Rice Snl6, a Cinnamoyl-CoA Reductase-Like Gene Family Member, Is Required for NH1-Mediated Immunity to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

Rice NH1 (NPR1 homolog 1) is a key mediator of innate immunity. In both plants and animals, the innate immune response is often accompanied by rapid cell death at the site of pathogen infection. Over-expression of NH1 in rice results in resistance to the bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), constitutive expression of defense related genes and enhanced benzothiadiazole (BTH)- mediated cell death. Here we describe a forward genetic screen that identified a suppressor of NH1-mediated lesion formation and resistance, snl6. Comparative genome hybridization and fine mapping rapidly identified the genomic location of the Snl6 gene. Snl6 is a member of the cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR)-like gene family. We show that Snl6 is required for NH1-mediated resistance to Xoo. Further, we show that Snl6 is required for pathogenesis-related gene expression. In contrast to previously described CCR family members, disruption of Snl6 does not result in an obvious morphologic phenotype. Snl6 mutants have reduced lignin content and increased sugar extractability, an important trait for the production of cellulosic biofuels. These results suggest the existence of a conserved group of CCR-like genes involved in the defense response, and with the potential to alter lignin content without affecting development

Downregulation of Cinnamyl-Alcohol Dehydrogenase in Switchgrass by RNA Silencing Results in Enhanced Glucose Release after Cellulase Treatment

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) catalyzes the last step in monolignol biosynthesis and genetic evidence indicates CAD deficiency in grasses both decreases overall lignin, alters lignin structure and increases enzymatic recovery of sugars. To ascertain the effect of CAD downregulation in switchgrass, RNA mediated silencing of CAD was induced through Agrobacterium mediated transformation of cv. “Alamo” with an inverted repeat construct containing a fragment derived from the coding sequence of PviCAD2. The resulting primary transformants accumulated less CAD RNA transcript and protein than control transformants and were demonstrated to be stably transformed with between 1 and 5 copies of the T-DNA. CAD activity against coniferaldehyde, and sinapaldehyde in stems of silenced lines was significantly reduced as was overall lignin and cutin. Glucose release from ground samples pretreated with ammonium hydroxide and digested with cellulases was greater than in control transformants. When stained with the lignin and cutin specific stain phloroglucinol-HCl the staining intensity of one line indicated greater incorporation of hydroxycinnamyl aldehydes in the lignin

CD105 is a more appropriate marker for evaluating angiogenesis in urothelial cancer of the upper urinary tract than CD31 or CD34

Angiogenesis plays an important role in cancer progression in many types of cancer. Evaluation of angiogenesis is often performed, but the optimal methodology for human cancer has not been agreed upon. As adequate evaluation of angiogenesis in cancer tissues might be important for prediction of prognosis and treatment decisions, we evaluated angiogenesis semiquantitatively by assessing microvessel density (MVD) in urothelial cancer of the upper urinary tract (UC-UUT). We compared the performance of three endothelial cell markers (CD31, CD34, and CD105) on formalin-fixed tissues from 122 patients diagnosed with UC-UUT without metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A expression was also evaluated immunohistochemically. Correlations between MVD with each marker and pT stage, grade, survival, and VEGF-A expression were investigated. Mean (standard deviation) MVD as estimated by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD31, anti-CD34, and anti-CD105 were 47.1 (17.9)/high-power field (HPF), 70.9 (19.5)/HPF, and 31.2 (16.7)/HPF, respectively. Although all MVDs were significantly associated with pT stage and grade, CD105-MVD showed the strongest association. Similarly, CD105-MVD showed the strongest correlation with VEGF-A expression (r = 0.530, p < 0.001). Although all MVDs were associated with metastasis-free survival and cause-specific survival on univariate analysis, only CD105-MVD was retained as an independent predictor in multivariate analysis including pT stage and grade. CD105-MVD may be the preferred marker for semiquantitative assessment of angiogenesis in patients with UC-UUT

Empowering the immune fate of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells: gene and protein changes

Objective and design: Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) are referred as a promising immunotherapeutic cell product. New approaches using empowered MSCs should be developed as for the treatment or prevention of different immunological diseases. Such preconditioning by new licensing stimuli will empower the immune fate of BM-MSCs and, therefore, promote a better and more efficient biological. Here, our main goal was to establish the immunological profile of BM-MSCs following inflammatory priming and in particular their capacity to adjust their immune-related proteome and transcriptome. Material and methods: To run this study, we have used BM-MSC cell cultures, a pro-inflammatory cytokine cocktail priming, flow cytometry analysis, qPCR and ELISA techniques. Results: Different expression levels of several immunological mediators such as COX-1, COX-2, LIF, HGF, Gal-1, HO-1, IL-11, IL-8, IL-6 and TGF-β were constitutively observed in BM-MSCs. Inflammation priming substantially but differentially modulated the gene and protein expression profiles of these mediators. Thus, expressions of COX-2, LIF, HGF, IL-11, IL-8 and IL-6 were highly increased/induced and those of COX-1, Gal-1, and TGF-β were reduced. Conclusions: Collectively, we demonstrated that BM-MSCs are endowed with a specific and modular regulatory machinery which is potentially involved in immunomodulation. Moreover, BM-MSCs are highly sensitive to inflammation and respond to such signal by properly adjusting their gene and protein expression of regulatory factors. Using such preconditioning may empower the immune fate of MSCs and, therefore, enhance their value for cell-based immunotherapy.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe