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Flower color variegation has been observed in many plant species. However, pink flowers on the white-blooming hawthorn trees found by our group earlier have never been reported. To better understand the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in variegated hawthorn flowers, white and pink flowers at different developmental stages (S1 and S2) underwent transcriptome sequencing separately. Approximately 34.28 Gb of high-quality data were obtained and assembled into 100,013 unigenes with an average length of 706.93 bp. These unigenes were further subjected to functional annotation and biochemical pathway analysis, and DEGs of two types of hawthorn flowers at different developmental stages were studied. Based on the enrichment analysis of DEGs, eight anthocyanin-modified enzyme genes or other enzyme genes that indirectly affect anthocyanin synthesis (5AT, 3GGT, and AI, β-Glu, two Aux/IAAs, two PODs), eight structural genes (UFGT, DFR, CHI, two F3Hs, and three PALs), and three transcription factors (one MYB and two bHLHs) were also identified. We randomly selected 15 genes, and the trends in the expression levels of these genes in the organs of white and pink flowers at different developmental stages were verified by quantitative real-time PCR. Mass sequence data obtained by RNA-seq of variegated hawthorn flowers provided basic sequence information and a unique opportunity to uncover the genetic mechanisms underlying flower color variegation.

International audience; Background: Non-invasive Doppler waveform (DW) analysis is a widely adopted method for detecting and evaluating lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD). Previous investigations have reported that broad heterogeneity in the description of Doppler waveforms is reduced by using a classification method. The reliability of arterial Doppler classification, however, is unknown. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability of a 4-category arterial DW classification method among Chinese sonographers. Methods: During a national ultrasound conference in China attendees were invited to classify thirty arterial Doppler waveforms. After viewing a 4-category (triphasic, biphasic, monophasic, and other) arterial Doppler waveform descriptor presentation, attendees were asked to classify 15 continuous wave (CW) and 15 pulsed wave (PW) Doppler waveforms. Their responses were recorded via mobile phone and the reliability of this 4-category classification was estimated by Fleiss' Kappa inter-rater statistical analysis. Results: One hundred and seventy-eight attendees participated in the analysis. The Kappa coefficient of Fleiss (kappa) for all attendees was 0.522 (p < 0.005) with 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.520-0.523. The reliability of the waveform descriptor triphasic was the highest (kappa = 0.621, p < 0.005), and other was the lowest (kappa = 0.341, p < 0.005). Conclusion: The inter-rater reliability of a 4-category arterial Doppler waveform classification by Chinese sonographers is considered weak (kappa = 0.522, CI95%: 0.520-0.523, p < 0.005). This study reinforces the importance of assessing DW classification reliability and the development of DW descriptors that are more accurately predictive of clinical hemodynamic events.

Background Rhizosphere soil microbial communities play an important role in grapevine growth. However, the relationship of the rhizosphere soil bacterial community and berry quality of Hutai No.8 grape with different tree-ages is unclear. In this work, the Biolog-ECO technique was used to explore the functional diversity of the rhizosphere soil bacterial communities of Hutai No.8 grape with five ages (3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 years old). Meanwhile, grape berry quality indicators related to berry appearance, flavor and functional substance quality was also examined. Results Principal component analysis of grape berry quality mainly separated 3-year-old (first bear fruit) and the other tree-ages. In particular, peel weight and total soluble solid content of 3-year-old grape berry was significantly less than that of others. Furthermore, average well color development, species richness and Shannon's diversity index increased significantly with grapevine age. Moreover, the metabolic activities and functional diversity of soil microbial communities in using carbon sources were significantly increasing with grapevine age. Moreover, there were significant correlation between physicochemical indices of grape berry quality and six functional categories of carbon sources. Conclusion Tree-ages could greatly affect the rhizosphere microbial community structure and richness, and then affect the grape berry quality. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Tailed bacteriophages with genomes larger than 200 kbp are classified as Jumbo phages, and are rarely isolated by conventional methods. These phages are designated “jumbo” owing to their most notable features of a large phage virion and large genome size. However, in addition to these, jumbo phages also exhibit several novel characteristics that have not been observed for phages with smaller genomes, which differentiate jumbo phages in terms of genome organization, virion structure, progeny propagation, and evolution. In this review, we summarize available reports on jumbo phages and discuss the differences between jumbo phages and small-genome phages. We also discuss data suggesting that jumbo phages might have evolved from phages with smaller genomes by acquiring additional functional genes, and that these additional genes reduce the dependence of the jumbo phages on the host bacteria.