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The fungal plant pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and S. trifoliorum are morphologically similar, but differ considerably in host range. In an effort to elucidate mechanisms of the host range difference, transcriptomes of the 2 species at vegetative growth stage were compared to gain further insight into commonality and uniqueness in gene expression and pathogenic mechanisms of the 2 closely related pathogens. A total of 23 133 and 21 043 unique transcripts were obtained from S. sclerotiorum and S. trifoliorum, respectively. Approximately 43% of the transcripts were genes with known functions for both species. Among 1411 orthologous contigs, about 10% (147) were more highly (>3-fold) expressed in S. trifoliorum than in S. sclerotiorum, and about 12% (173) of the orthologs were more highly (>3-fold) expressed in S. sclerotiorum than in S. trifoliorum. The expression levels of genes on the supercontig 30 have the highest correlation coefficient value between the 2 species. Twenty-seven contigs were found to be new and unique for S. trifoliorum. Additionally, differences in expressed genes involved in pathogenesis like oxalate biosynthesis and endopolygalacturonases were detected between the 2 species. The analyses of the transcriptomes not only discovered similarities and uniqueness in gene expression between the 2 closely related species, providing additional information for annotation the S. sclerotiorum genome, but also provided foundation for comparing the transcriptomes with host-infecting transcriptomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Root system architecture is important for water acquisition and nutrient acquisition for all crops. In soybean breeding programs, wild soybean alleles have been used successfully to enhance yield and seed composition traits, but have never been investigated to improve root system architecture. Therefore, in this study, high-density single-feature polymorphic markers and simple sequence repeats were used to map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) governing root system architecture in an inter-specific soybean mapping population developed from a cross between Glycine max and Glycine soja. Results: Wild and cultivated soybean both contributed alleles towards significant additive large effect QTLs on chromosome 6 and 7 for a longer total root length and root distribution, respectively. Epistatic effect QTLs were also identified for taproot length, average diameter, and root distribution. These root traits will influence the water and nutrient uptake in soybean. Two cell division-related genes (D type cyclin and auxin efflux carrier protein) with insertion/ deletion variations might contribute to the shorter root phenotypes observed in G. soja compared with cultivated soybean. Based on the location of the QTLs and sequence information from a second G. soja accession, three genes (slow anion channel associated 1 like, Auxin responsive NEDD8-activating complex and peroxidase), each with a nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism mutation were identified, which may also contribute to changes in root architecture in the cultivated soybean. In addition, Apoptosis inhibitor 5-like on chromosome 7 and slow anion channel associated 1-like on chromosome 15 had epistatic interactions for taproot length QTLs in soybean. Conclusion: Rare alleles from a G. soja accession are expected to enhance our understanding of the genetic components involved in root architecture traits, and could be combined to improve root system and drought adaptation in soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gum arabic (GA) was esterified using octenylsuccinic anhydride (OSA) in an aqueous solution. HPLC was used to analyze the bound OS content (%OS) after esterification, and total OS content (%OStotal) results from HPLC were in agreement with titration results. The effects of temperature, reaction time, pH value, and GA concentration on the %OS value were determined using single factor experiments. Temperature, time, and pH were used for further optimization. Process parameters for preparation of octenylsuccinic anhydride modified gum arabic (OS-GA) were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The theoretical optimum conditions were a temperature of 37.9oC, a reaction time of 116.4 min, and a pH of the reaction system=7.99. Under optimum conditions, the %OS value of OS-GA was 2.07%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  We sequenced five BAC clones of Brassica oleracea doubled haploid ‘Early Big' broccoli containing major genes in the aliphatic glucosinolate pathway, and comparatively analyzed them with similar sequences in A. thaliana and B. rapa. Additionally, we included in the analysis published sequences from three other B. oleracea BAC clones and a contig of this species corresponding to segments in A. thaliana chromosomes IV and V. A total of 2,946 kb of B. oleracea, 1,069 kb of B. rapa sequence and 2,607 kb of A. thaliana sequence were compared and analyzed. We found conserved collinearity for gene order and content restricted to specific chromosomal segments, but breaks in collinearity were frequent resulting in gene absence likely not due to gene loss but rearrangements. B. oleracea has the lowest gene density of the three species, followed by B. rapa. The genome expansion of the Brassica species, B. oleracea in particular, is due to larger introns and gene spacers resulting from frequent insertion of DNA transposons and retrotransposons. These findings are discussed in relation to the possible origin and evolution of the Brassica genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We constructed a 1,257-marker, high-density genetic map of Brassica oleracea spanning 703 cM in nine linkage groups, designated LG1–LG9. It was developed in an F2 segregating population of 143 individuals obtained by crossing double haploid plants of broccoli “Early-Big” and cauliflower “An-Nan Early”. These markers are randomly distributed throughout the map, which includes a total of 1,062 genomic SRAP markers, 155 cDNA SRAP markers, 26 SSR markers, 3 broccoli BAC end sequences and 11 known Brassica genes: BoGSL-ALK, BoGSL-ELONG, BoGSL-PROa, BoGSL-PROb, BoCS-lyase, BoGS-OH, BoCYP79F1, BoS-GT (glucosinolate pathway), BoDM1 (resistance to downy mildew), BoCALa, BoAP1a (inflorescence architecture). BoDM1 and BoGSL-ELONG are linked on LG 2 at 0.8 cM, making it possible to use the glucosinolate gene as a marker for the disease resistance gene. By QTL analysis, we found three segments involved in curd formation in cauliflower. The map was aligned to the C genome linkage groups and chromosomes of B. oleracea and B. napus, and anchored to the physical map of A. thaliana. This map adds over 1,000 new markers to Brassica molecular tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that predominantly affects women. The incidence of breast cancer has risen annually and is increasingly occurring in younger population, posing a significant threat to women’s health. Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer is the most prevalent subtype, accounting for 75% of all cases. Endocrine therapy, particularly with tamoxifen, serves as the primary treatment for these subtypes. However, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of breast cancer, some patients remain at risk for recurrence even after undergoing tamoxifen treatment. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the mechanism of tamoxifen in breast cancer treatment from a single-cell perspective. In comparison to single-cell genomics and single-cell proteomics, single-cell metabolomics can offer a clearer representation of the chemical changes occurring within individual cells by measuring the end products of cellular activity—metabolites. Thus, this approach can provide a more direct reflection of the differences between cells. In this study, single-cell mass cytometry was employed to investigate metabolite alterations in MCF-7 cells upon exposure to tamoxifen, aiming to elucidate its mechanism from a single-cell perspective. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay was utilized to assess the impact of tamoxifen on MCF-7 cell proliferation and established optimal conditions for subsequent therapies involving these cells. The results showed that 576 metabolites under positive ion mode and 480 metabolites under negative ion mode are identified by using single-cell mass cytometry approach. In total, 811 metabolites are detected in MCF-7 cells without tamoxifen treatment compared to 776 metabolites identified following tamoxifen administration. It demonstrated that metabolites observed under negative ion mode effectively distinguish between MCF-7 cells treated with and without tamoxifen. Exposure to tamoxifen can result in upregulation of 28 metabolites and downregulation of 59 metabolites, and these changes predominantly influence metabolic pathways including taurine-hypotaurine metabolism, caffeine metabolism, cysteine-methionine metabolism, glycine-serine-threonine metabolism, purine metabolism, starch-sucrose metabolism, and pyrimidine metabolism. The findings indicated that the intervention of the aforementioned metabolites and metabolic pathways may represent one of the mechanisms through which tamoxifen exerts its effects against estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. This study employed single-cell metabolomics based on mass spectrometry to explore the metabolic alterations in breast cancer cells induced by tamoxifen, which is often overlooked in metabolomics studies based on bulk cells. Furthermore, it elucidates the mechanism of tamoxifen’s action against estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer from a single-cell metabolomic perspective, thereby provides valuable insights for understanding the mechanisms underlying other therapeutic agents.

Excessive nitrogen application may adversely impact grain yield and quality of rice. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of several nitrogen-reduction strategies on the grain yield and quality of mechanically transplanted hybrid indica rice. Field experiments were performed in 2020 and 2021 using Yixiangyou2115 and Fyou498. The research investigated variations in grain yield and quality of rice under different nitrogen-reduction strategies, including NR1, balanced N reduction; NR2, N reduction in basal fertilizer; NR3, N reduction in tillering fertilizer; and NR4, N reduction in earing fertilizer, compared to the conventional nitrogen application for high-yield cultivation (CK). Compared to CK, the grain yield of rice decreased by 1.63% to 19.71% under nitrogen-reduction strategies. Relative to NR3 and NR4, NR1 and NR2 exhibited an increase in grain yield ranging from 1.81% to 22.51%, attributed to increases in panicle number (0.61% to 13.19%) and spikelet number per panicle (1.60% to 12.28%). Meanwhile, NR1 and NR2 also had relatively high LAI and dry matter accumulation in rice plants at maturity. Compared to CK, NR1 and NR2 improved the processing quality of rice grain, while NR3 and NR4 resulted in reduced processing quality. The chalkiness rate and chalkiness degree of rice under the NR1, NR3, and NR4 treatments were reduced by 2.97% to 23.73% and 3.35% to 52.49%, respectively, in comparison to CK. Additionally, the NR1 and NR4 treatments were linked to an increase in taste value by 1.44% to 3.66% and gel consistency by 13.87% to 46.01% relative to CK. These findings suggest that balanced nitrogen reduction can maintain a high yield while improving the appearance and eating quality of mechanically transplanted hybrid indica rice. This study offers a theoretical basis for rational nitrogen reduction and high-quality cultivation in rice.

With the rapid development of quantum technology, the growing manipulated Hilbert space makes learning the dynamics of the quantum system a significant challenge. Machine learning technique has brought apparent advantages in some learning strategies, therefore, we introduce it to indirect learning in this paper. Based on Choi–Jamiolkowski isomorphism, we propose a protocol that learns the dynamics of an inaccessible quantum system using a quantum device at hand. For an n -qubit system, the learning task can be done iteratively, with operational complexity $\mathcal{O}(\text{poly}(n, L)/\epsilon^2)$ in each iteration, where L is the circuit depth and ε is the measurement error. Then we theoretically prove its noise resilience to global depolarization, state preparation and measurement noise, and unitary noise in gates implementation, where we find the learned dynamics stay invariant. Finally, we investigate the protocol experimentally on a nitrogen-vacancy center system with a natural noise source. The results show that the behavior of a relatively intractable nuclear spin can be learned through an easily accessible electron spin under different noise models, demonstrating the protocol’s feasibility.

Objectives To compare the antimicrobial activity of tigecycline and doxycycline against multiple isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi. Methods In vitro antimicrobial assays were carried out using a microdilution assay. The time needed to inhibit, immobilize and kill the B31 strain of B. burgdorferi was determined. The MIC, MBC and concentration needed to immobilize the organism were determined for each antimicrobial for various strains of B. burgdorferi. Results Tigecycline inhibited the growth of and killed the organism more rapidly than doxycycline. Tigecycline was able to kill B. burgdorferi within 24 h at clinically achievable concentrations (Borrelia activity of the antibiotics was tested against 20 different isolates from three species. Tigecycline was 16- to 1000-fold more active than doxycycline at immobilizing Borrelia for the 20 isolates tested. Conclusions We demonstrate that the in vitro activity of tigecycline against B. burgdorferi is superior to that of doxycycline. Tigecycline acted more rapidly and was bactericidal, whereas doxycycline was bacteriostatic and required a more prolonged co-incubation to achieve its maximal inhibitory effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Treatment with the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4i) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DN) has not been well characterized. This study aimed to assess the renoprotection of this combined treatment in DN patients. Methods: A total of 159 type 2 DN patients from 2013 to 2015 were enrolled retrospectively from a prospective DN cohort at the National Clinical Research Center of Kidney Diseases, Jinling Hospital (China). Fifty-seven patients received DPP4i and ARB treatment, and 102 patients were treated with ARBs alone. All patients were followed up for at least 12 months. Statistical analyses were performed using Stata version 12.0. Results: There were no significant differences at baseline for age, sex, body mass index, duration of diabetes, fasting blood glucose (FBG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) between the two groups. Antihypertensive and antidiabetic medication use was similar in each group except calcium channel antagonists (P = 0.032). No significant changes in FBG and HbA1c were observed in the two groups after treatment. The eGFR decreased slower in the DPP4i + ARB group than in the ARB group at 12 months (Δ12 months: −2.48 ± 13.86 vs. −6.81 ± 12.52 ml·min–1·1.73m–2, P = 0.044). In addition, proteinuria was decreased further in the DPP4i + ARB group than in the ARB group after 24 months of treatment (Δ24 months: −0.18 [−1.00, 0.17] vs. 0.32 [−0.35, 0.88], P = 0.031). There were 36 patients with an eGFR decrease of more than 30% over 24 months. After adjusting for FBG, HbA1c, and other risk factors, DPP4i + ARB treatment was still associated with a reduced incidence of an eGFR decrease of 20% or 30%. Conclusions: The combined treatment of DPP4i and ARBs is superior to ARBs alone, as evidenced by the greater proteinuria reduction and lower eGFR decline. In addition, the renoprotection of DPP4i combined with ARBs was independent of glycemic control.

The novel coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) has been affecting global health since the end of 2019, and there is no sign that the epidemic is abating. Targeting the interaction between the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor is a promising therapeutic strategy. In this study, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used as the primary method to screen a library of 960 compounds. A compound 02B05 (demethylzeylasteral, CAS number: 107316-88-1) that had high affinities for S-RBD and ACE2 was discovered, and binding affinities (KD, μM) of 02B05-ACE2 and 02B05-S-RBD were 1.736 and 1.039 μM, respectively. The results of a competition experiment showed that 02B05 could effectively block the binding of S-RBD to ACE2 protein. Furthermore, pseudovirus infection assay revealed that 02B05 could inhibit entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus into 293T cells to a certain extent at nontoxic concentration. The compoundobtained in this study serve as references for the design of drugs which have potential in the treatment of COVID-19 and can thus accelerate the process of developing effective drugs to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The cereal cyst nematode (CCN) has a significant negative impact on production of wheat in China. The presence of pathotypes of both Heterodera avenae and H. filipjevi makes it necessary to identify genetic resources with a wide spectrum of resistance. Results of this study confirmed that the soft white winter wheat 'Madsen' was resistant to many different populations of both H. filipjevi and H. avenae in both naturally infested fields and artificial inoculation tests in China. Fewer juvenile nematodes penetrated roots of Madsen than susceptible 'Wenmai 19' in the early stages of the interaction between the nematodes and plant. Testing wheat cultivars in the pedigree of Madsen demonstrated that the CCN resistance of Madsen was inherited from 'VPMF via the line 'VPMl/Moisson 951'. Presence of a 2NS chromosome segment from Aegilops ventricosa was detected in Madsen using a VrgalD-specific marker. However, it appears that gene Pm4b for resistance to powdery mildew (caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) was not transferred from VPM1 into Madsen because these cultivars had different reaction patterns against 20 B. graminis f. sp. tritici isolates from China. Madsen serves as an effective source of host resistance from damage caused by CCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungal plant pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and S. trifoliorum are morphologically similar, but differ considerably in host range. In an effort to elucidate mechanisms of the host range difference, transcriptomes of the 2 species at vegetative growth stage were compared to gain further insight into commonality and uniqueness in gene expression and pathogenic mechanisms of the 2 closely related pathogens. A total of 23133 and 21043 unique transcripts were obtained from S. sclerotiorum and S. trifoliorum, respectively. Approximately 43% of the transcripts were genes with known functions for both species. Among 1411 orthologous contigs, about 10% (147) were more highly (>3-fold) expressed in S. trifoliorum than in S. sclerotiorum, and about 12% (173) of the orthologs were more highly (>3-fold) expressed in S. sclerotiorum than in S. trifoliorum. The expression levels of genes on the supercontig 30 have the highest correlation coefficient value between the 2 species. Twenty-seven contigs were found to be new and unique for S. trifoliorum. Additionally, differences in expressed genes involved in pathogenesis like oxalate biosynthesis and endopolygalacturonases were detected between the 2 species. The analyses of the transcriptomes not only discovered similarities and uniqueness in gene expression between the 2 closely related species, providing additional information for annotation the S. sclerotiorum genome, but also provided foundation for comparing the transcriptomes with host-infecting transcriptomes., (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Genetic Association 2015. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.)

Objective: To observe the exercise single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging of patients with myocardial bridge and assess the association between myocardial ischemia and extent of myocardial systolic compression., Methods: Seventeen patients with myocardial bridge diagnosed by coronary angiogram were included and underwent exercise SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging., Results: Abnormal SPECT perfusion imaging was evidenced in 12 out of 17 patients with myocardial bridge (2 out of 6 patients with systolic compression induced stenosis < 50%, 3 out of 4 patients with systolic compression induced stenosis between 50% - 75% and 7 out of 7 patients with the systolic compression induced stenosis between 75% - 100%)., Conclusion: Exercise stress SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging could detect myocardial ischemia in patients with myocardial bridge and abnormal perfusion is positively related to the extent of systolic compression induced stenosis.

In mouse, matured oocytes are arrested at metaphase- (M) after ovulation. If the M oocytes are not fertilized on time, they will increasingly become aged in the oviduct. The aging of oocytes can lead to abnormal development of embryos. So it is important to study the mechanism of oocyte aging. Herein, we studied the change of oocyte chromosome after ovulation into the oviduct in vivo. Results indicated that 65% of old oocytes (34 h post hCG) showed aberrant MII, with chromosome misalignment and dispersal, in contrast to the young oocytes (14 h post hCG). In addition, chromosome changes may be associated with the increase of acetylation of histone 3 and histone 4, at lysine 14 and lysine 16 (H3K14 and H4K16), respectively. On the other hand, the decrease of methylation of histone 3 at lysine 9 (H3K9) presumably facilitated aberrant chromosome formation.