Fafu Shen

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a class of riboregulators that either directly act in long form or are processed into shorter microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are arbitrarily defined as RNA genes larger than 200 nt in length that have no apparent coding potential. lncRNAs have emerged as playing important roles in various biological regulatory processes and are expressed in a more tissue-specific manner than mRNA. Emerging evidence shows that lncRNAs participate in stress-responsive regulation. In this study, in order to develop a comprehensive catalogue of lncRNAs in upland cotton under salt stress, we performed whole-transcriptome strand-specific RNA sequencing for three-leaf stage cotton seedlings treated with salt stress (S_NaCl) and controls (S_CK). In total we identified 1117 unique lncRNAs in this study and 44 differentially expressed RNAs were identified as potential non-coding RNAs. For the differentially expressed lncRNAs that were identified as intergenic lncRNAs (lincRNA), we analysed the gene ontology enrichment of cis targets and found that cis target protein-coding genes were mainly enriched in stress-related categories. Real-time quantitative PCR confirmed that all selected lincRNAs responsive to salt stress. We found lnc_388 was likely as regulator of Gh_A09G1182. And lnc_883 may participate in regulating tolerance to salt stress by modulating the expression of Gh_D03G0339 MS_channel. We then predicted the target mimics for miRNA in Gossypium. six miRNAs were identified, and the result of RT-qPCR with lncRNA and miRNA suggested that lnc_973 and lnc_253 may regulate the expression of ghr-miR399 and ghr-156e as a target mimic under salt stress. We identified 44 lincRNAs that were differentially expressed under salt stress. These lincRNAs may target protein-coding genes via cis-acting regulation. We also discovered that specifically-expressed lincRNAs under salt stress may act as endogenous target mimics for conserved miRNAs. These findings extend the current view on lincRNAs as ubiquitous regulators under stress stress.

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are a key antioxidant enzyme family, which have been implicated in protecting plants against the toxic effects of reactive oxygen species. Despite current studies have shown that the gene family are involved in plant growth and developmental processes and biotic and abiotic stress responses, little is known about its functional role in upland cotton. In the present study, we comprehensively analyzed the characteristics of the SOD gene family in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Based on their conserved motifs, 18 GhSOD genes were identified and phylogenetically classified into five subgroups which corroborated their classifications based on gene-structure patterns and subcellular localizations. The GhSOD sequences were distributed at different densities across 12 of the 26 chromosomes. The conserved domains, gene family evolution cis-acting elements of promoter regions and miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional regulation were predicted and analyzed. In addition, the expression pattern of 18 GhSOD genes were tested in different tissues/organs and developmental stages, and different abiotic stresses and abscisic acid, which indicated that the SOD gene family possessed temporal and spatial specificity expression specificity and may play important roles in reactive oxygen species scavenging caused by various stresses in upland cotton. This study describes the first genome-wide analysis of the upland cotton SOD gene family, and the results will help establish a foundation for the further cloning and functional verification of the GhSOD gene family during stress responses, leading to crop improvement.

Background: A new approach to immunotherapy based on programmed death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) pathway represents a remarkable innovation in lung cancer treatment. There is growing evidence that lung cancer cells exploit the PD-L1 to cause local immune-suppression. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the prevalence and prognostic roles of soluble PD-L1(sPD-L1 ) protein in the blood of patients with lung cancer.

Corrigendum: Overexpression of an Apocynum venetum DEAD-Box Helicase Gene (AvDH1) in Cotton Confers Salinity Tolerance and Increases Yield in a Saline Field

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are key enzymes functioning as the first line of antioxidant defense by virtue of the ability to convert highly reactive superoxide radicals to hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen. SOD plays a central role in protecting plants against the toxic effects of reactive oxygen species generated during normal cellular metabolic activity or as a result of various environmental stresses. Our review focuses on the characteristics of expression of SOD genes, the mechanisms regulating expression of SOD genes at transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and translation levels, and their functional role(s) during development and in response to biotic or abiotic stresses. We propose two important research directions: studying SOD at the genome-wide or proteome-wide level, and improving plant stress tolerances by selecting varieties using transgenic technology.

Soil salinity is a major environmental stress limiting plant growth and productivity. We have reported previously the isolation of an Apocynum venetum DEAD-box helicase 1 (AvDH1) that is expressed in response to salt exposure. Here, we report that the overexpression of AvDH1 driven by a constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus-35S promoter in cotton plants confers salinity tolerance. Southern and northern blotting analyses showed that the AvDH1 gene was integrated into the cotton genome and expressed. In this study, the growth of transgenic cotton expressing AvDH1 was evaluated under saline conditions in a growth chamber and in a saline field trial. Transgenic cotton overexpressing AvDH1 was much more resistant to salt than the wild-type plants when grown in a growth chamber. The lower membrane ion leakage, along with increased activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), in AvDH1 transgenic lines suggested that these characteristics may prevent membrane damage, which increases plant survival rates. In a saline field, the transgenic cotton lines expressing AvDH1 showed increased boll numbers, boll weights and seed cotton yields compared with wild-type plants, especially at high soil salinity levels. This study indicates that transgenic cotton expressing AvDH1 is a promising option for increasing crop productivity in saline fields.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of endogenous small non-coding RNAs that play important roles in plant growth, development, and stress response processes. Verticillium wilt is a vascular disease in plants mainly caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb., the soil-borne fungal pathogen. However, the role of miRNAs in the regulation of Verticillium defense responses is mostly unknown. This study aimed to identify new miRNAs and their potential targets that are involved in the regulation of Verticillium defense responses. Four small RNA libraries and two degradome libraries from mock-infected and infected roots of cotton (both Gossypium hirsutum L. and Gossypium barbadense L.) were constructed for deep sequencing. A total of 140 known miRNAs and 58 novel miRNAs were identified. Among the identified miRNAs, many were differentially expressed between libraries. Degradome analysis showed that a total of 83 and 24 genes were the targets of 31 known and 14 novel miRNA families, respectively. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that many of the identified miRNA targets may function in controlling root development and the regulation of Verticillium defense responses in cotton. Our findings provide an overview of potential miRNAs involved in the regulation of Verticillium defense responses in cotton and the interactions between miRNAs and their corresponding targets. The profiling of these miRNAs lays the foundation for further understanding of the function of small RNAs in regulating plant response to fungal infection and Verticillium wilt in particular.

The RNA helicases, which help to unwind stable RNA duplexes, and have important roles in RNA metabolism, belong to a class of motor proteins that play important roles in plant development and responses to stress. Although this family of genes has been the subject of systematic investigation in Arabidopsis, rice, and tomato, it has not yet been characterized in cotton. In this study, we identified 161 putative RNA helicase genes in the genome of the diploid cotton species Gossypium raimondii. We classified these genes into three subfamilies, based on the presence of either a DEAD-box (51 genes), DEAH-box (52 genes), or DExD/H-box (58 genes) in their coding regions. Chromosome location analysis showed that the genes that encode RNA helicases are distributed across all 13 chromosomes of G. raimondii. Syntenic analysis revealed that 62 of the 161 G. raimondii helicase genes (38.5%) are within the identified syntenic blocks. Sixty-six (40.99%) helicase genes from G. raimondii have one or several putative orthologs in tomato. Additionally, GrDEADs have more conserved gene structures and more simple domains than GrDEAHs and GrDExD/Hs. Transcriptome sequencing data demonstrated that many of these helicases, especially GrDEADs, are highly expressed at the fiber initiation stage and in mature leaves. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genome-wide analysis of the RNA helicase gene family in cotton.