Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are obligate biotrophic parasites that invade plant roots and engage in prolonged and intimate relationships with their hosts. Nematode secretions, some of which have immunosuppressing activity, play essential roles in successful parasitism; however, their mechanisms of action remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the RKN-specific gene MiMsp40, cloned from Meloidogyne incognita, is expressed exclusively in subventral oesophageal gland cells and is strongly upregulated during early parasitic stages. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing MiMsp40 were more susceptible to nematode infection than were wild type plants. Conversely, the host-derived MiMsp40 RNAi suppressed nematode parasitism and/or reproduction. Moreover, overexpression of MiMsp40 in plants suppressed the deposition of callose and the expression of marker genes for bacterial elicitor elf18-triggered immunity. Transient expression of MiMsp40 prevented Bax-triggered defence-related programmed cell death. Co-agroinfiltration assays indicated that MiMsp40 also suppressed macroscopic cell death triggered by MAPK cascades or by the ETI cognate elicitors R3a/Avr3a. Together, these results demonstrate that MiMsp40 is a novel Meloidogyne-specific effector that is injected into plant cells by early parasitic stages of the nematode and that plays a role in suppressing PTI and/or ETI signals to facilitate RKN parasitism.

Novel lotus-root-like In2O3 nanostructures with a diameter of ca. 300 nm and a length of 1.5−4.0 μm have been prepared by annealing In(OH)3 nanostructures with the same morphology derived from a mild solution reaction. The hierarchical nanostructures are composed of several segments aggregated orderly from In2O3 nanorods with the length of 50−90 nm and diameter of 15−40 nm. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) in detail. Furthermore, the effects of reaction parameters on the formation of nanostructures were also discussed, and the hydrolysis and oriented-aggregation mechanism was proposed. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the In2O3 nanostructure showed the peculiar visible emission from the blue to orange region, with the strongest peak centered at 468 nm.

Parasitism genes encoding secreted effector proteins of plant-parasitic nematodes play important roles in facilitating parasitism. An annexin-like gene was isolated from the cereal cyst nematode Heterodera avenae (termed Ha-annexin) and had high similarity to annexin 2, which encodes a secreted protein of Globodera pallida. Ha-annexin encodes a predicted 326 amino acid protein containing four conserved annexin domains. Southern blotting revealed that there are at least two homologies in the H. avenae genome. Ha-annexin transcripts were expressed within the subventral gland cells of the pre-parasitic second-stage juveniles by in situ hybridization. Additionally, expression of these transcripts were relatively higher in the parasitic second-stage juveniles by quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis, coinciding with the time when feeding cell formation is initiated. Knockdown of Ha-annexin by method of barley stripe mosaic virus-based host-induced gene silencing (BSMV-HIGS) caused impaired nematode infections at 7 dpi and reduced females at 40 dpi, indicating important roles of the gene in parasitism at least in early stage in vivo. Transiently expression of Ha-ANNEXIN in onion epidermal cells and Nicotiana benthamiana leaf cells showed the whole cell-localization. Using transient expression assays in N. benthamiana, we found that Ha-ANNEXIN could suppress programmed cell death triggered by the pro-apoptotic mouse protein BAX and the induction of marker genes of PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in N. benthamiana. In addition, Ha-ANNEXIN targeted a point in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway downstream of two kinases MKK1 and NPK1 in N. benthamiana.

Here we describe for the first time the synthesis of colloidally stable, brightly luminescent perfluorodecylcapped silicon nanocrystals and compare the properties of solutions and films made from them with those of their perhydrodecyl-capped relatives. The perfluorodecyl capping group compared to the perhydrodecyl capping group yields superior hydrophobicity and much greater resistance to air oxidation, the enhanced electron-withdrawing character induces blue shifts in the wavelength of photoluminescence, and the lowerfrequency carbon-fluorine stretching modes disfavor non-radiative relaxation pathways and boost the absolute photoluminescence quantum yield. Together these attributes bode well for advanced materials and biomedical applications founded upon perfluorodecyl-protected silicon nanocrystals. Keywordscapped, perfluorodecyl, luminescent, brightly, stable, oxidation, wettable, nanocrystal, non, silicon, film Disciplines Engineering | Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication DetailsQian, C., Sun, W., Wang, L., Chen, C., Liao, K., Wang, W., Jia, J., Hatton, B., Casillas, G., Kurylowicz, M., Yip, Supporting Information PlaceholderABSTRACT: Here we describe for the first time the synthesis of colloidally-stable, brightly-luminescent perfluorodecylcapped silicon nanocrystals and compare the properties of solutions and films with the perhydrodecyl-capped relative. The perfluorodecyl capping group compared to the perhydrodecyl capping group yields superior hydrophobicity and much greater resistance to air oxidation, the enhanced electron withdrawing character induces blue shifts in the wavelength of photoluminescence and the lower frequency carbon-fluorine stretching modes disfavor non-radiative relaxation pathways and boost the absolute photoluminescence quantum yield. Together these attributes bode well for advanced materials and biomedical applications founded upon perfluorodecyl-protected silicon nanocrystals.The burgeoning research activity on new kinds of nanostructured silicon, made from one of the most abundant and green materials on earth, is striking.

A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for detection of Meloidogyne enterolobii (Me-LAMP) was developed based on the sequences of the 5S ribosomal DNA (5S rDNA) and intergenic spacer 2 (IGS2) segment. The LAMP amplification was achieved at 65°C isothermal conditions within 1-1AE5 h. Its amplicons were confirmed using gel electrophoresis, SacI enzyme analysis, lateral flow dipstick (LFD) assay, and visual inspection through SYBR Green I and calcein staining. The results demonstrated that the Me-LAMP was able to specifically detect M. enterolobii populations from different geographical origins, with a detection limit of about 10 fg M. enterolobii genomic DNA, which was 10-100 times more sensitive than conventional PCR. In addition, the applicability of LAMP to field detection was confirmed following its successful performance in detecting the pest on root and soil samples. The Me-LAMP assay possessed the characteristics of simplicity, sensitivity and specificity, and is a promising and practical molecular tool for M. enterolobii diagnosis in pest quarantine and field surveys.

Single-crystalline metastable corundum-type In2O3 nanotubes were prepared by annealing solvothermally synthesized InOOH nanotubes under ambient pressure at 300 degrees C, and the formation mechanism of the nanotubes was investigated.

AIMTo evaluate the clinical properties of three subpopulations of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients.METHODSWe identified CTCs for expression of the epithelial cell marker cytokeratin or epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) (E-CTC), the mesenchymal cell markers vimentin and twist (M-CTC), or both (E/M-CTC) using the CanPatrol system. Between July 2014 and July 2016, 107 patients with PDAC were enrolled for CTC evaluation. CTC enumeration and classification were correlated with patient clinicopathological features and outcomes.RESULTSCTCs were detected in 78.5% of PDAC patients. The number of total CTCs ranged from 0 to 26 across all 107 patients, with a median value of six. CTC status correlated with lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, distant metastasis, blood lymphocyte counts, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with ≥ 6 total CTCs had significantly decreased overall survival and progression-free survival compared with patients with < 6 total CTCs. The presence of M-CTCs was positively correlated with TNM stage (P < 0.01) and distant metastasis (P < 0.01). Additionally, lymphocyte counts and NLR in patients without CTCs were significantly different from those in patients testing positive for each CTC subpopulation (P < 0.01).CONCLUSIONClassifying CTCs by EMT markers helps to identify the more aggressive CTC subpopulations and provides useful evidence for determining a suitable clinical approach.

TiO 2 is a very promising photocatalytic material due to its merits including low cost, nontoxicity, high chemical stability, and photocorrosion resistance. However, it is also known that TiO 2 is a wide bandgap material, and it is still challenging to achieve high photocatalytic performance driven by solar light. In this paper, silicon-doped TiO 2 nanorod arrays are vertically grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates and then are heat treated both in air and in vacuum. It is found that the silicon doping together with the heat treatment brings synergic effect to TiO 2 nanorod films by increasing the crystallinity, producing abundant oxygen vacancies, enhancing the hydrophilicity as well as improving the electronic properties. When used as photoanodes in photoelectrochemical water splitting, under the condition of AM 1.5G simulated solar irradiation and without using any cocatalysts, these nanorod films show photocurrent density as high as 0.83 mA cm −2 at a potential of 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which is much higher than that of the TiO 2 nanorod films without doping or heat treating. The silicon-doped TiO 2 nanorod array films described in this paper are envisioned to provide valuable platforms for supporting catalysts and cocatalysts for efficient solar-light-assisted water oxidation and other solar-light-driven photocatalytic applications.