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Two urostylid ciliates, Trichototaxis marina Lu et al., 2014 and Uncinata bradburyae (Gong et al., 2001) Luo et al., 2015, new to Japan, were collected from coastal water in Nagasaki. Both were identified based on live and protargol-stained specimens. Morphologically, two new populations of T. marina correspond well with the type population in the live morphology and ciliature, especially a very flexible body having a long elliptical shape, and reddish cell colour caused by irregularly shaped pigments, multiple left marginal rows and marine habitat. A few morphological features were supplemented for the species. The Japanese population of Uncinata bradburyae presents the diagnostic features, especially the presence of an anterior snout-like procession and the elongated membranelles in the proximal portion of adoral zone, orientation of the anterior portion of the left marginal row, highly developed transverse cirri, and high number of dorsal kineties derived from two unique, de novo formed anlagen. Additionally, greenish pigments were first documented for the species. The new record suggests U. bradburyae might be a eurythermal species. The overall pattern of the divisional events resembles that of the Qingdao population described previously. Part of the reorganisation was also first revealed for U. bradburyae, which corresponds to the divisional processes in the opisthe. The present study corroborates the wide distribution of both species, and contributes to circumscribe the species by expanding the range of some morphometric data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common types of cancer, which is associated with a poor prognosis. It is necessary to identify novel prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve the survival of patients with HCC. In the present study, a seven-gene signature associated with HCC progression was identified using weighted gene co-expression network analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, and its prognostic prediction value was confirmed in The Cancer Genome Atlas-liver HCC and International Cancer Genome Consortium liver cancer-RIKEN, Japan cohorts. Subsequently, a rarely reported gene, epoxide hydrolase 2 (EPHX2), was selected for further validation. Downregulation of EPHX2 in HCC was revealed using multiple expression datasets. Furthermore, reduced expression of EPHX2 was confirmed in HCC tissue samples and cell lines using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Additionally, Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that patients with higher EPHX2 expression exhibited better prognosis, and clinicopathological analysis also revealed elevated EPHX2 levels in patients with early-stage HCC. Notably, EPHX2 was identified as an independent prognostic biomarker for overall survival of patients with HCC. Gene Ontology analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis and gene set enrichment analysis were performed to elucidate the functions of EPHX2. The results suggested that EPHX2 expression was closely associated with metabolic reprogramming. Finally, the prognostic value of EPHX2 was evaluated using HCC tissue microarrays. In conclusion, downregulation of EPHX2 was significantly associated with the development of HCC; therefore, EPHX2 may be considered a putative therapeutic candidate for the targeted treatment of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TCP4 transcription factor plays an important role in plant growth and development, especially in flower development. PmTCP4 is involved in the process of pistil abortion in Japanese apricot, but its molecular mechanism, particularly the DNA binding sites and co-regulatory genes, are quite unknown. Therefore, to identify the genome-wide binding sites of PmTCP4 transcription factors and their co-regulatory genes, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) was carried out. ChIP-Seq data produced the maximum enriched peaks in two Japanese apricot cultivars 'Daqiandi' (DQD) and 'Longyan' (LY), which showed that the majority of DNA-protein interactions are relevant and have a significant function in binding sites. Moreover, 720 and 251 peak-associated genes regulated by PmTCP4 were identified in DQD and LY, respectively, and most of them were involved in the flower and pistil development process. Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that photosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation were the most enriched pathways in both cultivars and all identified genes related to these pathways were down-regulated. This study will provide a reference for a better understanding of the PmTCP4 regulatory mechanism during pistil abortion in Japanese apricot., (© 2020 The Authors. The Plant Genome published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Crop Science Society of America.)

Reproduction is a critical stage in the flower development process, and its failure causes serious problems affecting fruit quality and yield. Pistil abortion is one of the main factors in unsuccessful reproduction and occurs in many fruit plants. In Japanese apricot, the problem of pistil abortion is very common and affects fruit quality and plant yield; however, its molecular mechanism is not clearly understood. Therefore, in the current study, we used RNA-Seq to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and pathways actively involved in pistil abortion. A total of 3882 differentially expressed genes were found after cutoff and pairwise comparison analysis. According to KEGG pathway analysis, plant hormone signaling transduction and metabolic pathways were found most significantly enriched in this study. A total of 60 transcription factor families such as MADS-box, NAC and TCP showed their role in this process. RT-qPCR assays confirmed that the expression levels were consistent with RNA-Seq results. This study provides an alternative to be considered for further studies and understanding of pistil abortion processes in Japanese apricot, and it provides a reference related to this issue for other deciduous fruit crops.