Long read sequencing of Toona sinensis (A. Juss) Roem: A chromosome-level reference genome for the family Meliaceae.

Chinese mahogany (Toona sinensis) is a woody plant that is widely cultivated in China and Malaysia. Toona sinensis is important economically, including as a nutritious food source, as material for traditional Chinese medicine and as a high-quality hardwood. However, the absence of a reference genome has hindered in-depth molecular and evolutionary studies of this plant. In this study, we report a high-quality T. sinensis genome assembly, with scaffolds anchored to 28 chromosomes and a total assembled length of 596 Mb (contig N50 = 1.5 Mb and scaffold N50 = 21.5 Mb). A total of 34,345 genes were predicted in the genome after homology-based and de novo annotation analyses. Evolutionary analysis showed that the genomes of T. sinensis and Populus trichocarpa diverged ~99.1-103.1 million years ago, and the T. sinensis genome underwent a recent genome-wide duplication event at ~7.8 million years and one more ancient whole genome duplication event at ~71.5 million years. These results provide a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome for T. sinensis and confirm its evolutionary position at the genomic level. Such information will offer genomic resources to study the molecular mechanism of terpenoid biosynthesis and the formation of flavour compounds, which will further facilitate its molecular breeding. As the first chromosome-level genome assembled in the family Meliaceae, it will provide unique insights into the evolution of members of the Meliaceae.

Evaluate the performance of four artificial intelligence-aided diagnostic systems in identifying and measuring four types of pulmonary nodules.

PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the performance of four artificial intelligence-aided diagnostic systems in identifying and measuring four types of pulmonary nodules. METHODS: Four types of nodules were implanted in a commercial lung phantom. The phantom was scanned with multislice spiral computed tomography, after which four systems (A, B, C, D) were used to identify the nodules and measure their volumes. RESULTS: The relative volume error (RVE) of system A was the lowest for all nodules, except for small ground glass nodules (SGGNs). System C had the smallest RVE for SGGNs, -0.13 (-0.56, 0.00). In the Bland-Altman test, only systems A and C passed the consistency test, P = 0.40. In terms of precision, the miss rate (MR) of system C was 0.00% for small solid nodules (SSNs), ground glass nodules (GGNs), and solid nodules (SNs) but 4.17% for SGGNs. The comparable system D MRs for SGGNs, SSNs, and GGNs were 71.30%, 25.93%, and 47.22%, respectively, the highest among all the systems. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that system A had the best performance in recognizing SSNs and GGNs, with areas under the curve of 0.91 and 0.68. System C had the best performance for SGGNs (AUC = 0.91). CONCLUSION: Among four types nodules, SGGNs are the most difficult to recognize, indicating the need to improve higher accuracy and precision of artificial systems. System A most accurately measured nodule volume. System C was most precise in recognizing all four types of nodules, especially SGGN.

High-level production of the industrial product lycopene by the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum.

The biosynthesis of the major carotenoid spirilloxanthin by the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum is thought to occur via a linear pathway proceeding through phytoene and, later, lycopene as intermediates. This assumption is based solely on early chemical evidence (B. H. Davies, Biochem. J. 116:93-99, 1970). In most purple bacteria, the desaturation of phytoene, catalyzed by the enzyme phytoene desaturase (CrtI), leads to neurosporene, involving only three dehydrogenation steps and not four as in the case of lycopene. We show here that the chromosomal insertion of a kanamycin resistance cassette into the crtC-crtD region of the partial carotenoid gene cluster, whose gene products are responsible for the downstream processing of lycopene, leads to the accumulation of the latter as the major carotenoid. We provide spectroscopic and biochemical evidence that in vivo, lycopene is incorporated into the light-harvesting complex 1 as efficiently as the methoxylated carotenoids spirilloxanthin (in the wild type) and 3,4,3',4'-tetrahydrospirilloxanthin (in a crtD mutant), both under semiaerobic, chemoheterotrophic, and photosynthetic, anaerobic conditions. Quantitative growth experiments conducted in dark, semiaerobic conditions, using a growth medium for high cell density and high intracellular membrane levels, which are suitable for the conventional industrial production in the absence of light, yielded lycopene at up to 2 mg/g (dry weight) of cells or up to 15 mg/liter of culture. These values are comparable to those of many previously described Escherichia coli strains engineered for lycopene production. This study provides the first genetic proof that the R. rubrum CrtI produces lycopene exclusively as an end product.

[Effect of skull acupuncture and scalp acupuncture on serum vascular endothelial growth factor in the patient of acute cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate effect of skull suture acupuncture (skull acupuncture) and scalp acupuncture on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the patient of acute cerebral infarction (CI). METHODS: Twenty cases of CI were treated with skull suture acupuncture at coronal suture, sagittal suture, lambdoid suture, etc. combined with medication (group B), group C (n=20) with scalp acupuncture at contralateral Dingnie Qian-xiexian (MS 6) and Dingnie Houxiexian (MS 7) plus medication, and group A (n=20) with medication. Changes of serum VEGF contents were investigated in the three groups. RESULTS: After treatment, the serum VEGF content did not significantly change in group A (P > 0.05), and significantly increased in group B and group C (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), with significant difference as group B and C compared with that of group A (P < 0.05), and with no significant difference between group B and group C (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Skull suture acupuncture combined with medication and scalp acupuncture plus medication have a similar effect on serum VEGF in the patient of acute cerebral infarction.