Natural Variations at TIG1 Encoding a TCP Tran scription Factor Contribute to Plant Architecture Domestication in Rice

The modification of plant architecture is a crucial target in rice domestication and modern genetic improvement.Although several genes regulating rice plant architecture have been characterized,the molecular mechanisms underlying rice plant architecture domestication remain largely unclear.Here we show that the inclined tiller growth in wild rice is controlled by a single dominant gene,TILLER INCLINED GROWTH 1 (T/Gf),which is located on chromosome 8 and encodes a TCP transcriptional activator.TIG1 is primarily expressed in the adaxial side of the tiller base,promotes cell elongation,and enlarges the tiller angle in wild rice.Variations in the TIG1 promoter of indica cultivars {tig1 allele) resulted in decreased expression of TIG1 in the adaxial side of tiller base and reduced cell length and tiller angle,leading to the transition from inclined tiller growth in wild rice to erect tiller growth during rice domestication.TIG1 positively regulates the expression of EXP A3,EXPB5,and SAUR39 to promote cell elongation and increase the tiller angle.Selective sweep analysis revealed that the tig1 allele was selected in indica cultivars by human beings.The cloning and characterization of TIG1 supports a new scenario of plant architecture evolution in rice.

The electrochemical stability of ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents

Room temperature ionic liquids(ILs) composed of cations and anions, as well as deep eutectic solvents(DESs) composed of hydrogen bond donors(HBDs) and hydrogen bond acceptors(HBAs), are regarded as green solvents due to their low volatility. They have been used widely for electrochemically driven reactions because they exhibit high conductivity and excellent electrochemical stability. However, no systematic investigations on the electrochemical potential windows(EPWs), which could be used to characterize the electrochemical stability, have been reported. In this regard, the EPWs of 33 ILs and 23 DESs have been studied utilizing cyclic voltammetry(CV) method and the effects of structural factors(cations and anions of ILs, and HBDs and HBAs of DESs) and external factors(electrode, water content) on the EPWs have been comprehensively investigated. The electrochemical stability of selected ILs comprising five traditional cations, namely imidazolium, pyridinium, pyrrolidinium, piperidinium and ammonium and 13 kinds of versatile anions was studied. The results show that for ILs, both cation and anion play an important role on the reductive and oxidative potential limit. For a same IL at different working electrode, for example, glassy carbon(GC), gold(Au) and platinum(Pt) electrode, the largest potential window is almost observed on the GC working electrode. The investigations on the EPWs of choline chloride(Ch Cl), choline bromide(Ch Br), choline iodide(Ch I), and methyl urea based DESs show that the DES composed of Ch Cl and methyl urea has the largest potential window. This work may aid the selection of ILs or DESs for use as a direct electrolyte or a solvent in electrochemical applications.

Aberrantly high activation of a FoxM1-STMN1 axis contributes to progression and tumorigenesis in FoxMl-driven cancers

Fork-head box protein M1(FoxM1)is a transcriptional factor which plays critical roles in cancer development and progression.However,the general regulatory mechanism of FoxM1 is still limited.STMN1 is a microtubule-binding protein which can inhibit the assembly of microtubule dimer or promote depolymerization of microtubules.It was reported as a major responsive factor of paclitaxel resistance for clinical chemotherapy of tumor patients.But the function of abnormally high level of STMN1 and its regulation mechanism in cancer cells remain unclear.In this study,we used public database and tissue microarrays to analyze the expression pattern of FoxM1 and STMN1 and found a strong positive correlation between FoxM1 and STMN1 in multiple types of cancer.Lentivirus-mediated FoxM1/STMN1-knockdown cell lines were established to study the function of FoxM1/STMN1 by performing cell viability assay,plate clone formation assay,soft agar assay in vitro and xenograft mouse model in vivo.Our results showed that FoxMl promotes cell proliferation by upregulating STMN1.Further ChIP assay showed that FoxM1 upregulates STMN1 in a transcriptional level.Prognostic analysis showed that a high level of FoxM1 and STMN1 is related to poor prognosis in solid tumors.Moreover,a high co-expression of FoxM1 and STMN1 has a more significant correlation with poor prognosis.Our findings suggest that a general FoxMl-STMN1 axis contributes to cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma,gastric cancer and colorectal cancer.The combination of FoxM1 and STMN1 can be a more precise biomarker for prognostic prediction.