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Background: Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen. Biofilm formation largely explains the difficulty in preventing and controlling S. suis. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of S. suis biofilm formation. Results: In this study, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of S. suis in biofilm and planktonic states were performed to identify key genes and metabolites involved in biofilm formation. A total of 789 differential genes and 365 differential metabolites were identified. By integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics, five main metabolic pathways were identified, including amino acid pathway, nucleotide metabolism pathway, carbon metabolism pathway, vitamin and cofactor metabolism pathway, and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis metabolic pathway. Conclusions: These results provide new insights for exploring the molecular mechanism of S. suis biofilm formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational provincial allocation of carbon quotas serves as the foundational premise for attaining China’s carbon peak. Yet, prevailing strategies often overlook the holistic integration of trade-induced carbon transfers and ecological carbon sequestration, resulting in equity and scientific robustness deficiencies. This study addresses these shortcomings by examining historical carbon sources and sinks across China’s provinces and proposing a novel provincial allocation scheme based on the ‘equal consumption-based cumulative per capita net emission’ principle. Our findings reveal significant disparities in the carbon quotas between provinces, ranging from ‒98 Mt in Shanghai to 1016 Mt in Sichuan, primarily influenced by factors such as population size, historical emissions, and carbon sinks. The proposed scheme, integrating considerations of carbon transfers and sinks, safeguards the interests of less developed provinces (e.g., Hebei and Inner Mongolia) and those with valuable ecosystems (e.g., Yunnan and Inner Mongolia). Furthermore, the impact of carbon transfers on provincial carbon allocation quotas is more pronounced than that of carbon sinks. For instance, the inclusion of carbon transfers has increased Inner Mongolia’s quotas by 238 Mt, compared to 125 Mt attributed to carbon sinks. Considering the disparities in emissions reduction pressure and capacity across different provinces, combining fair carbon quota allocation with a nationwide carbon market can achieve cost-effective emissions reduction while ensuring the attainment of carbon peak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Bordetella bronchiseptica (B. bronchiseptica) is a severe zoonotic pathogen widespread in aquaculture environments. However, information on the distribution and resistance of this pathogen remains scarce in pig farms. This study isolated and analyzed B. bronchiseptica from pig farms in central China and revealed a high frequency of resistance to this pathogen, with most strains forming biofilms. In addition, a B. bronchiseptica strain with a heteroresistant phenotype to gentamicin was isolated, which is a rare case and requires vigilance. This study enhances our understanding of the biological characteristics, such as the distribution and resistance, of B. bronchiseptica in pig farms in central China. This can provide valuable data for future related research and pathogen prevention and control. Bordetella bronchiseptica is a significant contributor to respiratory disease in pigs, leading to substantial economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. We isolated 52 B. bronchiseptica strains from 542 samples collected from pigs with atrophic rhinitis and bronchopneumonia in central China. Multi-locus sequence typing identified two prevalent sequence types: ST6 (69.23%) and ST7 (30.77%). PCR-based detection of seven virulence genes (fhaB, prn, cyaA, dnt, bteA, fla, and bfrZ) revealed that six of these genes were present in over 90% of the isolates, with bfrZ being the exception at 59.62%. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, performed using the K-B method, demonstrated high sensitivity to enrofloxacin, polymyxin, and doxycycline but a notable resistance to tylosin, trimethoprim, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, and amikacin. Remarkably, 86.54% of the isolates exhibited a multidrug-resistant phenotype. Notably, we successfully screened a strain of B. bronchiseptica with a heteroresistance phenotype to gentamicin using population analysis profiling, which is a rare case. Biofilm-formation assays indicated that 96.15% of the isolates possessed biofilm-forming capabilities. These findings provide crucial insights into the prevalence of B. bronchiseptica in central China, facilitating the development of effective preventive measures to safeguard both animal and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unprecedented heatwave hit the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) in August 2022. We analyzed changes of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions in 8 megacities over lower-middle reaches of the YRB, using a near-real-time gridded daily CO 2 emissions dataset. We suggest that the predominant sources of CO 2 emissions in these 8 megacities are from the power and industrial sectors. In comparison to the average emissions for August in 2020 and 2021, the heatwave event led to a total increase in power sector emissions of approximately 2.70 Mt CO 2 , potentially due to the increase in urban cooling demand. Suzhou experienced the largest increase, with a rise of 1.12 Mt CO 2 (12.88 %). Importantly, we observed that changes in daily power emissions exhibited strong linear relationships with temperatures during the heatwave, albeit varying sensitivities across different megacities (with an average of 0.0076 ± 0.0075 Mt d -1  °C -1 ). Conversely, we find that industrial emissions decreased by a total of 8.45 Mt CO 2 , with Shanghai seeing the largest decrease of 4.71 Mt CO 2 , while Hangzhou experienced the largest relative decrease (-21.22 %). It is noteworthy that the majority of megacities rebounded in industrial emissions following the conclusion of the heatwave. We convincingly suggest a tight linkage between the reductions in industrial emissions and China's policy to ensure household power supply. Overall, the reduction in industrial emissions offset the increase in power sector emissions, resulting in weaker emissions for majority of megacities during the heatwave. Despite remaining uncertainties in the emissions data, our study may offer valuable insights into the complexities of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions in megacities amidst frequent summer heatwaves intensified by greenhouse warming., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Accurate estimates of fossil fuel CO 2 (FFCO 2 ) emissions are of great importance for climate prediction and mitigation regulations but remain a significant challenge for accounting methods relying on economic statistics and emission factors. In this study, we employed a regional data assimilation framework to assimilate in situ NO 2 observations, allowing us to combine observation-constrained NO x emissions coemitted with FFCO 2 and grid-specific CO 2 -to-NO x emission ratios to infer the daily FFCO 2 emissions over China. The estimated national total for 2016 was 11.4 PgCO 2 ·yr -1 , with an uncertainty (1σ) of 1.5 PgCO 2 ·yr -1 that accounted for errors associated with atmospheric transport, inversion framework parameters, and CO 2 -to-NO x emission ratios. Our findings indicated that widely used "bottom-up" emission inventories generally ignore numerous activity level statistics of FFCO 2 related to energy industries and power plants in western China, whereas the inventories are significantly overestimated in developed regions and key urban areas owing to exaggerated emission factors and inexact spatial disaggregation. The optimized FFCO 2 estimate exhibited more distinct seasonality with a significant increase in emissions in winter. These findings advance our understanding of the spatiotemporal regime of FFCO 2 emissions in China.

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a significant contributor to respiratory disease in pigs, leading to substantial economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. We isolated 52 B. bronchiseptica strains from 542 samples collected from pigs with atrophic rhinitis and bronchopneumonia in central China. Multi-locus sequence typing identified two prevalent sequence types: ST6 (69.23%) and ST7 (30.77%). PCR-based detection of seven virulence genes ( fhaB , prn , cyaA , dnt , bteA , fla , and bfrZ ) revealed that six of these genes were present in over 90% of the isolates, with bfrZ being the exception at 59.62%. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, performed using the K-B method, demonstrated high sensitivity to enrofloxacin, polymyxin, and doxycycline but a notable resistance to tylosin, trimethoprim, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, and amikacin. Remarkably, 86.54% of the isolates exhibited a multidrug-resistant phenotype. Notably, we successfully screened a strain of B. bronchiseptica with a heteroresistance phenotype to gentamicin using population analysis profiling, which is a rare case. Biofilm-formation assays indicated that 96.15% of the isolates possessed biofilm-forming capabilities. These findings provide crucial insights into the prevalence of B. bronchiseptica in central China, facilitating the development of effective preventive measures to safeguard both animal and human health.