Unraveling the genome of NC292: a maize inbred line conferring resistance to multiple foliar diseases.
A high-quality genome assembly of the multiple disease-resistant maize inbred NC292.
NC292↗
Biomedical subjects
Ting Li
Publications and source records attributed to Ting Li.
PRMT3 restricts porcine epidemic diarrhea virus replication by disrupting the interaction between VAPA and the viral nucleocapsid protein.
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) represents a severe threat to the global swine industry. Its infection process involves intricate virus-host interactions and immune evasion mechanisms, but effective therapeutic targets remain elusive. In this study, we identified protein arginine methyltransferase 3 (PRMT3) as a novel regulatory factor that significantly modulates PEDV infection via genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout library screening. Knockout or inhibition of PRMT3 markedly enhanced PEDV infection in multiple cell lines, including LLC-PK1, IPEC-J2, and primary porcine intestinal epithelial cells. Mechanistic investigations revealed that PRMT3 can restrict PEDV infection by interacting with vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein A (VAPA). Further analysis revealed that VAPA facilitates cholesterol transport through binding to oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) and inhibits the autophagic degradation of the viral nucleocapsid (N) protein, with both processes being critical for promoting PEDV infection in host cells. A detailed analysis revealed that K52 within its major sperm protein (MSP) domain interacts with D404 and D405 in the two phenylalanines in an acidic tract (FFAT)-like motifs of the N protein, and these interactions proved essential for PEDV infection. In summary, this is the first study to identify and validate the PRMT3-VAPA-N protein autophagic degradation axis as a key pathway through which PRMT3 suppresses PEDV infection, with VAPA acting as an essential host factor for PEDV pathogenesis. These findings uncover novel signaling pathways and molecular targets for the development of anti-PEDV therapeutics.
Animals↗
Longitudinal development of infant oral ecosystem: salivary metabolomic, bacteriome, and virome dynamics in early infancy.
This prospective cohort study investigated the longitudinal development of the salivary bacteriome, virome, and metabolome during early infancy. We assessed the associations between oral bacteria, viruses, and metabolites from 10 mother-infant dyads, with oral samples collected at 1 and 2 years of age. Forty saliva and plaque samples underwent untargeted metabolomic analysis, and infant saliva samples underwent metagenomic sequencing. Maternal salivary and plaque metabolomic profiles remained largely stable, whereas infant profiles were clearly separated from maternal profiles and changed with age. Notably, infant dental plaque metabolism underwent more substantial changes from year 1 to year 2 than saliva, with age-dependent metabolite shifts mainly involving energy, amino acid, nucleotide, and lipid metabolic pathways. Our findings also revealed significant developmental shifts in salivary bacteriome, virome, and functional pathway profiles during early childhood. The most abundant oral bacteria in early life, comprising over 75% of total abundance, included Veillonella, Streptococcus, Rothia, Prevotella, Neisseria, and Actinomyces species. While human viruses like Roseolovirus were detected, bacteriophages constituted the majority of the virome. Comparing infants at year 1 and year 2, we identified differentially abundant bacteria, viruses, metabolic functional pathways, and specific metabolites. We observed associations between bacteria and viruses, noting that these cross-kingdom relationships attenuated as infants grew. The study results underscore the complex and dynamic development of the oral microbiome, virome, and metabolome during early childhood.IMPORTANCEThe human oral cavity undergoes substantial microbial and metabolic development during early childhood, yet the temporal changes in the infant oral ecosystem remain incompletely understood. In this study, we longitudinally profiled the salivary metabolome, bacteriome, and virome of infants at 1 and 2 years of age. We demonstrated that the infant oral metabolome undergoes substantial developmental shifts, particularly in pathways related to energy, amino acid, and lipid metabolism; whereas maternal metabolic profiles remained stable over the same period. Furthermore, our results revealed the dynamic assembly of infant salivary virome and bacteriome and their associations with the functional pathways and metabolites. These findings provide new insights into the complex and dynamic development of the oral microbiome, virome, and metabolome in early infancy.
bacteriome↗
Complete genome characterization, phylogenetic analysis, and capsid P2 variation of a goose astrovirus genotype 2 isolate from Guizhou, China.
Goose astrovirus genotype 2 (GAstV-2) is associated with gout and renal disease in goslings, but its occurrence in Guizhou Province remains poorly documented. We isolated a GAstV-2 strain, designated GZJP2024, from goslings with visceral gout on a farm in Jinping County, Guizhou Province, China. PCR detected GAstV-2 but not goose parvovirus, goose reovirus, Tembusu virus, fowl adenovirus, or goose astrovirus genotype 1. Serial passage in goose embryos produced mortality and hemorrhagic lesions during the third passage. Whole-genome sequencing yielded a 7,251-nt genome containing three overlapping open reading frames (ORF1a, ORF1b, and ORF2). Sequence identity and phylogenetic analyses assigned GZJP2024 to the GAstV-2 lineage. ORF1b was the most conserved coding region, whereas ORF2 was more variable. Comparison with consensus sequences from representative GAstV-2 strains identified five amino acid substitutions in ORF1a and ten in ORF2. Four ORF2 substitutions (E456D, L540Q, S608T, and A614T) occurred in the capsid P2 domain and overlapped or neighbored predicted B-cell epitope-rich regions. Template-based mapping placed E456D, S608T, and A614T on exposed regions of a spike-like capsid structure. These findings document a GAstV-2 isolate from a gout-affected goose farm in Guizhou and provide sequence data for future regional surveillance.
Capsid P2↗
Polystyrene microplastics induce auditory neurotoxicity in mammals: Integrated multi-omics profiling reveals oxidative damage and synaptic molecular dysregulation.
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, yet their neurotoxic effects on the auditory system remain poorly understood. This study develops an integrated multi-level analytical framework combining auditory neurophysiology, behavioral assessment, tissue biochemistry, transcriptomics, and proteomics to investigate polystyrene (PS)-MPs-induced auditory neurotoxicity in rats. PS-MPs infiltrate the auditory system and significantly impair auditory processing, with central dysfunction emerging earlier and more prominently than peripheral alterations. Multi-omics analyses reveal coordinated suppression of glutamatergic synapse and Wnt signaling pathways in the cochlear nucleus. Mechanistically, PS-MPs perturb the crosstalk between glutamatergic synaptic and Wnt signaling, promoting AMPA receptor (AMPAR) internalization and potentially affecting synaptic plasticity-related processes and neuronal responsiveness. In parallel, PS-MPs trigger oxidative stress, apoptosis, and glial activation, reflecting pronounced neuroinflammatory and redox imbalance. In primary cochlear nucleus neurons (PCNNs), these mechanisms were further validated in vitro, where activation of Wnt signaling by Wnt3a significantly alleviated oxidative injury and reduced AMPAR internalization. Collectively, these findings provide comprehensive preclinical evidence for the neurotoxic potential of MPs and reveal a previously unrecognized PS-MPs-induced auditory neurotoxicity, although further studies are needed for human relevance. Results from the rat model further implicate Wnt-mediated signaling as a potential modulatory pathway underlying MPs-induced synaptic molecular alterations and redox dysfunction.
Animals↗
Advancing cancer detection and treatment using longitudinal routine clinical data.
Cancer management remains fragmented across its continuum, from late-stage diagnosis and salvage therapies to non-personalized surveillance. Here, we present Oncoformer, a unified multimodal transformer model trained on the China Oncology Multimodal Prediction and Surveillance Study (COMPASS) cohort (3.67 million individuals, 17.7 million clinical visits) and validated on independent external cohorts, including the UK Biobank. Oncoformer integrates longitudinal electronic health records with chest X-ray imaging to address multiple clinical tasks: pan-cancer diagnosis (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] = 0.956), future cancer prediction up to 1 year before diagnosis (AUROC = 0.869), tumor stage inference (mean AUROC > 0.90), patient-specific treatment-response forecasting, and recurrence-free survival stratification across ten cancer types (all p < 0.01). Staging predictions were independently validated against postoperative pathological endpoints and shown to converge on core cancer genomic pathways. By translating routine clinical data into a dynamic view of cancer evolution, Oncoformer provides a framework for risk-informed cancer prediction and treatment stratification using routine clinical data.
Humans↗
In vitro and in vivo studies on the impact of the familial adenomatous polyposis heterogeneous mutation MUC20-S671C on colorectal carcinogenesis and progression.
BACKGROUND: Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC). We performed genetic testing on nine FAP patients and identified a recurrent mutation at the 671st site of the MUC20 gene-MUC20-S671C. This mutation has a detection frequency of zero in the 1000 Genomes Project database. Previous studies have demonstrated that MUC20 can promote CRC progression through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We conducted a series of experiments to analyze the impact of this mutation on CRC cells, aiming to infer its potential role and significance in CRC patients. METHODS: We introduced the MUC20-S671C mutation into the CRC SW480 cell line using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique and established a stable cell line carrying this mutation. We then conducted various experiments to assess the effects of this mutation. The Transwell assay was used to evaluate cell invasion and migration. We also examined cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis rate. Furthermore, we tested the tumorigenic ability of these cells in NOD-scid IL2Rγ[null] (NSG) mice. Additionally, transcriptome sequencing was performed on both cell lines and mouse tumor tissues to obtain molecular regulatory network data, and key molecules were further validated. RESULTS: The results of Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), and colony formation assays indicated that the proliferation ability of mutant cells was significantly reduced. The Transwell assay demonstrated a marked decline in the invasion and migration capabilities of mutant cells. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that the mutation increased the apoptosis rate of CRC cells and might have caused S-phase arrest. The tumor formation assay in nude mice showed that the tumorigenic ability of mutant cells was weakened. Transcriptome sequencing of both the cells and tumor tissues suggested that the mutation altered the expression of apoptosis- and cell cycle-related molecules and also affected EMT. Further experiments confirmed that key molecules involved in the EMT process, such as E-cadherin, were upregulated, while Vimentin, MMP9, and MMP14 were significantly downregulated, indicating that the mutation weakened the EMT capability of CRC cells. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified a novel mutation, MUC20-S671C, in patients with FAP. Our study demonstrates that this mutation exerts its tumor-suppressive effect by reversing the EMT process.
MUC20-S671C↗
The cytokine CSBF inhibits the IL-17A and TNF-α inflammatory pathways via SUSD2-ACT1 in keratinocytes and alleviates IMQ-induced psoriasis.
Overactivation of inflammatory signaling in keratinocytes is critical for psoriatic skin inflammation, but its regulatory mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that the cytokine CSBF inhibits both individual and synergistic proinflammatory signaling induced by IL-17A and TNF-α (IL-17A/TNF-α) in keratinocytes, playing a protective role in psoriatic inflammation. The expression of CSBF was increased in the skin lesions and serum of psoriatic patients, and IL-17A/TNF-α enhanced its production. Csbf deletion exacerbated IMQ-induced psoriasis-like skin inflammation and led to hyperactivation of IL-17A/TNF-α signaling in keratinocytes. The CSBF protein significantly ameliorated psoriatic manifestations and suppressed IL-17A/TNF-α signaling through the receptor SUSD2. Mechanistically, CSBF-SUSD2 competed with TRAF6 and TNFR1 for interaction with ACT1, inhibiting the IL-17A/TNF-α signaling pathway. Overall, the anti-inflammatory cytokine CSBF has the potential to be a therapeutic option for psoriasis by targeting keratinocytes.
Psoriasis↗
Rice transcription factor bHLH25 confers resistance to multiple diseases by sensing H2O2.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a ubiquitous signal regulating many biological processes, including innate immunity, in all eukaryotes. However, it remains largely unknown that how transcription factors directly sense H2O2 in eukaryotes. Here, we report that rice basic/helix-loop-helix transcription factor bHLH25 directly senses H2O2 to confer resistance to multiple diseases caused by fungi or bacteria. Upon pathogen attack, rice plants increase the production of H2O2, which directly oxidizes bHLH25 at methionine 256 in the nucleus. Oxidized bHLH25 represses miR397b expression to activate lignin biosynthesis for plant cell wall reinforcement, preventing pathogens from penetrating plant cells. Lignin biosynthesis consumes H2O2 causing accumulation of non-oxidized bHLH25. Non-oxidized bHLH25 switches to promote the expression of Copalyl Diphosphate Synthase 2 (CPS2), which increases phytoalexin biosynthesis to inhibit expansion of pathogens that escape into plants. This oxidization/non-oxidation status change of bHLH25 allows plants to maintain H2O2, lignin and phytoalexin at optimized levels to effectively fight against pathogens and prevents these three molecules from over-accumulation that harms plants. Thus, our discovery reveals a novel mechanism by which a single protein promotes two independent defense pathways against pathogens. Importantly, the bHLH25 orthologues from available plant genomes all contain a conserved M256-like methionine suggesting the broad existence of this mechanism in the plant kingdom. Moreover, this Met-oxidation mechanism may also be employed by other eukaryotic transcription factors to sense H2O2 to change functions.
Hydrogen Peroxide↗
Evolutionary dynamics and genetic diversity of transposable elements revealed by resequencing data in maize population.
Zea mays (maize) is a globally significant crop with a complex genome enriched with transposable elements (TEs), which are crucial drivers of genomic diversity and plant evolution. In this study, we identified the TE insertion loci (TILs) from resequencing data of 103 maize accessions with the developed pipeline, and 64 293 non-redundant unique TILs were obtained in 82 maize accessions after filtering; approximately 80% (51 361) of loci showed insertion polymorphisms within the population. All TE superfamilies have low frequency in the maize population except for short interspersed nuclear elements, while some TE families have high fixed TE insertions, revealing distinct evolutionary dynamics among TE superfamilies and families. Genetic analysis using the transposon insertion polymorphism information from the maize population showed that the TE polymorphism loci can reflect their geographical origin and evolutionary relationships. Furthermore, TE insertions could also significantly impact gene expression, implying functional consequences for maize phenotypes and adaptation. These findings provide valuable insights into the evolutionary dynamics and genetic diversity of maize genomes, offering a valuable resource for molecular markers and association studies.
Zea mays↗