The RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase NIb of Potyviruses Plays Multifunctional, Contrasting Roles during Viral Infection

Potyviruses represent the largest group of known plant RNA viruses and include many agriculturally important viruses, such as Plum pox virus, Soybean mosaic virus, Turnip mosaic virus, and Potato virus Y. Potyviruses adopt polyprotein processing as their genome expression strategy. Among the 11 known viral proteins, the nuclear inclusion protein b (NIb) is the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase responsible for viral genome replication. Beyond its principal role as an RNA replicase, NIb has been shown to play key roles in diverse virus–host interactions. NIb recruits several host proteins into the viral replication complexes (VRCs), which are essential for the formation of functional VRCs for virus multiplication, and interacts with the sumoylation pathway proteins to suppress NPR1-mediated immunity response. On the other hand, NIb serves as a target of selective autophagy as well as an elicitor of effector-triggered immunity, resulting in attenuated virus infection. These contrasting roles of NIb provide an excellent example of the complex co-evolutionary arms race between plant hosts and potyviruses. This review highlights the current knowledge about the multifunctional roles of NIb in potyvirus infection, and discusses future research directions

Association of PD-1 and PD-L1 Genetic Polymorphyisms with Type 1 Diabetes Susceptibility

Aims. The programmed death- (PD-) 1/PD-1 ligand (PD-L) pathway plays an important role in regulating T cell activation and maintaining peripheral tolerance. Accumulated studies showed that PD-1/PD-L1 pathway was involved in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1DM). Since the genetic background of type 1 diabetes differs greatly among the different population, we aim to investigate the association of genetic polymorphisms in PD-1 and PD-L1 with T1DM susceptibility in Chinese population. Methods. In total, 166 T1DM patients and 100 healthy controls were enrolled into the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from 4 mL peripheral blood samples collected from each subject. Genotyping of 8 selected SNPs of PD-1 and PD-L1 was carried out by the pyrosequencing PSQ 24 System using PyroMark Gold reagents (QIAGEN). Results. SNP rs4143815 in PD-L1 was significantly associated with T1DM. People carrying the C allele of rs4143815 suffering less risk of T1DM and T1DM patients with G/G genotype showed higher levels of autoantibody (AAB) positive incidence compared with C allele carriers. No significant associations were found in other SNPs. Conclusions. Our results indicate that rs4143815 of PD-L1 is significantly associated with T1DM and may serve as a new biomarker to predict the T1DM susceptibility

Cognition of abdominal pain and abdominal discomfort in Chinese patients with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea

Abstract Background In Asia, the proportion of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with abdominal discomfort alone is significantly higher than that in western countries. The purposes of this study are to understand the cognition of abdominal pain and abdominal discomfort in Chinese patients with IBS and to compare the clinical characteristics of patients with abdominal pain alone and with abdominal discomfort alone. Methods Patients with IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D) who met the Rome III diagnostic criteria and had episodes of at least one day/week were consecutively enrolled. The cognition of abdominal pain and abdominal discomfort were investigated through face-to-face unstructured interview. Patients were divided into a pain group and a discomfort group according to the cognition interviews, then the characteristics and severity of symptoms (IBS symptom severity scale, IBS-SSS), IBS quality of life (IBS-QOL) and psychological state were compared between groups. Results A total of 88 patients with IBS-D were enrolled. Most of the patients with self-reported abdominal pain described their pain as spasm/cramping; patients with self-reported abdominal discomfort had as many as 24 different descriptions of discomfort. Most patients having abdominal pain and discomfort could accurately distinguish the two symptoms. The degree of abdominal pain in the pain group was higher than abdominal discomfort in the discomfort group (P = 0.002). There was no significant difference in IBS-SSS, extra-intestinal pain, IBS-QOL, and psychological state between the two groups. Conclusions For Chinese patients with IBS-D, abdominal pain and abdominal discomfort are two different symptoms, but they have similar clinical features. Trial registration ChiCTR, ChiCTR1900028082. Registered 11 December 2019 - Retrospectively registered, http://www.chictr.org.cn

Study on Tritium and Iodine Species Transport through Porous Granite: A Non-Sorption Effect by Anion Exclusion

The safety of deep geological repositories is important in the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). In this study, advection–dispersion experiments were designed to build a transport model through a calibration/validation process, and the transport behavior of tritiated water (HTO) and various iodine species (iodide: I− and iodate: IO3−) was studied on a dynamic compacted granite column. Breakthrough curves (BTCs) were plotted under various flow rates (1–5 mL/min). BTCs showed that the non-sorption effect by anion exclusion was observed only in I− transport because the retardation factor (R) of I− was lower than that of HTO (R = 1). Moreover, equilibrium and nonequilibrium transport models were used and compared to identify the mobile/immobile zones in the compacted granite column. The anion exclusion effect was influenced by the immobile zones in the column. The non-sorption effect by anion exclusion (R − at 5.0 ± 0.2 mL/min flow rate, and a relatively higher Coulomb’s repulsive force may be caused by the smaller hydration radius of I−(3.31 Å) than that of IO3−(3.74 Å)

Advection–Dispersion Behavior for Simulation of H-3 and Pu-238 Transport in Undisturbed Argillaceous Shale of a Near-Surface Repository

In this study, a column experiment was employed to evaluate the nuclide migration behavior in the surrounding rock medium of a near-surface disposal site in China and to investigate the advection–dispersion behavior of tritium (H-3) and plutonium-238 (Pu-238) in highly weathered argillaceous shale. A reasonable numerical model was selected to fit the experimental breakthrough curves (BTCs) and to obtain the relevant migration parameters. The results show the following: (1) the internal structure of the highly weathered argillaceous shale exhibited heterogeneity, and the nuclide migration BTC showed characteristics of a “curve peak moving forward” and a “tail curve trailing”; (2) compared with other models, the stream tube mode could better fit the BTCs and obtain the average dispersion coefficient <D>, average distribution coefficient <Kd>, and other parameters; (3) compared to the results of the batch experiment, the distribution coefficient Kd obtained from the column experiment was smaller than that obtained from the batch experiment, which is speculated to be due to the influence of contact time and the contact area between the nuclide and the medium

Comparative analysis on the clinical characteristics and refraction status of Tibetan and Han strabismus patients: A single-center retrospective study

The relevant datas of Comparative analysis on the clinical characteristics and refraction status of Tibetan and Han strabismus patients: A single-center retrospective study</p

Decades of Genetic Research on Soybean mosaic virus Resistance in Soybean

This review summarizes the history and current state of the known genetic basis for soybean resistance to Soybean mosaic virus (SMV), and examines how the integration of molecular markers has been utilized in breeding for crop improvement. SVM causes yield loss and seed quality reduction in soybean based on the SMV strain and the host genotype. Understanding the molecular underpinnings of SMV–soybean interactions and the genes conferring resistance to SMV has been a focus of intense research interest for decades. Soybean reactions are classified into three main responses: resistant, necrotic, or susceptible. Significant progress has been achieved that has greatly increased the understanding of soybean germplasm diversity, differential reactions to SMV strains, genotype–strain interactions, genes/alleles conferring specific reactions, and interactions among resistance genes and alleles. Many studies that aimed to uncover the physical position of resistance genes have been published in recent decades, collectively proposing different candidate genes. The studies on SMV resistance loci revealed that the resistance genes are mainly distributed on three chromosomes. Resistance has been pyramided in various combinations for durable resistance to SMV strains. The causative genes are still elusive despite early successes in identifying resistance alleles in soybean; however, a gene at the Rsv4 locus has been well validated

Observation of moiré excitons in WSe2/WS2 heterostructure superlattices.

Moiré superlattices enable the generation of new quantum phenomena in two-dimensional heterostructures, in which the interactions between the atomically thin layers qualitatively change the electronic band structure of the superlattice. For example, mini-Dirac points, tunable Mott insulator states and the Hofstadter butterfly pattern can emerge in different types of graphene/boron nitride moiré superlattices, whereas correlated insulating states and superconductivity have been reported in twisted bilayer graphene moiré superlattices1-12. In addition to their pronounced effects on single-particle states, moiré superlattices have recently been predicted to host excited states such as moiré exciton bands13-15. Here we report the observation of moiré superlattice exciton states in tungsten diselenide/tungsten disulfide (WSe2/WS2) heterostructures in which the layers are closely aligned. These moiré exciton states manifest as multiple emergent peaks around the original WSe2 A exciton resonance in the absorption spectra, and they exhibit gate dependences that are distinct from that of the A exciton in WSe2 monolayers and in WSe2/WS2 heterostructures with large twist angles. These phenomena can be described by a theoretical model in which the periodic moiré potential is much stronger than the exciton kinetic energy and generates multiple flat exciton minibands. The moiré exciton bands provide an attractive platform from which to explore and control excited states of matter, such as topological excitons and a correlated exciton Hubbard model, in transition-metal dichalcogenides