No abstract

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation process for recycling macromolecules and organelles. It plays important roles in plant development and in response to nutritional demand, stress, and senescence. Organisms from yeast to plants contain many autophagy-associated genes (ATG). In this study, we found that a total of 33 ATG homologues exist in the rice [Oryza sativa L. (Os)] genome, which were classified into 13 ATG subfamilies. Six of them are alternatively spliced genes. Evolutional analysis showed that expansion of 10 OsATG homologues occurred via segmental duplication events and that the occurrence of these OsATG homologues within each subfamily was asynchronous. The Ka/Ks ratios suggested purifying selection for four duplicated OsATG homologues and positive selection for two. Calculating the dates of the duplication events indicated that all duplication events might have occurred after the origin of the grasses, from 21.43 to 66.77 million years ago. Semi-quantitative RT–PCR analysis and mining the digital expression database of rice showed that all 33 OsATG homologues could be detected in at least one cell type of the various tissues under normal or stress growth conditions, but their expression was tightly regulated. The 10 duplicated genes showed expression divergence. The expression of most OsATG homologues was regulated by at least one treatment, including hormones, abiotic and biotic stresses, and nutrient limitation. The identification of OsATG homologues showing constitutive expression or responses to environmental stimuli provides new insights for in-depth characterization of selected genes of importance in rice.

BackgroundButyrate is an energy source for colonocytes that is formed by bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber in the colon and that exerts broad anti-inflammatory activities. Although the administration of butyrate improves homeostasis in patients and ameliorates IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease)-related lesions and symptoms, the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of butyrate still remain unclear. To explore the impact of butyrate on Treg (Regulatory T cell)/Th17 (T helper 17 cell) differentiation and colitis in rats.MethodsThe effect of butyrate on the expression of markers related to both Tregs and Th17 cells were determined in human monocytes as well as a rat model of colitis induced by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid. Rats were treated with butyrate in vivo, whereas the rat splenocytes and human monocytes were treated in vitro.ResultsWe found that butyrate administration increased peripheral blood Treg cell levels as well as plasma levels of anti-Th17 cytokines (IL-10 and IL-12). Butyrate administration further suppressed IL-17 levels in both plasma and colonic mucosa, and ameliorated colonic colitis lesions in rats. This promotion of Treg activity and inhibition of IL-17 release was also observed in human venous monocytes and rat splenocytes in vitro.ConclusionsOur results suggest that butyrate plays a key role in regulating the Treg/Th17 balance and ultimately protects the colon mucosa against the development of IBD.

The development and application of whole genome sequencing technology has greatly broadened our horizons on the capabilities of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). LncRNAs are more than 200 nucleotides in length and lack protein-coding potential. Increasing evidence indicates that lncRNAs exert an irreplaceable role in tumor initiation, progression, as well as metastasis, and are novel molecular biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of cancer patients. Furthermore, lncRNAs and the pathways they influence might represent promising therapeutic targets for a number of tumors. Here, we discuss the recent advances in understanding of the specific regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs. We focused on the signal, decoy, guide, and scaffold functions of lncRNAs at the epigenetic, transcription, and post-transcription levels in cancer cells. Additionally, we summarize the research strategies used to investigate the roles of lncRNAs in tumors, including lncRNAs screening, lncRNAs characteristic analyses, functional studies, and molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs. This review will provide a short but comprehensive description of the lncRNA functions in tumor development and progression, thus accelerating the clinical implementation of lncRNAs as tumor biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

An understanding of the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) as affected by farming practices is imperative for maintaining soil productivity and mitigating global warming. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of long-term fertilization on SOC and SOC fractions for the whole soil profile (0–100 cm) in northwest China. The study was initiated in 1979 in Gansu, China and included six treatments: unfertilized control (CK), nitrogen fertilizer (N), nitrogen and phosphorus (P) fertilizers (NP), straw plus N and P fertilizers (NP+S), farmyard manure (FYM), and farmyard manure plus N and P fertilizers (NP+FYM). Results showed that SOC concentration in the 0–20 cm soil layer increased with time except in the CK and N treatments. Long-term fertilization significantly influenced SOC concentrations and storage to 60 cm depth. Below 60 cm, SOC concentrations and storages were statistically not significant between all treatments. The concentration of SOC at different depths in 0–60 cm soil profile was higher under NP+FYM follow by under NP+S, compared to under CK. The SOC storage in 0–60 cm in NP+FYM, NP+S, FYM and NP treatments were increased by 41.3%, 32.9%, 28.1% and 17.9%, respectively, as compared to the CK treatment. Organic manure plus inorganic fertilizer application also increased labile soil organic carbon pools in 0–60 cm depth. The average concentration of particulate organic carbon (POC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in organic manure plus inorganic fertilizer treatments (NP+S and NP+FYM) in 0–60 cm depth were increased by 64.9–91.9%, 42.5–56.9%, and 74.7–99.4%, respectively, over the CK treatment. The POC, MBC and DOC concentrations increased linearly with increasing SOC content. These results indicate that long-term additions of organic manure have the most beneficial effects in building carbon pools among the investigated types of fertilization.

No abstract

No abstract

Soil carbonate (SIC) exceeds organic carbon (SOC) greatly in arid lands, thus may be important for carbon sequestration. However, field data for quantifying carbonate accumulation have been lacking. This study aims to improve our understanding of SIC dynamics and its role in carbon sequestration. We analyzed two datasets of SOC and SIC and their 13C compositions , one with over 100 soil samples collected recently from various land uses in the Yanqi Basin, Xinjiang, and the other with 18 archived soil samples from a long-term experiment (LTE) in Pingliang, Gansu. The data from the Yanqi Basin showed that SOC had a significant relationship with SIC and pedogenic carbonate (PIC); converting shrub land to cropland increased PIC stock by 5.2 kg C m−2, which was 3.6 times of that in SOC stock. The data from the LTE showed greater accumulation of PIC (21–49 g C m−2 year−1) than SOC (10–39 g C m−2 year−1) over 0–20 cm. Our study points out that intensive cropping in the arid and semi-arid regions leads to an increase in both SOC and PIC. Increasing SOC through straw organic amendments enhances PIC accumulation in the arid cropland of northwestern China.