Background: In this study, coracohumeral ligament (CHL) specimens were carefully dissected to observe its length, width, thickness and tension at different positions of the shoulder joint, thereby elucidating its effects on shoulder joint stability. Materials and methods: Fresh frozen shoulder joints from 40 normal adult cadaveric specimens were dissected to reveal the CHL. With the shoulder joints placed at different positions, the length of the CHL and the width and thickness of the middle part of the ligament were measured. The changes in tension of the CHL were also observed. When the shoulder joint maintained the neutral position, the length of the CHL was 52.23 ± 1.02 mm and the width and thickness of the middle part of the ligament were 15.95 ± 0.59 mm and 1.46 ± 0.06 mm, respectively. Results: When the shoulder joint moved from the neutral position to 90° external rotation, from the neutral position to 30° adduction or from the neutral position to 30° flexion/extension or when the shoulder joint is pulled down with a 5 kg weight, the CHL was elongated and thinned, maintaining a strained state. When the shoulder joint moved from the neutral position to 90° internal rotation, from the neutral position to 90° abduction or from the neutral position to 30° flexion/ extension, the CHL was shortened and thickened, maintaining a relaxed state. Conclusions: The CHL may limit the external rotation, adduction and downward movement of the shoulder joint and the process from the neutral position to the 30° flexion/extension, maintaining shoulder joint stability. (Folia Morphol 2017; 76, 4: 720–729)
Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and development; however, soil P available for plant absorption is often limited, putting constraints over agricultural sustainability. Understanding the physiological and molecular responses to P deficiency can help design strategies for diagnosis and mitigation of P deficiency in crop plants. The advent of the next-generation sequencing technologies has made it possible to characterize genome-wide molecular responses to P deficiency in plants. However, such research efforts are very limited for woody crops. In this study, RNA-seq was used to investigate P starvation-induced transcriptomic changes in roots of a frequently used citrus rootstock, Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf. A total of 1,135 genes showed differential expression in response to P deficiency. The transcriptomic data were further validated by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Interestingly, at least one or more P-responsive cis-elements (P1BS) were found in the promoter regions of 76 differentially expressed genes. Functional annotation revealed that the predicted proteins of 117 of the differentially expressed genes were assigned to the categories of transporters, transcription factors or components involved in plant hormone signal regulation, suggesting that these genes may play important roles in response to P starvation. A comparative analysis of the citrus- and Arabidopsis-responsive transcripts under P deficiency also identified 174 commonly regulated genes, including those involved in P metabolism. Taken together, our transcriptomic data revealed changes of genome-wide gene expression in responses to P starvation in Poncirus, which should provide a solid basis for future identification and characterization of key genes involved in nutritional stress response in citrus rootstocks.
Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) is an established and extensively used virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vector for gene function analysis in monocots. However, the phenotypes generated by targeted gene silencing may be affected or masked by symptoms of BSMV infection. To better understand the potential effects of BSMV-VIGS in hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum), the accumulation pattern of BSMV and its impacts on vegetative growth and water status were investigated. The results indicated that the vegetative growth of infected plants was significantly and continuously impacted by BSMV from 10 to 40 days post inoculation (dpi). When the accumulation of BSMV was extremely high (7 to 11 dpi), infected plants displayed twisted leaf tips with an increased water lose rate (WLR) and decreased water content (WC). Virus accumulation declined and stabilized after 25 dpi, at this stage, the WLR and WC were unaffected in the infected plants. The efficiency of VIGS was tested by the silencing of Phytoene desaturase (PDS). RT-qPCR indicated that BSMV-VIGS can be sustained with good efficiency for up to 40 dpi under an altered condition with lower temperature (22 ±1°C) and higher relative humidity (70 ±10%). It was concluded that 25 to 40 dpi was the appropriate time zone for drought-related gene analysis by BSMV-VIGS under such condition.