Biology subjects

Chen, X.

Publications and source records attributed to Chen, X..

At least 433 records · Page 24Linked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Quantitative Analysis of Coupled Carbon and Energy Metabolism for Lignin Carbon Utilization in Pseudomonas putida

Soil Pseudomonas species, which can thrive on lignin-derived phenolic compounds, are widely explored for biotechnology applications. Yet, there is limited understanding of how the native metabolism coordinates phenolic carbon processing with cofactor generation. Here, we achieve quantitative understanding of this metabolic balance through a multi-omics investigation of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 grown on four common phenolic substrates: ferulate, p-coumarate, vanillate, and 4-hydroxybenzoate. Relative to succinate as a non-aromatic reference, proteomics data reveal >140-fold increase in proteins for transport and initial catabolism of each phenolic substrate, but metabolomics profiling reveals that bottleneck nodes in initial phenolic compound catabolism maintain more favorable cellular energy state. Up to 30-fold increase in pyruvate carboxylase and glyoxylate shunt proteins implies a metabolic remodeling confirmed by kinetic 13C-metabolomics. Quantitative analysis by 13C-fluxomics demonstrates coupling of this remodeling with cofactor production. Specifically, anaplerotic carbon recycling via pyruvate carboxylase promotes fluxes in the tricarboxylic acid cycle to provide 50-60% NADPH yield and 60-80% NADH yield, resulting in 2-fold higher ATP yield than for succinate metabolism; the glyoxylate shunt sustains cataplerotic flux through malic enzyme for the remaining NADPH yield. The quantitative blueprint elucidated here explains deficient versus sufficient cofactor rebalancing during manipulations of key metabolic nodes in lignin valorization.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2025

Biphasic bactericidal activity of nitroxoline against Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from urinary tract infections

Acinetobacter baumannii is a critical pathogen which can cause hospital-acquired infections, particularly urinary tract infections (UTIs). The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of A. baumannii is rising which poses a significant challenge to clinical management. Nitroxoline, an old antibiotic for treating uncomplicated UTIs, has gained renewed interest as a potential therapeutic option. Here, we investigates the bactericidal activity of nitroxoline against 34 A. baumannii (17 carbapenem-resistant and 17 carbapenem-sensitive isolates) collected from UTI patients. Nitroxoline exhibited a biphasic bactericidal effect, characterized by enhanced efficacy up to an optimal bactericidal concentration (OBC), followed by declined activity at higher nitroxoline concentrations. The OBCs, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and time-killing curves were evaluated to elucidate bactericidal activity. Raman deuterium stable isotope probing (Raman-DIP) was employed to validate nitroxolines bactericidal effect and its impact on bacterial metabolic activity and survival rates. These results demonstrate that nitroxoline exhibits excellent inhibitory and bactericidal activity against A. baumannii. While nitroxoline exhibits biphasic bactericidal activity with OBC50/90 values of 4/8 mg/L. Raman spectroscopy identified a decreased C-D ratio as nitroxoline concentration increased, indicating reduced metabolic activity. Notably, an inverse correlation (r = -0.7594, p <0.0001) was observed between bacterial survival and the ccratio at concentrations above the OBC. These findings underscore the necessity of optimizing dosing regimens to enhance nitroxolines therapeutic efficacy and alleviate AMR development. Raman-DIP emerges as a robust tool for assessing nitroxolines effects on bacterial metabolism and determining MIC, offering valuable insights for future clinical applications.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2025

Gyral crowns contribute to the cortical infrastructure of human face processing

Neuroanatomical features across spatial scales contribute to functional specialization and individual differences in behavior across species. Among species with gyrencephalic brains, gyral crown height, which measures a key aspect of the morphology of cortical folding, may represent an anatomical characteristic that importantly shapes neural function. Nevertheless, little is known about the relationship between functional selectivity and gyral crowns--especially in clinical populations. Here, we investigated this relationship and found that the size and gyral crown height of the middle, but not posterior, face-selective region on the fusiform gyrus (FG) was smaller in individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DPs; N = 22, 68% female, aged 25-62) compared to neurotypical controls (NTs; N = 25, 60% females, aged 21-55), and this difference was related to face perception. Additional analyses replicated the relationship between gyral crowns and face selectivity in 1,053 NTs (55% females, aged 22-36). These results inform theoretical models of face processing while also providing a novel neuroanatomical feature contributing to the cortical infrastructure supporting face processing. Significance StatementUnderstanding how brain structure supports specialized brain functions is a central goal of neuroscience. Here, we identified a role of gyral crown height--an understudied cortical feature--in shaping the cortical infrastructure underlying face processing. By examining face-selective regions of the fusiform gyrus in both neurotypical individuals and those with developmental prosopagnosia, we demonstrate that reduced gyral crown height is associated with diminished face-selective region surface area and impaired face recognition ability. Furthermore, this structural-functional relationship extends to a large neurotypical sample of over 1,000 individuals, highlighting a generalizable link between cortical anatomy and functional specialization. These findings introduce a new neuroanatomical factor to theoretical models of face perception, which could extend to additional neurodevelopmental disorders and other cognitive tasks.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

High-Quality Cell Capture Reveals Transcriptomic Changes After Single-Axon Injury of Mauthner Cells

In vivo single-cell capture methods based on micropipettes are essential for correlating morphological characteristics with transcriptomic profiling under physiological conditions. However, they often suffer from significant contamination of off-target cells. Consequently, we developed Hip-seq, which significantly reduces heavily contaminated cells, decreases contamination levels, improves cell reproducibility, and enhances data analysis accuracy compared to patch-seq. Using Hip-seq, we found that axon regeneration failure could be due to abnormal activation of translation and the circadian clock. Axon-regenerable central neurons reactivated axon development-related genes during regeneration. And one-to-one associated analysis helped identify pro-regenerative genes.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Dissecting a biological electron transport network with electrochemistry

Photosynthetic membranes contain complex networks of redox proteins and molecules which direct electrons along various energy-to-chemical interconversion reactions important for sustaining life on Earth. Analysing and disentangling the mechanisms, regulation and interdependencies of these electron transfer pathways is extremely difficult, owing to the large number of interacting components in the native membrane environment. Whilst electrochemistry is well established for studying electron transfer in purified proteins, it has proven difficult to directly wire into proteins within their native membrane environments, and even harder to probe on a systems-level the electron transfer networks they are entangled within. Here, we show how photosynthetic membranes from cyanobacteria can be directly wired to electrodes to access their complex electron transfer networks. Measurements of native membranes with structured electrodes revealed distinctive electrochemical signatures, enabling analysis from the scale of individual proteins to entire biochemical pathways, as well as their interplay. This includes measurements of overlapping photosynthetic and respiratory pathways, the redox activities of membrane-bound quinones, along with validation using in operando spectroscopic measurements. Importantly, we further demonstrated direct extraction of electrons from native membrane-bound Photosystem I at -600 mV, which is [~]1 V more negative than from purified photosystems. This finding opens up opportunities for biotechnologies for solar electricity, fuel and chemical generation. We foresee this electrochemical method being adapted to analyze other photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic membranes, as well as aiding the development of new biocatalytic, biohybrid and biomimetic systems.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2025

Systemic Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals Interferon Response Heterogeneity and Links Lipid Metabolism to Immune Alterations in Severe COVID-19

The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection is highly heterogeneous, and interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes (ISGs) play a central but context-dependent role in antiviral defense and immune dysregulation. To investigate how ISG heterogeneity relates to immune and metabolic states, we performed an integrated analysis of whole-blood transcriptomics, plasma proteomics, metabolomics, and immune activation markers in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and COVID-negative healthy controls and covalescent individuals. Patients segregated into low (LIS), moderate (MIS), and high (HIS) ISG expression endotypes, largely independent of clinical severity. While high ISG expression was associated with systemic inflammation and innate immune activation, severe disease within the HIS endotype was characterized by marked metabolic perturbations, including depletion of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and multiple lipid classes involved in membrane integrity and immunometabolic signaling. Plasma-transfer assays demonstrated that plasma from severe HIS patients impaired neutrophil and monocyte activation ex vivo, indicating functional attenuation of innate immune responses despite elevated ISG expression. These metabolic alterations correlated with reduced immune activation, supporting the existence of an interferon-associated immune-metabolic axis that constrains immune functionality in severe disease. Although type I IFN neutralization was detected in a subset of patients with IFN antigen reactivity, these samples did not account for ISG heterogeneity or disease severity. Together, these findings show that high ISG expression defines a transcriptional endotype permissive for inflammation but insufficient for effective immune function, highlighting the importance of immune-metabolic context in shaping COVID-19 disease outcomes.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2025

MAIS: an in-vitro sandbox enables adaptive neuromodulation via scalable neural interfaces

Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) predominantly rely on static digital architectures to decode biological neuronal networks, a paradigm that is incompatible with natural neural coding in the human brain1-4. Bridging this gap is a critical step in combating neuronal dysfunction, enhancing brain functionality, and refining the precision of neuroprosthetics5. The integration of brain organoids with microelectrode array (MEA), as a class of BMIs, offers a humanized in vitro platform with unique biological compatibility advantages for dynamic neuronal decoding. This study resolves the biological-electronic encoding incompatibility of brain organoid-MEA Integration through three progressive breakthroughs. First, a human-machine hybrid agent is developed as a newly proposed bioengineered platform that couples brain organoids together with high-density MEAs and computational chips, enabling closed-loop perturbation of biological neuronal networks via exogenous signals. Second, through plasticity-driven real-time tracking of neuronal activity, we establish dynamically reconfigurable stimulation nodes that self-align with the electrophysiological states of the organoids. This resolves the exogenous-endogenous encoding mismatch by implementing plasticity-driven adaptation principles that ensure biological compatibility through spatially adaptive coordination. Finally, through shared plasticity rules rather than centralized control, we construct the first scalable multi-agent interactive system (MAIS) and demonstrate its real-world applications. Through designed scenarios of pathological/normal neuronal network interaction, we validate that MAIS achieves stable cross-network coordination. MAIS embodies a self-evolving neural coding sandbox in which plasticity-driven dynamic decoding bridges the compatibility gaps between biological and digital systems, providing a scalable and foundational infrastructure for human-centered neural interfaces.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2025

A Labeled Dataset for AI-based Cryo-EM Map Enhancement

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has transformed structural biology by enabling near-atomic resolution imaging of macromolecular complexes. However, cryo-EM density maps suffer from intrinsic noise arising from structural sources, shot noise, and digital recording, which complicates accurate atomic structure building. While various methods for denoising cryo-EM density maps exist, there is a lack of standardized datasets for benchmarking artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. Here, we present an open-source dataset for cryo-EM density map denoising comprising 650 high-resolution (1-4 [A]) experimental maps paired with three types of generated label maps: regression maps capturing idealized density distributions, binary classification maps distinguishing structural elements from background, and atom-type classification maps. Each map is standardized to 1 [A] voxel size and validated through Fourier Shell Correlation analysis, demonstrating substantial resolution improvements in label maps compared to experimental maps. This resource bridges the gap between structural biology and artificial intelligence communities, enabling researchers to develop and benchmark innovative methods for enhancing cryo-EM density maps.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2025

Spatial relationship of urban carbon neutrality in Yangtze River Basin

Carbon neutrality needs to be implemented spatially in order to be realized concretely. The distribution of carbon sources and sinks across the national territory is closely related to many factors, such as natural geographical resources, levels of economic and social development, and cultural and historical heritage. It is difficult for many regions to achieve carbon neutrality through their own efforts alone. This article believes that only by achieving local optimal carbon neutrality through a reasonable spatial organization can emissions be ultimately reduced to zero on a national scale. Under the connection of rivers, the basin forms an ecosystem and an economic system with independent characteristics. Carbon sources and sinks within the basin exist within the ecological and economic space of the basin, forming a unique carbon neutrality spatial pattern. This study starts with the spatial distribution status, features and relationships of carbon neutrality elements in the cities of the Yangtze River Basin, and divides the cities into eight types based on their development level, emission level and forest resources, such as high-emission and low-carbon sink developed cities and low-emission and high-carbon sink underdeveloped cities. Different types of cities are proposed with carbon neutrality paths and spatial organization schemes, and it is suggested that the spatial organization demonstration of carbon neutrality in the cities of the Yangtze River Basin can provide a reference for carbon neutrality on a national scale.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Programmable macromolecule delivery via engineered trogocytosis

Trogocytosis, the transfer of plasma membrane fragments during cell-cell contact, offers potential for macromolecular delivery but is limited by uncertain fate of trogocytosed molecules, constraints to membrane cargo, and unclear generalizability. Here, we demonstrate that donor cells engineered with designed receptors specific to intrinsic ligands can transfer proteins to recipient cells through direct contact. We identified key principles for enhancing contact-mediated transfer and subsequent functionalization of transferred macromolecules, including receptor design, pH-responsive membrane fusion, inducible cargo localization, release, and subcellular translocation. Exploiting these findings, we developed TRANSFER, a versatile delivery system that integrates logic gate-based control to sense multiple ligand inputs and deliver diverse functional cargos for genome editing and targeted cell ablation across cell types. The study establishes trogocytosis as a novel, programmable framework for cell-based macromolecular delivery.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2025

MF-PENS: An Efficient and Versatile Nuclear Extraction Method for Plant Single-Cell Sequencing

The widespread adoption of single-cell transcriptomics in plants remains constrained by the challenges of isolating high-quality nuclei from tissues with rigid cell walls and complex metabolomes. Here, we present methanol fixation and Percoll-enriched nuclei sorting (MF-PENS), a robust strategy designed to tackle these limitations. Distinct from conventional protocols, MF-PENS circumvents the need for fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and effectively reduce RNA leakage, consistently yielding high-quality single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) data. MF-PENS has been validated across various plant tissues, including fresh and frozen rice roots and leaves, as well as recalcitrant samples such as soybean root nodules, soybean seeds, and tomato fruits. Benchmarking results demonstrate that MF-PENS significantly enhances gene capture efficiency, cell clustering performance, and cell type annotation accuracy. With its broad applicability and superior performance, MF-PENS represents a robust and versatile tool for plant single-cell research, facilitating deeper insights into plant development and biology processes.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2025

The sialome of the retina, alteration in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) pathology and potential impacts on Complement Factor H

PurposeLittle is known about sialic acids of the human retina, despite their integral role in self/non-self-discrimination by complement factor H (CFH), the alternative complement pathway inhibitor. MethodsA custom sialoglycan microarray was used to characterize the sialic acid-binding specificity of native CFH or recombinant molecules where IgG Fc was fused to CFH domains 16-20 (contains a sialic acid-binding site), domains 6-7 (contains a glycosaminoglycan-binding site) or the CFH-related proteins (CFHRs) 1 and 3. We analyzed macular and peripheral retinal tissue from post-mortem ocular globes for amount, type, and presentation (glycosidic linkage type) of sialic acid in individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and age-matched controls using fluorescent lectins and antibodies to detect sialic acid and endogenous CFH. Released sialic acids from neural retina, retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells and the Bruchs membrane (BrM) were labelled with 1,2-diamino-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene-2HCl (DMB), separated and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (DMB-HPLC). ResultsBoth native CFH and the recombinant CFH domains 16-20 recognized Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc that is 2-3-linked to the underlying galactose. 4-O-Actylation of sialic acid and sulfation of GlcNAc did not inhibit binding. Different linkage types of sialic acid were localized at different layers of the retina. The greatest density of 2-3-sialic acid, which is the preferred ligand of CFH, did not colocalize with endogenous CFH. The level of sialic acids at the BrM/choroid interface of macula and peripheral retina of individuals with AMD were significantly reduced. ConclusionsThe sialome of the human retina is altered in AMD. This can affect CFH binding and consequently, alternative complement pathway regulation.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2025

Comprehensive cellular analysis with single-nucleus RNA-seq of archived PAXgene whole blood samples

No method has been developed for single-cell analysis of the large repositories of preserved whole blood samples stored in PAXgene Blood RNA tubes. To address this gap, two nuclei isolation techniques for single-nucleus RNA sequencing were evaluated: mechanical separation (MS), using an Acrodisc filter, and cell lysis (CL). While both methods captured nuclei from all major immune cell types, CL resulted in up to two orders of magnitude higher nuclei yields and less biased proportions of immune cells than MS. High ambient globin gene counts following CL were substantially reduced by CRISPR-guided globin gene depletion of complementary DNA, resulting in more sensitive and efficient gene detection per cell. Despite capturing only nuclear transcripts, CL-derived samples maintained similar cell-type proportions and gene expression as matched peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples, while retaining granulocytes. The CL isolation with globin depletion method enables comprehensive analysis of PAXgene whole blood samples at single-cell resolution. MOTIVATIONPAXgene Blood RNA Tubes are commonly used for blood preservation and gene expression studies due to the ease of use and stabilization of RNA. To date, transcriptomic studies using PAXgene tubes have been limited to bulk RNA profiling approaches such as RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Here we introduce a method for recovering high-quality nuclei from frozen blood preserved in PAXgene tubes for single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq). Using this approach, all white blood cell types - including granulocytes - are captured, thereby enabling comprehensive transcriptomic profiling of peripheral blood at single-cell resolution.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2025

DNA polymerase actively and sequentially displaces single-stranded DNA-binding proteins

Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins (SSBs) play a crucial role in stabilizing and protecting transiently exposed single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), yet the mechanisms governing their displacement by DNA polymerase (DNAp) during replication remain largely unexplored. Using bacteriophage T7 DNAp and its SSB, T7 gp2.5, we investigated the molecular mechanisms and visualized the dynamic process underlying SSB displacement. Our single-molecule force spectroscopy demonstrates that T7 SSB modulates DNA replication in an ssDNA conformation-dependent manner, regulated by tension applied to the DNA template. By integrating dual-color single-molecule imaging, we observe that T7 SSB remains stationary as DNAp approaches, indicating that SSB molecules are sequentially displaced rather than pushed forwards. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed reduced energy barriers for SSB dissociation in the presence of DNAp. This finding, combined with the detected FRET signals when DNAp approaches an SSB-bound ssDNA region and observations of faster replication rates compared to relative slow intrinsic SSB dissociation, collectively support an active displacement mechanism. Using both ensemble and single-molecule analyses, we demonstrated that SSB saturation of ssDNA is critical for optimal replication efficiency, with each SSB molecule contributing positively to the process. Taken together, the uncovered spatial-temporal coordination between SSB and DNAp is necessary for resolving molecular collisions during DNA replication, and may represent a universal strategy employed by other DNA translocating motors to ensure genomic integrity.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2025

Missense variants in GABAA receptor beta2 subunit disrupt receptor biogenesis and cause loss of function

Gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAARs) are the major inhibitory neurotransmitter-gated channel in the mammalian central nervous system. GABAARs function as heteropentamers, typically composed of two 1, two {beta}2, and one {gamma}2 subunits. Protein homeostasis between GABAAR folding, trafficking, assembly, and degradation is critical to ensure normal physiological functions. Variants in genes encoded for GABAARs lead to numerous neurological disorders, such as genetic epilepsy with or without neurodevelopmental delay. While these variants are associated with severe clinical presentations of epilepsy, the molecular mechanisms driving the disease remain to be elucidated. In this study, we focused on four missense epilepsy-associated variants (EAVs) in the GABRB2 gene: Q209F210delinsH (c. 627_629del), R240T (c. 719G>C), I246T (c. 737T>C), and I299S (c. 896T>G). HEK293T cells exogenously expressing these {beta}2 variants exhibited significantly reduced GABA-induced peak chloride current, indicating their loss of function. However, the four {beta}2 EAVs differed in the degree of proteostasis deficiencies, including increased ER retention, compromised assembly, decreased protein stability, and reduced trafficking and surface expression, with Q209F210delinsH and R240T variants leading to the most severe degradation. Collectively, these results indicate that these epilepsy-linked variants have debilitating effects on the early biogenesis of the {beta}2 subunit, causing misfolding, aggregation, and rapid degradation before it can be assembled with other subunits and transported to the plasma membrane. Overall, our work offers crucial mechanistic insight into how specific {beta}2 missense variants impact the proteostasis maintenance of GABAARs, which could facilitate the development of effective therapeutics for genetic epilepsy by targeting trafficking-deficient GABAAR variants.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2025

ARIH1 deficiency impairs spatial learning and memory via GIRK2 upregulation in hippocampal CaMKII-expressing neurons in mice

Alterations of Ariadne RBR E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 1 (ARIH1), a human homologue of Drosophila Ari, have been associated with a number of human diseases. Given the importance of ubiquitin-proteasome system in learning and memory, whether ARIH1 involves in the process has not been explored. Here we report that ARIH1-deficent mice exhibited a defect in learning and memory evidenced in Morris water maze and in novel object recognition tests without changes in basal motor activity, anxiety, and depressive behaviors. We found that ARIH1 deficiency resulted in an upregulation of G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium channel 2 (GIRK2) in dorsal hippocampus that was attributed to the impaired ubiquitination and degradation. Locally injection of ARIH1-expressing lentivirus to restore the ARIH1 expression of dorsal hippocampus in ARIH1+/- mice restored the impaired learning and memory. Moreover, selective knockdown ARIH1 in dorsal hippocampal calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-expressing neurons, but not for parvalbumin+ (PV) or somatostatin+ (SST) neurons, in naive mice was sufficient to mimic the damage in learning and memory of ARIH1+/- mice. Lastly, we demonstrated that systemically or locally inhibition of GIRK activity was able to improve ARIH1 deficiency-induced decline of learning and memory in ARIH1+/- mice. The present study discovered the clear role of ARIH1 in mediating learning and memory, defect of ARIH1 resulted in upregulation of GIRK2 in hippocampal CaMKII-expressing neurons via modulating the ubiquitination and degradation GIRK2.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

The stress response factor SigH mediates intrinsic resistance to multiple antibiotics in Mycobacterium abscessus

Mycobacterium abscessus (Mab) causes pulmonary diseases with limited treatment options due to its high level of intrinsic resistance to available drugs. Mab possesses complex and poorly understood drug resistance mechanisms. Identifying new drug targets and gaining a deeper understanding of drug resistance mechanisms are essential for discovering novel therapeutic alternatives. Here, we investigated the role of a putative sigma factor SigH in intrinsic multi-drug resistance in Mab. Mab SigH shares an 84% peptide sequence identity with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) SigH, a well-known stress response protein and global transcriptional regulator. We constructed a sigH gene deletion strain of Mab ({Delta}sigH) and complemented strains by expressing either Mab sigH (CPMabsigH) or Mtb sigH (CPMtbsigH) in {Delta}sigH. The {Delta}sigH strain exhibited hypersensitivity to a broad range of antibiotics, including levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, tigecycline, tetracycline, amikacin, vancomycin, and rifabutin and all complemented strains restored the drug resistance phenotype. Additionally, {Delta}sigH showed increased sensitivity to oxidative and heat stress compared to the wild-type Mab and complemented strains. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that deletion of sigH disrupted the balance of gene expression, primarily elevating the expression of genes encoding YrbE and MCE family proteins and downregulating genes expressing ABC-type transporters, sigma and anti-sigma factors and other genes associated with antimicrobial resistance. Collectively, our findings indicate that SigH is a key regulator of global gene expression in response to environmental stresses, including antimicrobial treatment, and is crucial for the intrinsic drug resistance of Mab. SigH represents a promising target for the development of novel therapeutic strategies against Mab infections.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2025

AarMIXTAs: key factors of T-shaped non-glandular trichome development in Artemisia argyi

Trichomes are necessary for stress resistance and metabolite synthesis in plant. T-shaped non-glandular trichomes (TSTs) as the main component of moxa floss, which are the specific characteristics of A. argyi. Here, we observed that TSTs were at an extremely high density on the lower surfaces in A. argyi leaves. The key transcription factors (TFs) involved in regulation of TSTs development of A. argyi were identified through RNA sequencing of TSTs and non-TSTs. The core regulatory genes, AarMIXTAs showed allelic amplification and functional differentiation compared with A. annua, might contribute development of TSTs. The overexpression of AarMIXTA1.2 significantly increased the density of TSTs in transgenic Arabidopsis and may regulate trichome development by regulating the downstream genes, which played an important positively regulatory role in the development of TSTs. This study provides a good reference for the molecular mechanisms related to the development of TSTs and a theoretical basis for the high-yield moxa floss cultivation of A. argyi.

plant biology↗