Statin effects on the lipidome: Predicting statin usage and implications for cardiovascular risk prediction.

Statin therapy is a highly successful and cost-effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Adjusting for statin usage is crucial when exploring the association of the lipidome with CVD to avoid erroneous conclusions. However, practical challenges arise in real-world scenarios due to the frequent absence of statin usage information.

A lipidomic based metabolic age score captures cardiometabolic risk independent of chronological age.

Background: Metabolic ageing biomarkers may capture the age-related shifts in metabolism, offering a precise representation of an individual's overall metabolic health.

Methods: Utilising comprehensive lipidomic datasets from two large independent population cohorts in Australia (n = 14,833, including 6630 males, 8203 females), we employed different machine learning models, to predict age, and calculated metabolic age scores (mAge). Furthermore, we defined the difference between mAge and age, termed mAgeΔ, which allow us to identify individuals sharing similar age but differing in their metabolic health status.

GABA does not regulate stomatal CO2 signalling in Arabidopsis.

Optimal stomatal regulation is important for plant adaptation to changing environmental conditions and for maintaining crop yield. The guard cell signal γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is produced from glutamate by glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) during a reaction that generates CO2 as a by-product. Here, we investigated a putative connection between GABA signalling and the more clearly defined CO2 signalling pathway in guard cells.

Spatiotemporal deposition of cell wall polysaccharides in oat endosperm during grain development.

Oat (Avena sativa) is a cereal crop whose grains are rich in (1,3;1,4)-β-D-glucan (mixed-linkage glucan or MLG), a soluble dietary fiber. In our study, we analyzed oat endosperm development in 2 Canadian varieties with differing MLG content and nutritional value. We confirmed that oat undergoes a nuclear type of endosperm development but with a shorter cellularization phase than barley (Hordeum vulgare).

Spatially resolved transcriptomic analysis of the germinating barley grain.

Seeds are a vital source of calories for humans and a unique stage in the life cycle of flowering plants. During seed germination, the embryo undergoes major developmental transitions to become a seedling. Studying gene expression in individual seed cell types has been challenging due to the lack of spatial information or low throughput of existing methods.

scCloudMine: A cloud-based app for visualization, comparison, and exploration of single-cell transcriptomic data.

scCloudMine is a cloud-based application for visualization, comparison, and exploration of single-cell transcriptome data. It does not require an on-site, high-power computing server, installation, or associated expertise and expense. Users upload their own or publicly available scRNA-seq datasets after pre-processing for visualization using a web browser.

GWAS on multiple traits identifies mitochondrial ACONITASE3 as important for acclimation to submergence stress.

Flooding causes severe crop losses in many parts of the world. Genetic variation in flooding tolerance exists in many species; however, there are few examples for the identification of tolerance genes and their underlying function. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 387 Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions.

Functional hydrogel for fast, precise and inhibition-free point-of-care bacteria analysis in crude food samples.

In this work, instead of performing nucleic acid amplification in the bulk solution, we report a nanoporous hydrogel with controlled release function for rapid, precise, and inhibition-free nucleic acid analysis in crude food samples. The cross-linked PEG hydrogel with nanoporous structures possesses adsorption, release, separation, restriction and self-cleaning abilities. When digital loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was performed inside this hydrogel, the surrounding nanostructure act as a temporary reservoir for reagents storage and release them on demand during or after amplification.

Diverse phosphate and auxin transport loci distinguish phosphate tolerant from sensitive Arabidopsis accessions.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for plant growth often limiting agroecosystems. To identify genetic determinants of performance under variable phosphate (Pi) supply, we conducted genome-wide association studies on five highly predictive Pi starvation response traits in 200 Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions. Pi concentration in Pi-limited organs had the strongest, and primary root length had the weakest genetic component.

Nanoporous hydrogel for direct digital nucleic acid amplification in untreated complex matrices for single bacteria counting.

Direct quantification of pathogens in unprocessed complex samples remain challenging due to the severe inhibition of nucleic acid amplification. In this work, we report a nanoporous polyethylene glycol hydrogel with self-cleaning capacity for direct amplification of nucleic acid in complex matrices (human whole blood, animal blood, milky tea, humic acid, and surfactants) without any sample pretreatment or DNA extraction. During isothermal amplification inside the hydrogel, the inhibitors in the assay will be adsorbed and removed by the surrounding nanostructured polymers, and nucleic acid amplification was proceeding successfully, resulting in a series of bright dots for single bacteria counting.

Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Transcriptome Profiles of Soybean () Tissues during Early Seed Development.

Soybean () is an important crop providing oil and protein for both human and animal consumption. Knowing which biological processes take place in specific tissues in a temporal manner will enable directed breeding or synthetic approaches to improve seed quantity and quality. We analyzed a genome-wide transcriptome dataset from embryo, endosperm, endothelium, epidermis, hilum, outer and inner integument and suspensor at the global, heart and cotyledon stages of soybean seed development.

High atmospheric carbon dioxide-dependent alleviation of salt stress is linked to RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE 1 (RBOH1)-dependent H2O2 production in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

Plants acclimate rapidly to stressful environmental conditions. Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels are predicted to influence tolerance to stresses such as soil salinity but the mechanisms are poorly understood. To resolve this issue, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants were grown under ambient (380 μmol mol(-1)) or high (760 μmol mol(-1)) CO2 in the absence or presence of sodium chloride (100mM).

Hydrogen peroxide mediates abscisic acid-induced HSP70 accumulation and heat tolerance in grafted cucumber plants.

Root-shoot communications play important roles in plant stress responses. Here, we examined the roles of root-sourced signals in the shoot response to heat in cucumber plants. Cucumber plants grafted onto their own roots and luffa roots were exposed to aerial and root-zone heat to examine their tolerance by assessing the levels of oxidative stress, PSII photoinhibition, accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA), H2 O2 and heat shock protein (HSP) 70 using immunoblotting, chlorophyll fluorescence, immunoassay, CeCl3 staining and Western blotting, respectively.