SUMMARY Mitochondria play an integral role in cell death, autophagy, immunity, and inflammation. We previously showed that Nur77, an orphan nuclear receptor, induces apoptosis by targeting mitochondria. Here, we report that celastrol, a potent anti-inflammatory pentacyclic triterpene, binds Nur77 to inhibit inflammation and induce autophagy in a Nur77-dependent manner. Celastrol promotes Nur77 translocation from the nucleus to mitochondria, where it interacts with tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2), a scaffold protein and E3 ubiquitin ligase important for inflammatory signaling. The interaction is mediated by an LxxLL motif in TRAF2 and results not only in the inhibition of TRAF2 ubiquitination but also in Lys63-linked Nur77 ubiquitination. Under inflammatory conditions, ubiquitinated Nur77 resides at mitochondria, rendering them sensitive to autophagy, an event involving Nur77 interaction with p62/SQSTM1. Together, our results identify Nur77 as a critical intracellular target for celastrol and unravel a mechanism of Nur77-dependent clearance of inflamed mitochondria to alleviate inflammation.

Schizochytrium was a known docosahexaenoic acid producing marine microalgae. In this study, we have developed a novel transformation approach of Schizochytrium using the Agrobacterium tumefaciens (A. tumefaciens) binary vector system. After co-cultivation of Schizochytrium protoplasts with A. tumefaciens harboring pCAMBIA2301 containing the neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) gene as the selectable marker which confers resistance to G418, the Schizochytrium transformants were successfully obtained on the G418-containing plates. The integration and expression of the transgenes were confirmed by PCR analysis and GUS activity assay. To further validate the transformation system, pCAMBIA2301-EGFP containing the egfp gene was introduced into Schizochytrium. The following results demonstrated that the exogenous egfp gene has been successfully incorporated into the genome of Schizochytrium. In addition, the introduced egfp gene expressed efficiently according to the Western blot and fluorescence assay results. More importantly, the majority of the transformants displayed similar biomass and fatty acid production comparing with the wild type strain. Our results demonstrated that exogenous genes could be expressed efficiently in transgenic Schizochytrium, suggesting that genetically engineered Schizochytrium could be explored by this system.

Tissue culture could solve the problems associated with Gracilaria cultivation, including the consistent supply of high-quality seed stock, strain improvement, and efficient mass culture of high-yielding commercial strains. However, STC lags behind that of higher plants because of the paucity of genomic information. Transcriptome analysis and the identification of potential unigenes involved in the formation and regeneration of callus or direct induction of ABs are essential. Herein, the CK, EWAB and NPA G. lichenoides transcriptomes were analyzed using the Illumina sequencing platform in first time. A total of 17,922,453,300 nucleotide clean bases were generated and assembled into 21,294 unigenes, providing a total gene space of 400,912,038 nucleotides with an average length of 1,883 and N 50 of 5,055 nucleotides and a G + C content of 52.02%. BLAST analysis resulted in the assignment of 13,724 (97.5%), 3,740 (26.6%), 9,934 (70.6%), 10,611 (75.4%), 9,490 (67.4%), and 7,773 (55.2%) unigenes were annotated to the NR, NT, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, COG, and GO databases, respectively, and the total of annotated unigenes was 14,070. A total of 17,099 transcripts were predicted to possess open reading frames, including 3,238 predicted and 13,861 blasted based on protein databases. In addition, 3,287 SSRs were detected in G.lichenoides, providing further support for genetic variation and marker-assisted selection in the future. Our results suggest that auxin polar transport, auxin signal transduction, crosstalk with other endogenous plant hormones and antioxidant systems, play important roles for ABs formation in G. lichenoides explants in vitro. The present findings will facilitate further studies on gene discovery and on the molecular mechanisms underlying the tissue culture of seaweed.

Schizochytrium is an established candidate for commercial production of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) that are important in human health and aquaculture. Genetic engineering technology has been applied successfully to increase the metabolites in many organisms. In order to use genetic engineering technology to enhance lipid accumulation in Schizochytrium for economically feasible PUFAs production, the transgene expression system should be established first. In the present study, we investigated a novel transgene expression system in Schizochytrium by 18S rDNA-targeted homologous recombination. The targeting vector pBS-18S-ZeoR contains a portion of 18S rDNA from Schizochytrium and the Zeocin resistance gene (Streptoalloteichus hindustanus bleomycin gene, Sh ble gene) expression cassette. This targeting vector was transformed into Schizochytrium by electroporation and the transformants were then selected on Zeocin-containing plates. The exogenous Sh ble gene has been incorporated into the genome of Schizochytrium according to PCR amplification. More importantly, the majority of the transformants showed similar biomass and total lipid to the wild type strain. Our results suggest that the 18S rDNA is a suitable recombination site and this system could be used to introduce new functional genes into Schizochytrium.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators that are involved in numerous biological processes in plants. In this study, we investigate miRNAs in Honghua Dajinyuan, an agronomically important species of tobacco in China. Here, we report a comprehensive analysis of miRNA expression profiles in the leaf, stem and root using a high-throughput sequencing approach. A total of 165 miRNAs, representing 55 conserved families, and 50 novel miRNAs, representing 19 families, were identified in three libraries. In addition, 12 miRNAs were randomly selected from a differentially expressed conserved miRNA family in three libraries with expression alterations and subjected to qRT-PCR validation. Of these, the expression level of nta-miR167d is highly enriched in the leaf tissue. In addition, the expression level of nta-miR319a is prominently enriched in the stem, while nta-miR160c is highly enriched in the root. Moreover, the target prediction showed that most of the targets coded for transcription factors that are involved in cellular and metabolic processes. GO analysis showed that most of the targets were involved in organelle function, served binding functions, and take part in cellular and metabolic processes. This study helps shed new light on understanding the role of miRNAs in different parts of the tobacco plant and adds a significant number of novel miRNAs to the tobacco miRNA transcriptome.