Phenylpropanoid metabolism is one of the most important metabolisms in plants, yielding more than 8,000 metabolites contributing to plant development and plant-environment interplay.Phenylpropanoid metabolism materialized during the evolution of early freshwater algae that were initiating terrestrialization and land plants have evolved multiple branches of this pathway, which give rise to metabolites including lignin, flavonoids, lignans, phenylpropanoid esters, hydroxycinnamic acid amides, and sporopollenin.Recent studies have revealed that many factors participate in the regulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism, and modulate phenylpropanoid homeostasis when plants undergo successive developmental processes and are subjected to stressful environments. In this review, we summarize recent progress on elucidating the contribution of phenylpropanoid metabolism to the coordination of plant development and plant–environment interaction, and metabolic flux redirection among diverse metabolic routes. In addition, our review focuses on the regulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, post-translational,and epigenetic levels, and in response to phytohormones and biotic and abiotic stresses.
Valid animal models are useful for studying the pathophysiology of specific disorders,such as neural disease,diabetes and cancer.Previous molecular phylogeny studies indicate that the tree shrew is in the same order as(or a close sister to)primates,and thus may be an ideal model in which to study human disease.In this study,the proteome of liver and muscle tissue in tree the shrew was identified by combining peptide fractionation and LC-MS/MS identification.In total,2146 proteins were detected,including 1759 proteins in liver samples and 885 proteins in skeletal muscle samples from the tree shrew.Further sub-source analysis revealed that nearly half of the identified proteins(846 proteins and 418 proteins)were derived from human database.In this study,we are the first to describe the characteristics of the proteome from the liver and skeletal muscle of the tree shrew.Phylogenetic tree analysis based on these proteomic data showed that the tree shrew is closer to primates(human)than to glires(the mouse and rat).
Dear Editor,T-cell infection by SARS-CoV-2 and associated immune responses are correlated with disease severity and prognosis of COVID-19.Lymphopenia is associated with increased disease severity in COVID-19.Significantly lower circulating T and B cell counts were observed in patients who died from COVID-19 compared with survivors.Moreover,SARS-CoV-2 infection causes aberrant lymphocyte activation and dysfunction.
The response rate of most anti-cancer drugs is limited because of the high heterogeneity of cancer and the complex mechanism of drug action.Personalized treatment that stratifies patients into subgroups using molecular biomarkers is promising to improve clinical benefit.With the accumulation of preclinical models and advances in computational approaches of drug response prediction,pharmacogenomics has made great success over the last 20 years and is increasingly used in the clinical practice of personalized cancer medicine.In this article,we first summarize FDA-approved pharmacogenomic biomarkers and large-scale pharmacogenomic studies of preclinical cancer models such as patient-derived cell lines,organoids,and xenografts.Furthermore,we comprehensively review the recent developments of computational methods in drug response prediction,covering network,machine learning,and deep learning technologies and strategies to evaluate immunotherapy response.In the end,we discuss challenges and propose possible solutions for further improvement.
Fangyoumin FengBihan ShenXiaoqin MouYixue LiaHong Li
In this paper,we present a brief review of the existing computational methods for predicting proteome-wide protein-protein interaction networks from high-throughput data.The availability of various types of omics data provides great opportunity and also un-precedented challenge to infer the interactome in cells.Reconstructing the interactome or interaction network is a crucial step for studying the functional relationship among proteins and the involved biological processes.The protein interaction network will provide valuable resources and alternatives to decipher the mechanisms of these functionally interacting elements as well as the running system of cellular operations.In this paper,we describe the main steps of predicting protein-protein interaction networks and categorize the available ap-proaches to couple the physical and functional linkages.The future topics and the analyses beyond prediction are also discussed and concluded.
Nitrogen deficiency induces leaf senescence. However, whether or how nitrate might affect this process remains to be investigated. Here, we report an interesting finding that nitrate-- instead of nitrogen--starvation induced early leaf senescence in nrtf.5 mutant, and present genetic and physiological data demon-strating that nitrate starvation-induced leaf senescence is suppressed by NRTI.5. NRT1.5 suppresses the senescence process dependent on its function from roots, but not the nitrate transport function. Further analyses using nrt1.5 single and nial nia2 nrt1.5-4 triple mutant showed a negative correlation between nitrate concentration and senescence rate in leaves. Moreover, when exposed to nitrate starvation, foliar potassium level decreased in nrt1.5, but adding potassium could essentially restore the early leaf senescence phenotype of nrt1.5 plants. Nitrate starvation also downregulated the expression of HAK5, RAP2.11, and ANN1 in nrt1.5 roots, and appeared to alter potassium level in xylem sap from nrt1.5. These data suggest that NRT1.5 likely perceives nitrate starvation-derived signals to prevent leaf senescence by facilitating foliar potassium accumulation.
Shuan MengJia-Shi PengYa-Ni HeGuo-Bin ZhangHong-Ying YiYan-Lei FuJi-Ming Gong
The fungus Trichophyton schoenleinii(T.schoenleinii)is the causative agent of Trichophytosis and Tinea favosa of the scalp in certain regions of Eurasia and Africa.Hu-man innate immune system plays an important role in combating with various pathogens including fungi.The inflammasome is one of the most critical arms of host innate immunity,which is a protein complex controlling maturation of IL-1β.To clarify whether T.schoenleinii is able to activate the infl ammasome,we analyzed human monocytic cell line THP-1 for IL-1βproduction upon infec-tion with T.schoenleinii strain isolated from Tinea favosa patients,and rapid IL-1βsecretion from THP-1 cells was observed.Moreover,applying competitive inhibitors and gene specifi c silencing with shRNA,we found that T.sch-oenleinii induced IL-1βsecretion,ASC pyroptosome for-mation as well as caspase-1 activation were all dependent on NLRP3.Cathepsin B activity,ROS production and K+effl ux were required for the infl ammasome activation by T.schoenleinii.Our data thus reveal that the NLRP3 infl am-masome plays an important role in host defense against T.schoenleinii,and suggest that manipulating NLRP3 signaling can be a novel approach for control of diseases caused by T.schoenleinii infection.
Dear Editor,Gut associated lymphoid tissue(GALT)is the principal site where human immunodeficiency virus 1(HIV-1)replicates.CD4^(+) T cells residing in GALT are predominant targets of HIV-1 during the acute phase of infection.CD4^(+) T cells expressing a high level of gut-homing receptor integrin α4β7 are more susceptible to productive infection by HIV-1.
Patch-clamp recording requires direct accessibility of the cell membrane to patch pipettes and allows the investigation of ion channel properties and functions in specific cellular compartments.The cell body and relatively thick dendrites are the most accessible compartments of a neuron,due to their large diameters and therefore great membrane surface areas.However,axons are normally inaccessible to patch pipettes because of their thin structure;thus studies of axon physiology have long been hampered by the lack of axon recording methods.Recently,a new method of patchclamp recording has been developed,enabling direct and tight-seal recording from cortical axons.These recordings are performed at the enlarged structure（axonal bleb） formed at the cut end of an axon after slicing procedures.This method has facilitated studies of the mechanisms underlying the generation and propagation of the main output signal,the action potential,and led to the finding that cortical neurons communicate not only in action potential-mediated digital mode but also in membrane potential-dependent analog mode.
Lobane-type diterpenoids are not frequently discovered from marine soft corals. In this paper, three new lobane type diterpenes, 13-methoxyloba-8,10,15(16),17(18)-tetraene(1), 8,10,13(15)Z,16 E-lobatetraene(2) and 19-hydroxy-lobatetraene(3), and a new natural compound, 17,18-epoxyloba-16-acetoxy-8,10,13(15)-trien(4), co-occurring with a known related diterpenoid, 18-methoxyloba-8,10,13(15),16(17)-tetraene(5), were isolated from the South China Sea soft coral Sinularia polydactyla. The structures of new compounds were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with those reported in the literature. In bioassay, all the isolates were inactive on antibacterial, PTP1 B inhibitory, and immunological activities. This study increased the chemical diversity of marine diterpenoids.
