Expression Profiling and Proteomic Analysis of JIN Chinese Herbal Formula in Lung Carcinoma H460 Xenografts

Many traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulae have been used in cancer therapy. The JIN formula is an ancient herbal formula recorded in the classic TCM book Jin Kui Yao Lue (Golden Chamber). The JIN formula significantly delayed the growth of subcutaneous human H460 xenografted tumors in vivo compared with the growth of mock controls. Gene array analysis of signal transduction in cancer showed that the JIN formula acted on multiple targets such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase, hedgehog, and Wnt signaling pathways. The coformula treatment of JIN and diamminedichloroplatinum (DDP) affected the stress/heat shock pathway. Proteomic analysis showed 36 and 84 differentially expressed proteins between the mock and DDP groups and between the mock and JIN groups, respectively. GoMiner analysis revealed that the differentially expressed proteins between the JIN and mock groups were enriched during cellular metabolic processes, and so forth. The ones between the DDP and mock groups were enriched during protein-DNA complex assembly, and so forth. Most downregulated proteins in the JIN group were heat shock proteins (HSPs) such as HSP90AA1 and HSPA1B, which could be used as markers to monitor responses to the JIN formula therapy. The mechanism of action of the JIN formula on HSP proteins warrants further investigation

Environmental Stimuli: A Major Challenge during Grain Filling in Cereals

Light, temperature, water, and fertilizer are arguably the most important environmental factors regulating crop growth and productivity. Environmental stimuli, including low light, extreme temperatures, and water stresses caused by climate change, affect crop growth and production and pose a growing threat to sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, soil salinity is another major environmental constraint affecting crop growth and threatening global food security. The grain filling stage is the final stage of growth and is also the most important stage in cereals, directly determining the grain weight and final yield. However, the grain filling process is extremely vulnerable to different environmental stimuli, especially for inferior spikelets. Given the importance of grain filling in cereals and the deterioration of environmental problems, understanding environmental stimuli and their effects on grain filling constitutes a major focus of crop research. In recent years, significant advances made in this field have led to a good description of the intricate mechanisms by which different environmental stimuli regulate grain filling, as well as approaches to adapt cereals to changing climate conditions and to give them better grain filling. In this review, the current environmental stimuli, their dose–response effect on grain filling, and the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved are discussed. Furthermore, what we can do to help cereal crops adapt to environmental stimuli is elaborated. Overall, we call for future research to delve deeper into the gene function-related research and the commercialization of gene-edited crops. Meanwhile, smart agriculture is the development trend of the future agriculture under environmental stimuli

Effects of Cd Stress on Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Maize Seedlings

Heavy metal (HM) contamination poses a serious threat to safe crop production and human health, and different maize inbred lines respond differently to cadmium (Cd) stress. However, the morphological and physiological characteristics of maize inbred lines seedlings are not clear under Cd stress. In this study, we analyzed the agronomic traits and physiological and biochemical indices of inbred maize seedlings under Cd stress in the seedling stage using the inbred lines Kui3, CML118, Mo17, B73, and B77 as the materials. These five inbred maizes were treated with five different concentrations of Cd (0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 mg L−1, respectively) were applied and the indices of the maize seedlings determined on day 15. The aboveground and belowground biomass of five maize inbred lines seedlings showed a decreasing trend under Cd stress. Leaf relative water content and SPAD values also decreased, but the overall decrease in relative water content was small, and the differences were not significant. Surprisingly, Cd stress affected the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), leading to enhanced mem-brane lipid peroxidation. The cadmium content varied greatly between varieties under Cd stress, but all of them had lower Cd content above ground than below ground, and the varieties with the highest and lowest transfer coefficients were Mo17 (0.33–0.83) and B73 (0.06–0.44), respectively. Kui3 had the greatest difference in soluble protein content under Cd stress, which showed a de-creasing trend, and the soluble sugar content was significantly decreased in general compared to that of CK. The soluble sugar content was higher than CK under Cd treatment, and the proline content of the maize seedlings of all of the inbred lines showed an increasing trend compared to CK. Overall, there were significant genotypic differences in the Cd stress response to Cd toxicity in the maize inbred lines seedlings, and, in general, this study helps us to understand the mechanism of maize inbred lines seedlings response to Cd stress. It provides a theoretical basis for the se-lection and breeding of varieties, and food safety

Environmental Stimuli: A Major Challenge during Grain Filling in Cereals

Light, temperature, water, and fertilizer are arguably the most important environmental factors regulating crop growth and productivity. Environmental stimuli, including low light, extreme temperatures, and water stresses caused by climate change, affect crop growth and production and pose a growing threat to sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, soil salinity is another major environmental constraint affecting crop growth and threatening global food security. The grain filling stage is the final stage of growth and is also the most important stage in cereals, directly determining the grain weight and final yield. However, the grain filling process is extremely vulnerable to different environmental stimuli, especially for inferior spikelets. Given the importance of grain filling in cereals and the deterioration of environmental problems, understanding environmental stimuli and their effects on grain filling constitutes a major focus of crop research. In recent years, significant advances made in this field have led to a good description of the intricate mechanisms by which different environmental stimuli regulate grain filling, as well as approaches to adapt cereals to changing climate conditions and to give them better grain filling. In this review, the current environmental stimuli, their dose–response effect on grain filling, and the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved are discussed. Furthermore, what we can do to help cereal crops adapt to environmental stimuli is elaborated. Overall, we call for future research to delve deeper into the gene function-related research and the commercialization of gene-edited crops. Meanwhile, smart agriculture is the development trend of the future agriculture under environmental stimuli

The mechanism of ligand-induced chiral transmission through a top-down selective domain etching process

Induced chirality in colloidal semiconductor nanoparticles has received much attention in the past few years as an extremely sensitive spectroscopic tool and because of the promising applications of chiral quantum dots (QDs) in sensing, quantum optics, and spintronics. Yet, the origin of chiroptical effects induced in these nanoparticles is not fully understood, partly because almost all theoretical and experimental studies performed so far are based on the comparison of the g-factor of bulk solutions, which may not truly reflect the variation of the chiral signal in a single nanoparticle. This is because, at a given absorbance value, any change in the molar absorption coefficient at the single nanoparticle level does seriously affect the estimation of the real number of nanoparticles and comparison in-between solutions. Here, we show that using a top-down chemical etching process of colloidal two-component CdSe/CdS dot-in-rods (DRs) nanoparticles can facilitate precise control of nanocrystal solutions with identical concentrations, which cannot be achieved by bottom-up hot injection technology alone. This approach is highly required for studying ligand-induced chiral conduction mechanisms because it effectively eliminates the influence of both the concentrations of nanoparticles and ligands at the same time, instead of relying only on the g-factor related to absorbance. The results showed, thanks to the top-down selective domain etching system, that the shell layer had a negative correlation with the chirality of the first exciton peak (CdSe core contribution), but a positive correlation with the chirality of the CdS shell absorption. At the same time, the core integrity is crucial for DRs to maintain high circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) signals. This work, on the one hand, advances the understanding of the fundamental origin of chiral conduction effects induced in semiconductor nanoparticles, and, on the other hand, opens a path to applications using chiral materials

Novel Salinity-Tolerant Third-Generation Hybrid Rice Developed via CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing

Climate change has caused high salinity in many fields, particularly in the mud flats in coastal regions. The resulting salinity has become one of the most significant abiotic stresses affecting the world’s rice crop productivity. Developing elite cultivars with novel salinity-tolerance traits is regarded as the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach for utilizing saline-alkali land. To develop a highly efficient green strategy and create novel rice germplasms for salt-tolerant rice breeding, this study aimed to improve rice salinity tolerance by combining targeted CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of the OsRR22 gene with heterosis utilization. The novel alleles of the genic male-sterility (GMS) and elite restorer line (733Srr22-T1447-1 and HZrr22-T1349-3) produced 110 and 1 bp deletions at the third exon of OsRR22 and conferred a high level of salinity tolerance. Homozygous transgene-free progeny were identified via segregation in the T2 generation, with osrr22 showing similar agronomic performance to wild-type (733S and HZ). Furthermore, these two osrr22 lines were used to develop a new promising third-generation hybrid rice line with novel salinity tolerance. Overall, the results demonstrate that combining CRISPR/Cas9 targeted gene editing with the “third-generation hybrid rice system” approach allows for the efficient development of novel hybrid rice varieties that exhibit a high level of salinity tolerance, thereby ensuring improved cultivar stability and enhanced rice productivity