and other mammals. Our study aimed to build a deep learning (DL) method to predict the adaptation of bat CoVs to other mammals. Methods: The CoV genome was represented with a method of dinucleotide composition representation (DCR) for the two main viral genes, ORF1ab and Spike. DCR features were first analyzed for their distribution among adaptive hosts and then trained with a DL classifier of convolutional neural networks (CNN) to predict the adaptation of bat CoVs. Results and discussion: The results demonstrated inter-host separation and intra-host clustering of DCR-represented CoVs for six host types: Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Chiroptera, Primates, Rodentia/Lagomorpha, and Suiformes. The DCR-based CNN with five host labels (without Chiroptera) predicted a dominant adaptation of bat CoVs to Artiodactyla hosts, then to Carnivora and Rodentia/Lagomorpha mammals, and later to primates. Moreover, a linear asymptotic adaptation of all CoVs (except Suiformes) from Artiodactyla to Carnivora and Rodentia/Lagomorpha and then to Primates indicates an asymptotic bats-other mammals-human adaptation. Conclusion: Genomic dinucleotides represented as DCR indicate a host-specific separation, and clustering predicts a linear asymptotic adaptation shift of bat CoVs from other mammals to humans via deep learning.

[Therapeutic effect of early administration of oral ibuprofen in very low birth weight infants with patent ductus arteriosus].

OBJECTIVE: To study therapeutic effect and safety of early administration of oral ibuprofen in very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). METHODS: A total of 64 symptomatic VLBWIs (within 24 hours after birth) with PDA confirmed by bedside Color Doppler ultrasound were randomly divided into two groups: treatment and control (n=32 each). The treatment group was orally administered ibuprofen within 24 hours after birth at 10 mg/kg, followed 24 hours later by a second dose of 5 mg/kg and 48 hours later by a third dose of 5 mg/kg. The control group was treated with placebo (normal saline) at 1 mL/kg, followed 24 hours later by a second dose of 0.5 mL/kg and 48 hours later by a third dose of 0.5 mL/kg. The therapeutic efficacies and adverse effects in both groups were observed. RESULTS: The treatment group showed a significantly higher closure rate of ductus arterious than the control group after one course of treatment (84% vs 41%; P<0.01). The incidence rates of periventricular leukomalacia and bronchopulmonary dysplasia were significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05). The duration of mechanical ventilation and mean hospitalization time were significantly shorter in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the incidence rates of intraventricular hemorrhage, early pulmonary hemorrhage and necrotizing enterocolitis between the two groups (P>0.05). No obvious adverse effects were observed in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Early administration of oral ibuprofen for treatment of PDA in VLBWIs can decrease the incidence rates of some early complications and shorten hospitalization time, but causes no significant adverse effects.

[Nasal synchronized intermittent positive pressure ventilation for the treatment of apnea in preterm infants].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of nasal synchronized intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NSIPPV) and nasal continuous positive airway pressure ventilation (NCPAP) for the treatment of apnea in preterm infants. METHODS: Eighty preterm infants with apnea from August 2010 to January 2011 were randomly administered with NSIPPV and NCPAP (n=40 each).The blood gas results before and 2 hrs after ventilation, time of using ventilator, therapeutic efficacy and complications were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the blood gas results between the two groups before ventilation. The blood gas results (pH, PO2, PCO2) in the NSIPPV group were better than those in the NCPAP group 2 hrs after ventilation. The time of using ventilator in the NSIPPV group was shorter than that in the NCPAP group (50±9 h vs 91±11 h; P<0.01). There were no significant differences in the total effective rate between the NSIPPV and the NCPAP groups (95% vs 85%; P>0.05). The proportion of ventilator weaning within 3 days in the NSIPPV group (23/40) was higher than that in the NCPAP group (14/40) (P<0.05). The incidence of complications in the NSIPPV group was not different from that in the NCPAP group (22% vs 25%). CONCLUSIONS: NSIPPV appears to be superior to NCPAP for the treatment of apnea in preterm infants.

Prevalence and characteristics of mouse mammary tumor virus-like virus associated breast cancer in China.

BACKGROUND: Despite extensive molecular epidemiological studies, the prevalence and characteristics of Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus-Like Virus (MMTV-LV) in Chinese women breast cancer are still unclear. Besides, the prevalence of MMTV-LV in women breast cancer tissue varies in different countries and its dependent factors remain inconclusive. METHODS: In the first part of the study, a case-control study was performed. 119 breast cancer samples (84 from Northern China and 35 from Southern China) and 50 breast fibroadenoma specimens were collected from Chinese women patients. MMTV-like env sequence and the homology to MMTV env gene were analysed by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We also explored the association of MMTV-LV prevalence with sample sources (Southern and Northern China) and patients' clinicopathological characteristics. To investigate the dependent factors of the prevalence of MMTV-LV in breast cancer worldwide, a meta-analysis was conducted in the second part of the study. RESULTS: We found that the prevalence of MMTV-LV was much higher in breast cancer tissues (17.65%) than that in breast fibroadenoma specimens (4.00%) (P < 0.05). MMTV-LV prevalence in Chinese women breast cancer tissues was significantly different between Southern China (5.71%) and Northern China (22.62%) (P < 0.05). The prevalence of MMTV-LV also associates significantly with expression of HER2, but shows no significant correlation with other parameters. In the meta-analysis, we found that MMTV-LV prevalence in breast cancer tissue was dependent on the distribution of M. domesticus mouse (M. d), M. musculus mouse (M.m) and M.castaneus mouse (M.c) worldwide (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The distribution of house mice may be a crucial environmental factor that explains the geographic differences in human breast cancer incidence. Our findings may provide a potential avenue of prevention, diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer.

[Application of endotracheal lavage in neonatal ventilator-associated pneumonia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of endotracheal lavage in neonatal ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). METHODS: Fifty-eight neonates with VAP between January 2002 and December 2008 were randomly assigned to two groups: lavage and control (n=29 each). After withdrawal from ventilator, both groups received sensitive antibiotics therapy according to sputum culture results as well as supportive treatment. The lavage group was additionally treated with endotracheal lavage (2-3 times daily). The therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the average time of mechanical ventilation between the lavage and the control groups. The effective rate in the lavage group (93%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (69%; p<0.05). Three percent of patients in the lavage group required twice or more mechanical ventilation compared with 24% in the control group (p<0.05). Blood gas analysis results were obviously improved in the lavage group 2 hrs after treatment (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Endotracheal lavage can decrease the number in mechanical ventilation and improve therapeutic effects in neonates with VAP.

Multi-chamber petaloid root-growth chip for the non-destructive study of the development and physiology of the fibrous root system of Oryza sativa.

The root system of plants is a major component of their bodies in terms of both function and bulk. The investigation of root system development is greatly assisted by microfluidic devices, which improve the spatial and temporal resolution of observations without destroying tissue. In the present study, a multi-chamber petaloid root-growth chip was developed for studying the development and physiology of root systems that have thin branching structures (i.e., fibrous root systems). The petaloid root-growth chip includes a central seed germination chamber and five root-growth chambers for observing the development of fibrous roots. The proposed device was applied for investigating the root system development of Oryza sativa. The phenotype and growth kinetics of O. sativa root systems grown in the proposed device were compared with those obtained during growth in a conventional conical flask with agar-based medium, and the results indicated that cultivation in the miniaturized device did not delay root system growth in the early stage (≤2 weeks). In addition, the transparent device enabled the non-destructive observation of the developmental and microstructural characteristics of the roots, such as the root caps, root border cells, and root hairs. Moreover, the ability to control the microenvironment in each of the five root-growth chambers individually facilitated the investigation of specific adaptations in the fibrous root growth of single O. sativa seedlings to different drought stresses. Accordingly, five polyethylene glycol (PEG)6000-induced drought stress conditions were established in the five root-growth chambers to investigate the root development of a single O. sativa seedling in the central germination chamber. In situ observations demonstrated that the different PEG6000-induced conditions affected the root growth responses and root microstructural adaptations of the single seedlings in each root-growth chamber. Therefore, the petaloid root-growth microfluidic chip can eliminate the effects of variations in different plant seeds to reveal the responses of plants to different environmental conditions more objectively while concurrently allowing for non-destructive observations at very high spatial and temporal resolution.

3D-Printed seed planter and well array for high-throughput seed germination screening.

Seed germination is an important means of evaluating seed quality. In the present study, a well array for a seed germination experiment was designed and fabricated by 3D printing for the first time. Each hollow cone-shaped well can hold one seed, which not only prevented the seed from falling out of the well but also ensured that part of the seed was fully exposed to the sublayer of wet filter paper, allowing it to receive water for germination. Coupled with a 3D-printed seed planter, single seeds can be quickly placed into arrayed wells. Moreover, the number of sprouts could be automatically obtained from image analysis, which greatly improved the efficiency of the entire experiment. In summary, the high-throughput, easy-to-use seed germination well array that we have developed has been shown to have potential applications in botanical seed research and agricultural production.

Cold water swimming pretreatment reduces cognitive deficits in a rat model of traumatic brain injury.

A moderate stress such as cold water swimming can raise the tolerance of the body to potentially injurious events. However, little is known about the mechanism of beneficial effects induced by moderate stress. In this study, we used a classic rat model of traumatic brain injury to test the hypothesis that cold water swimming preconditioning improved the recovery of cognitive functions and explored the mechanisms. Results showed that after traumatic brain injury, pre-conditioned rats (cold water swimming for 3 minutes at 4°C) spent a significantly higher percent of times in the goal quadrant of cold water swim, and escape latencies were shorter than for non-pretreated rats. The number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells was significantly higher in pre-conditioned rats than those without pretreatment at 0, 3, 6 and 24 hours after traumatic brain injury. Immunohistochemical staining and Von Willebrand factor staining demonstrated that the number of CD34+ stem cells and new blood vessels in the injured hippocampus tissue increased significantly in pre-conditioned rats. These data suggest that pretreatment with cold water swimming could promote the proliferation of endothelial progenitor cells and angiogenesis in the peripheral blood and hippocampus. It also ameliorated cognitive deficits caused by experimental traumatic brain injury.

Electrical stimulation improved cognitive deficits associated with traumatic brain injury in rats.

Introduction: Cognitive deficits associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) reduce patient quality of life. However, to date, there have been no effective treatments for TBI-associated cognitive deficits. In this study, we aimed to determine whether electrical stimulation (ES) improves cognitive deficits in TBI rats. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into three groups: the Sham control group, electrical stimulation group (ES group), and No electrical stimulation control group (N-ES group). Following fluid percussion injury, the rats in the ES group received ES treatment for 3 weeks. Potent cognitive function-relevant factors, including the escape latency, time percentage in the goal quadrant, and numbers of CD34+ cells, von Willebrand Factor+ (vWF +) vessels, and circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), were subsequently assessed using the Morris water maze (MWM) test, immunohistochemical staining, and flow cytometry. Results: Compared with the rats in the N-ES group, the rats in the ES group exhibited a shorter escape latency on day 3 (p = .025), day 4 (p = .011), and day 5 (p = .003), as well as a higher time percentage in the goal quadrant (p = .025) in the MWM test. After 3 weeks of ES, there were increased numbers of CD34+ cells (p = .008) and vWF + vessels (p = .000) in the hippocampus of injured brain tissue in the ES group compared with those in the N-ES group. Moreover, ES also significantly increased the number of EPCs in the peripheral blood from days 3 to 21 after TBI in the ES group (p < .05). Conclusions: Taken together, these findings suggest that ES may improve cognitive deficits induced by TBI, and this protective effect may be a result, in part, of enhanced angiogenesis, which may be attributed to the increased mobilization of EPCs in peripheral blood.

Erythropoietin regulates immune/inflammatory reaction and improves neurological function outcomes in traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a leading cause of disability and death among young people in China. Unfortunately, no specific pharmacological agents to block the progression of secondary brain injury have been approved for clinical treatment. Recently, neuroprotective effects of erythropoietin (EPO) have been demonstrated in addition to its principal function in erythropoiesis, and hence it is viewed as a potential drug for TBI. In this study, we have investigated the neuroprotective effects of EPO associated with immune/inflammatory modulation in a mouse experimental TBI model. Methods: EPO (5000 U/kg body weight, i.p.) was injected at 1 hr, 1, 2, and 3 days after TBI, and its effect on cognitive function, brain edema, immune/inflammatory cells including regulatory T cells (Tregs), neutrophils, CD3+ T cells, and microglia, cytokines including interleukin-10 (IL-10), transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were evaluated at different time points after treatment. Results: EPO treatment significantly decreased brain edema and improved cognitive function when compared to Saline-treated mice (p < .05). EPO treatment also significantly increased Tregs level in spleen and injured brain tissue as well as significantly reduced the infiltration and activation of immune/inflammatory cells (neutrophils, CD3+T cells, and microglia) in the injured hemisphere compared to Saline-treated control animals (p < .05). In addition, ELISA analysis demonstrated that EPO treatment increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, but decreased the expression of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1ß and TNF-α in the injured brain tissue (p < .05). Conclusions: These findings suggest that EPO could improve neurological and cognitive functional outcomes as well as regulate immune/inflammatory reaction in TBI.

Individual differences in verbal creative thinking are reflected in the precuneus.

There have been many structural and functional imaging studies of creative thinking, but combining structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigations with respect to creative thinking is still lacking. Thus, the aim of the present study was to explore the associations among inter-individual verbal creative thinking and both regional homogeneity and cortical morphology of the brain surface. We related the local functional homogeneity of spontaneous brain activity to verbal creative thinking and its dimensions--fluency, originality, and flexibility--by examining these inter-individual differences in a large sample of 268 healthy college students. Results revealed that people with high verbal creative ability and high scores for the three dimensions of creativity exhibited lower regional functional homogeneity in the right precuneus. Both cortical volume and thickness of the right precuneus were positively associated with individual verbal creativity and its dimensions. Moreover, originality was negatively correlated with functional homogeneity in the left superior frontal gyrus and positively correlated with functional homogeneity in the right occipito-temporal gyrus. In contrast, flexibility was positively correlated with functional homogeneity in the left superior and middle occipital gyrus. These findings provide additional evidence of a link between verbal creative thinking and brain structure in the right precuneus--a region involved in internally--focused attention and effective semantic retrieval-and further suggest that local functional homogeneity of verbal creative thinking has neurobiological relevance that is likely based on anatomical substrates.

Developing new SSR markers from ESTs of pea (Pisum sativum L.).

The development of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from pea has provided a useful source for mining novel simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. In the present research, in order to find EST-derived SSR markers, 18 552 pea ESTs from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database were downloaded and assembled into 10 086 unigenes. A total of 586 microsatellites in 530 unigenes were identified, indicating that merely 5.25% of sequences contained SSRs. The most abundant SSRs within pea were tri-nucleotide repeat motifs, and among all the tri-nucleotide repeats, the motif GAA was the most abundant type. In total, 49 SSRs were used for primer design. EST-SSR loci were subsequently screened on 10 widely adapted varieties in China. Of these, nine loci showed polymorphic profiles that revealed two to three alleles per locus. The polymorphism information content value ranged from 0.18 to 0.58 with an average of 0.41. Furthermore, transferable analysis revealed that some of these loci showed transferability to faba bean. Because of their polymorphism and transferability, these nine novel EST-SSRs will be valuable tools for marker-assisted breeding and comparative mapping of pea in the future.