Development of CRISPRi Orthogonal Repression Systems in Plant Cells Using Synthetic Variants of the Figwort Mosaic Virus 34S Promoter with Two Identical sgRNA Binding Sites.

The plant synthetic biology toolbox is rapidly expanding; however, there are still limited options for engineering logic gates for the precise modulation of gene expression. CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) represents a promising strategy for engineering logic into plant cells; however, only a limited number of promoter modules have been characterized for CRISPRi-mediated repression. In this study, the transient transgene expression in agroinfiltrated leaves was used to assess the repressibility of a number of promoters with different strengths, including the Figwort Mosaic Virus (FMV) 34S promoter, which showed high repression efficiency using CRISPRi.

The effect of plant growth regulators, FeO-CTs nanoparticles and LEDs light on the growth and biochemical compounds of black seed (Nigella sativa L.) callus in vitro.

Background: black seed (Nigella sativa L.) has long been utilized in traditional medicine and as a food ingredient due to its potential therapeutic properties including its effectiveness against cancer, coronaviruses, and bacterial infections. Recently, it has garnered significant attention for its rich reservoir of beneficial secondary metabolites.

Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of MADS-box family genes during organ development and drought stress in Camelina sativa L.

Camelina sativa stands out among oilseed crops due to its remarkable resilience to challenging environmental conditions and its significant potential for biodiesel production. The MADS-box transcription factors play a pivotal role in numerous biological processes within plants, encompassing growth, development, and responses to environmental stressors. In this research, by employing the BLAST, we have successfully identified 325 MADS-box genes within Camelina sativa genome.

An Optimized Version of the Small Synthetic Genome (Mini-Synplastome) for Plastid Metabolic Engineering in (Potato).

Plastids represent promising targets in plant genetic engineering for many biotech applications, ranging from their use as bioreactors for the overproduction of valuable molecules to the installation of transgenes for improving plant traits. For over 30 years, routine methods of plastid transformation have relied on homologous recombination integrating vectors. However, nonintegrating episomal plasmids have recently received more attention as an innovative tool for the plastid genetic engineering of plant cells.

Novel endophytic fungal species Pithoascus kurdistanensis producing morphine compounds.

Papaver genus, commonly known as popies, is a valuable source of alkaloids used in medicine, including papaverine, morphine, codeine, and thebaine. We isolated six endophytic fungal isolates producing morphinan alkaloids from four Papaver species growing in Kurdistan Province, Iran. To do this, a 1:1 mixture of methanol and chloroform was used to extract fungal cultures.

Genome-wide analysis of the C2H2-ZFP gene family in Stevia rebaudiana reveals involvement in abiotic stress response.

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) is a natural sweetener plant that accumulates highly sweet steviol glycosides (SGs) especially in leaves. Stevia is native to humid areas and does not have a high tolerance to drought which is the most serious abiotic stress restricting its production worldwide. C2H2 zinc finger proteins (C2H2-ZFPs) are a group of well-known transcription factors that involves in various developmental, physiological and biochemical activities as well as in response to abiotic stresses.

Transcriptome wide identification of neuropeptides and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in Sunn pest, Eurygaster integriceps Puton.

Sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps Puton) is major wheat pest causing economic damage. Neuropeptides and their receptors, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), are involved in the regulation of insect physiology and behavior. Herein, a transcriptome-wide analysis was conducted in order to identify genes encoding neuropeptides, and putative GPCRs to gain insight into neuropeptide-modulated processes.

Identification and functional characterization of a γ-terpinene synthase in Nigella sativa L (black cumin).

Nigella sativa (Black cumin) has many applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. Thymoquinone has been considered as a main effective compound in N. sativa seeds and attracted researchers' attention mainly due to its medicinal potential.

Effect of Methyl Jasmonate on Thymol, Carvacrol, Phytochemical Accumulation, and Expression of Key Genes Involved in Thymol/Carvacrol Biosynthetic Pathway in Some Iranian Thyme Species.

Thyme species are a good source of thymol and carvacrol, which play a key role in controlling diseases. For the first time, the expression patterns of γ-terpinene synthase (TPS2), , and genes and the amount of phenolics compounds were evaluated in and after different methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments. The highest thymol and carvacrol contents were observed in (86.

Production of synthetic wheat lines to exploit the genetic diversity of emmer wheat and D genome containing Aegilops species in wheat breeding.

Due to the accumulation of various useful traits over evolutionary time, emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and dicoccoides, 2n = 4x = 28; AABB), durum wheat (T. turgidum subsp.

Automated thalamic nuclei segmentation using multi-planar cascaded convolutional neural networks.

Purpose: To develop a fast and accurate convolutional neural network based method for segmentation of thalamic nuclei.

Methods: A cascaded multi-planar scheme with a modified residual U-Net architecture was used to segment thalamic nuclei on conventional and white-matter-nulled (WMn) magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) data. A single network was optimized to work with images from healthy controls and patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and essential tremor (ET), acquired at both 3 T and 7 T field strengths.

The spatio-temporal expression of some genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of terpenes/phenylpropanoids in yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a medicinal plant from the Asteracea which biosynthesize different secondary metabolites especially terpenes and phenylpropanoids. To improve our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms behind the biosynthesis of these compounds we analyzed the expression of some genes associated with the biosynthesis of terpenes and phenylpropanoids in different tissues and in response to trans-cinnamic acid (tCA) as an inhibitor of PAL activity. Isolation and expression analysis of DXR, GPPS, PAL and CHS genes together with linalool synthase (LIS) as monoterpene synthase was conducted in different developmental stages of leaves, flowers and in response to trans-cinnamic acid (tCA).

Differential expression of 3β-HSD and mlncRNAs in response to abiotic stresses in Digitalis nervosa.

Digitalis nervosa is an important medicinal plant species belonging to the family of Scrophulariaceae that has the potential to be used for heart failure. 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) is a key gene in the biosynthesis of cardenolides for making digitalis effective compounds, hence identification of this gene is important for genetic engineering purposes towards increasing the yield of cardiac glycosides. In addition, mRNA-like non-coding RNAs (mlncRNAs), a class of long non coding RNAs, play key roles in various biological processes and may affect cardenolides pathway in digitalis plants.

Tissue-specific gene-expression patterns of genes associated with thymol/carvacrol biosynthesis in thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) and their differential changes upon treatment with abiotic elicitors.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is known to produce a variety of phenolic monoterpenes such as thymol and carvacrol. Thymol and carvacrol are health-promoting, biocide and antitoxin compounds and have been considered as the main constituents of essential oils in T.

Cadmium and copper induced changes in growth, oxidative metabolism and terpenoids of Tanacetum parthenium.

Morphological and biochemical responses of feverfew plants exposed to low (5 μM) and high (35 and 70 μM) levels of Cd or Cu were investigated. Increasing metal supply notably reduced the plant biomass. Elevated Cd and Cu levels also resulted in an increase in the leaf proline content.

Sesquiterpene lactone engineering in microbial and plant platforms: parthenolide and artemisinin as case studies.

Sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) are one of the most diverse groups of secondary metabolites that mainly have been observed in the Asteraceae. They are composed of a C15 skeleton bearing functional groups, e.g.

Parthenolide accumulation and expression of genes related to parthenolide biosynthesis affected by exogenous application of methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid in Tanacetum parthenium.

Up-regulation of germacrene A synthase and down-regulation of parthenolide hydroxylase genes play key role in parthenolide accumulation of feverfew plants treated with methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid. Parthenolide is an important sesquiterpene lactone due to its anti-migraine and anti-cancer properties. Parthenolide amount was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography after foliar application of methyl jasmonate (100 µM) or salicylic acid (1.

The role of calcium in improving photosynthesis and related physiological and biochemical attributes of spring wheat subjected to simulated acid rain.

The response of photosynthesis parameters, catalase, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activity, malondialdehyde, proline, chlorophyll, yield and yield components to foliar application of calcium and simulated acid rain in wheat were investigated. Foliar treatment of calcium led to significant increases in the photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, proline, chlorophyll, yield and yield components in plants subjected to acid rain. Antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation in the wheat leaves decreased because of calcium foliar application.

Reconstitution of the costunolide biosynthetic pathway in yeast and Nicotiana benthamiana.

The sesquiterpene costunolide has a broad range of biological activities and is the parent compound for many other biologically active sesquiterpenes such as parthenolide. Two enzymes of the pathway leading to costunolide have been previously characterized: germacrene A synthase (GAS) and germacrene A oxidase (GAO), which together catalyse the biosynthesis of germacra-1(10),4,11(13)-trien-12-oic acid. However, the gene responsible for the last step toward costunolide has not been characterized until now.

Biosynthesis and localization of parthenolide in glandular trichomes of feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium L. Schulz Bip.).

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) is a perennial medicinal herb and is a rich source of sesquiterpene lactones. Parthenolide is the main sesquiterpene lactone in feverfew and has attracted attention because of its medicinal potential for treatment of migraine and cancer. In the present work the parthenolide content in different tissues and developmental stages of feverfew was analyzed to study the timing and localization of parthenolide biosynthesis.

Effect of supplementation with selenium on postpartum depression: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: Postpartum depression is a common complication of childbirth, and its prevention is an important public-health issue because of its negative effects on mother, infant, and family. The present randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to examine the effect of prenatal selenium supplementation on the postpartum depression level in Iranian women.

Design: A total of 166 primigravid pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy, were randomized to receive 100 μg of selenium (n = 83) or a placebo (n = 83) per day until delivery.

Excessive incidence of stroke in Iran: evidence from the Mashhad Stroke Incidence Study (MSIS), a population-based study of stroke in the Middle East.

Background And Purpose: The epidemiology of stroke and its subtypes in the Middle East is unclear. Most previous studies have been performed in Western countries, and incidence rates are unlikely to apply in the Middle East. We aimed to determine the incidence of stroke in Mashhad, northeastern Iran.