Cytological and proteomic analyses of horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) spore germination

Spermatophyte pollen tubes and root hairs have been used as single-cell-type model systems to understand the molecular processes underlying polar growth of plant cells. Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is a perennial herb species in Equisetopsida, which creates separately growing spring and summer stems in its life cycle. The mature chlorophyllous spores produced from spring stems can germinate without dormancy. Here we report the cellular features and protein expression patterns in five stages of horsetail spore germination (mature spores, rehydrated spores, double-celled spores, germinated spores, and spores with protonemal cells). Using 2-DE combined with mass spectrometry, 80 proteins were found to be abundance changed upon spore germination. Among them, proteins involved in photosynthesis, protein turnover, and energy supply were over-represented. Thirteen proteins appeared as proteoforms on the gels, indicating the potential importance of post-translational modification. In addition, the dynamic changes of ascorbate peroxidase, peroxiredoxin, and dehydroascorbate reductase implied that reactive oxygen species homeostasis is critical in regulating cell division and tip-growth. The diverse expression patterns of proteins in photosynthesis, energy supply, lipid and amino acid metabolism indicated that heterotrophic and autotrophic metabolism were necessary in light-dependent germination of the spores. Twenty-six proteins were involved in protein synthesis and fate, indicating that protein turnover is vital to spore germination. Furthermore, the altered abundance of small G protein Ran, 14-3-3 protein, actin, and Caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase revealed that signaling transduction, vesicle trafficking, cytoskeleton dynamics, and cell wall modulation were critical to cell division and polar growth. These findings lay a foundation toward understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying fern spore asymmetric division and rhizoid polar growth

Light neutralino dark matter in U(1)XU(1)_XSSM

The $U(1)_X$ extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model(MSSM) is called as $U(1)_X$SSM with the local gauge group $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_X$. $U(1)_X$SSM has three singlet Higgs superfields beyond MSSM. In $U(1)_X$SSM, the mass matrix of neutralino is $8\times8$, whose lightest mass eigenstate possesses cold dark matter characteristic. Supposing the lightest neutralino as dark matter candidate, we study the relic density. For dark matter scattering off nucleus, the cross sections including spin-independent and spin-dependent are both researched. In our numerical results, some parameter space can satisfy the constraints from the relic density and the experiments of dark matter direct detection.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Genetic Evaluation of Starch Synthesis-Related Genes and Starch Quality Traits in Special Rice Resources

The genetic diversity of 36 rice landraces and 43 breeding materials in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China was studied by intragenic molecular markers of 26 starch synthesis-related loci. And research on quality traits such as the amylose content (AC), gel consistency (GC) and alkali spreading value (ASV) to analyze genetic differences in quality traits. The results showed that the number of alleles, average gene diversity and polymorphism information content values of landraces were higher than those of breeding materials. The genetic similarity coefficient (GS) of 79 rice materials ranged from 0.392 to 1, with an average of 0.757.There were significant variations in the quality traits of rice landraces and breeding materials, and the high-quality compliance rates were low, only 6.3% of the varieties have an amylose content that reached grade 1. The results of cluster analysis and population structure analysis are generally consistent; that is, the two resource types are closely related and cannot be clustered independently. This study can provide a basis for genetic improvement of rice starch quality. Make full use of the quality genetic diversity of landraces in modern breeding work, further broaden the genetic base of rice and improve rice quality

The chinese herbal decoction danggui buxue tang inhibits angiogenesis in a rat model of liver fibrosis.

In this study, we investigated the anti-angiogenic effect of the Chinese herbal decoction Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT; Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae sinensis in 5 : 1 ratio) in a rat model of liver fibrosis, in order to elucidate its mechanisms of action against liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis was induced with CCl(4) and high-fat food for 6 weeks, and the rats were treated with oral doses of DBT (6 g raw herbs/kg/d) and N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC; 0.1 g/kg/d). The results showed that both DBT and NAC attenuated liver fibrosis and neo-angiogenesis. Furthermore, DBT and NAC improved SOD activity but decreased MDA content and 8-OH-dG in fibrotic livers, with DBT being more effective than NAC. DBT decreased the expression of VEGF, Ang1 and TGF-β1 and their signaling mediators, whereas NAC had no effect on VEGF and VEGFR2 expression. Both DBT and NAC reduced HIF-1α gene and protein expression in fibrotic livers, with DBT being more effective. These data clearly demonstrate that the anti-fibrotic properties of DBT are related to its ability to inhibit angiogenesis and its anti-angiogenic mechanisms are associated with improving oxidative stress, regulating the expression and signaling of angiogenic factors, and especially modulating HIF-1α in fibrotic livers

Retinal detachment in a boy with Gaucher disease

Letter to the Edito

The chinese herbal decoction danggui buxue tang inhibits angiogenesis in a rat model of liver fibrosis.

In this study, we investigated the anti-angiogenic effect of the Chinese herbal decoction Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT; Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae sinensis in 5 : 1 ratio) in a rat model of liver fibrosis, in order to elucidate its mechanisms of action against liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis was induced with CCl(4) and high-fat food for 6 weeks, and the rats were treated with oral doses of DBT (6 g raw herbs/kg/d) and N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC; 0.1 g/kg/d). The results showed that both DBT and NAC attenuated liver fibrosis and neo-angiogenesis. Furthermore, DBT and NAC improved SOD activity but decreased MDA content and 8-OH-dG in fibrotic livers, with DBT being more effective than NAC. DBT decreased the expression of VEGF, Ang1 and TGF-β1 and their signaling mediators, whereas NAC had no effect on VEGF and VEGFR2 expression. Both DBT and NAC reduced HIF-1α gene and protein expression in fibrotic livers, with DBT being more effective. These data clearly demonstrate that the anti-fibrotic properties of DBT are related to its ability to inhibit angiogenesis and its anti-angiogenic mechanisms are associated with improving oxidative stress, regulating the expression and signaling of angiogenic factors, and especially modulating HIF-1α in fibrotic livers.Peer Reviewe

(Ga0.71B0.29)PO4 with a high-cristobalite-type structure refined from powder data

Gallium boron phosphate, (Ga0.71B0.29)PO4, was synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state reaction method. The crystal structure is isostructural with the tetra­gonal high-cristobalite structure with space group P which is built from alternating Ga(B)O4 and PO4 tetra­hedra inter­connected by sharing the common O-atom vertices, resulting in a three-dimensional structure with two-dimensional six-membered-ring tunnels running along the a and b axes

KSn4(PO4)(3)

The crystal structure of potassium tetratin(Ⅱ) tris(orthophosphate), KSn4(PO4)(3), obtained by hydrothermal synthesis, has been determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The structure consists of [Sn4(PO4)(3)] units sharing common corners, which leads to a three-dimensional network structure and generates cages along the c direction. The cages are occupied by K atoms on threefold axes