The arabidopsis RCC1 family protein TCF1 regulates freezing tolerance and cold acclimation through modulating lignin biosynthesis

Cell water permeability and cell wall properties are critical to survival of plant cells during freezing, however the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report that a specifically cold-induced nuclear protein, Tolerant to Chilling and Freezing 1 (TCF1), interacts with histones H3 and H4 and associates with chromatin containing a target gene, BLUE-COPPER-BINDING PROTEIN (BCB), encoding a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein that regulates lignin biosynthesis. Loss of TCF1 function leads to reduced BCB transcription through affecting H3K4me2 and H3K27me3 levels within the BCB gene, resulting in reduced lignin content and enhanced freezing tolerance. Furthermore, plants with knocked-down BCB expression (amiRNA-BCB) under cold acclimation had reduced lignin accumulation and increased freezing tolerance. The pal1pal2 double mutant (lignin content reduced by 30% compared with WT) also showed the freezing tolerant phenotype, and TCF1 and BCB act upstream of PALs to regulate lignin content. In addition, TCF1 acts independently of the CBF (C-repeat binding factor) pathway. Our findings delineate a novel molecular pathway linking the TCF1-mediated cold-specific transcriptional program to lignin biosynthesis, thus achieving cell wall remodeling with increased freezing tolerance

Different Distribution of Core Microbiota in Upper Soil Layer in Two Places of North China Plain

Backgrounds: Soils harbor diverse bacteria, and these bacteria play important roles in soil nutrition cycling and carbon storage. Numerous investigations of soil microbiota had been performed, and the core microbiota in different soil or vegetation soil types had been described. The upper layer of soil, as a source of organic matter, is important and affected by the habitats and dominant bacteria. However, the complexity of soil environments and relatively limited information of many geographic areas had attracted great attention on comprehensive exploration of soil microbes in enormous types of soil. Methods: To reveal the core upper layer soil microbiota, soil samples from metropolis and countryside regions in the North China Plain were investigated using high-throughput sequencing strategy. Results: The results showed that the most dominant bacteria are Proteobacteria (38.34%), Actinobacteria (20.56%), and Acidobacteria (15.18%). At the genus-level, the most abundant known genera are Gaiella (3.66%), Sphingomonas (3.6%), Acidobacteria Gp6 (3.52%), and Nocardioides (2.1%). Moreover, several dominant operational taxanomy units OTUs, such as OTU_3 and OTU_17, were identified to be associated with the soil environment. Microbial distributions of the metropolis samples were different from the countryside samples, which may reflect the environments in the countryside were more diverse than in the metropolis. Microbial diversity and evenness were higher in the metropolis than in the countryside, which might due to the fact that human activity increased the microbial diversity in the metropolis. Conclusion: The upper layer soil core microbiota of the North China Plain were complex, and microbial distributions in these two places might be mainly affected by the human activity and environmental factors, not by the distance. Our data highlights the upper layer soil core microbiota in North China Plain, and provides insights for future soil microbial distribution studies in central China

A photo-responsive F-box protein FOF2 regulates floral initiation by promoting FLC expression in Arabidopsis.

Floral initiation is regulated by various genetic pathways in response to light, temperature, hormones and developmental status; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between different genetic pathways are not fully understood. Here, we show that the photoresponsive gene FOF2 (F-box of flowering 2) negatively regulates flowering. FOF2 encodes a putative F-box protein that interacts specifically with ASK14, and its overexpression results in later flowering under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Conversely, transgenic plants expressing the F-box domain deletion mutant of FOF2 (FOF2ΔF), or double loss of function mutant of FOF2 and FOL1 (FOF2-LIKE 1) present early flowering phenotypes. The late flowering phenotype of the FOF2 overexpression lines is suppressed by the flc-3 loss-of-function mutation. Furthermore, FOF2 mRNA expression is regulated by autonomous pathway gene FCA, and the repressive effect of FOF2 in flowering can be overcome by vernalization. Interestingly, FOF2 expression is regulated by light. The protein level of FOF2 accumulates in response to light, whereas it is degraded under dark conditions via the 26S proteasome pathway. Our findings suggest a possible mechanistic link between light conditions and the autonomous floral promotion pathway in Arabidopsis

Comparison of rumen bacteria distribution in original rumen digesta, rumen liquid and solid fractions in lactating Holstein cows

Microbial diversity in different fractions of rumen content. a, the OTU numbers in original, solid or liquid fraction samples. b, Chao1 index in original, solid or liquid fraction samples. c, Simpson index based on OTUs in original, solid, and liquid fraction samples. HFD: High fiber diet; HED: High energy diet. Data are presented as Mean ± SD. Figure S2. Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) in different groups. ANOSIM results are presented with box plot when bacteria communities are grouped by diet (a), cows (b), and ruminal content fractions (c) using Bray-Curtis metric based on OTUs. Figure S3. Venn plot for shared OTUs. a, OTUs in HFD and HED. b, OTUs in original, solid and liquid fractions. Figure S4. Ruminal bacteria change in different fractions of rumen content at genera level. LEfSe histogram demonstrating taxonomic differences among different fractions in HFD group (a) and HED group (b) respectively, LDA scores above 2 and P value smaller than 0.05 were shown. LEfSe: linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size. Figure S5. Influence of rumen fractions on biomarker taxa abundance. p_: phylum; c_: class; o_: order; f_: family; g_: genus. Data was presented as Mean ± SD. Figure S6. Predominant rumen bacteria at genera level. a, predominant genera higher than 1% in proportion in all samples. b, distribution of predominant genera in each fractions. (DOC 1371 kb

The emergence of global phase coherence from local pairing in underdoped cuprates

In conventional metal superconductors such as aluminum, the large number of weakly bounded Cooper pairs become phase coherent as soon as they start to form. The cuprate high critical temperature ($T_c$) superconductors, in contrast, belong to a distinctively different category. To account for the high $T_c$, the attractive pairing interaction is expected to be strong and the coherence length is short. Being doped Mott insulators, the cuprates are known to have low superfluid density, thus are susceptible to phase fluctuations. It has been proposed that pairing and phase coherence may occur separately in cuprates, and $T_c$ corresponds to the phase coherence temperature controlled by the superfluid density. To elucidate the microscopic processes of pairing and phase ordering in cuprates, here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to image the evolution of electronic states in underdoped $\rm Bi_2La_xSr_{2-x}CuO_{6+{\delta}}$. Even in the insulating sample, we observe a smooth crossover from the Mott insulator to superconductor-type spectra on small islands with chequerboard order and emerging quasiparticle interference patterns following the octet model. Each chequerboard plaquette contains approximately two holes, and exhibits a stripy internal structure that has strong influence on the superconducting features. Across the insulator to superconductor boundary, the local spectra remain qualitatively the same while the quasiparticle interferences become long-ranged. These results suggest that the chequerboard plaquette with internal stripes plays a crucial role on local pairing in cuprates, and the global phase coherence is established once its spatial occupation exceeds a threshold

Dynamic Interactions between TIP60 and p300 Regulate FOXP3 Function through a Structural Switch Defined by a Single Lysine on TIP60

SummaryThe human FOXP3 molecule is an oligomeric transcriptional factor able to mediate activities that characterize T regulatory cells, a class of lymphocytes central to the regulation of immune responses. The activity of FOXP3 is regulated at the posttranslational level, in part by two histone acetyltransferases (HATs): TIP60 and p300. TIP60 and p300 work cooperatively to regulate FOXP3 activity. Initially, p300 and TIP60 interactions lead to the activation of TIP60 and facilitate acetylation of K327 of TIP60, which functions as a molecular switch to allow TIP60 to change binding partners. Subsequently, p300 is released from this complex, and TIP60 interacts with and acetylates FOXP3. Maximal induction of FOXP3 activities is observed when both p300 and TIP60 are able to undergo cooperative interactions. Conditional knockout of TIP60 in Treg cells significantly decreases the Treg population in the peripheral immune organs, leading to a scurfy-like fatal autoimmune disease

The relationship between red blood cell distribution width at admission and post-stroke fatigue in the acute phase of acute ischemic stroke

IntroductionPost-stroke fatigue (PSF) is a common complication in the patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). This prospective study aimed to investigate the relationship between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) at admission and PSF in the acute phase.MethodsThe AIS patients were enrolled in Nantong Third People's Hospital, consecutively. PSF in the acute phase was scored according to the Fatigue Severity Scale. Levels of RDW were measured at admission. The associations were analyzed using multivariate regression and restricted cubic splines (RCS).ResultsFrom April 2021 to March 2022, a total of 206 AIS patients (mean age, 69.3 ± 10.7 years; 52.9% men) were recruited. After the adjustment for potential confounding factors, RDW at admission remained the independent associated factor with PSF in the acute phase (OR [odds ratio], 1.635; 95% CI [confidence interval], 1.153–2.318; P = 0.006). The linear dose-response associations of RDW with PSF in the acute phase were found, based on the RCS model (P for non-linearity = 0.372; P for linearity = 0.037). These results remained significant in other models.ConclusionsRDW at admission could serve as a novel biomarker of PSF in the acute phase of AIS

Non-contrast computed tomography-based radiomics for staging of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease

Rationale and introductionIt is of significance to assess the severity and predict the mortality of patients with connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). In this double-center retrospective study, we developed and validated a radiomics nomogram for clinical management by using the ILD-GAP (gender, age, and pulmonary physiology) index system.Materials and methodsPatients with CTD-ILD were staged using the ILD-GAP index system. A clinical factor model was built by demographics and CT features, and a radiomics signature was developed using radiomics features extracted from CT images. Combined with the radiomics signature and independent clinical factors, a radiomics nomogram was constructed and evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. The models were externally validated in dataset 2 to evaluate the model generalization ability using ROC analysis.ResultsA total of 245 patients from two clinical centers (dataset 1, n = 202; dataset 2, n = 43) were screened. Pack-years of smoking, traction bronchiectasis, and nine radiomics features were used to build the radiomics nomogram, which showed favorable calibration and discrimination in the training cohort {AUC, 0.887 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.827–0.940]}, the internal validation cohort [AUC, 0.885 (95% CI: 0.816–0.922)], and the external validation cohort [AUC, 0.85 (95% CI: 0.720–0.919)]. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the nomogram outperformed the clinical factor model and radiomics signature in terms of clinical usefulness.ConclusionThe CT-based radiomics nomogram showed favorable efficacy in predicting individual ILD-GAP stages