Overexpression of alfalfa <i>Orange</i> gene in tobacco enhances carotenoid accumulation and tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses

Wang, Zhi,Xu, Weizhou,Kang, Jiyue,Li, Min,Huang, Jin,Ke, Qingbo,Kim, Ho Soo,Xu, Bingcheng,Kwak, Sang-Soo Elsevier 2018 Vol. No.

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>The multifunctional Orange (Or) protein plays crucial roles in carotenoid homeostasis, photosynthesis stabilization, and antioxidant activity in plants under various abiotic stress conditions. The <I>Or</I> gene has been cloned in several crops but not in alfalfa (<I>Medicago sativa</I> L.). Alfalfa is widely cultivated across the world; however, its cultivation is largely limited by various abiotic stresses, including drought. In this study, we isolated the <I>Or</I> gene from alfalfa (<I>MsOr</I>) cv. Xinjiang Daye. The amino acid sequence of the deduced MsOr protein revealed that the protein contained two trans-membrane domains and a DnaJ cysteine-rich zinc finger domain, and showed a high level of similarity with the Or protein of other plants species. The MsOr protein was localized in leaf chloroplasts of tobacco. The expression of <I>MsOr</I> was the highest in mature leaves and was significantly induced by abiotic stresses, especially drought. To perform functional analysis of the <I>MsOr</I> gene, we overexpressed <I>MsOr</I> gene in tobacco (<I>Nicotiana benthamiana</I>). Compared with wild-type (WT) plants, transgenic tobacco lines showed higher carotenoid accumulation and increased tolerance to various abiotic stresses, including drought, heat, salt, and methyl viologen-mediated oxidative stress. Additionally, contents of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde were lower in the transgenic lines than in WT plants, suggesting superior membrane stability and antioxidant capacity of TOR lines under multiple abiotic stresses. These results indicate the <I>MsOr</I> gene as a potential target for the development of alfalfa cultivars with enhanced carotenoid content and tolerance to multiple environmental stresses.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Orange (<I>MsOr</I>) gene from alfalfa was isolated and characterized in transgenic tobacco. </LI> <LI> <I>MsOr</I> gene was localized to chloroplasts and strongly induced by abiotic stresses including drought. </LI> <LI> <I>MsOr</I> expressing tobacco plants showed enhanced tolerance to drought, heat, salt and oxidative stress. </LI> </UL> </P>

Structure and electrical properties of Bi0.5(Na, K)0.5TiO3-BiGaO3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics

Changrong Zhou,Xinyu Liu,Weizhou Li,Changlai Yuan,Guohua Chen 한국물리학회 2010 Current Applied Physics Vol.10 No.1

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics (1 - x - y)Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-xBi0.5K0.5TiO3- yBiGaO3 have been fabricated by an ordinary sintering technique, and their structure and electrical properties and depolarization temperature have been studied. The results of X-ray diffraction reveal that Bi0.5K0.5TiO3 and BiGaO3 diffuse into the Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 lattices to form a new solid solution with a pure perovskite structure. An obvious change in microstructure with increasing concentration of Bi0.5K0.5TiO3 and BiGaO3 was observed. The piezoelectric constant d33 and the electromechanical coupling factor kp of the ceramics attain maximum values of 165 pC/N and 0.346 at y = 0.01(x = 0.18) and x = 0.21(y = 0.01), respectively. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant indicates an obvious relaxor characteristic with strong frequency dependence of dielectric constant. The depolarization temperature decreased with increasing content of BiGaO3 and first decreases and then increases with increasing amount of Bi0.5K0.5TiO3.

EMP3 Overexpression in Primary Breast Carcinomas is not Associated with Epigenetic Aberrations

Wei Zhou,Jinming Yu,Zheng Jiang,Xingang Li,Fenghua Xu,Yanbing Liu,Peie Wen,Li Kong,Ming Hou,Jinming Yu 대한의학회 2009 Journal of Korean medical science Vol.24 No.1

Epithelial membrane protein 3 (EMP3) is a trans-membrane signaling molecule with important roles in the regulation of apoptosis, differentiation and invasion of cancer cells, but the detailed is largely still unknown. We analyzed the mRNA levels and methylation statuses of EMP3 in 63 primary breast carcinomas and assessed their correlations with clinicopathologic variables. The expression of EMP3 mRNA in primary breast carcinomas was significantly higher than the expression of 20 normal breast tissues (p<10-7). EMP3 overexpression in breast carcinomas was significantly related to histological grade III (p=3.9×10-7), lymph node metastasis (p= 0.003), and strong Her-2 expression (p=3.3×10-6). Hypermethylation frequencies of EMP3 were detected in 36.5% of breast carcinomas by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. However, no significant correlations were found between methylation status of EMP3 and mRNA expression levels as well as other clinical parameters. In conclusion, EMP3 may be a novel marker of tumor aggressiveness. Overexpression of EMP3 in primary breast carcinoma is not associated with DNA methylation.

LAMP, PCR, and real-time PCR detection of Acetobacter aceti in yogurt

Wei Zhou,Yan Zhang,Shuang Wang,Yuehua Li,Jingjing Zhang,Cuixia Zhang,Zan Wang,Zhisheng Zhang 한국식품과학회 2017 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.26 No.1

Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) can spoil food. Acetobacter aceti as a core subgroup of AAB is usually isolated from yogurt. A. aceti should be timely and effectively detected to prevent yogurt contamination. The present study focused on A. aceti to establish an assay that can be performed to detect AAB in yogurt. LAMP, PCR, and real-time PCR were applied and compared for detecting A. aceti from pure culture and artificially contaminated yogurt samples. In pure culture, LAMP showed the highest detection sensitivity with 10−1 CFU/mL. For yogurt samples, the sensitivity limit of LAMP was 102 CFU/mL, which was lower than that of real-time PCR (101 CFU/mL). The results indicated that these methods could be quickly and efficiently applied to detect A. aceti. As LAMP technology has low cost and high detection efficiency, it can potentially be applied for detecting A. aceti in production and quality control programs of yogurt.

The Application and disquisition of Multimedia Technology in MoBlog

Wei ZHOU,Yan-Heng LI 한국멀티미디어학회 2006 한국멀티미디어학회 국제학술대회 Vol.2006 No.-

The appearance of Blog for the first time make us gain an accumulation of knowledge and a direction of culture; they also change human's living pattern from extensive digital one to individual, precise and catalogue one. MoBlog, the Blog used in mobile phone, is a new service based on Blog, mobile phone and wiriness technology. Today mobile communication systems are designed as logically separate networks. They are primarily designed to offer moderate bandwidth to users with wide area coverage (voice and low rate data demands services). The consumer of telecommunication services of tomorrow will expect to receive the same services in a wireless fashion, as he receives from a fixed network. The third generation mobile systems, such as UMTS and IMT-2000, aim at only partially solving these problems. As the extending of the second generation, 3G offers the data-rates, up to 2 M bit/s, but only to a limited number of users in certain areas. In order to enable the use of truly new and innovative multimedia services, 4G communication systems come true, and it adopts OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system and MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology, Experts describe the features of 4G:the emphasis on mobile data; transmitting velocity achieving 100 M bit/s; solving the interruption of electromagnetism; supporting the mutual communication of mobile phone; selecting wore wireless and supporting more abundant mobile services such as high distinct graph and meeting television. The correspondence will be available all over the world with a mobile phone. With the rapid development of 4G, moBlog will be more popular; besides short and simple multimedia messages. Since it is so difficult to input a large quantity of words or browse lots of word contents in a mobile phone. it is more convenient for users to make use of mobile phone's own functions, such as camera and recording set, to transmit messages through multimedia methods, such as photos, audio or video ones. In the future the use of 4G mobile phone will meet people's living needs more.