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ARC5 is a dynamin-related GTPase essential for the division of chloroplasts in plants. The arc5 mutant frequently exhibits enlarged, dumbbell-shaped chloroplasts, indicating a role for ARC5 in the constriction of the chloroplast division site. In a screen for chloroplast division mutants with a phenotype similar to arc5, two mutants, cpd25 and cpd45, were obtained. CPD45 was identified as being the same gene as FHY3, a key regulator of far-red light signaling recently shown to be involved in the regulation of ARC5. CPD25 was previously named FRS4 and is homologous to FHY3. We found that CPD25 is also required for the expression of ARC5, suggesting that its function is not redundant to that of FHY3. Moreover, cpd25 does not have the far-red light-sensing defect present in fhy3 and far1. Both FRS4/ CPD25 and FHY3/ CPD45 could bind to the FBS-like ' ACGCGC' motifs in the promoter region of ARC5, and the binding efficiency of FRS4/ CPD25 was much higher than that of FHY3/ CPD45. Unlike FHY3/ CPD45, FRS4/ CPD25 has no ARC5 activation activity. Our data suggest that FRS4/ CPD25 and FHY3/ CPD45 function as a heterodimer that cooperatively activates ARC5, that FRS4/ CPD25 plays the major role in promoter binding, and that FHY3/ CPD45 is largely responsible for the gene activation. This study not only provides insight into the mechanisms underlying the regulation of chloroplast division in higher plants, but also suggests a model that shows how members of a transcription factor family can evolve to have different DNA-binding and gene activation features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, tea polyphenols (TPs) was first extracted from tea waste by superheated steam (SS) pretreated ultrasonic‐assisted hydrothermal extraction (UAH). The optimized strategy presented extracts with the extraction yield up to 21.19% with a significantly higher antioxidant ability, compared with the one without SS pretreatment. Further investigation proved that the SS suppressed the polyphenol oxidase activity of the TPs extract. The ability to scavenge the free radicals were compared in mouse liver mitochondria. Mitochondrial swelling, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), cardiolipin peroxidation, and respiratory chain complex (RCC) I–V activities were also evaluated as the index of the mitochondrial oxidative damage. The study supports evidence that the TPs extract exhibited significant protection against oxidative damage on mitochondrial. Furthermore, the effect of TPs on antioxidant ability in zebrafish embryo was evaluated. After TPs pretreatment for 1 day, zebrafish embryos showed a significantly higher survival rate as well as heart rate when facing the oxidative stress. Practical applications: Polyphenols from tea leaves have been viewed as an antioxidant additive in food, mainly due to the ability of scavenging free radicals and reactive oxygen species. The results of this study suggest that the SS pretreatment could be used as an efficient method to extract TPs from the tea waste for the prevention of oxidative damage in the mouse liver mitochondria and zebrafish embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study aims to explore the clinical effects of Vitamin D (VitD) supplements for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (HT), which are unclear according to other studies., Methods: Female patients with newly diagnosed HT from January to June in 2018 were included. This study is registered in the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry with registration number ChiCTR1800014619 (URL: https://www.chictr.org.cn/). Patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group. The treated group were further randomly assigned to a VitD supplement group or VitD & Levothyroxine (L-T4) supplement group. After 6 months, we recorded and compared various indicators between different groups., Results: A total of 179 patients, aged 12 to 75, were used for statistical analysis. A significant decrease in Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody (TPOAb) level was observed (351.70±183.25 vs. 246.37±157.39, P<0.001) in the VitD-treated group compared to the control group after 6 months. Free Triiodothyronine (FT3) and Free Thyroxine (FT4) level were increased (FT3: 4.30±0.64 vs. 4.84±0.9, P<0.001; FT4: 15.15±1.93 vs. 17.38±2.97, P<0.001), and Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (THS) level was decreased (3.58±1.78 vs. 2.25±1.22, P<0.001) in the VitD-treated group compared to the control group., Conclusion: VitD supplementation can effectively slow progression of hypothyroidism, improve thyroid function, and reduce the anti-thyroid antibody level. This suggests it is useful for HT., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2023.)

C-type lectins (CTLs) are important pattern recognition molecules that participate in bacterial binding and agglutination by specific recognition of carbohydrates from pathogens. In this study, a full-length cDNA of CTL was cloned from Sinonovacula constricta (designated ScCTL-2). ScCTL-2 has a length of 981 bp, a 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of 47 bp, a short 3'-UTR of 37 bp, and an open reading frame (ORF) of 894 bp, which encodes a polypeptide of 298 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid of ScCTL-2 possesses a conserved carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) similar to that of C 31 -E 171 . Spatial distribution analysis demonstrated that ScCTL-2 was constitutively expressed in all tested tissues, with dominant expression in foot and siphon and weak expression in hepatopancreas. The mRNA expression level of ScCTL-2 in gills and hepatopancreas was significantly upregulated at 6 and 12 h after challenge with the pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The recombinant ScCTL-2 showed specific binding and agglutinate capacities to all examined Gram-negative bacterial species, namely, Escherichia coli, Vibro anguillarum, and V. parahaemolyticus in a Ca 2+ -independent manner. However, these binding activities were not detected in Gram-positive Micrococcus luteus. Our results indicated that ScCTL-2 could be a novel pattern recognition receptor that can specifically recognize Gram-negative microorganisms in the innate immunity of S. constricta., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) vibriosis threatens ayu aquaculture seriously caused by mass mortality due to severe infections. We characterized the vibriosis pathogen of ayu in Ninghai country., Methods: A dominant strain was isolated and identified by a series of biochemical and physiological tests. The lethal dose 50% (LD50) was calculated by the modified Karber's method. PCR amplification and sequence analysis were used to further identify the pathogen., Results: LD50 of ayu-H080701 was 1.2 x 10(4) CFU to ayu. PCR amplification showed that the bacterial universal primers for 16S rRNA gene and the specific primers for the metalloprotease (MP) gene of Listonella anguillarum worked. 16S rRNA gene analysis showed that ayu-H080701 shared 99.4%-99.5% nucleotide identical to L. anguillarum isolates, while 94.3% and 91.9% nucleotide identical to L. pelagius and Photobacterium damselae respectively. Metalloprotease analysis showed that ayu- H080701 shared 97.6%-98.8% amino acid sequence identical to L. anguillarum isolates, while lower than 75.6 % to other bacteria. Phylogenetic analysis showed that ayu-H080701 grouped constantly with L. anguillarum isolates., Conclusion: The biochemical, physiological tests and sequence analysis all strongly supported the identification of the pathogen causing ayu vibriosis in Ninghai country, China, as an isolate of L. anguillarum.