Case report: Primary intracranial mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma presenting as two primary tumors involving the cavernous sinus and extra-axial dura, respectively.

Primary intracranial mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a rare type of brain tumor, with only a few reported cases worldwide that mostly have only one lesion with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Here, we present a special case of intracranial MALT lymphoma with two mass lesions radiographically consistent with meningiomas on MRI before the operation. A 66-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with intermittent right facial pain for 1 year, aggravated for the last month. Brain MRI showed two extracerebral solid masses with similar MR signal intensity. One mass was crescent-shaped beneath the skull, and the other was in the cavernous sinus area. Lesions showed isointensity on T1WI and T2WI and an intense homogeneous enhancement after contrast agent injection. Both lesions showed hyperintensity in amide proton transfer-weighted images. The two masses were all surgically resected. The postoperative pathology indicated extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT. To improve awareness of intracranial MALT lymphoma in the differential diagnosis of extra-axial lesions among clinicians, we present this report and briefly summarize previously reported cases to describe the clinical, pathological, radiological, and treatment features.

Heterologous expression of Arabidopsis thaliana rty gene in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) improves drought tolerance.

BACKGROUND: Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is an important fruit crop worldwide. It was particularly sensitive to drought stress because of their fibrous and shallow root systems. Mutant rty of Arabidopsis thaliana ROOTY (RTY) results in increased endogenous auxin levels, more roots, and shoot growth. It is still unclear whether the rty gene improves stress tolerance in strawberry. RESULTS: rty gene was isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana and placed under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter in the pBI121-rty binary vector carrying the selectable marker of neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II). Seven transgenic lines were confirmed by PCR and western blot analysis. Accumulations of IAA and ABA were significantly increased in the transgenic plants. The endogenous IAA contents were 46.5 ng g- 1 and 66.0 ng g- 1in control and transgenic plants respectively. The endogenous ABA contents in the control plant were 236.3 ng g- 1 and in transgenic plants were 543.8 ng g- 1. The production of adventitious roots and trichomes were enhanced in the transgenic plants. Furthermore, transcript levels of the genes including IAA and ABA biosynthetic, and stress-responsive genes, were higher in the transgenic plants than in the control plants under drought conditions. Water use efficiency and a reduced water loss rate were enhanced in the transgenic strawberry plants. Additionally, peroxidase and catalase activities were significantly higher in the transgenic plants than in the control plants. The experiment results revealed a novel function for rty related to ABA and drought responses. CONCLUSIONS: The rty gene improved hormone-mediated drought tolerance in transgenic strawberry. The heterologous expression of rty in strawberry improved drought tolerance by promoting auxin and ABA accumulation. These phytohormones together brought about various physiological changes that improved drought tolerance via increased root production, trichome density, and stomatal closure. Our results suggested that a transgenic approach can be used to overcome the inherent trade-off between plant growth and drought tolerance by enhancing water use efficiency and reducing water loss rate under water shortage conditions.

The control of red colour by a family of MYB transcription factors in octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) fruits.

Octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is a model plant for research and one of the most important non-climacteric fruit crops throughout the world. The associations between regulatory networks and metabolite composition were explored for one of the most critical agricultural properties in octoploid strawberry, fruit colour. Differences in the levels of flavonoids are due to the differences in the expression of structural and regulatory genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. The molecular mechanisms underlying differences in fruit colour were compared between red and white octoploid strawberry varieties. FaMYB genes had combinatorial effects in determining the red colour of fruit through the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in response to the increase in endogenous ABA at the final stage of fruit development. Analysis of alleles of FaMYB10 and FaMYB1 in red and white strawberry varieties led to the discovery of a white-specific variant allele of FaMYB10, FaMYB10-2. Its coding sequence possessed an ACTTATAC insertion in the genomic region encoding the C-terminus of the protein. This insertion introduced a predicted premature termination codon, which suggested the loss of intact FaMYB10 protein playing a critical role in the loss of red colour in white octoploid strawberry.

Reinvigoration of diploid strawberry (Fragaria vesca) during adventitious shoot regeneration.

Diploid strawberry (Fragaria vesca 'Baiguo') is a model plant for studying functional genomics in Rosaceae. Adventitious shoot regeneration is essential for functional genomics by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. An efficient shoot regeneration method using diploid strawberry leaf explants was conducted on 1/2MS + 1/2B5 medium that contained 2.0 mg L-1 TDZ over 14 days of dark culture; this induced the maximum percentage of shoot regeneration (96.44 ± 1.60%) and the highest number of shoots per explant (23.46 ± 2.14) after 11 weeks of culture. The explants considerably enlarged after 12 days; then, turned greenish brown after 30 days, yellowish brown after 36 days, and completely brown and necrotic after 48 days. Large numbers of adventitious shoots were produced from 48 to 66 days, and the shoots elongated from 66 to 78 days; this represents a critical period of reinvigoration, which included 30 days for leaf explant chlorosis, 36 days for adventitious shoot appearance, and 48 days for generation of numerous shoots. During the reinvigoration process, higher expressions of the hormone synthesis-related genes Ciszog1, CKX2, CKX3, CKX7, YUC2, YUC6, YUC10, YUC9, and GA2ox were detected from 30 to 48 days. Our results indicate that these genes may regulate reinvigoration of shoot regeneration.

The R2R3 MYB transcription factor PavMYB10.1 involves in anthocyanin biosynthesis and determines fruit skin colour in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.).

Sweet cherry is a diploid tree species and its fruit skin has rich colours from yellow to blush to dark red. The colour is closely related to anthocyanin biosynthesis and is mainly regulated at the transcriptional level by transcription factors that regulate the expression of multiple structural genes. However, the genetic and molecular bases of how these genes ultimately determine the fruit skin colour traits remain poorly understood. Here, our genetic and molecular evidences identified the R2R3 MYB transcription factor PavMYB10.1 that is involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway and determines fruit skin colour in sweet cherry. Interestingly, we identified three functional alleles of the gene causally leading to the different colours at mature stage. Meanwhile, our experimental results of yeast two-hybrid assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that PavMYB10.1 might interact with proteins PavbHLH and PavWD40, and bind to the promoter regions of the anthocyanin biosynthesis genes PavANS and PavUFGT; these findings provided to a certain extent mechanistic insight into the gene's functions. Additionally, genetic and molecular evidences confirmed that PavMYB10.1 is a reliable DNA molecular marker to select fruit skin colour in sweet cherry.