Unlike most plants, members of the genus Solanum produce cholesterol and use this as a precursor for steroidal glycoalkaloids. The production of the compounds begins as a branch from brassinosteroid biosynthesis, whic...Unlike most plants, members of the genus Solanum produce cholesterol and use this as a precursor for steroidal glycoalkaloids. The production of the compounds begins as a branch from brassinosteroid biosynthesis, which produces cholesterol that is further modified to produce steroidal glycoalkaloids. During the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway, genetic engineering could alter the formation of cholesterol from provitamin D3(7-dehydrocholesterol) and produce vitamin D3. Cholesterol is a precursor for many steroidal glycoalkaloids, including a-tomatine and esculeoside A. Alpha-tomatine is consumed by mammals and it can reduce cholesterol content and improve LDL:HDL ratio. When there is a high a-tomatine content, the fruit will have a bitter flavor, which together with other steroidal glycoalkaloids serving as protective and defensive compounds for tomato against insect, fungal, and bacterial pests. These compounds also affect the rhizosphere bacteria by recruiting beneficial bacteria. One of the steroidal glycoalkaloids, esculeoside A increases while fruit ripening. This review focuses on recent studies that uncovered key reactions of the production of cholesterol and steroidal glycoalkaloids in tomato connecting to human health, fruit flavor, and plant defense and the potential application for tomato crop improvement.展开更多
Though sexually reproductive plants share the same principle and most processes in meiosis, there are distinct features detectable. To address the similarities and differences of early meiosis transcriptomes from the ...Though sexually reproductive plants share the same principle and most processes in meiosis, there are distinct features detectable. To address the similarities and differences of early meiosis transcriptomes from the dicot model system Arabidopsis and monocot model system maize, we performed comparative analyses of RNA-seq data of isolated meiocytes, anthers and seedlings from both species separately and via orthologous genes. Overall gene expression showed similarities, such as an increased number of reads mapping to unannotated features, and differences, such as the amount of differentially expressed genes. We detected major similarities and differences in functional annotations of genes up-regulated in meiocytes, which point to conserved features as well as unique features. Transcriptional regulation seems to be quite similar in Arabidopsis and maize, and we could reveal known and novel transcription factors and cis- regulatory elements acting in early meiosis. Taken together, meiosis between Arabidopsis and maize is conserved in many ways, but displays key distinctions that lie in the patterns of gene expression.展开更多
Human fungal infections represent a rapidly emerging global health threat,especially threatening immunocompromised populations,highlighting the urgent need for accurate and timely diagnostic approaches to reduce morbi...Human fungal infections represent a rapidly emerging global health threat,especially threatening immunocompromised populations,highlighting the urgent need for accurate and timely diagnostic approaches to reduce morbidity and mortality.This review synthesizes recent advances in diagnostic methodologies,including serological assays,point-of-care diagnostics,polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based and sequencing technologies,as well as artificial intelligence(AI)-and machine learning(ML)-powered tools.Emerging diagnostic approaches have demonstrated notable improvements in detection accuracy,turnaround time,and antifungal resistance profiling capabilities,especially for drug-resistant strains.Nevertheless,substantial challenges persist in terms of standardization,scalability,cost-effectiveness,and implementation,particularly in resource-constrained settings.Future efforts should be directed toward the continuous innovation of rapid,sensitive,and multiplex diagnostic platforms for the simultaneous detection of fungi,bacteria,and viruses.Such advances may accelerate result acquisition,enhance diagnostic accuracy,support the development of more targeted therapeutic strategies,and ultimately improve clinical outcomes for patients.展开更多
The“superbug”Candida auris has been ranked as a priority fungal pathogen and is becoming a serious threat to public health.However,the underlying mechanisms of real-world pathogen-host interactions remain elusive,in...The“superbug”Candida auris has been ranked as a priority fungal pathogen and is becoming a serious threat to public health.However,the underlying mechanisms of real-world pathogen-host interactions remain elusive,in part due to the lack of powerful immunocompetent animal models.Here,we report that selected wild-type strains of Drosophila melanogaster can be developed as a promising infection model to recapitulate C.auris systemic infection.The systemic and organ-specific responses to C.auris infection in vivo were evaluated,as well as the corresponding transcriptional profiling.Our findings confirmed that Toll and JAK-STAT signaling pathways mediate antifungal responses in the Drosophila model following C.auris infection.Moreover,we identified certain conserved novel factors required for host-C.auris interactions,highlighting the fly model's potential to reveal subtle immune mechanisms not readily observed in mammalian systems.Taken together,our work demonstrates that wild-type Drosophila offers a robust immunocompetent animal model for further in-depth investigation of dynamic C.auris-host interactions in vivo.展开更多
Strains from the Cryptococcus gattii species complex(CGSC)have caused the Pacific Northwest cryptococcosis outbreak,the largest cluster of lifethreatening fungal infections in otherwise healthy human hosts known to da...Strains from the Cryptococcus gattii species complex(CGSC)have caused the Pacific Northwest cryptococcosis outbreak,the largest cluster of lifethreatening fungal infections in otherwise healthy human hosts known to date.In this study,we utilized a pan-phenome-based method to assess the fitness outcomes of CGSC strains under 31 stress conditions,providing a comprehensive overview of 2,821 phenotype-strain associations within this pathogenic clade.Phenotypic clustering analysis revealed a strong correlation between distinct types of stress phenotypes in a subset of CGSC strains,suggesting that shared determinants coordinate their adaptations to various stresses.Notably,a specific group of strains,including the outbreak isolates,exhibited a remarkable ability to adapt to all three of the most commonly used antifungal drugs for treating cryptococcosis(amphotericin B,5-fluorocytosine,and fluconazole).By integrating pan-genomic and pan-transcriptomic analyses,we identified previously unrecognized genes that play crucial roles in conferring multidrug resistance in an outbreak strain with high multidrug adaptation.From these genes,we identified biomarkers that enable the accurate prediction of highly multidrug-adapted CGSC strains,achieving maximum accuracy and area under the curve(AUC)of 0.79 and 0.86,respectively,using machine learning algorithms.Overall,we developed a pan-omic approach to identify cryptococcal multidrug resistance determinants and predict highly multidrug-adapted CGSC strains that may pose significant clinical concern.展开更多
文摘Unlike most plants, members of the genus Solanum produce cholesterol and use this as a precursor for steroidal glycoalkaloids. The production of the compounds begins as a branch from brassinosteroid biosynthesis, which produces cholesterol that is further modified to produce steroidal glycoalkaloids. During the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway, genetic engineering could alter the formation of cholesterol from provitamin D3(7-dehydrocholesterol) and produce vitamin D3. Cholesterol is a precursor for many steroidal glycoalkaloids, including a-tomatine and esculeoside A. Alpha-tomatine is consumed by mammals and it can reduce cholesterol content and improve LDL:HDL ratio. When there is a high a-tomatine content, the fruit will have a bitter flavor, which together with other steroidal glycoalkaloids serving as protective and defensive compounds for tomato against insect, fungal, and bacterial pests. These compounds also affect the rhizosphere bacteria by recruiting beneficial bacteria. One of the steroidal glycoalkaloids, esculeoside A increases while fruit ripening. This review focuses on recent studies that uncovered key reactions of the production of cholesterol and steroidal glycoalkaloids in tomato connecting to human health, fruit flavor, and plant defense and the potential application for tomato crop improvement.
基金supported by the National Science Foundation of USA (IOS:1025881)funds from the Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation of USA
文摘Though sexually reproductive plants share the same principle and most processes in meiosis, there are distinct features detectable. To address the similarities and differences of early meiosis transcriptomes from the dicot model system Arabidopsis and monocot model system maize, we performed comparative analyses of RNA-seq data of isolated meiocytes, anthers and seedlings from both species separately and via orthologous genes. Overall gene expression showed similarities, such as an increased number of reads mapping to unannotated features, and differences, such as the amount of differentially expressed genes. We detected major similarities and differences in functional annotations of genes up-regulated in meiocytes, which point to conserved features as well as unique features. Transcriptional regulation seems to be quite similar in Arabidopsis and maize, and we could reveal known and novel transcription factors and cis- regulatory elements acting in early meiosis. Taken together, meiosis between Arabidopsis and maize is conserved in many ways, but displays key distinctions that lie in the patterns of gene expression.
基金supported by the MOST Key R&D Program of China(grant number 2022YFC2303500 to X.H.)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant numbers 32570236,32170195,and 32311530119 to C.C.and 32470200 to X.H.)+1 种基金Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan 2023“Basic Research Project”(grant number 23JC1404200 to C.C.)the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity(grant number SKLPBS2236 to C.C.).
文摘Human fungal infections represent a rapidly emerging global health threat,especially threatening immunocompromised populations,highlighting the urgent need for accurate and timely diagnostic approaches to reduce morbidity and mortality.This review synthesizes recent advances in diagnostic methodologies,including serological assays,point-of-care diagnostics,polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based and sequencing technologies,as well as artificial intelligence(AI)-and machine learning(ML)-powered tools.Emerging diagnostic approaches have demonstrated notable improvements in detection accuracy,turnaround time,and antifungal resistance profiling capabilities,especially for drug-resistant strains.Nevertheless,substantial challenges persist in terms of standardization,scalability,cost-effectiveness,and implementation,particularly in resource-constrained settings.Future efforts should be directed toward the continuous innovation of rapid,sensitive,and multiplex diagnostic platforms for the simultaneous detection of fungi,bacteria,and viruses.Such advances may accelerate result acquisition,enhance diagnostic accuracy,support the development of more targeted therapeutic strategies,and ultimately improve clinical outcomes for patients.
基金supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFC2303504)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA0530000)+4 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32311530119,92157106,32270917,and 82003361)the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan 2023“Basic Research Project”(23JC1404201)the Shanghai“Belt and Road”Joint Laboratory Project(22490750200)the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project(2019SHZDZX02)the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology,China(22ZR1469900)。
文摘The“superbug”Candida auris has been ranked as a priority fungal pathogen and is becoming a serious threat to public health.However,the underlying mechanisms of real-world pathogen-host interactions remain elusive,in part due to the lack of powerful immunocompetent animal models.Here,we report that selected wild-type strains of Drosophila melanogaster can be developed as a promising infection model to recapitulate C.auris systemic infection.The systemic and organ-specific responses to C.auris infection in vivo were evaluated,as well as the corresponding transcriptional profiling.Our findings confirmed that Toll and JAK-STAT signaling pathways mediate antifungal responses in the Drosophila model following C.auris infection.Moreover,we identified certain conserved novel factors required for host-C.auris interactions,highlighting the fly model's potential to reveal subtle immune mechanisms not readily observed in mammalian systems.Taken together,our work demonstrates that wild-type Drosophila offers a robust immunocompetent animal model for further in-depth investigation of dynamic C.auris-host interactions in vivo.
基金financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2021YFC2302100)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82370005 and 82172291)+8 种基金the National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFC2303000 and 2021YFC230000)the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team,the Beijing Research Center for Respiratory Infectious Diseases Project(BJRID2024-008 and BJRID2024-011)the R&D Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission(KM202410025012)the Reform and Development Program of Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine(Ggyfz202328 and Ggyfz202418)the National Key R&D Program of China(2020YFA0907200)Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan 2023“Basic Research Project”(23JC1404201)the Shanghai‘‘Belt and Road’’Joint Laboratory Project(22490750200)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82370005)National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding(2022-PUMCH-C-052).
文摘Strains from the Cryptococcus gattii species complex(CGSC)have caused the Pacific Northwest cryptococcosis outbreak,the largest cluster of lifethreatening fungal infections in otherwise healthy human hosts known to date.In this study,we utilized a pan-phenome-based method to assess the fitness outcomes of CGSC strains under 31 stress conditions,providing a comprehensive overview of 2,821 phenotype-strain associations within this pathogenic clade.Phenotypic clustering analysis revealed a strong correlation between distinct types of stress phenotypes in a subset of CGSC strains,suggesting that shared determinants coordinate their adaptations to various stresses.Notably,a specific group of strains,including the outbreak isolates,exhibited a remarkable ability to adapt to all three of the most commonly used antifungal drugs for treating cryptococcosis(amphotericin B,5-fluorocytosine,and fluconazole).By integrating pan-genomic and pan-transcriptomic analyses,we identified previously unrecognized genes that play crucial roles in conferring multidrug resistance in an outbreak strain with high multidrug adaptation.From these genes,we identified biomarkers that enable the accurate prediction of highly multidrug-adapted CGSC strains,achieving maximum accuracy and area under the curve(AUC)of 0.79 and 0.86,respectively,using machine learning algorithms.Overall,we developed a pan-omic approach to identify cryptococcal multidrug resistance determinants and predict highly multidrug-adapted CGSC strains that may pose significant clinical concern.
