Search

Sugar efflux transporters are essential for the maintenance of animal blood glucose levels, plant nectar production, and plant seed and pollen development. Despite broad biological importance, the identity of sugar efflux transporters has remained elusive. Using optical glucose sensors, we identified a new class of sugar transporters, named SWEETs, and show that at least six out of seventeen Arabidopsis, two out of over twenty rice and two out of seven homologues in Caenorhabditis elegans, and the single copy human protein, mediate glucose transport. Arabidopsis SWEET8 is essential for pollen viability, and the rice homologues SWEET11 and SWEET14 are specifically exploited by bacterial pathogens for virulence by means of direct binding of a bacterial effector to the SWEET promoter. Bacterial symbionts and fungal and bacterial pathogens induce the expression of different SWEET genes, indicating that the sugar efflux function of SWEET transporters is probably targeted by pathogens and symbionts for nutritional gain. The metazoan homologues may be involved in sugar efflux from intestinal, liver, epididymis and mammary cells., The molecular nature of cellular sugar efflux in both plants and animals is unknown despite the fact that sugar efflux is an essential component for cellular exchange of carbon and [...]

Background: Viola philippica Cav. is the only source plant of "Zi Hua Di Ding", which is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that is utilized as an antifebrile and detoxicant agent for the treatment of acute pyogenic infections. Historically, many Viola species with violet flowers have been misused in "Zi Hua Di Ding". Viola have been recognized as a taxonomically difficult genera due to their highly similar morphological characteristics. Here, all common V. philippica adulterants were sampled. A total of 24 complete chloroplast (cp) genomes were analyzed, among these 5 cp genome sequences were downloaded from GenBank and 19 cp genomes, including 2 "Zi Hua Di Ding" purchased from a local TCM pharmacy, were newly sequenced. Results: The Viola cp genomes ranged from 156,483 bp to 158,940 bp in length. A total of 110 unique genes were annotated, including 76 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and four rRNAs. Sequence divergence analysis screening identified 16 highly diverged sequences; these could be used as markers for the identification of Viola species. The morphological, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference trees of whole cp genome sequences and highly diverged sequences were divided into five monophyletic clades. The species in each of the five clades were identical in their positions within the morphological and cp genome tree. The shared morphological characters belonging to each clade was summarized. Interestingly, unique variable sites were found in ndhF, rpl22, and ycf1 of V. philippica, and these sites can be selected to distinguish V. philippica from samples all other Viola species, including its most closely related species. In addition, important morphological characteristics were proposed to assist the identification of V. philippica. We applied these methods to examine 2 "Zi Hua Di Ding" randomly purchased from the local TCM pharmacy, and this analysis revealed that the morphological and molecular characteristics were valid for the identification of V. philippica. Conclusions: This study provides invaluable data for the improvement of species identification and germplasm of V. philippica that may facilitate the application of a super-barcode in TCM identification and enable future studies on phylogenetic evolution and safe medical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion has been increasingly recognised as a global common goal in education. In China, inclusive education for children with special educational needs and disabilities is currently practised as 'Learning in Regular Classrooms' (LRC). However, not only has the inclusion policy frequently been criticised as failing to provide clear, systematic, or consistent strategies, but also the actual practices of LRC have also been found to merely concern children's physical integration into the mainstream settings. This discussion paper explores key structural barriers to inclusive education through reviewing policies within the wider education ecosystem that are relevant to the theme of inclusion but outside the LRC policy itself. The analysis illustrates how the complex and interlocked structural barriers embedded within the wider context of current education policies pose persisting constraints for inclusion to progress in China, and how these structural barriers unique to the Chinese education system also reflect the common 'wicked problems' for practising inclusive education globally. The paper discusses five main education structures: neo-liberal education policies, national college entrance examination system, teacher evaluation system, staffing quota system and the 'combine medicine and education' policy. The conclusion illustrates the complexity and main issues facing future inclusion policy reforms and highlights key objectives for policy change. It indicates that, for inclusion reforms to be effective, broader changes are needed within the wider education ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly identified parvovirus, human bocavirus (HBoV), was found in 21 (8.3%) of 252 nasopharyngeal aspirates from hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infection in Hunan Province, People's Republic of [...]