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Ottelia cordata is a kind of rare and endangered submerged plant that grows in freshwater wetlands in northern Hainan Island, from Haikou to Wenchang in China. This species is known for its beautiful appearance and the distinct “flower river” landscape, which makes it a high ornamental value. With the intensification of human activities, the habitat of O. cordata has been sharply reduced and fragmented, leading to its endangerment. In order to explore the reproductive characteristics and reproductive laws of O. cordata, the flower morphology, sex ratio, pollen viability, stigma receptivity, reflectance spectrum, pollen limitation and apomixis, and the types and behaviors of pollinators in O. cordata were analyzed. That is, the pollination biology of O. cordata were studied for its further in-situ and ex-situ conservation. The results were as follows: (1) The flowers were dioecism, and the sex ratio of female and male individuals was about 1∶2; the morphologies of male and female flowers were similar, and the female flowers were slightly larger than the male. (2) O. cordata had high pollen viability and stigma receptivity in budding and blooming phases. (3) Apis cerana was the main pollinator of Ottelia cordata, which visited male flowers more frequently than female flowers, with higher pollination efficiency. (4) The distance between the color loci of pistils and stamens was significantly higher than the discrimination threshold of Apis cerana. (5) The fruit setting percentage under natural pollination was similar to that under artificial pollination (95.29% and 98.42%, respectively), and there was no apomixis and low pollen limitation in the natural population of Ottelia cordata. In conclusion, the deceptive pollination of O. cordata simulated by both sexes is imperfect. Pollinators can visually distinguish female and male flowers. However, the large number of male flowers of O. cordata attracted many insects to visit flowers, which increases the probability of “mistake” pollination and is enough for the reproductive needs of female flowers. Therefore, future ex-situ conservation and artificial population restoration should pay more attention to population size, sex ratio and the number of local pollinators.

Covalent proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) offer enhanced selectivity, prolonged action, and increased efficacy against challenging target proteins. The conventional approach relies on covalent ligands, but our study presents an innovative method employing an N-sulfonyl pyridone warhead to selectively target tyrosine (Tyr) residues. The von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) moiety is transferred from the warhead to the exposed Tyr, allowing us to design a STING degrader (DC50 0.53 μM, Dmax 56.65%). This approach showcases the potential of nucleophilic amino acid labeling probes, particularly for proteins lacking easily accessible cysteine residues, opening new possibilities for covalent PROTAC design and targeted protein degradation therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains unclear. The recent studies have suggested that the protein abnormalities could play some important roles in ALS because several protein mutations were found in individuals with this disease. However, proteins that are currently known to be associated with ALS only explain the pathogenesis of this disease in a minority of cases, thus, further screening is needed to identify other ALS‐related proteins. In this study, we systematically analyzed and compared the brain proteomic alterations between a mouse model of ALS, the Tg(SOD1*G93A)1Gur model, and wild‐type mice using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) as well as bioinformatics methods. The results revealed some significant up‐ and downregulated proteins at the different developmental stages in the ALS‐like mice as well as the possibly related cellular components, molecular functions, biological processes, and pathways in the development of ALS. Our results identified some possible proteins that participate in the pathogenesis of ALS as well as the cellular components that are damaged by these proteins, we additionally identified the molecular functions, the biological processes, and the pathways of these proteins as well as the molecules that are associated with these pathways. This study represents an important preliminary investigation of the role of proteomic abnormalities in the pathogenesis of ALS, both in human patients and other animal models. We present some novel findings that may serve as a basis for further investigation of abnormal proteins that are involved in the pathogenesis of ALS. Highlights: Up and down proteins in the brain of B6SJL‐Tg(SOD1*G93A)1Gur/J mice.Involve cellular components, molecular functions, and biological processes.Exert molecular mechanisms in pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]