Genome-wide identification of WRKY transcription factors in Casuarina equisetifolia and the function analysis of CeqWRKY11 in response to NaCl/NaHCO3 stresses.

BACKGROUND: Casuarina equisetifolia (C. equisetifolia) is a woody species with many excellent features. It has natural resistance against drought, salt and saline-alkali stresses. WRKY transcription factors (TFs) play significant roles in plant response to abiotic stresses, therefore, molecular characterization of WRKY gene family under abiotic stresses holds great significance for improvement of forest trees through molecular biological tools. At present, WRKY TFs from C. equisetifolia have not been thoroughly studied with respect to their role in salt and saline-alkali stresses response. The current study was conducted to bridge the same knowledge gap. RESULTS: A total of 64 WRKYs were identified in C. equisetifolia and divided into three major groups i.e. group I, II and III, consisting of 10, 42 and 12 WRKY members, respectively. The WRKY members in group II were further divided into 5 subgroups according to their homology with Arabidopsis counterparts. WRKYs belonging to the same group exhibited higher similarities in gene structure and the presence of conserved motifs. Promoter analysis data showed the presence of various response elements, especially those related to hormone signaling and abiotic stresses, such as ABRE (ABA), TGACG (MeJA), W-box ((C/T) TGAC (T/C)) and TC-rich motif. Tissue specific expression data showed that CeqWRKYs were mainly expressed in root under normal growth conditions. Furthermore, most of the CeqWRKYs were up-regulated by NaCl and NaHCO3 stresses with few of WRKYs showing early responsiveness to both stresses while few others exhibiting late response. Although the expressions of CeqWRKYs were also induced by cold stress, the response was delayed compared with other stresses. Transgenic C. equisetifolia plants overexpressing CeqWRKY11 displayed lower electrolyte leakage, higher chlorophyll content, and enhanced tolerance to both stresses. The higher expression of abiotic stress related genes, especially CeqHKT1 and CeqPOD7, in overexpression lines points to the maintenance of optimum Na+/K+ ratio, and ROS scavenging as possible key molecular mechanisms underlying salt stress tolerance. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that CeqWRKYs might be key regulators of NaCl and NaHCO3 stresses response in C. equisetifolia. In addition, positive correlation of CeqWRKY11 expression with increased stress tolerance in C. equisetifolia encourages further research on other WRKY family members through functional genomic tools. The best candidates could be incorporated in other woody plant species for improving stress tolerance.

Association between exposure to chemical mixtures and epigenetic ageing biomarkers: Modifying effects of thyroid hormones and physical activity.

Evidence on the effects of internal chemical mixture exposures on biological age is limited. It also remains unclear whether hormone homeostasis and lifestyle factors can modify such a relationship. Based on the Biomarkers for Air Pollutants Exposure (BAPE) study, which involved healthy older adults aged 60-69 years in China, we found that chemical mixture exposures, including metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), phthalates (PAEs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs), were significantly associated with shortened DNAmTL and accelerated SkinBloodClock, in which PFASs and OPEs in blood were the primary contributors to DNAmTL, while metals and PAEs had relatively higher contributions in urine. Furthermore, lower levels of thyroxin appeared to exacerbate the adverse effects of environmental chemicals on epigenetic ageing but relatively higher levels of physical activity had the beneficial impact. These findings may have important implications for the development of healthy ageing strategy and aged care policy, particularly in light of the global acceleration of population ageing.

Icing on the Cake: Imidazole-Anchored Strategy To Enhance the Proton Conductivity of Two Isostructural Ce(IV)/Hf(IV) Metal-Organic Frameworks.

In the field of proton conduction, the acquisition of crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with high stability and ultrahigh proton conductivity has been of great research value and is worth continuous exploration. Here, we greenly synthesized a three-dimensional porous MOF (MOF-801-Ce) by using [(NH4)2Ce(NO3)6 and fumaric acid as starting materials and solvothermally synthesized Hf-UiO-66-NO2 by using HfCl4 and 2-nitroterephthalic acid as starting materials. A series of measurements have shown that both MOFs exhibit good water stability, acid-base stability, and thermal stability and demonstrate outstanding proton conductivity. At 100 °C and 98% relative humidity (RH), the proton conductivities (σ) could be 2.59 × 10-3 S·cm-1 for MOF-801-Ce and 0.89 × 10-3 S·cm-1 for Hf-UiO-66-NO2. To pursue higher proton conductivity, we further adopted the evaporation approach to encapsulate imidazole molecules in the pores of the two compounds, achieving the imidazole-encapsulated MOFs, Im@MOF-801-Ce and Im@Hf-UiO-66-NO2. As expected, their σ values were significantly boosted by almost an order of magnitude up to 10-2 S·cm-1. Finally, their proton-conductive mechanisms were explored in light of the structural information, gas adsorption/desorption, and other tests. The outstanding structural stability of these MOFs and their durability of the proton conduction capability manifested that they have great promise in electrochemical fields.

Calcium signaling-mediated transcriptional reprogramming during abiotic stress response in plants.

Calcium (Ca2+) is a second messenger in plants growth and development, as well as in stress responses. The transient elevation in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration have been reported to be involved in plants response to abiotic and biotic stresses. In plants, Ca2+-induced transcriptional changes trigger molecular mechanisms by which plants adapt and respond to environment stresses. The mechanism for transcription regulation by Ca2+ could be either rapid in which Ca2+ signals directly cause the related response through the gene transcript and protein activities, or involved amplification of Ca2+ signals by up-regulation the expression of Ca2+ responsive genes, and then increase the transmission of Ca2+ signals. Ca2+ regulates the expression of genes by directly binding to the transcription factors (TFs), or indirectly through its sensors like calmodulin, calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPK) and calcineurin B-like protein (CBL). In recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding the role of Ca2+-mediated transcriptional regulation in different processes in plants. In this review, we have provided a comprehensive overview of Ca2+-mediated transcriptional regulation in plants in response to abiotic stresses including nutrition deficiency, temperature stresses (like heat and cold), dehydration stress, osmotic stress, hypoxic, salt stress, acid rain, and heavy metal stress.

Research on multi-cluster green persimmon detection method based on improved Faster RCNN.

To address the problem of accurate recognition and localization of multiple clusters of green persimmons with similar color to the background under natural environment, this study proposes a multi-cluster green persimmon identification method based on improved Faster RCNN was proposed by using the self-built green persimmon dataset. The feature extractor DetNet is used as the backbone feature extraction network, and the model detection attention is focused on the target object itself by adding the weighted ECA channel attention mechanism to the three effective feature layers in the backbone, and the detection accuracy of the algorithm is improved. By maximizing the pooling of the lower layer features with the added attention mechanism, the high and low dimensions and magnitudes are made the same. The processed feature layers are combined with multi-scale features using a serial layer-hopping connection structure to enhance the robustness of feature information, effectively copes with the problem of target detection of objects with obscured near scenery in complex environments and accelerates the detection speed through feature complementarity between different feature layers. In this study, the K-means clustering algorithm is used to group and anchor the bounding boxes so that they converge to the actual bounding boxes, The average mean accuracy (mAP) of the improved Faster RCNN model reaches 98.4%, which was 11.8% higher than that of traditional Faster RCNN model, which also increases the accuracy of object detection during regression prediction. and the average detection time of a single image is improved by 0.54s. The algorithm is significantly improved in terms of accuracy and speed, which provides a basis for green fruit growth state monitoring and intelligent yield estimation in real scenarios.

How rice adapts to high temperatures.

High-temperature stress affects crop yields worldwide. Identifying thermotolerant crop varieties and understanding the basis for this thermotolerance would have important implications for agriculture, especially in the face of climate change. Rice (Oryza sativa) varieties have evolved protective strategies to acclimate to high temperature, with different thermotolerance levels. In this review, we examine the morphological and molecular effects of heat on rice in different growth stages and plant organs, including roots, stems, leaves and flowers. We also explore the molecular and morphological differences among thermotolerant rice lines. In addition, some strategies are proposed to screen new rice varieties for thermotolerance, which will contribute to the improvement of rice for agricultural production in the future.

TAF1D promotes proliferation by transcriptionally activating G2/M phase-related genes in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma.

High-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NB) is an aggressive childhood cancer that responds poorly to currently available therapies and is associated with only about a 50% 5-year survival rate. MYCN amplification is a critical driver of these aggressive tumors, but so far there have not been any approved treatments to effectively treat HR-NB by targeting MYCN or its downstream effectors. Thus, the identification of novel molecular targets and therapeutic strategies to treat children diagnosed with HR-NB represents an urgent unmet medical need. Here, we conducted a targeted siRNA screening and identified TATA box-binding protein-associated factor RNA polymerase I subunit D, TAF1D, as a critical regulator of the cell cycle and proliferation in HR-NB cells. Analysis of three independent primary NB cohorts determined that high TAF1D expression correlated with MYCN-amplified, high-risk disease and poor clinical outcomes. TAF1D knockdown more robustly inhibited cell proliferation in MYCN-amplified NB cells compared with MYCN-non-amplified NB cells, as well as suppressed colony formation and inhibited tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model of MYCN-amplified NB. RNA-seq analysis revealed that TAF1D knockdown downregulates the expression of genes associated with the G2/M transition, including the master cell-cycle regulator, cell-cycle-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), resulting in cell-cycle arrest at G2/M. Our findings demonstrate that TAF1D is a key oncogenic regulator of MYCN-amplified HR-NB and suggest that therapeutic targeting of TAF1D may be a viable strategy to treat HR-NB patients by blocking cell-cycle progression and the proliferation of tumor cells.

Plasma membrane-associated calcium signaling regulates arsenate tolerance in Arabidopsis.

Arsenate [As(V)] is a metalloid with heavy metal properties and is widespread in many environments. Dietary intake of food derived from arsenate-contaminated plants constitutes a major fraction of the potentially health-threatening human exposure to arsenic. However, the mechanisms underlying how plants respond to arsenate stress and regulate the function of relevant transporters are poorly understood. Here, we observed that As(V) stress induces a significant Ca2+ signal in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) roots. We then identified a calcium-dependent protein kinase, CALCIUM-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE 23 (CPK23), that interacts with the plasma membrane As(V)/Pi transporter PHOSPHATE TRANSPORTER 1;1 (PHT1;1) in vitro and in vivo. cpk23 mutants displayed a sensitive phenotype under As(V) stress, while transgenic Arabidopsis plants with constitutively active CPK23 showed a tolerant phenotype. Furthermore, CPK23 phosphorylated the C-terminal domain of PHT1;1, primarily at Ser514 and Ser520. Multiple experiments on PHT1;1 variants demonstrated that PHT1;1S514 phosphorylation is essential for PHT1;1 function and localization under As(V) stress. In summary, we revealed that plasma-membrane-associated calcium signaling regulates As(V) tolerance. These results provide insight for crop bioengineering to specifically address arsenate pollution in soils.

Infection-responsive long-term antibacterial bone plates for open fracture therapy.

The infections in open fracture induce high morbidity worldwide. Thus, developing efficient anti-infective orthopedic devices is of great significance. In this work, we designed a kind of infection-responsive long-term antibacterial bone plates. Through a facile and flexible volatilization method, a multi-aldehyde polysaccharide derivative, oxidized sodium alginate, was crosslinked with multi-amino compounds, gentamycin and gelatin, to fabricate a uniform coating on Ti bone plates via Schiff base reaction, which was followed by a secondary crosslinking process by glutaraldehyde. The double-crosslinked coating was stable under normal condition, and could responsively release gentamycin by the triggering of the acidic microenvironment caused by bacterial metabolism, owning to the pH-responsiveness of imine structure. The thickness of the coating was ranging from 22.0 µm to 63.6 µm. The coated bone plates (Ti-GOGs) showed infection-triggered antibacterial properties (>99%) and high biocompatibility. After being soaked for five months, it still possessed efficient antibacterial ability, showing its sustainable antibacterial performance. The in vivo anti-infection ability was demonstrated by an animal model of infection after fracture fixation (IAFF). At the early stage of IAFF, Ti-GOGs could inhibit the bacterial infection (>99%). Subsequently, Ti-GOGs could promote recovery of fracture of IAFF. This work provides a convenient and universal strategy for fabrication of various antibacterial orthopedic devices, which is promising to prevent and treat IAFF.

The relationship between AGR2 levels and intestinal barrier function in high-fat diet animal models.

This study aimed to observe the effect of anterior gradient protein 2 (AGR2) levels on intestinal barrier function in HFD animal models. For this purpose, thirty healthy male clean-grade C57BL/6 mice were randomly separated into a normal control group and a high-fat group. The normal control group was fed a normal diet, while the high-fat group was fed an HFD for a total of 8 weeks. It collected body weight changes before and after modeling of two groups of rats and serum samples and detected fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, AGR2, and diamine oxidase (DAO) concentrations. It collected the expression levels of AGR2 in the colon of rats after modeling, evaluated the permeability of the colon and small intestine barrier by Ussing chamber and Evan's blue (EB) methods, and analyzed the correlation between AGR2 levels and intestinal barrier function using Pearson correlation. Results showed that when the two groups of mice were fed for 8 weeks, their body weight, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and triglycerides all met the characteristics of an HFD mouse model, and the model was successfully established. When the two groups of mice were fed for 8 weeks, the serum AGR2 concentration, relative expression of AGR2 in colon tissue, Gt, and EB content of the high-fat group mice were higher than those of the normal control group, and the difference was significant (P<0.05); Meanwhile, the serum DAO concentration and Isc of the high-fat group mice were lower than those of the normal control group, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05); The relative expression levels of serum AFR2 and colon AGR2 were negatively correlated with Isc (r=-0.503, -0.623, P<0.05), and positively correlated with Gt (r=0.461, 0.560, P<0.05). There was a homogeneous distribution characteristic between the relative expression levels of serum AFR2 and serum DAO, colon AGR2, and Isc variables. It was concluded that HFD could upregulate the expression of AGR2 in mice, downregulate the level of DAO, and damage the intestinal barrier function of mice. Both serum AGR2 concentration and colonic AGR2 relative expression can participate in the regulation of colonic intestinal barrier function and can serve as potential indicators for evaluating intestinal barrier damage.

Transcriptome profiling of Arabidopsis slac1-3 mutant reveals compensatory alterations in gene expression underlying defective stomatal closure.

Plants adjust their stomatal aperture for regulating CO2 uptake and transpiration. S-type anion channel SLAC1 (slow anion channel-associated 1) is required for stomatal closure in response to various stimuli such as abscisic acid, CO2, and light/dark transitions etc. Arabidopsis slac1 mutants exhibited defects in stimulus-induced stomatal closure, reduced sensitivity to darkness, and faster water loss from detached leaves. The global transcriptomic response of a plant with defective stimuli-induced stomatal closure (particularly because of defects in SLAC1) remains to be explored. In the current research we attempted to address the same biological question by comparing the global transcriptomic changes in Arabidopsis slac1-3 mutant and wild-type (WT) under dark, and dehydration stress, using RNA-sequencing. Abscisic acid (ABA)- and dark-induced stomatal closure was defective in Arabidopsis slac1-3 mutants, consequently the mutants had cooler leaf temperature than WT. Next, we determined the transcriptomic response of the slac1-3 mutant and WT under dark and dehydration stress. Under dehydration stress, the molecular response of slac1-3 mutant was clearly distinct from WT; the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was significantly higher in mutant than WT. Dehydration induced DEGs in mutant were related to hormone signaling pathways, and biotic and abiotic stress response. Although, overall number of DEGs in both genotypes was not different under dark, however, the expression pattern was very much distinct; whereas majority of DEGs in WT were found to be downregulated, in slac1-3 majority were upregulated under dark. Further, a set 262 DEGs was identified with opposite expression pattern between WT and mutant under light-darkness transition. Amongst these, DEGs belonging to stress hormone pathways, and biotic and abiotic stress response were over-represented. To sum up, we have reported gene expression reprogramming underlying slac1-3 mutation and resultantly defective stomatal closure in Arabidopsis. Moreover, the induction of biotic and abiotic response in mutant under dehydration and darkness could be suggestive of the role of stomata as a switch in triggering these responses. To summarize, the data presented here provides useful insights into the gene expression reprogramming underlying slac1-3 mutation and resultant defects in stomatal closure.

Diffuse uterine leiomyomatosis: A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Diffuse uterine leiomyomatosis (DUL) is a benign uterine smooth muscle neoplasm with unknown etiology. Since DUL is rarely reported, knowledge regarding it is limited. The rate of early diagnosis is low, and DUL is often misdiagnosed as common multiple uterine leiomyomas before surgery. CASE SUMMARY: A 27-year-old patient with no sexual activity presented to the Emergency Department of our hospital complaining of heavy vaginal bleeding. She had a history of uterine fibroids and menorrhagia. Pelvic examination showed a regularly enlarged uterus, similar in size to that associated with a 4-mo pregnancy. Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed numerous multiple uterine fibroids, and a transabdominal myomectomy (TM) was performed. Intraoperative exploration revealed that the myometrium was full of myoma nodules of variable sizes. Over 50 leiomyomas were removed. The pathology report confirmed leiomyoma. The patient was discharged and received a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (3.75 mg) for 6 mo. Ten months after surgery, the patient presented to the hospital again for abnormal uterine bleeding. MRI showed an irregular mass with a diameter of 5.2 cm without sharp demarcation in the uterine cavity. Submucosal leiomyoma was considered first, and the patient underwent a hysteroscopic myomectomy plus hymen repair. Intraoperative exploration showed that there were several leiomyomatosis masses in the cavity. Postoperative pathological examination confirmed submucosal leiomyoma and necrotic and generative tissue. Although the menstrual cycle was still irregular, the patient did not have symptoms of menorrhagia for a period of 28 mo after the second surgery. CONCLUSION: Individuals with DUL are easily misdiagnosed due to the lack of specific manifestations of this disease. MRI is helpful for early identification and preoperative evaluation. There is currently no unified method of diagnosis. For women who want to preserve fertility, conservative surgery should be made an option. When TM is chosen, a modified new myomectomy should be considered to avoid the drawbacks of traditional TM.

Enantioselective assembly and recognition of heterochiral porous organic cages deduced from binary chiral components.

Chiral recognition and discrimination is not only of significance in biological processes but also a powerful method to fabricate functional supramolecular materials. Herein, a pair of heterochiral porous organic cages (HPOC-1), out of four possible enantiomeric products, with mirror stereoisomeric crystal structures were cleanly prepared by condensation occurring in the exclusive combination of cyclohexanediamine and binaphthol-based tetraaldehyde enantiomers. Nuclear magnetic resonance and luminescence spectroscopy have been employed to monitor the assembly process of HPOC-1, revealing the clean formation of heterochiral organic cages due to the enantioselective recognition of (S,S)-binaphthol towards (R,R)-cyclohexanediamine derivatives and vice versa. Interestingly, HPOC-1 exhibits circularly polarized luminescence and enantioselective recognition of chiral substrates according to the circular dichroism spectral change. Theoretical simulations have been carried out, rationalizing both the enantioselective assembly and recognition of HPOC-1.

Comparative Studies on the Proton Conductivities of Hafnium-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks and Related Chitosan or Nafion Composite Membranes.

Hafnium (Hf)-based UiO-66 series metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely studied on gas storage, gas separation, reduction reaction, and other aspects since they were first prepared in 2012, but there are few studies on proton conductivity. In this work, one Hf-based MOF, Hf-UiO-66-fum showing UiO-66 structure, also known as MOF-801-Hf, was synthesized at room temperature using cheap fumaric acid as the bridging ligand, and then imidazole units were successfully introduced into MOF-801-Hf to obatin a doped product, Im@MOF-801-Hf. Note that both MOF-801-Hf and Im@MOF-801-Hf demonstrate excellent thermal, water, and acid-base stabilities. Expectedly, the maximum proton conductivity (σ) of Im@MOF-801-Hf (1.46 × 10-2 S·cm-1) is nearly 4 times greater than that of MOF-801-Hf (3.98 × 10-3 S·cm-1) under 100 °C and 98% relative humidity (RH). To explore their possible practical application value, we doped them into chitosan (CS) or Nafion membranes as fillers, namely, CS/MOF-801-Hf-X, CS/Im@MOF-801-Hf-Y, and Nafion/MOF-801-Hf-Z (X, Y, and Z are the doping percentages of MOF in the membrane, respectively). Intriguingly, it was found that CS/MOF-801-Hf-6 and CS/Im@MOF-801-Hf-4 indicated the highest σ values of 1.73 × 10-2 and 2.14 × 10-2 S·cm-1, respectively, under 100 °C and 98% RH and Nafion/MOF-801-Hf-9 also revealed a high σ value of 4.87 × 10-2 S·cm-1 under 80 °C and 98% RH, which showed varying degrees of enhancement compared to the original MOFs or pure CS and Nafion membranes. Our study illustrates that these Hf-based MOFs and related composite membranes offer great potential in electrochemical fields.

Assessing the low-carbon city pilot policy on carbon emission from consumption and production in China: how underlying mechanism and spatial spillover effect?

The low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy is an important initiative for China to fulfill its international commitment to carbon emission reduction and achieve low-carbon transformation. In this context, this study investigated whether the LCCP policy of China has achieved carbon emission reduction from the production and consumption perspectives and how its underlying mechanism and spatial spillover effect. Using the panel dataset of 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2019, this study applied the staggered DID model to examine the effects and its underlying mechanism of the LCCP policy on carbon intensity (CI) and carbon emission per capita (CP). We also conducted heterogeneity and spatial spillover effect analyses using the textual quantification method and spatial DID. Our results show that the LCCP policy effectively reduced CI and CP, but these effects did not appear until the third year of implementation. The above conclusions passed a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Reducing industrial emissions, improving technological innovation, and optimizing the efficiency of energy usage were three important mechanisms to reduce CI and CP, validating the effectiveness of the LCCP policy. Command-mandatory and voluntary LCCP policy tools achieved better results, and the LCCP policy exerted a significant emission reduction effect on second-tier pilot cities as compared to others. The carbon emission abatement of the LCCP policy has also demonstrated a spatial spillover impact on neighboring cities. This study focused on analyzing the mechanism paths and spatial spillover effects of the LCCP policy impact and provided an important decision-making reference in promoting the LCCP policy for not only China but also other developing countries. Specifically, low-carbon pilot experiences and typical cases should be refined, ways for accelerating the greening and cleaning of energy usage must be explored, and regional joint control and collaborative governance should be established to achieve China's low-carbon transformation.

Heat Shock-Induced Accumulation of the Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3-Like Kinase BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 2 Promotes Early Flowering but Reduces Thermotolerance in Arabidopsis.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential plant growth- and development-regulating phytohormones. When applied exogenously, BRs ameliorate heat shock (HS)-induced cell damage and enhance plant thermotolerance; however, the molecular mechanism by which BRs regulate plant thermotolerance is unknown. In this study, by analyzing the thermotolerance of a series of BR signaling mutants and plants that overexpressed different BR signaling components, we obtained comprehensive data showing that BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 2 (BIN2) plays a major role in mediating the crosstalk between BR signaling and plant HS responses. By RNA-Seq, 608 HS- and BIN2-regulated genes were identified. An analysis of the 1-kb promoter sequences of these genes showed enrichment of an abscisic acid (ABA) INSENSITIVE 5 (ABI5)-binding cis-element. Physiological studies showed that thermotolerance was reduced in bin2-1 mutant and ABI5-OX plants but increased in the abi5 mutant, and that the abi5 mutation could recover the thermotolerance of bin2-1 plants to a wild-type level, suggesting that ABI5 functions downstream of BIN2 in regulating plant thermotolerance. Further, HS treatment increased the cellular abundance of BIN2. Both bin2-1 mutant and BIN2-OX plants showed early flowering, while the BIN2 loss-of-function mutant bin2-3 bil1 bil2 flowered late. Given these findings, we propose that under HS conditions plants increase BIN2 activity to promote early flowering and ensure species survival; however, this reduces the thermotolerance and survivability of individual plants partially by activating ABI5.

Proton Conductive Lanthanide-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis Strategies, Structural Features, and Recent Progress.

In the fields of proton exchange membrane fuel cells as well as impedance recognition, molecular sieve, and biochemistry, the development of proton conductive materials is essential. The design and preparation of the next generation of proton conductive materials-crystalline metal-organic framework (MOF) materials with high proton conductivity and excellent water stability-are facing great challenges. Due to the large radius and high positive charge of lanthanides, they often interact with organic ligands to exhibit high coordination numbers and flexible coordination configurations, resulting in the higher stability of lanthanide-based MOFs (Ln-MOFs) than their transition metal analogues, especially regarding water stability. Therefore, Ln-MOFs have attracted considerable attention. This review offers a view of the latest progress of proton conductive Ln-MOFs, including synthesis strategy, structural characteristics, and advantages, proton conductivity, proton conductive mechanism, and applications. More importantly, by discussing structure-property relationships, we searched for and analyzed design techniques and directions of development of Ln-MOFs in the future. The latest progress of synthesis strategy, structural characteristics, proton conductive properties and mechanism and applications on Ln-MOFs. Ln-MOFS Lanthanide-based MOFs, MOF metal-organic framework, PEMFC proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Preparation, mechanical properties, fatigue and tribological behavior of double crosslinked high strength hydrogel.

Polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel (PVA-H) has been widely used in clinical transplantation because of its high water content, good biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, PVA-H have some problems, such as low elongation at break, low fatigue resistance and high friction coefficient, which hinders its application in clinic. In this paper, a novel high-performance PVA hydrogel enhanced by chemical double crosslinking (CDC) method had been synthesized. The influences of chemical crosslinking agent concentration on mechanical properties, friction properties and fatigue properties of materials were systematically investigated, in order to meet the clinical application of artificial meniscus, artificial cartilage, nucleus pulposus and so on. As a result, due to the introduction of chemical bonds, CDC hydrogels have over 600% elongation at break, modulus loss after fatigue test was reduced by 42%, average coefficient during friction was reduced to 0.048, and biocompatibility performance was excellent. The PVA hydrogel enhanced by CDC method provides a new concept for us to prepare high-performance PVA hydrogel and a promising material to replace cartilage, meniscus, nucleus pulposus and other tissues.

Identification of potential pathogenic mutations in Chinese children with first branchial cleft anomalies detected by whole-exome sequencing.

IMPORTANCE: First branchial cleft anomalies (FBCAs) are rare congenital malformations, accounting for < 8% of all branchial cleft anomalies. However, little is currently known about the cause of FBCAs at the molecular level. OBJECTIVE: To identify genomic alterations related to the genetic etiology of FBCAs in Chinese children. METHODS: We performed whole-exome sequencing of samples from 10 pediatric patients with FBCAs. Data analysis was carried out using the Burrow-Wheeler Alignment software package, and the dbSNP database for comparisons. Rare variants were further validated by Sanger sequencing. Insertion/deletions (indels) were examined using the Genome Analysis Toolkit. RESULTS: We identified 14 non-synonymous mutations in seven potential FBCA-susceptibility genes (TRAPPC12, NRP2, NPNT, SH3RF2, RHPN1, TENM4, and ARMCX4). We also detected 133 shared small indels in 125 genes. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that most of the identified genes played critical roles in development and differentiation pathways involved in regulating organ development. INTERPRETATION: We characterized the mutational landscape in pathways involved in development and differentiation in Chinese children with FBCA. The results identified potential pathogenic genes and mutations related to FBCA, and provide molecular-level support for the branchial theory of FBCA pathogenesis.

A sextuple-decker heteroleptic phthalocyanine heterometallic samarium-cadmium complex with crystal structure and nonlinear optical properties in solution and gel glass.

A sextuple-decker heteroleptic phthalocyanine heterometallic compound (1) with a subunit arrangement of {(Pc)Sm(Pc)Cd(Pc*)Cd(Pc*)Cd(Pc)Sm(Pc)} has been prepared and analyzed using various spectroscopic instruments, in which four unsubstituted phthalocyanine anions (Pc) and two substituted analogues (Pc*) with n-pentoxyl substituents at eight peripheral positions are connected through the complexation of two Sm(III) and three Cd(II) ions. In particular, its sextuple-decker structure has been disclosed by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The solution and gel glass forms of this compound display third-order nonlinear optical properties due to the intrinsic conjugated nature over the sextuple-decker sandwich complex.