Overexpression of TaWRKY46 enhances drought tolerance in transgenic wheat

Drought stress is a severe environmental factor that greatly restricts plant distribution and crop production. Transgenic breeding offers new opportunities for developing drought-resistant varieties. The WRKY transcription factors have been reported to be involved in various plant physiological and biochemical processes. In this study, we report the impact of TaWRKY46 on abiotic tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The transcription levels of the TaWRKY46 gene were differentially regulated by diverse abiotic stresses and hormone treatments, including PEG-induced stress (20% polyethylene glycol 6000), cold (4 °C), salt (100 mM NaCl), abscisic acid (100 μM ABA) and hydrogen peroxide (10 mM H2O2). The TaWRKY46-GFP fusion protein was localized to the nucleus of wheat protoplast. The N-terminal of TaWRKY46 showed transcriptional activation activity. Overexpression of TaWRKY46 in wheat resulted in enhanced drought stress tolerance. TaWRKY46-overexpressing plants exhibited increase survival rate, soluble sugar, proline and superoxide dismutase (SOD), as well as higher activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD), but lower contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 content. Taken together, our results indicate that TaWRKY46 functions as a positive factor under drought stress by regulating the osmotic balance and ROS scavenging

The wheat NAC transcription factor TaNAC22 enhances cadmium stress tolerance in wheat

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is a main problem in food production as it reduces crop yield and threatens human health. However, the pathway of Cd accumulation in plants is still unclear. In this investigation, we report that TaNAC22, a novel NAC transcription factor, is involved in Cd tolerance in wheat. TaNAC22 cDNA includes an open reading frame of 909 bp encoding 302 amino acids. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that TaNAC22 was expressed at the peak level in the leaves and sufficiently induced under Cd stress. Subcellular localization analysis in onion epidermal cells indicated that TaNAC22 protein was localized to the nucleus. Expression of TaNAC22 in wheat plants conferred Cd tolerance and transgenic wheat exhibited a higher soluble sugar, proline and superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase content, but lower contents of malondialdehyde, H2O2 and O2−. In addition, the expression of Cd-responsive genes in transgenic wheat was lower than that in WT lines under Cd stress. In summary, our data suggested that TaNAC22 was closely related to Cd tolerance, providing a basis for in-depth study on the Cd tolerance molecular mechanism of TaNAC22 in wheat

Corrosion and passivation behavior of FeCoCrNiNbx eutectic high-entropy alloys in H2SO4 solution

The bilayer structure passive films were formed on FeCoCrNiNbx alloy surfaces in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. The inner film was denser and more protective. The high Cr/Nb ratio would facilitate the passivation of FeCoCrNiNbx alloys and the formation of a thicker passive film on the alloy surface. The protective ability of the passive film was determined by the structure, composition, and thickness of the passive film, while semiconductor characteristics of the passive film could only contribute to the improvement of the protective ability of the passive film, but could not directly determine the protective ability of the passive film

De Novo Assembly and Transcriptome Analysis of Wheat with Male Sterility Induced by the Chemical Hybridizing Agent SQ-1.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the world's most important food crops, is a strictly autogamous (self-pollinating) species with exclusively perfect flowers. Male sterility induced by chemical hybridizing agents has increasingly attracted attention as a tool for hybrid seed production in wheat; however, the molecular mechanisms of male sterility induced by the agent SQ-1 remain poorly understood due to limited whole transcriptome data. Therefore, a comparative analysis of wheat anther transcriptomes for male fertile wheat and SQ-1-induced male sterile wheat was carried out using next-generation sequencing technology. In all, 42,634,123 sequence reads were generated and were assembled into 82,356 high-quality unigenes with an average length of 724 bp. Of these, 1,088 unigenes were significantly differentially expressed in the fertile and sterile wheat anthers, including 643 up-regulated unigenes and 445 down-regulated unigenes. The differentially expressed unigenes with functional annotations were mapped onto 60 pathways using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. They were mainly involved in coding for the components of ribosomes, photosynthesis, respiration, purine and pyrimidine metabolism, amino acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism, RNA transport and signal transduction, reactive oxygen species metabolism, mRNA surveillance pathways, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, protein export, and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. This study is the first to provide a systematic overview comparing wheat anther transcriptomes of male fertile wheat with those of SQ-1-induced male sterile wheat and is a valuable source of data for future research in SQ-1-induced wheat male sterility

Novel Scalable and Simplified System to Generate Microglia-Containing Cerebral Organoids From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human cerebral organoid (CO) is a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture system that recapitulates the developing human brain. While CO has proved an invaluable tool for studying neurological disorders in a more clinically relevant matter, there have still been several shortcomings including CO variability and reproducibility as well as lack of or underrepresentation of certain cell types typically found in the brain. As the technology to generate COs has continued to improve, more efficient and streamlined protocols have addressed some of these issues. Here we present a novel scalable and simplified system to generate microglia-containing CO (MCO). We characterize the cell types and dynamic development of MCOs and validate that these MCOs harbor microglia, astrocytes, neurons, and neural stem/progenitor cells, maturing in a manner that reflects human brain development. We introduce a novel technique for the generation of embryoid bodies (EBs) directly from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that involves simplified steps of transitioning directly from 3D cultures as well as orbital shaking culture in a standard 6-well culture plate. This allows for the generation of MCOs with an easy-to use system that is affordable and accessible by any general la

Exploring clinical indicator variations in stroke patients with multiple risk factors: focus on hypertension and inflammatory reactions

Abstract Background Stroke stands as the second leading cause of death worldwide. Currently, extensive research has been conducted on stroke risk factors. However, when stroke patients contend with multiple risk factors, the impact on clinical indicators remains uncertain. Objectives This study seeks to investigate potential significant variations among distinct ranges of clinical indicators in instances where stroke patients experience multiple risk factors and various ischemic stroke subtypes. Material and methods The research encompassed 440 stroke patients admitted to the First People's Hospital of Wenling City, Zhejiang Province, China. These patients were classified based on the type and quantity of risk factors and subtypes of ischemic stroke they presented. The χ2 test was employed to assess the relationship between the risk of comorbid diseases and clinical indicators in stroke patients. Results The results of our study have underscored a significant correlation between various comorbid risk factors in stroke patients and the patients' age (P < 0.010). Furthermore, we observed noteworthy disparities in the plasma levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and INF-γ between patients devoid of risk factors and those presenting with comorbid risk factors associated with stroke. Significant differences in INF-γ were observed between the two subtypes of ischemic stroke, namely lacunar infarction and cardioembolic stroke. Conclusion Age is correlated with an elevated risk of stroke. Individuals exhibiting multiple stroke risk factors and diverse ischemic stroke subtypes commonly present with abnormal lipid levels and imbalances in Th1/Th2 cytokines. These factors significantly contribute to the onset and progression of stroke. Furthermore, inflammatory responses, particularly those induced by atherosclerosis, play a pivotal role in the genesis of stroke and exert a substantial influence on its prognosis

A simple mode of SQ-1–induced male sterility in wheat.

<p>Some important unigenes are related to wheat male sterility induced by SQ-1. “↑” in the ellipses indicates unigenes that were up-regulated in sterile wheat, “↓” in the ellipses indicates unigenes that were down-regulated, and “()” represents the number of differentially expressed unigenes.</p

Distribution of lengths of the assembled unigenes in wheat anthers.

<p>Distribution of lengths of the assembled unigenes in wheat anthers.</p

Summary statistics of functional annotation for differentially expressed unigenes.

<p>^b Clusters of Orthologous Groups database</p><p>^c Gene Ontology database</p><p>^d Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database</p><p>^e NCBI non-redundant protein database</p><p>Summary statistics of functional annotation for differentially expressed unigenes.</p