Recent advancements in noninvasive glucose monitoring and closed-loop management systems for diabetes.

Diabetes can cause many complications, and has become one of the most common diseases that may lead to death. Currently, the number of diabetics continues to increase year by year. Thus, it is very important and highly desirable to monitor, control and cure diabetes. However, such management usually require long-term blood glucose monitoring and regular medication to reduce the risk of many complications. In order to provide patients with more effective and more convenient treatments, a portable, miniaturized, intelligent, painless and automatic closed-loop system is highly required and many related research studies have recently been reported. It is the right time and important to provide a summary in this field. Here, this review covers important parts of a closed-loop management system for diabetes, including the principle of electrochemical sensing of glucose, recent progress of noninvasive glucose monitoring technology, and its applications in wearable glucose sensors. Moreover, the latest advancements in an insulin delivery system and a diabetic closed-loop management system are also presented in detail. Finally, challenges and perspectives for an artificial pancreas are also presented. We believe that with the innovative glucose monitoring technology and the optimization of the drug delivery system, the closed-loop management system for diabetes will make much progress in the near future.

Candidate Genes for Yellow Leaf Color in Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Major Related Metabolic Pathways according to Transcriptome Profiling.

The photosynthetic capacity and efficiency of a crop depends on the biosynthesis of photosynthetic pigments and chloroplast development. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of chloroplast development and chlorophyll (Chl) biosynthesis in common wheat because of its huge and complex genome. Ygm, a spontaneous yellow-green leaf color mutant of winter wheat, exhibits reduced Chl contents and abnormal chloroplast development. Thus, we searched for candidate genes associated with this phenotype. Comparative transcriptome profiling was performed using leaves from the yellow leaf color type (Y) and normal green color type (G) of the Ygm mutant progeny. We identified 1227 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in Y compared with G (i.e., 689 upregulated genes and 538 downregulated genes). Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analyses indicated that the DEGs were involved in Chl biosynthesis (i.e., magnesium chelatase subunit H (CHLH) and protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) genes), carotenoid biosynthesis (i.e., ß-carotene hydroxylase (BCH) genes), photosynthesis, and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms. We also identified heat shock protein (HSP) genes (sHSP, HSP70, HSP90, and DnaJ) and heat shock transcription factor genes that might have vital roles in chloroplast development. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of the relevant DEGs confirmed the RNA-Seq results. Moreover, measurements of seven intermediate products involved in Chl biosynthesis and five carotenoid compounds involved in carotenoid-xanthophyll biosynthesis confirmed that CHLH and BCH are vital enzymes for the unusual leaf color phenotype in Y type. These results provide insights into leaf color variation in wheat at the transcriptional level.