Cinnamomum osmophloeum Kaneh is an indigenous tree species in Taiwan. In this study, phytochemical characteristics and antioxidant activities of the essential oils and key constituents from the leaves of two C. osmophloeum clones were investigated. The two trees possess two chemotypes, which were classified as the cinnamaldehyde type and camphor type. We demonstrated that the essential oils from C. osmophloeum leaves exerted in vivo antioxidant activities in Caenorhabditis elegans. In addition, trans-cinnamaldehyde and D-(+)-camphor, which respectively represent the major compounds in the cinnamaldehyde-type and camphor-type trees, exerted significant in vivo antioxidant activities against juglone-induced oxidative stress in C. elegans. Moreover, expressions of antioxidative-related genes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione S-transferase (GST), were significantly induced by trans-cinnamaldehyde and D-(+)-camphor from C. osmophloeum leaves. Our results showed that the essential oils from C. osmophloeum leaves and their major compounds might have good potential for further development as nutraceuticals or antioxidant remedies.

GATA6 defines endoderm fate by controlling chromatin accessibility during differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells Graphical abstract Highlights d Newly accessible chromatin in definitive endoderm is enriched for GATA motifs d Definitive endoderm patterning is significantly perturbed in GATA6 À/À cells d GATA6 interacts with multiple chromatin remodeling complexes d GATA6-dependent patterning commonly precedes the onset of gene expression

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Arsenic poisoning affects millions of people worldwide. Although there is accumulating evidence to suggest that the nervous system is a target of arsenic, relatively little information is known regarding its effects on the nervous system. The effects of arsenite on the nervous system in Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated in the present study. We found that abts-1, which encodes a Na(+)-dependent Cl(-)/HCO(3)(-) transporter, is required to protect C. elegans from arsenite toxicity. The abts-1::GFP transgene is primarily expressed in neurons and the hypodermis, but stronger expression was also observed in the pharynx and body wall muscle cells after exposure to arsenite. The steady-state level of ABTS-1 mRNA increased in response to arsenite exposure. We showed that worms lacking abts-1 are hypersensitive to the paralytic effects of the cholinesterase inhibitor, aldicarb, and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, levamisole. We also showed that arsenite enhanced sensitivity to aldicarb and levamisole in abts-1 mutant worms. Our results indicate neuronal effects of arsenite and the ABTS-1 bicarbonate transporter.

Genome editing in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides the potential for disease modeling and cell therapy. By generating iPSCs with specific mutations, researchers can differentiate the modified cells to their lineage of interest for further investigation. However, the low efficiency of targeting in iPSCs has hampered the application of genome editing. In this study we used a CRISPR-Cas9 system that introduces a specific point substitution into the sequence of the Na+/K+-ATPase subunit ATP1A1. The introduced mutation confers resistance to cardiac glycosides, which can then be used to select successfully targeted cells. Using this system, we introduced different formats of donor DNA for homology-directed repair (HDR), including single-strand DNAs, double-strand DNAs, and plasmid donors. We achieved a 35-fold increase in HDR when using plasmid donor with a 400 bp repair template. We further co-targeted ATP1A1 and a second locus of interest to determine the enrichment of mutagenesis after cardiac glycoside selection. Through this approach, INDEL rate was increased after cardiac glycoside treatment, while HDR enrichment was only observed at certain loci. Collectively, these results suggest that a plasmid donor with a 400 bp repair template is an optimal donor DNA for targeted substitution and co-targeting ATP1A1 with the second locus enriches for mutagenesis events through cardiac glycoside selection in human iPSCs.