Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a common cause of infertility in around 1–2% of women aged <40 years. However, the mechanisms that cause POI are still poorly understood. Here we showed that germ cell-specific knockout of an essential autophagy induction gene Atg7 led to subfertility in female mice. The subfertility of Atg7 deletion females was caused by severe ovarian follicle loss, which is very similar to human POI patients. Further investigation revealed that germ cell-specific Atg7 knockout resulted in germ cell over-loss at the neonatal transition period. In addition, our in vitro studies also demonstrated that autophagy could protect oocytes from over-loss by apoptosis in neonatal ovaries under the starvation condition. Taken together, our results uncover a new role for autophagy in the regulation of ovarian primordial follicle reservation and hint that autophagy-related genes might be potential pathogenic genes to POI of women.

ABSTRACT. Eggplant (Solanum melongena), a vegetable that is cultivated worldwide, is of considerable importance to agriculture in China. We analyzed the diversity of this plant using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and RAPD procedures to subdivide 143 Chinese-cultivated eggplants based on coefficient of parentage, genetic diversity index (GDI) and canonical discriminant analysis. ISSR markers were more effective than RAPD markers for detecting genetic diversity, which ranged from 0.10-0.51, slightly lower than what is known from other crops. Our ISSR/ RAPD data provide molecular evidence that coincides with morphological-based classification into three varieties and further subdivision into eight groups, except for two groups. Intensive use of elite parents and extensive crossing within groups have resulted in increased coefficient of parentage and proportional contribution but decreased GDI during the past decades. The mean coefficient of parentage and proportional con-

ABSTRACT.A serine/threonine protein kinase gene (NrSTK) was cloned from Nicotiana repanda based on the sequence of a previously isolated resistance gene analog (RGA). Expression of RGA was induced by challenge with the pathogen black shank. The NrSTK gene was predicted to encode a protein kinase that contained an ATP binding site at residues 41-69 and a serine/threonine protein kinase activation sequence spanning the region 161-173. Overexpression of NrSTK in the susceptible tobacco variety Honghuadajinyuan significantly enhanced resistance to black shank, indicating that NrSTK plays a role in incompatibility reactions between tobacco and the pathogen. Characterization of NrSTK will help elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in black shank resistance in N. repanda.