Endo-1,4-beta-glucanase (EG) is involved in the metabolism of plant cell wall, and plays important roles in the growth and development of plants. EG is closely associated with cell elongation, fruit ...ripening, and tissue abscission. Here, two EG genes were cloned from Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd. cv. Chili, and their expression patterns were analyzed in fruit of Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd. cv. Chili and fruit of Pyrus pyrifolia Rehd. cv. Whangkeumbae. The two pear varieties showed different softening behaviors, 'Chili' maintained a stable firmness during the storage time, while the firmness of 'Whangkeumbae' decreased during the storage. The functions of two EG genes were discussed in the ripening and softening processes. During the 0°C storage period of 'Chili' pears, PbEG3 and PbEG4 expression levels both showed a downward trend. The expression levels of both the genes were high during the early harvest period (0 days), and declined rapidly thereafter. Treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) inhibited PbEG3 expression, but had no significant effect on PbEG4. During the 0°C storage period of 'Whangkeumbae' pears, the expression of PbEG3 first increased, peaked at the 60 th day of storage, declining gradually thereafter until 120 d of storage. In contrast, PbEG4 gene expression displayed decreasing trend at first and increased thereafter. The different expression patterns of the PbEG3 and PbEG4 genes in 'Chili' pears and 'Whangkeumbae' pears showed that PbEG3 might be involved in ripening and softening, and the expression of the two genes are different in different cultivars.
Although extensive studies have demonstrated that many drought-responsive genes confer drought tolerance to plants, comparisons of the drought tolerance capabilities conferred by different genes ...under various natural conditions have seldom been reported. We evaluated and compared the effects of two sets of transgenes, the drought-responsive genes (AtDREB1B and AtCBL1) and the root architecture-regulated genes (iaaM and AtCKX), on drought tolerance in Nicotiana tabacum plants subjected to different conditions. The expression of AtCKX3 driven by a root-specific promoter PYK10 (designated hereafter as P10; P10:AtCKX3), 35S:AtCKX3, or P10:iaaM promoted root growth and development. Compared to plants harboring P10:AtCKX3, 35S:AtCKX3, P10:iaaM, or the empty vector, those carrying 35S:AtDREB1B, 35S:AtCBL1, or 35S:iaaM exhibited increased drought tolerance under laboratory-controlled conditions. Conversely, in field conditions, plants transformed with 35S:AtDREB1, 35S:AtCBL1, or 35S:iaaM were sensitive to drought stress. Under field conditions, drought stress dramatically reduced the growth and seed production of plants harboring 35S:AtDREB1B, 35S:AtCBL1, 35S:iaaM, or the empty vector, whereas it had little effect on plants carrying P10:AtCKX3, 35S:AtCKX3, or P10:iaaM. This study demonstrates that a plant’s tolerance to drought stress changes with environmental conditions, and our results indicates that manipulating the expression of genes that control root architecture may be important for engineering plants with improved drought tolerance in natural conditions.
It is of great fundamental significance and practical application to understand the binding sites and dynamic process of the interaction between doxorubicin (DOX) and DNA molecules. Based on the ...Confocal Raman spectroscopy, the interaction between DOX and calf thymus DNA has been systemically investigated, and some meaningful findings have been found. DOX molecules can not only interact with all four bases of DNA molecules, i.e., adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine, and phosphate, but also affect the DNA conformation. Meanwhile, the binding site of DOX and its derivatives such as daunorubicin and epirubicin is certain. Furthermore, the interaction between DOX and DNA molecules is a dynamic process since the intensities of each characteristic peaks of the base, e.g., adenine, cytosine, and phosphate, are all regularly changed with the interaction time. Finally, a dynamic mechanism model of the interaction between DOX and DNA molecules is proposed; that is, there are two kinds of interaction between DOX and DNA molecules: DOX-DNA acts to form a complex, and DOX-DOX acts to form a multimer. The two effects are competitive, as the former compresses DNA molecules, and the latter decompresses these DNA molecules. This work is helpful for accurately understanding and developing new drugs and pathways to improve and treat DOX-induced cytotoxicity and cardiotoxicity.
•The dynamic changes of HBV RNA, the correlation of HBV RNA with cccDNA, and the performance of HBV RNA combined with known HBV markers in predicting HBeAg seroconversion during entecavir treatment ...were analyzed in the same cohort.•The serum HBV RNA was positively correlated with cccDNA among all patients at baseline, but the correlation disappeared in the HBeAg seroconversion group at week 48.•The combination of HBV RNA and HBeAg at week 24 was a powerful predictor of HBeAg seroconversion in HBeAg positive patients with 144-week entecavir treatment.
In some previous studies, serum hepatitis B virus RNA (HBV RNA) was proposed as an HBV viral marker during therapy. However, the dynamic change of HBV RNA, the correlation of HBV RNA with cccDNA, and the combination of HBV RNA with known HBV markers in predicting entecavir (ETV) treatment outcome in the same cohort are rarely reported.
A total of 111 HBeAg-positive patients were enrolled in our study. The dynamic changes of serum HBV RNA and the correlation of HBV RNA with other HBV markers were investigated in the early treatment period of 144-week ETV treatment. Intrahepatic cccDNA was detected at baseline and week 48. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to identify HBV RNA levels associated with HBeAg seroconversion.
The serum HBV RNA levels decreased more rapidly in patients with HBeAg seroconversion than those without HBeAg seroconversion. The levels of HBV RNA decreased slower compared with the serum HBV DNA, irrespective of whether the patients achieved HBeAg seroconversion or not. Although the serum HBV RNA was positively correlated with cccDNA at baseline among all patients, no significant correlation was observed in the patients with HBeAg seroconversion at week 48 (r=0.094, P=0.588). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of HBV RNA and HBeAg at week 24 was 0.754 and 0.800, respectively. The AUROC of the HBV RNA and HBeAg combination had a higher value (AUROC=0.821).
The level of HBV RNA at week 24 was a powerful predictor of HBeAg seroconversion in HBeAg-positive patients after 144-week ETV treatment, while the combination of HBV RNA and HBeAg was superior to HBV RNA alone in predicting HBeAg seroconversion.
Highlights • FDG PET is more sensitive compared with FLT for detecting small and early staged lung cancers. • FLT can reduce false positives of FDG for inflammation-based lesions such as ...tuberculosis. • FLT shows comparable accuracies for diagnoses of late stage tumors and larger pulmonary lesions.
To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of bazedoxifene, the third-generation selective ER modulator (SERM), on endometriosis lesions in a rat model.
Endometriosis was induced by transplanting ...pieces of endometrium from other syngeneic rats that were as donors onto the subcutaneous of other unmated female rats. The rats with successful ectopic implants were divided into two groups: control group (n=10) and bazedoxifene group (n=10). The macroscopic morphology, volume, histopathology of ectopic implant and rats uterine wet weight were determined before and after the treatment. Expression of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), ER and PR in the eutopic endometrium and endometriosis lesions detected by immunohistochemistry in the two groups.
(1) The gross morphology and histological changes of endometriosis lesions in rats after treatment: compared with the control group, it was obviously depauperated and had more less glands and blood vessels in the stroma. (2) The change of rats' weight, the volume of e
Geological environments of rock mass projects are always very complicated, and further investigations on rock mechanical characteristics are needed. There are considerable distinctions in rock ...mechanical characteristics under unloading and loading conditions. A series of tests are conducted to study the stress-strain relationship of rock masses under loading and unloading conditions. Also, the anisotropy, the size effect, and the rheological property of unloading rock mass are investigated. The tests presented in the paper include model test and granite rheological test, which are conducted considering geological condition, rock mass structure, in-situ stress field of the permanent shiplock of the Three Gorges Project. The main differences between loading and unloading rock masses are stress paths, yield criteria, deformation and strength parameters, etc.. Different structural plane directions affect unloading rock mass evidently. With increasing size, the tensile strength, the compressive strength, the deformation modulus, the Poisson’s ratio and the anisotropy of rock mass all decrease. For sandstone samples with parallel bedding planes, the cohesion c increases but the internal friction angle φ decreases under unloading condition when compared with the values under loading condition. While for samples with vertical bedding planes, the trend is adverse. The rheological property of rocks has close relationship with the tensile stresses of rock masses. When the sandstone samples are tested under high stress condition, their rheological properties are very obvious with the unloading of confining pressure, and three typical rheological stages are shown. Rheological rate changes with the variations in axial stress and confining pressure.
Since it was first proposed, the new method of power demand forecasting using a stochastic model has been greatly talked about in the scientific community and increasing number of practical ...applications are being developed, since it is a simple and effective approach to forecast power demand within a small time interval. However, the relevant literature still assumes that all statistic parameters can be estimated perfectly and this assumption might not always be applicable. In this paper, we propose to use a shift register array to estimate these parameters. Using analysis techniques and factoring the length of the array we can then increase the precision in the estimated results. The precision of these results was proven using simulations, the results of which have also been documented here.
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