Composition and evolutionary characterization of the gut microbiota in pigs.

The intestinal microbiota plays significant role in the physiology and functioning of host organisms. However, there is limited knowledge of the composition and evolution of microbiota-host relationships from wild ancestors to modern domesticated species. In this study, the 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 in the intestinal contents of different pig breeds was analyzed and was compared using high-throughput sequencing. This identified 18 323 amplicon sequence variants, of which the Firmicutes and Actinobacteria phyla and Bifidobacterium and Allobaculum genera were most prevalent in wild pigs (WP). In contrast, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes predominated in Chinese Shanxi Black pigs (CSB), while Firmicutes were the most prevalent phylum in Large White pigs (LW) and Iberian pigs (IB), followed by Bacteroidetes in IB and Proteobacteria in LW. At the genus level, Shigella and Lactobacillus were most prevalent in CSB and LW, while Actinobacillus and Sarcina predominated in IB. Differential gene expression together with phylogenetic and functional analyses indicated significant differences in the relative abundance of microbial taxa between different pig breeds. Although many microbial taxa were common to both wild and domestic pigs, significant diversification was observed in bacterial genes that potentially influence host phenotypic traits. Overall, these findings suggested that both the composition and functions of the microbiota were closely associated with domestication and the evolutionary changes in the host. The members of the microbial communities were vertically transmitted in pigs, with evidence of co-evolution of both the hosts and their intestinal microbial communities. These results enhance our understanding and appreciation of the complex interactions between intestinal microbes and hosts and highlight the importance of applying this knowledge in agricultural and microbiological research.

Self-assembly solid-state enhanced red emission of quinolinemalononitrile: optical waveguides and stimuli response.

The fluorescence of luminescent emitters is often quenched in the solid state, because of the typical aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect, which is a thorny obstacle to high-performance organic optoelectronic materials. The exploration of solid-state enhanced long wavelength, red-emitting chromophores, especially possessing one-dimensional (1D) assembly features, is of great importance. Interestingly, an excellent solid-state enhanced red emission system (denoted as ED) based on quinolinemalononitrile has been developed via the delicate modification of the conventional ACQ dicyanomethylene-4H-pyran (DCM) derivative (denoted as BD) through crystal engineering. ED exhibits extraordinary self-assembly property in a variety of solvents, even realizing the "waving ribbons" with a length of 6 mm and a diameter of 10 µm. Crystal analysis shows that the CH···π and CH···N supramolecular interactions of ED contribute to the twisted self-assembly solid-state enhanced emission phenomenon. However, for BD, strong face-to-face stacking leads to fluorescence quenching in the solid state. Because of such easy assembly and strong solid-state emission properties, application for optical waveguides of ED is realized with a low optical loss. Stimuli-responsive behavior is also elaborated with color change between orange and red by grinding/fuming or pressing/heating.

Ethyl 1-(4-meth-oxy-benz-yl)-3-p-tolyl-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxyl-ate.

In the title compound, C(21)H(22)N(2)O(3), the pyrazole ring makes dihedral angles of 12.93 (8) and 69.38 (8)°, respectively, with the tolyl and meth-oxy-benzyl rings.