Penghao Wang

Oat grain is a traditional human food rich in dietary fiber that contributes to improved human health. Interest in the crop has surged in recent years owing to its use as the basis for plant-based milk analogs. Oat is an allohexaploid with a large, repeat-rich genome that was shaped by subgenome exchanges over evolutionary timescales. In contrast to many other cereal species, genomic research in oat is still at an early stage, and surveys of structural genome diversity and gene expression variability are scarce. Here, we present annotated chromosome-scale sequence assemblies of 33 wild and domesticated oats along with an atlas of gene expression across six tissues of different developmental stages in 23 accessions. We describe the interplay of gene expression diversity across subgenomes, accessions and tissues. Gene loss in the hexaploid is accompanied by compensatory up-regulation of the remaining homeologs, but this process is constrained by subgenome divergence. Chromosomal rearrangements have significantly impacted recent oat breeding. A large pericentric inversion associated with early flowering explains distorted segregation on chromosome 7D and a homeologous sequence exchange between chromosomes 2A and 2C in a semidwarf mutant has risen to prominence in Australian elite varieties. The oat pangeome will promote the adoption of genomic approaches to understanding the evolution and adaptation of domesticated oats and will accelerate their improvement.

Silicosis is a systemic disease caused by long-term exposure to high concentrations of free silica dust particles in the workplace. It is characterized by a persistent inflammatory response, fibroblast proliferation, and excessive collagen deposition, leading to pulmonary interstitial fibrosis. Epithelial interstitial transformation (EMT) can cause epithelial cells to lose their tight junctions, cell polarity, and epithelial properties, thereby enhancing the properties of interstitial cells, which can lead to the progression of fibrosis and the formation of scar tissue. Integrin 1 (ITGB1) is considered an important factor for promoting EMT and tumor invasion in a variety of tumors and also plays an important role in the progression of fibrotic diseases. Therefore, ITGB1 can be used as a potential target for the treatment of silicosis. In this study, we found that silica exposure induced epithelial-mesenchymal transformation in rats and that the expression of integrin ITGB1 was elevated along with the EMT. We used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to construct integrin ITGB1 knockdown cell lines for in vitro experiments. We compared the expression of the EMT key proteins E-cadherin and vimentin in the ITGB1 knockdown cells and wild-type cells simultaneously stimulated by silica and detected the aggregation point distribution of E-cadherin and vimentin in the cells using laser confocal microscopy. Our results showed that ITGB1 knockout inhibited the ITGB1/ILK/Snail signaling pathway and attenuated the EMT occurrence compared to control cells. These results suggested that ITGB1 is associated with silica-induced EMT and may be a potential target for the treatment of silicosis.