Functional analysis of a PISTILLATA-like gene CcMADS20 involved in floral organs specification in citrus

Transcriptome sequencing and screening of genes related to the MADS-box gene family in Clematis courtoisii

The MADS-box gene family controls plant flowering and floral organ development; therefore, it is particularly important in ornamental plants. To investigate the genes associated with the MADS-box family in Clematis courtoisii, we performed full-length transcriptome sequencing on C. courtoisii using the PacBio Sequel third-generation sequencing platform, as no reference genome data was available. A total of 12.38 Gb of data, containing 9,476,585 subreads and 50,439 Unigenes were obtained. According to functional annotation, a total of 37,923 Unigenes (75.18% of the total) were assigned with functional annotations, and 50 Unigenes were identified as MADS-box related genes. Subsequently, we employed hmmerscan to perform protein sequence similarity search for the translated Unigene sequences and successfully identified 19 Unigenes associated with the MADS-box gene family, including MIKC*(1) and MIKCC (18) genes. Furthermore, within the MIKCC group, six subclasses can be further distinguished.

Polydatin alleviates sepsis‑induced acute lung injury via downregulation of Spi‑B

Sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is related to the dysregulation of inflammatory responses. Polydatin supplement was reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects in several diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the role of polydatin in sepsis-induced ALI. A cecum ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced mouse ALI model was established first and the pathological changes of lung tissues were assessed using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Meanwhile, to mimic sepsis-induced ALI in vitro, pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Pro-inflammatory cytokines levels were measured in lung tissues and PMVECs using ELISA. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to measure the mRNA levels of Spi-B in lung tissues and PMVECs. Moreover, the expression levels of Spi-B, p-PI3K, p-Akt, and p-NF-κB in lung tissues and PMVECs were determined using western blotting. The data revealed that polydatin attenuated CLP-induced lung injury and inhibited sepsis-induced inflammatory responses in mice. Furthermore, polydatin significantly inhibited the expression of Spi-B, p-PI3K, p-Akt, and p-NF-κB in lung tissues of mice subjected to CLP-induced ALI, while this phenomenon was reversed through Spi-B overexpression. Consistently, the anti-inflammatory effect of polydatin was abolished by Spi-B overexpression. Taken together, the current findings revealed that polydatin alleviated sepsis-induced ALI via the downregulation of Spi-B.

MADS-Box Subfamily Gene GmAP3 from Glycine max Regulates Early Flowering and Flower Development

AP3 has been studied and is reported to affect structural changes in floral organs in various plants. However, the function of the soybean AP3 genes in flower development is unknown. Here, the full-length cDNA sequence of GmAP3 was obtained by RACE and it was verified that it belongs to the MADS-box subfamily by a bioinformatics analysis. The expression of GmAP3 is closely related to the expression of essential enzyme genes related to flower development. Yeast two-hybrid assays demonstrated that GmAP3 interacts with AP1 to determine the identity of flower organ development. A follow-up analysis showed that overexpression of the GmAP3 gene advanced flowering time and resulted in changes in floral organ morphology. The average flowering time of overexpressed soybean and tobacco plants was 6-8 days earlier than that of wild-type plants, and the average flowering time of gene-edited soybean and tobacco plants was 6-11 days later than that of wild-type plants. In conclusion, GmAP3 may directly or indirectly affect the flower development of soybean. The results of this study lay the foundation for further research on the biological functions of MADS transcriptional factors in soybeans.