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High concentration of aluminum ion (Al3+) in acidic soil often negatively affects plant growth. To deepen understanding of the mechanisms of physiological response to Aluminum (Al) toxicity, changes in physiology and cell ultrastructure of oil tea (Camellia oleifera) were investigated under different Al levels. Oil tea plants were grown in pots filled with sand and treated with Al at 0, 0.5, 1.25, 2.0, or 4.0 mm. Results showed that Al at 0.5–2.0 mm improved plant growth, whereas Al at 4.0 mm inhibited root growth and damaged cell ultrastructure. Net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (Tr), and photochemical efficiency increased as Al concentration increased from 0 to 2.0 mm; however, all parameters mentioned previously decreased at 4.0 mm. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) in leaves treated with 2.0 mm Al reached the maximum, which were 29%, 63%, and 28% higher than that of control. When Al was ≤2.0 mm, the content of soluble sugar and soluble protein increased with increasing Al concentration. These results may indicate that oil tea adapted to Al stress through osmotic adjustment and through increasing antioxidant enzyme system. In summary, Al at low concentration (0.5–2.0 mm) improved growth and physiological performance, whereas 4.0 mm negatively impacted performance of oil tea.

The study investigated the effects of different CaCl2 concentrations (2, 5, and 10 mM) on photosynthetic enzymatic activities, photosynthesis, and chlorophyll fluorescence of tung tree seedlings under drought conditions. Plants were sprayed with either CaCl2 or distilled water until run-off. Irrigation was then withheld to induce drought stress. The strength of drought stress was evaluated by relative leaf water content and soil water content, which was 27.3 and 9.5% on day 0 and day 12, respectively. Drought stress decreased activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, chlorophyll (a+b) content, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, electron transport rate, the maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry, and effective quantum yield of PSII in tung tree seedlings. The CaCl2 pretreatments alleviated the negative effect of drought stress to some degree on all the parameters mentioned above.

Solution-processed organic bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells using random copolymeric donor materials have been extensively reported due to their suitable film-forming characteristics and phase-separated nano-morphology. Here, ratio-controlled toluene-versus benzene-chemical group based diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) donor polymers mixed with a fullerene acceptor were investigated to fabricate an efficient photovoltaic active layer with improved electrical properties through a vacuum treatment. The vacuum process leads to an increase in the phase-separation with a low surface roughness and nanoscale-distributed crystallinity due to securing the dry time of the residual solvent and solvent additive within the active layer. Moreover, the optimized DPP-based donor with toluene (T) versus benzene (B) linkers and electron transporting layer leads to an improvement in the power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.31% under AM 1.5G illumination due to the contributions of an efficient charge transfer and reduced series resistance. Therefore, the organic semiconductor obtained with the ratio-controlled molecular structure and proper solvent drying process plays an important role in increasing the electrical and morphological properties to produce efficient organic solar cells.

A sandwich electrochemical immunosensor for sensitive detection of C-reactive protein (CRP) was fabricated using Cu3(PO4)2 nanospheres-induced electrochemical current. Notably, signal generation was derived from the reaction of Cu3(PO4)2 nanospheres with adscititious molybdate ions. It would form a type of redox-active molybdophosphate precipitate on the electrodes, which could facilitate the generation of a stable and direct electrochemical current. In particular, it needs to be mentioned that +0.14 V was taken as the working potential for the electrochemical immunoassay, which could reduce the possible interference of the dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte. This would be reasonably helpful for the sensitive assay of CRP. Thanks to the abundant phosphate groups in Cu3(PO4)2 nanospheres, the detection signal could be enhanced sharply. As a result, the optimized enzyme-free electrochemical immunosensor presents an ultrasensitive detection performance toward CRP with a linear range from 0.5 pg mL−1 to 1 ng mL−1 and a low detection limit of 0.13 pg mL−1. The selectivity, reproducibility and stability of the immunosensor were tested and observed to be satisfactory. In general, the proposed analytical system shows promising potential for clinical diagnosis.

In many plants, architecture and grain yield are affected by both the environment and genetics. In rice, the tiller is a vital factor impacting plant architecture and regulated by many genes. In this study, we cloned a novel DHHC-type zinc finger protein gene Os02g0819100 and its alternative splice variant OsDHHC1 from the cDNA of rice (Oryza sativa L.), which regulate plant architecture by altering the tiller in rice. The tillers increased by about 40% when this type of DHHC-type zinc finger protein gene was over-expressed in Zhong Hua 11 (ZH11) rice plants. Moreover, the grain yield of transgenic rice increased approximately by 10% compared with wild-type ZH11. These findings provide an important genetic engineering approach for increasing rice yields.

ATG9, the only transmembrane protein in the core macroautophagy/autophagy machinery, is a key player in the early stages of autophagosome formation. Yet, the lack of a high-resolution structure of ...

Polydopamine (PDA)-coated or encapsulating Cu

Aims Mitochondrial dysfunction has been regarded as one of the hallmarks of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. In previous studies, we have provided evidence that the extracellular signaling pathway (ERK) 1/2 inhibitor PD98059 improved the neurological deficits by modulating antioxidant and anti-apoptotic activities in rats subjected to cardiac arrest/cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CA/CPR). Since oxidative stress can activate mitochondria-dependent apoptosis and autophagy, we further explored the effects of PD98059 on mitochondria involved with apoptosis and autophagy in rat CA model. Materials and methods We disposed PD98059 in CA/CPR rats, tested the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway in brain tissues at 24 h post-resuscitation by mitochondrial permeability transition pores (MPTP), cytochrome c (CytC), BCL-2, BAX, caspase-3, as well as autophagy by LC3, Beclin-1, and p62. Furthermore, we explored the relationship of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) with apoptosis and autophagy. Key findings Our study showed that PD98059 decreased the openings of MPTP, CytC release, caspase3 activation, apoptotic indices, LC3-II, Beclin-1and increased P62. PD98059 also inhibited mitochondria-dependent apoptosis and the activity of autophagy in a dose-dependent manner in rat cerebral cortices at 24 h post-resuscitation. The generation of phosphorylated Drp1-616 was down-regulated accompanied by a decrease of TUNEL-positive cells and LC3 in dual immunostaining after PD98059 inhibited activation of ERK signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner in rat cerebral cortices at 24 h post-resuscitation. Significance PD98059 protects the brain against mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis and autophagy at 24 h post-resuscitation in rats subjected to CA/CPR, which is linked with the downregulation of Drp1 expression.

Imbalances between cellular K+ efflux and influx are considered to be involved in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. High-potassium pretreatment alleviates this injury, but the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate whether high-potassium preconditioning enhances cerebral tolerance to I/R injury through an anti-apoptotic mechanism. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 40/group): a sham-operated group, normal saline group (3.2 ml/kg saline, intravenous (IV)), and low-dose and high-dose potassium chloride (KCl) groups (40 and 80 mg/kg KCl solution, IV, respectively). Subsequently, the rats underwent 90 min of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by 24 hr of reperfusion (MCAO/R). Neurological deficit scores, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and TUNEL assay were used to assess neural injury. The expression of apoptotic proteins, brain potassium levels, mitochondrial function and oxidative stress were detected to explore the potential mechanism. After 24 hr of reperfusion, in both KCl treatment groups, neurological deficits and the cerebral infarct volume were reduced, and the apoptosis index of neurons was decreased. Furthermore, high-potassium preconditioning increased brain K+ , adenosine triphosphate (ATP), cytochrome c oxidase (COX) levels, reduced malondialdehyde level, improved Na+ /K+ -ATPase, succinic dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase activities, upregulated anti-apoptotic protein expression, and downregulated pro-apoptotic protein expression. This study suggests that high-potassium preconditioning enhanced cerebral tolerance to I/R injury in a rat MCAO/R model. The protective mechanism may involve apoptosis inhibition via preservation of intracellular K+ and improvement of mitochondrial function.

A nanozyme-linked immunosorbent assay is described for cardiac troponin I which is a biomarker for myocardial infarction. The method is based on the use of Pd-Ir nanocubes with excellent peroxidase-like activity. The nanocubes catalyze the oxidization of nonfluorescent o-phenylenediamine (OPD) by H2O2 to form a yellow fluorescent product (oxOPD) with excitation/emission maxima at 400/570 nm. Carbon dots are added as a reference fluorophore. Under the same excitation wavelength, they display blue fluorescence (450 nm). The ELISA uses the Pd-Ir nanocubes as a label for the secondary antibody and OPD as substrate. The ratio of fluorescence intensities at 570 and 450 nm increases in the 1 pg·mL−1 to 1 ng·mL−1 cardiac troponin I concentration range, and the detection limit is 0.31 pg·mL−1. The method was applied to analyze spiked serum samples, and the results compared well with those obtained by a commercial chemiluminescence assay.

Bio-inspired enzyme–inorganic hybrid nanomaterials are extensively employed for biological applications owing to their capability of enhancing enzyme activity and stability compared with free counterpart. They play a vital role in signal output and amplification during bioassay, but usually suffer from deactivation and costing problems, which motivates us to seek a more robust signal generation pattern. The coordination interaction between metal ions and amide groups in enzyme drives the evolution of various morphology and structure. Inspired by this, C-reactive protein (CRP) aptamer, with amide groups in their nucleobases, is introduced as an organic part serving as a linker and biorecognition unit to prepare aptamer-inorganic hybrid nanosheets, and be applied for CRP detection. Unlike using organic enzymes as a signal enhancer, the inorganic part, Mn3(PO4)2, is exploited for generating and transducing firm current signals, which stem from electrochemical active molybdophosphate precipitates reacted by phosphate and external molybdate. This enzyme-free electrochemical aptasensor based on biomineralized Mn3(PO4)2/aptamer exhibits an excellent detection performance for CRP. And the reliability is also acceptable compared to the traditional immunoturbidimetric method at the hospital, suggesting our method good feasibility for clinical diagnosis.

Feijoa suffers from high rates of flower and fruit abortion, and widely varying fruit characteristics, which are directly related to pollination problems. However, efficient pollination mostly depends on pollen vigour. Thus, methods to improve pollen vigour have become an important focus for both breeders and growers. An orthogonal design method (L9[3]4) was used to compare the effectiveness of key factors (e.g. concentrations of sucrose, H3BO3, CaCl2 and GA3) to determine pollen vigour, and to optimise the culture medium for in vitro pollen germination. The four factors that influenced pollen germination in order of significance are as follows: GA3 > CaCl2 > H3BO3 > sucrose. These variables influenced pollen tube growth in the following order: CaCl2 > H3BO3 > sucrose > GA3. The optimal culture medium for promoting pollen vigour was 10% sucrose, 1.95 × 10–3 mol/L H3BO3, 4 × 10–4 mol/L CaCl2 and 80 mg/L GA3.

Eucommia ulmoides Oliver, the only member of the Eucommiaceae family, is a rare and valuable tree used to produce a highly valued traditional Chinese medicine and contains α-linolenic acid (ALA) up to 60% of the total fatty acids in the kernels (embryos). Glycolysis provides both cellular energy and the intermediates for other biosynthetic processes. However, nothing was known about the molecular basis of the glycolytic pathway in E. ulmoides kernels. The purposes of this study were to identify novel genes of E. ulmoides related to glycolytic metabolism and to analyze the expression patterns of selected genes in the kernels. Transcriptome sequencing based on the Illumina platform generated 96,469 unigenes in four cDNA libraries constructed using RNAs from 70 and 160 days after flowering kernels of both low- and high-ALA varieties. We identified and characterized the digital expression of 120 unigenes coding for 24 protein families involved in kernel glycolytic pathway. The expression levels of glycolytic genes were generally higher in younger kernels than in more mature kernels. Importantly, several unigenes from kernels of the high-ALA variety were expressed more than those from the low-ALA variety. The expression of 10 unigenes encoding key enzymes in the glycolytic pathway was validated by qPCR using RNAs from six kernel stages of each variety. The qPCR data were well consistent with their digital expression in transcriptomic analyses. This study identified a comprehensive set of genes for glycolytic metabolism and suggests that several glycolytic genes may play key roles in ALA accumulation in the kernels of E. ulmoides.

Camellia oleifera Abel. is one of four major woody oil plants in the world. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of different plant growth regulators (PGRs) and concentrations on direct organogenesis using cotyledonary nodes, hypocotyls, and radicle explants. High induction frequency of adventitious shoots were obtained from cotyledonary nodes, hypocotyls, and radicle explants (85.2%, 73.6%, and 41.0%, respectively) when cultured on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (1/2 MS) medium containing 2.0 mg·L−1 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and 0.1 mg·L−1 indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Microshoots from cotyledonary nodes, hypocotyls, and radicle explants were then transferred to 1/2 MS medium containing 2.0 mg·L−1 BA and 0.05 mg·L−1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) for shoot multiplication, resulting in 6.9 shoots per explant. The shoots were transferred to Woody Plant Medium (WPM) supplemented with various α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and gibberellic acid (GA3) for shoot elongation. The mean length of shoots and the number of leaves per shoot were 3.7 and 6.6 cm, respectively, in WPM supplemented with 0.5 mg·L−1 NAA and 3.0 mg·L−1 GA3. The highest rooting of shoots (90.2%) or the number of roots per shoot (7.2) was obtained when elongated microshoots were transferred to 1/2 MS medium supplemented with 3.5% perlite, 1.0 mg·L−1 IBA and 2.0 mg·L−1 NAA. The rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized in the greenhouse with a survival rate of 90.0%. The in vitro plant regeneration procedure described in this study is beneficial for mass propagation and improvement of C. oleifera through genetic engineering.

Eucommia ulmoides is a focus of considerable attention because it is used to produce gutta-percha latex and raw materials for traditional Chinese medicine. The species has also been widely planted for vegetable oil production due to the high content of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in the seeds. However, little was known about fatty acid biosynthesis in the seeds. Here, we present transcriptome analyses that identified genes related to the fatty acid biosynthesis pathways in the seeds collected 70 and 160 days after flowering (DAF) from two varieties: ‘Huazhong No. 6’ (ALA content of 38.7 %) and ‘Huazhong No. 10’ (ALA content of 67.6 %). De novo assembly generated 96,469 unigenes with an average length of 690 bp. Among them, 11,260 unigenes identified by functional annotation against the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database were mapped to 117 metabolic pathways. 65 unigenes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis include 5 coding for 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase, 2 coding for β-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase, 10 coding for β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II, and 2 coding for enoyl-ACP reductase I. Expression of the nine differentially expressed unigenes coding for major enzymes in fatty acid biosynthesis was validated by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qPCR) using RNA from six seed stages (70, 88, 106, 124, 142, and 160 DAF) in ‘Huazhong No. 10’. The qPCR analysis showed that expression of these 9 unigenes all changed significantly at 88 DAF. This study provides a large-scale transcriptome annotation of E. ulmoides, which is fundamental information for further characterizing gene functionals involved in the process of seed development.

It is shown in this paper that the problem of reducing the number of elements for multiple- pattern arrays can be solved by a sequence of reweighted � 1 optimizations under multiple linear constraints. To do so, conjugate symmetric excitations are assumed so that the upper and lower bounds for each pattern can be formulated as linear inequality constraints. In addition, we introduce an auxiliary variable for each element to define the common upper bound of both the real and imaginary parts of multiple excitations for different patterns, so that only linear inequality constraints are required. The objective function minimizes the reweighted � 1-norm of these auxiliary variables for all elements. Thus, the proposed method can be efficiently implemented by the iterative linear programming. For multiple desired patterns, the proposed method can select the common elements with multiple set of optimized amplitudes and phases, consequently reducing the number of elements. The radiation characteristics for each pattern, such as the mainlobe shape, response ripple, sidelobe level and nulling region, can be accurately controlled. Several synthesis examples for linear array, rectangular/triangular-grid and randomly spaced planar arrays are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in the reduction of the number of elements.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as a conventional method for protein quantification has its characteristic properties, however, it is challenging to implement excellent portability and sensitivity at the same time. In this study, we described a pH ELISA using synthetic melanin nanoparticles (SMNPs) for the co-immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx) and second antibody (Ab 2 ) as signal labels, portable pH meter as signal readout device for point-of-care testing (POCT) of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). In accordance with the varying amount of cTnI, following sandwich type immunoassay, proportional SMNPs-GOx-Ab 2 were immobilized specifically resulting in corresponding decrease of pH values owing to GOx loaded on SMNPs can high-efficiency convert glucose into gluconic acid. This assay is easy-to-use, portable, sensitive and able to realize POCT, affording a linear range from 0.5 pg/mL to 10 ng/mL and low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.15 pg/mL towards cTnI, which was demonstrated the significant promising in the early diagnosis and screening of acute myocardial infarction.

Materials with high triplet energies have attracted great attention for their application in exciplex-based or thermally activated delayed fluorescence-based organic light-emitting diodes. To study the correlation between triplet energy and chemical structure, six compounds with typical donor-acceptor-donor structures were designed, synthesized, and characterized. Through the adjustment of molecular configuration by weakening the strengths of donors and increasing the angles between donors and acceptors, the triplet energies of the materials were gradually increased from 2.5 to 3.0 eV. Three exciplex-based organic light-emitting diodes containing one of the synthesized compounds were fabricated, which exhibited efficient blue, green-yellow, and white thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Blue and green-yellow organic light-emitting diodes exhibited the maximum external quantum efficiencies of 9.1% and 8.3%, respectively. White organic light-emitting diodes showed turn-on voltage of 4.8 V, high maximum luminance of 18474 cdm-2, and maximum external quantum efficiency of 10.6%. Maximum external quantum efficiencies of blue and white organic light-emitting diodes were close to the record values observed for all-exciplex-based blue and white organic light-emitting diodes.

The Ni2+-histidine (His) chelation yields a more uniform and predicable orientation of immobilized protein molecules than an amine-coupling reaction in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analyses. However, the gradual dissociation of His-tagged proteins leads to a long and sloped baseline, which adversely affects kinetic studies. Furthermore, as shown in this work for the first time, the strong binding affinity between the histidine-rich Fc domain of immunoglobulin-type antibodies and Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) interferes with the kinetic studies of these antibodies and their His-tagged antigens. By performing an amine-coupling reaction immediately after the Ni2+-His chelation, essentially all of the Ni2+-tethered protein molecules can be covalently linked to the carboxyl groups on the underlying carboxymethylated dextran surface. The sequential injections of pH 8.6 phosphate-buffered saline provided additional time to ensure a higher amine coupling efficiency and reverted NHS esters on the protein molecules to carboxyl groups. The application of our method to antibody/antigen interactions is demonstrated with the kinetic analysis of His-tagged t-DARPP protein/anti-t-DARPP interactions. In a separate experiment, the highly efficient immobilization method resulted in a higher immobilization density of His-tagged human carbonic anhydrase (HCA) II, affording accurate kinetic measurements for the binding of 4-carboxybenzenesulfonamide. In addition, the higher HCA II density enhanced the SPR sensitivity, allowing 4-carboxybenzenesulfonamide to be determined with a remarkable detection limit (14 nM).

In this study, a green, efficient, recyclable Cu2O nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (Cu2O-NPs@rGO) carbon-based composite catalyst was synthesized by facile one-pot hydrothermal method. And Cu2O-NPs@rGO catalyst was characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, SEM, SEM-EDS and ICP-OES to explore its morphology, structure and chemical composition. The heterogeneous catalyst shows great catalytic performance and excellent functional group tolerance in the oxidative coupling of aryl methyl ketones and secondary amines leading to α-ketoamides with O2 and N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) under room temperature. Furthermore, Cu2O-NPs@rGO exhibits good recyclability, which was reused seven times without obvious decline in the catalytic activity.

Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb is one of the most important oil trees in China. Diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) esterify sn-1, 2-diacylglycerol with a long-chain fatty acyl-CoA, the last step and the rate-limiting step of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. At least 74 DGAT2 sequences from 61 organisms have been identified, but the SsDGAT2 gene had not been reported to date. To clarify the function of SsDGAT2, we cloned the CDS (rapid amplification of cDNA end) of SsDGAT2 by RACE technology. The full-length CDS of SsDGAT2 contains 1011 bp and encodes a protein of 336 amino acids. Recombinant SsDGAT2 restored TAG biosynthesis to the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae H1246 TAG-deficient mutant and preferentially incorporated unsaturated C18 fatty acids into lipids. To investigate the biotechnological potential of SsDGAT2, it was expressed under the control of the 35S promoter in Arabidopsis Col-4. The oleic acid content increased by 50 % in transgenic plants relative to the control. The results indicated that most of the oleic acid increase was at the expense of linolenic acid (18:3) content, which suggests that high-oleic-acid-content seeds can be created by the overexpression of SsDGAT2 in S. sebiferum (L.) Roxb.

Eighteen forests of Camellia oleifera in Hainan province, China were selected to measure the contents of selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pd) and arsenic (As) in soils, roots, leaves, and kernels, and analyze the correlation between the soil content and the corresponding content in the plant. It was found that the content of Se in soils ranged between 0.489 and 2.110 mg/kg, and was higher than 1.0 mg/kg in 10 out of 18 forests. The average content of six heavy metals was low and fulfilled the requirements of soil environment for green-food production, except that the contents of Cr, Pb, and Cd exceeded standards in few regions. The content of Se in Camellia oleifera was relatively low. Only five regions showed detectable levels of Se in kernels, with the highest in Fuwen Town of Dingan county of 0.085 mg/kg. The contents of Zn, Cr, Pb, Cd, As, and Hg in roots of Camellia oleifera were higher than in the leaves and kernels. The contents of Zn, Cr, and Pb were higher than that of Cd, As, and Hg. The As content in soil was in significant correlation with that in the roots of Camellia oleifera. The Pd content in the soil was positively correlated with that of the roots of Camellia oleifera. The Cr, Pd and Cd contents in roots were in positive correlation with that in the leaves significantly. However, the Hg content of the roots was positively correlated with that of the kernels. Furthermore, the Se content in roots of Camellia oleifera was negatively associated with that of the other six heavy metals, having a significantly negative correlation between Se and As.

We provide new embryological information regarding the Fagaceae family. Abortive ovules may be a result of mate choice and be necessary to maximize reproductive success in Chinese chinquapin ( Castanea henryi ). In contrast to most angiosperms, in which fertilization occurs 1–2 days after pollination, fertilization in Fagales is delayed from 4 days to more than 1 year. However, the phenomenon of delayed fertilization in Castanea Miller species (Fagaceae), which are the economically important species of Fagaceae and widely distributed or cultured in many countries of the world, has been consistently neglected, raising questions regarding what the delayed fertilization process is and why fertilization is delayed. To answer these questions, we systematically investigated the micro- and megasporogenesis in addition to male and female gametogenesis in Castanea henryi (Castanea Miller species). Our results show that the ovules primordia are immature at the time of pollination and require 6 weeks to become fully developed. During this 6-week period, 32.30 % of ovules abort because of the inability to form an embryo sac (ES). Approximately 15.79 % of ovules abort because of abnormal development of ES. From 7 to 8 weeks after pollination in which double fertilization occurs, most mature ovules are also aborted because of cell degeneration in gametophytes. Only one ovule can develop into a ripe seed. Thus, the delayed fertilization in Castanea henryi may be necessary to increase the time for mate choice and selective fertilization. A certain number of ovule abortions may be the result of delayed fertilization to maximize reproductive success.

We have designed and synthesized the novel p-type polymer containing thienothiophene, thiophene and fluorene with OTFT characteristics. The polymer was synthesized by the palladium catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction with thienothiophene derivatives, thiophene derivatives and fluorene derivatives. The obtained PTT2BTF can dissolve in common organic solvents such as toluene, THF, chloroform, chlorobenzene and dichlorobenzene. PTT2BTF has a number average molecular weight (Mn) of 25,000 with a poly dispersity index (PDI) of 1.66. PTT2BTF showed good thermal stability with high Td of 407 °C. The OTFT characteristics of the polymer (PTT2BTF) were fabricated. Organic semiconductor was found to exhibit typical p-channel FET characteristics with a hole mobility of 6.3 x 10(-5) cm2/Vs and a threshold voltage of - 4 V. Keywords: OTFT, Thiophene, Fluorene, Solution Process.

Camellia oleifera is an important edible oil woody plant in China. Lack of useful molecular markers hinders current genetic research on this tree species. Transcriptome sequencing of developing C. oleifera seeds generated 69,798 unigenes. A total of 6949 putative microsatellites were discovered among 6042 SSR-containing unigenes. Then, 150 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were evaluated in 20 varieties of C. oleifera. Of these, 52 SSRs revealed polymorphism, with the number of alleles per locus ranging from 2 to 15 and expected heterozygosity values from 0.269 to 0.888. The polymorphic information content varied from 0.32 to 0.897. Cross-species transferability rates in Camellia chekangoleosa and Camellia japonica were 90.4 and 78.8%, respectively. The 52 polymorphic unigene-derived SSR markers serve to enrich existing microsatellite marker resources for C. oleifera and offer potential for applications in genetic diversity evaluation, molecular fingerprinting, and genetic mapping in C. oleifera, C. chekangoleosa, and C. japonica.

Tung tree (Vernicia fordii) is an important woody oil tree. Tung tree seeds contain 50-60% oil with approximately 80 mole α-eleostearic acid (9 cis, 11 trans, 13 trans octadecatrienoic acid). Fatty acid synthesis is catalyzed by the concerted action of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase, a multienzyme complex including β-ketoacyl-acyl-carrier-protein synthase (KAS). Little is known about KAS in tung tree. The objective of this study was to clone KAS genes and analyze their expression profiles in tung tree. A full-length cDNA encoding KAS III and a partial cDNA encoding KAS II were isolated from tung tree by PCR cloning using degenerate primers and rapid amplification of cDNA ends system. The full-length cDNA of VfKAS III was 1881 bp in length with an open reading frame of 1212 bp. VfKAS III genomic DNA was also isolated and sequenced, which contained 8 exons in 5403 bp length. The deduced VfKAS III protein shared approximately 80% identity with homologous KAS IIIs from other plants. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that KAS II and KAS III were expressed in all of the tissues and organs tested but exhibited different expression patterns in tung tree. The expression levels of KAS II in young tissues were much lower than those in mature tissues, whereas the highest expression levels of KAS III were observed in young stem and young leaf. These results should facilitate further studies on the regulation of tung oil biosynthesis by KAS in tung tree.

Background/Aims: Psoralen and bakuchiol are the main active compounds found in the traditional Chinese medicine Psoralea corylifolia L., and have been used to treat osteoporosis. This study aims to investigate the anti-osteoporosis effects of these two compounds using osteoclasts precursor differentiation and bone absorption assays in vitro. Methods: Primary mouse osteoclasts precursor cells were induced by M-CSF (macrophage colony stimulating factor) plus RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand) in vitro. TRACP (tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase) enzyme activity and toluidine blue staining were used to observe the effects of psoralen and bakuchiol on osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption, respectively. Gelatin zymography was used to assess MMP (matrix metalloproteinase) activity, and ELISA was performed to measure cathepsin K activity. Western blotting analysis for expression of phosphorylated AKT, ERK, NF-kB, and c-jun; and immunofluorescence analysis for c-jun and p65 nuclear translocation in induced osteoclasts were then used to determine the mechanism of anti-bone resorption of psoralen and bakuchiol. Results: Mature osteoclasts were induced by M-CSF plus RANKL from primary bone marrow macrophages in vitro. Both psoralen and bakuchiol significantly inhibited TRACP enzyme activity and slightly decreased the number of TRACP+ multinuclear osteoclasts induced by M-CSF plus RANKL. Bakuchiol significantly decreased bone lacunae area and attenuated MMP-2 activity induced by M-CSF plus RANKL in osteoclasts. Both psoralen and bakuchiol significantly decreased the expression and nuclear translocation of phosphorylated c-jun stimulated by M-CSF plus RANKL, but no significant effect on p65 translocation was observed in osteoclasts. Additionally, bakuchiol significantly attenuated the increased of M-CSF plus RANKL-induced phosphorylation of AKT in osteoclasts. Conclusions: Psoralen and bakuchiol ameliorated M-CSF plus RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption via inhibition of AKT and AP-1 pathways activation in vitro.

Oil-tea tree is one of the most important woody edible oil plants; however, lack of useful molecular markers hinders current genetic research. We performed transcriptome sequencing of developing seeds and characterized microsatellites from transcriptome sequences to identify valuable markers for C. oleifera molecular genetics research. A total of 69,798 unigenes were identified, in which 6,949 putative SSR motifs from 6,042 SSR-containing unique putative transcripts were discovered. Twenty-nine primer pairs corresponding to 29 unigene loci were designed, of which 15 polymorphic genic-SSR markers were developed in 18 varieties and characterized by capillary electrophoresis. The number of alleles per locus (Na) ranged from 2 to 14, the expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.374 to 0.876, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.498 to 0.887, respectively. Cross-species amplification was also conducted in 15 varieties of C. japonica. All 15 markers successfully amplified PCR products with expected size in C. japonica and exhibited polymorphisms. The 15 polymorphic genic- SSR markers will have potential for applications in genetic diversity evaluation, molecular fingerprinting identification, comparative genome analysis, and genetic mapping in the C. oleifera and C. japonica.

Camellia grijsii Hamce is used as a woody edible oil tree and wellknow for its commercial value in Southern China. The plants rarely set viable seeds and have little work on the reproduction biology. In order to verify whether there was any obstacle of male reproduction in the C. grijsii, microsporgenesis and male gametogenesis in C. grijsii have been evaluated by paraffin section technique. The results are showed that the development of the anther wall belonged to a basic type and consisted of epidermis, endothecium, middle layers and tapetum. The tapetum conformed to the glandular type. Cytokinesis during meiosis of the microspore mother cell was simultaneous type. A majority of the microspores were arranged in tetrahedral tetrads. The mature pollen grains were 2-cell type and had three germ pores. Anthers were dehiscent and pollen grains shed on the early-February. Based our results, we did not find the abnormal male flower in the C. grijsii, suggesting that male gametes were fertile and male sterility was not the major cause of the low seed set in the C. grijsii.

Diospyros is the largest genus in Ebenaceae, comprising more than 500 species with remarkable economic value, especially Diospyros kaki Thunb., which has traditionally been an important food resource in China, Korea, and Japan. Complete chloroplast (cp) genomes from D. kaki, D. lotus L., D. oleifera Cheng., D. glaucifolia Metc., and Diospyros ‘Jinzaoshi’ were sequenced using Illumina sequencing technology. This is the first cp genome reported in Ebenaceae. The cp genome sequences of Diospyros ranged from 157,300 to 157,784 bp in length, presenting a typical quadripartite structure with two inverted repeats each separated by one large and one small single-copy region. For each cp genome, 134 genes were annotated, including 80 protein-coding, 31 tRNA, and 4 rRNA unique genes. In all, 179 repeats and 283 single sequence repeats were identified. Four hypervariable regions, namely, intergenic region of trnQ_rps16, trnV_ndhC, and psbD_trnT, and intron of ndhA, were identified in the Diospyros genomes. Phylogenetic analyses based on the whole cp genome, protein-coding, and intergenic and intron sequences indicated that D. oleifera is closely related to D. kaki and could be used as a model plant for future research on D. kaki; to our knowledge, this is proposed for the first time. Further, these analyses together with two large deletions (301 and 140 bp) in the cp genome of D. ‘Jinzaoshi’, support its placement as a new species in Diospyros. Both maximum parsimony and likelihood analyses for 19 taxa indicated the basal position of Ericales in asterids and suggested that Ebenaceae is monophyletic in Ericales.

In this paper, we propose a new method to design a beam-scanning sparse array with minimum spacing constraint. The proposed method consists of two optimization steps. In the first step, an iterative reweighted L1-norm optimization is used to obtain an initial sparse array without minimum spacing constraint. In the second step, we carry on a series of element combination and perturbations to meet the minimum spacing constraint. An example is given to design a sparse array which has the minimum spacing of 0.5 wavelength and the beam scanning from −45° to 135°.