Cotton is an important source of natural fibre used in the textile industry and the productivity of the crop is adversely affected by drought stress. High throughput transcriptomic analyses were used to identify genes involved in fibre development. However, not much information is available on cotton genome response in developing fibres under drought stress. In the present study a genome wide transcriptome analysis was carried out to identify differentially expressed genes at various stages of fibre growth under drought stress. Our study identified a number of genes differentially expressed during fibre elongation as compared to other stages. High level up-regulation of genes encoding for enzymes involved in pectin modification and cytoskeleton proteins was observed at fibre initiation stage. While a large number of genes encoding transcription factors (AP2-EREBP, WRKY, NAC and C2H2), osmoprotectants, ion transporters and heat shock proteins and pathways involved in hormone (ABA, ethylene and JA) biosynthesis and signal transduction were up-regulated and genes involved in phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis, pentose and glucuronate interconversions and starch and sucrose metabolism pathways were down-regulated during fibre elongation. This study showed that drought has relatively less impact on fibre initiation but has profound effect on fibre elongation by down-regulating important genes involved in cell wall loosening and expansion process. The comprehensive transcriptome analysis under drought stress has provided valuable information on differentially expressed genes and pathways during fibre development that will be useful in developing drought tolerant cotton cultivars without compromising fibre quality.

BackgroundFuzzless-lintless cotton mutants are considered to be the ideal material to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in fibre cell development. Although there are few reports on transcriptome and proteome analyses in cotton at fibre initiation and elongation stages, there is no comprehensive comparative transcriptome analysis of fibre-bearing and fuzzless-lintless cotton ovules covering fibre initiation to secondary cell wall (SCW) synthesis stages. In the present study, a comparative transcriptome analysis was carried out using G. hirsutum L. cv. MCU5 wild-type (WT) and it’s near isogenic fuzzless-lintless (fl) mutant at fibre initiation (0 dpa/days post anthesis), elongation (5, 10 and 15 dpa) and SCW synthesis (20 dpa) stages.ResultsScanning electron microscopy study revealed the delay in the initiation of fibre cells and lack of any further development after 2 dpa in the fl mutant. Transcriptome analysis showed major down regulation of transcripts (90%) at fibre initiation and early elongation (5 dpa) stages in the fl mutant. Majority of the down regulated transcripts at fibre initiation stage in the fl mutant represent calcium and phytohormone mediated signal transduction pathways, biosynthesis of auxin and ethylene and stress responsive transcription factors (TFs). Further, transcripts involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolisms, mitochondrial electron transport system (mETS) and cell wall loosening and elongation were highly down-regulated at fibre elongation stage (5–15 dpa) in the fl mutant. In addition, cellulose synthases and sucrose synthase C were down-regulated at SCW biosynthesis stage (15–20 dpa). Interestingly, some of the transcripts (~50%) involved in phytohormone signalling and stress responsive transcription factors that were up-regulated at fibre initiation stage in the WT were found to be up-regulated at much later stage (15 dpa) in fl mutant.ConclusionsComparative transcriptome analysis of WT and its near isogenic fl mutant revealed key genes and pathways involved at various stages of fibre development. Our data implicated the significant role of mitochondria mediated energy metabolism during fibre elongation process. The delayed expression of genes involved in phytohormone signalling and stress responsive TFs in the fl mutant suggests the need for a coordinated expression of regulatory mechanisms in fibre cell initiation and differentiation.

Large number of well-filled grains per panicle is an important yield component trait in rice. A combination of QTL mapping and transcriptome profiling was used to identify candidate genes for grain number. A framework linkage map was constructed using 166 SSR markers evenly distributed over the 12 rice chromosomes. QTL mapping using 3 years phenotyping data on a set of recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Pusa 1266 (high grain number) and Pusa Basmati 1 (low grain number) identified one consistent QTL qGN4-1 on the long arm of chromosome 4 with major effect on grain number. This QTL was co-localized with major QTLs for primary and secondary branches per panicle, and number of panicles per plant. The QTL interval was narrowed down to 11.1 cM (0.78 Mbp) by targeted enrichment of the region with six additional markers. Microarray transcriptome profiling revealed eight genes in the qGN4-1 region differentially expressed between the two parents during early panicle development. Synteny of this QTL and potential candidates was examined in wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, and Brachypodium to further validate the association.

P‐element induced wimpy testis (PIWI)‐interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a promising class of small regulatory RNAs, earlier believed to control transposable elements (TEs) activity in germlines are now reported in somatic and cancer cells. The aberrant expression of piRNAs has been documented in various cancers wherein they modulate tumorigenesis either as oncogenes or tumor suppressors by curbing target gene expression. However, there is no report yet on the association of piRNAs in fibrosarcoma, an early metastatic lethal tumor. For the first time, we reported a piRNA, piR‐39980 in fibrosarcoma and investigated its potential role in malignancy by employing several methods such as qRT‐PCR, MTT assay, transwell invasion and migration assay, wound healing assay, flow cytometric cell cycle analysis, Annexin V‐PE apoptosis assay, AO/EB dual staining assay, and chromatin condensation assay. We observed that piR‐39980 significantly attenuated proliferation, migration, invasion, and colony forming ability as well as induced apoptotic cell death of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells when transiently overexpressed with its piRNA mimics. The dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed that piR‐39980 promotes apoptosis and inhibits proliferation in fibrosarcoma by repressing RRM2 through direct targeting at its 3′UTR through extensive sequence complementary binding, unlike microRNA targeting. In summary, this study revealed that piR‐39980 has a strong anti‐tumor effect and hence could be a promising RNA‐based therapeutic agent for the malignancy of fibrosarcoma.

The abnormal expressions of microRNAs (miRNAs) are known to be associated with various pathophysiological processes that lead to the development of a plethora of diseases including cancer. Among several miRNAs studied so far, miR-197 has been reported to play a vital role either as an oncogene or tumor suppressor in different cancers. However, its role in carcinogenesis of fibrosarcoma has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, the current study investigated the role of miR-197-5p, which is significantly downregulated in HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells compared to IMR90-tert fibroblast cells. The transient overexpression of miR-197-5p causes a significant decrease in viability and proliferation of fibrosarcoma cells in both concentration-and time-dependent manners. Interestingly, we did not observe any significant changes in cell cycle pattern or apoptotic cell populations, but rather noticed cellular senescence of fibrosarcoma cells upon overexpression of miR-197-5p. Further, this miRNA suppresses the metastatic properties, such as migration, invasion, and anchorageindependent growth of fibrosarcoma possibly through targeting KIAA0101, which is a proliferating cell nuclear antigen-associated factor and overexpressed in the malignancy. In nutshell, our result revealed that miR-197-5p acts as an oncosuppressor miRNA in fibrosarcoma through target regulation of KIAA0101, which can be exploited for developing RNA-based therapeutic strategies for the cure of this malignancy.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the leading pediatric cancer known for its heterogeneity and clinical aggressiveness leading to chemoresistance. Recent evidence in small RNA research has led to the discovery of PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) which work in an orchestrated fashion to modulate gene expression both in homeostatic conditions and abnormalities like cancer including NB. This study aims to decipher the possible role of a repeat-derived piRNA, piR-39980 (identified from our previous piRNA profiling study in human NB cell lines) in tumorigenesis of NB cells. piR-39980, overexpressed in NB cells act as an oncopiR and promotes tumor progression, while its inhibition resulted in reduced viability, invasion as well as the migration of IMR-32 cells. Interestingly, we observed that inhibition of piRNA induces senescence of NB cells without affecting the classical apoptosis pathway by modulating the expression of JAK3 through target binding. In addition, piR-39980 was found to desensitize the effect of doxorubicin and inhibit drug-induced apoptosis. Overall, we report piR-39980, as the first oncopiR which might serve as a novel therapeutic target for this malignancy.

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With the advent of artificial intelligence, the way technology can assist humans is completely revived. Ranging from finance and medicine to music, gaming, and various other domains, it has slowly become an intricate part of our lives. A neural network, a computer system modeled on the human brain, is one of the methods of implementing artificial intelligence. In this paper, we have implemented a recurrent neural network methodology based text generation system called Story Scrambler. Our system aims to generate a new story based on a series of inputted stories. For new story generation, we have considered two possibilities with respect to nature of inputted stories. Firstly, we have considered the stories with different storyline and characters. Secondly, we have worked with different volumes of the same stories where the storyline is in context with each other and characters are also similar. Results generated by the system are analyzed based on parameters like grammar correctness, linkage of events, interest level and uniqueness.