BackgroundDisease resistance (R) genes from different Rosaceae species have been identified by map-based cloning for resistance breeding. However, there are few reports describing the pattern of R-gene evolution in Rosaceae species because several Rosaceae genome sequences have only recently become available.ResultsSince most disease resistance genes encode NBS-LRR proteins, we performed a systematic genome-wide survey of NBS-LRR genes between five Rosaceae species, namely Fragaria vesca (strawberry), Malus × domestica (apple), Pyrus bretschneideri (pear), Prunus persica (peach) and Prunus mume (mei) which contained 144, 748, 469, 354 and 352 NBS-LRR genes, respectively. A high proportion of multi-genes and similar Ks peaks (Ks = 0.1- 0.2) of gene families in the four woody genomes were detected. A total of 385 species-specific duplicate clades were observed in the phylogenetic tree constructed using all 2067 NBS-LRR genes. High percentages of NBS-LRR genes derived from species-specific duplication were found among the five genomes (61.81% in strawberry, 66.04% in apple, 48.61% in pear, 37.01% in peach and 40.05% in mei). Furthermore, the Ks and Ka/Ks values of TIR-NBS-LRR genes (TNLs) were significantly greater than those of non-TIR-NBS-LRR genes (non-TNLs), and most of the NBS-LRRs had Ka/Ks ratios less than 1, suggesting that they were evolving under a subfunctionalization model driven by purifying selection.ConclusionsOur results indicate that recent duplications played an important role in the evolution of NBS-LRR genes in the four woody perennial Rosaceae species. Based on the phylogenetic tree produced, it could be inferred that species-specific duplication has mainly contributed to the expansion of NBS-LRR genes in the five Rosaceae species. In addition, the Ks and Ka/Ks ratios suggest that the rapidly evolved TNLs have different evolutionary patterns to adapt to different pathogens compared with non-TNL resistant genes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1291-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Primate tourism is a growing trend in habitat countries, but few assessments of its impact on primate groups are available. We compare infant mortality in a group of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) 6 yr before the government translocated the group and subsequently used them for tourism , 12 yr during management for tourism (1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002) 2004), and 1 yr when management was temporarily suspended (2003). We also compare aggression rates among adults before and during management, and test several hypotheses about specific factors (numbers of tourists, degree of range restriction, demographic changes, changes in α-males) that may have harmed infants. Infant mortality was significantly higher during management than before, but it was similar before management vs. during its suspension. After management began, serious attacks on infants occurred shortly before they died, and many infant corpses had bite wounds. Typically, infants sustained wounds after aggression broke out among adults in the provisioning area used for tourist viewing. Adult aggression rates in the provisioning area correlated positively with infant mortality over time. Range restriction accounted for 54.5% of the variation in infant mortality, and was more closely associated with both mortality and aggression than any other specific factor examined. We hypothesize that range restriction led to increased infant mortality by raising aggression levels in the provisioning area. We conclude that infant mortality is useful as an indicator of the impact of tourism on primate groups, and that range restriction is an inappropriate tourism management practice.

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Duck enteritis virus (DEV) is an acute, septic, sexually transmitted disease that occurs in ducks, geese and other poultry. Autophagy is an evolutionarily ancient pathway that is important in many viral infections. Despite extensive study, the interplay between DEV and autophagy of host cells is not clearly understood. In this study, we found that DEV infection triggers autophagy in duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) cells, as demonstrated by the appearance of autophagosome-like double- or single-membrane vesicles in the cytoplasm of host cells and the number of GFP-LC3 dots. In addition, increased conversion of the autophagy marker protein LC3-I and LC3-II and decreased p62/SQSTM1 indicated complete autophagy flux. Heat-inactivated DEV infection did not induce autophagy, suggesting that the trigger of autophagy in DEF cells depended on DEV replication. When autophagy was pharmacologically inhibited by LY294002 or wortmannin, DEV replication decreased. The DEV offspring yield decreased when small interference RNA was used to interfere with autophagy related to the genes Beclin-1 and ATG5. In contrast, after treating DEF cells with rapamycin, an inducer of autophagy, DEV replication increased. These results indicated that DEV infection induced autophagy in DEF cells and autophagy facilitated DEV replication.

Gephyrin, which is a postsynaptic scaffolding protein participated in clustering GABA(A) receptors at inhibitory synapses, has been reported to be involved in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) recently. Here, we investigate gephyrin protein expression in the temporal lobe epileptic foci in epileptic patients and experimental animals in order to explore the probable relationship between gephyrin expression and TLE. Using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and western blot analysis, gephyrin expression was examined in 30 human temporal neocortex samples from patients who underwent surgery to treat drug-refractory TLE and 10 histological normal temporal neocortex from the controls. Meanwhile, we investigated the gephyrin expression in the hippocampus and adjacent neocortex from experimental rats on 24 h, 48 h, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months postseizure and from control rats. Gephyrin protein was mainly expressed in the membrane and cytoplasm of neurons in temporal lobe epileptic foci in humans and experimental rats. Gephyrin expression was significantly lower in the temporal neocortex of TLE patients compared to the controls. In experimental rats, the expression of gephyrin in temporal lobe was downregulated in epileptic groups compared to the control group. Gephyrin expression gradually decreased during the acute period and the latent period, but then began to increase below the levels seen in controls during the chronic phase. Our findings suggest that gephyrin may be involved in the development of TLE.

Summary Botrytis cinerea is the causal agent of grey mould for more than 200 plant species, including economically important vegetables, fruits and crops, which leads to economic losses worldwide. Target of rapamycin (TOR) acts a master regulator to control cell growth and proliferation by integrating nutrient, energy and growth factors in eukaryotic species, but little is known about whether TOR can function as a practicable target in the control of plant fungal pathogens. Here, we characterize TOR signalling of B. cinerea in the regulation of growth and pathogenicity as well as its potential value in genetic engineering for crop protection by bioinformatics analysis, pharmacological assays, biochemistry and genetics approaches. The results show that conserved TOR signalling occurs, and a functional FK506‐binding protein 12 kD (FKBP12) mediates the interaction between rapamycin and B. cinerea TOR (BcTOR). RNA sequencing (RNA‐Seq) analysis revealed that BcTOR displayed conserved functions, particularly in controlling growth and metabolism. Furthermore, pathogenicity assay showed that BcTOR inhibition efficiently reduces the infection of B. cinerea in plant leaves of Arabidopsis and potato or tomato fruits. Additionally, transgenic plants expressing double‐stranded RNA of BcTOR through the host‐induced gene silencing method could produce abundant small RNAs targeting BcTOR, and significantly block the occurrence of grey mould in potato and tomato. Taken together, our results suggest that BcTOR is an efficient target for genetic engineering in control of grey mould, and also a potential and promising target applied in the biocontrol of plant fungal pathogens.

We report on the coexistence of and in multidrug-resistant, extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing belonging to the sequence type 10 complex isolated from well water in rural China. with was also detected in well water from the same area. This study shows that genes coding for resistance to last-resort antibiotics are present in wells in rural China, indicating a potential source of antibiotic resistance.