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Hydrangea [Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser.] is a high aluminum-tolerant ornamental plant species, which has a specific characteristic of color change, ie. some cultivars' floral color will change from red to blue or blue-violet planted in acidic soil containing aluminum. This study aims to understand the complex molecular mechanisms of floral color change under Al stress, through comparative biochemistry and transcriptome analyses between an Al

Jasmine [Jasminum sambac (L.) Aiton] is a commercially important cultivated plant species known for its fragrant flowers used in the perfume industry, medicine and cosmetics. In the present study, we obtained a draft genome for the J. sambac cultivar ‘Danbanmoli’ (JSDB, a single-petal phenotype). We showed that the final genome of J. sambac was 520.80 Mb in size (contig N50 = 145.43 kb; scaffold N50 = 145.53 kb) and comprised 35,363 genes. Our analyses revealed that the J. sambac genome has undergone only an ancient whole-genome duplication (WGD) event. We estimated that the lineage that has given rise to J. sambac diverged from the lineage leading to Osmanthus fragrans and Olea europaea approximately 31.1 million years ago (Mya). On the basis of a combination of genomic and transcriptomic analyses, we identified 92 transcription factors (TFs) and 206 genes related to heat stress response. Base on a combination of genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, a range of aroma compounds and genes involved in the benzenoid/phenylpropanoid and terpenoid biosynthesis pathways were identified. In the newly assembled J. sambac genome, we identified a total of 122 MYB, 122 bHLH and 69 WRKY genes. Our assembled J. sambac JSDB genome provides fundamental knowledge to study the molecular mechanism of heat stress tolerance, and improve jasmine flowers and dissect its fragrance.

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Jasmine [Jasminum sambac (L.) Aiton] is an important cultivated plant species that is valued for its ornamental, medicinal and edible values. However, the genomic information available for jasmine is limited. In this study, the complete chloroplast (cp) genomes of single-petal (SP) and double-petal (DP) cultivars of jasmine were investigated. An entire cp genome comparison, inverted repeat contraction and expansion were analyzed among several species, including the two jasmine cultivars, and phylogenetic analysis was performed. The results showed that the complete cp genomes were 163,315 bp (SP) and 163,281 bp (DP) long, respectively. Both genomes exhibited a single circular molecule with quadripartite structure consisting of a pair of inverted repeats separated by the large and small single-copy regions. Both SP and DP cultivars contained 114 unique genes. Sequence analysis identified 31 tandem repeats, 15 forward repeats, 14 palindrome repeats and five complement repeats in both cp genomes. A total of 118 and 117 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected in the cp genomes of SP and DP cultivars, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supported that the SP cultivar was close to DP, and J. sambac belonged to the family Oleaceae, order Contortae. The complete cp genome sequences presented in this report may contribute to genetic and phylogenetic studies of this species.

Hydrangea (

Background Hydrangea macrophylla var. Maculata ‘Yinbianxiuqiu’ (YB) is an excellent plant species with beautiful flowers and leaves with silvery white edges. However, there are few reports on its leaf color characteristics and color formation mechanism. Results The present study compared the phenotypic, physiological and transcriptomic differences between YB and a full-green leaf mutant (YM) obtained from YB. The results showed that YB and YM had similar genetic backgrounds, but photosynthesis was reduced in YB. The contents of pigments were significantly decreased at the edges of YB leaves compared to YM leaves. The ultrastructure of chloroplasts in the YB leaves was irregular. Transcriptome profiling identified 7,023 differentially expressed genes between YB and YM. The expression levels of genes involved in photosynthesis, chloroplast development and division were different between YB and YM. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the expression trends were generally consistent with the transcriptome data. Conclusions Taken together, the formation of the silvery white leaf color of H. macrophylla var. maculata was primarily due to the abnormal development of chloroplasts. This study facilitates the molecular function analysis of key genes involved in chloroplast development and provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in leaf coloration in H. macrophylla.

Stiffness of blood vessels is one of the most important parameters involving in vascular diseases. However, no vascular model well mimics the stiffness of native blood vessels, and thus, the effects of vascular stiffness on endothelial cells cannot be studied in vitro. For this purpose, we fabricated the gelatin/carboxybetaine (CBMA) interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel tubes to exactly present the stiffness of soft (i.e., physical) and stiff (i.e., pathological) arteries in human. The vascular models are then constructed via endothelial cell culture inside the gel tubes under a cardiac-like pulsatile perfusion. As found, the velocity magnitude and wall shear stress in the stiff gel tube are much higher than those in the soft one. Correspondingly, the endothelial cells in the soft gel tube (i.e., physical model) express higher vascular functions than those in the stiff one (i.e., pathological model). Moreover, a pathological model was more sensitive to ethanol-induced vascular injury than the physical model. Thus, the new vascular models with a tunable stiffness provide a useful tool to investigate the stiffness involved mechanism in vascular diseases under in vivo mimicked microenvironments.

Background: Atezolizumab, a high-affinity engineered human anti–PD-L1 antibody, has produced a clinical benefit for patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, associated with T-cell regulation, the immunomodulatory effect of PD-L1 blockade and its biomarker in peripheral immunity remains elusive.Methods: In a prospective cohort with 12 Chinese advanced NSCLC patients who received atezolizumab 1,200 mg every 3 weeks as a second-line treatment, blood samples were obtained before and 6 weeks after atezolizumab initiation, and when disease progression was confirmed. Patients were classified into a response or progression group according to response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) 1.1. Fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients were stained with antihuman CD3, CD8, and PD-1 antibodies for flow cytometry analysis. T-cell receptor (TCR)-β chains of CD8+ T cells were analyzed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) at the deep level. Diversity, clonality, and similarity of TCR have been calculated before and after treatment in both groups.Results: Clonal expansion with high PD-1 expression was detected in all patients’ peripheral CD8+ T cells before the treatment of atezolizumab. Unlike the progression group, the diversity of TCR repertoire and singletons in the TCRβ pool increased over time with atezolizumab administration, and the TCR repertoire dynamically changes in the response group. The percentage of CD8+ PD-1high terminal exhausted T cells declined in the response group after the PD-L1 blockade. Two patterns of TCR changes among patients who received PD-L1–targeted immunotherapy were observed.Conclusions: Deep sequencing of the T-cell receptors confirmed the existence of CD8+ PD-1high T cells with an exhaustion phenotype in Chinese NSCLC patients. Our study demonstrated that efficient anti–PD-L1 therapy could reshape the TCR repertoire for antitumor patients. Furthermore, singleton frequency may help us select patients who are sensitive to anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy.

Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser.) is a famous ornamental plant species with high resistance to aluminum (Al). The aluminum-activated malate transporter (ALMT) family encodes anion channels, which participate in many physiological processes, such as Al tolerance, pH regulation, stomatal movement, and mineral nutrition. However, systematic studies on the gene family have not been reported in hydrangea. In this study, 11 candidate ALMT family members were identified from the transcriptome data for hydrangea, which could be divided into three clusters according to the phylogenetic tree. The protein physicochemical properties, phylogeny, conserved motifs and protein structure were analyzed. The distribution of base conservative motifs of HmALMTs was consistent with that of other species, with a highly conserved WEP motif. Furthermore, tissue-specific analysis showed that most of the HmALMTs were highly expressed in the stem under Al treatment. In addition, overexpression of HmALMT5, HmALMT9 and HmALMT11 in yeasts enhanced their tolerance to Al stress. Therefore, the above results reveal the functional role of HmALMTs underlying the Al tolerance of hydrangea. The present study provides a reference for further research to elucidate the functional mechanism and expression regulation of the ALMT gene family in hydrangea.

Jasmine (Jasminum sambac Aiton, Oleaceae) flowers are widely consumed in many countries for their tea-making, medicinal and ornamental properties. To improve the quality and yield of flowers, it is very important to carry out cross-breeding between different petal types of jasmine. However, because of the difficulty of sexual reproduction, there is no report on the success of jasmine crosses. In this paper, single- and double-petal jasmine plants were crossed artificially. The stigmas of single-petal plants post pollination, including those at 0 h after pollination (CK), 1 h after pollination (T1) and 6 h after pollination (T2), were sequenced by transcriptomic combined with proteomic analyses. A total of 178,098 gene products were assembled. Simultaneously, a total of 2337 protein species were identified. Some regulatory gene products and functional protein species were identified that may be involved in the process of pollen-pistil interactions. These findings suggest that the identified differentially expressed gene products and differentially accumulated protein species may play vital roles in jasmine plants in response to pollen-pistil interactions, providing important genetic resources for further functional dissection of the molecular mechanisms of these interactions. Significance These results have important scientific significance to take effective measures to overcome pre-fertilization barriers and to guide the cross breeding of jasmine. Further, they can also be used for reference in other plant breeding with the same fertilization barriers.

Hydrogels as “soft-and-wet” materials have been widely used as tissue engineering scaffolds due to their similarity to natural extracellular matrix. However, it remains extremely challenging to develop mechanically strong hydrogels that can stimulate desirable mammalian cell adhesion but reduce the probable fouling from microbes and other unwanted cells. To achieve this purpose, we fabricated interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogels consisting of cell-adhesive gelatin and non-fouling carboxybetaine (CBMA) via a “one-pot” synthesis process. Far stronger than their parent gels of gelatin and pCBMA, the IPN gels presented compressive and stretch fracture stresses over 6.5 and 2.4 MPa, and failure strains over 95% and 700%, respectively. The obtained IPN gels only allowed the adhesion and confluence of parenchymal mammalian cells (e.g. human umbilical vein endothelial cells, HUVEC; smooth muscle cells, SMC) but resisted well the attachment of platelets and microbes. In this regard, the CBMA/gelatin IPN gels can be potentially used in the construction of artificial soft tissues such as blood vessels because of their specific mechanical and differential adhesive properties.

Aiming at the diversity of the Internet of Things and the complexity of the application environment, a self-driving micro-system solution for human motion based on the friction nano-generator (TFNG) is proposed. First analyse the three basic modules required to build a human motion self-driving micro system: the energy harvesting (EH) module of the friction nano-generator based on human motion, the active sensing module, and the high-efficiency energy storage module. Self-driving micro-systems suitable for different application scenarios can not only effectively solve the problem of long-term stable energy supply of massive sensor nodes, but also help the development of the Internet of Things technology in multiple dimensions and forms.

BACKGROUND The synergistic effects of immunotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been reported in both preclinical and clinical trials. Herein, we evaluated the preliminary efficacy and safety of combined immunotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy in patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC in a real-world setting. METHODS We conducted a 2-center, retrospective study of previously treated advanced NSCLC patients who received any anti-programmed death-1 antibody combined with antiangiogenic agent between May 2018 and March 2020. RESULTS In total, 57 patients were included in this study, and the objective response rate and disease control rate were 19.3% and 63.2%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.2-5.2 months). Bone metastases (odds ratio [OR] not available; P