In October 2003, a new bacterial disease with symptoms similar to those caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola was observed on poinsettia leaves at a flower nursery in Zhejiang Province of China. Three Xanthomonas strains were isolated from infected plants and classified as X. axonopodis. They were differentiated from the pathotype strain LMG849 of X. axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola causing bacterial leaf spot of poinsettia by comparison of pathogenicity, substrate utilization and BOX-PCR genomic fingerprints.
Cell Differentiation ; China ; Euphorbia ; microbiology ; Plant Diseases ; microbiology ; Plant Leaves ; microbiology ; Species Specificity ; Xanthomonas ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; pathogenicity

To explore the nature of eukaryotic transcription factor (TF) binding sites and determine how they differ from surrounding DNA sequences, we examined four features associated with DNA binding sites: G+C content, pattern complexity,palindromic structure, and Markov sequence ordering. Our analysis of the regulatory motifs obtained from the TRANSFAC database, using yeast intergenic sequences as background, revealed that these four features show variable enrichment in motif sequences. For example, motif sequences were more likely to have palindromic structure than were background sequences. In addition, these features were tightly localized to the regulatory motifs, indicating that they are a property of the motif sequences themselves and are not shared by the general promoter "environment" in which the regulatory motifs reside. By breaking down the motif sequences according to the TF classes to which they bind, more specific associations were identified. Finally, we found that some correlations, such as G+C content enrichment, were species-specific, while others, such as complexity enrichment, were universal across the species examined. The quantitative analysis provided here should increase our understanding of protein-DNA interactions and also help facilitate the discovery of regulatory motifs through bioinformatics.

Objective: To explore the association between the consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of low birth weight (LBW), to provide references for prevention programs on LBW and to improve the birth outcomes. Methods: Stratified multivariate logistic regression method was used in this study involving 153 preterm LBW infants, 179 term LBW infants and 204 normal control infants that were randomly selected from the birth monitoring data between October 2007 and September 2012 in Pingding county, Shanxi province. Associations between the risk of LBW and maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy were identified. A normal control group was set up to compare results between preterm and term LBW groups. Results: Totally, 18 749 infants were born between 2007 and 2012, with the total incidence rates of LBW as 48.5‰, preterm LBW as 19.4‰, and term LBW as 29.1‰. Concerning the case control study on preterm LBW, after adjustment for confounding factors, the risk of preterm LBW appeared 2.51 (95%CI: 1.05-5.99) times higher in villages with annual consumption of chemical fertilizer ≥100 tons than those villages that using chemical fertilizer less than 50 tons. No significant statistical associations were found between the amounts of household chemical fertilizer consumption and the risks of preterm LBW. Regarding the case control study on term LBW, after adjustment for confounding factors, in villages with ≥100 tons annual consumption of chemical fertilizers, the risk of term LBW was 4.03 (95%CI: 1.63-9.92) times of the risk in villages where the annal use of chemical fertilizers was less than 50 tons. There was no significant association between household consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of term LBW. Conclusions: Maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy was associated with the risk of LBW. Our findings suggested that the amount of chemical fertilizer consumption in rural areas seemed also associated with the risks of other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Women should avoid the chance of exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy and the consumption of chemical fertilizers should be carefully managed.
Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Female ; Fertilizers/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Maternal Exposure ; Pregnancy ; Premature Birth/epidemiology* ; Random Allocation ; Risk Factors

Four rhizobacteria selected out of over 500 isolates from rhizosphere of the vegetables in China were further studied for suppression of the root-knot nematode and soil-borne fungal pathogens in laboratory and greenhouse in Belgium. They were identified as Brevibacillus brevis or Bacillus subtilis by Biolog test and partial 16s rDNA sequence comparison. They not only inhibited the radial growth of the root-infecting fungi Rhizoctonia solani SX-6, Pythium aphanidermatum ZJP-1 and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum ZJF-2 in vitro, but also exhibited strong nematicidal activity by killing the second stage larvae of Meloidogyne javanica to varying degrees in the greenhouse. The toxic principles of bacterium B7 that showed the highest juvenile mortality were partially characterized. The active factors were heat stability and resistance to extreme pH values. B7 used either as seed dressing or soil drench significantly reduced the nematode populations in the rhizosphere and enhanced the growth of mungbean plants over the controls in the presence or absence of R. solani.
Alphaproteobacteria ; physiology ; Animals ; Pest Control, Biological ; methods ; Phaseolus ; microbiology ; parasitology ; Seeds ; microbiology ; parasitology ; Survival Analysis ; Survival Rate ; Symbiosis ; physiology ; Tylenchoidea ; microbiology ; pathogenicity

Breast Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Methylation ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Precancerous Conditions ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; rho GTP-Binding Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Myopia is an important public health issue.Great attention has been paid to myopia in children and teenager since its incidence is progressing rapidly worldwide, especially in Asia.Although there are substantial reports on both myopia progression and its risk factors in children and teenager, challenges are encountered when attempting to compare results among individual studies due to different population, definition of myopia, cycloplegic eye drops, refraction methods, and so on.This review aimed to summarize the reports on myopia progression and its risk factors such as age, gender, refractive state, near work, outdoor activities, parental myopia, or parental bearing age in children and teenager (＜18 years) since 1990.

Banksia is a significant element in vegetation of southwestern Australia, a biodiversity hotspot with global significance. In particular, Banksia hookeriana represents a species with signif-icant economic and ecological importance in the region. For better conservation and management, we reported an overview of transcriptome of B. hookeriana using RNA-seq and de novo assembly. We have generated a total of 202.7 million reads (18.91 billion of nucleotides) from four leaf sam-ples in four plants of B. hookeriana, and assembled 59,063 unigenes (average size=1098 bp) through de novo transcriptome assembly. Among them, 39,686 unigenes were annotated against the Swiss-Prot, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), and NCBI non-redundant (NR) protein databases. We showed that there was approximately one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) per 5.6–7.1 kb in the transcriptome, and the ratio of transitional to transversional polymorphisms was approximately 1.82. We compared unigenes of B. hookeriana to those of Arabidopsis thaliana and Nelumbo nucifera through sequence homology, Gene Ontology (GO) annotation, and KEGG pathway analyses. The comparative analysis revealed that unigenes of B. hookeriana were closely related to those of N. nucifera. B. hookeriana, N. nucifera, and A. thaliana shared similar GO anno-tations but different distributions in KEGG pathways, indicating that B. hookeriana has adapted to dry-Mediterranean type shrublands via regulating expression of specific genes. In total 1927 poten-tial simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were discovered, which could be used in the genotype and genetic diversity studies of the Banksia genus. Our results provide valuable sequence resource for further study in Banksia.

In October 2003, a new bacterial disease with symptoms similar to those caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv.poinsettiicola was observed on poinsettia leaves at a flower nursery in Zhejiang Province of China. Three Xanthomonas strains were isolated from infected plants and classified as X. axonopodis. They were differentiated from the pathotype strain LMG849 of X. axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola causing bacterial leaf spot of poinsettia by comparison of pathogenicity, substrate utilization and BOX-PCR genomic fingerprints.

PURPOSE: Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may increase the risk of asthma. Genetic polymorphisms of oxidative stress-related genes, glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1, GSTP1), manganese superoxide dismutase, catalase, myeloperoxidase, and microsomal epoxide hydrolase may be related to BPA exposure. The aim is to evaluate whether oxidative stress genes modulates associations of BPA exposure with asthma. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study comprised of 126 asthmatic children and 327 controls. Urine Bisphenol A glucuronide (BPAG) levels were measured by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and genetic variants were analyzed by a TaqMan assay. Information on asthma and environmental exposure was collected. Analyses of variance and logistic regressions were performed to determine the association of genotypes and urine BPAG levels with asthma. RESULTS: BPAG levels were significantly associated with asthma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.29 per log unit increase in concentration; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.081.55). Compared to the GG genotype, children with a GSTP1 AA genotype had higher urine BPAG concentrations (geometric mean [standard error], 12.72 [4.16] vs 11.42 [2.82]; P=0.036). In children with high BPAG, the GSTP1 AA genotype was related to a higher odds of asthma than the GG genotype (aOR, 4.84; 95% CI, 1.0223.06). CONCLUSIONS: GSTP1 variants are associated with urine BPA metabolite levels. Oxidative stress genes may modulate the effect of BPA exposure on asthma.
Asthma* ; Case-Control Studies ; Catalase ; Child ; Environmental Exposure ; Epoxide Hydrolases ; Genotype ; Glutathione ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Mass Spectrometry ; Odds Ratio ; Oxidative Stress ; Peroxidase ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Superoxide Dismutase

ABSTRACT:OBJECTIVE To investigate the hypoglycemic action and β-cell protective effect of salidroside in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic mice and cultured mouse islets.METHODS C57BL∕6J mice were injected with a single dose of 1 50 mg∕kg freshly prepared STZ with citrate buffer as control.The salidroside intervention with a dosage of 100 mg∕kg∕d was ini-tiated on the 8th day after STZ injection and conducted for 30 d.Fasting blood glucose levels were measured every five days. After 30 d treatment,the oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT)was performed,and blood samples were collected to detect plas-ma insulin concentrations.The isolated mouse islets were cultured with salidroside(50 μmol∕L) or DMSO for 3 d.Ki67 stai-ning and TUNEL assay were performed to investigate the effects of salidroside on β-cell proliferation and apoptosis.Mean-while,the mRNA levels of insulin,Pdx-1,GLP-1R and IL-1βin islets were detected by RT-PCR.RESULTS Compared with the STZ group,salidroside displayed significantly hypoglycemic effects,together with increased plasma insulin contents as well as improved OGTT.The Ki67 staining in cultured islets showed the proliferation ofβ-cell was remarkably increased by salidro-side,while the β-cell apoptosis induced by high glucose was strongly inhibited by salidroside.Moreover,the mRNA levels of insulin,Pdx-1 and GLP-1R were up-regulated by salidroside significantly.However,the mRNA level of IL-1βwhich is a cyto-kine involved inβ-cell apoptosis was down-regulated by salidroside.CONCLUSION The present study demonstrates that sali-droside can ameliorate the hyperglycemia in STZ diabetic mice by protecting β-cell survival with increased β-cell proliferation and decreasedβ-cell apoptosis.