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Extensive cultivation of ginger for years caused ecological environment worse off and ginger productivity decrease due to wilt diseases, which also happens in nearly all crops in continuous cropping, especially in Ralstonia solanacearum caused wilt farmlands. In the present work, based on analysis of Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) host plant phylogeny and RSSC control factors, an organic ecological method to combat the wilt is proposed that is expected to guarantee continuous cropping of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) achieving double harvest in economy and environment.

ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family proteins, one type of small guanine-nucleotide-binding (G) proteins, play a central role in regulating vesicular traffic and organelle structures in eukaryotes. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome contains more than 21 ARF proteins, but relatively little is known about the functional heterogeneity of ARF homologs in plants. Here, we characterized the function of a unique ARF protein, ARFD1B, in Arabidopsis. ARFD1B exhibited both cytosol and punctate localization patterns, colocalizing with a Golgi marker in protoplasts and transgenic plants. Distinct from other ARF1 homologs, overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant form of ARFD1B did not alter the localization of the Golgi marker mannosidase I (ManI)-RFP in Arabidopsis cells. Interestingly, the ARFD1 artificial microRNA knockdown mutant arfd1 displayed a deleterious growth phenotype, while this phenotype was restored in complemented plants. Further, confocal imaging and transmission electron microscopy analyses of the arfd1 mutant revealed defective cell plate formation and abnormal Golgi morphology. Pull-down and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analyses identified Coat Protein I (COPI) components as interacting partners of ARFD1B, and subsequent bimolecular fluorescence complementation, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) two-hybrid, and co-immunoprecipitation assays further confirmed these interactions. These results demonstrate that ARFD1 is required for cell plate formation, maintenance of Golgi morphology, and plant growth in Arabidopsis.

A noninvasive method for evaluating renal blood flow (RBF) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may have clinical value in disease staging, management, and prognostication.To evaluate effectiveness of three-dimensional pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) and pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) in assessment of cortex and outer medulla (cortex/OM) RBF in CKD patients and healthy volunteers (HVs).Prospective, in a single institution.A total of 48 CKD patients (stage 1, 2, 3, and 4-5: N = 11, 12, 13, and 12, respectively) and 18 HVs FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3 T, pCASL, and PASL with a three-dimensional hybrid gradient echo/spin echo sequence.Quality of RBF images derived from pCASL and PASL were evaluated and RBF in cortex/OM measured. Clinical and laboratory data were recorded.Image quality differences between pCASL and PASL were evaluated with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. For both methods, analysis of variance, followed by Fisher's LSD-t test, was used to determine whether RBF differed between CKD stages and HVs. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess strength of relationships between cortex/OM RBF and data from clinical and laboratory tests.Image quality differences were significantly higher in pCASL than PASL in both patients and HVs (both P 0.05). For pCASL, cortex/OM RBF of patients were significantly lower than those of HVs (P 0.05). Cortex/OM RBF were higher in S1 and S2 patients than those in S3 and S4-5 (P 0.05). For PASL, only RBF in cortex of S1 and S2 patients were significantly higher than those of S4-5 (P 0.05). Good correlations between pCASL RBF and estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) were found in cortex/OM of patients (rho = 0.796 and 0.798, respectively, both P 0.05), higher than those between PASL RBF and eGFR (rho = 0.430 and 0.374, respectively, both P 0.05).Three-dimensional pCASL may potentially be a noninvasive technique to assess renal perfusion in CKD patients in different stages.1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

Selective autophagy is a subcellular process whereby cytoplasmic materials are selectively sequestered into autophagosomes for subsequent delivery to the vacuole for degradation and recycling. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) NBR1 (next to BRCA1 gene 1 protein; AtNBR1) has been proposed to function as a selective autophagy receptor in plants, whereby AtNBR1 anchors the ubiquitinated targets to autophagosomes for degradation. However, the specific cargos of AtNBR1 remain elusive. We previously showed that Arabidopsis exocyst subunit EXO70 family protein E2 (AtExo70E2), a marker for exocyst-positive organelle (EXPO), colocalized with the autophagosome marker Arabidopsis autophagy-related protein8 (AtATG8) and was delivered to the vacuole for degradation upon autophagic induction. Here, through multiple analyses, we demonstrate that AtNBR1 is a selective receptor for AtExo70E2 during autophagy in Arabidopsis. First, two novel loss-of-function nbr1 CRISPR mutants (nbr1-c1 and nbr1-c2) showed an early-senescence phenotype under short-day growth conditions. Second, during autophagic induction, the vacuolar delivery of AtExo70E2 or EXPO was significantly reduced in nbr1 mutants compared to wild-type plants. Third, biochemical and recruitment assays demonstrated that AtNBR1 specifically interacted and recruited AtExo70E2 or its EXPO to AtATG8-positive autophagosomes in a ubiquitin-associated (UBA)-independent manner during autophagy. Taken together, our data indicate that AtNBR1 functions as a selective receptor in mediating vacuolar delivery of AtExo70E2 or EXPO in a UBA-independent manner in plant autophagy.

Background To understand the mechanism of glucosinolates (GSs) accumulation in the specific organs, combined analysis of physiological change and transcriptome sequencing were applied in the current study. Taking Chinese kale as material, seeds and silique walls were divided into different stages based on the development of the embryo in seeds and then subjected to GS analysis and transcriptome sequencing. Results The main GS in seeds of Chinese kale were glucoiberin and gluconapin and their content changed with the development of the seed. During the transition of the embryo from torpedo- to the early cotyledonary-embryo stage, the accumulation of GS in the seed was accompanied by the salient decline of GS in the corresponding silique wall. Thus, the seed and corresponding silique wall at these two stages were subjected to transcriptomic sequencing analysis. 135 genes related to GS metabolism were identified, of which 24 genes were transcription factors, 81 genes were related to biosynthetic pathway, 25 genes encoded catabolic enzymes, and 5 genes matched with transporters. The expression of GS biosynthetic genes was detected both in seeds and silique walls. The high expression of FMOGS-OX and AOP2, which is related to the production of gluconapin by side modification, was noted in seeds at both stages. Interestingly, the expression of GS biosynthetic genes was higher in the silique wall compared with that in the seed albeit lower content of GS existed in the silique wall than in the seed. Combined with the higher expression of transporter genes GTRs in silique walls than in seeds, it was proposed that the transportation of GS from the silique wall to the seed is an important source for seed GS accumulation. In addition, genes related to GS degradation expressed abundantly in the seed at the early cotyledonary-embryo stage indicating its potential role in balancing seed GS content. Conclusions Two stages including the torpedo-embryo and the early cotyledonary-embryo stage were identified as crucial in GS accumulation during seed development. Moreover, we confirmed the transportation of GS from the silique wall to the seed and proposed possible sidechain modification of GS biosynthesis may exist during seed formation.

The heterogeneity of liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) is essential for liver structure and function. However, the current understanding of liver NPCs, especially in different liver diseases, remains incompletely elucidated. Here, a single-cell transcriptome atlas of 171,814 NPCs from healthy and 5 typical liver disease mouse models, including alcoholic liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), drug-induced liver injury, cholestatic, and ischemia-reperfusion liver injury is constructed. The inter- and intra-group heterogeneity of 12 types (and numerous subtypes) of NPCs involving endothelial cells, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), neutrophils, T cells, and mononuclear phagocytes (MPs) are summarized. A protective subtype of neutrophils characterized by Chil3high is validated and found significantly increasing only in drug-induced and cholestatic liver injury models. Transcriptional regulatory network analysis reveals disease-specific transcriptional reprogramming. Metabolic activity analysis indicates that fibrosis is accompanied by increases in glycolysis and retinol metabolism in activated HSCs and MPs. Moreover, we found that cell-cell interactions between cholangiocytes and immune cells contribute more to cholestatic liver fibrosis compared with NASH, while HSCs are more important for NASH fibrosis. Our atlas, together with an interactive website provides a systematic view of highly heterogeneous NPCs and a valuable resource to better understand pathological mechanisms underlying liver diseases.

Radish root formation under short photoperiod is a common sense, however, cherry radish is a kind of four-season radish and the relation of photoperiod and cherry radish root formation is not clear until now. Effect of different photoperiods (8 h/16 h, 12 h/12 h, and 16 h/8 h) on the development and antioxidant ability of cherry radish as well as expression of relative genes was investigated in this study. Surprisingly, the most robust radish plant and largest biomass were found at the long photoperiod regime (16h/8 h), even though both the polyphenol content and antioxidant ability in terms of DPPH and FRAP were lower than those in 12/12 h photoperiod. Moreover, under 16h/8h photoperiod it can form the radish product organs in 30 d but not for the others. Gene expression analysis showed that eight non-coding miRNAs and coding RNAs were both involved in the regulation of radish root formation. MiR160, miR165, and miR396 were up-regulated by 16h/8 h photoperiod treatment while miR156 and miR157 were down-regulated. The up-regulation of miR160 and the opposite expression trend of ARF16 indicated that miR160 may mediate the light-respond root formation by targeting ARF16. An auxin response factor ARF6 and a cell wall structure related WRKY2 were also significantly up-regulated by the longer illumination treatment compared with the control. Thus, unlike other radish roots that form in short-day condition, the cherry radish roots grow fastest in long photoperiod and miR160-ARF16 are involved in the quick formation of cherry radish root.

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive methods for the early diagnosis and staging of hepatic fibrosis are needed. The present study aimed to investigate the alteration of magnetic susceptibility in the liver of patients with various fibrosis stages and to evaluate the feasibility of using susceptibility to stage hepatic fibrosis. METHODS: A total of 30 consecutive patients with chronic liver diseases (CLDs) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and liver biopsy evaluation of hepatic fibrosis, necroinflammatory activity, iron load, and steatosis. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), R2* and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) images were postprocessed from the same gradient-echo data for quantitative tissue characterization using region of interest (ROI) analysis. The differences for MRI measurements between cohorts of non-significant (Ishak-F

Selective autophagy, mediated by cargo receptors and recruiting specific targets to autophagosomes for degradation and recycling, plays an important role in quality control and cellular homeostasis in eukaryotes. The Arabidopsis AtNBR1 shares a similar domain organization with the mammalian autophagic receptors p62 and NBR1. We recently demonstrated that AtNBR1 functions as a selective autophagy receptor for the exocyst component AtExo70E2, a marker for the Exocyst-positive organelle (EXPO), which was achieved via a specific ATG8-AtNBR1-AtExo70E2 interaction in Arabidopsis. Here we further showed that nbr1 CRISPR mutants exhibit an early senescence phenotype under short-day growth conditions, which can be restored by complementation with expression of AtNBR1pro::AtNBR1-GFP in the mutant. Interestingly, in addition to the typical cytosolic and punctate patterns, YFP-AtNBR1 also exhibited a microtubule pattern particularly in the cortical layer. Treatments with the microtubule depolymerizer oryzalin but not the microfilament depolymerizer latrunculin B abolished the microtubule pattern and affected the vacuolar delivery of YFP-AtNBR1 upon autophagy induction. These results indicated that microtubules may be required for AtNBR1 to shuttle its cargos to the vacuole during plant autophagy. The present study thus sheds new light on the recognition and movement pattern of AtNBR1 in selective autophagy in Arabidopsis.

To determine the response of Chinese kale (Brassica alboglabra) sprouts to photoperiods under different light sources, we used four photoperiods (0-h light/24-h dark, 8-h light/16-h dark, 12-h light/12-h dark, and 16-h light/8-h dark) to investigate their sprout growth and secondary metabolite glucosinolates (GSs) accumulation under white or combined red-and-blue (RB) light sources. We found that the 16-h light condition under RB light produced plants with the greatest dry matter. Sprouts grown under 16-h RB light condition achieved greater length than those under white light. To investigate the role of RB light in plant growth and GS accumulation, we applied RB light sources with different RB ratios (0:10, 2:8, 5:5, 8:2, and 10:0) to cultivate sprouts. The results showed that significant differential accumulation of GSs existed between sprouts grown under blue (RB, 0:10) and red (RB, 10:0) light; there was greater GS content under blue light. The underlying mechanism of differential GS content in sprouts under red or blue light condition was studied using RNA sequencing technique. Interestingly, abundant GS biosynthetic gene transcripts were observed in sprouts grown under red light compared with under blue light. The expression of β-glucosidase family homolog genes related to GS degradation differed under red and blue light conditions, among those TGG4 homolog was detected with higher expression under red light than with blue light. Taking into consideration, the lower GS accumulation in sprouts under red rather than blue light, we conclude that the degradation of GSs may play a key role in sprouts GS homeostasis.

Background Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) is an important heat-resistant leafy vegetable that can survive under long-time heat stress condition. However, the physiological characteristics and molecular changes in its response to heat stress are poorly understood. Results In this study the selected water spinach cultivars with different thermo resistance and their physiological response to heat stress were examined. Under prolonged heat stress, plant growth was inhibited in all tested cultivars. This inhibition was accompanied by the reduction of photosynthetic performance. The reactive oxygen species system in terms of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide contents, as well as antioxidant polyphenols, were evaluated. The results showed that prolonged heat stress caused reduced antioxidant capacity, but the role of antioxidant capacity in a prolonged thermotolerance was not predominant. Transcriptomic analysis of the water spinach subjected to heat stress revealed that 4145 transcripts were specifically expressed with 2420 up-regulated and 1725 down-regulated in heat-sensitive and heat-tolerant cultivars treated with 42 °C for 15 days. Enrichment analysis of these differentially expressed genes showed that the main metabolic differences between heat-sensitive and heat-tolerant cultivars were the carbohydrate metabolism and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. The results of carbohydrate profiles and RT-qPCR also suggested that heat stress altered carbohydrate metabolism and associated changes in transcriptional level of genes involved in sugar transport and metabolic transition. Conclusions The prolonged heat stress resulted in a reduced antioxidant capacity while the role of antioxidant capacity in a prolonged thermotolerance of water spinach was not predominant. Transcriptome analysis and the measurement of carbohydrates as well as the gene expression evaluation indicated that the response of the metabolic pathway such as carbohydrate and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis to heat stress may be a key player in thermo resistance.

The development of an ultrasensitive nanoprobe is regarded as one of the most promising strategies for the precise diagnosis of tumors. Herein, tanespimycin (17-AAG)-modified polyethylenimine-based gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) co-labeled with a gadolinium (Gd) nanoprobe are constructed for targeted dual-mode computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The specific binding of tanespimycin to the N-terminal of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) endows the modified nanoprobes (NPs) with the ability to up-regulate HSP90 tumor cells and to display excellent X-ray attenuation intensity and T1 MR imaging performance in an orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma tumor model. Such an ultrasensitive nanoprobe holds enormous promise for highly efficient tumor diagnosis and dual-mode CT/T1 positive MR imaging. This study develops a novel strategy to prepare a multifunctional nanoprobe via polyethylenimine nanotechnology. Using this strategy, various dual-mode or multimode nanoprobes for diagnosing different cancers may be designed.

Additional file 1: Supplemental Table 1. Summary of RNA-Seq data sets. Supplemental Table 2. Summary of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Supplemental Table 3. The DEGs involved in starch and sucrose metabolism. Supplemental Table 4. The DEGs involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Supplemental Table 5. Primers used in the verification of differentially expressed genes of heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive water spinach cultivars.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is strongly associated with the temporal regulation of cardiac immunity. However, a variety of current clinical trials have failed because of the lack of post-MI immunomodulating/anti-inflammatory targets. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of cardiac Cd45+ immune cell at 0, 3, 7, and 14 days after injury in a mouse left anterior descending coronary artery ligation model. Major immune cell populations, distinct subsets, and dynamic changes were identified. Macrophages (Mø)/monocytes were most abundant, peaking at 3 days after infarction. Mø-5 and Mø-6 were the predominant infiltrated subsets at this time point, with strong expression of inflammatory factors. Further analysis demonstrated that suppressing these sets attenuated pathological MI progression by preventing subsequent leukocyte extravasation and adverse remodeling. We also detected abundant apoptotic neutrophils and a profibrotic macrophage subset on days 7 and 14 respectively. These results provide a basis for developing cell type- and time-specific interventions in MI.Graphic abstractTemporal regulation of cardiac immunity is strongly associated with the onset, progression, and outcomes of MI. Our study of time-series scRNA-seq on the whole cardiac immune cells isolated from the LAD ligation mice and the tanshinone IIA treated mice shed light on the underlying pathology of MI.

γ-Tubulin typically forms a ring-shaped complex with 5 related γ-tubulin complex proteins (GCP2 to GCP6), and this γ-tubulin ring complex (γTuRC) serves as a template for microtubule (MT) nucleation in plants and animals. While the γTuRC takes part in MT nucleation in most eukaryotes, in fungi such events take place robustly with just the γ-tubulin small complex (γTuSC) assembled by γ-tubulin plus GCP2 and GCP3. To explore whether the γTuRC is the sole functional γ-tubulin complex in plants, we generated 2 mutants of the GCP6 gene encoding the largest subunit of the γTuRC in Arabidopsis thaliana. Both mutants showed similar phenotypes of dwarfed vegetative growth and reduced fertility. The gcp6 mutant assembled the γTuSC, while the wild-type cells had GCP6 join other GCPs to produce the γTuRC. Although the gcp6 cells had greatly diminished γ-tubulin localization on spindle MTs, the protein was still detected there. The gcp6 cells formed spindles that lacked MT convergence and discernable poles; however, they managed to cope with the challenge of MT disorganization and were able to complete mitosis and cytokinesis. Our results reveal that the γTuRC is not the only functional form of the γ-tubulin complex for MT nucleation in plant cells, and that γ-tubulin-dependent, but γTuRC-independent, mechanisms meet the basal need of MT nucleation. Moreover, we show that the γTuRC function is more critical for the assembly of spindle MT array than for the phragmoplast. Thus, our findings provide insight into acentrosomal MT nucleation and organization.

Table S1. Primers used in the verification of differential expressed genes in high- and low-GS Chinese kale sprouts under heat stress. Figure S1. (A) KEGG annotation of DEGs in HG vs HGT. (B) KEGG annotation of DEGs in LG vs LGT. Yellow column shows cellular processes, blue column shows organismal systems, purple column shows environmental information processing, green column shows metabolism, and pink column shows genetic information processing. Figure S2. (A) KEGG enrichment of DEGs in HG vs HGT. (B) KEGG enrichment of DEGs in LG vs LGT. The y-axis corresponds to different Q-value of different KEGG pathway, and the x-axis shows the enrichment factor of different KEGG pathway. The different symbols represented for different KEGG pathways. (DOCX 767 kb)

Qingbing Wang,1,2 Xiaolin Wang,1,2 Rongfang Guo,2,3 Guoping Li1,2 1Department of Interventional Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 2Shanghai Institute of Medical Imaging, 3Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (ACC) is a rare tumor that is difficult to diagnose preoperatively. The aim of this study was to evaluate and describe the computed tomography (CT) features of ACC and compare the results with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (DAC) for improving preoperative diagnosis. The control group consisted of 34 patients with DAC collected from the pathology electronic database. The CT imaging from nine patients with pathologically confirmed ACC was retrospectively reviewed. Two radiologists independently assessed the tumor location, size, texture, and enhancement patterns. We found that 64.3% (9/14) of ACC tumors were homogeneous and 35.7% (5/14) had necrosis. The percentage of common bile duct and pancreatic ductal dilation was 14.3% (2/14) and 7.1% (1/14), respectively. The mean size of ACC was 50.1±24.2 mm. The mean attenuation of ACC was 35.4±3.9 Hounsfield unit (HU) before enhancement, 73.1±42.9 HU in arterial phase, and 71.8±15.6 HU in port venous phase. It is difficult to distinguish ACC from DAC preoperatively only based on CT findings. However, compared with DAC, we found that ACC tumors are likely to be larger and contain more heterogeneous intratumoral necrotic hypovascular regions, and less pancreatic ductal and common biliary dilation. Keywords: acinar cell carcinoma, computed tomography, pancreatic ductal carcinoma, pancreas

Background Chinese kale (Brassica alboglabra) contains high nutritional elements and functional molecules, especially anticarcinogenic and antioxidant glucosinolates (GS), which was highly affected by environment temperature. To investigate the link of GS biosynthesis with heat stress response in Chinese kale, global transcription profiles of high-GS line (HG), low-GS line (LG), high-GS line under heat stress (HGT) and low-GS line under heat stress (LGT) were analyzed. Results Based on three biological replicates of each RNA sequencing data, 3901, 4062 and 2396 differentially expressed genes in HG vs HGT, LG vs LGT and HGT vs LGT were obtained, respectively. GO annotation, KEGG pathway analysis and a comprehensive analysis of DEGs showed a strong correlation between the GS biosynthesis and heat stress response. It was noticed that 11 differentially expressed genes tied to the GS biosynthesis were down-regulated, 23 heat shock transcription factors and 61 heat shock proteins were up-regulated upon the heat treatment. Another two Chinese kale varieties Cuibao and Shunbao with high- and low- GS content respectively, were used to validate the relationship of GS content and heat-response, and the results showed that high-GS content variety were more thermotolerant than the low-GS content one although GS significantly decreased in both varieties under heat stress. In addition, HSP100/ClpB, HSP90, HSP70 and sHSPs were differentially expressed in high- and low-GS varieties. Notably, HSP90 and sHSPs showed an obviously early response to heat stress than other related genes. Conclusion The higher heat resistance of high-GS Chinese kale and the sharp decrease of glucosinolate content under heat stress indicated a strong relationship of GS accumulation and heat stress response. Combined with the previous report on the low expression of HSP90 at elevated temperatures in GS-deficient mutant TU8 of Arabidopsis, the differential expression pattern of HSP90 in high- and low- GS varieties and its early heat response implied it might be a key regulator in GS metabolism and heat-resistance in Chinese kale. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5652-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The combined treatment with 2, 4-epibrassinolide (EBR) (2, 20, and 200 nmol/L) and NaCl (0, 40, and 160 mmol/L) on the germination rate, fresh weight, contents of ascorbic acid and glucosinolates, activities of myrosinase and antioxidant ability of broccoli sprouts was investigated. The influence of EBR on the content of glucosinolates in broccoli sprouts varied with the concentrations of EBR and NaCl. The content of total glucosinolates and glucoraphanin in broccoli sprouts treated with 2 nmol/L EBR plus 40 mmol/L NaCl was increased by 86% and 85%, respectively, and the activity of myrosinase was significantly improved by 20 nmol/L EBR treatment with or without NaCl. In addition, the content of ascorbic acid was significantly increased after treatment with 20 nmol/L EBR, and the combined treatment with 20 nmol/L EBR plus 40 mmol/L NaCl significantly enhanced the accumulation of ascorbic acid when compared with the 40 mmol/L NaCl treatment alone. These results indicated that the combined treatment with 2 nmol/L EBR plus 40 mmol/L NaCl as well as EBR treatment solely at 20 nmol/L could be useful ways for selective increase of glucosinolates or ascorbic acid, the main health-promoting compounds in broccoli sprouts.

The interplay of plant hormones and glucose (Glu) in regulating glucosinolate accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated in this study. Glucose-induced glucosinolate biosynthesis was enhanced significantly by the addition of jasmonic acid (JA), whereas the synergistic effect of salicylic acid (SA) and Glu was less obvious. The enhanced glucosinolate accumulation is associated with elevated expression of genes in glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway, as well as the transcription factors involved in their regulation, such as MYB28, MYB29, MYB34, and MYB122. The induction of indolic and aliphatic glucosinolates after treatment with JA and Glu in JA-insensitive mutants, coi1, jar1, and jin1, was compromised. Moreover, the effect of JA and Glu on glucosinolate contents was dramatically reduced in Glu-insensitive mutants, rgs1-2 and abi5-7. These results indicate a crosstalk between JA and Glu signalling in the regulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis. JA signalling, RGS1 (the putative membrane receptor of Glu signalling), and ABI5, are involved in the synergistic effect of JA and Glu on glucosinolate accumulation.

The effect of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on glucosinolate biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated in the present study by using mutants and transgenic plants involved in brassinosteroid (BR) biosynthesis and signal transduction, as well as glucosinolate biosynthesis. The results showed that EBR significantly decreased the contents of major aliphatic glucosinolates including glucoiberin (S3), glucoraphanin (S4), and glucoerucin (T4), as well as the indolic glucosinolates glucobrassicin (IM) and neoglucobrassicin (1IM). In addition, a significantly higher level of glucosinolates accumulated in the BR-deficient mutant cpd and a dramatically lower glucosinolate content in the transgenic plant DWF4-ox overexpressing the BR biosynthetic gene DWF4 compared with their related wild-types, confirmed the repressing effect of BR on glucosinolate biosynthesis. BRI1, the receptor of BR signal transduction, was involved in regulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis by BR. Furthermore, the observation of reduced content of glucosinolates and lower expression levels of glucosinolate biosynthetic genes in 35S-BZR1/bzr1-1D and bes1-D plants compared with the corresponding wild-types suggested that BZR1 and BES1, two important components in BR signal transduction, are responsible for the inhibiting role of BR in glucosinolate biosynthesis. The disappearance of the repressing effect of BR on glucosinolate content in the myb28, myb34, and myb122 mutants indicated that these three MYB factors are important for the regulation of BR in glucosinolate biosynthesis.

To understand the regulation mechanism of NaCl on glucosinolate metabolism in broccoli sprouts, the germination rate, fresh weight, contents of glucosinolates and sulforaphane, as well as myrosinase activity of broccoli sprouts germinated under 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 mmol/L of NaCl were investigated in our experiment. The results showed that glucoerucin, glucobrassicin, and 4-hydroxy glucobrassicin in 7-d-old broccoli sprouts were significantly enhanced and the activity of myrosinase was inhibited by 100 mmol/L of NaCl. However, the total glucosinolate content in 7-d-old broccoli sprouts was markedly decreased although the fresh weight was significantly increased after treatment with NaCl at relatively low concentrations (20, 40, and 60 mmol/L). NaCl treatment at the concentration of 60 mmol/L for 5 d maintained higher biomass and comparatively higher content of glucosinolates in sprouts of broccoli with decreased myrosinase activity. A relatively high level of NaCl treatment (100 mmol/L) significantly increased the content of sulforaphane in 7-d-old broccoli sprouts compared with the control. These results indicate that broccoli sprouts grown under a suitable concentration of NaCl could be desirable for human nutrition.

The contents of ascorbic acid, glucosinolates, sulforaphane, anthocyanins, total phenolics, the activity of myrosinase and phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL) and the antioxidant activity of broccoli sprouts grown under 88 mM and 176 mM of sucrose and mannitol were investigated. The results showed that the contents of sulforaphane, ascorbic acid and anthocyanins in broccoli sprouts were significantly increased after treatment with 88 mM of sucrose compared with the control. The contents of glucosinolates and total phenolics, the activity of PAL and the antioxidant activity in broccoli sprouts treated with 176 mM sucrose were also significantly increased, whereas the activity of myrosinase was significantly reduced. On the other hand, the contents of glucosinolate, sulforaphane and total phenolics in broccoli sprouts were also significantly increased after treatment with 176 mM of mannitol, although the contents of sulforaphane were markedly reduced compared to those treated with 176 mM of sucrose. Sucrose might induce the production of health-promoting compounds through its role of signaling, generating osmotic pressure or serving as a substrate. These results indicate that sucrose treatment could improve the nutritional value of broccoli, and the sprouts growing under adequate concentration of sucrose could benefit our diet by producing more health-promoting compounds.

The polymeric ligand PBI-8Q ( 2 ) (functionalized polybenzimidazole containing 8-hydroxyquinoline side group) was successfully synthesized by the reaction of polybenzimidazole (PBI) ( 1 ) with 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline (5-Cl-8Q) in DMSO solvent by using NaH as deprotonation reagent. Its corresponding metal complexes of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Al(III) were prepared and characterized through FT-IR, 1 H NMR, molar conductance measurements and thermal analysis. The luminescence properties of all compounds were also studied by UV–vis and fluorescence spectra at ambient temperature. When excited from 338 to 415 nm, these compounds emit blue light of about 415 nm in solution and blue/green light from 483 to 552 nm in solid state, respectively. Thermal properties measurement and analysis show that they have good thermal stabilities.

The polymeric complexes of 4,4′-bis[2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl]biphenyl (Bmbp) with Co(II) (1), Ni(II) (2) and 1,3,5-tris[2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl]benzene (Tmb) with Co(II) (3), Ni(II) (4) were successfully synthesized and characterized by using IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis. Their cyclic voltametric behavior and thermal property were also studied. The results indicated these complexes display an irreversible redox process and have high thermal stability.

The polymeric complexes of 4,4′-bis[2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl]biphenyl (Bmbp) with Cu(II) (1), Zn(II) (2) and 1,3,5-tris[2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl]benzene (Tmb) with Cu(II) (3), Zn(II) (4) were successfully synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermal analysis and conductivity measurements. The results indicate that the stoichiometry of these metal complexes is metal: Bmbp (or Tmb) = 1:1 for 1 and 2 (2:1 for 3 and 4). Ligands coordinated with metal ions to get a five-membered chelate ring and formed polymeric complexes with metal ion. Their luminescence properties were also studied by UV–vis and fluorescence spectra. At room temperature, complexes 1–4 emit blue luminescence from 419 to 483 nm in the solid state and purple/blue luminescence from 385 to 437 nm in DMF solution. Thermal properties measurement and analysis shows that they have good thermal stabilities.

To clone genes involved in the betalain biosynthesis pathway and to assess the effects of phytohormones on betalain biosynthesis in Amaranthus tricolor. Five betalain biosynthesis genes were cloned by reverse transcription PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Betacyanin analyses revealed that pigments accumulated differently in various tissues and under different phytohormone treatments. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that gene expression levels did not correlate with pigment accumulation. Notably, gene expression and pigment accumulation were negatively regulated by 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The expression of AmaDOPA5-GT, AmaDODA, and AmaB5-GT was induced by pigmentation-promoting 6-benzyl aminopurine (6-BA). and pigmentation-inhibiting gibberellin A3 while AmaTyDC expression was suppressed. AmaTyDC expression was also suppressed by pigmentation-promoting kinetin. Additionally, the expression of AmaB6-GT was suppressed by 6-BA. The changes in betacyanin levels among various tissues and following phytohormone treatments were related to the differences in betalain biosynthesis gene expression levels.

The mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) causes the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which then leads to programmed cell death (PCD) in Arabidopsis. In the process of studying FB1-induced biosynthesis of glucosinolates, we found that indole glucosinolate (IGS) is involved in attenuating FB1-induced PCD. Treatment with FB1 elevates the expression of genes related to the biosynthesis of camalexin and IGS. Mutants deficient in aliphatic glucosinolate (AGS) or camalexin biosynthesis display similar lesions to Col-0 upon FB1 infiltration; however, the cyp79B2 cyp79B3 double mutant, which lacks induction of both IGS and camalexin, displays more severe lesions. Based on the fact that the classic myrosinase β-thioglucoside glucohydrolase (TGG)-deficient double mutant tgg1 tgg2, rather than atypical myrosinase-deficient mutant pen2-2, is more sensitive to FB1 than Col-0, and the elevated expression of TGG1, but not of PEN2, correlates with the decrease in IGS, we conclude that TGG-dependent IGS hydrolysis is involved in FB1-induced PCD. Indole-3-acetonitrile (IAN) and indole-3-carbinol (I3C), the common derivatives of IGS, were used in feeding experiments, and this rescued the severe cell death phenotype, which is associated with reduced accumulation of ROS as well as increased activity of antioxidant enzymes and ROS-scavenging ability. Despite the involvement of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in restricting FB1-induced PCD, feeding of IAN and I3C attenuated FB1-induced PCD in the IAA receptor mutant tir1-1 just as in Col-0. Taken together, our results indicate that TGG-catalyzed breakdown products of IGS decrease the accumulation of ROS by their antioxidant behavior, and attenuate FB1 induced PCD in an IAA-independent way.

The brassinosteroid (BR) response transcription factor Brassinazole resistant 1 (BZR1)-mediated BR signalling regulates many specific developmental processes including fruit ripening. Here, we report the effect of 2,4-epibrassinolide (EBR) and BZR1-1D overexpression on carotenoid accumulation and quality attributes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit. EBR-treated pericarp discs of ethylene-insensitive mutant, Never ripe, accumulated significantly more carotenoid than those of the control. The results suggest that BR seems to be involved in modulating pigments accumulation. When three independent transgenic lines overexpressing the Arabidopsis BZR1-1D were used to evaluate the role of BZR1 in regulating tomato fruit carotenoid accumulation and quality attributes, fruits of all three transgenic lines exhibited enhanced carotenoid accumulation and increased soluble solid, soluble sugar and ascorbic acid contents during fruit ripening. In addition, the fruits of two transgenic lines showed dark green shoulder at mature green stage, in accordance with the up-regulated expression level of SlGLK2, which is involved in chloroplast development. Our results indicate the importance of BZR1-centred BR signalling in regulating carotenoid accumulation and quality attributes of tomato fruit and the potential application of the BZR1-like(s) for improvement of nutritional quality and flavour of tomato through genetic engineering.

The germination rate, fresh weight, as well as the contents of anthocyanins and glucosinolates in broccoli sprouts treated with different kinds of sugars, including sucrose, glucose, fructose, mannitol, and fructose/glucose (1:1), were investigated. The results showed that all the sugars induced the accumulation of anthocyanins and glucosinolates with sucrose being the most effective one. In accordance with the accumulation of anthocyanins and glucosinolates, the antioxidant level increased while treated with sucrose. The effect of sucrose on expression of genes related to anthocyanin and glucosinolate biosynthesis were also investigated. The genes involved in the biosynthesis and transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin as well as glucosinolate biosynthetic gene Bo-Elong were all up-regulated by sucrose within 12h after the sucrose treatment. The application of sucrose improved the nutrition value of broccoli sprouts by enhancing the biosynthesis of anthocyanin and glucosinolate at the level of transcription.