Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is essential for global food security. Rhizoctonia cerealis is the causal pathogen of sharp eyespot, an important disease of wheat. GATA proteins in model plants have been implicated in growth and development; however, little is known about their roles in immunity. Here, we report a defence role for a wheat LLM-domain-containing B-GATA transcription factor, TaGATA1, against R. cerealis infection and explore the underlying mechanism. Through transcriptomic analysis, TaGATA1 was identified to be more highly expressed in resistant wheat genotypes than in susceptible wheat genotypes. TaGATA1 was located on chromosome 3B and had two homoeologous genes on chromosomes 3A and 3D. TaGATA1 was found to be localized in the nucleus, possessed transcriptional activation activity, and bound to GATA-core cis-elements. TaGATA1 overexpression significantly enhanced resistance of transgenic wheat to R. cerealis, whereas silencing of TaGATA1 suppressed the resistance. Quantitative reverse transcription–PCR and ChIP–qPCR results indicated that TaGATA1 directly bound to and activated certain defence genes in host immune response to R. cerealis. Collectively, TaGATA1 positively regulates immune responses to R. cerealis through activating expression of defence genes in wheat. This study reveals a new function of plant GATAs in immunity and provides a candidate gene for improving crop resistance to R. cerealis.

Wickerhamomyces anomalus , a flavor-modulating non- Saccharomyces yeast used in winemaking, experiences escalating ethanol stress during fermentation, yet the physiological and structural consequences remain unclear. This study assessed responses to 9% (v/v) ethanol stress with and without exogenous antioxidants (10 mM N-acetylcysteine and 2.5 mM glutathione) by measuring: reactive oxygen species (ROS) via fluorescence staining; superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities plus glutathione content colorimetrically; mitochondrial membrane potential using rhodamine 123; ultrastructure via transmission electron microscopy; electron transport chain complex activities and ATP levels colorimetrically; and autophagy via monodansylcadaverine staining. Results indicated ethanol exposure induced ROS overproduction and oxidative stress while concurrently activating SOD and catalase activities and increasing GSH. Furthermore, ethanol reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, inhibited electron transport chain activity, decreased ATP synthesis, and triggered autophagy. Conversely, antioxidant supplementation alleviated oxidative damage, restored mitochondrial function, suppressed autophagy, and enhanced cell viability. These findings elucidate ethanol’s mechanistic toxicity in yeast and provide a foundation for developing antioxidant-enhanced, ethanol-tolerant W. anomalus strains for industrial fermentation.

α-Galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.22) refers to a group of enzymes that hydrolyze oligosaccharides containing α-galactoside-banded glycosides, such as stachyose, raffinose, and verbascose. These enzymes also possess great potential for application in sugar production, and in the feed and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, a strain of Lactosphaera pasteurii (WHPC005) that produces α-galactosidase was identified from the soil of Western Hunan, China. It was determined that the optimal temperature and pH for this α-galactosidase were 45 °C and 5.5, respectively. The activity of α-galactosidase was inhibited by K⁺, Al³⁺, Fe³⁺, fructose, sucrose, lactose, galactose, SDS, EDTA, NaCl, and (NH₄)₂SO₄, and enhanced by Ca²⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn², Zn²⁺, glucose, and raffinose. The optimal inducer was raffinose, and the optimal induction concentration was 30 μmol/L. The α-galactosidase gene was cloned using random fragment cloning methods. Sequence analysis demonstrated that the open reading frame of the α-galactosidase gene was 1230 bp, which encodes a putative protein of 409 amino acids in length. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the isoelectric point and molecular weight of this α-galactosidase were 4.84 and 47.40 kD, respectively. Random coils, alpha helixes, and beta turns were observed in its secondary structure, and conserved regions were found in the tertiary structure of this α-galactosidase. Therefore, this α-galactosidase-producing bacterial strain has the potential for application in the feed industry.

Complement factor I (CFI), a complement inhibitor, is well known for regulating the complement system activation by degrading complement component 3b (C3b) in animal serum, thus becoming involved in innate defense. Nevertheless, the functional mechanisms of CFI in the complement system and in host-pathogen interactions are far from being clarified in teleost fish. In the present study, we cloned and characterized the CFI gene, CiCFI, from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and analyzed its function in degrading serum C3b and expression changes after grass carp reovirus (GCRV) infection. The open reading frame of CiCFI was found to be 2121 bp, encoding 706 amino acids with a molecular mass of 79.06 kDa. The pairwise alignments showed that CiCFI shared the highest identity (66.9%) with CFI from Carassius gibelio and the highest similarity (78.7%) with CFI from Danio rerio. The CiCFI protein was characterized by a conserved functional core Tryp_SPc domain with the catalytic triad and substrate binding sites. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that CiCFI and the homologs CFIs from other teleost fish formed a distinct evolutionary branch. Similar with the CFIs reported in mammals, the recombinant CiCFI protein could significantly reduce the C3b content in the serum, demonstrating the conserved function of CiCFI in the complement system in the grass carp. CiCFI mRNA and protein showed the highest expression level in the liver. After GCRV infection, the mRNA expressions of CiCFI were first down-regulated, then up-regulated, and then down-regulated to the initial level, while the protein expression levels maintained an overall downward trend to the late stage of infection in the liver of grass carps. Unexpectedly, the protein levels of CiCFI were also continuously down-regulated in the serum of grass carps during GCRV infection, while the content of serum C3b proteins first increases and then returns to the initial level, suggesting a distinct role of CiCFI in regulating complement activation and fish-virus interaction. Combining our previous results that complement factor D, a complement enhancer, shows continuously up-regulated expression levels in grass carps during GCRV infection, and this study may provide the further essential data for the full picture of complex complement regulation mechanism mediated by Df and CFI of the grass carp during pathogen infection.

Leaves and flowers of Amorphophallus konjac do not develop simultaneously thus unique features can be elucidated through study of flowering transformation in A. konjac. In this study, transcriptome libraries of A. konjac leaf buds (LB) and flower buds (FB) were constructed followed by high-throughput sequencing. A total of 68,906 unigenes with an average length of 920 bp were obtained after library assembly. Out of these genes, 24,622 unigenes had annotation information. A total of 6859 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified through differential expression analysis using LB as control. Notably, 2415 DEGs were upregulated whereas 4444 DEGs were downregulated in the two transcriptomes. Go and KEGG analysis showed that the DEGs belonged to 44 functional categories and were implicated in 98 metabolic pathways and 38 DEGs involved in plant hormone signal transduction. Several genes were mined that may be involved in A. konjac flower bud differentiation and flower organ development. Eight DEGs were selected for verification of RNA-seq results using qRT-PCR analysis. Two FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes named AkFT1 and AkFT2 were identified though homologous analysis may be the florigen gene implicated in modulation of A. konjac flowering. These genes were significantly upregulated in flower buds compared with the expression levels on leaf buds. Overexpression of AkFT genes though heterologous expression in Arabidopsis showed that the transgenics flowered at a very early stage relative to wild type plants. These findings indicate that AkFT1 and AkFT2 function as regulation genes in A. konjac flowering development and the two genes may present similar functions during flowering transition.