Chrysanthemum CmWRKY53 negatively regulates the resistance of chrysanthemum to the aphid Macrosiphoniella sanborni

Chrysanthemum is frequently attacked by aphids,which greatly hinders the growth and ornamental value of this plant species.WRKY transcription factors play an important role in the response to biotic stresses such as pathogen and insect stresses.Here,chrysanthemum CmWRKY53 was cloned,and its expression was induced by aphid infestation.To verify the role of CmWRKY53 in resistance to aphids,CmWRKY53 transgenic chrysanthemum was generated.CmWRKY53 was found to mediate the susceptibility of chrysanthemum to aphids.The expression levels of secondary metabolite biosynthesis genes,such as peroxidase-and polyphenol oxidase-encoding genes,decreased in CmWRKY53-overexpressing(CmWRKY53-Oe)plants but dramatically increased in chimeric dominant repressor(CmWRKY53-SRDX)plants,suggesting that CmWRKY53 contributes to the susceptibility of chrysanthemum to aphids,possibly due to its role in the regulation of secondary metabolites.

Application of predictive model for vaginal birth after caesarean delivery

Medical practitioners are concerned with the selection of delivery mode after caesarean delivery.Several researchers have developed numerous models for predicting vaginal birth after caesarean delivery.This study selected seven widely used and representative advanced models,such as those of Grobman,Troyer and Parisi,Schoorel,Flamm,Gonen,Weinstain and Smith et al.,analysed the constitutions and clinical applications of the models and identified the factors associated with patients to provide midwives a scientific reference for vaginal delivery evaluation of pregnant women after caesarean delivery.

α-Lipoic Acid Exerts Its Antiviral Effect against Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus(VHSV) by Promoting Upregulation of Antiviral Genes and Suppressing VHSV-Induced Oxidative Stress

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus(VHSV), belonging to the genus Novirhabdovirus, Rhabdoviridae family, is a causative agent of high mortality in fish and has caused significant losses to the aquaculture industry. Currently, no effective vaccines, Food and Drug Administration-approved inhibitors, or other therapeutic intervention options are available against VHSV. α-Lipoic Acid(LA), a potent antioxidant, has been proposed to have antiviral effects against different viruses. In this study, LA(CC_(50)= 472.6 lmol/L) was repurposed to exhibit antiviral activity against VHSV. In fathead minnow cells,LA significantly increased the cell viability post-VHSV infection(EC_(50)= 42.7 lmol/L), and exerted a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on VHSV induced-plaque, cytopathic effects, and VHSV glycoprotein expression. The time-of-addition assay suggested that the antiviral activity of LA occurred at viral replication stage. Survival assay revealed that LA could significantly upregulated the survival rate of VHSV-infected largemouth bass in both co-injection(38.095% vs. 1.887%,P < 0.01) and post-injection manner(38.813% vs. 8.696%, P < 0.01) compared with the control group. Additional comparative transcriptome and q RT-PCR analysis revealed LA treatment upregulated the expression of several antiviral genes, such as IRF7, Viperin, and ISG15. Moreover, LA treatment reduced VHSV-induced reactive oxygen species production in addition to Nrf2 and SOD1 expression. Taken together, these data demonstrated that LA suppressed VHSV replication by inducing antiviral genes expression and reducing VHSV-induced oxidative stress. These results suggest a new direction in the development of potential antiviral candidate drugs against VHSV infection.

Maternal miR-202-5p is required for zebrafish primordial germ cell migration by protecting small GTPase Cdc42

In many lower animals,germ cell formation,migration,and maintenance depend on maternally provided determinants in germ plasm.In zebrafish,these processes have been extensively studied in terms of RNA-binding proteins and other coding genes.The role of small non-coding RNAs in the regulation of primordial germ cell(PGC)development remains largely unknown and poorly investigated,even though growing interests for the importance of miRNAs involved in a wide variety of biological processes.Here,we reported the role and mechanism of the germ plasm-specific miRNA miR-202-5p in PGC migration:(i)both maternal loss and knockdown of miR-202-5p impaired PGC migration indicated by the mislocalization and reduced number of PGCs;(ii)cdc42se1 was a direct target gene of miR-202-5p,and overexpression of Cdc42se1 in PGCs caused PGC migration defects similar to those observed in loss of miR-202-5p mutants;(iii)Cdc42se1 not only interacted with Cdc42 but also inhibited cdc42 transcription,and overexpression of Cdc42 could rescue PGC migration defects in Cdc42se1 overexpressed embryos.Thus,miR-202-5p regulates PGC migration by directly targeting and repressing Cdc42se1 to protect the expression of Cdc42,which interacts with actin to direct PGC migration.

A precise theoretical method for high-throughput screening of novel organic electrode materials for Li-ion batteries

Organic electrode materials have gained significant attention due to their flexibility,lightweight characteristics,abundant resources in nature,and low CO_(2) emission.It's urgently needed for setting up an accurate high-throughput screening theoretical scheme that could find out possible candidates of electrode materials.Currently,the error between the theoretical potentials calculated by the PBE-D2(DFT-D2,dispersion-corrected density functional theory)method and the experimental values is larger than 12%.Thus,it's essential to finding a more accurate method.In the present work,hybrid functionals and vdW correction methods are applied to investigate six reported organic electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.The results show that the hybrid functional combined with the D2 dispersion corrected method,i.e.,HSE06-D2(Heyd,Scuseria,and Ernzerhof,dispersion-corrected),is able to predict the potential of the organic material precisely with an average error of approximately 5%.This method occupies much hardware resources and being very time consuming,but it could be applied as the final ultrafine step in the high-throughput screening program.