Osmotic stress poses a threat to the production and quality of crops. Whirly transcription factors have been investigated to enhance stress tolerance. In this study, a total of 18 Whirly genes were identified from six Triticeae species, which were classified into Whirly1 and Whirly2. The exon–intron structure, conserved motif, chromosomal location, collinearity, and regulatory network of Whirly genes were also analyzed. Real-time PCR results indicated that TaWHY1 genes exhibited higher expression levels in leaf sheaths and leaves during the seedling stage, while TaWHY2 genes were predominantly expressed in roots. Under PEG stress, the expression levels of TaWHY1-7A, TaWHY2-6A, TaWHY2-6B, and TaWHY2-6D were increased, TaWHY1-7D was reduced, and TaWHY1-4A had no significant change. All TaWHY genes were significantly up-regulated in response to NaCl stress treatment. In addition, TaWHY1-7A and TaWHY1-7D mainly enhanced the tolerance to oxidative stress in yeast cells. TaWHY2s mainly improved NaCl stress tolerance and were sensitive to oxidative stress in yeast cells. All TaWHYs slightly improved the yeast tolerance to d-sorbitol stress. The heterologous expression of TaWHY1-7D greatly improved drought and salt tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. In conclusion, these results provide the foundation for further functional study of Whirly genes aimed at improving osmotic stress tolerance in wheat.

Physical exercise can improve brain function by altering brain gene expression. The expression mechanisms underlying the brain’s response to exercise still remain unknown. miRNAs as vital regulators of gene expression may be involved in regulation of brain genes in response to exercise. However, as yet, very little is known about exercise-responsive miRNAs in brain. We constructed two comparative small RNA libraries of rat brain from a high-intensity intermittent swimming training (HIST) group and a normal control (NC) group. Using deep sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we identified 2109 (1700 from HIST, 1691 from NC) known and 55 (50 from HIST, 28 from NC) novel candidate miRNAs. Among them, 34 miRNAs were identified as significantly differentially expressed in response to HIST, 16 were up-regulated and 18 were down-regulated. The results showed that all members of mir-200 family were strongly up-regulated, implying mir-200 family may play very important roles in HIST response mechanisms of rat brain. A total of 955 potential target genes of these 34 exercise-responsive miRNAs were identified from rat genes. Most of them are directly involved in the development and regulatory function of brain or nerve. Many acknowledged exercise-responsive brain genes such as Bdnf, Igf-1, Vgf, Ngf c-Fos, and Ntf3 etc. could be targeted by exercise-responsive miRNAs. Moreover, qRT-PCR and SABC immunohistochemical analysis further confirm the reliability of the expression of miRNAs and their targets. This study demonstrated that physical exercise could induce differential expression of rat brain miRNAs and 34 exercise-responsive miRNAs were identified in rat brain. Our results suggested that exercise-responsive miRNAs could play important roles in regulating gene expression of rat brain in response to exercise.

Zinc finger-homeodomain transcription factors (ZF-HDs) are pivotal in regulating plant growth, development, and diverse stress responses. In this study, we found 8 ZF-HD genes in barley genome. Theses eight HvZF-HD genes were located on five chromosomes, and classified into ZHD and MIF subfamily. The collinearity, gene structure, conserved motif, and cis-elements of HvZF-HD genes were also analyzed. Real-time PCR results suggested that the expression of HvZF-HD4, HvZF-HD6, HvZF-HD7 and HvZF-HD8 were up-regulated after hormones (ABA, GA3 and MeJA) or PEG treatments, especially HvZF-HD6 was significantly induced. These results provide useful information of ZF-HD genes to future study aimed at barley breeding.