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Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is an important component of the signal transduction pathway, which plays important roles in regulating plant growth and development, and abiotic stress. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most popular tuber crops in the world. Genome-wide identification and analysis of the MAPK and MAPKK gene family in potato is not clear. A total of 20 MAPK genes and 8 MAPKK genes were identified in the potato genome. A conservative motif analysis showed that the MAPK protein contained a typical TxY phosphorylation site, and the MAPKK protein contained a conservative characteristic motif S/T-x5-S/T. Phylogenetic analysis showed that potato MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and MAPKK (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase) were similar to Arabidopsis, including four groups of members A, B, C and D. Gene structure and promoter sequence analysis showed that all 28 gene family members of potato Solanum tuberosum MAPK (StMAPK) and StMAPKK have coding regions (CDS), and family members in the same group have similar intron and exon compositions, and that most cis-acting elements upstream of gene promoters elements have related to stress response. Chromosome location analysis found that MAPKs were unevenly distributed on 11 chromosomes, while MAPKKs were only distributed on chromosomes Chr. 03 and Chr. 12. Collinearity analysis showed that StMAPKK3 and StMAPKK6 have the same common ancestors among potato, pepper, and tomato. qRT-PCR results showed that the relative expressions of StMAPK14 and StMAPKK2 were significantly upregulated under low-temperature stress. These results could provide new insights into the characteristics and evolution of the StMAPK and StMAPKK gene family and facilitate further exploration of the molecular mechanism responsible for potato abiotic stress responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angelica dahurica is an important Chinese herbal medicine plant, and its rhizome is of high medicinal value. In recent years, a severe decline in yield has been observed in Bozhou City ( China's largest A. dahurica producing area), Anhui province, China. It showed symptoms of decline, stunting, yellowing and many galls in the roots, which was the characterization of infestation by root-knot nematodes. A survey of root-knot nematodes on its roots was conducted in this area from June to September, 2011. Based on our results, the nematode species on A. dahurica was identified as Meloidogyne arenaria by the morphological, biochemical and molecular methods. To our knowledge, this is the first report of M. arenaria on A. dahurica in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, it has been shown that blocking the binding of valosin-containing protein (VCP) to mutant huntingtin (mtHtt) can prevent neuronal mitochondrial autophagy in Huntington's disease (HD) models. Herein, we describe the development and efficacy of a protein-like polymer (PLP) for inhibiting this interaction in cellular and in vivo models of HD. PLPs exhibit bioactivity in HD mouse striatal cells by successfully inhibiting mitochondrial destruction. PLP is notably resilient to in vitro enzyme, serum, and liver microsome stability assays, which render analogous control oligopeptides ineffective. PLP demonstrates a 2000-fold increase in circulation half-life compared to peptides, exhibiting an elimination half-life of 152 hours. In vivo efficacy studies in HD transgenic mice (R6/2) confirm the superior bioactivity of PLP compared to free peptide through behavioral and neuropathological analyses. PLP functions by preventing pathologic VCP/mtHtt binding in HD animal models; exhibits enhanced efficacy over the parent, free peptide; and implicates the PLP as a platform with potential for translational central nervous system therapeutics.