Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to play an important role in the plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis mutants with lower or higher levels of endogenous NO. The exogenous application of NO donors or scavengers has also suggested an important role for NO in plant defense against environmental stress. In this study, rice plants under drought and high salinity conditions showed increased nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and NO levels. Overexpression of rat neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) in rice increased both NOS activity and NO accumulation, resulting in improved tolerance of the transgenic plants to both drought and salt stresses. nNOS-overexpressing plants exhibited stronger water-holding capability, higher proline accumulation, less lipid peroxidation and reduced electrolyte leakage under drought and salt conditions than wild rice. Moreover, nNOS-overexpressing plants accumulated less H2O2, due to the observed up-regulation of OsCATA, OsCATB and OsPOX1. In agreement, the activities of CAT and POX were higher in transgenic rice than wild type. Additionally, the expression of six tested stress-responsive genes including OsDREB2A, OsDREB2B, OsSNAC1, OsSNAC2, OsLEA3 and OsRD29A, in nNOS-overexpressing plants was higher than that in the wild type under drought and high salinity conditions. Taken together, our results suggest that nNOS overexpression suppresses the stress-enhanced electrolyte leakage, lipid peroxidation and H2O2 accumulation, and promotes proline accumulation and the expression of stress-responsive genes under stress conditions, thereby promoting increased tolerance to drought and salt stresses.
ReviewOBESITY BIOLOGY AND INTEGRATED PHYSIOLOGY ► We summarize the impact of several novel antidiabetic drugs (e.g., DPP-4 inhibitors, SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists) on macrophage polarization and obesity-induced IR. ► We discuss the link between gut microbiota and its metabolites and macrophages in obesity-induced IR.
The frequency and intensity of cyanobacterial blooms are increasing worldwide with major societal and economic costs. Interactions between toxic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algal competitors can affect toxic bloom formation, but the exact mechanisms of interspecies interactions remain unknown. Using metabolomic and proteomic profiling of co-cultures of the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa with a green alga as well as of microorganisms collected in a Microcystis spp. bloom in Lake Taihu (China), we disentangle novel interspecies allelopathic interactions. We describe an interspecies molecular network in which M. aeruginosa inhibits growth of Chlorella vulgaris, a model green algal competitor, via the release of linoleic acid. In addition, we demonstrate how M. aeruginosa takes advantage of the cell signaling compound nitric oxide produced by C. vulgaris, which stimulates a positive feedback mechanism of linoleic acid release by M. aeruginosa and its toxicity. Our high-throughput system-biology approach highlights the importance of previously unrecognized allelopathic interactions between a broadly distributed toxic cyanobacterial bloom former and one of its algal competitors.
Physico-chemical parameters, hydrological conditions, and microbial interactions can affect the growth and persistence of cyanobacteria, but the interacting effects among these bloom-forming factors are still poorly known. This hampers our capacity to predict the occurrence of cyanobacterial bloom accurately. Here, we studied the relationship between temperature, N and P cycles, and the microbial community abundance and diversity at 0.5 m under the surface of West Lake (China) from January 21 to November 20, 2015, in order to better understand the key factors regulating temporal changes in the cyanobacterial community. Using high throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 region, we studied the diversity and abundance of bacteria. In parallel, we measured physico-chemical parameters and followed the abundance of key genes involved in N fixation, denitrification, and nutrient uptake. Multivariate analyses suggest that P concentration and water temperature are the key factors controlling the outbreak of summer cyanobacterial bloom. RT-qPCR analyses of the bacterial community and measurements of the copy number of denitrification-related gene (nirK, nosZ, nirS) show that denitrification potential and denitrifying bacteria relative abundance (Pseudomonas and Bacillus) increased in concert with diazotrophic cyanobacterial genera (Anabaena, Nostoc, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) and the common bloom-forming non-diazotrophic cyanobacterium genus Microcystis. The present study brings new insights on the complex interplay between physico-chemical parameters, heterotrophic bacterial community composition, nitrogen cycle, and cyanobacteria dominance in a eutrophic lake.
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