The timing of the fruit-set stage (i.e., start and end of fruit set) is crucial in a plant's life cycle, but its response to temperature change is still unclear. We investigated the timing of seven ...phenological events, including fruit-set dates during 3 yr for six alpine plants transplanted to warmer (approximately +3.5 °C in soils) and cooler (approximately -3.5 °C in soils) locations along an altitudinal gradient in the Tibetan area. We found that fruit-set dates remained relatively stable under both warming and cooling during the 3-yr transplant experiment. Three earlier phenological events (emergence of first leaf, first bud set, and first flowering) and two later phenological events (first leaf coloring and complete leaf coloring) were earlier by 4.8-8.2 d/°C and later by 3.2-7.1 d/°C in response to warming. Conversely, cooling delayed the three earlier events by 3.8-6.9 d/°C and advanced the two later events by 3.2-8.1 d/°C for all plant species. The timing of the first and/or last fruit-set dates, however, did not change significantly compared to earlier and later phenological events. Statistical analyses also showed that the dates of fruit set were not significantly correlated or had lower correlations with changes of soil temperature relative to the earlier and later phenological events. Alpine plants may thus acclimate to changes in temperature for their fruiting function by maintaining relatively stable timings of fruit set compared with other phenological events to maximize the success of seed maturation and dispersal in response to short-term warming or cooling.
Bacterial endosymbionts play important roles in the life histories of herbivorous insects by impacting their development, survival, reproduction, and stress tolerance. How endosymbionts may affect ...the interactions between plants and insect herbivores is still largely unclear. Here, we show that endosymbiotic
can provide mutual benefits also outside of their hosts when the sap-sucking whitefly
transmits them to plants. This transmission facilitates the spread of
but is shown to also enhance the performance of the whitefly and co-infesting caterpillars. In contrast,
infection enhanced plant resistance to several pathogens. Inside the plants,
triggers the expression of salicylic acid-related genes and the two pathogen-resistance genes
and
, whereas they repressed genes of the jasmonic acid pathway. Performance experiments using wild type and mutant tomato plants confirmed that
enhances the plants' suitability for insect herbivores but makes them more resistant to fungal and viral pathogens. Our results imply that endosymbiotic
of phloem-feeding insects affects plant defenses in a manner that facilitates their spread and transmission. This novel insight into how insects can exploit endosymbionts to manipulate plant defenses also opens possibilities to interfere with their ability to do so as a crop protection strategy.
Most insects are associated with symbiotic bacteria in nature. These symbionts play important roles in the life histories of herbivorous insects by impacting their development, survival, reproduction as well as stress tolerance.
is one important symbiont to the agricultural pest whitefly
. Here, for the first time, we revealed that the persistence of
symbionts in tomato leaves significantly changed the defense pattern of tomato plants. These changes benefit both sap-feeding and leaf-chewing herbivore insects, such as increasing the fecundity of whitefly adults, enhancing the growth and development of the noctuid
, but reducing the pathogenicity of
fungi and TYLCV virus to tomato plants distinctively. Our study unraveled a new horizon for the multiple interaction theories among plant-insect-bacterial symbionts.
Nematodes of the genus Anisakis parasitize many commercial fish species and are responsible for a fish-borne zoonosis (anisakiasis) and allergic reactions. Anisakis can also cause consumer distrust ...in fishery products and economic losses to the fish industry.
We review current socioeconomic, legislative, risk management and human health problems caused by the occurrence of Anisakis in fishery products and discuss possible strategies to mitigate them.
Visual inspection (and candling) of fishery products as required by EU legislation is not efficient for parasite detection. Consequently, visible (and non-visible) Anisakis reach the market and may be detected (and eaten) by consumers. Marine fish appears to be the only industrial food product that is at high risk of containing parasites when placed on the market.
Anisakiasis and allergy to Anisakis are hidden, underestimated emerging zoonoses worldwide. There is a need to better understand the impact of these zoonoses on individual health and particularly exposed human populations, and to assess the risk posed by Anisakis allergens in fishery products. Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) is identified as an appropriate methodology as it estimates the risk from fishing ground to human disease.
Improvements in parasite control legislation and procedures (e.g. establishment of research-based and standardized parasite detection methodologies, appropriate sampling strategies, development of non-destructive methods for detection and removal of nematodes from fish products), suitable for use by seafood businesses, are recommended to improve protection of consumers and to protect the industry by minimizing Anisakis-associated economic losses. QRA may help to provide the scientific basis for improved food safety legislation and strategies to reduce the risk of anisakiasis/allergy in humans.
•Anisakid control measures implemented by seafood businesses are not efficient.•Visible Anisakis reach the fish market and may be detected and eaten by consumers.•The health risk posed by Anisakis allergens in fish products needs to be assessed.•We need to better understand the impacts of anisakiasis and Anisakis allergy.•Improved food safety legislation and procedures are needed; QRA methods may help.
We introduce two novel methods for multivariate genome-wide-association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of related traits that correct for sample overlap. A broad range of simulation scenarios supports the ...added value of our multivariate methods relative to univariate GWAMA. We applied the novel methods to life satisfaction, positive affect, neuroticism, and depressive symptoms, collectively referred to as the well-being spectrum (N
= 2,370,390), and found 304 significant independent signals. Our multivariate approaches resulted in a 26% increase in the number of independent signals relative to the four univariate GWAMAs and in an ~57% increase in the predictive power of polygenic risk scores. Supporting transcriptome- and methylome-wide analyses (TWAS and MWAS, respectively) uncovered an additional 17 and 75 independent loci, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses, based on gene expression in brain tissues and cells, showed that genes differentially expressed in the subiculum and GABAergic interneurons are enriched in their effect on the well-being spectrum.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of disorders that are characterized by chronic, uncontrolled inflammation in the intestinal mucosa. Although the aetiopathogenesis is poorly understood, it ...is widely believed that IBD stems from a dysregulated immune response towards otherwise harmless commensal bacteria. Chemokines induce and enhance inflammation through their involvement in cellular trafficking. Reducing or limiting the influx of these proinflammatory cells has previously been demonstrated to attenuate inflammation. CXCR3, a chemokine receptor in the CXC family that binds to CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11, is strongly overexpressed in the intestinal mucosa of IBD patients. We hypothesised that CXCR3 KO mice would have impaired cellular trafficking, thereby reducing the inflammatory insult by proinflammatory cell and attenuating the course of colitis. To investigate the role of CXCR3 in the progression of colitis, the development of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis was investigated in CXCR3-/- mice over 9 days. This study demonstrated attenuated DSS-induced colitis in CXCR3-/- mice at both the macroscopic and microscopic level. Reduced colitis correlated with lower recruitment of neutrophils (p = 0.0018), as well as decreased production of IL-6 (p<0.0001), TNF (p = 0.0038), and IFN-γ (p = 0.0478). Overall, our results suggest that CXCR3 plays an important role in recruiting proinflammatory cells to the colon during colitis and that CXCR3 may be a therapeutic target to reduce the influx of proinflammatory cells in the inflamed colon.
Background
Angiogenesis is a critical biological process essential for solid cancer growth and metastasis. It has been shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in a variety of biological ...processes in cancers. However, whether miR-130b is involved in prostate cancer angiogenesis remains ill-defined.
Methods
We performed the miRNA microarray to analyze miRNA expression in human prostate cancer specimens. In vitro gain-of-function assays and loss-of-function assays were conducted to explore the potential functions of miR-130b in human prostate cancer cells. Correlation analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay were performed to validate whether tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was a direct target of miR-130b. The Matrigel plug and tumor vascular imaging assays were performed to confirm the anti-angiogenic activity of miR-130b in nude mice.
Results
We found that miR-130b was one of the miRNAs being most significantly downregulated. Subsequently, we found that miR-130b expression was markedly downregulated in human prostate cancer cell lines. Down-regulation of miR-130b in prostate cancer cells significantly promoted the proliferation, invasion and tubule formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), while ectopic expression of miR-130b blocked prostate cancer angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic analyses indicated that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was regulated by miR-130b directly. MiR-130b attenuated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling and its downstream gene vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) by directly inhibiting TNF-α expression. Additionally, subsequent investigations identified that the ectopic level of VEGFA markedly abrogated the anti-angiogenic effect induced by miR-130b. Interestingly, VEGFA could in turn decrease the expression of miR-130b, thus forming a negative feedback loop that drives the angiogenesis of prostate cancer.
Conclusion
These findings show that miR-130b/TNF-α/NF-κB/VEGFA feedback loop is significantly correlated with angiogenesis in prostate cancer and miR-130b could be regarded as potential therapeutic target for prostate cancer anti-angiogenesis treatment.
ABSTRACT
We report the results of long-term reverberation mapping campaigns of the nearby active galactic nuclei (AGNs) NGC 4151, spanning from 1994 to 2022, based on archived observations of the ...FAST Spectrograph Publicly Archived Programs and our new observations with the 2.3 m telescope at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory. We reduce and calibrate all the spectra in a consistent way, and derive light curves of the broad H β line and 5100 Å continuum. Continuum light curves are also constructed using public archival photometric data to increase sampling cadences. We subtract the host galaxy contamination using Hubble Space Telescope imaging to correct fluxes of the calibrated light curves. Utilizing the long-term archival photometric data, we complete the absolute flux-calibration of the AGN continuum. We find that the H β time delays are correlated with the 5100 Å luminosities as $\tau _{\rm H\beta }\propto L_{5100}^{0.46\pm 0.16}$. This is remarkably consistent with Bentz et al. (2013)’s global size–luminosity relationship of AGNs. Moreover, the data sets for five of the seasons allow us to obtain the velocity-resolved delays of the H β line, showing diverse structures (outflows, inflows, and discs). Combining our results with previous independent measurements, we find the measured dynamics of the H β broad-line region (BLR) are possibly related to the long-term trend of the luminosity. There is also a possible additional ∼1.86 yr time lag between the variation in BLR radius and luminosity. These results suggest that dynamical changes in the BLR may be driven by the effects of radiation pressure.
Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is an abundant membrane lipid component in most eukaryotes, including yeast, and has been assigned multiple functions in addition to acting as building block of the lipid ...bilayer. Here, by isolating S. cerevisiae suppressor mutants that exhibit robust growth in the absence of PC, we show that PC essentiality is subject to cellular evolvability in yeast. The requirement for PC is suppressed by monosomy of chromosome XV or by a point mutation in the ACC1 gene encoding acetyl‐CoA carboxylase. Although these two genetic adaptations rewire lipid biosynthesis in different ways, both decrease Acc1 activity, thereby reducing average acyl chain length. Consistently, soraphen A, a specific inhibitor of Acc1, rescues a yeast mutant with deficient PC synthesis. In the aneuploid suppressor, feedback inhibition of Acc1 through acyl‐CoA produced by fatty acid synthase (FAS) results from upregulation of lipid synthesis. The results show that budding yeast regulates acyl chain length by fine‐tuning the activities of Acc1 and FAS and indicate that PC evolved by benefitting the maintenance of membrane fluidity.
SYNOPSIS
Saccharomyces cerevisiae suppressor mutants overcoming choline auxotrophy allow growth in the absence of the major membrane lipid phosphatidylcholine (PC). This study reveals that the interplay between acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (Acc1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), which regulates lipid acyl chain length, renders PC redundant in such mutant.
Most PC‐free choline auxotrophy suppressors are 2n‐1 aneuploids lacking one copy of chromosome XV.
Rare diploid suppressor strains contain a homozygous point mutation in the ACC1 gene encoding acetyl‐CoA carboxylase.
Aneuploid suppressors rely on feed‐back inhibition of Acc1 by FAS‐derived acyl‐CoA, resulting from up‐regulation of lipid synthesis.
Inhibition of Acc1 activity is crucial for suppression by reducing average lipid acyl chain length to maintain membrane fluidity.
The interplay between acetyl‐CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase regulates lipid acyl chain length, and renders phosphatidylcholine redundant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Carbon nanotube reinforced aluminum matrix (CNT/Al) composites with various microstructures were fabricated by powder metallurgy via introducing nano-sized and micron-sized Ti powders into the CNT-Al ...system. The size-dependent effects of Ti powders on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were further investigated. The results reveal that the best enhancement (∼51% of UTS) was obtained by adding 80 nm sized Ti powders into the CNT/Al composite compared with the composite without Ti addition, which mainly derives from the synergistic strengthening of the homogenously dispersed CNTs, a large quantity of in-situ formed nano-sized TiAl3 particles and fine grains. Meanwhile, it is also noted that the addition of micron-sized Ti powders can help the CNT dispersion in powder fabrication stage, and subsequently in-situ formed core-shell structured particles with different interface reaction degree in the Al matrix. Among them, 1 μm was determined to be the optimal size of Ti for the maximum formation of core-shell structured particles, which best exploits the load transfer ability of TiAl3 shell layers at their interfaces, and finally attributes to significant strength enhancement (∼35% of UTS). This research provides a valuable reference concerning the size effects of addition metal in future fabrication of CNTs reinforced metal matrix composites with alternative microstructure.
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•(CNT-Ti)/Al composites with alternative microstructure were fabricated.•CNT/Al-80 nm Ti composites were strengthened by fine grains, CNTs and in-situ formed TiAl3 particles.•Best enhancement effect and balanced ductility were achieved in the CNT/Al-80 nm Ti composites.•Decrease the size of Ti powders can significantly benefit their enhance effect in CNT/Al composites.
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