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This study aims to quantitatively assess the total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) content of reservoir sediments in southwest China using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS). FTIRS measurements were performed on 187 sediment samples from four reservoirs to develop calibration models that relate FTIR spectral information with conventional property concentrations using partial least squares regression (PLSR). Robust calibration models were established for TOC and TN content. The external validation of these models yielded a significant correlation between FTIR-inferred and conventionally measured concentrations of R2= 0.88 for TOC, R2= 0.90 for TN. This method can be performed with a small sample size and is nondestructive throughout the simple measurement process. The TOC and TN content in the sediment can be determined with high effectiveness without being overly expensive, making it an advantageous method when measuring a large number of samples.

Homozygous missense variants in PTRHD1have been identified to cause parkinsonism by segregation analysis in families. Further replication in the Parkinson’s disease (PD) population might provide additional insight. Here, we analyzed the rare variants in a Chinese PD cohort (Ncase = 1367, Ncontrol = 3298) with whole exome sequencing. We did not identify the variants described in previous studies, and no patient carried other homozygous or compound heterozygous variants of PTRHD1. Three rare variants were identified, but rare variants of PTRHD1were not enriched in PD. Genetic screening suggested rare variants of PTRHD1as disease cause were rare in PD in East Asians.

Orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm is a classical greedy algorithm widely used in compressed sensing. In this paper, by exploiting the Wielandt inequality and some properties of orthogonal projection matrix, we obtained a new number of iterations required for the OMP algorithm to perform exact recovery of sparse signals, which improves significantly upon the latest results as we know.

Lead halide perovskites have promising values in photoelectronic and photovoltaic applications, but the toxicity of lead is a hard barrier. Copper halide perovskite derivatives (CHPDs), as a lead-free substitution of lead halide perovskites, also exhibit excellent photoelectric properties. Here, we present a facile one-step route for the synthesis of blue-emissive Cs3Cu2I5(emission at 440 nm) and yellow-emissive CsCu2I3(emission at 552 nm) CHPDs in ethanol at room temperature. Triggered by ethanol or CsI, a reversible chemical transformation accompanied by emissive color change between Cs3Cu2I5and CsCu2I3CHPDs was achieved. The reversible transformation mechanism was discussed, and this transformation was employed for effective anticounterfeiting.

Vivianite is a promising phosphorus recovery solution that has the potential to simultaneously relieve phosphorus shortage and phosphorus pollution. By producing vivianite, dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria may substantially enhance the phosphate collection efficiency. The transformation of phosphate and the formation of vivianite were investigated in ferrihydrite (Fe(OH)3)–P and magnetite (Fe3O4)–P systems, respectively. Phosphate significantly promoted the process of dissimilatory iron reduction by drawing Fe(ii) from the mineral surface. For the ferrihydrite system, the presence of phosphate significantly inhibited the dissimilatory iron reduction in the initial stage of the culture, but significantly improved reduction efficiency in a long time scale. The iron reduction efficiency increased by 18.3%, 22.8% and 41.3% for the Fe/P ratios of 4, 2 and 1 batches of ferrihydrite, respectively, compared to those of the control group after 336 h culture. However, for the magnetite system, phosphate enhanced the dissimilatory reduction during the whole culture process and the iron reduction efficiency improved by 4.65%, 7.25% and 15.80% for the Fe/P ratios of 4, 2 and 1 batches, respectively, compared to those in the control group. Under a high iron phosphorus ratio (Fe/P = 4), the recovery efficiency of phosphate was the highest, which was 98.8% and 57.4% in the ferrihydrite system and magnetite system, respectively. Overall, ferrihydrite and a relatively high Fe/P ratio (2–4) are conducive when vivianite-based phosphorus recovery technology is utilized in wastewater.

To investigate acute toxicity of Bajitian (Morinda officinalis)in zebrafish embryos.

ABSTRACTSporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is a rare, incurable, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical features and survival time of Chinese sCJD patients, and to explore the associations between clinical data and survival. In this study, we analysed the clinical data of 21 sCJD patients in a tertiary care hospital and used all Chinese case material available from 152 patients with sCJD in literatures between 2008 and 2018. The mean age of onset of all 173 deceased patients was 61.44 year-olds (y), with the highest incidence in the population of 60 to 69 y. The most common manifestation at disease onset was progressive dementia. With the progression of the disease, the four main clinical symptoms and signs were developed, including myoclonus, visual or cerebella disturbance, pyramidal or extrapyramidal dysfunction, and akinetic mutism. Extrapyramidal symptoms were more frequently observed. The mean survival time was 7.34 months, and 82.10% of cases died within 1 year after disease onset. The follow-up showed that the survival time was longer and the myoclonus sign was more frequently presented in younger-onset sCJD patients. Patients with abnormalities only in cortical regions had a higher frequency of pyramidal dysfunction than patients having lesions in both cortex and basal ganglia. The findings of this study might provide some insight into the clinical characteristics of sCJD patients in China, but further studies could examine the presences of clinical features and survival time in patients with early age of onset in a prospective manner.

Pectobacterium carotovorumssp. carotovorum(Pcc) is a necrotrophic bacterial species that causes soft rot disease in Chinese cabbage. In this study, plants harboring the resistant mutant srgene, which confers resistance against Pcc, were screened from an 800 M2population mutated by ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) and scored in vitro and in vivo for lesion size. The transcript profiles showed ~512 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between srand WT plants occurring between 6 and 12 h postinoculation (hpi), which corresponded to the important defense regulation period (resistance) to Pccin Chinese cabbage. The downstream defense genes (CPK, CML, RBOH MPK3, and MPK4) of pathogen pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) were strongly activated during infection at 12 hpi in resistant mutant sr; PTI appears to be central to plant defense against Pccvia recognition by three putative pattern recognition receptors (PRRs; BrLYM1-BrCERK1, BrBKK1/SERK4-PEPR1, BrWAKs). Pcctriggered the upregulation of the jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) biosynthesis genes in mutant sr, but auxins and other hormones may have affected some negative signals. Endogenous hormones (auxins, JAs, and SA), as well as exogenous auxins (MEJA and BTH), were also verified as functioning in the immune system. Concurrently, the expression of glucosinolate and lignin biosynthesis genes was increased at 12 hpi in resistant mutant sr, and the accumulation of glucosinolate and lignin also indicated that these genes have a functional defensive role against Pcc. Our study provides valuable information and elucidates the resistance mechanism of Chinese cabbage against Pccinfection.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection is essential for the accurate and early diagnosis of a disease. In this study, a femtomolar DNA detection method based on the exploitation of the localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was developed. We prepared Poly Ethylen Glycol (PEG) functionalized AuNPs with a specific DNA capture probe (CP) directly modified on the gold surface. Two strategies are proposed using different kinds of CP to detect the target DNA (tDNA). In the first strategy, CP is the complementary of the complete sequence of the DNA (CCP method). For the second strategy, we used two CPs, which were half complementary to tDNA, and these were hybridized with tDNA to form sandwich structures (MIX method). The results showed that our detection methods are highly sensitive and that the limits of detection of 124 amand 2.54 fmtDNA can be reached when using the CCP and MIX methods, respectively. In addition, the specificity of our two strategies is also demonstrated with mismatched DNAs. The proposed method provides a simple, fast, sensitive and specific DNA biosensor, which has the potential to be used for point-of-care tests (POCT).

Continual discoveries of new genes and unraveling the genetic etiology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have provided greater insight into the underlying pathogenesis in motor neuron degeneration, as well as facilitating the disease modeling and the testing of targeted therapeutics. While, the genetic etiology accounted for two-thirds of FALS and approximately 11% of SALS in Caucasians. However, the contributions of these causative genes to ALS vary among different populations. Furthermore, the prominent difference between Chinese population and other ethnics remains a source of ongoing debate. We systemically reviewed genetics literature of Chinese ALS populations and updated the mutation frequencies of the main ALS-implicated genes aiming to determine the genetic features of ALS in Chinese population. We also reviewed the associations between ALS-implicated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of ALS in Chinese population. A total of 116 studies were included in this analysis (86 gene mutation study articles and 30 SNPs study articles). The results showed that the overall gene mutation rates of ALS-related causative genes were 55.0% in familial ALS (FALS) and 11.7% in sporadic ALS (SALS) in Chinese population. In Chinese FALS, the highest mutation frequency was found in SOD1gene (25.6%), followed by FUS(5.8%), TARDBP(5.8%), DCTN1(3.6%) and C9orf72(3.5%). In Chinese SALS, the highest mutation frequency was also identified in SOD1gene (1.6%), followed by ANXA11(1.4%), FUS(1.3%), SQSTM1(1.0%), OPTN(0.9%) and CCNF(0.8%). The associations between several SNPs and risk of ALS were also reported in Chinese population. The genetic features of ALS in Chinese population are significantly different from those in Caucasian population, indicating an association between genetic susceptibility and origin of population. Further explorations are required to understand the gene complexity of ALS, including the contribution of most minor genes and the molecular mechanisms in ALS pathologies.

Jiuqu hongmei tea (JQHM tea), unique to Zhejiang Province, China, is celebrated for its vibrant, delightful taste and distinctive flavor profile. This research explored the relationship between the tea's characteristic flavor during fermentation and the dynamics of microbial communities. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were analyzed using Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) at three key stages: machine kneading (MK, 0.5 hours), primary fermentation (F1, 1.5 hours), and secondary fermentation (F2, 3 hours). Concurrently, microbial communities were characterized through high-throughput sequencing. The study identified 12 significant VOCs and pinpointed 10 core bacterial and 9 core fungal genera. These findings revealed the intricate changes in aroma compounds and microbial populations throughout JQHM tea's fermentation process, highlighting the interplay between key aroma compounds and principal microbial genera. This knowledge provided a crucial theoretical foundation for refining the tea's processing stages and enhancing its flavor quality.

Background: Recently, several rare variants of SPTLC1were identified as disease cause for juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by disrupting the normal homeostatic regulation of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT). However, further exploration of the rare variants in large cohorts was still necessary. Meanwhile, SPTLC2plays a similar role as SPTLC1in the SPT function. Methods: To explore the genetic role of SPTLC1and SPTLC2in ALS, we analyzed the rare protein-coding variants in 2011 patients with ALS and 3298 controls from the Chinese population with whole exome sequencing. Fisher’s exact test was performed between each variant and disease risk, while at gene level over-representation of rare variants in patients was examined with optimized sequence kernel association test (SKAT-O). Results: Totally 33 rare variants with minor allele frequency < 0.01 were identified, including 17 in SPTLC1and 16 in SPTLC2. One adult-onset patient carried the variant p.E406K (SPTLC1) which was reported in previous study. Additionally, three adult-onset patients carried variants in the same amino acids as the variants identified in previous studies (p.Y509C, p.S331T, and p.R239Q in SPTLC1). At gene level, rare variants of SPTLC1and STPLC2were not enriched in patients. Conclusion: These results broadened the variant spectrum of SPTLC1and SPTLC2in ALS, and paved the way for future research. Further replication was still needed to explore the genetic role of SPTLC1in ALS.

Flowering is essential for fruit production. The effects of nitrogen (N) on flower bud differentiation and early harvest in strawberry are not clear. Experiments were conducted to investigate the most effective concentration of N treatment during the seedling stage and further elucidate the mechanism of flower bud differentiation in cultivated strawberry (Fragaria ananassaDuch.‘Benihoppe’). The results demonstrated that T2 (treatment 2) of 0.1 g/plant was the suitable concentration for flower bud differentiation in strawberry seedlings and then fruit early ripening. Further studies showed that the period of flower bud differentiation happened between August 19 and August 24. The total carbon (C) contents of all treatments except T3 displayed an increasing trend in seedlings before August 14. The C/N ratio (21.45–53.44) increased at the stage of flower bud differentiation in each treatment, which was promoted by an appropriate C/N ratio. Relatively higher ABA and CTKs levels but relatively lower GAs and IAA levels required during flower bud differentiation were detected. Further analysis of ABA/IAA ratio (0.53–0.76) suggested that it was also close to the flower bud differentiation in strawberry. N levels increased at phenological phases of each treatment. Different N levels during the seedling stage had little effect on fruit quality. It also exhibited the highest early harvest (183.0 g/plant) as well as the highest yield (380.3 g/plant) with T2. We found that a relatively high C/N ratio and an appropriate ABA/IAA positively initiate the flower bud differentiation, which suggested that ABA may play an important role in promoting flower bud differentiation in strawberry.

Huangjiu brewing workshop is a small ecosystem with complex microbial community growth. This micro ecosystem is the main provider of microorganisms in the process of Huangjiu fermentation. Its existence may greatly affect the quality and flavor of Huangjiu. Environmental microbial communities of the same brewing workshop in different historical periods were collected. Full-length High-throughput sequencing and Source Tracker were used to study the correlation between brewing raw materials, fermented mash and brewing environment, and to explore the involvement of environmental microorganisms in the fermentation process. The resident functional fungi in fermented Huangjiu mash were the main components of the fungal community detected in the environment. The wheat koji, tool and interior environment contributed greatly to the source of fermented fungi in Huangjiu. Compared with the bacterial community, the environmental origin of the fungal community in fermented mash was clearer. For bacteria, the increased contribution of community aggregation was attributed to the role of deterministic processes, and community structure became more stable, showing its unique role in fermentation. This study could be implemented in a more abundant natural fermentation environment, which was of great significance to control the natural fermentation process of Huangjiu.

The genus Brassicacontains a rich diversity of species and morphological types, including leaf, root, and oil crops, all of which show substantial phenotypic variation. Both Chinese cabbage and cabbage are typical leaf-type crops with normal roots. We created translocation lines based on interspecific crosses between Chinese cabbage and cabbage and identified qdh225, which exhibited a swollen-root phenotype. The swollen root of qdh225 contained a large number of granular substances, and the formation of its irregular morphological tissue was caused by a thickening of the phloem. Transcriptomic and metabolomic data suggested that differential expression of genes encoding nine types of enzymes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism caused changes in starch synthesis and degradation in the swollen root. These genes jointly regulated sucrose and starch levels, leading to significant enrichment of starch and soluble proteins in the swollen root and a reduction in the content of soluble sugars such as d-glucose and trehalose 6-phosphate. A significant increase in auxin (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) contents and a decrease in gibberellin (GA) content in the swollen root likely promoted the differential expression of genes associated with hormone signal transduction, thereby regulating the development of the swollen root. Taken together, our data suggest that accumulation of IAA and ABA and reduction in GA promote swollen root formation by regulating hormone-mediated signaling, leading to a thickening of phloem, root enlargement, and substantial accumulation of starch and soluble proteins. The latter provide materials, energy, and nutrient sources for the development of swollen roots.

Fleshy fruit shape is an important external quality trait influencing the usage of fruits and consumer preference. Thus, modification of fruit shape has become one of the major objectives for crop improvement. However, the underlying mechanisms of fruit shape regulation are poorly understood. In this review we summarize recent progress in the genetic basis of fleshy fruit shape regulation using tomato, cucumber, and peach as examples. Comparative analyses suggest that the OFP-TRM (OVATE Family Protein - TONNEAU1 Recruiting Motif) and IQD (IQ67 domain) pathways are probably conserved in regulating fruit shape by primarily modulating cell division patterns across fleshy fruit species. Interestingly, cucumber homologs of FRUITFULL(FUL1), CRABS CLAW(CRC) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase 2(ACS2) were found to regulate fruit elongation. We also outline the recent progress in fruit shape regulation mediated by OFP-TRM and IQD pathways in Arabidopsisand rice, and propose that the OFP-TRM pathway and IQD pathway coordinate regulate fruit shape through integration of phytohormones, including brassinosteroids, gibberellic acids, and auxin, and microtubule organization. In addition, functional redundancy and divergence of the members of each of the OFP, TRM, and IQD families are also shown. This review provides a general overview of current knowledge in fruit shape regulation and discusses the possible mechanisms that need to be addressed in future studies.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum(MG) is dependent on its host for many nutrients due to the loss of many important metabolic pathways. Ceramide is a sphingolipid that regulates multiple cellular processes in eukaryotic cell. Several studies highlighted the crucial role of ceramide on the pathogenesis of various pathogens. This study aimed to determine whether ceramide plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of MG. Based on an MG infection model in DF-1 cells, the results revealed that MG infection induced ceramide accumulation in DF-1 cells. Inhibiting the de novo synthesis of ceramide significantly inhibited MG proliferation and inflammatory injury caused by MG in DF-1 cells. Meanwhile, MG infection led to endoplasmic reticulum stress, and pharmacologic inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress prevented ceramide accumulation and MG proliferation in DF-1 cells, alleviating the inflammatory injury caused by MG. In addition, MG infection significantly promoted expression level of stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), thus induced calcium overload and oxidative stress. Furthermore, inhibition of STIM1 expression partially restored calcium homeostasis and mitigated oxidative stress, thus alleviated endoplasmic reticulum stress. Importantly, the inflammatory injury caused by MG were partially ameliorated by baicalin treatment (20 µg/mL) through downregulating STIM1 expression. In summary, these results suggests that ceramide accumulation through the de novo pathway plays an important role to promote MG proliferation and baicalin can alleviate MG infection induced inflammatory injury via regulating STIM1-related oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and ceramide accumulation in DF-1 cells.

ABSTRACTThe mechanism of colistin-induced neurotoxicity is still unknown. Our recent study (L. Zhang, Y. H. Zhao, W. J. Ding, G. Z. Jiang, Z. Y. Lu, L. Li, J. L. Wang, J. Li, and J. C. Li, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:2189–2197, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AAC.04092-14; H. Jiang, J. C. Li, T. Zhou, C. H. Wang, H. Zhang, and H. Wang, Int J Mol Med 33:1298–1304, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2014.1684) indicates that colistin induces autophagy and apoptosis in rat adrenal medulla PC-12 cells, and there is interplay between both cellular events. As an important cellular stress sensor, phosphoprotein p53 can trigger cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and regulate autophagy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the involvement of the p53 pathway in colistin-induced neurotoxicity in PC-12 cells. Specifically, cells were treated with colistin (125 μg/ml) in the absence and presence of a p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α (PFT-α; 20 nM), for 12 h and 24 h, and the typical hallmarks of autophagy and apoptosis were examined by fluorescence/immunofluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy, real-time PCR, and Western blotting. The results indicate that colistin had a stimulatory effect on the expression levels of the target genes and proteins involved in autophagy and apoptosis, including LC3-II/I, p53, DRAM (damage-regulated autophagy modulator), PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis), Bax, p-AMPK (activated form of AMP-activated protein kinase), and caspase-3. In contrast, colistin appeared to have an inhibitory effect on the expression of p-mTOR (activated form of mammalian target of rapamycin), which is another target protein in autophagy. Importantly, analysis of the levels of p53 in the cells treated with colistin revealed an increase in nuclear p53 at 12 h and cytoplasmic p53 at 24 h. Pretreatment of colistin-treated cells with PFT-α inhibited autophagy and promoted colistin-induced apoptosis. This is the first study to demonstrate that colistin-induced autophagy and apoptosis are associated with the p53-mediated pathway.

This paper considers experimental situations where the interested effects have to be orthogonal to a set of nonnegligible effects. It is shown that various types of orthogonal arrays with mixed strength are A-optimal for estimating the parameters in ANOVA high dimension model representation. Both cases including interactions or not are considered in the model. In particularly, the estimations of all main effects are A-optimal in a mixed strength (2, 2)3orthogonal array and the estimations of all main effects and two-factor interactions in G1×G2are A-optimal in a mixed strength (2, 2)4orthogonal array. The properties are also illustrated through a simulation study.

It has been reported that dietary administration of Bacillus subtilisKC1 is effective in alleviating lung injury induced by Mycoplasma gallisepticum(MG) infection in chickens. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of B. subtilisKC1 against MG infection is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether B. subtilisKC1 could alleviate MG infection-induced lung injury in chickens by regulating their gut microbiota. The results of this study indicate that B. subtilisKC1 supplementation has the potential to alleviate MG infection-induced lung injury as reflected by reduced MG colonization, reduced pathologic changes, and decreased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In addition, B. subtilisKC1 supplementation was partially effective in alleviating the gut microbiota disorder caused by MG infection. Importantly, B. subtilisKC1 enriched the beneficial Bifidobacterium animalisin gut and thus reversed indole metabolic dysfunction caused by MG infection. B. subtilisKC1 supplementation increased levels of indole, which enhanced aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation, improving barrier function and alleviating lung inflammation caused by MG. Overall, this study indicates that B. subtilisKC1 has a “gut-lung axis” mechanism that can reduce the severity of MG infection by enriching intestinal B. animalisand regulating indole metabolism.

The heme branch of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis contributes to the regulation of chlorophyll levels. However, the mechanism underlying the balance between chlorophyll and heme synthesis remains elusive. Here, we identify a dark green leaf mutant, dg, from an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-induced mutant library of Chinese cabbage. The dgphenotype is caused by an amino acid substitution in the conserved chlorophyll a/b-binding motif (CAB) of ferrochelatase 2 (BrFC2). This mutation increases the formation of BrFC2 homodimer to promote heme production. Moreover, wild-type BrFC2 and dBrFC2 interact with protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) oxidoreductase B1 and B2 (BrPORB1 and BrPORB2), and dBrFC2 exhibits higher binding ability to substrate Pchlide, thereby promoting BrPORBs-catalyzed production of chlorophyllide (Chlide), which can be directly converted into chlorophyll. Our results show that dBrFC2 is a gain-of-function mutation contributing to balancing heme and chlorophyll synthesis via a regulatory mechanism in which dBrFC2 promotes BrPORB enzymatic reaction to enhance chlorophyll synthesis.

Background: Recently, several rare variants of TP73were identified as potential disease cause for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the European population. However, further replication was still necessary, especially in cohorts with different ethnic backgrounds. Methods: To explore the genetic role of TP73in ALS in the Asian population, we analyzed the rare protein-coding variants in 2011 patients with ALS and 3298 controls with whole-exome sequencing. Fisher’s exact test was performed between each variant and disease risk, while at gene level over-representation of rare variants in patients was examined with optimized sequence kernel association test. Results: Totally 24 rare variants with minor allele frequency < 0.01 were identified, among which nine were absent in controls. One variant p.P335T was previously reported, and another three variants were in the same amino acids as the variants reported in previous studies (p.R36Q, p.R414Q, p.R78C). At gene level, rare variants of TP73were not enriched in patients. Conclusions: Our findings did not support the genetic role of TP73in ALS in the Chinese population. Replication of specific variants identified in patients from different cohorts might provide additional insight. The current results also broadened the mutation spectrum of TP73and paved the way for further research.

Alnus trabeculosa, a rhizobia-nodulating tree, was introduced into the Chongxi tidal wetland in the Yangtze River estuary of China to increase the biodiversity of plants and restore tidal wetland functions. However, the effect of the introduced plant on soil bacterial communities and restoration outcomes remains unknown. In this study, the rhizosphere bacterial community structure and diversity were compared between Phragmites australismonospecific community and A. trabeculosa-P. australismixed communities, aiming to assess whether A. trabeculosainfluenced the rhizosphere bacterial communities of P. australisand to investigate whether different taxonomic groups within a soil community may respond similarly to the presence of an introduced exotic plant. Among the 14 phylogenetic phyla detected, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the dominant bacterial taxa in the rhizosphere. Phylogenetic analysis of the predominant Proteobacteria showed that the clones from the rhizosphere soils of A. trabeculosaand P. australisin A. trabeculosa-P. australismixed communities were more diverse than those in the rhizosphere soil of P. australisin P. australismonospecific community. The rhizosphere community in the wetland potentially included active microbial community related to carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling in the Yangtze River estuary. The rhizosphere soil of P. australisin A. trabeculosa-P. australismixed communities exhibited the highest Shannon diversity index (H') and Simpson diversity index (1/D) (H =4.52, 1/D =253). Correspondence analyses revealed that the bacterial community structures were altered after A. trabeculosawas introduced.

Road network is a critical component of public infrastructure, and the supporting system of social and economic development. Based on a modified kernel density estimate (KDE) algorithm, this study evaluated the road service capacity provided by a road network composed of multi-level roads (i.e. national, provincial, county and rural roads), by taking account of the differences of effect extent and intensity for roads of different levels. Summarized at town scale, the population burden and the annual rural economic income of unit road service capacity were used as the surrogates of social and economic demands for road service. This method was applied to the road network of the Three Parallel River Region, the northwestern Yunnan Province, China to evaluate the development of road network in this region. In results, the total road length of this region in 2005 was 3.70 × 104km, and the length ratio between national, provincial, county and rural roads was 1:2:8:47. From 1989 to 2005, the regional road service capacity increased by 13.1%, of which the contributions from the national, provincial, county and rural roads were 11.1%, 19.4%, 22.6%, and 67.8%, respectively, revealing the effect of ‘All Village Accessible’ policy of road development in the mountainous regions in the last decade. The spatial patterns of population burden and economic requirement of unit road service suggested that the areas farther away from the national and provincial roads have higher road development priority (RDP). Based on the modified KDE model and the framework of RDP evaluation, this study provided a useful approach for developing an optimal plan of road development at regional scale.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the probiotic properties of Bacillus subtilisKC1 as a feed additive in the poultry feed. Effects of the Bacillus subtilissupplementation on growth performance, heat-stress tolerance, resistance to Mycoplasma gallisepticum(MG) and SalmonellaPullorum challenge of broilers were determined. The protective effects of the Bacillus subtilison liver function and immune response of broilers challenged with Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) were also scrutinized. The results showed that the Bacillus subtilissupplementation could improve growth performance, increased body weight, relative weight of the immune organ and dressing percentage, and decrease feed conversion ratio. In addition, the Bacillus subtilissupplementation alleviated adverse effects caused by heat stress, MG, and SalmonellaPullorum challenge. Furthermore, the Bacillus subtilissupplementation resulted in improved liver function and enhanced immune response of broilers challenged with AFB1. In conclusion, these results suggested a tremendous potential of Bacillus subtilisKC1 as a feed additive in the poultry feed.