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BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a significant public health concern, particularly in China. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can provide abundant pathological information regarding etiology and could include candidate biomarkers for diagnosis of TB. However, data regarding lncRNA expression profiles and specific lncRNAs associated with TB are limited.MethodsWe performed ceRNA-microarray analysis to determine the expression profile of lncRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was then conducted to identify the critical module and genes associated with TB. Other bioinformatics analyses, including Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Gene Ontology (GO), and co-expression networks, were conducted to explore the function of the critical module. Finally, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to validate the candidate biomarkers, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to assess the diagnostic performance of the candidate biomarkers.ResultsBased on 8 TB patients and 9 healthy controls (HCs), a total of 1,372 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified, including 738 upregulated lncRNAs and 634 downregulated lncRNAs. Among all lncRNAs and mRNAs in the microarray, the top 25% lncRNAs (3729) and top 25% mRNAs (2824), which exhibited higher median expression values, were incorporated into the WGCNA. The analysis generated 16 co-expression modules, among which the blue module was highly correlated with TB. GO and KEGG analyses showed that the blue module was significantly enriched in infection and immunity. Subsequently, considering module membership values (>0.85), gene significance values (>0.90) and fold-change value (>2 or

Hormonal regulation and symbiotic relationships provide benefits for plants to overcome stress conditions. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) inoculum, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and saline-alkali effects on the growth and physiology of tall fescue (Festuca elata “Crossfire II”). Treatments included AMF-inoculation, and non-AMF inoculation, four MeJA application concentrations (0, 50, 100, and 200 mg/L), and two saline-alkali levels (0 and 200 mmol/L). The results showed that AMF inoculation significantly enhanced saline-alkali resistance of the plants, and the beneficial effects were increased by MeJA at a concentration of 50 mg/L (50 MeJA) and decreased by MeJA at a concentration both of 100 (100 MeJA) and 200 mg/L (200 MeJA). AMF inoculation plants when treated with 50 MeJA accumulated significantly more biomass, had greater proline and total phenolic concentration, and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration than plants only treated either with AMF or 50 MeJA. However, no significant differences in growth or physiological characteristics were observed between AMF and non-AMF plants when treated either with 100 or 200 MeJA. All of these results suggest that the interaction between a certain concentration of MeJA and AMF can significantly increase saline-alkali resistance of the tall fescue by regulating the biomass, proline, total phenolic, and MDA. Our findings provide new information on the effect of biological and chemical priming treatments on plant performance under saline-alkali stress.

Epichloë endophytes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMFs) are two important symbiotic microorganisms of tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum). Our research explores the combined effects of endophytes and AMF on saline-alkali stress. The finding revealed that a significant interaction between Epichloë endophytes and AMF, and saline-alkali stress occurred in the growth and physiological parameters of tall fescue. Endophyte infection significantly enhanced tall fescue resistance to saline-alkali stress by increasing shoot and root biomass and nutrient uptake (organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus concentration), and accumulating K+ while decreasing Na+ concentration. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of endophytes was enhanced by the beneficial AMF, Claroideoglomus etunicatum (CE) but was reduced by the detrimental AMF, Funneliformis mosseae (FM). Our findings highlight the importance of interactions among multiple microorganisms for plant performance under saline-alkali stress.

Serine incorporator 3 (SERINC3) and SERINC5 were recently identified as host intrinsic factors against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and counteracted by HIV-1 Nef. However, whether they inhibit hepatitis B virus (HBV), which is a severe health problem worldwide, is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that SERINC5 potently inhibited HBV virion secretion in the supernatant without affecting intracellular core particle-associated DNA and the total RNA, but SERINC3 and SERINC1 did not. Further investigation discovered that SERINC5 increased the non-glycosylation of LHB, MHB, and SHB proteins of HBV and slightly decreased HBs proteins levels, which led to the decreased HBV secretion. Importantly, SERINC5 co-localized with LHB proteins in the Golgi apparatus, which is important for glycan processing and transport. In addition, we determined the functional domain in SERINC5 required for HBV inhibition, which was completely different from that required for HIV-1 restriction, whereas phosphorylation and glycosylation sites in SERINC5 were dispensable for HBV restriction. Taken together, our results demonstrate that SERINC5 suppresses HBV virion secretion through interfering with the glycosylation of HBV proteins, suggesting that SERINC5 might possess broad-spectrum antiviral activity.