Fruit variation and geographical distribution of citron / 中国中药杂志

The ripe dried fruit of citron(Citrus medica) is one of the important sources of Chinese herb Citri Fructus. At the same time, it is also grown for edible and ornamental uses. There are many species and abundant genetic variation. To clarify the intraspecific variation and resource distribution of citron, this study investigated the variation in 11 citron fruits, basically covering the main species in China, including Xiaoguo citron(C. medica var. ethrog), Goucheng(C. medica var. yunnanensis), Muli citron(C.medica var. muliensis), Dehong citron(C.medica×Citrus spp.), Fuzhou citron(C.medica×C.grandis?), Mawu(C.medica×C.grandis?), Cangyuan citron, Binchuan citron, Sweet citron, Big citron, and Small citron. The natural communities of citron were proved to be mainly distributed in the southwestern and western Yunnan and southeastern Tibet of China, with Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Hubei, and Zhejiang identified as the main production areas. Citron has also been widely grown in India, the Mediterranean region, and the Caribbean coast countries. The field investigation revealed the large-scale intraspecific variation of citron fruits. Most of the fruits are oval-like or sphere-like in shape. The fruits are green when raw and yellow when ripe, with oil cell dots on the skin, stripe-likes running from top to bottom, and bulge at the top. Usually, in the smaller citron fruits, the pulp and juice vesicles are better developed and the central columella is tighter. By contrast, the juice vesicles and central columella in larger fruits became more vacant, with carpels visible, and the apex segregation and development of the carpels is one of the reasons for variation. These variations should be given top priority in the future variety selection and breeding, and the quality differences of different citron species and their mechanisms should be further studied. In particular, variety selection and classification management according to their medicinal or edible purposes will provide scientific and technological supports for the orderly, safe, and effective production of citron products consumed as food and medicine.

Effect of SARI Overexpression on Apoptosis of CBFL Cells and Its Mechanism / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effect of SARI overexpression on the proliferation and apoptosis of core binding factor leukemia (CBFL) cells and explore the potential molecular mechanisms.@*METHODS@#C-KIT N822K mutation status in Kasumi-1 cell line was detected by exon 17 sequencing. Then the SARI lentiviral vector (pGC-FU-SARI) was constructed, meanwhile Kasumi-1 cells were transfected with the SARI lentiviral vector. Quantitative PCR and Western blot were employed to identify efficacy of SARI overexpression after the transfection of cells. Cells were divided into three groups, including the cells infected with pGC-FU-SARI (OE group), the cells infected with pGC-FU-GFP (NC group) and the untreated cells (blank control group). Cell proliferative activity was tested by MTT assay, cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry (FCM) and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins: BCL-2,BAX,Cyto C,Caspase 9,Caspase 3,cleaved-Caspase 3,PARP and cleaved-PARP as well as PI3K/Akt pathway proteins: PI3K（p85）,p-PI3K（p85）,Akt and p-Akt were detected by Western blot.@*RESULTS@#The Kasumi-1 cells were detected to bear c-KIT N822K (T>A) mutation. The Kasumi-1 cells with SARI was overexpression were construeted successfully. Compared with NC group, the cell proliferation was decreased and cell apoptosis was increased; BCL-2 expression was reduced, BAX expression was enharued; cyto C expression appeared; the expression of Caspase 9 and Caspase 3 was down-regulated, the expression of cleaved Caspase 3 was up-regulated; the PARP expression was decreased, cleaved PARP expression was increased; the phosphorylation level of PI3K/Akt pathway proteins: p-PI3K/PI3K, p-Akt/Akt was down-regulated in OE group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#SARI gene may suppress the proliferation of CBFL cells, and induce their apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, which may be related with the inhibition of PI3K/Akt pathway.

Effect of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signal pathway-mediated N822K mutation on apoptosis induced by c-KIT inhibitor in AML cells / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effect of c-KIT N822K mutation on the apoptosis of AML cells induced by c-KIT inhibitor and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods: Kasumi-1 cells that carry the c-KIT N822K mutation were used as experimental group,and HL-60 and NB4 cells with non-c-KIT N822K mutation were used as control group.These AML cells were treated with 0,0.04,0.16 and 0.64 μmol/L c-KIT inhibitor sunitinib for 24 h,respectively.Apoptosis-related proteins and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway proteins were detected by Western blot,compared the changes of cell-related signal pathway proteins in each group.Results: With the increase of sunitinib concentration,the expression of apoptosis-related proteins Bax,CytoC,Caspase-9, Actived-Caspase-3 and PARP in HL-60 and NB4 cells were increased (P<0.05),and the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was down-regulated (P<0.01).However,the trend of this change was obviously weakened in Kasumi-1 cells with N822K mutation.In Kasumi-1 cells,the phosphorylation levels of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway proteins such as PI3K,Akt,4EBP1 and mTOR were down-regulated in a dose-dependent manner(P<0.05),but not in HL-60 cells and NB4 cells.Conclusion:The constitutive activation of c-KIT induced by N822K mutation may affect the apoptosis induction of c-KIT inhibitor sunitinib to Kasumi-1 cells,which may be related to the inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.