Publications by authors named "Weilun Wei"
Article Synopsis
- - Marchantia polymorpha, a model plant for bryophytes, demonstrates how RNA silencing helps early land plants cope with high temperatures, through the unique ARGONAUTE1 ortholog gene (MpAGO1) regulated by specific microRNAs (miR11707.1 and miR11707.2).
- - Analysis revealed that MpAGO1 is less selective for various small RNA species compared to its counterpart in Arabidopsis (AtAGO1), indicating complexities in microRNA species specificity that require further investigation.
- - The study showed that while MpAGO1 mRNA decreases with temperature changes, the stability of MpAGO1 protein and its miRNAs boosts the activity of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC
The miR390-derived TAS3 trans-acting short-interfering RNAs (tasiRNAs) module represents a conserved RNA silencing pathway in the plant kingdom; however, its characterization in the bryophyte Marchantia polymorpha is limited. This study elucidated that MpDCL4 processes MpTAS3 double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to generate tasiRNAs, primarily from the 5'- and 3'-ends of dsRNA. Notably, we discovered a novel tasiRNA, tasi78A, which can negatively regulate a cytochrome P450 gene, MpCYP78A101.
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- The self-homodyne coherent detection (SHCD) system is shown to effectively integrate with the Brillouin optical time-domain analyzer (BOTDA), allowing for enhanced transmission capabilities.
- The use of remote local oscillator light ensures a perfect frequency match for probing and pumping, while a distributed feedback laser boosts the signal quality.
- Experimental results indicate that a 16-km temperature sensing system can seamlessly coexist with a high-speed 50-Gbaud transmission without compromising performance, achieving impressive spatial resolution and accuracy.
Background: To investigate the mechanism of RNA silencing suppression, the genetic transformation of viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) in Arabidopsis integrates ectopic VSR expression at steady state, which overcomes the VSR variations caused by different virus infections or limitations of host range. Moreover, identifying the insertion of the transgenic VSR gene is necessary to establish a model transgenic plant for the functional study of VSR.
Methods: Developing an endogenous AGO1-based in vitro RNA-inducing silencing complex (RISC) assay prompts further investigation into VSR-mediated suppression.
Article Synopsis
- The P1/HC-Pro viral suppressor from potyvirus inhibits posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and can be cleaved into two functional proteins, P1 and HC-Pro, with P1 enhancing HC-Pro's suppressive effects.
- A comparative transcriptome analysis of transgenic plants showed that P1/HC-Pro affects the accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) and disrupts related signaling pathways, which influences gene responses to various stresses like drought and cold.
- The study found that crosstalk between ABA and other signaling pathways (jasmonic and salicylic acid) plays a role in modulating stress responses, and the analysis confirmed the effectiveness of using both high-throughput
Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a major driver of firefly population declines, but its physiological effects are not well understood. To investigate the impact of ALAN on firefly development, we exposed larval Aquatica ficta fireflies to ALAN for two weeks. High larval mortality was observed in the periods of 1-68 days and 106-134 days post-treatment, which may represent the short- and long-term impacts of ALAN.
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- Plants have a special defense system called PTGS that helps them fight off viruses, but some viruses have tricks to stop this defense.
- The P1/HC-Pro protein from the turnip mosaic virus is one of those tricks, helping the virus avoid being defeated by plants.
- Scientists found out that P1 helps HC-Pro work better by connecting with other proteins and discovered important genes that could help us understand how this virus suppresses plant defenses.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the chromatin landscape of Marchantia polymorpha, a bryophyte that diverged from vascular plants around 400 million years ago, to understand genome organization and histone modification patterns in early land plants.
- It finds that the relationship between active histone marks and gene expression is conserved across land plants, but Marchantia shows unique features in its repetitive sequences and transposons compared to flowering plants.
- The research suggests that H3K27me3 plays a significant role in heterochromatin function in early plants, indicating its ancestral importance in transposon silencing, differing from its role in flowering plants where it primarily represses protein-coding genes.