A draft genome assembly of halophyte Suaeda aralocaspica, a plant that performs C4 photosynthesis within individual cells.

Background: The halophyte Suaeda aralocaspica performs complete C4 photosynthesis within individual cells (SCC4), which is distinct from typical C4 plants, which require the collaboration of 2 types of photosynthetic cells. However, despite SCC4 plants having features that are valuable in engineering higher photosynthetic efficiencies in agriculturally important C3 species such as rice, there are no reported sequenced SCC4 plant genomes, limiting our understanding of the mechanisms involved in, and evolution of, SCC4 photosynthesis.

Findings: Using Illumina and Pacific Biosciences sequencing platforms, we generated ∼202 Gb of clean genomic DNA sequences having a 433-fold coverage based on the 467 Mb estimated genome size of S.

Grape seed proanthocyanidins inhibit proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells by modulating microRNA expression.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs of 18-25 nucleotides that modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs), which are biologically active components in grape seeds, have been demonstrated to exhibit anticancer effects. The current study investigated whether GSPs can regulate miRNA expression and the possible anticancer molecular mechanisms of GSPs.