Chlorophyll (Chl) is an essential component of the photosynthetic apparatus and pigments in plant greening. Leaf color is an important agronomic and commercial trait of Chinese cabbage. In this study, we identified a pale green mutant pgm created by ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis in Chinese cabbage. Compared with wild-type (FT), pgm had a lower Chl content with a higher Chl a/b ratio, imperfect chloroplast structure, and lower non-photochemical quenching. However, its net photosynthetic rate and biomass showed no significant differences. Genetic analysis revealed that the pale green phenotype of pgm was controlled by a recessive nuclear gene, designated as Brpgm. We applied BSR-Seq, linkage analysis, and whole-genome resequencing to map Brpgm and predicted that the target gene was BraA10g007770.3C (BrCAO), which encodes chlorophyllide a oxygenase (CAO). Brcao sequencing results showed that the last nucleotide of its first intron changed from G to A, causing the deletion of the first nucleotide in its second CDS and termination of the protein translation. The expression of BrCAO in pgm was upregulated, and the enzyme activity of CAO in pgm was significantly decreased. These results provide an approach to explore the function of BrCAO and create a pale green variation in Chinese cabbage.

Objective: This study focuses on whether vine tea contains potentially toxic components that trigger hepatotoxicity as a mechanism of action, which further provides some reference for the consumption and guides future product development of vine tea.Methods: The chemical components of vine tea were collected from the reported literature and the toxicological information matched with the CTD database was collected, and the dataset of potential toxic components was established. The toxic components were submitted to the PharmMapper server to obtain potential targets. At the same time, the relevant targets were searched in the CTD database and GeneCards database with keywords such as “Hepatic Toxicity,” “Liver Damage,” and “Drug-induced liver injury.” After intersection, the potential hepatotoxic targets of vine tea were obtained. The protein interactions of potential hepatotoxic targets of vine tea were analyzed by the STRING database. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed by Cytoscape3.6.1 software. The GO molecular function and KEGG pathway of hepatotoxic targets were enriched by the R package to screen the key targets. The role of the components and key targets was analyzed by the LEDOCK program. The data from GEO database were mined for the functional correlation characterized by cell transcriptional expression caused by vine tea as a disturbance factor.Results: This study has searched 34 potential toxic components and 57 potential hepatotoxic targets of vine tea, and the result showed that these targets were mainly involved in oxidative stress, cell metabolism, and apoptosis to affect the liver.Conclusion: Vine tea has the interrelationship of multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways. At the cellular level, the toxic components of vine tea, mainly flavonoids, may promote oxidative stress, promote oxidation to produce free radicals, guide apoptosis, and affect cell metabolism and other cytotoxic mechanisms. However, this hepatotoxicity is related to the dose, duration of vine tea, and individual differences. This study revealed the potential hepatotoxic components of vine tea and provides a reference for further research and development of related functional products.

Background and Purpose. Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a serious reproductive disease in females that is characterized by menstrual and ovulation disorders and infertility. The clinical efficacy of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been reported in POI, including compound Chinese medicine. Zishen Yutai Pills (ZSYTP), a well-known patented Chinese medicine, has been widely used for treating POI; however, the pharmacological mechanism and molecular targets of ZSYTP remain unknown. Here, we systematically elucidated the pharmacological mechanism of ZSYTP on POI using a network pharmacology approach and further validated our findings with molecular docking. Methods. A comprehensive strategy based on several Chinese herb databases and chemical compound databases was established to screen active compounds of ZSYTP and predict target genes. For network pharmacological analysis, network construction and gene enrichment analysis were conducted and further verified by molecular docking. Results. A total of 476 target genes of ZSYTP were obtained from 205 active compounds. 13 herbs of ZSYTP overlapped on 8 active compounds based on the compound-target-disease network (C-T network). 20 biological processes and 9 pathways were strongly connected to the targets of ZSYTP in treating POI, including negative regulation of gene expression, mRNA metabolic process, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway, and gluconeogenesis. Finally, molecular docking was visualized. Conclusion. Intriguingly, the signal pathways and biological processes uncovered in this study implicate inflamm-aging and glucose metabolism as potential pathological mechanisms of POI. The therapeutic effect of ZSYTP could be mediated by regulating glucose metabolism and HIF-1 signal pathway. Collectively, this study sheds light on the therapeutic potential of ZSYTP on POI.