High DOCK1 expression identifies a distinct prognostic subgroup of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia: Results of the Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group AML-05 trial.

BACKGROUND: The molecular pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was dramatically clarified over the latest two decades. Several important molecular markers were discovered in patients with AML that have helped to improve the risk stratification. However, developing new treatment strategies for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is crucial due to its poor prognosis. PROCEDURE: To overcome this difficulty, we performed an assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (ATAC-seq) in 10 AML patients with various gene alterations. ATAC-seq is based on direct in vitro sequencing adaptor transposition into native chromatin, and is a rapid and sensitive method for integrative epigenomic analysis. ATAC-seq analysis revealed increased accessibility of the DOCK1 gene in patients with AML harboring poor prognostic factors. Following the ATAC-seq results, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to measure DOCK1 gene expression levels in 369 pediatric patients with de novo AML. RESULTS: High DOCK1 expression was detected in 132 (37%) patients. The overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) among patients with high DOCK1 expression were significantly worse than those patients with low DOCK1 expression (3-year EFS: 34% vs. 60%, p < .001 and 3-year OS: 60% vs. 80%, p < .001). To investigate the significance of high DOCK1 gene expression, we transduced DOCK1 into MOLM14 cells, and revealed that cytarabine in combination with DOCK1 inhibitor reduced the viability of these leukemic cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that a DOCK1 inhibitor might reinforce the effects of cytarabine and other anti-cancer agents in patients with AML with high DOCK1 expression.

Regulation of DNA Damage Response by RNA/DNA-Binding Proteins: Implications for Neurological Disorders and Aging.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are evolutionarily conserved across most forms of life, with an estimated 1,500 RBPs in humans. Traditionally associated with post-transcriptional gene regulation, RBPs contribute to nearly every known aspect of RNA biology, including RNA splicing, transport, and decay. In recent years, an increasing subset of RBPs have been recognized for their DNA binding properties and involvement in DNA transactions. We refer to these RBPs with well-characterized DNA binding activity as RNA/DNA binding proteins (RDBPs), many of which are linked to neurological diseases. RDBPs are associated with both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA repair. Furthermore, the presence of intrinsically disordered domains in RDBPs appears to be critical for regulating their diverse interactions and plays a key role in controlling protein aggregation, which is implicated in neurodegeneration. In this review, we discuss the emerging roles of common RDBPs from the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) family, such as TAR DNA binding protein-43 (TDP43) and fused in sarcoma (FUS) in controlling DNA damage response (DDR). We also explore the implications of RDBP pathology in aging and neurodegenerative diseases and provide a prospective on the therapeutic potential of targeting RDBP pathology mediated DDR defects for motor neuron diseases and aging.

Reversal of cognitive deficits in FUSR521G amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mice by arimoclomol and a class I histone deacetylase inhibitor independent of heat shock protein induction.

Protein misfolding and mislocalization are common to both familial and sporadic forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Maintaining proteostasis through induction of heat shock proteins (HSP) to increase chaperoning capacity is a rational therapeutic strategy in the treatment of ALS. However, the threshold for upregulating stress-inducible HSPs remains high in neurons, presenting a therapeutic obstacle. This study used mouse models expressing the ALS variants FUSR521G or SOD1G93A to follow up on previous work in cultured motor neurons showing varied effects of the HSP co-inducer, arimoclomol, and class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors on HSP expression depending on the ALS variant being expressed. As in cultured neurons, neither expression of the transgene nor drug treatments induced expression of HSPs in cortex, spinal cord or muscle of FUSR521G mice, indicating suppression of the heat shock response. Nonetheless, arimoclomol, and RGFP963, restored performance on cognitive tests and improved cortical dendritic spine densities. In SOD1G93A mice, multiple HSPs were upregulated in hindlimb skeletal muscle, but not in lumbar spinal cord with the exception of HSPB1 associated with astrocytosis. Drug treatments improved contractile force but reduced the increase in HSPs in muscle rather than facilitating their expression. The data point to mechanisms other than amplification of the heat shock response underlying recovery of cognitive function in ALS-FUS mice by arimoclomol and class I HDAC inhibition and suggest potential benefits in counteracting cognitive impairment in ALS, frontotemporal dementia and related disorders.

Loss of Mitochondrial Tusc2/Fus1 Triggers a Brain Pro-Inflammatory Microenvironment and Early Spatial Memory Impairment.

Brain pathological changes impair cognition early in disease etiology. There is an urgent need to understand aging-linked mechanisms of early memory loss to develop therapeutic strategies and prevent the development of cognitive impairment. Tusc2 is a mitochondrial-resident protein regulating Ca2+ fluxes to and from mitochondria impacting overall health. We previously reported that Tusc2-/- female mice develop chronic inflammation and age prematurely, causing age- and sex-dependent spatial memory deficits at 5 months old. Therefore, we investigated Tusc2-dependent mechanisms of memory impairment in 4-month-old mice, comparing changes in resident and brain-infiltrating immune cells. Interestingly, Tusc2-/- female mice demonstrated a pro-inflammatory increase in astrocytes, expression of IFN-γ in CD4+ T cells and Granzyme-B in CD8+T cells. We also found fewer FOXP3+ T-regulatory cells and Ly49G+ NK and Ly49G+ NKT cells in female Tusc2-/- brains, suggesting a dampened anti-inflammatory response. Moreover, Tusc2-/- hippocampi exhibited Tusc2- and sex-specific protein changes associated with brain plasticity, including mTOR activation, and Calbindin and CamKII dysregulation affecting intracellular Ca2+ dynamics. Overall, the data suggest that dysregulation of Ca2+-dependent processes and a heightened pro-inflammatory brain microenvironment in Tusc2-/- mice could underlie cognitive impairment. Thus, strategies to modulate the mitochondrial Tusc2- and Ca2+- signaling pathways in the brain should be explored to improve cognitive health.

Exosomal lncRNA USP30-AS1 activates the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway to promote cervical cancer progression via stabilization of ß-catenin by USP30.

Cervical cancer (CC) remains a major cause of cancer-related mortality among women globally. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial regulatory roles in various cancers, including CC. This study investigates the function of a novel lncRNA, USP30 antisense RNA 1 (USP30-AS1), in CC tumorigenesis. We analyzed USP30-AS1 expression using RT-qPCR and conducted in vitro loss-of-function assays, as well as in vivo assays, to evaluate the effects of USP30-AS1 silencing on CC cell growth and migration. Additional mechanistic experiments, including RNA pull-down, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assays, were performed to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms influenced by USP30-AS1. We discovered that USP30-AS1 is overexpressed in CC tissues and cells. Silencing USP30-AS1 significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumor growth. Moreover, USP30-AS1 was found to modulate the expression of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 30 (USP30) by sponging microRNA-2467-3p (miR-2467-3p) and recruiting the FUS RNA binding protein (FUS), thereby stabilizing ß-catenin and activating the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. These findings suggest that USP30-AS1 enhances CC cell growth and migration through the miR-2467-3p/FUS/USP30 axis, highlighting its potential as a biomarker for CC.

Identifying FUS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease signatures in patient dermal fibroblasts.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressing, highly heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease, underscoring the importance of obtaining information to personalize clinical decisions quickly after diagnosis. Here, we investigated whether ALS-relevant signatures can be detected directly from biopsied patient fibroblasts. We profiled familial ALS (fALS) fibroblasts, representing a range of mutations in the fused in sarcoma (FUS) gene and ages of onset. To differentiate FUS fALS and healthy control fibroblasts, machine-learning classifiers were trained separately on high-content imaging and transcriptional profiles. "Molecular ALS phenotype" scores, derived from these classifiers, captured a spectrum from disease to health. Interestingly, these scores negatively correlated with age of onset, identified several pre-symptomatic individuals and sporadic ALS (sALS) patients with FUS-like fibroblasts, and quantified "movement" of FUS fALS and "FUS-like" sALS toward health upon FUS ASO treatment. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that non-neuronal patient fibroblasts can be used for rapid, personalized assessment in ALS.

The crucial role of HFM1 in regulating FUS ubiquitination and localization for oocyte meiosis prophase I progression in mice.

BACKGROUND: Helicase for meiosis 1 (HFM1), a putative DNA helicase expressed in germ-line cells, has been reported to be closely associated with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). However, the underlying molecular mechanism has not been clearly elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the function of HFM1 in the first meiotic prophase of mouse oocytes. RESULTS: The results suggested that the deficiency of HFM1 resulting in increased apoptosis and depletion of oocytes in mice, while the oocytes were arrested in the pachytene stage of the first meiotic prophase. In addition, impaired DNA double-strand break repair and disrupted synapsis were observed in the absence of HFM1. Further investigation revealed that knockout of HFM1 promoted ubiquitination and degradation of FUS protein mediated by FBXW11. Additionally, the depletion of HFM1 altered the intranuclear localization of FUS and regulated meiotic- and oocyte development-related genes in oocytes by modulating the expression of BRCA1. CONCLUSIONS: These findings elaborated that the critical role of HFM1 in orchestrating the regulation of DNA double-strand break repair and synapsis to ensure meiosis procession and primordial follicle formation. This study provided insights into the pathogenesis of POI and highlighted the importance of HFM1 in maintaining proper meiotic function in mouse oocytes.

Aberrant protein aggregation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease. As its pathological mechanisms are not well understood, there are no efficient therapeutics for it at present. While it is highly heterogenous both etiologically and clinically, it has a common salient hallmark, i.e., aberrant protein aggregation (APA). The upstream pathogenesis and the downstream effects of APA in ALS are sophisticated and the investigation of this pathology would be of consequence for understanding ALS. In this paper, the pathomechanism of APA in ALS and the candidate treatment strategies for it are discussed.

FUS Selectively Facilitates circRNAs Packing into Small Extracellular Vesicles within Hypoxia Neuron.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) contain abundant circular RNAs (circRNAs) and are involved in cellular processes, particularly hypoxia. However, the process that packaging of circRNAs into neuronal sEVs under hypoxia is unclear. This study revealed the spatial mechanism of the Fused in Sarcoma protein (FUS) that facilitates the loading of functional circRNAs into sEVs in hypoxia neurons. It is found that FUS translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and is more enriched in hypoxic neuronal sEVs than in normal sEVs. Cytoplasmic FUS formed aggregates with the sEVs marker protein CD63 in cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs) under hypoxic stress. Meanwhile, cytoplasmic FUS recruited of functional cytoplasmic circRNAs to SGs. Upon relief of hypoxic stress and degradation of SGs, cytoplasmic FUS is transported with those circRNAs from SGs to sEVs. Validation of FUS knockout dramatically reduced the recruitment of circRNAs from SGs and led to low circRNA loading in sEVs, which is also confirmed by the accumulation of circRNAs in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, it is showed that the FUS Zf_RanBP domain regulates the transport of circRNAs to sEVs by interacting with hypoxic circRNAs in SGs. Overall, these findings have revealed a FUS-mediated transport mechanism of hypoxia-related cytoplasmic circRNAs loaded into sEVs under hypoxic conditions.

Frontotemporal dementia-like disease progression elicited by seeded aggregation and spread of FUS.

RNA binding proteins have emerged as central players in the mechanisms of many neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, a proteinopathy of fused in sarcoma (FUS) is present in some instances of familial Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and about 10% of sporadic Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Here we establish that focal injection of sonicated human FUS fibrils into brains of mice in which ALS-linked mutant or wild-type human FUS replaces endogenous mouse FUS is sufficient to induce focal cytoplasmic mislocalization and aggregation of mutant and wild-type FUS which with time spreads to distal regions of the brain. Human FUS fibril-induced FUS aggregation in the mouse brain of humanized FUS mice is accelerated by an ALS-causing FUS mutant relative to wild-type human FUS. Injection of sonicated human FUS fibrils does not induce FUS aggregation and subsequent spreading after injection into naïve mouse brains containing only mouse FUS, indicating a species barrier to human FUS aggregation and its prion-like spread. Fibril-induced human FUS aggregates recapitulate pathological features of FTLD including increased detergent insolubility of FUS and TAF15 and amyloid-like, cytoplasmic deposits of FUS that accumulate ubiquitin and p62, but not TDP-43. Finally, injection of sonicated FUS fibrils is shown to exacerbate age-dependent cognitive and behavioral deficits from mutant human FUS expression. Thus, focal seeded aggregation of FUS and further propagation through prion-like spread elicits FUS-proteinopathy and FTLD-like disease progression.

Increase in wasteosomes (corpora amylacea) in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with specific detection of tau, TDP-43 and FUS pathology.

Wasteosomes (or corpora amylacea) are polyglucosan bodies that appear in the human brain with aging and in some neurodegenerative diseases, and have been suggested to have a potential role in a nervous system cleaning mechanism. Despite previous studies in several neurodegenerative disorders, their status in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) remains unexplored. Our study aims to characterize wasteosomes in the three primary FTLD proteinopathies, assessing frequency, distribution, protein detection, and association with aging or disease duration. Wasteosome scores were obtained in various brain regions from 124 post-mortem diagnosed sporadic FTLD patients, including 75 participants with tau (FTLD-tau), 42 with TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (FTLD-TDP), and 7 with Fused in Sarcoma (FTLD-FUS) proteinopathies, along with 29 control subjects. The wasteosome amount in each brain region for the different FLTD patients was assessed with a permutation test with age at death and sex as covariables, and multiple regressions explored associations with age at death and disease duration. Double immunofluorescence studies examined altered proteins linked to FTLD in wasteosomes. FTLD patients showed a higher accumulation of wasteosomes than control subjects, especially those with FTLD-FUS. Unlike FTLD-TDP and control subjects, wasteosome accumulation did not increase with age in FTLD-tau and FTLD-FUS. Cases with shorter disease duration in FTLD-tau and FTLD-FUS seemed to exhibit higher wasteosome quantities, whereas FTLD-TDP appeared to show an increase with disease progression. Immunofluorescence studies revealed the presence of tau and phosphorylated-TDP-43 in the periphery of isolated wasteosomes in some patients with FTLD-tau and FTLD-TDP, respectively. Central inclusions of FUS were observed in a higher number of wasteosomes in FTLD-FUS patients. These findings suggest a role of wasteosomes in FTLD, especially in the more aggressive forms of FLTD-FUS. Detecting these proteins, particularly FUS, in wasteosomes from cerebrospinal fluid could be a potential biomarker for FTLD.

The RTK-RAS signaling pathway is enriched in patients with rare acute myeloid leukemia harboring t(16;21)(p11;q22)/FUS::ERG.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with t(16;21)(p11;q22)/FUS::ERG is a rare AML subtype associated with poor prognosis. However, its clinical and molecular features remain poorly defined. We determined the clinicopathological, genomic, and transcriptomic characteristics and outcomes of patients with AML harboring FUS::ERG at our center. Thirty-six AML patients harboring FUS::ERG were identified, with an incidence rate of 0.3%. These patients were characterized by high lactate dehydrogenase levels (median: 838.5 U/L), elevated bone marrow blast counts (median: 71.5%), and a CD56-positive immunophenotype (94.3%). Notably, we found that RTK-RAS GTPase (RAS) pathway genes, including NRAS (33%) and PTPN11 (24%), were frequently mutated in this subtype. Transcriptome analysis revealed enrichment of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-Akt (PI3K-Akt), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and RAS signaling pathways and upregulation of BCL2, the target of venetoclax, in FUS::ERG AML compared to RUNX1::RUNX1T1 AML, a more common AML subtype with good prognosis. The median event-free survival in patients with FUS::ERG AML was 11.9 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.0-not available [NA]) months and the median overall survival was 18.2 (95% CI: 12.4-NA) months. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation failed to improve outcomes. Overall, the high incidence of RTK-RAS pathway mutations and high expression of BCL2 may indicate promising therapeutic targets in this high-risk AML subset.

Mutation of the ALS-/FTD-Associated RNA-Binding Protein FUS Affects Axonal Development.

Aberrant condensation and localization of the RNA-binding protein (RBP) fused in sarcoma (FUS) occur in variants of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Changes in RBP function are commonly associated with changes in axonal cytoskeletal organization and branching in neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, we asked whether branching defects also occur in vivo in a model of FUS-associated disease. We use two reported Xenopus models of ALS/FTD (of either sex), the ALS-associated mutant FUS(P525L) and a mimic of hypomethylated FUS, FUS(16R). Both mutants strongly reduced axonal complexity in vivo. We also observed an axon looping defect for FUS(P525L) in the target area, which presumably arises due to errors in stop cue signaling. To assess whether the loss of axon complexity also had a cue-independent component, we assessed axonal cytoskeletal integrity in vitro. Using a novel combination of fluorescence and atomic force microscopy, we found that mutant FUS reduced actin density in the growth cone, altering its mechanical properties. Therefore, FUS mutants may induce defects during early axonal development.

Sevoflurane inhibits lung cancer development by promoting FUS1 transcription via downregulating IRF6.

Lung cancer is a major contributor to cancer deaths worldwide and is on the rise. Although surgical resection has been widely used as a standard of therapy for lung cancer patients, the relapse rate after surgery is high. It is still unclear whether there is a potential drug that can reduce the probability of post-surgical recurrence in lung cancer patients. We used five typical lung cancer cell lines as well as 41 lung cancer tissue samples and paracancer tissue samples to investigate the expression levels of IRF6 and FUS1. We also treated lung cancer cells (H322 and A549) with different concentrations of sevoflurane to study its influence on lung cancer cell tumorigenesis. Lentivirus-mediated gain-of-function studies of IRF6 and FUS1 were applied to validate the role of IRF6 and FUS1 in lung cancer. Next, we used short hairpin RNA-mediated loss of function of IRF6 and luciferase, ChIP assays to validate the regulatory role of IRF6 on FUS1. Our findings reported that IRF6 was up-regulated in lung cancer tissues, while FUS1 was down-regulated. Functional assays revealed that sevoflurane inhibits lung cancer development by downregulating IRF6 expression. Luciferase assay and ChIP-qPCR assay uncovered that IRF6 represses FUS1 transcriptional expression in lung cancer cells. We have shown that sevoflurane prevents lung cancer development by downregulating IRF6 to stimulate FUS1 transcription; indicating that sevoflurane can be used as the potential anesthetic drug in surgical resection to reduce post-operative tumor relapse in lung cancer patients.

Noninvasive therapy of brain cancer using a unique systemic delivery methodology with a cancer terminator virus.

Primary, glioblastoma, and secondary brain tumors, from metastases outside the brain, are among the most aggressive and therapeutically resistant cancers. A physiological barrier protecting the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), functions as a deterrent to effective therapies. To enhance cancer therapy, we developed a cancer terminator virus (CTV), a unique tropism-modified adenovirus consisting of serotype 3 fiber knob on an otherwise Ad5 capsid that replicates in a cancer-selective manner and simultaneously produces a potent therapeutic cytokine, melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (MDA-7/IL-24). A limitation of the CTV and most other viruses, including adenoviruses, is an inability to deliver systemically to treat brain tumors because of the BBB, nonspecific virus trapping, and immune clearance. These obstacles to effective viral therapy of brain cancer have now been overcome using focused ultrasound with a dual microbubble treatment, the focused ultrasound-double microbubble (FUS-DMB) approach. Proof-of-principle is now provided indicating that the BBB can be safely and transiently opened, and the CTV can then be administered in a second set of complement-treated microbubbles and released in the brain using focused ultrasound. Moreover, the FUS-DMB can be used to deliver the CTV multiple times in animals with glioblastoma  growing in their brain thereby resulting in a further enhancement in survival. This strategy permits efficient therapy of primary and secondary brain tumors enhancing animal survival without promoting harmful toxic or behavioral side effects. Additionally, when combined with a standard of care therapy, Temozolomide, a further increase in survival is achieved. The FUS-DMB approach with the CTV highlights a noninvasive strategy to treat brain cancers without surgery. This innovative delivery scheme combined with the therapeutic efficacy of the CTV provides a novel potential translational therapeutic approach for brain cancers.

Clinical and genetic features of dominant Essential Tremor in Tuscany, Italy: FUS, CAMTA1, ATXN1 and beyond.

OBJECTIVE: Essential Tremor (ET) is one of the most common neurological disorders. In most instances ET is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with age-related penetrance (virtually complete in advanced age); however, ET genetics remains elusive. The current study aims to identify possibly pathogenic genetic variants in a group of well-characterized ET families. METHODS: 34 individuals from 14 families with dominant ET were clinically evaluated and studied by whole exome sequencing studies (after excluding trinucleotide expansion disorders). RESULTS: Most patients had pure ET. In 4 families, exome studies could identify a genetic variant potentially able to significantly alter the protein structure (CADD >20, REVEL score > 0.25), shared by all the affected individuals (in CAMTA1, FUS, MYH14, SGCE genes). In another family there were two variants in dominant genes (PCDH9 and SQSTM1). Moreover, an interrupted "intermediate" trinucleotide expansion in ATXN1 ("SCA1") was identified in a further family with pure ET. CONCLUSION: Combining our observations together with earlier reports, we can conclude that ET genes confirmed in at least two families to date include CAMTA1 and FUS (reported here), as well as CACNA1G, NOTCH2NLC and TENM4. Most cases of familial ET, inherited with an autosomal dominant inheritance, may result from "mild" variants of many different genes that, when affected by more harmful genetic variants, lead to more severe neurological syndromes (still autosomal dominant). Thus, ET phenotype may be the "mild", incomplete manifestation of many other dominant neurogenetic diseases. These findings further support evidence of genetic heterogeneity for such disease(s). Author's keywords: cerebellar ataxias, movement disorders, neurogenetics, rare neurological disorders, tremor.

Comparative Transcriptomics Uncovers Upstream Factors Regulating BnFAD3 Expression and Affecting Linolenic Acid Biosynthesis in Yellow-Seeded Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

α-Linolenic acid (ALA) is an important nutrient component in rapeseed oil, and rapeseed breeders want to either restrain or enhance the function of fatty acid desaturases (FADs) in the ALA biosynthesis pathway. To determine the reason for the upregulation of rapeseed BnFAD genes in two high-ALA accessions, R8Q10 and YH25005, we compared their transcriptome profiles in the seed at 24 days after pollination (DAP) with those of two low-ALA lines, A28 and SW. The expression levels of twenty-eight important genes in the seed samples at 20, 27, and 34 DAP were also investigated using an RT-qPCR. The expression levels of genes involved in flavonoid and proanthocyanidin synthesis, including BnCHS, BnCHI, BnDFR, BnFLS1, BnLDOX, BnBAN, BnTT10, and BnTT12 and genes encoding the transcription factors BnTT1, BnTT2, BnTT8, and BnTT16 were lower in R8Q10 and YH25005 than in A28 and SW. The expression levels of genes encoding master transcription factors in embryo development, such as BnLEC1, BnABI3, BnFUS3, BnL1L, BnAREB3, and BnbZIP67, were elevated significantly in the two high-ALA accessions. Combined with previous results in the Arabidopsis and rapeseed literature, we speculated that the yellow-seededness genes could elevate the activity of BnLEC1, BnABI3, BnFUS3, and BnbZIP67, etc., by reducing the expression levels of several transparent testa homologs, resulting in BnFAD3 and BnFAD7 upregulation and the acceleration of ALA synthesis. Yellow-seededness is a favorable factor to promote ALA synthesis in the two high-ALA accessions with the yellow-seeded trait. These findings provide initial insights into the transcriptomic differences between high-/low-ALA germplasms and a theoretic basis for seed quality breeding.

Neuroimaging-guided diagnosis of possible FTLD-FUS pathology: a case report.

BACKGROUND: This case report presents a patient with progressive memory loss and choreiform movements. CASE PRESENTATION: Neuropsychological tests indicated multi-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and neurological examination revealed asymmetrical involuntary hyperkinetic movements. Imaging studies showed severe left-sided atrophy and hypometabolism in the left frontal and temporoparietal cortex. [18F]Flortaucipir PET exhibited moderately increased tracer uptake in hypometabolic areas. The diagnosis initially considered Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD), cerebral hemiatrophy syndrome, but imaging and cerebrospinal fluid analysis excluded AD and suggested fused-in-sarcoma-associated FTD (FTLD-FUS), a subtype of the behavioural variant of FTD. CONCLUSIONS: Our case highlights that despite the lack of specific FUS biomarkers the combination of clinical features and neuroimaging biomarkers can guide choosing the most likely differential diagnosis in a complex neurological case. Imaging in particular allowed an accurate measure of the topography and severity of neurodegeneration and the exclusion of AD-related pathology.

Opportunities and obstacles in non-invasive brain stimulation.

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is a complex and multifaceted approach to modulating brain activity and holds the potential for broad accessibility. This work discusses the mechanisms of the four distinct approaches to modulating brain activity non-invasively: electrical currents, magnetic fields, light, and ultrasound. We examine the dual stochastic and deterministic nature of brain activity and its implications for NIBS, highlighting the challenges posed by inter-individual variability, nebulous dose-response relationships, potential biases and neuroanatomical heterogeneity. Looking forward, we propose five areas of opportunity for future research: closed-loop stimulation, consistent stimulation of the intended target region, reducing bias, multimodal approaches, and strategies to address low sample sizes.

Functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging of displacement-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation in mice.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) stimulation is a promising neuromodulation technique with the merits of non-invasiveness, high spatial resolution, and deep penetration depth. However, simultaneous imaging of FUS-induced brain tissue displacement and the subsequent effect of FUS stimulation on brain hemodynamics has proven challenging thus far. In addition, earlier studies lack in situ confirmation of targeting except for the magnetic resonance imaging-guided FUS system-based studies. The purpose of this study is 1) to introduce a fully ultrasonic approach to in situ target, modulate neuronal activity, and monitor the resultant neuromodulation effect by respectively leveraging displacement imaging, FUS, and functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging, and 2) to investigate FUS-evoked cerebral blood volume (CBV) response and the relationship between CBV and displacement. We performed displacement imaging on craniotomized mice to confirm the in targeting for neuromodulation site. We recorded hemodynamic responses evoked by FUS and fUS revealed an ipsilateral CBV increase that peaks at 4 s post-FUS. We saw a stronger hemodynamic activation in the subcortical region than cortical, showing good agreement with the brain elasticity map that can also be obtained using a similar methodology. We observed dose-dependent CBV response with peak CBV, activated area, and correlation coefficient increasing with ultrasonic dose. Furthermore, by mapping displacement and hemodynamic activation, we found that displacement colocalizes and linearly correlates with CBV increase. The findings presented herein demonstrated that FUS evokes ipsilateral hemodynamic activation in cortical and subcortical depths and the evoked hemodynamic responses colocalized and correlate with FUS-induced displacement. We anticipate that our findings will help consolidate accurate targeting as well as an understanding of how FUS displaces brain tissue and affects cerebral hemodynamics.