<i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seedlings are highly insensitive to ABA.

<p><i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> and tomato seeds were germinated on ½ MS plates, and when seedlings grew to 1 cm in length, they were transferred to liquid ½ MS medium containing different concentrations of ABA to grow for 5 more days. (<b>A</b>) A photograph of tomato (top) and <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seedlings (bottom) (Scale bar = 1cm). (<b>B</b>) The lengths of tomato hypocotyls and <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seedlings relative to those of the controls (without ABA). Results are presented as the mean ± SE (N = 10). Asterisks indicate significant differences between the respective control and treated groups determined by Student’s <i>t</i>-test (***, P < 0.001).</p

Phylogenetic alignment (phyml/NJ) of the ABA receptor proteins in <i>Cuscuta australis</i> (4 receptors), <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> (14 receptors), <i>Solanum lycopersicum</i> (15 receptors), and <i>Oryza sativa</i> (12 receptors).

<p>The phylogenetic analysis was performed using the neighbor-joining algorithms of MEGA 5.2. The sequences of the 4 CaPYLs are highlighted in bold. Numbers above the branches indicate bootstrap support values of maximum likelihood no less than 75%.</p

<i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seedlings show highly decreased sensitivity to ABA during seed germination.

<p>Tomato and <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seeds were sterilized and sown on 1/2 MS medium in the presence of different concentrations of ABA and incubated in a growth chamber (24°C, 16 h light/8 h dark cycle). The germination rates (mean ± SE; N = 30) of tomato (<b>A</b>) and <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> (<b>B</b>) seeds were recorded daily. The experiment was repeated twice with very similar results.</p

<i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> seedlings can take up ABA from the media.

<p><i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> and tomato seedlings were germinated and grown to about 1cm in length before they were transferred to 1/2 MS medium containing 50 μM of ABA or no ABA (indicated by ABA and C on the X-axis) and incubated for 24 h. Subsequently, seedlings were thoroughly rinsed with water to remove ABA from the surface. Five to 10 seedlings (~100 mg) were pooled to form 1 replicate, and ABA levels were measured (mean ± SE; N = 5). Asterisks indicate significant differences between the respective ABA-treated and non-treated groups determined by Student’s <i>t</i>-test (***, P < 0.001).</p

Sequence alignment of <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> and <i>A</i>. <i>thaliana</i> ABA receptors.

<p>Secondary structural elements are indicated above the primary sequences. Helices and strands are shown as blue cylinders and arrows, respectively. The 4 conserved loops CL1–CL4 are highlighted by the magenta lines. The 4 ABA receptors of <i>C</i>. <i>australis</i> are CaPYL1 to CaPYL4, and the 14 ABA receptors of <i>A</i>. <i>thaliana</i> are AtPYR1 and AtPYL1 to AtPYL13. The alignment was done using ClustalX2.1.</p

Salt-tolerant and -sensitive alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i>) cultivars have large variations in defense responses to the lepidopteran insect <i>Spodoptera litura</i> under normal and salt stress condition

<div><p>In nature, plants are often exposed to multiple stress factors at the same time. Yet, little is known about how plants modulate their physiology to counteract simultaneous abiotic and biotic stresses, such as soil salinity and insect herbivory. In this study, insect performance bioassays, phytohormone measurements, quantification of transcripts, and protein determination were employed to study the phenotypic variations of two alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i>) cultivars in response to insect <i>Spodoptera litura</i> feeding under normal and salt stress condition. When being cultivated in normal soil, the salt-tolerant alfalfa cultivar Zhongmu-1 exhibited lower insect resistance than did the salt-sensitive cultivar Xinjiang Daye. Under salinity stress, the defense responses of Xinjiang Daye were repressed, whereas Zhongmu-1 did not show changes in resistance levels. It is likely that salinity influenced the resistance of Xinjiang Daye through suppressing the accumulation of jasmonic acid-isoleucine (JA-Ile), which is the bioactive hormone inducing herbivore defense responses, leading to attenuated trypsin proteinase inhibitor (TPI) activity. Furthermore, exogenous ABA supplementation suppressed the insect herbivory-induced JA/JA-Ile accumulation and levels of <i>JAR1</i> (<i>jasmonate resistant 1</i>) and TPI, and further decreased the resistance of Xinjiang Daye, whereas Zhongmu-1 showed very little response to the increased ABA level. We propose a mechanism, in which high levels of abscisic acid induced by salt treatment may affect the expression levels of <i>JAR1</i> and consequently decrease JA-Ile accumulation and thus partly suppress the defense of Xinjiang Daye against insects under salt stress. This study provides new insight into the mechanism by which alfalfa responds to concurrent abiotic and biotic stresses.</p></div

Baseline Survey of Root-Associated Microbes of <i>Taxus chinensis</i> (Pilger) Rehd

<div><p>Taxol (paclitaxel) a diterpenoid is one of the most effective anticancer drugs identified. Biosynthesis of taxol was considered restricted to the <i>Taxus</i> genera until Stierle <i>et al</i>. discovered that an endophytic fungus isolated from <i>Taxus brevifolia</i> could independently synthesize taxol. Little is known about the mechanism of taxol biosynthesis in microbes, but it has been speculated that its biosynthesis may differ from plants. The microbiome from the roots of <i>Taxus chinensis</i> have been extensively investigated with culture-dependent methods to identify taxol synthesizing microbes, but not using culture independent methods.,Using bar-coded high-throughput sequencing in combination with a metagenomics approach, we surveyed the microbial diversity and gene composition of the root-associated microbiomefrom <i>Taxus chinensis</i> (Pilger) Rehd. High-throughput amplicon sequencing revealed 187 fungal OTUs which is higher than any previously reported fungal number identified with the culture-dependent method, suggesting that <i>T</i>. <i>chinensis</i> roots harbor novel and diverse fungi. Some operational taxonomic units (OTU) identified were identical to reported microbe strains possessing the ability to synthesis taxol and several genes previously associated with taxol biosynthesis were identified through metagenomics analysis.</p></div

Insect performance on seven different alfalfa cultivars and a two-way choice assay on Zhongmu-1 and Xinjiang Daye.

<p>(A) Larval masses of <i>S</i>. <i>litura</i> feeding on seven different cultivars of alfalfa (n = 150). (B) A photograph and (C) a bar-graph showing the two-way choice test assessing the leaf tissue consumption of <i>S</i>. <i>litura</i> larvae on Zhongmu-1 and Xinjiang Daye. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different cultivars (Tukey HSD test; P < 0.05); asterisks indicate significantly different levels between two cultivars (paired <i>t</i>-test; ***, P < 0.001).</p

Data_Sheet_1_Short-term effectiveness of baricitinib in children with refractory and/or severe juvenile dermatomyositis.xlsx

ObjectiveTo determine the short-term effectiveness safety of baricitinib in children with refractory and/or severe juvenile dermatomyositis (rsJDM) in a real-world setting.MethodsThis was a single-center retrospective study, including 20 children with rsJDM. They were all treated using baricitinib combined with steroids and other immunosuppressive agents. The childhood myositis assessment scale (CMAS) and PRINTO remission criteria were used to evaluate the disease severity and treatment outcome at 0, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after initiation of baricitinib.ResultsThe skin rash improved in 95% of patients (19/20) at week 24, with a significant decrease of skin-DAS at weeks 12 (6.0 vs. 2.0, p ConclusionBaricitinib combined with traditional immunosuppressants treatment was efficacious in rsJDM. Add-on therapy of baricitinib was helpful for tapering CS dose. No serious side effects were observed in this study.</p

JA and JA-Ile contents in two alfalfa cultivars in response to <i>S</i>. <i>litura</i> feeding.

<p>Zhongmu-1 and Xinjiang Daye were treated with W+OS, and samples were harvested at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 3 h, and the JA (A) and JA-Ile (B) levels were determined (n = 5). Asterisks indicate significances between two cultivars with the same treatment and time point (Unpaired <i>t</i>-test; *, P < 0.05; ***, P < 0.001).</p