Integrative Analysis of Elicitor-Induced Camptothecin Biosynthesis in Plantlets Through a Combined Omics Approach.

Treatments with abiotic elicitors can efficiently induce the accumulation of specialized metabolites in plants. We used a combined omics approach to analyze the elicitation effects of MeJa, AgNO, and PEG on camptothecin (CPT) biosynthesis in plantlets. Untargeted analyses revealed that treatments with MeJa, AgNO, and PEG significantly inhibited the photosynthetic pathway and promoted carbon metabolism and secondary metabolic pathways.

Synthesis and anti-tumor activity study of water-soluble PEG-celastrol coupling derivatives as self-assembled nanoparticles.

To improve the drug-ability of celastrol, a series of PEGylation celastrol (PEGC) were designed and synthesized by conjugation with different kinds of polyethylene glycols (PEGs) with celastrol. Most of PEGCs could easily dissolve in water. In particular, one of them (DC1000) could be dispersed in water to form nanoparticles by self-assembly.

Synthesis of 3- and 29-substituted celastrol derivatives and structure-activity relationship studies of their cytotoxic activities.

A series of 3-carbamate and 29-ester celastrol derivatives (compounds 1-26) were designed and synthesized. These analogues were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against several cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity data revealed that the properties of substituents and substitution position had important influence on cytotoxic activity.

Cloning and truncation modification of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene from Selaginella pulvinata.

A homologous sequence was amplified from resurrection plant Selaginella pulvinta by RACE technique, proved to be the full-length cDNA of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene by homologous alignment and yeast complementation assay, and nominated as SpTPS1 gene. The open reading frame of this gene was truncated 225bp at the 5'-end, resulting the N-terminal truncation modification of 75 amino acids for its encoding protein. The TPS1 deletion mutant strain YSH290 of the brewer's yeast transformed by the truncated gene SpTPS1Δ and its original full-length version restored growth on the medium with glucose as a sole carbon source and displayed growth curves with no significant difference, indicating their encoding proteins functioning as TPS enzyme.

Improvement of resistance to maize dwarf mosaic virus mediated by transgenic RNA interference.

To overcome the low efficiency of agronomic protection from maize dwarf mosaic disease, susceptible maize inbred line was transformed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring hpRNA expression vectors containing inverted-repeat sequences of different lengths targeting coat protein gene (CP) of maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). After PCR screening and Southern blotting, the flanking sequences of the integration sites were amplified by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (TAIL-PCR) and used for analysis of T-DNA integration patterns. The T₂ plant lines were evaluated for their MDMV resistance in field inoculation trials under two environments.