Melatonin interaction with abscisic acid in the regulation of abiotic stress in Solanaceae family plants

Solanaceous vegetable crops are cultivated and consumed worldwide. However, they often confront diverse abiotic stresses that significantly impair their growth, yield, and overall quality. This review delves into melatonin and abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and their roles in abiotic stress responses. It closely examines the intricate interplay between melatonin and ABA in managing stress within plants, revealing both collaborative and antagonistic effects and elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms. Melatonin and ABA mutually influence each other’s synthesis, metabolism and that of other plant hormones, a key focus of this study. The study highlights melatonin’s role in aiding stress management through ABA-dependent pathways and key genes in the melatonin-ABA interaction. Specifically, melatonin downregulates ABA synthesis genes and upregulates catabolism genes, leading to reduced ABA levels. It also directly scavenges H2O2, enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities, thereby underscoring their collaborative role in mediating stress responses. Moreover, the interplay between melatonin and ABA plays an essential role in multiple physiological processes of plants, including stomatal behaviors, wax accumulation, delay leaf senescence, seed germination, and seedlings growth, among others. Recognizing these relationships in Solanaceae vegetable crops holds great importance for improving agricultural practices and crop quality. In summary, this review offers a comprehensive overview of recent studies on the melatonin and ABA interplay, serving as a valuable resource for researchers and breeders dedicated to fortifying crop resilience and productivity within challenging environments

Susceptibility of cervical cancer to dihydroartemisinin-induced ferritinophagy-dependent ferroptosis

The clinical therapeutics of cervical cancer is limited due to the drug resistance and metastasis of tumor. As a novel target for antitumor therapy, ferroptosis is deemed to be more susceptible for those cancer cells with resistance to apoptosis and chemotherapy. Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), the primary active metabolites of artemisinin and its derivatives, has exhibited a variety of anticancer properties with low toxicity. However, the role of DHA and ferroptosis in cervical cancer remained unclear. Here, we showed that DHA could time-dependently and dose-dependently inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells, which could be alleviated by the inhibitors of ferroptosis rather than apoptosis. Further investigation confirmed that DHA treatment initiated ferroptosis, as evidenced by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and liquid peroxidation (LPO) levels and simultaneously depletion of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and glutathione (GSH). Moreover, nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4)-mediated ferritinophagy was also induced by DHA leading to subsequent increases of intracellular labile iron pool (LIP), exacerbated the Fenton reaction resulting in excessive ROS production, and enhanced cervical cancer ferroptosis. Among them, we unexpectedly found that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) played an antioxidant role in DHA-induced cell death. In addition, the results of synergy analysis showed that the combination of DHA and doxorubicin (DOX) emerged a highly synergistic lethal effect for cervical cancer cells, which was related also to ferroptosis. Overall, our data revealed the molecular mechanisms that DHA triggered ferritinophagy-dependent ferroptosis and sensitized to DOX in cervical cancer, which may provide novel avenues for future therapy development

RNA-Seq Analyses Generate Comprehensive Transcriptomic Landscape and Reveal Complex Transcript Patterns in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

RNA-seq is a powerful tool for comprehensive characterization of whole transcriptome at both gene and exon levels and with a unique ability of identifying novel splicing variants. To date, RNA-seq analysis of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been reported. In this study, we performed transcriptome analyses for 10 matched pairs of cancer and non-cancerous tissues from HCC patients on Solexa/Illumina GAII platform. On average, about 21.6 million sequencing reads and 10.6 million aligned reads were obtained for samples sequenced on each lane, which was able to identify >50% of all the annotated genes for each sample. Furthermore, we identified 1,378 significantly differently expressed genes (DEGs) and 24, 338 differentially expressed exons (DEEs). Comprehensive function analyses indicated that cell growth-related, metabolism-related and immune-related pathways were most significantly enriched by DEGs, pointing to a complex mechanism for HCC carcinogenesis. Positional gene enrichment analysis showed that DEGs were most significantly enriched at chromosome 8q21.3–24.3. The most interesting findings were from the analysis at exon levels where we characterized three major patterns of expression changes between gene and exon levels, implying a much complex landscape of transcript-specific differential expressions in HCC. Finally, we identified a novel highly up-regulated exon-exon junction in ATAD2 gene in HCC tissues. Overall, to our best knowledge, our study represents the most comprehensive characterization of HBV-related HCC transcriptome including exon level expression changes and novel splicing variants, which illustrated the power of RNA-seq and provided important clues for understanding the molecular mechanisms of HCC pathogenesis at system-wide levels

Improving Agrobacterium tumefaciens−Mediated Genetic Transformation for Gene Function Studies and Mutagenesis in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

In the post−genomics era, Agrobacterium tumefaciens−mediated genetic transformation is becoming an increasingly indispensable tool for characterization of gene functions and crop improvement in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). However, cucumber transformation efficiency is still low. In this study, we evaluated the effects of several key factors affecting the shoot−regeneration rate and overall transformation efficiency in cucumber including genotypes, the age and sources of explants, Agrobacterium strains, infection/co−cultivation conditions, and selective agents. We showed that in general, North China cucumbers exhibited higher shoot−regeneration rate than US pickling or slicing cucumbers. The subapical ground meristematic regions from cotyledons or the hypocotyl had a similar shoot−regeneration efficiency that was also affected by the age of the explants. Transformation with the Agrobacterium strain AGL1 yielded a higher frequency of positive transformants than with GV3101. The antibiotic kanamycin was effective in selection against non−transformants or chimeras. Optimization of various factors was exemplified with the development of transgenic plants overexpressing the LittleLeaf (LL) gene or RNAi of the APRR2 gene in three cucumber lines. The streamlined protocol was also tested in transgenic studies in three additional genes. The overall transformation efficiency defined by the number of verified transgenic plants out of the number of seeds across multiple experiments was 0.2–1.7%. Screening among T1 OE transgenic plants identified novel, inheritable mutants for leaf or fruit color or size/shape, suggesting T−DNA insertion as a potential source of mutagenesis. The Agrobacterium−mediated transformation protocol from this study could be used as the baseline for further improvements in cucumber transformation

Phlugiolopsis yunnanensis Shi et Ou 2005

<i>Phlugiolopsis yunnanensis</i> Shi <i>et</i> Ou, 2005 <p> (Figs. 50 <b>–</b> 51)</p> <p> <i>Phlugiolopsis yunnanensis</i> Shi <i>et</i> Ou, 2005: 359.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> China (Yunnan).</p>Published as part of <i>Wang, Hanqiang, Li, Kai & Liu, Xianwei, 2012, A taxonomic study on the species of the genus Phlugiolopsis Zeuner (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae), pp. 27-48 in Zootaxa 3332</i> on page 41, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/209588">10.5281/zenodo.209588</a&gt

Phlugiolopsis ventralis Wang, Li & Liu, 2012, sp.nov.

<i>Phlugiolopsis ventralis</i> sp.nov. <p> (Figs. 56 <b>–</b> 59)</p> <p> <b>Material.</b> Holotype 3, China: Yunnan, Kunming, West Mountain, 2010. X.24, leg. GUO Jiang-li; Paratype 5ƤƤ, same data as holotype.</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> Male. Fore tibiae armed 4, 4(1, 1), mid tibiae with 3 inner and 3 outer spines, hind tibiae with 20 <b>–</b> 22 teeth on inner and outer margin of dorsal surface, and with 3 pairs of apical spurs. Tegmina distinctly surpassed hind margin of pronotum. 10th abdominal tergite with hind margin produced. Cerci short and robust (Figs.</p> <p> 56 <b>–</b> 58), inner surface of basal half excavated, with weak upper lobe, apical third near triangular, strongly incurved. Subgenital plate slightly longer than wide, with long apical lobe and truncate apex, with paired styli. Female. Subgential plate nearly triangular and apex notched, lateral margin straight and with a short keel (Fig. 59). Ovipositor is shorter than hind femora, ventral valve with apical hook.</p> <p> <b>Coloration.</b> Body yellowish brown. Dorsal surface of head with 4 black longitudinal lines, antennae with few and scattered dark rings, dorsal surface of pronotum with a wide pale brown longitudinal band and 2 black lateral stripes, the stripes not reaching hind margin, abdomen with black lateral and ventral surface.</p> <p> <b>Measurements.</b> (in mm)</p> <p> <b>Discussion.</b> This new species is similar to <i>Phlugiolopsis yaeyamensis</i> Yamasaki, 1986, differs in male cerci with apex strongly incurved and triangular (Fig. 56); subgential plate of female with hind margin nearly triangular and apex notched, lateral margin straight and with a short keel (Fig. 59).</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific name is derived from Latin ventralis, referring to the black ventral surface of abdomen.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> China (Yunnan).</p>Published as part of <i>Wang, Hanqiang, Li, Kai & Liu, Xianwei, 2012, A taxonomic study on the species of the genus Phlugiolopsis Zeuner (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae), pp. 27-48 in Zootaxa 3332</i> on pages 46-47, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/209588">10.5281/zenodo.209588</a&gt

Phlugiolopsis ramosissima Wang, Li & Liu, 2012, sp. nov.

<i>Phlugiolopsis ramosissima</i> sp. nov. <p>(Figs. 11–14)</p> <p> <b>Material.</b> Holotype 3, China: Tibet, 2011. VI <b>–</b> IX, leg. BI Wen-Xuan. Paratype 13, 3ƤƤ, same data as holotype.</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> Male. Fore tibiae with spines 4,4(1,1), middle tibiae with 3 inner and 4 outer spines, hind tibiae with 26 <b>–</b> 29 teeth on both margins of dorsal surface, and with 3 pairs of apical spurs. Tegmina very slightly exceeding hind margin of pronotum. 10th abdominal tergite with truncated hind margin, median portion of apex of dorsal surface with quadrate excavation. Cerci elongate, gradually curved, inner surface of basal half hardly excavate, with 3 branches (Fig. 11), the upper two branches nearly triangular; apical half thin and curved inwards, apex obliquely truncate. Subgenital plate short, hind margin with a small median process (Fig. 13); styli shorter.</p> <p>Female. Subgenital plate wide in base, with narrow apex, hind margin rounded truncate, middle of base with a paired of weak keels. Ovipositor shorter than hind femora, ventral valve with apical hook.</p> <p> <b>Coloration.</b> Body blackish brown. Dorsal surface of head with 4 black longitudinal lines of which two inner merged, antennae with few and scattered dark rings, dorsal surface of pronotum with a dark brown longitudinal band which and 2 black lateral stripes in metazona, abdomen entirely black, apical portion of femora darkish.</p> <p> <b>Measurements.</b> (length in mm)</p> <p>Body Pronotum Tegmina Hind femora Ovipositor 3 8.9~9.0 4.1~4.2 1.0 8.7~8.9 /</p> <p>Ƥ 8.1~8.3 4.1~4.7 1.0 7.9~8.3 5.0~5.4</p> <p> <b>Discussion.</b> This new species is similar to <i>Phlugiolopsis chayuensis</i> sp. nov, but differs from it by the longer male cerci gradually curved, with obliquely truncate apex. Subgenital plate of female with rounded middle lobe and distinct laterally concave.</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific name is derived from Latin ramosissima, referring to the cerci with its many branches.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> China (Tibet).</p>Published as part of <i>Wang, Hanqiang, Li, Kai & Liu, Xianwei, 2012, A taxonomic study on the species of the genus Phlugiolopsis Zeuner (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae), pp. 27-48 in Zootaxa 3332</i> on page 31, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/209588">10.5281/zenodo.209588</a&gt

Phlugiolopsis grahami Tinkham 1944

<i>Phlugiolopsis grahami</i> (Tinkham, 1944) <p>(Figs. 1–4)</p> <p> <i>Xiphidiopsis grahami</i> Tinkham, 1944: 510; Tinkham, 1956: 3, 5.</p> <p> <i>Acyrtaspis grahami</i> Bey-Bienko, 1955: 1262; Beier, 1966: 281; Jin <i>et</i> Xia, 1994: 26; Liu <i>et</i> Jin, 1994: 108; Otte, 1997: 94. <i>Phlugiolopsis grahami</i> Shi <i>et</i> Ou, 2005: 358.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> China (Sichuan).</p>Published as part of <i>Wang, Hanqiang, Li, Kai & Liu, Xianwei, 2012, A taxonomic study on the species of the genus Phlugiolopsis Zeuner (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae), pp. 27-48 in Zootaxa 3332</i> on page 28, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/209588">10.5281/zenodo.209588</a&gt