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[Objective] This study explored the effects of polymorphisms in keratin-associated protein 1-4 gene (KRTAP 1-4) on fiber traits in Longdong cashmere goats. [Method] A total of 382 one-year-old Longdong cashmere goats were selected, and the weight, thickness and mean fiber diameter of cashmere were measured. Tissue samples from skin, kidney, spleen, liver, lung and heart as well as blood samples were collected from these goats, and the expression profiles of KRTAP1-4 were detected using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). PCR-single stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) was used to detect the polymorphisms of KRTAP1-4. The Pearson correction among the three cashmere phenotypic traits and the association between genotypes of KRTAP1-4 and cashmere traits were also analyzed. [Result] The RT-PCR results revealed that KRTAP1-4 was only expressed in skin of Longdong cashmere goats. Four alleles of A,B,C and D and five genotypes of AA, AB, AC, AD and BB were detected in KRTAP1-4 of Longdong cashmere goats. The sequencing results showed that there were a insertion/deletion (c. 223&lowbar;252insTGCCAACCGATCTCCATCCAGACCAGCTGC),two synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs;c. 333T>C and c. 573C>T ), a Chi sequence (c. 14 --c. 21, 5'-CCAC-CAGC-3') and two Chi-like sequences (c. 46 -- c. 53, 5'-ACTGGTGG-3' and c. 392 --c. 399, 5'-GCACCAGC-3') in caprine KRTAP1-4. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that cashmere weight had a moderately high positive correlation with mean fiber diameter (r= 0. 324, P<0. 001) and cashmere thickness (r=0. 465,P<0. 001),while mean fiber diameter had a weak positive correlation with cashmere thickness (r=0. 201, P<0. 001). The association analysis showed that goats with genotypes AA, AB and AC had lower cashmere weight and cashmere thickness than those with BB (P<0. 01). [Conclusion] Caprine KRTAP1-4 can be used as molecular markers for increasing cashmere fiber weight and cashmere thickness in breeding Longdong cashmere goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen management is the key to improve crop yield. Polymer materials are widely used as water‐retaining agents in agriculture, but little is known about how polymer materials affect the transformation and utilization of soil nitrogen. This study focused on the effects of three polymer materials (humic acid extracted from cottonseed meal, H; modified polymer prepared by using polyacrylamide as main raw material, P; and composite polymer material composed of humic acid and modified polymer, HP) on the characteristics of soil and plant nitrogen accumulation in soils with/without plants under drip irrigation. The results showed that polymer materials increased the nitrogen accumulation and dry weight of leaf, spike axis + husk and grain, but decreased those of stem. Among them, the H treatment had the highest nitrogen uptake (34.5 kg·hm−2) after flowering stage, and the P treatment had the highest nitrogen transport (21.1% higher than no polymer materials, CK). Moreover, the wheat yields for the H and P treatments significantly increased by 19.7% and 12.6%, respectively. Polymer materials had an inhibitory effect on nitrogen fractions (soil total nitrogen (TN) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) at the early stage of the culture, but there were significant improvements at the flowering and mature stages. The effects of polymer materials on the storage of TN and its fractions were different. Among them, the storages of soil TN, nitrate‐nitrogen (SNO3‐‐N), and ammonium‐nitrogen (SNH4+‐N) for the H treatment were increased, but the SNO3‐‐N in soil with plants was decreased by 1,317 kg·hm−2 compared with that in soil without plants, and the decrease was the largest among the decreases caused by the three polymer materials; the soil SNO3‐‐N for the P treatment was increased, but also the decrease in the SNO3‐‐N was smaller than that for the H treatment; the SNO3‐‐N for the HP treatment was increased, but the SNH4+‐N was decreased. Redundancy analysis showed that humic acid and modified polymer materials mainly increased soil MBN, NH4+‐N, and nitrogen accumulation of plant organs except for stem, which finally increases wheat yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycolysis and heat shock proteins (HSPs) play an important role in hypoxia-intolerant species during hypoxia conditions. This study was conducted to evaluate the differences of glycolysis and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in Gannan yaks (Bos grunniens), with the main goal of understanding how the response to hypoxia changes with altitude. Here, the genes and enzymes of glycolysis and HSPs were detected in heart, liver, lung, kidney, and longissimus dorsi from Gannan yaks at different altitude (2500 and 3500 m) using qPCR, western blot, and enzyme kits. The results showed that the expression of HIF1A and PDK4 was increased with altitude (P<0.01) in above tissues. Significantly increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) levels and the ratio of NADH/NAD + were also observed in heart, lung, and longissimus dorsi tissues (P<0.05), as well as a decreased citric acid (CA) level (P<0.05). Furthermore, we observed significant global increases in the protein and mRNA expression levels of both the ATP-independent HSP27 and the ATP-dependent HSP60 during hypoxic conditions (P<0.01). These findings revealed that hypoxia-reprogrammed glucose metabolism promotes energy supply via up-regulated glycolysis and weakness of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. HSPs were activated and the prioritization of cytoprotective protein chaperone functions over energy conservation in yak under hypoxic conditions. These results are useful to better understand the unique adaptability of yak, allowing them to survive in hypoxia conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-layer structure consisting of metal and dielectric layers which allows coupling between surface plasmon polaritons and waveguide modes is studied by calculating reflectivity curves of incident light. A wide waveguide structure is employed to ensure SPP resonance with different order waveguide modes when varying coupling layer thicknesses. Multi-hybrid plasmonic waveguide modes (HPWG) are formed in the coupled system. The weight fractions of metal SPP deduced from losses of HPWG modes are calculated for each hybridized mode, which can be considered as a parameter of evaluating coupling strength. Three different evolution stages for hybrid modes are clearly distinguished based on the variation of loss with spacer layer thickness. The interaction between SPP and waveguide experiences a series of change from weak Fano resonance, via strong coupling, finally to weak coupling process. In case of strong coupling regime, the contribution of metal SPP for low order hybrid modes starts to increase and then decreases with decreasing spacer layer thicknesses. Furthermore, difference of resonant behavior for hybrid modes in both weak coupling stages is analyzed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the polarization-dependent beam splitter (PDBS), we propose an optical scheme to fuse small-size polarization entangled W states into a large-scale W states. With the present scheme, two W m + n + t - 2 states can be created from an n-qubit W state, an m-qubit W state and a t-qubit W state, and two W m + n + t + q - 3 states can be generated from W m , W n , W t and W q states. In the previous fusion schemes, only one particle from each initial W state is allowed to enter the fusion mechanism, but with the progress of experimental technology, two particles can be extracted. In this case, the W states fusion of our scheme will be realized without any ancillary particles and controlled quantum gate. In addition, compared with the one target W state obtained in previous preparation schemes, our scheme can generate two large-scale W states, which effectively improve the success rate of generating target W state. The ability to generate two target W states makes our scheme have a distinct advantage in preparing W states with larger particle numbers. This preparation mechanism also can be generalized to the case of fusing more different or same particles W states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The YVO4 nanomaterials doped with the Yb3+/Tb3+/Eu3+ ions and their mixture with the Au nanoparticles are synthetized with a classical sol‐gel method. With the excitation of a 975 nm laser, both the doped YVO4 sample and the corresponding mixture sample have a series of upconversion emission peaks of Eu3+ and Tb3+, which includes the 5D0→7Fj transitions of the Eu3+ ions and the 5D4→7Fj transitions of the Tb3+ ions. The slope values of the log‐log plots of laser power dependence for the upconversion emission intensities range from 1 to 2, which confirms that the upconversion process is a two‐photon process. With the plasmon coupling, the slope value for the power dependence of the magnetic dipole transition 5D0→7F1 of the Eu3+ ions decreases from 1.4 to 1.1, while it increases for other electric dipole transitions. Because of the plasmon coupling, the emission peak of the Eu3+ at about 2.095 eV decreases significantly and almost cannot be observed. Meanwhile, the emission peak of the Tb3+ at about 2.113 eV increases significantly and becomes the main emission peak in the yellow band. This phenomenon confirms that there is different mechanism for the magnetic and electric dipole emission with the plasmon coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical response to the linear and circular polarized light of the double-spirals structures are investigated by the finite element simulation in this paper. For the linear polarized light the double-spirals structures are like a linear polarizer in the long wavelength region with the wavelength of 900–1500 nm, which corresponds to the standing-wave mode of a single spiral. The double-spirals structures have evident chiral effect in the long wavelength, and has 3–4 circular dichroism (CD) peaks in the wavelength range 850–1500 nm. For all structures investigated in this paper, the CD spectra have obvious blue shift with the increase of the arm width. The simulation results also indicate that the smaller the distance between the two spirals, the more the chiral effect of the double-spirals structures. The chiral effect for both structures with the distance of 400 nm diminishes, and both structures no longer have typical CD spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]