Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum.

Background: Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but also has a negative impact on industrial processes aimed at obtaining monosaccharides from plant biomass. Engineering lignin offers a solution to this issue.

Correction to "Expression of Dehydroshikimate Dehydratase in Sorghum Improves Biomass Yield, Accumulation of Protocatechuate, and Biorefinery Economics".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c01160.

Overexpression of the rice BAHD acyltransferase AT10 increases xylan-bound p-coumarate and reduces lignin in Sorghum bicolor.

Background: The development of bioenergy crops with reduced recalcitrance to enzymatic degradation represents an important challenge to enable the sustainable production of advanced biofuels and bioproducts. Biomass recalcitrance is partly attributed to the complex structure of plant cell walls inside which cellulose microfibrils are protected by a network of hemicellulosic xylan chains that crosslink with each other or with lignin via ferulate (FA) bridges. Overexpression of the rice acyltransferase OsAT10 is an effective bioengineering strategy to lower the amount of FA involved in the formation of cell wall crosslinks and thereby reduce cell wall recalcitrance.

Usefulness of Goal Attainment Scaling in Intensive Stroke Rehabilitation During the Subacute Stage.

Objective: To investigate the usefulness of goal attainment scaling (GAS) in intensive stroke rehabilitation during the subacute stage.

Methods: Medical records of subacute post-stroke patients who had undergone intensive rehabilitation under hospitalization, before and after the application of GAS, were collected. GAS was conducted at the initial evaluation of each patient.

Assessment of Aspiration Risk Using the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability in Brain-Injured Patients With Cognitive Impairment.

The purposes of this study are to determine whether there is a correlation between the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) and modified MASA (mMASA) according to various cognitive status and to investigate whether the cognitive status of patients with brain damage affects the prediction of aspiration using the MASA. We retrospectively assessed 146 dysphagic patients with brain lesion due to various causes. Dysphagia was assessed using the MASA and mMASA.

Intensive Rehabilitation Therapy Following Brain Tumor Surgery: A Pilot Study of Effectiveness and Long-Term Satisfaction.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of intensive rehabilitation to support recovery of neurological function after brain tumor surgery and assess long-term satisfaction.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients with neurological impairment after brain tumor surgery who underwent intensive rehabilitation therapy between December 2013 and May 2017. To assess effectiveness of rehabilitation, functional outcomes (motor, cognition, and activities of daily living [ADL]) were compared between brain tumor group and a control group enrolling stroke patients who received equivalent rehabilitation during the study period.

NEK2 phosphorylation antagonizes the microtubule stabilizing activity of centrobin.

Centrobin was initially identified as a centrosome protein for centriole duplication. Centrobin is also detected outside the centrosome and involved in other cellular functions, such as spindle assembly. We previously reported that centrobin is a substrate of both NEK2 and PLK1, but it is not clear what functional properties of centrobin are regulated by two kinases.

In planta biocatalysis screen of P450s identifies 8-methoxypsoralen as a substrate for the CYP82C subfamily, yielding original chemical structures.

An in vivo plant screen that allows for the analysis of exogenously applied substrates against transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing individual cytochrome P450s has been developed. By deploying this screen with a subset of 91 P450s, we have identified an original substrate for members of the CYP82C subfamily. The therapeutic compound 8-methoxypsoralen was hydroxylated by plants overexpressing CYP82C2 or CYP82C4, forming 5-hydroxy-8-methoxypsoralen.

Enhancement of alkaloid production in opium and California poppy by transactivation using heterologous regulatory factors.

Genes encoding regulatory factors isolated from Arabidopsis, soybean and corn have been screened to identify those that modulate the expression of genes encoding for enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of morphinan alkaloids in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and benzophenanthridine alkaloids in California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). In opium poppy, the over-expression of selected regulatory factors increased the levels of PsCOR (codeinone reductase), Ps4'OMT (S-adenosyl-l-methionine:3'-hydroxy-N-methylcoclaurine 4'-O-methyltransferase) and Ps6OMT [(R,S)-norcoclaurine 6-O-methyltransferase] transcripts by 10- to more than 100-fold. These transcriptional activations translated into an enhancement of alkaloid production in opium poppy of up to at least 10-fold.

Detection and quantitation of resveratrol in tomato fruit (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.).

Resveratrol is a stilbene phytoalexin well-known for its presence in grape, wine, and peanut. As a result of its antioxidant and chemopreventative properties, it has gained much attention as a functional food ingredient. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the detection of resveratrol, its 3-glucopyranoside piceid, and the cis isomers of both compounds has been developed and used to quantitate the levels of these compounds in the skin of commercially available tomato fruit (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.

Extended leaf longevity in the ore4-1 mutant of Arabidopsis with a reduced expression of a plastid ribosomal protein gene.

The longevity of plant leaf organs is genetically determined. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the control of longevity are still largely unknown. Here, we describe a T-DNA-insertional mutation of Arabidopsis thaliana that confers extended leaf longevity.

A knock-out mutation in allene oxide synthase results in male sterility and defective wound signal transduction in Arabidopsis due to a block in jasmonic acid biosynthesis.

Recent studies on jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthetic mutants have shown that jasmonates play essential roles in pollen maturation and dehiscence and wound-induced defence against biotic attacks. To better understand the biosynthetic mechanisms of this essential plant hormone, we isolated an Arabidopsis knock-out mutant defective in the JA biosynthetic gene CYP74A (allene oxide synthase, AOS) using reverse genetics screening methods. This enzyme catalyses dehydration of the hydroperoxide to an unstable allene oxide in the JA biosynthetic pathway.