Expression of ethylene biosynthetic and receptor genes in rose floral tissues during ethylene-enhanced flower opening

Ethylene production, as well as the expression of ethylene biosynthetic (Rh-ACS1–4 and Rh-ACO1) and receptor (Rh-ETR1–5) genes, was determined in five different floral tissues (sepals, petals, stamens, gynoecia, and receptacles) of cut rose (Rosa hybrida cv. Samantha upon treatment with ethylene or the ethylene inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). Ethylene-enhanced ethylene production occurred only in gynoecia, petals, and receptacles, with gynoecia showing the greatest enhancement in the early stage of ethylene treatment. However, 1-MCP did not suppress ethylene production in these three tissues. In sepals, ethylene production was highly decreased by ethylene treatment, and increased dramatically by 1-MCP. Ethylene production in stamens remained unchanged after ethylene or 1-MCP treatment. Induction of certain ethylene biosynthetic genes by ethylene in different floral tissues was positively correlated with the ethylene production, and this induction was also not suppressed by 1-MCP. The expression of Rh-ACS2 and Rh-ACS3 was quickly induced by ethylene in gynoecia, but neither Rh-ACS1 nor Rh-ACS4 was induced by ethylene in any of the five tissues. In addition, Rh-ACO1 was induced by ethylene in all floral tissues except sepals. The induced expression of ethylene receptor genes by ethylene was much faster in gynoecia than in petals, and the expression of Rh-ETR3 was strongly suppressed by 1-MCP in all floral tissues. These results indicate that ethylene biosynthesis in gynoecia is regulated developmentally, rather than autocatalytically. The response of rose flowers to ethylene occurs initially in gynoecia, and ethylene may regulate flower opening mainly through the Rh-ETR3 gene in gynoecia

Influenza A virus infection engenders a poor antibody response against the ectodomain of matrix protein 2

BACKGROUND: Matrix protein 2 (M2) is an integral tetrameric membrane protein of influenza A virus (IAV). Its ectodomain (M2e) shows remarkably little diversity amongst human IAV strains. As M2e-specific antibodies (Abs) have been shown to reduce the severity of infection in animals, M2e is being studied for its capability of providing protection against a broad range of IAV strains. Presently, there is little information about the concentration of M2e-specific Abs in humans. Two previous studies made use of ELISA and Western blot against M2e peptides and recombinant M2 protein as immunosorbents, respectively, and reported Ab titers to be low or undetectable. An important caveat is that these assays may not have detected all Abs capable of binding to native tetrameric M2e. Therefore, we developed an assay likely to detect all M2e tetramer-specific Abs. RESULTS: We generated a HeLa cell line that expressed full length tetrameric M2 (HeLa-M2) or empty vector (HeLa-C10) under the control of the tetracycline response element. These cell lines were then used in parallel as immunosorbents in ELISA. The assay was standardized and M2e-specific Ab titers quantified by means of purified murine or chimeric (mouse variable regions, human constant regions) M2e-specific Abs in the analysis of mouse and human sera, respectively. We found that the cell-based ELISA was substantially more effective than immobilized M2e peptide in detecting M2e-specific Abs in sera of mice that had recovered from repetitive IAV infections. Still, titers remained low (< 5 μg/ml) even after two consecutive infections but increased to ~50 μg/ml after the third infection. Competition with free M2e peptide indicated that ~20% of M2e-specific Abs engendered by infection reacted with M2e peptide. In humans presenting with naturally acquired influenza virus infection, 11 of 24 paired sera showed a ≥ 4-fold increase in M2e-specific Ab titer. The Ab response appeared to be of short duration as titers were very low (average 0.2 μg/ml) in all patients at onset of infection and in controls, in spite of evidence for previous exposure to IAV. CONCLUSION: The results provide convincing evidence that M2e-specific Ab-mediated protection is currently lacking or suboptimal in humans

Long Isoforms of NRF1 Contribute to Arsenic-Induced Antioxidant Response in Human Keratinocytes

BACKGROUND: Human exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs), a potent oxidative stressor, causes various dermal disorders, including hyperkeratosis and skin cancer. Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 1 (NRF1, also called NFE2L1) plays a critical role in regulating the expression of many antioxidant response element (ARE)-dependent genes. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the role of NRF1 in arsenic-induced antioxidant response and cytotoxicity in human keratinocytes. RESULTS: In cultured human keratinocyte HaCaT cells, inorganic arsenite (iAs(3+)) enhanced the protein accumulation of long isoforms (120-140 kDa) of NRF1 in a dose-and time-dependent fashion. These isoforms accumulated mainly in the nuclei of HaCaT cells. Selective deficiency of NRF1 by lentiviral short-hairpin RNAs in HaCaT cells [NRF1-knockdown (KD)] led to decreased expression of gamma-glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) and regulatory subunit (GCLM) and a reduced level of intra-cellular glutathione. In response to acute iAs(3+) exposure, induction of some ARE-dependent genes, including NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), GCLC, and GCLM, was significantly attenuated in NRF1-KD cells. However, the iAs(3)-induced expression of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX-1) was unaltered by silencing NRF1, suggesting that HMOX-1 is not regulated by NRF1. In addition, the lack of NRF1 in HaCaT cells did not disturb iAs(3+)-induced NRF2 accumulation but noticeably decreased Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1) levels under basal and iAs(3+)-exposed conditions, suggesting a potential interaction between NRF1 and KEAP1. Consistent with the critical role of NRF1 in the transcriptional regulation of some ARE-bearing genes, knockdown of NRF1 significantly increased iAs(3+)-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we demonstrate for the first time that long isoforms of NRF1 contribute to arsenic-induced antioxidant response in human keratinocytes and protect the cells from acute arsenic cytotoxicity

A Compound Structure for Wind Speed Forecasting Using MKLSSVM with Feature Selection and Parameter Optimization

The aims of this study contribute to a new hybrid model by combining ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) with multikernel function least square support vector machine (MKLSSVM) optimized by hybrid gravitation search algorithm (HGSA) for short-term wind speed prediction. In the forecasting process, EEMD is adopted to make the original wind speed data decomposed into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and one residual firstly. Then, partial autocorrelation function (PACF) is applied to identify the correlation between the corresponding decomposed components. Subsequently, the MKLSSVM using multikernel function of radial basis function (RBF) and polynomial (Poly) kernel function by weight coefficient is exploited as core forecasting engine to make the short-term wind speed prediction. To improve the regression performance, the binary-value GSA (BGSA) in HGSA is utilized as feature selection approach to remove the ineffective candidates and reconstruct the most relevant feature input-matrix for the forecasting engine, while real-value GSA (RGSA) makes the parameter combination optimization of MKLSSVM model. In the end, these respective decomposed subseries forecasting results are combined into the final forecasting values by aggregate calculation. Numerical results and comparable analysis illustrate the excellent performance of the EEMD-HGSA-MKLSSVM model when applied in the short-term wind speed forecasting

Roles of CD4(+) T-Cell-Independent and -Dependent Antibody Responses in the Control of Influenza Virus Infection: Evidence for Noncognate CD4(+) T-Cell Activities That Enhance the Therapeutic Activity of Antiviral Antibodies

Previous studies have indicated that B cells make a significant contribution to the resolution of influenza virus infection. To determine how B cells participate in the control of the infection, we transferred intact, major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II)-negative or B-cell receptor (BCR)-transgenic spleen cells into B-cell-deficient and CD8(+) T-cell-depleted μMT mice, termed μMT(−8), and tested them for ability to recover from infection. μMT(−8) mice that received no spleen cells invariably succumbed to the infection within 20 days, indicating that CD4(+) T-cell activities had no significant therapeutic activity on their own; in fact, they were harmful and decreased survival time. Interestingly, however, they became beneficial in the presence of antiviral antibody (Ab). Injection of MHC-II((−/−)) spleen cells, which can provide CD4(+) T-cell-independent (TI) but not T-cell-dependent (TD) activities, delayed mortality but only rarely resulted in clearance of the infection. By contrast, 80% of μMT(−8) mice injected with normal spleen cells survived and resolved the infection. Transfer of BCR-transgenic spleen cells, which contained ∼10 times fewer virus-specific precursor B cells than normal spleen cells, had no significant impact on the course of the infection. Taken together, the results suggest that B cells contribute to the control of the infection mainly through production of virus-specific Abs and that the TD Ab response is therapeutically more effective than the TI response. In addition, CD4(+) T cells appear to contribute, apart from promoting the TD Ab response, by improving the therapeutic activity of Ab-mediated effector mechanisms

Hierarchical ZSM-5 Zeolite with Enhanced Catalytic Activity for Alkylation of Phenol with Tert-Butanol

Using polyethylene glycol as a mesoporous soft template, a series of hierarchically porous ZSM-5 zeolites were prepared. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption&ndash;desorption, and transmission electron microscopy results demonstrated that the resultant materials contained a micro&ndash;mesoporous structure. Since the existence of mesoporous structure favors the diffusion of large molecular reactants and products, the phenol conversion and selectivity to 2,4-Di-TBP on the hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite can be improved for the alkylation of phenol with tert-butanol

Comparative Evaluation of the Application Effectiveness of Intelligent Production Optimization Methods in Offshore Oil Reservoirs

The development of offshore oil fields confronts challenges associated with high water cut and low displacement efficiency. Reservoir injection-production optimization stands out as an effective means to reduce costs and enhance efficiency in offshore oilfield development. The process of optimizing injection and production in offshore oil reservoirs involves designing strategies for a large number of wells and optimization time steps, constituting a large-scale, complex, and costly optimization computation problem. In recent years, with the rapid advancements in big data and artificial intelligence technologies, sophisticated evolutionary computation methods have found widespread application in reservoir injection-production optimization problems. However, the abundance of intelligent optimization algorithms raises the question of how to choose a method suitable for the complex optimization background of offshore oilfield injection-production optimization. This paper provides a detailed overview of the application of an existing differential evolution algorithm (DE), conventional surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm (CSAEA), and global–local surrogate-assisted differential evolution (GLSADE) in the context of practical offshore oilfield injection-production optimization problems. A comprehensive comparison of their performance differences is presented. The study concludes that the global–local surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm is the most suitable method for addressing the current challenges in offshore oilfield injection-production optimization