Autoimmune diseases: targets, biology, and drug discovery.

Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) arise from a breakdown in immunological self-tolerance, wherein the adaptive immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, tissues and organs. AIDs impose excessive treatment costs and currently rely on non-specific and universal immunosuppression, which only offer symptomatic relief without addressing the underlying causes. AIDs are driven by autoantigens, targeting the autoantigens holds great promise in transforming the treatment of these diseases.

Supplementing the Nuclear-Encoded PSII Subunit D1 Induces Dramatic Metabolic Reprogramming in Flag Leaves during Grain Filling in Rice.

Our previous study has demonstrated that the nuclear-origin supplementation of the PSII core subunit D1 protein stimulates growth and increases grain yields in transgenic rice plants by enhancing photosynthetic efficiency. In this study, the underlying mechanisms have been explored regarding how the enhanced photosynthetic capacity affects metabolic activities in the transgenic plants of rice harboring the integrated transgene cDNA, cloned from rice, under control of the promoter and N-terminal fused with the plastid-transit peptide sequence () cloned from the . Here, a comparative metabolomic analysis was performed using LC-MS in flag leaves of the transgenic rice plants during the grain-filling stage.

Regulation of Calvin-Benson cycle enzymes under high temperature stress.

The Calvin-Benson cycle (CBC) consists of three critical processes, including fixation of CO by Rubisco, reduction of 3-phosphoglycerate (3PGA) to triose phosphate (triose-P) with NADPH and ATP generated by the light reactions, and regeneration of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) from triose-P. The activities of photosynthesis-related proteins, mainly from the CBC, were found more significantly affected and regulated in plants challenged with high temperature stress, including Rubisco, Rubisco activase (RCA) and the enzymes involved in RuBP regeneration, such as sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase). Over the past years, the regulatory mechanism of CBC, especially for redox-regulation, has attracted major interest, because balancing flux at the various enzymatic reactions and maintaining metabolite levels in a range are of critical importance for the optimal operation of CBC under high temperature stress, providing insights into the genetic manipulation of photosynthesis.

Lipidomic Remodeling in Under Heat Stress.

Characterization of the alterations in leaf lipidome in Begonia () under heat stress will aid in understanding the mechanisms of stress adaptation to high-temperature stress often occurring during hot seasons at southern areas in China. The comparative lipidomic analysis was performed using leaves taken from Begonia plants exposed to ambient temperature or heat stress. The amounts of total lipids and major lipid classes, including monoacylglycerol (MG), diacylglycerol (DG), triacylglycerols (TG), and ethanolamine-, choline-, serine-, inositol glycerophospholipids (PE, PC, PS, PI) and the variations in the content of lipid molecular species, were analyzed and identified by tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Nuclear-encoded synthesis of the D1 subunit of photosystem II increases photosynthetic efficiency and crop yield.

In photosynthetic organisms, the photosystem II (PSII) complex is the primary target of thermal damage. Plants have evolved a repair process to prevent the accumulation of damaged PSII. The repair of PSII largely involves de novo synthesis of proteins, particularly the D1 subunit protein encoded by the chloroplast gene psbA.

Metabolic Reprogramming in Chloroplasts under Heat Stress in Plants.

Increases in ambient temperatures have been a severe threat to crop production in many countries around the world under climate change. Chloroplasts serve as metabolic centers and play a key role in physiological adaptive processes to heat stress. In addition to expressing heat shock proteins that protect proteins from heat-induced damage, metabolic reprogramming occurs during adaptive physiological processes in chloroplasts.

Identification of core subunits of photosystem II as action sites of HSP21, which is activated by the GUN5-mediated retrograde pathway in Arabidopsis.

Photosystem II (PSII) is the most thermolabile photosynthetic complex. Physiological evidence suggests that the small chloroplast heat-shock protein 21 (HSP21) is involved in plant thermotolerance, but the molecular mechanism of its action remains largely unknown. Here, we have provided genetic and biochemical evidence that HSP21 is activated by the GUN5-dependent retrograde signaling pathway, and stabilizes PSII by directly binding to its core subunits such as D1 and D2 proteins under heat stress.

An intrinsic microRNA timer regulates progressive decline in shoot regenerative capacity in plants.

Plant cells are totipotent and competent to regenerate from differentiated organs. It has been shown that two phytohormones, auxin and cytokinin, play critical roles within this process. As in animals, the regenerative capacity declines with age in plants, but the molecular basis for this phenomenon remains elusive.

[The effect of rhubarb ethanol-extract on hyperlipidemia and liver fatty in rabbits].

Aim: To observe the effect of rhubarb ethanol-extract on hyperlipidemia and liver fatty in rabbits.

Methods: Thirty healthy male white rabbits were divided randomly into five groups, six rabbits in each group. The rabbits in control group were fed with common forage.