Pharmacotherapy for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of neurodevelopmental diseases characterized by social dysfunction and stereotypic behaviors. The etiology of ASD remains largely unexplored, resulting in a diverse array of described clinical manifestations and varying degrees of severity. Currently, there are no drugs approved by a supervisory organization that can effectively treat the core symptoms of ASD.

Estrogen Receptor Alpha-Expressing Neurons in Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis and Hypothalamus Encoding Aggression and Mating.

Aggression and mating of male mice are strongly associated with Esr1-expressing neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTpr) and hypothalamus in the vomeronasal pathway. By projecting to the downstream hypothalamus, the upstream BNSTpr gates mating and aggression of male mice and maternal behavior of female mice. The medial preoptic area (MPOA) and ventrolateral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) are two subdivisions of the hypothalamus downstream.

Reduction of mtDNA heteroplasmy in mitochondrial replacement therapy by inducing forced mitophagy.

Mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) has been used to prevent maternal transmission of disease-causing mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). However, because MRT requires nuclear transfer, it carries the risk of mtDNA carryover and hence of the reversion of mtDNA to pathogenic levels owing to selective replication and genetic drift. Here we show in HeLa cells, mouse embryos and human embryos that mtDNA heteroplasmy can be reduced by pre-labelling the mitochondrial outer membrane of a donor zygote via microinjection with an mRNA coding for a transmembrane peptide fused to an autophagy receptor, to induce the degradation of the labelled mitochondria via forced mitophagy.

The xanthophyll cycle as an early pathogenic target to deregulate guard cells during infection.

Stomata not only control the important balance between gaseous fluxes and water loss, but also act as a route of invading pathogen entry into the plant. Here, the stomatal opening was observed to be induced by a necrotrophic pathogen at the early stages of infection. In contrast to uninfected control, the stomatal pores were still opened in -infected regions after dark adaption.

Knowns and unknowns of plasma membrane protein degradation in plants.

Plasma membrane (PM) not only creates a physical barrier to enclose the intracellular compartments but also mediates the direct communication between plants and the ever-changing environment. A tight control of PM protein homeostasis by selective degradation is thus crucial for proper plant development and plant-environment interactions. Accumulated evidences have shown that a number of plant PM proteins undergo clathrin-dependent or membrane microdomain-associated endocytic routes to vacuole for degradation in a cargo-ubiquitination dependent or independent manner.

Specific capture of the hydrolysate on magnetic beads for sensitive detecting plant vacuolar processing enzyme activity.

Conventional plant protease detection always suffers from high background interference caused by the complex coloring metabolites in plant cells. In this study, a bio-modified magnetic beads-based strategy was developed for sensitive and quantitative detection of plant vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) activity. Cleavage of the peptide substrate (ESENCRK-FITC) after asparagine residue by VPE resulted in the 2-cyano-6-amino-benzothiazole (CABT)-functionalized magnetic beads capture of the severed substrate CRK-FITC via a condensation reaction between CABT and cysteine (Cys).

ROS-mediated enhanced transcription of CYP38 promotes the plant tolerance to high light stress by suppressing GTPase activation of PsbO2.

As a member of the Immunophilin family, cyclophilin38 (CYP38) is discovered to be localized in the thylakoid lumen, and is reported to be a participant in the function regulation of thylakoid membrane protein. However, the molecule mechanisms remain unclear. We found that, CYP38 plays an important role in the process of regulating and protecting the plant to resist high light (HL) stress.

Spectral analysis on origination of the bands at 437 nm and 475.5 nm of chlorophyll fluorescence excitation spectrum in Arabidopsis chloroplasts.

Chlorophyll fluorescence has been often used as an intrinsic optical molecular probe to study photosynthesis. In this study, the origin of bands at 437 and 475.5 nm in the chlorophyll fluorescence excitation spectrum for emission at 685 nm in Arabidopsis chloroplasts was investigated using various optical analysis methods.

β-cyclocitral upregulates salicylic acid signalling to enhance excess light acclimation in Arabidopsis.

β-cyclocitral (β-CC), a volatile oxidized derivative of β-carotene, can upregulate the expression of defence genes to enhance excess light (EL) acclimation. However, the signalling cascades underlying this process remain unclear. In this study, salicylic acid (SA) is involved in alleviating damage to promote β-CC-enhanced EL acclimation.

Manipulation of the Xanthophyll Cycle Increases Plant Susceptibility to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

The xanthophyll cycle is involved in dissipating excess light energy to protect the photosynthetic apparatus in a process commonly assessed from non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence. Here, it is shown that the xanthophyll cycle is modulated by the necrotrophic pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum at the early stage of infection. Incubation of Sclerotinia led to a localized increase in NPQ even at low light intensity.

A high-sensitivity optical device for the early monitoring of plant pathogen attack via the in vivo detection of ROS bursts.

Biotic stressors, especially pathogenic microorganisms, are rather difficult to detect. In plants, one of the earliest cellular responses following pathogen infection is the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, a novel optical device for the early monitoring of Pseudomonas attack was developed; this device measures the ROS level via oxidation-sensitive 2', 7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA)-mediated fluorescence, which could provide early monitoring of attacks by a range of plant pathogen; ROS bursts were detected in vivo in Arabidopsis thaliana with higher sensitivity and accuracy than those of a commercial luminescence spectrophotometer.

Spectroscopic studies on origination of the peak at 730 nm in delayed fluorescence of chloroplasts.

The origination of the peak at 730 nm in the delayed fluorescence (DF) spectrum of chloroplasts was studied using various optical analysis methods. The DF spectrum showed that the main emission peak was at about 685 nm, with a small shoulder at 730 nm when the chloroplast concentration was < 7.8 microg/mL.

[Spectroscopic research on the mechanism for 730 nm component in delayed fluorescence of chloroplast].

Charge recombination in reaction center of photosystem II (PS II) is regarded as the origination of delayed fluorescence (DF). The mechanism for 730 nm component appearing in the DF spectrum of chloroplast was studied with different spectral analysis methods. Experimental results of the delayed fluorescence spectrum at different chloroplast concentration showed that the apexes at 685 and 730 nm ascend when the concentration is relative low; the peak value at 685 nm reaches a maximum when the concentration is 7.

Effect of artificial acid rain and SO2 on characteristics of delayed light emission.

The structure and function of chloroplast in plant leaves can be affected by acid rain and air pollution. The photosystem II in a plant is considered the primary site where light-induced delayed light emission (DLE) is produced. With the lamina of zijinghua (Bauhinia variegata L.