Innovation of a Regulatory Mechanism Modulating Semi-determinate Stem Growth through Artificial Selection in Soybean

It has been demonstrated that Terminal Flowering 1 (TFL1) in Arabidopsis and its functional orthologs in other plants specify indeterminate stem growth through their specific expression that represses floral identity genes in shoot apical meristems (SAMs), and that the loss-of-function mutations at these functional counterparts result in the transition of SAMs from the vegetative to reproductive state that is essential for initiation of terminal flowering and thus formation of determinate stems. However, little is known regarding how semi-determinate stems, which produce terminal racemes similar to those observed in determinate plants, are specified in any flowering plants. Here we show that semi-determinacy in soybean is modulated by transcriptional repression of Dt1, the functional ortholog of TFL1, in SAMs. Such repression is fulfilled by recently enabled spatiotemporal expression of Dt2, an ancestral form of the APETALA1/FRUITFULL orthologs, which encodes a MADS-box factor directly binding to the regulatory sequence of Dt1. In addition, Dt2 triggers co-expression of the putative SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (GmSOC1) in SAMs, where GmSOC1 interacts with Dt2, and also directly binds to the Dt1 regulatory sequence. Heterologous expression of Dt2 and Dt1 in determinate (tfl1) Arabidopsis mutants enables creation of semi-determinacy, but the same forms of the two genes in the tfl1 and soc1 background produce indeterminate stems, suggesting that Dt2 and SOC1 both are essential for transcriptional repression of Dt1. Nevertheless, the expression of Dt2 is unable to repress TFL1 in Arabidopsis, further demonstrating the evolutionary novelty of the regulatory mechanism underlying stem growth in soybean

Hsp47 Promotes Cancer Metastasis by Enhancing Collagen-Dependent Cancer Cell-Platelet Interaction

Increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) suggests potential function of cancer cell-produced ECM in initiation of cancer cell colonization. Here, we showed that collagen and heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47), a chaperone facilitating collagen secretion and deposition, were highly expressed during the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and in CTCs. Hsp47 expression induced mesenchymal phenotypes in mammary epithelial cells (MECs), enhanced platelet recruitment, and promoted lung retention and colonization of cancer cells. Platelet depletion in vivo abolished Hsp47-induced cancer cell retention in the lung, suggesting that Hsp47 promotes cancer cell colonization by enhancing cancer cell–platelet interaction. Using rescue experiments and functional blocking antibodies, we identified type I collagen as the key mediator of Hsp47-induced cancer cell–platelet interaction. We also found that Hsp47-dependent collagen deposition and platelet recruitment facilitated cancer cell clustering and extravasation in vitro. By analyzing DNA/RNA sequencing data generated from human breast cancer tissues, we showed that gene amplification and increased expression of Hsp47 were associated with cancer metastasis. These results suggest that targeting the Hsp47/collagen axis is a promising strategy to block cancer cell–platelet interaction and cancer colonization in secondary organs

Cathepsin B-Mediated NLRP3 Inflammasome Formation and Activation in Angiotensin II -Induced Hypertensive Mice: Role of Macrophage Digestion Dysfunction

Background/Aims: Angiotensin II (Ang II) is an octapeptide hormone that plays a significant role in mediating hypertension. Although hypertension is considered a chronic inflammatory disease, the molecular basis of the sterile inflammatory response involved in hypertension remains unclear. Methods: We investigated the role of macrophage NLRP3 inflammasomes in engulfing and digesting microbes, a key macrophage function, and in early onset of hypertension-associated macrophage injury using biochemical analyses, gene silencing, molecular biotechnology, immunofluorescence, and microbiology. Results: Ang II stimulation decreased nitric oxide (NO) release and macrophage digestion in cultured THP-1 cells and markedly increased NLRP3 inflammasome formation and activation. NO release and macrophage digestion were restored by NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition with isoliquiritigenin and gene silencing. This Ang II-induced upregulation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in macrophages was attributed to lysosomal damage and release of cathepsin B. Mechanistically, losartan, a nonpeptide Ang II receptor antagonist, decreased Ang II-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation, lysosomal membrane permeability, lysosomal cathepsin B release, and macrophage digestion dysfunction. Similarly, Ang II-induced macrophage microbe digestion and NO production, which were blocked by ATI gene silencing. In addition, in vivo experiments showed that the bacteria scavenging function was clearly decreased in macrophages from Ang II-induced hypertensive mice. Conclusion: Angiotensin II enhances lysosomal membrane permeabilization and the consequent release of lysosomal cathepsin B, resulting in activation of the macrophage NLRP3 inflammasome. This may contribute to NO mediation of dysfunction in digesting microbes

The roles of sirtuins in ferroptosis

Ferroptosis represents a novel non-apoptotic form of regulated cell death that is driven by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation and plays vital roles in various diseases including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders and cancers. Plenty of iron metabolism-related proteins, regulators of lipid peroxidation, and oxidative stress-related molecules are engaged in ferroptosis and can regulate this complex biological process. Sirtuins have broad functional significance and are targets of many drugs in the clinic. Recently, a growing number of studies have revealed that sirtuins can participate in the occurrence of ferroptosis by affecting many aspects such as redox balance, iron metabolism, and lipid metabolism. This article reviewed the studies on the roles of sirtuins in ferroptosis and the related molecular mechanisms, highlighting valuable targets for the prevention and treatment of ferroptosis-associated diseases

CRIM1 Complexes with ß-catenin and Cadherins, Stabilizes Cell-Cell Junctions and Is Critical for Neural Morphogenesis

In multicellular organisms, morphogenesis is a highly coordinated process that requires dynamically regulated adhesion between cells. An excellent example of cellular morphogenesis is the formation of the neural tube from the flattened epithelium of the neural plate. Cysteine-rich motor neuron protein 1 (CRIM1) is a single-pass (type 1) transmembrane protein that is expressed in neural structures beginning at the neural plate stage. In the frog Xenopus laevis, loss of function studies using CRIM1 antisense morpholino oligonucleotides resulted in a failure of neural development. The CRIM1 knockdown phenotype was, in some cases, mild and resulted in perturbed neural fold morphogenesis. In severely affected embryos there was a dramatic failure of cell adhesion in the neural plate and complete absence of neural structures subsequently. Investigation of the mechanism of CRIM1 function revealed that it can form complexes with ß-catenin and cadherins, albeit indirectly, via the cytosolic domain. Consistent with this, CRIM1 knockdown resulted in diminished levels of cadherins and ß-catenin in junctional complexes in the neural plate. We conclude that CRIM1 is critical for cell-cell adhesion during neural development because it is required for the function of cadherin-dependent junctions

Multiple instance learning tracking method with local sparse representation

When objects undergo large pose change, illumination variation or partial occlusion, most existed visual tracking algorithms tend to drift away from targets and even fail in tracking them. To address this issue, in this study, the authors propose an online algorithm by combining multiple instance learning (MIL) and local sparse representation for tracking an object in a video system. The key idea in our method is to model the appearance of an object by local sparse codes that can be formed as training data for the MIL framework. First, local image patches of a target object are represented as sparse codes with an overcomplete dictionary, where the adaptive representation can be helpful in overcoming partial occlusion in object tracking. Then MIL learns the sparse codes by a classifier to discriminate the target from the background. Finally, results from the trained classifier are input into a particle filter framework to sequentially estimate the target state over time in visual tracking. In addition, to decrease the visual drift because of the accumulative errors when updating the dictionary and classifier, a two‐step object tracking method combining a static MIL classifier with a dynamical MIL classifier is proposed. Experiments on some publicly available benchmarks of video sequences show that our proposed tracker is more robust and effective than others

Free-Form Deformation with Automatically Generated Multiresolution Lattices

Developing intuitive and efficient methods for shape editing is one of the most important areas in computer graphics, and free-form deformation (FFD), which is one of such methods, allows the user to deform a model easily by moving a set of control points, collectively called the lattice. Although the FFD method can be used for both global and local deformations, the user must define a suitable lattice manually or use a simple shaped lattice such as a parallelepiped. Therefore, we propose a new FFD method that automatically generates the lattices with which both types of deformations can be achieved. Our method refines a bounding box of the model and generates a set of finer lattices, which hierarchically approximate the shape of the model. Through adjusting the control points of the generated lattices, both global and local deformations of the model can be achieved easily. Moreover, the method allows hierarchical deformation of the model by combining different levels of lattice. 1

Impact of Island Nuclear Power Project on the Spatial Distribution Pattern of Mariculture: A case Study of Niushan Island, China

Nuclear power generation is being promoted globally as a clean energy source and is one of China’s key tools for addressing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The Niushan Island of China was selected as the research area and conducted detailed seasonal surveys at sea to explore the spatial distribution pattern of marine aquaculture around nuclear power project and analyze the potential impact of island nuclear power project construction on major marine aquaculture species. The results showed that, the spatial distribution pattern of mariculture around the Sea Island Nuclear Power Project is closely related to the aquaculture environment and seasonality. The main mariculture activities include Porphyra cultivation, mudflat breeding and ponding aquaculture. The envelope area of suspended sediment greater than 10 mg/L is 13.0565 km2 during the construction of the project, which may have an impact on the Porphyra cultivation. The average half-moon tide 1.0°C temperature rise envelope is 31.30 km2 in summer and 2.64 km2 in winter for the 6×AP1400 nuclear power units. The temperature rise caused by human factors may have an impact on the breeding activities of “Jiluo Sanniu Marine Ranch”