To discover new mutants conferring enhanced tolerance to drought stress, we screened a mutagenized upland rice (O. sativa) population (cv. IAPAR9) and identified a mutant, named idr1-1 (increased drought resistance 1-1), with obviously increased drought tolerance under upland field conditions. The idr1-1 mutant possessed a significantly enhanced ability to tolerate high-drought stresses. Map-based cloning revealed that the gene LOC_Os05g26890, residing in the mapping region of IDR1 locus, carried a single-base deletion in idr1-1 mutant. IDR1 encodes the Gα subunit of the heterotrimeric G protein (also known as RGA1), and this protein was localized in nucleus and to plasma membrane or cell periphery. Further investigations indicated that the significantly increased drought tolerance in idr1-1 mutant stemmed from a range of physiological and morphological changes, including greater leaf potentials, increased proline contents, heightened leaf thickness, and upregulation of antioxidant-synthesizing and drought-induced genes, etc., under drought-stressed conditions. Especially, ROS production might be remarkably impaired, while ROS-scavenging ability appeared to be markedly enhanced due to significantly elevated expression of ROS-scavenging enzyme genes in idr1-1 mutant under drought-stressed conditions. Besides, idr1-1 mutant showed reduced expression of OsBRD1. Altogether, these results suggest that mutation of IDR1 leads to alterations of multiple layers of regulations, which ultimately leads to changes of the physiological and morphological traits and limiting of ROS levels, and thereby confers obviously increased drought tolerance to the idr1-1 mutant.

No abstract

Acer truncatum Bunge is a new type of economic forest tree species that produces nervonic acid. Since it was developed as a woody oil tree species, its oil value has attracted increasing attention. However, new germplasm resources with oil-type characteristics are still lacking. In this study, we studied the differences in the oil content and fatty acid composition of the seed kernel oil of A. truncatum from 11 natural forest-producing areas. The Kashi city of Xinjiang and Yangling city of Shaanxi Province can be used as the high-oil germplasm. The oil content of these two areas is more than 50%. The highest relative content of nervonic acid was 9.92% in the Chifeng city of Inner Mongolia, and Jianping city of Liaoning Province was the second, accounting for 9.84%. These two areas can be used as germplasm for the high nervonic acid. Finally, high-quality germplasms with a high oil content and high relative content of nervonic acid were selected from Yangling city of Shaanxi Province and Chifeng city of Inner Mongolia. The relative content of nervonic acid in the kernel oil content in fatty acids from 11 different producing areas of A. truncatum plants was negatively correlated with the content of each fatty acid, whereas the relative content of nervonic acid was extremely significantly positively correlated with the relative content of erucic acid. However, the correlations between the kernel oil content, relative nervonic acid content and environmental factors did not reach an extremely significant level, and only the oil content showed a significant positive correlation with the longitude and frost-free period. The high content of nervonic acid in this study is the first report of the highest relative content of nervonic acid in A. truncatum kernel oil. We believe that the A. truncatum double-high characteristic oil-type germplasm resources obtained by this screening provide a scientific basis for breeding, development and utilization in the A. truncatum.

No abstract

Objective A succession of cases have reported flares of adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) after vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), raising concerns. We aimed to investigate the impact of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines on disease activity in patients with AOSD. Methods We prospectively enrolled clinically inactive AOSD patients visiting the outpatient clinics of our department. The patients received SARS-CoV-2 vaccines (BBIBPCorV, Sinopharm, Beijing, China) voluntarily. The occurrence of relapse in the participants was recorded during the follow-up period and a propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to compare the relapse rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. Localized and systemic symptoms were assessed in the vaccinated patients. Results A total of 122 patients with inactive AOSD were included, of which 49.2% (n = 60) voluntarily received the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The relapse rate did not increase significantly in vaccinated patients in comparison with unvaccinated patients (after PSM: 6.8% versus 6.8%), and no relapse occurred within one month after vaccination. No obvious adverse reactions were reported in 75.0% of the participants, and none of the patients reported severe reactions. Conclusion Increased disease activity or relapse following vaccination with inactivated SARS–CoV-2 were rare in patients with inactive AOSD. Local and systemic adverse reactions were found to be mild and self-limiting. These safety profiles of inactivated SARS–CoV-2 vaccines in patients with AOSD may assist in eliminating vaccine hesitancy and increase the vaccination rate against SARS-CoV-2.