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BACKGROUND Resveratrol, a polyphenol found on the surface of red fruits, is able to suppress many kinds of malignancies. Nevertheless, its mechanism of action is not yet clear. Consequently, this study aimed to elucidate its influence and explore the etiology of PCCs (prostate cancer cells). MATERIAL AND METHODS The proliferation of prostate cancer cells was determined by CCK-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was determined by Hoechst staining FC assay. Cell migration was detected by scratch test. The levels of apoptosis-related protein were detected by Western blot analysis. RESULTS It was discovered that resveratrol suppresses cellular survival and migration and enhances cell death. In addition, it was revealed that resveratrol elevated ROS concentration and expression of biomarker of cell death Bax, while inhibiting Bcl2, an anti-apoptotic protein, and reinforcing expression of p53. Moreover, resveratrol remarkably increased the expressions of HIF-1α and p53 in PC cells. Resveratrol suppressed cell survival and promoted cell death, but its effects were reversed after HIF-1α knockdown, suggesting that the effects of resveratrol in PC are mediated via HIF-1α. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that resveratrol induces apoptosis via HIF-1α/ROS/p53 signaling in prostate cancer cells and may be a useful therapeutic agent against prostate cancer.

Short acquisition time and small volumes of incubated bacterial cultures are ideal for the routine and rapid identification or screening of electricigens in research and applications of microbial fuel cells. In this study, a functional substrate based on colloidal photonic crystals (PCs) was developed both for the filtration and identification of electricigens by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The fabrication of the substrate was simplified by electroless plating of silver on filtration-based self-assembled PCs on a filter membrane. The silver-plated ordered PC structure provided a 107-fold enhancement of Raman intensity compared to that obtained with a bare PC substrate. The substrate allowed for a “drop and measure” method of bacterial identification within 5 min with a 5 μL sample volume only. The results showed that not only the electricigens Geobacter sp. and Shewanella sp. could be discriminated with species and strain specificity, but also Geobacter sp. and pilus-mutated Geobacter sp. strains. The developed silver-plated PC filter offers tremendous opportunities in energetic, environmental, and clinical applications.

Hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs are usually divided into multiple compartments with distinct properties by linear leaky faults. This kind of heterogeneous reservoir is usually called linear composite reservoir. Hydraulic fracturing is an important technology to significantly improve oil/gas production, and has been widely applied to the development of various oil/gas reservoirs. However, the literature on analytical/semi-analytical models for multi-wing fractured vertical (MWFV) wells in linear composite reservoirs is rare. In this work, we first derive the Laplace-space point source solution for linear composite reservoirs separated by a partially communicating fault, and then propose a semi-analytical model of MWFV wells in linear composite reservoirs based on superposition principle and fracture discrete scheme. The proposed model is validated by comparing with the published simplified models and the commercial numerical simulator. Type curves of MWFV wells in linear composite reservoirs are obtained and the flow regimes are identified. The effect of key parameters on transient pressure responses is discussed in detail. The proposed model can be employed to efficiently deal with multiple fracture wings emanated from the wellbore in linear composite reservoirs. This paper will be helpful to further develop analytical/semi-analytical models for other complex well types in linear composite reservoirs with a fault.

Background: Cerebral ischemia is caused due to insufficient blood flow to brain cells. This study evaluates the therapeutic effects of propionic acid (PA) on the abnormalities induced during the cerebral ischemic-reperfusion (CIR) injury in mice. Materials and Methods: CIR was induced by complete occlusion of the middle artery of the cerebrum for 15 min and reperfusion for 24 h in the experimental C57BL/6 mice. The analysis of mRNA levels of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) was performed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1 β, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were quantitated by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay. Apoptosis-related proteins and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) were analyzed using Western blot technique. Results: PA demonstrated strong therapeutic effects on controlling the expression of nNOS that was analyzed using RT-PCR. Elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, caspase-3, caspase-9, and phosphorylated NF-κB during cerebral ischemia were significantly controlled during PA treatment. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that PA through oral gavage exhibited healthier effects on the damage caused due to CIR injury.

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mode of genomic DNA modification that is an important part of maintaining epigenetic content and regulating gene expression. DNA methyltransferases (MTases) are the key enzymes in the process of DNA methylation. Thus far, there has been no systematic analysis the DNA MTases found in cotton. In this study, the whole genome of cotton C5-Mtase coding genes was identified and analyzed using a bioinformatics method based on information from the cotton genome. In this study, 51 DNA MTase genes were identified, of which 8 belonged toG. raimondii(group D), 9 belonged toG. arboretumL. (group A), 16 belonged toG. hirsutumL. (group AD1) and 18 belonged toG. barbadebseL. (group AD2). Systematic evolutionary analysis divided the 51 genes into four subfamilies, including 7 MET homologous proteins, 25 CMT homologous proteins, 14 DRM homologous proteins and 5 DNMT2 homologous proteins. Further studies showed that the DNA MTases in cotton were more phylogenetically conserved. The comparison of their protein domains showed that the C-terminal functional domain of the 51 proteins had six conserved motifs involved in methylation modification, indicating that the protein has a basic catalytic methylation function and the difference in the N-terminal regulatory domains of the 51 proteins divided the proteins into four classes, MET, CMT, DRM and DNMT2, in which DNMT2 lacks an N-terminal regulatory domain. Gene expression in cotton is not the same under different stress treatments. Different expression patterns of DNA MTases show the functional diversity of the cotton DNA methyltransferase gene family. VIGS silenced Gossypium hirsutum l. in the cotton seedling of DNMT2 family geneGhDMT6, after stress treatment the growth condition was better than the control. The distribution of DNA MTases varies among cotton species. Different DNA MTase family members have different genetic structures, and the expression level changes with different stresses, showing tissue specificity. Under salt and drought stress,G. hirsutumL. TM-1 increased the number of genes more thanG. raimondiiandG. arboreumL.Shixiya1. The resistance of Gossypium hirsutum L.TM-1 to cold, drought and salt stress was increased after the plants were silenced withGhDMT6gene.

Some plants of Buddleja genus possessed antimicrobial activity. In this study, the antibacterial activities of nine compounds from Buddleja albiflora were evaluated against Listeria monocytogenes, Staphyloccocus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, either alone or in combination with Erythromycin (Ery), Gentamicin (Gen) and Ampicillin (Amp). Checkerboard assay demonstrated that Kumatakenin elicited synergistic effects with all three antibiotics, and chrysin displayed synergistic effect with Ery against L. monocytogenes. Further experiments showed that the synergy effect was sufficient to eradicate biofilms formed by L. monocytogenes. Thus, our data highlighted that the combinations of secondary metabolites from B. albiflora and specific antibiotics were useful for the treatment of pathogens, which might help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance through improving antibiotic effectiveness. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study measured the antibacterial activity of the metabolites from Buddleja albiflora and the synergistic interactions with antibiotics against Listeria monocytogenes on planktonic cells as well as on biofilms. The results of this study provide valuable evidence that Kumatakenin/antibiotic combination can be considered as a promising antimicrobial agent for the treatment of pathogens, which subsequently help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance through improving antibiotic effectiveness.

Bead-based assays have drawn more and more attention in biomedical fields. Herein, we proposed a novel approach to achieve multiplex analysis on a single porous hydrogel bead (PHB) with Raman dyes (RDs) encoded core-shell surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanotags. Because of the amplified signal of RDs by core-shell metal structure of the nanotag and the high surface area to volume ratio (SVR) of the PHB, the sensitivity and linear dynamic range (LDR) of the as-proposed multiplex analysis method are significantly improved. We anticipate this approach to be widely used in the multiplex assays and biosensors.

Carabrone, a botanical bicyclic sesquiterpenic lactone, has broad-spectrum antifungal activity and is particularly efficient against the devastating phytopathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt). The antifungal mechanism of carabrone against Ggt, however, remains unclear. The main objective of this study was to investigate the subcellular localization of carabrone in Ggt to gain a better understanding of its mechanism of action. When Ggt was exposed to carabrone (EC50 value of 28.45 μg/mL) for 7 days, a decline in mitochondrial concentration together with some obvious alternations in mitochondrial structure, including hazy outlines, medullary transitions, excess accumulation of unclear settlings, and vacuolar degeneration, were observed, indicating that carbrone may act on the mitochondria directly. A fluorescent conjugate (TTY) was thus designed and synthesized as a surrogate of carabrone that possessed comparable antifungal activity against Ggt (EC50 of 33.68 μg/mL). Additionally, a polyclona...

In order to explore the molecular mechanism of salt tolerance and heterosis in cotton, a methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism method based on capillary electrophoresis was used to analyze DNA methylation level in a cotton hybrid CCRI 29 and its two parents. The major results and conclusions are as follows: Firstly, salt tolerance test showed that CCRI 29 had higher salt-tolerance level than its both parents. The global DNA methylation level in CCRI 29 under salt treatment significantly increased, whereas the two parents did not change significantly between salt treatment and control. All kinds of variation of DNA methylation happened in cotton under salt treatment, and hypermethylation happened at a significantly higher rate than that of hypomethylation in CCRI 29 but not in its two parents. The results suggested that the increase of global DNA methylation level in cotton genome and also different methylation types played an important role in tolerance to salt treatment in cotton. Secondly, both hypomethylation and hypermethylation happened to different genes and some genes maintained the same methylation level after salt stress, which meant that complex gene expression alterations occurred when responding to salt stress in cotton, indicating the complicated characteristics of roles that specific genes played in salt tolerance. Thirdly, although most cytosine methylation sites in hybrid CCRI 29 shared the same status as that of at least one of the parents, the site number of hypomethylation is significantly higher than that of hypermethylation in CCRI 29 compared to parents under both control and salt stress, indicating that demethylation could be the mechanism to explain heterosis in cotton hybrid.

The aim of this study is to explore the effectiveness of microgravity simulated by head-down bed rest (HDBR) and artificial gravity (AG) with exercise on lung function. Twenty-four volunteers were randomly divided into control and exercise countermeasure (CM) groups for 96 h of 6° HDBR. Comparisons of pulse rate, pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) and lung function were made between these two groups at 0, 24, 48, 72, 96 h. Compared with the sitting position, inspiratory capacity and respiratory reserve volume were significantly higher than before HDBR (0° position) (P< 0.05). Vital capacity, expiratory reserve volume, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, forced inspiratory vital capacity, forced inspiratory volume in 1 s, forced expiratory flow at 25, 50, and 75%, maximal mid-expiratory flow and peak expiratory flow were all significantly lower than those before HDBR (P< 0.05). Neither control nor CM groups showed significant differences in pulse rate, SpO2, pulmonary volume and pulmonary ventilation function over the HDBR observation time. Postural changes can lead to variation in lung volume and ventilation function, but a HDBR model induced no changes in pulmonary function and therefore should not be used to study AG countermeasures.

Semiconductor nanowire (SNW) lasers have great potential applications in high density data storage, single molecule detection, direct RNA and DNA sequencing and integrated optoelectronic circuits etc. While for their practical applications, control and optimization of the parameters are of great significance and have been attracting growing interests in the past years. Here we present a review of the key parameters control and optimization about SNW lasers. After introducing the background of NW lasers in the first two chapters, wavelength control, mode optimization, threshold reduction and polarization measurement and modulation will be demonstrated in the following text successively. Finally, we will give a perspective on SNW lasers research to address important future directions and challenges for further enrichment of this emerging area.

The cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) is one of the most invasive pests of cotton. Many botanical phytochemicals have a long history as a source of insecticides, and as templates for new insecticides. This study was undertaken to isolate aphicidal compounds from the seeds of Erythrina crista-galli L. using the bioassay-guided isolation method.Three novel and 11 known Erythrina alkaloids were isolated. Erysodine (9), erysovine (10), erysotrine (8) and erythraline (11) showed moderate to excellent aphicidal activity with LDThe study demonstrated that the Erythrina alkaloids erysodine (9), erysovine (10), erysotrine (8) and erythraline (11) have potential use as botanical aphicides for commercial application, or as templates for the development of new insecticides. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background DNA methylation, with a cryptic role in genome stability, gene transcription and expression, is involved in the drought response process in plants, but the complex regulatory mechanism is still largely unknown. Results Here, we performed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and identified long non-coding RNAs on cotton leaves under drought stress and re-watering treatments. We obtained 31,223 and 30,997 differentially methylated regions (representing 2.48% of the genome) after drought stress and re-watering treatments, respectively. Our data also showed that three sequence contexts, including mCpG, mCHG, mCHH, all presented a hyper-methylation pattern under drought stress and were nearly restored to normal levels after the re-watering treatment. Among all the methylation variations, asymmetric CHH methylation was the most consistent with external environments, suggesting that methylation/demethylation in a CHH context may constitute a novel epigenetic modification in response to drought stress. Combined with the targets of long non-coding RNAs, we found that long non-coding RNAs may mediate variations in methylation patterns by splicing into microRNAs. Furthermore, the many hormone-related genes with methylation variations suggested that plant hormones might be a potential mechanism in the drought response. Conclusions Future crop-improvement strategies may benefit by taking into account not only the DNA genetic variations in cotton varieties but also the epigenetic modifications of the genome. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3681-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas9 system has been widely used for genome editing in various plants because of its simplicity, high efficiency and design flexibility. However, to our knowledge, there is no report on the application of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis in cotton. Here, we report the genome editing and targeted mutagenesis in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L., hereafter cotton) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. We designed two guide RNAs to target distinct sites of the cotton Cloroplastos alterados 1 (GhCLA1) and vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase (GhVP) genes. Mutations in these two genes were detected in cotton protoplasts. Most of the mutations were nucleotide substitutions, with one nucleotide insertion and one substitution found in GhCLA1 and one deletion found in GhVP in cotton protoplasts. Subsequently, the two vectors were transformed into cotton shoot apexes through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, resulting in efficient target gene editing. Most of the mutations were nucleotide deletions, and the mutation efficiencies were 47.6–81.8% in transgenic cotton plants. Evaluation using restriction-enzyme-PCR assay and sequence analysis detected no off-target mutations. Our results indicated that the CRISPR/Cas9 system was an efficient and specific tool for targeted mutagenesis of the cotton genome.

Statistics of Pathway Enrichment of differentially methylated genes (PDF 6Â kb)

We report direct measurement of propagation losses in single gold nanowires around visible and near-infrared bands. By directly measuring the propagation-distance-dependent output of the nanowire via fiber-taper-assistant near-field-coupling technique, we obtain a typical loss of 0.89 dB/µm at 785-nm wavelength in a 210-nm-diameter gold nanowire. We have also investigated the dependences of propagation losses on the nanowire diameter and light wavelength, and shown that the propagation loss is averagely increased with decreasing diameter and wavelength. Our results from direct measurements offer an unambiguous loss information of gold nanowires, as well as a helpful reference for gold-nanowire-based plasmonic circuits and devices.

To continuously improve the potential utility of the natural lead compound of carabrone in agrochemistry, carabrone oxime and 36 novel oxime ester derivatives of carabrone modified at C(4) were synthesized, and evaluated for their antifungal activities against Botrytis cinerea in vitro and in vivo. Of these 36 oxime ester derivatives, some compounds exhibited antifungal activities in vitro or in vivo. It was found that compounds with a pyridinyl residue can either efficiently inhibit spore germination or efficiently inhibit hyphal growth of B. cinerea, and compound 9 exhibited the highest activity in vitro and in vivo with IC50 and EC50 values of 1.17 and 12.9 μg/ml, respectively. Further, the structure-activity relationships are also discussed.

Dextranases can hydrolyze dextran deposits and have been used in the sugar industry. Microbial strains which produce dextranases for industrial use are chiefly molds, which present safety issues, and dextranase production from them is impractically long. Thus, marine bacteria to produce dextranases may overcome these problems. Crude dextranase was purified by a combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation and ion-exchange chromatography, and then the enzyme was characterized. The enzyme was 66.2 kDa with an optimal temperature of 50 °C and a pH of 7. The enzyme had greater than 60% activity at 60 °C for 1 h. Moreover, 10 mM Co2+ enhanced dextranase activity (196%), whereas Ni2+ and Fe3+ negatively affected activity. 0.02% xylitol and 1% alcohol enhanced activity (132.25% and 110.37%, respectively) whereas 0.05% SDS inhibited activity (14.07%). The thickness of S. mutans and mixed-species oral biofilm decreased from 54340 nm to 36670 nm and from 64260 nm to 43320 nm, respectively.

The porous carbon with a high surface area is prepared from rice husk through pyrolysis and chemical activation and explored as the counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells. Structure and texture analysis reveals that the as-prepared porous carbon has a hierarchical porous structure containing large-size mesopores and abundant micropores. Electrochemical studies indicate that the obtained hierarchical porous carbon electrode has high electrocatalytic activity for I − / I 3 − redox reaction and enhanced electrolyte diffusion capability. These enhanced electrochemical properties are beneficial for improving the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Under irradiation of 100 mW cm −2 , the dye-sensitized solar cell with this porous carbon counter electrode shows a conversion efficiency of 6.32%, which is closed to that of the cell with Pt electrode (6.69%). These promising results highlight the potential application of hierarchical porous carbon derived from rice husk in more cost-effective dye-sensitized solar cells.

Dextranases can hydrolyze dextran, so they are used in the sugar industry to mitigate the milling problems associated with dextran contamination. Few studies have been carried out on the storage stability of dextranase, let alone the dextranase of Arthrobacter oxydans KQ11 isolated from sea mud samples. This study improved the storage stability of dextranase from marine A. oxydans KQ11 by adding enzymatic protective reagents (stabilizer and antiseptic). Initially, the conditions (55 °C and 30 min) for maintaining 50% dextranase activity were obtained. Then, the best stabilizers of dextranase were obtained, namely, glycerol (16%), sodium acetate (18%) and sodium citrate (20%). Results showed that p-hydroxybenzoic acid compound sodium acetate (0.05%), D-sodium isoascorbiate (0.03%), and potassium sorbate (0.05%) were the best antiseptics. Subsequent validation experiment showed that dextranase with enzymatic protective reagents maintained 70.8% and 28.96% activities at the 13th week at 25 and 37 °C, respectively.

Objective To investigate the effects of Runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) knockdown on hypoxia-induced endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT) of human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (HCMECs), and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods HCMECs were cultured in hypoxic conditions and infected with RUNX3-RNAi lentivirus to knock-down the expression of RUNX3. Reverse transcription PCR was performed to detect the mRNA expressions of RUNX3 and EndoMT related genes such as CD31, vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and fibroblast-specific protein-1 (FSP-1); Western blotting was used to determine the protein expressions of RUNX3, CD31, α-SMA and another molecules involved in EndoMT; and immunofluorescence cytochemistry was applied to observe the colocalization of CD31 and α-SMA. Results Hypoxia induced the transition of HCMECs to mesenchymal cells. Hypoxia up-regulated the expression of TGF-β2, Smad2/3, phosphorylation of Smad2/3 (p-Smad2/3), Notch-1, Hes1, and Hey1; knockdown of RUNX3 down-regulated the levels of Smad2/3, p-Smad2/3, Hes1, and Hey1 to different extents, and raised the levels of TGF-β2 and Notch-1. Conclusion Knockdown of RUNX3 in HCMECs attenuates hypoxia-induced EndoMT via partially inhibiting TGF-β and Notch signaling pathway.

High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil should be removed for environmental safety. Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that pollutes the soil when its concentration exceeds 3.4 mg/kg. Although the potential use of cotton to remediate heavy Cd-polluted soils is known, little is understood about the molecular mechanisms of Cd tolerance. In this study, transcriptome analysis was used to identify Cd tolerance genes and their potential mechanisms in cotton. We exposed cotton plants to excess Cd and identified 4627 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the root, 3022 DEGs in the stem and 3854 DEGs in the leaves through RNA-Seq analysis. Among these genes were heavy metal transporter coding genes (ABC, CDF, HMA, etc.), annexin genes and heat shock genes (HSP), amongst others. Gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly involved in the oxidation&ndash, reduction process and metal ion binding. The DEGs were mainly enriched in two pathways, the influenza A and pyruvate pathway. GhHMAD5, a protein containing a heavy-metal binding domain, was identified in the pathway to transport or to detoxify heavy metal ions. We constructed a GhHMAD5 overexpression system in Arabidopsis thaliana that showed longer roots compared to control plants. GhHMAD5-silenced cotton plants showed more sensitivity to Cd stress. The results indicate that GhHMAD5 is involved in Cd tolerance, which gives a preliminary understanding of the Cd tolerance mechanism in upland cotton. Overall, this study provides valuable information for the use of cotton to remediate soils polluted with Cd and potentially other heavy metals.

We demonstrate an excellent performance of nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC) as a low-cost counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. NMC materials are prepared using melamine-formaldehyde resin as carbon precursor and silica nanoparticles as template. Nitrogen adsorption analysis shows that the as-prepared NMC samples had a high surface area, large pore volume and bimodal mesopore structure with maxima at ∼3.5 nm and ∼16 nm. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests reveal a low charge-transfer resistance of 1.45 Ω cm 2 for NMC electrode in iodide/triiodide redox electrolyte. Such excellent electrocatalytic activity for iodide/triiodide redox reaction of NMC electrode can be attributed to a unique combination of nitrogen doping, bimodal mesopore structure and high surface area. A power conversion efficiency of 7.02% is achieved for the dye-sensitized solar cell with NMC counter electrode, which is comparable to that of the device with Pt counter electrode. These results reveal that NMC electrode is a promising low-cost alternative to Pt counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are conserved signal transduction pathways in all eukaryotic organisms. MAPKKKs (MAPK kinase kinases) operate at the top levels of these cascades. Recently, this family of genes has been systematically investigated in Arabidopsis, rice and maize, but has not yet been characterized in cotton. In this study, we identified 78 putative MAPKKK genes in the genome of the diploid cotton, Gossypium raimondii. They were classified into three subfamilies, of which 12 were ZIK, 22 were MEKK and 44 were Raf. The ZIK and MEKK genes displayed a scattered genomic distribution across 11 of the 13 chromosomes, whereas Raf genes were distributed across the entire genome. Their conserved patterns observed for introns and additional domains were consistent with the evolutionary relationships inferred from the phylogenetic analysis within subfamily. Transcriptome sequencing data were used to investigate their transcript profiles in mature leaves, 0 day and 3 days post-anthesis (DPA) ovules. Sixty MAPKKK genes were expressed, of which 41 were strongly expressed in mature leaves. Twelve MAPKKK genes were more highly expressed in 3-DPA ovules than in 0-DPA ovules. Our results provide a foundation for future evolutionary and functional characterizations of MAPKKK genes in cotton and probably other Gossypium plants.

R.PabI is a type II restriction enzyme that recognizes the 5′-GTAC-3′ sequence and belongs to the HALFPIPE superfamily. Although most restriction enzymes cleave phosphodiester bonds at specific sites by hydrolysis, R.PabI flips the guanine and adenine bases of the recognition sequence out of the DNA helix and hydrolyzes the N-glycosidic bond of the flipped adenine in a similar manner to DNA glycosylases. In this study, we determined the structure of R.PabI in complex with double-stranded DNA without the R.PabI recognition sequence by X-ray crystallography. The 1.9 Å resolution structure of the complex showed that R.PabI forms a tetrameric structure to sandwich the double-stranded DNA and the tetrameric structure is stabilized by four salt bridges. DNA binding and DNA glycosylase assays of the R.PabI mutants showed that the residues that form the salt bridges (R70 and D71) are essential for R.PabI to find the recognition sequence from the sea of nonspecific sequences. R.PabI is predicted to utilize the tetrameric structure to bind nonspecific double-stranded DNA weakly and slide along it to find the recognition sequence.

Recent researches on long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have expanded our horizon of gene regulation and the cellular complexity. However, the number, characteristics and expression patterns of lncRNAs remain poorly characterized and how these lncRNAs biogenesis are regulated in response to drought stress in cotton are still largely unclear. In the study, using a reproducibility-based RNA-sequencing and bioinformatics strategy to analyze the lncRNAs of 9 samples under three different environment stresses (control, drought stress and re-watering, three replications), we totally identified 10,820 lncRNAs of high-confidence through five strict steps filtration, of which 9,989 were lincRNAs, 153 were inronic lncRNAs, 678 were anti-sense lncRNAs. Coding function analysis showed 6,470 lncRNAs may have the ability to code proteins. Small RNAs precursor analysis revealed that 196 lncRNAs may be the precursors to small RNAs, most of which (35.7%, 70) were miRNAs. Expression patterns analysis showed that most of lncRNAs were expressed at a low level and most inronic lncRNAs (75.95%) had a consistent expression pattern with their adjacent protein-coding genes. Further analysis of transcriptome data uncovered that lncRNAs XLOC_063105 and XLOC_115463 probably function in regulating two adjacent coding genes CotAD_37096 and CotAD_12502, respectively. Investigations of the content of plant hormones and proteomics analysis under drought stress also complemented the prediction. We analyzed the characteristics and the expression patterns of lncRNAs under drought stress and re-watering treatment, and found lncRNAs may be likely to involve in regulating plant hormones pathway in response to drought stress.

Salinity stress is a major abiotic factor that affects crop output, and as a pioneer crop in saline and alkaline land, salt tolerance study of cotton is particularly important. In our experiment, four salt-tolerance varieties with different salt tolerance indexes including CRI35 (65.04%), Kanghuanwei164 (56.19%), Zhong9807 (55.20%) and CRI44 (50.50%), as well as four salt-sensitive cotton varieties including Hengmian3 (48.21%), GK50 (40.20%), Xinyan96-48 (34.90%), ZhongS9612 (24.80%) were used as the materials. These materials were divided into salt-tolerant group (ST) and salt-sensitive group (SS). Illumina Cotton SNP 70K Chip was used to detect SNP in different cotton varieties. SNPv (SNP variation of the same seedling pre- and after- salt stress) in different varieties were screened; polymorphic SNP and SNPr (SNP related to salt tolerance) were obtained. Annotation and analysis of these SNPs showed that (1) the induction efficiency of salinity stress on SNPv of cotton materials with different salt tolerance index was different, in which the induction efficiency on salt-sensitive materials was significantly higher than that on salt-tolerant materials. The induction of salt stress on SNPv was obviously biased. (2) SNPv induced by salt stress may be related to the methylation changes under salt stress. (3) SNPr may influence salt tolerance of plants by affecting the expression of salt-tolerance related genes.

In consideration of the fact that the α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone moiety is a major bio-functional group in the structure of carabrone and possesses some agricultural biological activity, forty-six new ester and six new ether derivatives containing α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone moieties were synthesized, and their fungicidal activities against Colletotrichum lagenarium and Botrytis cinerea were investigated. Most of the synthesized compounds showed moderate to significant fungicidal activity. Among them, halogen atom-containing derivatives showed better activity than others, especially compounds 6a,d which exhibited excellent fungicidal activity against C. lagenarium, with IC50 values of 7.68 and 8.17 μM. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis indicated that ester derivatives with electron-withdrawing groups on the benzene ring showed better fungicidal activity than those with electron-donating groups. A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model (R2 = 0.9824, F = 203.01, S2 = 0.0083) was obtained through the heuristic method. The built model revealed a strong correlation of fungicidal activity against C. lagenarium with the molecular structures of these compounds. These results are expected to prove helpful in the design and exploration of low toxicity and high efficiency α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone-based fungicides.

An organosilicon quadripolymer of acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS), N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) and a kind of organosilicon monomer was synthesized by solution free radical polymerization. The chemical structure of organosilicon quadripolymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and molecular weight distribution was determinate by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) under the best optimum synthesis conditions, which were identified by orthogonal test according to filtrate volume of fresh water-based drilling fluid. The colloidal properties of the organosilicon quadripolymer drilling fluid were investigated in various media such as fresh-water, 4.0% salt-water, and saturated brine based fluid. The results showed that the filtrate volume decreased with the increase of the organosilicon quadripolymer concentration before and after the thermal aging test at 180°C for 16 h, and the filtrate volume after the thermal aging test was larger than that before the thermal aging test, but was smaller than the base fluid. The colloidal properties and the filtrate volume could be controlled effectively at aging temperatures not exceeding 200°C. The organosilicon quadripolymer drilling fluid performance was better than corresponding terpolymer without organosilicon group and shows favorable inhibitive property and was an excellent fluid loss additive for drilling fluid resisting high temperature in deep wells. A possible mechanism is proposed to explain the improvement according to the comparative adsorption experiment. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

DHCR24encodes 3β-hydroxysteroid-Δ24 reductase, catalyzing the conversion of desmosterol to cholesterol. Our previous study demonstrated that DHCR24 exerts an anti-apoptotic function as a reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger, for which it needs its FAD-binding domain. The membrane topology of DHCR24 on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the functional significance of its FAD-binding domain are not completely understood. Based on the structure predicted by bioinformatics, we studied the membrane topology of DHCR24 in murine neuroblastoma cells (N2A), using the fluorescent protease protection (FPP) technique. We showed that full-length DHCR24 is localized to the membrane of ER, whereas the predicted transmembrane (TM) domain-deleted DHCR24 mutation is localized to the cytoplasm. The change of DHCR24 localization suggests that the N-terminal TM domain is essential for the ER membrane targeting of DHCR24. The FPP assay demonstrated the membrane topology of DHCR24 with an N-terminal luminal/C-terminal cytoplasmic orientation. Measurement of intracellular ROS using H2DCFDA revealed that the ROS levels of cells infected by plasmids driving expression of full-length DHCR24 or the TM domain-deleted DHCR24 mutation after H2O2exposure were lower than those of control cells, suggesting that the ER membrane targeting of DHCR24 is not required for its enzymatic ROS scavenging activity. Confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed that the DHCR24-overexpressed cells were protected from apoptosis in response to oxidative stress, which was accompanied by a decrease in DHCR24 content on the ER and activation of caspase-3, suggesting that the anti-apoptotic function of DHCR24 is associated with its cleavage by caspase.

Salt stress, one of the most important abiotic stresses, is a serious constraint on cotton production. Cytosine methylation in nuclear DNA, an epigenetic modification found in plants, animals, and other organisms, imparts an impressive wealth of heritable information upon the DNA code. Although the cotton reference genome sequence is available to the public, the global DNA methylation data under different salinity stresses are still not available. Here, Zhong07 and ZhongS9612, salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive cultivars, respectively, were selected and ??methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) technology was adopted to evaluate DNA methylation level alterations under different salt stresses in cotton. The findings indicated that different salt stresses exerted distinct effects on cotton seedling growth: specifically, both the neutral salt NaCl and alkalescent salt NaHCO3 showed relatively weak effects, while the alkaline salt Na2CO3 resulted in overt harm to seedlings, significantly darkening their caudexes and roots. MSAP analysis showed that after NaCl, NaHCO3, and Na2CO3 treatments, the DNA methylation levels of both leaves and roots decreased first before rising again. The trend in the roots for both type B (methylation) and C (demethylation) was identical to that observed in leaves; however, methylation levels had a different trend with the varying pH values of the salt, showing that the variation of the methylation level and status were mainly induced by the varying PH values of the salt. The analysis of transition type indicated that the main transition type was from hemimethylation to complete methylation (type iii), accounting for 38.10% of the total transitions, showing that complete methylation played a vital function in the process of gene transcription and expression after the salt treatments. The methylation levels of leaves differed from those of roots, indicating tissue specificity. Target sequence analysis showed that DNA methylation level induced by salt stress involves various kinds of metabolic pathways, whose synergistic effect helps cope with salt stresses.

Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), an important source of natural fiber, can tolerate relatively high salinity and drought stresses. In the present study, a plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter gene, GhSOS1, was cloned from a salt-tolerant genotype of G. hirsutum, Zhong 9807. The expression level of GhSOS1 in cotton roots was significantly upregulated in the presence of high concentrations of NaCl (200 mM), while its transcript abundance was increased when exposed to low temperature and drought stresses. Localization analysis using onion epidermal cells showed that the GhSOS1 protein was localized to the plasma membrane. The overexpression of GhSOS1 in Arabidopsis enhanced tolerance to salt stress, as indicated by a lower MDA content and decreased Na+/K+ ratio in transgenic plants. Moreover, the transcript levels of stress-related genes were significantly higher in GhSOS1 overexpression lines than in wild-type plants under salt treatment. Hence, GhSOS1 may be a potential target gene for enhancing salt tolerance in transgenic plants.

The influence of β-cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin (β-CD-EP) polymers on the improvement of the solubility and antifungal activity of carbendazim has been investigated. Meanwhile, the potential of the chitosan and β-CD-EP composite film used as a plant healthcare material for carbendazim-controlled release to protect rape against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary has been evaluated. β-CD-EP-1 and 2 (β-CD content, 750 mg/g and 440 mg/g, respectively) were found to significantly improve the solubility of the guest molecule carbendazim (17.9 and 18.5 times, respectively) and the 1:1 stoichiometry of the host-guest was confirmed by the Job’s plot. A slight synergism was observed for the β-CD-EP/carbendazim complex against S. sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, indicating an enhancement to the bioavailability of carbendazim. The in vitro release studies revealed that β-CD-EP polymers could efficiently modulate carbendazim release behaviors, such as the release retard and rate. The in vivo efficacy experiments demonstrated that the β-CD-EP/carbendazim and chitosan composite film could significantly prolong the effective duration of carbendazim at a concentration of 100 μg/mL compared with spraying carbendazim at 500 μg/mL. Thereby, a highly useful and strategic concept in plant disease control by a plant healthcare material—the chitosan and polymeric β-CD-EP composite film—is provided, which could also serve as a concept for related plant diseases.

Designing lasing wavelengths and modes is essential to the practical applications of nanowire (NW) lasers. Here, according to the localized photoluminescence spectra, we first demonstrate the ability to define lasing wavelengths over a wide range (up to 119 nm) based on an individual bandgap-graded CdSSe NW by forward cutting the NW from CdSe to CdS end. Furthermore, free spectral range (FSR) and modes of the obtained lasers could be controlled by backward cutting the NW from CdS to CdSe end step-by-step. Interestingly, single-mode NW laser with predefined lasing wavelength is realized in short NWs because of the strong mode competition and increase in FSR. Finally, the gain properties of the bandgap-graded NWs are investigated. The combination of wavelength and mode selectivity in NW lasers may provide a new platform for the next generation of integrated optoelectronic devices.

Aimed at developing novel fungicides for relieving the ever-increasing pressure of agricultural production caused by phytopathogenic fungi, 28 new hydrazone derivatives of carabrone, a natural bioactive sesquisterpene, in three types were designed, synthesized and their antifungal activities against Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum lagenarium were evaluated. The result revealed that all the derivatives synthesized exhibited considerable antifungal activities in vitro and in vivo, which led to the improved activities for carabrone and its analogues and further confirmed their potential as antifungal agents.

Acquisition of salt-tolerant genes from exogenous plants to improve cotton salt resistance has always been a hotspot of research on cotton salt resistance. However, the information regarding the method of conversion of living cotton pollens by portable gene gun technology is still little. Complete sequence information of the Carbonic Anhydrase (CA) gene was obtained from NCBI database, and its full ORF length sequence was cloned by RT-PCR technology. After the construction of pBI121-CA::GFP fusion expression vector, we used cotton pollens from upland cotton varieties Y-2067, ZA-23, and GZ-2, which have weaker autofluorescence, to conduct the research on the transient expression of cotton pollens in vivo via particle bombardment (gene gun technology). The results indicated that green fluorescence enhancement of the three kinds of cotton pollens was realized after the CA gene transformation, meaning that the CA gene expression level was increased. Besides, the salt tolerance germination ability of transgenic T1 seeds was also improved. Our research initially established a transient expression system of cotton pollen in vivo via particle bombardment technology, laying the theoretical foundation for further research of cotton genetic transformation and creation of cotton salt-tolerant germplasm.

Weightlessness affects lung function and even causes certain damages to pulmonary tissue. This study used rat tail-suspension model to simulate the physiological effects of weightlessness and investigate the alterations of lung proteome, to reveal the mechanism of lung injury under weightlessness condition. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups: tail-suspended and control. Protein samples from pulmonary tissue of tail-suspended and control groups were separated by two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and analyzed with ImageMaster 2D elite software. Differentially expressed proteins were identified by high definition mass spectrometry (HDMS) in combination with database searching. Seventeen differentially expressed proteins were identified, among which 13 proteins were upregulated, and four proteins downregulated. The functions of these identified proteins can be classified into six classes related to: metabolism, oxidative stress, cellular functions, cytoskeletal proteins, signal tranduction, and protein degradation. They are mainly related to cellular energy metabolism, stress and inflammatory response, cell injury and repair, intracellular signal transduction, and other cellular functions, playing important roles in weightlessness-induced lung injury.

There is evidence to suggest that microgravity/weightlessness can induce changes in lung physiology/function. We hypothesized that microgravity, induced by head-down bed rest (HDBR), would induce changes in lung function and that exercise training with artificial gravity (AG) would prevent these changes from occurring. Twelve participants were randomly assigned to a control or AG exercise countermeasure (CM) group (n = 6 per group) and 96 h of 6° HDBR. Participants in the CM group were exposed to AG (alternating 2 min intervals of +1·0 and +2·0 G) for 30 min, twice daily, during which time ergometric exercise (40 W intensity) was performed. Pulse rate, oxygen saturation (SO(2) ) and lung function were measured and compared between groups. The CM and control groups were similar in mean age, height and weight. There were no significant within or between group differences over time in pulse rate, SO(2) , vital capacity, inspiratory capacity, tidal volume, expiratory reserve volume, inspiratory reserve volume, minute ventilation, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, peak expiratory flow, maximal expiratory flow in 25%, 50% and 75% vital capacity, forced inspiratory vital capacity, forced inspiratory volume in 1 s and maximal voluntary ventilation. Microgravity induced by 96 h of HDBR does not appear to affect lung function in humans. Further, AG with exercise training does not change lung function during 96 h of HDBR in humans.

Luminescent SiN-based multilayers were prepared in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system followed by subsequently laser crystallization of ultrathin amorphous Si-rich SiN sublayers. The cross-sectional TEM analysis reveals that grain size of Si nanocrystals embedded in the Si-rich SiN sublayers is independent of the laser fluence, while the grain density can be well controlled by the laser fluence. The devices containing the laser crystallized multilayers show a low turn-on voltage of 5 V and exhibit strong green light emission under both optical and electrical excitations. Moreover, the device after laser-irradiated at 554 mJ/cm(2) shows a significantly enhanced EL intensity as well as external quantum efficiency compared with the device without laser irradiation. The EL mechanism is suggested from the bipolar recombination of electron-hole pairs at Si nanocrystals. The improved performance of the devices was discussed.