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Necroptosis is a form of cell death that is reportedly involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. The role of Mlkl-involved necroptosis remains unclear. Herein, this project aimed to explore the role of MLKL-mediated necroptosis in periodontitis in vitro and in vivo. Expression of RIPK3, MLKL, and phosphorylated MLKL was observed in gingival tissues obtained from healthy subjects or patients with periodontitis. The cell viability of Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS-Pg)-treated cells was detected. In wild type or Mlkl deficiency mice with ligature-induced periodontitis, alveolar bone loss and osteoclast activation were assessed. mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines in bone marrow-derived macrophages were tested by qRT-PCR. Increased expression of RIPK3, MLKL, and phosphorylated MLKL was observed in gingival tissues obtained from patients with periodontitis. Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS-Pg)-treated cells developed necroptosis after caspase inhibition and negatively regulated the NF-κB signaling pathway. In mice with ligature-induced periodontitis, Mlkl deficiency reduced alveolar bone loss and weakened osteoclast activation. Furthermore, genetic ablation of Mlkl in LPS-Pg-treated bone marrow-derived macrophages increased the mRNA levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (Il)-1β, Il-6, cyclooxygenase 2, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand. Our data indicated that MLKL-mediated necroptosis aggravates the development of periodontitis in a Mlkl-deficient mouse. This will provide a new sight for the understanding of etiology and therapies of periodontitis.Key messagesMLKL expression was up-regulated in inflamed human gingival tissue.Mlkl deficiency affected the progression of periodontitis.Necroptosis played a major role in mice periodontitis model.Knockout of Mlkl had a significant effect on inflammatory responses.

Virtual influencers (VIs) have become a powerful marketing tool for brands to promote their products, due to their trouble-free experiences, compared with human influencers. However, uncanny valley, a theory that describes the negative psychological responses triggered by humanoid robots or avatars, suggests that VIs might exert negative responses from social media audiences. Thus, this study aims to investigate how social media audiences perceive Ling, the first computer-generated VI in China. Four research questions were proposed: 1) how Ling builds its persona on Weibo, 2) how consumers perceive Ling’s identity, 3) how social media audiences respond to Ling’s VI marketing strategies, 4) how social media audiences express their intimacy towards Ling. As an exploratory qualitative research method, textual analysis was employed to reveal underlying meaning in social media audiences’ perceptions of VI, and 79 Weibo posts and 8442 comments were collected as the research text. The results showed that users’ response to Ling can be summarized into three dimensions: (1) VI identity as a CGI character, (2) endorser identity as a social media marketing tool, and (3) national identity as a cultural ambassador.

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stress affecting the world rice production. The cultivation of salinity-tolerant cultivars is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach for salinity control. In recent years, CRISPR/Cas9 systems have been widely used for target-site genome editing; however, their application for the improvement of elite rice cultivars has rarely been reported. Here, we report the improvement of the rice salinity tolerance by engineering a Cas9-OsRR22-gRNA expressing vector, targeting the OsRR22 gene in rice. Nine mutant plants were identified from 14 T 0 transgenic plants. Sequencing showed that these plants had six mutation types at the target site, all of which were successfully transmitted to the next generations. Mutant plants without transferred DNA (T-DNA) were obtained via segregation in the T1 generations. Two T2 homozygous mutant lines were further examined for their salinity tolerance and agronomic traits. The results showed that, at the seedling stage, the salinity tolerance of T2 homozygous mutant lines was significantly enhanced compared to wild-type plants. Furthermore, no significantly different agronomic traits were found between T2 homozygous mutant lines and wild-type plants. Our results indicate CRISPR/Cas9 as a useful approach to enhance the salinity tolerance of rice.

Background Drought is a major abiotic stress factor that influences the yield of crops. Basic leucine zipper motif (bZIP) transcription factors play an important regulatory role in plant drought stress responses. However, the functions of a number of bZIP transcription factors in rice are still unknown. Results In this study, a novel drought stress-related bZIP transcription factor, OsbZIP62 , was identified in rice. This gene was selected from a transcriptome analysis of several typical rice varieties with different drought tolerances. OsbZIP62 expression was induced by drought, hydrogen peroxide, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Overexpression of OsbZIP62-VP64 ( OsbZIP62V ) enhanced the drought tolerance and oxidative stress tolerance of transgenic rice, while osbzip62 mutants exhibited the opposite phenotype. OsbZIP62-GFP was localized to the nucleus, and the N-terminal sequence (amino acids 1–68) was necessary for the transcriptional activation activity of OsbZIP62. RNA-seq analysis showed that the expression of many stress-related genes (e.g., OsGL1 , OsNAC10 , and DSM2 ) was upregulated in OsbZIP62V plants. Moreover, OsbZIP62 could bind to the promoters of several putative target genes and could interact with stress/ABA-activated protein kinases (SAPKs). Conclusions OsbZIP62 is involved in ABA signalling pathways and positively regulates rice drought tolerance by regulating the expression of genes associated with stress, and this gene could be used for the genetic modification of crops with improved drought tolerance.

Empirical evidence indicates the links between social class and subjective well-being are numerous and varied, and Need Theory proposes that their relationship depends, in part, on whether people’s basic needs are being met. Given that sense of control is one of the fundamental social needs of human beings, the present research examined a mediated moderation model between the social class and subjective well-being by testing whether sense of control moderates this relationship, and whether this moderating effect is mediated through self-esteem. A sample of 536 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.79 years, SD = 0.95) completed anonymous questionnaires about their subjective and objective social class, sense of control, self-esteem, and subjective well-being. Consistent with the hypothesized mediated moderation model, the association between social class and subjective well-being was moderated by sense of control, with social class significantly influencing the subjective well-being of adolescents when their sense of control was low but not high. This moderation effect was then mediated by self-esteem. In addition, this model was found to be more suitable for adolescent boys than girls. The findings demonstrate that adolescents’ personal sense of control and self-esteem represent key mechanisms determining how social class is associated with subjective well-being.

In addition to regulating growth and development, the most important function of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plants is the regulation of a variety of cellular processes underlying plant adaptation to environmental stresses. To gain a deep understanding of the mechanism of drought tolerance in rice, genome-wide profiling and analysis of miRNAs was carried out in drought-challenged rice across a wide range of developmental stages, from tillering to inflorescence formation, using a microarray platform. Among the 30 miRNAs identified as significantly down- or up-regulated under the drought stress, 11 down-regulated miRNAs (miR170, miR172, miR397, miR408, miR529, miR896, miR1030, miR1035, miR1050, miR1088, and miR1126) and eight up-regulated miRNAs (miR395, miR474, miR845, miR851, miR854, miR901, miR903, and miR1125) were revealed for the first time to be induced by drought stress in plants, and nine (miR156, miR168, miR170, miR171, miR172, miR319, miR396, miR397, and miR408) showed opposite expression to that observed in drought-stressed Arabidopsis. The most conserved down-regulated miRNAs were ath-miR170, the miR171 family, and ath-miR396, and the most conserved up-regulated miRNAs were ptc-miR474 and ath-miR854a. The identification of differentially expressed novel plant miRNAs and their target genes, and the analysis of cis-elements provides molecular evidence for the possible involvement of miRNAs in the process of drought response and/or tolerance in rice.

Epigenetic mechanisms are crucial mediators of appropriate plant reactions to adverse environments, but their involvement in long-term adaptation is less clear. Here, we established two rice epimutation accumulation lines by applying drought conditions to 11 successive generations of two rice varieties. We took advantage of recent technical advances to examine the role of DNA methylation variations on rice adaptation to drought stress. We found that multi-generational drought improved the drought adaptability of offspring in upland fields. At single-base resolution, we discovered non-random appearance of drought-induced epimutations. Moreover, we found that a high proportion of drought-induced epimutations maintained their altered DNA methylation status in advanced generations. In addition, genes related to transgenerational epimutations directly participated in stress-responsive pathways. Analysis based on a cluster of drought-responsive genes revealed that their DNA methylation patterns were affected by multi-generational drought. These results suggested that epigenetic mechanisms play important roles in rice adaptations to upland growth conditions. Epigenetic variations have morphological, physiological and ecological consequences and are heritable across generations, suggesting that epigenetics can be considered an important regulatory mechanism in plant long-term adaptation and evolution under adverse environments.

PANoptosis is one of several modes of programmed cell death (PCD) and plays an important role in many inflammatory and immune diseases. The role of PANoptosis in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is currently unknown. Differentially expressed PANoptosis-related genes (DE-PRGs) were identified, and pathway enrichment analyses were performed. LASSO regression model construction, a nomogram model, calibration curves, ROC and DCA curves were used to evaluate the predictive value of the model. Predicts transcription factors (TFs) and small-molecule drugs of DE-PRGs were analysed. Model genes and immuno-infiltration were analysed. The PANoptosis features of IBD include 12 genes: OGT, TLR2, GZMB, TLR4, PPIF, YBX3, CASP5, BCL2L1, CASP6, MEFV, GSDMB and BAX. The enrichment analysis suggested that these genes were related to TNF signalling, NF-κB, pyroptosis and necroptosis. Machine learning identified three model genes: OGT, GZMB and CASP5. The nomogram model, calibration curves, ROC and DCA curves have strong predictive value. Immuno-infiltration analysis revealed that immune cell infiltration was increased in patients with IBD, and the model genes were closely related to the infiltration of various immune cells. The TFs associated with DE-PRGs were RELA, NFKB1, HIF1A, TP53 and SP1. In addition, the Connectivity Map (CMap) database identified the top 10 small-molecule compounds, including buspirone, chloroquine, spectinomycin and chlortetracycline. This study indicate that DE-PRGs model genes have good predictive ability for IBD. Moreover, PANoptosis may mediate the process of IBD through TNF signalling, NF-κB, pyroptosis, necroptosis and immune mechanisms. These results present a new horizon for the research and treatment of IBD.

Water stress is the most important adverse factor limiting rice production. Too much water leads to flood and too little leads to drought. Floods and droughts can severely damage crop at different times of the rice life cycle. So the research on submergence tolerance and drought resistance of rice is particularly urgent. In this study, we reported that OsEBP89 (Oryza sativa Ethylene-responsive element binding protein, clone 89), a member of the AP2/ERF subfamily, is involved in a novel signal transduction associated with the tolerance to drought and submergence stress. OsEBP89 was found to be strongly inhibited by drought stress and promoted by submergence. The OsEBP89 protein was located at the nucleus in the rice protoplast. Loss of OsEBP89 was found to improve the seed germination under submerged conditions and also enhanced the tolerance to drought stress throughout growth stage. Additionally, OsEBP89 knockout rice plants increased the accumulation of proline, improved the ability to scavenge ROS compared to overexpression lines and wild type after PEG treatment. Transcriptome data indicates that knockout of OsEBP89 improved the expression of specific genes in response to adverse factors, such as OsAPX1, OsHsfA3, and OsP5CS. Further results indicate that OsEBP89 can interact with and be phosphorylated by SnRK1α (sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase-1 gene). These findings provide insight into the mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance, and suggest OsEBP89 as a new genetic engineering resource to improve abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Qifa Zhang and colleagues report the map-based cloning of the quantitative trait locus GS5, which regulates grain size and yield in rice. GS5 encodes a putative serine carboxypeptidase and increased expression is associated with larger grain. Increasing crop yield is one of the most important goals of plant science research. Grain size is a major determinant of grain yield in cereals and is a target trait for both domestication and artificial breeding 1 . We showed that the quantitative trait locus (QTL) GS5 in rice controls grain size by regulating grain width, filling and weight. GS5 encodes a putative serine carboxypeptidase and functions as a positive regulator of grain size, such that higher expression of GS5 is correlated with larger grain size. Sequencing of the promoter region in 51 rice accessions from a wide geographic range identified three haplotypes that seem to be associated with grain width. The results suggest that natural variation in GS5 contributes to grain size diversity in rice and may be useful in improving yield in rice and, potentially, other crops 2 .