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Objective To investigate the effect of progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) mediated autophagy on the sensitivity of liver cancer cells to 125I particles irradiation. Methods Hepatoma cell lines Huh7 and LM3 were exposed to different doses (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 Gy) of 125I particles, and cell autophagy was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Then, autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ), agonist rapamycin (Rapa), and PGRMC1 inhibitor AG-205 were used respectively to verify that PGRMC1-mediated autophagy plays a key role in the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to 125I particle irradiation. Cell proliferation, colony formation and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 assay, clonal formation test and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression levels of PGRMC1, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-Ⅰ (LC3-Ⅰ), LC3-Ⅱ and p62 were detected by Western blotting. Results Different doses of 125I particles irradiation significantly decreased the proliferation and clonogenesis of Huh7 and LM3 cells (P < 0.05), and increased the apoptotic cells (P < 0.01), in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with the 0 Gy group, the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ/ LC3-Ⅰ in Huh7 and LM3 cells was obviously increased, and the expression of p62 was significantly down-regulated in the 6 Gy group. The proliferation capacity and clonal formation ability of Huh7 and LM3 cells were decreased significantly, and their apoptotic cells were increased notably in the 6 Gy+CQ group than the 6 Gy group, while the above results were on the contrary in the 6 Gy+Rapa group. The 6 Gy+AG205 group had notably decreased LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ ratio in the Huh7 and LM3 cells, up-regulated p62 expression, reduced cell proliferation capacity and clone formation ability, and enhanced cell apoptosis when compared with the 6 Gy group, and the above results of the 6 Gy+PGRMC1 group were opposite. Conclusion Increment of PGRMC1 induced by 125I irradiation can promote autophagy, increase the proliferation and clonogenesis, and reduce the apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

The main goals of rice breeding nowadays include increasing yield, improving grain quality, and promoting complete mechanized production to save labor costs. Rice grain shape, specified by three dimensions, including grain length, width and thickness, has a more precise meaning than grain size, contributing to grain appearance quality as well as grain weight and thus yield. Furthermore, the divergence of grain shape characters could be utilized in mechanical seed sorting in hybrid rice breeding systems, which has been succeeded in utilizing heterosis to achieve substantial increase in rice yield in the past decades. Several signaling pathways that regulate rice grain shape have been elucidated, including G protein signaling, ubiquitination-related pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling, microRNA process, and some other transcriptional regulatory pathways and regulators. This review summarized the recent progress on molecular mechanisms underlying rice grain shape determination and the potential of major genes in future breeding applications.

Objective To investigate mechanism and effect on (-)-gossypol enhancing epirubicin killing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Methods HCC cells (Hep 3B and HuH7) were divided into 8 groups: control, (-)-gossypol, epirubicin, combination, si-control+epirubicin, si-X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP)+ epirubicin, empty vector+ combination and pEBB-XIAP+ combination groups. Cell viability of each group was detected by CCK-8 assay; Cell apoptosis of each group was detected by flow cytometry and the level of cleavaged PARP, XIAP and eIF4E phosphorylation was detected by Western blot assay. Results Compared with the control group, no major effect was observed on cell viability exposed to (-)-gossypol in 5 μmol/L (P>0.05). Combination of (-)-gossypol and epirubicin significantly enhanced the anti-survival effect on HCC cells (P < 0.05), promoted cells apoptosis, increased the induction of cleavaged PARP, and inhibited XIAP up-regulation and eIF4E phosphorylation induced by epirubicin in HCC cells. Silencing XIAP promoted epirubicin to kill HCC cells and induced PARP cleavaged; Furthermore, XIAP over-expression attenuated epirubicin-induced anti-survival and pro-apoptosis of HCC cells enhanced by (-)-gossypol. Conclusion The combination of (-)-gossypol and epirubicin significantly inhibits HCC cells' survival and promotes cell apoptosis via suppressing epirubicin-induced phosphorylation of eIF4E and up-regulation of XIAP, suggesting that (-)-gossypol holds promise as a sensitizer for epirubicin-based HCC therapy.

Chilling stress is one of the main abiotic factors affecting rice growth and yield. In rice, chlorophyllide a oxygenase encoded by OsCAO1 is responsible for converting chlorophyllide a to chlorophyllide b, playing a crucial role in photosynthesis and thus rice growth. However, little is known about the function of OsCAO1 in chilling stress responses. The presence of the cis-acting element involved in low-temperature responsiveness (LTR) in the OsCAO1 promoter implied that OsCAO1 probably is a cold-responsive gene. The gene expression level of OsCAO1 was usually inhibited by low temperatures during the day and promoted by low temperatures at night. The OsCAO1 knockout mutants generated by the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in rice (Oryza sativa L.) exhibited significantly weakened chilling tolerance at the seedling stage. OsCAO1 dysfunction led to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde, an increase in relative electrolyte leakage, and a reduction in antioxidant gene expression under chilling stress. In addition, the functional deficiency of OsCAO1 resulted in more severe damage to chloroplast morphology, such as abnormal grana thylakoid stacking, caused by low temperatures. Moreover, the rice yield was reduced in OsCAO1 knockout mutants. Therefore, the elevated expression of OsCAO1 probably has the potential to increase both rice yield and chilling tolerance simultaneously, providing a strategy to cultivate chilling-tolerant rice varieties with high yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 on the bacterial community and nitrogen metabolism genes in the aerobic composting of pig manure. The experimental treatments were set up as control (C), 1% Ca(H2PO4)2 + 2% MgSO4 (CaPM1), and 1.5% Ca(H2PO4)2 + 3% MgSO4 (CaPM2), which were used at the end of composting for potting trials. The results showed that Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 played an excellent role in retaining nitrogen and increasing the alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) contents of the composts. Adding Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 changed the microbial community structure of the compost. The microorganisms associated with nitrogen retention were activated. The complexity of the microbial network was enhanced. Genetic prediction analysis showed that the addition of Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 reduced the accumulation of nitroso-nitrogen and the process of denitrification. At the same time, despite the reduction of genes related to nitrogen fixation, the conversion of ammonia to nitrogenous organic compounds was promoted and the stability of nitrogen was increased. Mantel test analysis showed that Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 can affect nitrogen transformation-related bacteria and thus indirectly affect nitrogen metabolism genes by influencing the temperature, pH, and organic matter (OM) of the compost and also directly affected nitrogen metabolism genes through PO43− and Mg2+. The pot experiment showed that composting with 1.5% Ca(H2PO4)2 + 3% MgSO4 produced the compost product that improved the growth yield and nutrient content of cilantro and increased the fertility of the soil. In conclusion, Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 reduces the loss of nitrogen from compost, activates nitrogen-related bacteria and genes in the thermophilic phase of composting, and improves the fertilizer efficiency of compost products. Key points: • Ca(H2PO4)2 and MgSO4 reduced the nitrogen loss and improved the compost effect • Activated nitrogen-related bacteria and altered nitrogen metabolism genes • Improved the yield and quality of cilantro and fertility of soil [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-coverage whole-genome sequencing is an effective strategy for genome-wide association studies in humans, due to the availability of large reference panels for genotype imputation. However, it is unclear whether this strategy can be utilized in other species without reference panels. Using simulations, we show that this approach is even more relevant in inbred species such as rice (Oryza sativa L.), which are effectively haploid, allowing easy haplotype construction and imputation-based genotype calling, even without the availability of large reference panels. We sequenced 203 rice varieties with well-characterized phenotypes from the United States Department of Agriculture Rice Mini-Core Collection at an average depth of 1.5× and used the data for mapping three traits. For the first two traits, amylose content and seed length, our approach leads to direct identification of the previously identified causal SNPs in the major-effect loci. For the third trait, pericarp color, an important trait underwent selection during domestication, we identified a new major-effect locus. Although known loci can explain color variation in the varieties of two main subspecies of Asian domesticated rice, japonica and indica, the new locus identified is unique to another domesticated rice subgroup, aus, and together with existing loci, can fully explain the major variation in pericarp color in aus. Our discovery of a unique genetic basis of white pericarp in aus provides an example of convergent evolution during rice domestication and suggests that aus may have a domestication history independent of japonica and indica.