Sheath blight (ShB) causes severe yield loss in rice. Previously, we demonstrated that the sugar will eventually be exported and the transporter 11 (SWEET11) mutation significantly improved rice resistance to ShB, but it caused severe defects in seed development. The present study found that WRKY36 and PIL15 directly activate SWEET11 to negatively regulate ShB. Interestingly, WRKY36 interacted with PIL15, WRKY36 and PIL15 directly activates miR530 to negatively regulate seed development. WRKY36 interacted with a key BR signaling transcription factor WRKY53. AOS2 is an effector protein from Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani) that interacts with WRKY53. Interestingly, AOS2 also interacts with WRKY36 and PIL15 to activate SWEET11 for sugar nutrition for R. solani. These data collectively suggest that WRKY36–PIL15 negatively regulates ShB resistance and seed development via the activation of SWEET11 and miR530, respectively. In addition, WRKY36 and PIL15 are the partners of the effector protein AOS2 by which R. solani hijacks sugar nutrition from rice.

In article number 20200120, Xiangyang Shi, Mingwu Shen and a co-worker review the immunomodulatory effects of certain types of dendrimers, the recent advances in dendrimer-facilitated cancer immunotherapy and immunity visualization, and clarify the possible future perspectives for the design of dendrimer-based cancer immunotheranostics.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological cancers in women with a low 5-year survival rate. Evaluation of hyaluronic acid-binding protein 1 (HABP1) level can provide important information for the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. In this study, we designed a novel HABP1 probe based on ^99mTc-radiolabeled small-interference RNA (siRNA) for detecting HABP1 expression noninvasively in vivo, thereby providing a new method for its diagnosis and treatment. A specific siHABP1 was selected because of its targetability and silencing effect. A negative control siRNA (NCsiRNA) with no homology with the human genome was used. SiHABP1 and NCsiRNA were radiolabeled with ^99mTc using the bifunctional chelating agent hydrazinonicotinamide (HYNIC). The radiochemical purity and in vitro stability of the probe were determined by HPLC. The binding activity was measured by western blotting (WB) and RT-PCR. The HABP1-overexpressing human ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910 was used for cell uptake experiments, which were performed with or without transfection and measured with a gamma counter. HO8910-bearing mice were imaged at 1, 4, and 10 h, and biodistribution analysis was performed at 1, 4, 6, and 10 h after injection of ^99mTc-HYNIC-siRNA. ^99mTc-HYNIC-siHABP1 had high radiochemical purity and good in vitro stability, and showed the same binding capacity and silencing effect as siHABP1. SPECT imaging showed that tumors were clearly visualized at 10 h after injection of ^99mTc-HYNIC-siHABP1 but not after ^99mTc-HYNIC-NCsiRNA, implying specific binding. The biodistribution results were consistent with those of SPECT imaging. We showed that ^99mTc-HYNIC-siHABP1 is a feasible probe for the noninvasive visualization of HABP1 expression in ovarian cancer.