Altitude as a key environmental factor shaping microbial communities of tea green leafhoppers ().

Host-associated microbial communities play an important role in the fitness of insect hosts. However, the factors shaping microbial communities in wild populations, including environmental factors and interactions among microbial species, remain largely unknown. The tea green leafhopper has a wide geographical distribution and is highly adaptable, providing a suitable model for studying the effect of ecological drivers on microbiomes.

A point mutation in the gene encoding magnesium chelatase I subunit influences strawberry leaf color and metabolism.

Magnesium chelatase (MgCh) catalyzes the insertion of magnesium into protoporphyrin IX, a vital step in chlorophyll (Chl) biogenesis. The enzyme consists of 3 subunits, MgCh I subunit (CHLI), MgCh D subunit (CHLD), and MgCh H subunit (CHLH). The CHLI subunit is an ATPase that mediates catalysis.

CkREV Enhances the Drought Resistance of through Regulating the Expression of Auxin Synthetase Gene .

As a common abiotic stress, drought severely impairs the growth, development, and even survival of plants. Here we report a transcription factor, REVOLUTA(CkREV), which can bidirectionally regulate the expression of the critical enzyme gene in auxin synthesis according to external environment changes, so as to control the biosynthesis of auxin and further enhance the drought resistance of plants. Quantitative analysis reveals that the expression level of both and is down-regulated after and are exposed to drought.

Polymorphisms of the Vitamin D Receptor Gene and Sex-Differential Associations with Lipid Profiles in Chinese Han Adults.

Objective: To explore the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the vitamin D receptor gene ( ) with circulating lipids considering gender differences.

Methods: Of the Han Chinese adults recruited from a health examination center for inclusion in the study, the circulating lipids, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), and other parameters were measured. The SNPs of (rs11568820), (rs2228570), (rs7975232), and (rs731236) were genotyped with a qPCR test using blood DNA samples, and their associations with lipids were analyzed using logistic regression.

PARP-1 overexpression does not protect HaCaT cells from DNA damage induced by SiO nanoparticles.

Nano-SiO is increasingly used in diagnostic and biomedical research because of its ease of production and relatively low cost and which is generally regarded as safe and has been approved for use as a food or animal feed ingredient. Although recent literature reveals that nano-SiO may present toxicity and DNA damage, however, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Since in previous studies, we found that nano-SiO treatment down-regulated the expression of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases-1 (PARP-1), a pivotal DNA repair gene, in human HaCaT cells and PAPR-1 knockdown can aggravate DNA damage induced by nano-SiO.

Alteration of lipid profile in subclinical hypothyroidism: a meta-analysis.

Background: Previous studies yielded controversial results about the alteration of lipid profiles in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between subclinical hypothyroidism and lipid profiles.

Material And Methods: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure articles published January 1990 through January 2014.

[Effects of bisphenol A on OCT4 and SOX2 genes expression in mouse embryonic stem cells].

Objective: To explore the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure on toxicity characteristic and OCT4 and SOX2 gene expression of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC).

Methods: mESC were cultured, and treated with the doses of 10(-8), 10(-7), 10(-6), 10(-5), 10(-4) mol/L respectively of BPA and DMSO (the solvent control group)for 24 hours, and three groups of cells were treated with the same method. The morphological changes of mESC in the control and exposure groups were observed through an inverted microscope.

[Effects of drying and re-watering on the photosynthesis and active oxygen metabolism of Periploca sepium seedlings].

Taking two-year-old Periploca sepium seedlings as test materials, an experiment with controlled soil water contents was conducted to study the effects of repeated drying and re-watering on the leaf photosynthetic characteristics and the lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system in young leaves, mature leaves, old leaves, new stems, and fine roots. The seedlings were subjected to three cycles of drying and re-watering, with regular irrigation to maintain the soil water content at around 80% of field capacity as the control (CK). Under drying, the leaf relative water content (RWC) and net photosynthesis rate (Pn) decreased significantly, while the leaf photosynthetic pigments content increased.

Effect of PARP-1 deficiency on DNA damage and repair in human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to Benzo(a)pyrene.

Benzo[a]pyrene is a ubiquitously distributed environmental pollutant known to cause DNA damage, whereas PARP-1 is a nuclear enzyme that is activated by damaged DNA and plays an important role in base excision repair and genomic stability. Here, 16HBE and its PAPR1-deficient cells were exposed to BaP, and the DNA damage level and repair ability of both cell lines were measured by alkaline comet assay. The results showed that cell viability of both cell lines decreased in a dose-dependent manner when exposed to BaP, but there was no significant difference between two cell lines.

An investigation of hormesis of trichloroethylene in L-02 liver cells by differential proteomic analysis.

Hormesis is the dose-response pattern of the biological responses to toxic chemicals, characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition. Although it is known that some cell types exhibit an adaptive response to low levels of cytotoxic agents, its molecular mechanism is still unclear and it has yet to be established whether this is a universal phenomenon that occurs in all cell types in response to exposure to every chemical. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an organic solvent widely used and is released into the atmosphere from industrial degreasing operations.