Background: Cotton Verticillium wilt is a serious soil-borne vascular disease that causes great economic loss each year. However, due to the lack of resistant varieties of upland cotton, the molecular mechanisms of resistance to this disease, especially to the pathogen Verticillium dahliae, remain unclear. Results: We used the RNA-seq method to research the molecular mechanisms of cotton defence responses to different races of Verticillium dahliae by comparing infected sea-island cotton and upland cotton. A total of 77,212 unigenes were obtained, and the unigenes were subjected to BLAST searching and annotated using the GO and KO databases. Six sets of digital gene expression data were mapped to the reference transcriptome. The gene expression profiles of cotton infected with Verticillium dahliae were compared to those of uninfected cotton; 44 differentially expressed genes were identified. Regarding genes involved in the phenylalanine metabolism pathway, the hydroxycinnamoyl transferase gene (HCT) was upregulated in upland cotton whereas PAL, 4CL, CAD, CCoAOMT, and COMT were upregulated in sea-island cotton. Almost no differentially expressed genes in this pathway were identified in sea-island cotton and upland cotton when they were infected with V. dahliae V991 and V. dahliae D07038, respectively. Conclusions: Our comprehensive gene expression data at the transcription level will help elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the cotton defence response to V. dahliae. By identifying the genes involved in the defence response of each type of cotton to V. dahliae, our data not only provide novel molecular information for researchers, but also help accelerate research on genes involved in defences in cotton.

Background: Tumourous stem mustard (Brassica juncea var. tumida Tsen et Lee) is an economically and nutritionally important vegetable crop of the Cruciferae family that also provides the raw material for Fuling mustard. The genetics breeding, physiology, biochemistry and classification of mustards have been extensively studied, but little information is available on tumourous stem mustard at the molecular level. To gain greater insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying stem swelling in this vegetable and to provide additional information for molecular research and breeding, we sequenced the transcriptome of tumourous stem mustard at various stem developmental stages and compared it with that of a mutant variety lacking swollen stems. Results: Using Illumina short-read technology with a tag-based digital gene expression (DGE) system, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis. In our analysis, we assembled genetic information for tumourous stem mustard at various stem developmental stages. In addition, we constructed five DGE libraries, which covered the strains Yong'an and Dayejie at various development stages. Illumina sequencing identified 146,265 unigenes, including 11,245 clusters and 135,020 singletons. The unigenes were subjected to a BLAST search and annotated using the GO and KO databases. We also compared the gene expression profiles of three swollen stem samples with those of two non-swollen stem samples. A total of 1,042 genes with significantly different expression levels occurring simultaneously in the six comparison groups were screened out. Finally, the altered expression levels of a number of randomly selected genes were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Conclusions: Our data provide comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level and the first insight into the understanding of the molecular mechanisms and regulatory pathways of stem swelling and development in this plant, and will help define new mechanisms of stem development in non-model plant organisms.

Triacylglycerol (TG) biosynthesis is an important metabolic process for intracellular storage of surplus energy, intestinal dietary fat absorption, attenuation of lipotoxicity, lipid transportation, lactation and signal transduction in mammals. Transmembrane protein 68 (TMEM68) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-anchored acyltransferase family member of unknown function. In the current study we show that overexpression of TMEM68 promotes TG accumulation and lipid droplet (LD) formation in a conserved active sites-dependent manner. Quantitative targeted lipidomic analysis showed that diacylglycerol (DG), free fatty acid (FFA) and TG levels were increased by TMEM68 expression. In addition, TMEM68 overexpression affected the levels of several glycerophospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol, as well as sterol ester contents. TMEM68 exhibited monoacylglycerol acyltransferase (MGAT) and diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) activities dependent on the conserved active sites in an in vitro assay. The expression of lipogenesis genes, including DGATs, fatty acid synthesis-related genes and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ was upregulated in TMEM68-overexpressing cells. These results together demonstrate for the first time that TMEM68 functions as an acyltransferase and affects lipogenic gene expression, glycerolipid metabolism and TG storage in mammalian cells.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and recurring lifelong condition, the exact etiology of which remains obscure. However, an increasing corpus of research underscores the pivotal role of cellular signaling pathways in both the instigation and management of intestinal inflammation. Drosophila, owing to its prodigious offspring, abbreviated life cycle, and the conservation of signaling pathways with mammals, among other advantages, has become a model organism for IBD research. This review will expound on the feasibility of utilizing Drosophila as an IBD model, comparing its intestinal architecture with that of mammals, its inflammatory responses, and signaling pathways. Furthermore, it will deliberate on the role of natural products across various biological models of IBD pathways, elucidating the viability of fruit flies as IBD models and the modus operandi of cellular signaling pathways in the context of IBD.

Background NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factors play an important role in plant growth and development. However, in tumorous stem mustard (Brassica juncea var. tumida), one of the economically important crops cultivated in southwest China and some southeast Asian countries, reports on the identification of NAC family genes are lacking. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide investigation of the NAC family genes in B. juncea var. tumida, based on its recently published genome sequence data. Methods The NAC genes were identified in B. juncea var. tumida using the bioinformatics approach on the whole genome level. Additionally, the expression of BjuNAC genes was analyzed under high- and low-temperature stresses by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results A total of 300 BjuNAC genes were identified, of which 278 were mapped to specific chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis of B. juncea var. tumida, Brassica rapa, Brassica nigra, rice and Arabidopsis thaliana NAC proteins revealed that all NAC genes were divided into 18 subgroups. Furthermore, gene structure analysis showed that most of the NAC genes contained two or three exons. Conserved motif analysis revealed that BjuNAC genes contain a conserved NAM domain. Additionally, qRT-PCR data indicated that thirteen BjuNAC genes with a varying degree of up-regulation during high-temperature stress. Conversely, four BjuNAC genes (BjuNAC006, BjuNAC083, BjuNAC170 and BjuNAC223) were up-regulated and two BjuNAC genes (BjuNAC074 and BjuNAC295) down-regulated under low temperature, respectively. Together, the results of this study provide a strong foundation for future investigation of the biological function of NAC genes in B. juncea var. tumida.

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