Biology subjects

Chi, Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Chi, Y..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Sensitive untargeted metabolomics via 3-nitrophenylhydrazine derivatization maps gut microbiota-related metabolites across multiple mouse biological compartments

The gut microbiome communicates with distal organs via small molecules, yet systematic tracking of gut microbiota-related metabolites across host compartments remains limited. Although 3-nitrophenylhydrazine (3-NPH) derivatization improves sensitivity for carboxyl-, carbonyl- and phosphate-containing metabolites, the resulting derivatives cannot be identified against conventional spectral libraries. Here, we developed a 3-NPH derivatization-based untargeted metabolomics approach coupled with a purpose-built theoretical spectral library and identified 301 gut microbiota-related metabolites across five compartments of young and adult mice of both sexes. Cross-compartment comparisons revealed compartment-specific compositions and fewer sex-associated differences in serum, liver and brain than in the gut. Spearman correlation analysis along the gut-brain and gut-liver axes identified coordinated metabolite pairs, including glycolysis intermediates and stereochemically diverse fatty-acid derivatives, supporting transmission of gut microbiota-related metabolites to circulation and distal organs. Our approach overcomes the long-standing identification bottleneck of derivatization-based untargeted metabolomics, providing a transferable platform for compartment-resolved mapping of gut microbiota-related metabolites and highlighting the gut-brain and gut-liver axes as routes for microbiota-host metabolite exchange.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2026

RamiGlyph Captures Microglial Morphological Diversity and Predicts Functional States in Ischemia Reperfusion and Amyloid Pathology

Microglia are resident immune cells of the central nervous system, whose ramified processes rapidly remodel in response to injury. However, how to capture subtle morphological changes and whether functional state can be predicted from morphology remain open questions. Here, we present RamiGlyph, a contrastive learning framework integrating topological and structural features, trained on more than 20,000 reconstructed microglia. RamiGlyph not only distinguishes physiological and pathological states of microglia but also generalizes to neuronal cell type classification. Projection of microglia morphological embeddings revealed a continuum rather than discrete classes, from which a morphology score was derived to quantify dynamic process remodeling. To link morphology with function, Gromov Wasserstein optimal transport was used to align unpaired morphological and functional data across stages of ischemia reperfusion injury and amyloid pathology. These alignment results enable prediction of microglial functional states using RamiGlyph embeddings alone, with prediction reliability increasing upon cell aggregation. In summary, RamiGlyph provides a robust framework for resolving continuous microglial morphological variation and linking morphology to functional states across acute and chronic neuropathological contexts.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

Ensemble tests mask missing dynamics in protein conformational generators

Protein generators are increasingly used to produce conformational ensembles and trajectories as faster alternatives to molecular dynamics (MD). Yet whether agreement with an equilibrium ensemble demonstrates that a generator has learned dynamics remains unresolved. Here we show that this evidence survives the destruction of dynamics. Randomly reordering authentic MD frames leaves ensemble fidelity unchanged but reduces the geometrically gated kinetic pass rate from 0.963 to 0.004; an independent MD replicate reaches 0.95 under the same test. Dynbench separates recovery of conformational states, time-dependent behaviour and trajectory admissibility. Public generators that appear similar under ensemble tests separate sharply, and in a prospective 36-protein lockbox the reference and floor remain stable while two models reverse order. Ensemble tests can therefore systematically overstate evidence of learned dynamics, establishing time-resolved validation as a distinct requirement for claims about protein dynamics generators.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

FOCUS-3D: Robust, generalizable volumetric cell segmentation for three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy

Understanding how cells establish spatial organization within tissues is a fundamental question in life sciences. While modern three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy captures large-volume tissue architecture, extracting quantitative cellular insights from complex volumetric datasets remains a major barrier. Here, we introduce FOCUS-3D, a robust, broadly generalizable volumetric cell segmentation framework built on a large, diverse manually annotated cell resource and advanced AI designs. Integrating volumetric representation learning, multi-scale feature extraction, and query-based mask prediction, FOCUS-3D achieves state-of-the-art performance across diverse species, tissues, fluorescent reporters and imaging modalities. During zebrafish (Danio rerio) development, FOCUS-3D uncovers three successive phases of notochord morphogenesis. We disentangle early motility-driven rearrangements from later cell shape remodeling and tissue repacking, and further link these morphological states to spatial and developmental transcriptional programs across independent datasets.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

Molecular dynamics descriptors for 1,079 post-translationally modified protein systems

Databases of post-translational modifications (PTMs) catalogue modified sites and increasingly add static structural context, but trajectory-derived descriptors remain scattered across specialised tools and general molecular dynamics archives. Dyna-MO PTM brings together 1,079 AlphaFold 3-seeded systems covering lysine acetylation, lysine and arginine monomethylation, and serine, threonine and tyrosine phosphorylation. Each system is linked to three completed 10 ns replicas generated with CHARMM36m and TIP3P, for 32.37 s of aggregate sampling. A 118-column table joins simulation and quality-control provenance with global relaxation measures, site solvent exposure, rotamers, secondary structure and ionic-contact proxies. Versioned identifiers connect the records to starting structures, trajectories, manifests and analysis scripts. Researchers can use the resource to filter PTM contexts, reproduce descriptors, prioritise longer simulations and evaluate trajectory-analysis or generative methods. The trajectories describe finite-window relaxation rather than equilibrium free energies, kinetics or matched PTM effects.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2026

Defining the genetic landscape of acid and oxidative stress tolerance in Streptococcus mutans by pooled CRISPR interference screening

Bacterial stress tolerance is a fundamental ecological adaptation that enables survival, competitive fitness, and persistent colonization under fluctuating environmental conditions. Dental caries remains a major global health burden. As an etiologic agent in caries, Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) has the ability to adapt to sudden and substantial acid and oxidative stress. Nevertheless, the genome-wide genetic programs that support these stress tolerances remain incompletely defined. Herein, we established a xylose-inducible, genome-wide pooled CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) platform in S. mutans and performed parallel functional screens under acidic conditions (pH 5.0) and low-dose hydrogen peroxide (H{square}O{square}) stress. Using predefined screening thresholds, we identified 422 genes whose repression reduced fitness during acid challenge and 337 genes whose repression reduced fitness during H{square}O{square} exposure. Functional and network analyses revealed that stress tolerance is strongly constrained by core physiological processes, including RNA (particularly transfer RNA) metabolism, macromolecule maintenance, and damage repair. Comparative analyses further indicated that growth-associated pathways displayed opposite trends between the two stresses, consistent with a stress-dependent allocation trade-off. These two complementary findings redefine the dual-stress adaptation paradigm of S. mutans: stress resistance is not determined merely by canonical stress signaling, but requires intact core physiological modules, and bacteria tune resource allocation dynamically to adapt to divergent stress microenvironments. Collectively, the present study provides a comparative, genome-scale functional map of acid- and oxidative-stress tolerance in a key oral pathogen and identifies genetic determinants for mechanistic studies and anti-caries interventions.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

ProteinFlux: accurate, rapid and scalable generative prediction of protein dynamics driven by post-translational modifications

The function of proteins, the building blocks of life, in health and disease depends not only on their 3D-conformational states but most importantly on the dynamic transition between states controlled by a wide array of post-translational modifications (PTMs). Recent major advances have been made in our ability to predict static 3D structures; however, understanding and predicting the impact of PTMs on protein conformational dynamics remains a major question and challenge in the field. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation remains the major computational approach for studying protein dynamics. However, the high computational cost, lack of integration of PTMs as conditioning inputs and inefficient generation of continuous protein dynamics largely precludes PTM-regulated conformational dynamics and the study of slow conformational processes. To address this critical bottleneck, we developed ProteinFlux, a flow-matching generative framework that links PTM-conditioned conformational dynamics to evolutionary constraints encoded by PTM sites. Evolutionary information plays a critical role in capturing conformational dynamics beyond sequence identity, and PTM sites inherently encode evolutionary constraints critical to protein functional regulation. We therefore built FluxSite, a dual-modal PTM site predictor that integrates sequence evolutionary information and 3D structural features to generate a continuous conditional signal encoding conservation and functional importance for each predicted site. FluxSite achieves robust generalization across 18 PTM types and 30 disease-associated proteomes. ProteinFlux generates phosphorylation-conditioned, all-atom conformational trajectories across diverse protein fold classes, faithfully reproducing both thermodynamic properties such as free energy landscapes and kinetic features such as conformational transition pathways. It outperforms state-of-the-art predictors while achieving inference speeds several orders of magnitude faster than traditional MD. In addition, we introduce DynaMo-phos, a benchmark dataset of phosphorylated protein MD simulations. Together, ProteinFlux, FluxSite and DynaMo-phos provide a scalable, high-throughput platform for elucidating PTM-driven conformational mechanisms, with potential applications across allosteric drug design, functional annotation of disease-associated modifications and mechanism-guided therapeutic development.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

LNGCN: A Distance-Aware Dynamics Network for Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction

High-throughput PPI screening requires not only interaction discrimination but also stable, calibrated scores for candidate prioritization and efficient experimental allocation. Conventional graph neural networks may over-smooth deep residue representations, reducing score separation among high-confidence candidates. We therefore developed LNGCN, a distance-aware continuous-time graph framework for experimental PPI prioritization. LNGCN integrates residue-level structural graphs with liquid neural dynamics, uses radial distance to drive continuous graph evolution, and applies hierarchical calibration to convert raw outputs into prioritization scores. It performed robustly on balanced human, 1:10 imbalanced, and cross-species yeast bench-marks. On the imbalanced dataset, the top 5% of candidates achieved 85.1% precision. LNGCN also preserved residue-level representation diversity better than conventional GCN variants. In FGF23-FGFR1c--Klotho, SHP2 signaling, Tdk1 oligomer-dependent binding, and a TPR study, it enriched known partners near the ranking top, and experimentally supported novel interactions. Overall, LNGCN enables sustained enrichment of experimentally relevant PPI candidates.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

High-Fidelity Long-term Whole-embryo Lineage and Fate Reconstruction by Iterative Tracking with Error Correction

Reconstructing the complete cell lineages and fate maps of a living embryo has remained a central challenge in developmental biology. Here we introduce ITEC (Iterative Tracking with Error Correction), a fully unsupervised method that automatically reconstructs the lineage of every cell in the embryo with high fidelity. ITEC was validated with manually annotated lineages on four cross-species datasets including zebrafish, mouse, and Drosophila. We reconstructed the developmental lineages of a zebrafish embryo from terabyte-scale data of total 18.5 million cells with an estimated accuracy of over 99.7%. With ITEC, we revealed spatiotemporal dynamics of key morphogenetic processes such as somite boundary formation, demonstrated the various patterns of spatial sorting among adjacent organs or anatomical regions, and identified associations between cellular movement and spatial transcriptomics. ITEC provides a powerful platform for retrospective fate mapping and systematic exploration of developmental dynamics at the cellular scale and single-embryo level.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2026

Modulation of Intrauterine Adhesion Fibrosis by Lactobacillus delbrueckii: Insights from ERK1/2 Pathway Inhibition and Multi-omics Analyses

BackgroundIntrauterine adhesion (IUA) is an important cause of infertility and menstrual disorders, substantially reducing quality of life and increasing healthcare costs. Current treatments, including hysteroscopic adhesiolysis and hormonal therapy, show limited efficacy and high recurrence, highlighting the need for new therapeutic strategies. MethodsWe evaluated the antifibrotic effects of Lactobacillus delbrueckii in IUA, with a focus on ERK1/2 signaling inhibition. A multimodal framework integrating clinical outcomes, cellular and animal experiments, uterine microbiome profiling (16S rRNA sequencing), transcriptomics, and metabolomics was used to characterize host-microbe-metabolite interactions relevant to fibrosis. ResultsClinically, patients receiving L. delbrueckii showed lower adhesion formation scores(AFS) and reduced recurrence. Microbiome profiling demonstrated increased uterine microbial diversity and altered community composition in treated patients, accompanied by reduced expression of fibrosis-associated markers. In both cellular and mouse models, L. delbrueckii decreased fibrotic marker expression and reduced ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Metabolomics identified elevated 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3-HAA) in treated groups, suggesting a potential role in immune and inflammatory modulation. ConclusionL. delbrueckii attenuates IUA-associated fibrosis, at least in part, by suppressing ERK1/2 phosphorylation and increasing the abundance of the metabolite 3-HAA. These findings support the therapeutic potential of L. delbrueckii for improving uterine repair and reproductive outcomes. Future studies should validate efficacy and safety in larger, diverse cohorts and assess long-term outcomes.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2025

Differential Cerebral White Matter Tract Alterations in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Revealed by Ultra-High Field 7T Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

BackgroundGeneralized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by chronic worry and emotional dysregulation, yet its underlying white matter (WM) architecture remains inconsistent in previous neuroimaging studies. This study aimed to delineate microstructural WM alterations in GAD using ultra-high field (7T) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and advanced correlational tractography, evaluating their associations with symptom severity and diagnostic-aided value. MethodsEighty-eight participants (27 GAD, 61 healthy controls, HCs) underwent 7T DTI scanning with 1.5-mm isotropic resolution. Whole-brain correlational tractography was applied to identify tracts exhibiting significant group-related differences in diffusion indices while controlling for demographic covariates. Associations with Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) scores were examined, and machine learning-based models were used to assess the diagnostic-aided utility of identified WM features. ResultsTwo tract bundles showed significant fractional anisotropy (FA) alterations in GAD: decreased FA in the right prefrontal pathway (PFDR = 0.039) and increased FA in the right cingulum (PFDR < 0.001). The anterior portions of both tracts exhibited stronger effects of GAD. FA in the right cingulum positively correlated with HAM-A and PSWQ scores, indicating that greater microstructural coherence was associated with higher anxiety and worry severity (both PFDRs < 0.001). Inclusion of WM features could improve classification performance beyond neuropsychological measures alone. ConclusionsUltra-high field 7T tractometry revealed a differential pattern of WM abnormalities in GAD, suggesting weakened prefrontal control and hyper-integrated cingulate connectivity as structural correlates of emotional dysregulation. These findings indicate the potential of 7T DTI markers for advancing mechanistic and diagnostic understanding of GAD.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Dose-dependent NFI regulation of progenitor lifespan and output underlying human neocortical malformation

Nuclear Factor I (NFI) misexpressions in humans are associated with severe brain malformations, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we show that NFIs regulate the broad lineage progression and lifespan of radial glial progenitors (RGPs), and consequently neocortical development in a dose-dependent manner. Human cerebral organoids carrying patient-mimicking NFI mutations exhibit expression level-dependent bidirectional impairments in RGP temporal development, coinciding with patient phenotypes. In mouse models, selective removal of NFIs leads to a dramatic protraction of RGP lineage progression and lifespan, excessive progeny output, and neocortical overgrowth and abnormal folding, whereas overexpression of NFIs accelerates RGP lineage progression, resulting in developmental stage-dependent precocious productions of diverse neural progenies. Moreover, NFIs exhibit a positive auto-regulation and progressive increase in expression, and regulate distinct temporal-specific targets underlying RGP lineage progression. These results suggest that NFIs act as evolutionarily conserved key global temporal regulators of RGP lineage progression and neocortical development. HIGHLIGHTSO_LINFIs affect human RGP temporal development coinciding with patient phenotypes. C_LIO_LINFI removal protracts RGP lineage progression and lifespan with excessive progeny output. C_LIO_LINFI overexpression accelerates RGP lineage progression with precocious progeny output. C_LIO_LINFIs regulate distinct temporal-specific targets underlying RGP lineage progression. C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Substrates Coupling and Inhibition of the human Na+- dependent Cl-/HCO3-exchanger

Maintaining pH homeostasis is essential for neuronal excitability and for regulating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The Na+-dependent Cl-/HCO3- exchanger, NCBE (SLC4A10), abundant in the choroid plexus, contributes to CSF pH control by mediating bicarbonate flux, yet its molecular mechanism has remained unclear. Here we report cryo-EM structures of human NCBE in multiple functional states, revealing conserved binding sites for Na+, Cl-, and HCO3-, as well as an unexpected K+ site indicating relaxed cation selectivity. The inhibitor DIDS binds above the substrate cavity, locking NCBE in an outward-facing conformation and defining a subfamily-selective inhibitory mechanism. Functional assays and molecular dynamics simulations validate ion coordination and inhibitor effects. Comparison of cryo-EM structures with an AlphaFold3 inward-facing model supports an elevator-like mechanism and completes the conformational cycle of Na+-coupled HCO3- transporters. Together, these findings define the structural basis of NCBE and provide a framework for understanding ion coupling and pharmacological modulation within the SLC4 family.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2025

Anatomical Research on the Anterior Cruciate Ligament of the Knee

ObjectiveThe Ribbon Theory challenges the traditional perspective that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) consists of a two-bundle structure, specifically the anterior inner bundle and the posterior outer bundle. Consequently, there is a pressing need to conduct further anatomical studies of the ACL to furnish a more precise anatomical foundation for ACL reconstruction procedures. Materials and MethodsA total of 30 fresh knee specimens, sourced from donor cadavers utilized for educational purposes, were dissected. The morphology of the ACL was observed, and its length, insertion position, and surface area were systematically measured.In males, the mean length of the right ACL was 34.52 mm, while the left ACL measured an average of 34.87 mm. In females, the mean length of the right ACL was 30.8 mm, and the left ACL averaged 30.53 mm. The average femoral footprint area on the right side was 143 mm2 {+/-} 16 for males and 124 mm2 {+/-} 21 for females, whereas on the left side, it was 145 mm2 {+/-} 22 for males and 123 mm2 {+/-} 17 for females. In conclusion, the majority of ACLs are characterized by a single flat band extending from the femoral origin to the midpoint, with no distinct separation observed at the midpoint. This discovery has significantly influenced the techniques used in ACL reconstruction, advancing the development of the anatomical single-bundle ACL reconstruction method.

pathology↗

bioRxiv2025

Real-time in vivo imaging of rodent brain response to hypoperfusion enabled by remotely controlled elastomeric micro-balloons

Current preclinical models of ischemic stroke in mice do not permit simultaneous and continuous in vivo brain imaging during the peri-stroke period, therefore missing critical pathophysiological events that could be pivotal for stroke management at the early stage. Here we report remote control of the blood flow of cerebral arteries in live mice continuously at different states to induce stroke in a precise, reliable, and reversible manner. The sub-millimeter scale micro-balloons can expand more than four times their initial diameter, featuring a monolithic elastomeric wall with selectively stiffened regions for controlled inflation and elasticity depending on the target vessels. By allowing for the control of common carotid artery diameter through a cuff pressing against the artery, the micro-balloon recapitulates clinically relevant haemodynamics in a mouse model of global brain ischemia, evidenced by real-time imaging of the brain through intravital microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging. The presented micro-balloons hold significant potential to improve the treatment of stroke patients for minimally invasive intervention and in vivo imaging of the pathophysiological events in the peri-stroke phase.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2025

Imaging cellular activity simultaneously across all organs of a vertebrate reveals body-wide circuits

All cells in an animal collectively ensure, moment-to-moment, the survival of the whole organism in the face of environmental stressors1,2. Physiology seeks to elucidate the intricate network of interactions that sustain life, which often span multiple organs, cell types, and timescales, but a major challenge lies in the inability to simultaneously record time-varying cellular activity throughout the entire body. We developed WHOLISTIC (WHole Organism Live Imaging System for recording Tissue and IntraCellular activity), a method to image second-timescale, time-varying intracellular dynamics across cell-types of the vertebrate body. By advancing and integrating volumetric fluorescence microscopy, machine learning, and pancellular transgenic expression of calcium sensors in transparent young Danio rerio (zebrafish) and with proof of concept in adult Danionella, the method enables real-time recording of cellular dynamics across the organism. Calcium is a universal intracellular messenger, with a large array of cellular processes depending on changes in calcium concentration across varying time-scales, making it an ideal proxy of cellular activity3. Using this platform to screen the dynamics of most cells in the body, we discovered unexpected responses of specific cell types to stimuli, such as chondrocyte reactions to cold, meningeal responses to ketamine, and state-dependent activity, such as oscillatory ependymal-cell activity during periods of extended motor quiescence. At the organ scale, the method uncovered pulsating traveling waves along the kidney nephron. At the multi-organ scale, we uncovered muscle synergies and independencies, as well as muscle-organ interactions. Integration with optogenetics allowed us to all-optically determine the causal direction of brain-body interactions. At the whole-organism scale, the method captured the rapid brainstem-controlled redistribution of blood flow across the body. Finally, we advanced Whole-Body Expansion Microscopy4 to provide ground-truth molecular and ultrastructural anatomical context, explaining the spatiotemporal structure of activity captured by WHOLISTIC. Together, these innovations establish a new paradigm for systems biology, bridging cellular and organismal physiology, with broad implications for both fundamental research and drug discovery.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Construction of a genome-wide pooled CRISPRi library as a resource for exploring the acid tolerance mechanism in Streptococcus mutans

Streptococcus mutans is recognized as the primary etiological agent of dental caries, one of the most prevalent infectious diseases globally. Its remarkable acid tolerance enables survival and proliferation in the low-pH biofilm microenvironment, establishing S. mutans as the dominant species in dental plaque and a key contributor to cariogenesis. Although numerous studies have identified genes linked to acid tolerance mechanisms, the full set of essential acid tolerance genes within its genome remains incompletely characterized, largely due to the lack of systematic, genome-scale investigations. To address this knowledge gap, we constructed a genome-wide pooled CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) library targeting 95% of the predicted S. mutans genes and employed next-generation sequencing to identify acid tolerance determinants systematically. Our screen revealed 95 acid tolerance-associated genes, a subset of which were functionally validated through gene knockout studies. Functional enrichment analysis demonstrated significant associations with metabolic pathways (including cofactor biosynthesis and amino/nucleotide sugar metabolism), tRNA modification, and transcriptional regulation. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis identified critical interactors (ComYC, SMU_1979c, DeoC, AcpP, NadD, and SMU_1988c) and two functionally cohesive modules. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights into the acid adaptation strategies of S. mutans and highlight potential therapeutic targets for caries prevention.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2025

Alginate Oligosaccharides (from DP2 to DP9) Differentially Modulate Phytohormone Levels in Botrytis cinerea-Infected Wheat

BackgroundAlginate oligosaccharides (AOS) are emerging biostimulants known to modulate plant defense and growth hormones. However, the influence of AOS chain length--defined by degree of polymerization (DP)--on multiple phytohormones in wheat under pathogen stress has not been systematically evaluated. MethodsWheat seedlings (cv. Bobwhite) were pretreated 24 h before inoculation with Botrytis cinerea using AOS fractions of DP 2-9 (100 mg L-{superscript 1}). Leaves were harvested 48 h post-inoculation, and seven hormones--jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), cytokinins (CTK), abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene (ET), and gibberellins (GA)--were quantified by LC-MS/MS (JA, SA, IAA, CTK, ABA, GA) or GC-FID (ET). Data represent mean fold-changes (n = 5 biological replicates) relative to untreated controls, with significance assessed by two-tailed t-tests (p < 0.05). ResultsAOS effects were highly DP-dependent. JA peaked at DP 4 (2.50-fold; p = 3.12 x 10-) then declined at higher DPs. SA induction was greatest at DP 3 (3.20-fold; p = 8.90 x 10-). IAA and GA both maximized at DP 5 (2.30-fold; p = 5.67 x 10- and 2.34-fold; p = 7.24 x 10-, respectively). CTK and ABA each showed highest accumulation at DP 6 (2.40-fold; p = 4.12 x 10- and 3.00-fold; p = 2.34 x 10-). In contrast, ET was most strongly suppressed by DP 7 (0.416-fold; p = 5.54 x 10-). All DP treatments differed significantly from control (p < 0.05). ConclusionsThe degree of polymerization critically governs AOS-mediated modulation of phytohormones in wheat under B. cinerea stress. Mid-range oligomers (DP 4-6) optimally enhance defense-related hormones (JA, SA, ABA, CTK), while slightly longer chains (DP 7) most effectively suppress ET. These insights enable the tailored selection of AOS fractions to bolster disease resistance and growth in cereal crops.

plant biology↗