The sugar beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii, is a major parasite of sugar beet which has been recognized and listed as a quarantine nematode in China and more than 20 countries and regions worldwide.  A survey for important nematodes was undertaken in the sugar beet planting area of China during 2015–2018, and numerous cysts were collected from sugar beet fields in Xinyuan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.  The observations of morphological and morphometric characteristics revealed that cysts, vulval cones and second-stage juveniles of the Xinjiang population were in the same range of each other and within those of other reported H. schachtii populations.  Molecular analysis of rDNA-ITS, 28S-D2/D3 and mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences suggested that the Xinjiang population clustered in a branch with those foreign populations, and the sequence similarity was as high as 99.81–100%.  Moreover, this result was confirmed by PCR assay with species-specific primer SHF6 and rDNA2 of H. schachtii, and the pathogenicity test confirmed successful Xinjiang population reproduction in both plant hosts.  In conclusion, based on morphological and molecular characterization, this study confirmed that the cyst nematode population collected from sugar beet fields in Xinjiang is H. schachtii.  As far as we know, this is the first report of H. schachtii on sugar beets in Xinjiang, China.

    The efficiency of hybrid rice seed production can be improved by increasing the percentage of exserted stigmas. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for this trait, we conducted QTL mapping using 75 chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) developed from a cross between the donor parent, Xieqingzao B (XQZB), a maintainer line which has high stigma exsertion and the recurrent parent, Zhonghui 9308 (ZH9308), a restorer line which has low stigma exsertion. A total of nine QTLs (qSSE5, qSSE10, qSSE11, qDSE10, qDSE11, qTSE5, qTSE6, qTSE10, and qTSE11) for single stigma exsertion (SSE), dual stigma exsertion (DSE) and total stigma exsertion (TSE) were assessed in two environments (Hainan and Zhejiang). Six of these QTLs (qSSE10, qSSE11, qDSE10, qDSE11, qTSE10, and qTSE11) were found in both environments, while one QTL (qTSE6) was found in only Hainan, and two QTLs (qSSE5 and qTSE5) were found in only Zhejiang. The qSSE10, qSSE11, qDSE10, qDSE11, qTSE6, qTSE10, and qTSE11 alleles, which are derived from the parent XQZB, exhibited a positive additive effect. In contrast, the qSSE5 and qTSE5 alleles, which are derived from the parent ZH9308, exhibited a negative additive effect. The SSE, DSE and TSE traits were significantly correlated with each other in an environmentally dependent manner. These results indicated that the lines showing higher values for SSE were more likely to exhibit increased values for DSE, which would ultimately increase TSE. To evaluate the advantage of exserted stigmas for cross-pollination, single, dual and total stigma exsertion should be considered separately in future attempts at genetic improvement to achieve increased production of rice hybrid seeds. This study also provides information for fine mapping, gene cloning and particularly marker-assisted selection (MAS), on the latter and with an emphasis the phenotypic effects and implications of the QTLs for practical use in hybrid rice breeding.

Our previous studies showed that the anti-inflammatory effects of Paeonia lactiflora roots extract may be mediated, at least in part, through its gallic acid content, and this effect may be regulated in part by an inhibition on cAMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE). To explore the anti-inflammatory effect and mechanism, the influence of gallic acid on neutrophils PDE4 activity and expression, TNF-α and IL-6 content and rat arthritis model were further studied. PDE4 activity and gene express were calculated respectively by substrate cAMP change examined with HPLC and real-time RT-PCR. The concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α in supernatant were assayed by ELISA method. Model of rat arthritis was caused by complete Freund’s adjuvant. Results showed that gallic acid had a dose-dependent restraint on PDE4 activity of neutrophils in vitro, promoted significantly PDE4A expression (P<0.01), and had no influence on the expressions of PDE4B and 4D. However, PDE4C expression was not detected. Gallic acid could promote IL-6 release (P<0.05), and inhibit TNF-α release of neutrophils (P<0.05). The experiment in vivo showed that gallic acid had obvious restraint on local inflammation of animal model (P<0.05). Therefore, the anti-inflammatory effect of gallic acid may be mediated in part through an inhibition on PDE4 activity and further an increase of IL-6 and a decrease of TNF-α of neutrophils, and this effect seemed to have no relationship with PDE4 expression.

In order to study the molecular mechanism involved in cashmere regeneration, this study investigated the gene expression profile of skin tissue at various stages of the cashmere growth cycle and screen differentially expressed genes at proangen in 10 cashmere goats at 2 years of age using agilent sheep oligo microarray. Significance analysis of microarray (SAM) methods was used to identify the differentially expressed genes, Hierarchical clustering was performed to clarify these genes in association with different cashmere growth stages, and GO (Gene ontology) and the pathway analyses were con-ducted by a free web-based Molecular Annotation System3.0 (MAS 3.0). Approximately 10200 probe sets were detected in skin tissue of 2-yr-old cashmere goat. After SAM analysis of the microarray data, totally 417 genes were shown to be differentially expressed at different cashmere growth stages, and 24 genes are significantly up-regulated (21) or down-regulated (3) at proangen concurrently compared to angen and telogen. Hierarchical clustering analysis clearly distinguished the differentially expressed genes of each stage. GO analysis indicated that these altered genes at proangen were predominantly involved in collagen fibril organization, integrin-mediated signaling pathway, cell-matrix adhesion, cell adhesion, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor signaling pathway, regulation of cell growth. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the significant pathways involved mainly included focal adhesion and extracellular matrixc (ECM)-receptor interaction. Some important genes involved in these biological processes, such as COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, SPARC, CYR61 and CTGF, were related to tissue remolding and repairing and detected by more than one probe with similar expression trends at different stages of cashmere growth cycle. The different expression of these genes may contribute to understanding the molecular mechanism of cashmere regeneration.

Although plastic-covered ridge and furrow planting (RF) has been reported to produce substantial increases in the grain weight of winter wheat, the underlying mechanism is not yet understood. The present study used two cultivars, Xinong 538 and Zhoumai 18, and RF and traditional flatten planting (TF, control) with the objective of investigating the effect of RF on wheat grain filling and the possible relationship of hormonal changes in the wheat grains under RF to grain filling. The results indicated that RF significantly increased the grain weight, although the effects on grain filling were different: RF significantly increased the grain-filling rate and grain weight of inferior grains, whereas RF had no significant effect on grainfilling rate and grain weight of superior grains. The ?nal grain weight of inferior grains under RF was 39.1 and 50.7 mg for Xinong 538 and Zhoumai 18, respectively, 3.6 and 3.4 mg higher than the values under TF. However, the final grain weight of superior grains under RF was only 0.6 and 0.8 mg higher than under TF for Xinong 538 and Zhoumai 18, respectively. RF significantly decreased the ethylene and gibberellic acid content in the inferior grains and increased the indole-3-acetic acid, abscisic acid and zeatin + zeatin riboside content in the inferior grains; however, no significant difference between RF and TF was observed for the hormonal content in the superior grains. Based on these results, we concluded that RF significantly modulated hormonal changes in the inferior grains and, thus, affected the grain filling and grain weight of the inferior grains; in contrast, RF had no significant effect on grain filling, grain weight and hormonal changes in the superior wheat grains.

A mutant was isolated from the M2 of 60Co-g ray mutagenized male-fertility restorer line Zao-R974 in rice. The mutant showed pleiotropic phenotypes including dwarfism, delayed heading time, short and partially enclosed panicles, short uppermost internode, decreased grain and secondary branch numbers per panicle, and partially degenerated spikelets. The mutant was named as esp1 (enclosed shorter panicle 1). Genetic analysis indicated that the mutant phenotype was controlled by a recessive locus. Spraying exogenous GA3 did not rescue the panicle enclosure. Using an F2 and a BC1 population of the cross between esp1 and a japonica cultivar Nipponbare, we mapped the ESP1 locus to a region of ~260 kb on chromosome 11. This result provides a basis for further map-based cloning of the ESP1 locus.

Magnaporthe oryzae, a filamentous ascomycete fungus, is well known as the causal agent of rice blast. With thetechnology of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), it was previously found that MGG_06001 (or named MoNEM1),a gene of M. oryzae homologous to the NEM1 (nuclear envelope morphology protein 1) gene of baker’s yeast(Saccharomyces cerevisiae), is differentially expressed between the mature appressium and the conidium and mycelium.This study aimed to characterize the function of MoNEM1 gene by knocking it out using the method of target genereplacement. The ΔMonem1 mutants exhibited reduced mycelial growth and conidiation. However, disruption of MoNEM1gene does not affect the pathogenicity of M. oryzae on barley and rice.

A row-type mutant of barley named poly-row-and-branched spike (prbs) was previously obtained from a two-rowed cultivar Pudamai-2 after treated by inflorescence soaking in maize total DNA solution. The mutant produces branched spikes with irregular multiple rows. Genetic analysis indicated that the mutant phenotype was caused by a recessive gene prbs, and the PRBS locus had a recessive epistatic effect on an independent locus (denoted as Vrsx) conferring the variation of two-rowed spike vs. six-rowed spike. This study aimed to map PRBS as well as Vrsx using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. We developed an F2 population from a cross between the prbs mutant and a six-rowed cultivar Putianwudu for the gene mapping. As the two target loci interacted to result in a segregation ratio of two-rowed type:sixrowed type:prbs=9:3:4 in the population, we adopted a special strategy to map the two loci. PRBS was mapped between SSR markers HvLTPPB and Bmag0508A on the short arm of chromosome 3H, with distances of 24.7 and 14.3 cM to the two markers, respectively. Vrsx was mapped between SSR markers Bmag0125 and Bmag0378 on chromosome 2H, with distances of 6.9 and 15.3 cM to the two markers, respectively. This suggests that Vrsx should be the known locus Vrs1, which predominantly controls row-type variation in barley cultivars, and PRBS is a new locus related to the row type of spikes in barley.