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Background The tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) cultivar ‘Er Qiao’ is appreciated for its unstable variegated flower coloration, with cyanic and acyanic flowers appearing on different branches of the same plant and occasionally in a single flower or petal. However, the variegation mechanism is still unclear. Results In this study, we found significantly higher contents and more diverse sets of anthocyanins in the cyanic petals than in the acyanic petals. Comparative transcriptome analysis between the two flower types revealed 477 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Quantitative real-time PCR results verified that the transcript levels of the flavonol synthase (FLS) gene were significantly increased in the acyanic petals. Furthermore, we found that a GCGGCG insertion at 246 bp in the flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase (F3’H) gene-coding region constitutes a duplication of the 241–245 bp section and was consistently found only in acyanic flowers. Sequence alignment of the F3’H gene from different plant species indicated that only the acyanic petals of ‘Er Qiao’ contained the GCGGCG insertion. The transformation of Arabidopsis tt7–1 lines demonstrated that the ectopic expression of F3’H-cyanic, but not F3’H-acyanic, could complement the colors in the hypocotyl and seed coat. Conclusion In summary, we found that an indel in F3’H and the upregulation of FLS drastically reduced the anthocyanin content in acyanic petals. Our results provide molecular candidates for a better understanding of the variegation mechanisms in tree peony.

This paper takes the air pollution governance performance as the research object, establishes the evaluation index system of air pollution governance performance using the pressure-state-response (PSR) model, and uses the data of 11 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi Province from 2014–2017 to carry out empirical tests. The results show that, in terms of indicator weights, the state and pressure categories have higher weights than the response category, further highlighting the importance of reducing pollution emissions rather than post-pollution treatment. Regarding regional comparisons, only a few regions show a good balance between “stress-state-response”, while most regions show a “loss of balance”. In terms of annual changes, the performance of most regions in several categories rose and showed a wave-like upward trend, reflecting the intermittent improvement characteristics of air pollution governance performance in most regions of Jiangxi. Finally, combined with the evaluation results, this paper proposes policy suggestions, such as improving the performance evaluation index system of air pollution governance, promoting the comprehensive governance of air pollution, focusing on regions with weaker air pollution governance, and strengthening the regional collaborative governance of air pollution.

Polypyrrole (PPy) has high electrochemical activity and low cost, so it has great application prospects in wearable supercapacitors. Herein, we have successfully prepared polypyrrole/reduced graphene oxide (PPy/rGO) nanocomposite cotton fabric (NCF) by chemical polymerization, which exhibits splendid electrochemical performance compared with the individual. The addition of rGO can block the deformation of PPy caused by the expansion and contraction. The as-prepared PPy-0.5/rGO NCF electrode exhibits the brilliant specific capacitance (9300 mF cm−2 at 1 mA cm−2) and the capacitance retention with 94.47% after 10 000 cycles. At the same time, the superior capacitance stability under different bending conditions and reuse capability have been achieved. All-solid-state supercapacitor has high energy density of 167 μWh cm−2 with a power density of 1.20 mW cm−2. Therefore, the PPy-0.5/rGO NCF electrode has a broad application prospect in high-performance flexible supercapacitor fabric electrode.

Cadmium is known as an environmental pollutant that contributes to pancreatic damage and the pathogenesis of diabetes. However, less attention has been devoted to elucidating the mechanisms underlying Cd-induced pancreatic β-cell dysfunction and the role of Cd toxicity in the development of diabetes. In this study, we demonstrated that exposure to Cd caused remarkable pancreatic β-cell dysfunction and death, both in vitro and in vivo. Lipidomic analysis of Cd-exposed pancreatic β-cells using high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed that Cd exposure altered the profile and abundance of lipids. Cd exposure induced intracellular lipid accumulation, promoted lipid biogenesis, elevated pro-inflammatory lipid contents and inhibited lipid degradation. Furthermore, Cd exposure upregulated the expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in pancreatic β-cells and elevated the TNF-α, IL1-β and IL-6 levels in the serum and pancreas. Taken together, the results of our study demonstrated that environmental relevant Cd exposure causes pro-inflammatory lipids elevation and insulin secretion dysfunction in β-cells and hence exaggerates diabetes development. Combined exposure to environmental hazardous chemicals might markedly increase the probability of developing diabetes in humans. This study provides new metabolic and pharmacological targets for antagonizing Cd toxicity.

Background R2R3 myeloblastosis (MYB) genes are widely distributed in plants and comprise one of the largest transcription factor gene families. They play important roles in the regulatory networks controlling development, metabolism, and stress responses. Researches on functional genes in tree peony are still in its infancy. To date, few MYB genes have thus far been reported. Results In this study, we constructed a comprehensive reference gene set by transcriptome sequencing to obtain R2R3 MYB genes. The transcriptomes of eight different tissues were sequenced, and 92,837 unigenes were obtained with an N50 of 1662 nt. A total of 48,435 unigenes (77.98%) were functionally annotated in public databases. Based on the assembly, we identified 57 R2R3 MYB genes containing full-length open reading frames, which clustered into 35 clades by phylogenetic analysis. PsMYB57 clustered with anthocyanin regulation genes in Arabidopsis and was mainly transcribed in the buds and young leaves. The overexpression of PsMYB57 induced anthocyanin accumulation in tobacco, and four detected anthocyanin structural genes, including NtCHS, NtF3’H, NtDFR, and NtANS, were upregulated. The two endogenous bHLH genes NtAn1a and NtAn1b were also upregulated and may work in combination with PsMYB57 in regulating anthocyanin structural genes. Conclusions Our study offers a useful reference to the selection of candidate MYB genes for further functional studies in tree peony. Function analysis of PsMYB57 is helpful to understand the color accumulation in vegetative organs of tree peony. PsMYB57 is also a promising resource to improve plant color in molecular breeding.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Primers used for PCR amplification of MYB genes.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primers used for qRT-PCR analysis of tree peony and transgenic tobacco samples.

Additional file 5: Table S1. Statistics of assembly quality. Table S2. KEGG enrichment of the DEGs between cyanic and acyanic flowers. Table S3. Primers used for qRT-PCR.

Additional file 4: Table S4. Unigene annotation in public databases.

Unfortunately, the corresponding author of this paper was incorrectly published as Shuzhen Xu in the original publication. The correct corresponding author should be Jin Wang.

Red leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativaL.) is popular due to its high anthocyanin content, but poor leaf coloring often occurs under low light intensity. In order to reveal the mechanisms of anthocyanins affected by light intensity, we compared the transcriptome ofL. sativaL. var.capitataunder light intensities of 40 and 100 μmol m−2s−1. A total of 62,111 unigenes were de novo assembled with an N50 of 1,681 bp, and 48,435 unigenes were functionally annotated in public databases. A total of 3,899 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected, of which 1,377 unigenes were up-regulated and 2,552 unigenes were down-regulated in the high light samples. By Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis, the DEGs were significantly enriched in 14 pathways. Using gene annotation and phylogenetic analysis, we identified seven anthocyanin structural genes, includingCHS,CHI,F3H,F3′H,DFR,ANS, and3GT, and two anthocyanin transport genes,GSTandMATE. In terms of anthocyanin regulatory genes, five MYBs and one bHLH gene were identified. AnHY5gene was discovered, which may respond to light-signaling and regulate anthocyanin structural genes. These genes showed a log2FC of 2.7–9.0 under high irradiance, and were validated using quantitative real-time-PCR. In conclusion, our results indicated transcriptome variance in red leaf lettuce under low and high light intensity, and observed a anthocyanin biosynthesis and regulation pattern. The data should further help to unravel the molecular mechanisms of anthocyanins influenced by light intensity.

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT), the massive data generated by it forms big data, and the complexity of dealing with big data brings challenges to resource scheduling in edge computing. In order to solve the problem of resource scheduling and improve the satisfaction of users in edge computing environment, we propose a user-oriented improved spectral clustering scheduling algorithm (ISCM) in this paper. Based on the improved k-means algorithm, the ISCM algorithm solves the problem that the clustering result is sensitive to the initial value and realizes the reclustering, which makes the obtained clustering results more stable. Finally, the edge computing resource scheduling scheme is obtained based on the clustering results. The experimental results show that the resource scheduling scheme based on improved spectral clustering algorithm is superior to traditional spectral clustering algorithm in edge computing environment.

Subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV-J), a typical retrovirus, is characterized of existence of a cloud of diverse variants and considerable genetic diversity. Previous studies describing the evolutionary dynamics of ALV-J genetic variants mainly focused on the early infection period or few randomly selected clones. Here, we inoculated 30 specific-pathogen-free chickens with the same founder ALV-J stock of known genetic background. Six (three antibody positive and three antibody negative) chickens were selected among 15 chickens with viremia. Viruses were serially isolated in 36 weeks and then sequenced using MiSeq high-throughput sequencing platform. This produced the largest ALV-J dataset to date, composed of more than three million clean reads. Our results showed that host humoral immunity could greatly enhance the genetic diversity of ALV-J genetic variants. In particular, selection pressures promoted a dynamic proportional changes in ALV-J genetic variants frequency. Cross-neutralization experiment showed that along with the change of the dominant variant, the antibody titers specific to infectious clones corresponding to the most dominant variants in weeks 12 and 28 have also changed significantly in sera collected in weeks 16 and 32. In contrast, no shift of dominant variant was observed in antibody-negative chickens. Moreover, we identified a novel hypervariable region in the gp85 gene. Our study reveals the interaction between ALV-J and the host, which could facilitate the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs.

To release the delayed cost caused by irregular flight, this paper puts forward a new model and optimization algorithm on the basis of the extenics. A part of the delayed cost is indirect cost, but few authors considered it and all of models rarely solved it. In this paper, based on membership function and fuzzy language operator, a evaluation model for indirect cost has been proposed to solve how to reduce indirect cost and improve the service after irregular flight. The feasibility of the model is verified by the simulation results.

Trichosporon asahii is the causative agent of both superficial and deep-seated infections of increasing morbidity and mortality. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) due to T. asahii, frequently associated with indwelling medical devices, have been reported over the years. However, few studies have specifically focused on the genotypic diversity of T. asahii isolates from urine specimens from intensive care units (ICUs), let alone potential virulence factors and antifungal susceptibility testing. In the present study, 23 T. asahii isolates were collected from UTI patients in ICUs between January 2008 and January 2012. Three genotypes (I, III, IV) were determined based on the combination of internal transcribed spacer and intergenic spacer locus PCR. Protease, phospholipase and haemolysin production was assessed by halo formation on corresponding agar plates. Only haemolytic activity was observed to varying degrees. Neither protease nor phospholipase was detectable. Biofilm formation on polystyrene surfaces was detected through a formazan salt reduction assay. All clinical isolates had the ability to form biofilm. In contrast to the susceptibility of planktonic T. asahii cells to clinically used amphotericin B, 5-flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole, a remarkable rise in the MICs of these for biofilm T. asahii cells was observed. Our results suggested that genotype IV was the most prevalent genotype among T. asahii isolates from ICUs in China. Haemolysin and biofilm might contribute to the pathogenicity and recurrence of T. asahii-related UTIs. Although triazoles, especially voriconazole, were effective against planktonic T. asahii cells, they failed to treat preformed biofilms.

To study the antiviral effects of lamivudine on avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) and its inhibitory effect on the growth of fibrosarcomas caused by acute transforming avian leukosis virus, a series of experiments were performed in chicken embryo fibroblast cultures and 1-day-old chickens inoculated with an acutely transforming viral stock Fu-J (SDAU1005). This stock was prepared from an acutely fibrosarcoma of field cases in chicken farms and contained both the replication-defective virus Fu-J carrying v-fps oncogene and its helper virus ALV-J strain SDAU1005. The results from three different assays in cell cultures demonstrated the significant inhibitory effect of lamivudine on the replication of both SDAU1005 and Fu-J viruses. Furthermore, the effect was dose dependent in the concentration range of 1–4 μg/ml. In chicken experiments, lamivudine could decrease the viral loads of SDAU1005 and Fu-J in the plasma of inoculated chickens, delay the appearance of acute sarcomas, and decrease chicken mortality in the early stage. This model may be used to directly evaluate the inhibitory effects of lamivudine on such tumors and to understand the relationship between the replication-defective virus and its helper virus while also assessing tumor processes.

The pigmented cells in defined region of a petal constitute the petal spots. Petal spots attract pollinators and are found in many angiosperm families. Several cultivars of tree peony contain a single red or purple spot at the base of petal that makes the flower more attractive for the ornamental market. So far, the understanding of the molecular mechanism of spot formation is inadequate. In this study, we sequenced the transcriptome of the purple spot and the white non-spot of tree peony flower. We assembled and annotated 67,892 unigenes. Comparative analyses of the two transcriptomes showed 1,573 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), among which 933 were up-regulated, and 640 were down-regulated in the purple spot. Subsequently, we examined four anthocyanin structural genes, including PsCHS, PsF3’H, PsDFR and PsANS, which expressed at a significantly higher level in the purple spot than in the white non-spot. We further validated the digital expression data using quantitative real-time PCR. Our result uncovered transcriptome variance between the spot and non-spot of tree peony flower, and revealed that the co-expression of four anthocyanin structural genes was responsible for spot pigment in tree peony. The data will further help to unravel the genetic mechanism of peony flower spot formation.

This paper develops an approach for optimal selection of signal-adapted wavelet in de-noising. The new method employs Wu's elimination algorithm to construct compacted orthogonal wavelets. The threshold cost function is used as the objective function during choosing of the wavelet. The approach is validated by its application to de-noising for on-line partial discharge (PD) measurement. The physical experiments and field tests show that the method improves the suppression of noise for on-line PD measurement with stronger robustness. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.