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Leonurus japonicusHoutt. is an important medicinal plant in East Asia and is now widely recognized for its role in treating cerebral apoplexy and lowering blood lipids. Here, we report two sets of chromosome-level genome sequences for leonurine-producingLeonurus japonicusand for its closely related species leonurine-freeLeonurus sibiricus, where 99.78% of 518.19 Mb ofL. japonicuswas assembled into ten pseudochromosomes with a contig N50 of 17.62 Mb and 99.33% of 472.29 Mb ofL. sibiricuswas assembled into nine pseudochromosomes with a contig N50 of 13.29 MB. The reference genomes ofLeonuruswill accelerate the decoding of novel bioactive molecules in medicinal plants, especially in the Lamiaceae family.

IntroductionLow back pain (LBP) is the most prevalent form of chronic pain in active-duty military personnel worldwide. Electroacupuncture (EA) and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) are the two most widely used treatment methods in the military, while evidence for their benefits is lacking. The aim of this randomized clinical trial is to investigate the effectiveness of EA vs. NMES in reducing pain intensity among active-duty navy personals with chronic LBP.MethodsThe study is designed as a single-center, randomized controlled trial. The primary outcome is a positive categorical response for treatment success in the first-time follow-up, which is predesignated as a two-point or greater decrease in the NRS score and combined with a score > 3 on the treatment satisfaction scale. The secondary outcomes include pain intensity, rate of treatment success, and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire (FABQ) score along with muscular performance. The first follow-up starts on the first day after completing the last treatment session, and then the 4-weeks and 12-weeks follow-up are applied via telephone visit.ResultsEighty-five subjects complete the treatment diagram and are included in the analysis. For the primary outcome, no difference has been found between EA and NMES, with 65.1% (28 in 43) individuals reporting a positive response to EA treatment, while 53.5% (23 in 43) in NMES. However, for longer follow-ups, superiority in positive response of EA has been found in 4-weeks (26 in 39, 66.7% vs. 16 in 40, 40%; P = 0.018) and 12-weeks (24 in 36, 66.7% vs. 12 in 36, 33.3%; P = 0.005) follow-up. In the regression analysis, baseline pain intensity and FABQ score are identified to be highly associated with positive treatment outcomes. Finally, the subgroup analysis suggests that EA treatment is associated with better long-term outcomes in patients with LBP with a severe pain score (NRS score >4, Figure 4B) and stronger fear-avoidance beliefs.ConclusionBoth the EA and NMES are associated with a positive response in treating military LBP, and the former offers lasting benefits in the later follow-ups. Thus, electroacupuncture is a more recommended treatment for military LBP. A lot of research is needed to verify an efficient and standardized treatment session, with more information and evidence about indications for these treatments.Trial registrationChiCTR, (ChiCTR2100043726); registered February 27, 2021.

Background: The shape, color, and size of petals or tepals are vital attributes of flowering plants, as they affect the pollinator attraction ability, environmental stress adaptation, and ornamental value of plants. Compared with rose, chrysanthemum, and water lily, the tepal shapes of lotus (Nelumbo Adans.) exhibit low variation, and the absence of short-broad and long-narrow tepals limits the commercial value of lotus flowers. Therefore, this study aimed to uncover the genomic variation underlying the broad and narrow tepal phenotypes of lotus flowers, and to screen candidate genes associated with different tepal shapes.Results: Whole genome resequencing of two groups of lotus, NL (comprising three American lotus genotypes: broad tepal mutant, narrow tepal mutant, and wild type) and WSH (comprising two Asian lotus genotypes: narrow tepal mutant and wild type), generated 9.23–12.85 Gb clean data. A total of 716,656 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 221,688 insertion-deletion mutations (Indels) were obtained in the NL group, while 639,953 SNPs and 134,6118 Indels were obtained in the WSH group. Only a small proportion of these SNPs and Indels was mapped to exonic regions of genome: 1.92% and 0.47%, respectively, in the NL group, and 1.66% and 0.48%, respectively, in the WSH group. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that out of 4,890 (NL group) and 1,272 (WSH group) annotated variant genes, 125 and 62 genes were enriched (Q < 0.05), respectively. Additionally, in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database, 104 genes (NL group) and 35 genes (WSH group) were selected (P < 0.05). Finally, 41 genes were filtered and predicted to be associated with tepal shape in lotus.Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive report of genomic variation controlling tepal shape in lotus. Significant genetic variation was detected between the wild-type and mutant lotus genotypes, and varying levels of differentiation between groups NL and WSH. Candidate genes containing epidermal growth factor (EGF) and wall-associated receptor kinase (WAK) domains are considered important targets for further research on tepal development. Overall, the genomic data and candidate genes obtained in this study are essential references for future identification of tepal-shaped control genes in lotus combined with transcriptome analysis and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Cox Proportional Hazard Regression Analyses: Univariate Model for OS and RFS.