Summary• Here, orthologous genes of six phosphate transporter (PiT) genes, which are members of the Pht1 and Pht2 families in tomato and potato, have been cloned from the solanaceous species pepper, eggplant and tobacco.• Overall, expressions of these genes in pepper, eggplant and tobacco showed similar patterns to those in tomato and potato: P-starvation enhancement in both leaves and roots for Pht1;1 , P-depletion induction exclusively in roots for Pht1;2 , mycorrhizal enhancement for Pht1;3 , and mycorrhizal induction for both Pht1;4 and Pht1;5 .• In the roots of nonmycorrhizal eggplant, SmPht1;3 , SmPht1;4 and SmPht1;5 were also expressed under extreme P starvation. Mycorrhizal symbiosis under high-P supply conditions reduced plant growth, with concurrent enhancement of Pht1;2 expression in the roots of pepper as well as eggplant. In addition, the mycorrhizal symbiosis down-regulated the expression of Pht2;1 genes greatly in the leaves of pepper and tobacco.• The discrepancies between the evolutionary distances of the PiT genes and their expression patterns among the five species suggest greater complexity in function of PiT in plants than previously expected.

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Cotton verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae Kleb.) is a very destructive disease. In this study, we evaluated a Bacillus subtilis enhanced bio-organic fertilizer (BOF) for control of the disease and for its eff ect on rhizosphere microbiota. Greenhouse pot experiments were conducted during three cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) growing seasons with serial treatments of BOF or unenhanced organic fertilizer (OF). Consistent control of cotton verticillium wilt was obtained in the three trials. Th e complete BOF treatment, in which both nursery cups with healthy soils and transplanted pots with diseased soils were amended with BOF, was the most eff ective in reducing the counts of pathogenic V. dahliae and of total fungi in the cotton rhizosphere. Th e complete BOF treatment was also the most eff ective in reducing disease incidence. Rhizosphere soil DNA was extracted at harvest and the 5´ end (370 base pairs) of the fungal 18S rRNA gene was amplifi ed by using the primer pair NS1 and GCFung (fungus specifi c). Seventy-one bands were recognized in denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) gels and excised for sequencing, but only 35 bands were successfully sequenced during the study. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis of DGGE patterns showed that the complete BOF treatments were not close to any other treatment. Ribotypes related to four Ascomycota and two Basidiomycota fungi were detected in the untreated but not in the BOF-amended soil. Th e results suggest that the complete BOF treatment could eff ectively control cotton verticillium wilt by signifi cantly improving fungal structure in rhizosphere soils.

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Emerging studies indicate that the immune system can regulate systemic metabolism. Here, we show that thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) stimulates T cells to induce selective white adipose loss, which protects against obesity, improves glucose metabolism, and mitigates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Unexpectedly, adipose loss was not caused by alterations in food intake, absorption, or energy expenditure. Rather, it was induced by the excessive loss of lipids through the skin as sebum. TSLP and T cells regulated sebum release and sebum-associated antimicrobial peptide expression in the steady state. In human skin, TSLP expression correlated directly with sebum-associated gene expression. Thus, we establish a paradigm in which adipose loss can be achieved by means of sebum hypersecretion and uncover a role for adaptive immunity in skin barrier function through sebum secretion.

The risk factors related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients complicated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were investigated. A total of 188 PCOS patients treated in Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital (Dongying, China) from February 2014 to February 2015 were retrospectively analyzed as PCOS group, and PCOS group was further divided into NAFLD group and non-NAFLD (N-NAFLD) group according to the liver B ultrasound. In the same time-period, 65 healthy people were selected as normal control group. The differences of clinical, biochemical and metabolic indexes were compared. The levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), LH/follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), free androgen index (FAI), fasting insulin (FINS) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index in PCOS group were higher than those in normal control group, but the sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) level was lower than that in normal control group (P<0.05); there were no statistically significant differences in comparisons of age, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), FSH, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAs) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) between the two groups (P>0.05). The prevalence rate of NAFLD in PCOS group (44.68%) was significantly higher than that in control group (24.62%) (P<0.05). The proportion of NAFLD in PCOS patients in obesity group (63.51%) was significantly higher than that in non-obesity group (15.79%) (P<0.05). In PCOS group, NAFLD patients had more obvious metabolic abnormalities [high BMI, WHR, FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR index, total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG), and low high-density lipoprotein HDL and SHBG] and androgen excess compared with those in N-NAFLD patients (P<0.05). The levels of LH, LH/FSH, FINS and HOMA-IR index in PCOS group complicated with NAFLD were higher than those in control group complicated with NAFLD (P<0.05), but the differences in age, BMI, WHR, FSH and FBG levels were not statistically significant between the two groups (P>0.05). HOMA-IR index, BMI, WHR and TG were independent risk factors for PCOS complicated with NAFLD (P<0.05).

ObjectiveInflammation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Cyclophilin B (CypB) can be constitutively secreted in response to inflammatory stimuli and oxidative stress, participating in tissue or systemic inflammation. We investigated the relationship between CypB and MetS in both humans and mice.MethodsSerum CypB levels were determined in 211 subjects with MetS and 292 subjects without MetS (non-MetS) (133 healthy controls and 159 high-risk subjects with one to two MetS components). Additionally, CypB expression in metabolic organs was examined in mice fed with high-fat diet (HFD) and genetically obese (ob/ob) mice.ResultsSerum CypB level was significantly higher in MetS subjects compared with both groups of non-MetS subjects (193.80 ± 83.22 vs. 168.38 ± 65.01 vs. 124.26 ± 47.83 ng/mL, P < 0.001). Particularly, serum CypB level was significantly higher in subjects with hypertension, central obesity, diabetes mellitus or hyperglycemia, elevated levels of triglycerides, or reduced levels of high-density lipoprotein than in those without. Moreover, CypB was positively associated with the number of MetS components (r = 0.404, P < 0.001), indicating that a higher serum CypB level reflected more severe MetS. Multivariate regression revealed that a one SD increase in CypB was associated with an odds ratio of 1.506 (1.080–2.101, P = 0.016) for MetS prevalence after adjusting for age, gender, conventional risk factors, and medication. Stratified analyses by age and gender demonstrated that subjects >60 years old with higher CypB levels were more likely to have MetS, and the risk for MetS was higher and more significant in women compared with men. Additionally, CypB expression levels were lower at baseline and dramatically enhanced in metabolic organs (such as the liver) and visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue from HFD-induced obese mice and ob/ob mice.ConclusionIncreased CypB levels were significantly and independently associated with the presence and severity of MetS, indicating that CypB could be used as a novel biomarker and clinical predictor of MetS.