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Low quality and yield of methane severely hindered the industrial application of straw biogas fermentation and there has been no effective solution found so far. In this study, a novel method has been developed to improve the quality and yield of methane during biogas fermentation. We coupled microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) with normal anaerobic fermentation to enhance the yield and purity of methane. This novel fermentation process achieved the methane purity of more than 85%, which was critically higher than those of previously published reports. With the stimulation from microorganisms and electric current, the degradation of fiber has been greatly enhanced. The MEC system significantly improves the yield and purity of biogas, bringing a new path to synthesize the methane by the carbon dioxide and hydrogen ions in solution under the electron. Electrochemical index analysis showed the extra methane synthesis which was mainly led by the external circuit electron transfer. The result of the gas chromatograph and solid degradation rate showed that the carbon source of extra methane was CO2 produced in normal fermentation and extra volatile solid degradation. These results show that MEC significantly enhanced the quality and yield of methane in a straw fermentation process, giving insights for normal anaerobic fermentation.

A magnetic field coupling microfluidic process was developed to synthesize diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) using Co-doped ZnSe quantum dots (QDs). Field effects on their sizes, shapes, and magnetic and optical properties were investigated using magnetic fields of 0 mT, 50 mT, and 100 mT. The fields had no distinct effects on the flower-like morphology and composition of the DMS aggregates formed by several small QDs but increased the sizes and doping amount of QDs, which affected their magnetic and optical properties. The hysteresis loops showed that the saturation magnetization and coercive force of the samples synthesized under the applied field were lower than those of the samples synthesized without applied fields. A critical comparison of the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled (ZFC–FC) curves further denoted that the ferromagnetism decreased under applied fields. By calculating the band gap via UV-vis absorbance, we found that compared with ZnSe QDs, the band gap of ZnCoSe QDs narrowed as the field increased. The photoluminescence emissions of the ZnCoSe QDs were also confirmed to show distinct red shifts as the field increased. Thus, controlling the applied magnetic field affected the amount of Co doping, particle size, and band gap to realize the online control of the QDs' magnetic and optical properties.

Liver fibrosis, resulting from chronic liver damage and characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, is a characteristic of most types of chronic liver diseases. The activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) is considered an essential pathological hallmark in liver fibrosis. Although nitric oxide (NO) can effectively induce HSC apoptosis, the systemic administration of NO is ineffective and may cause severe complications such as hypotension. To overcome this limitation, nanoparticles were designed to target HSCs and release NO locally under the exposure of near infrared light (NIR). To achieve this, upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) cores were enveloped in mesoporous silica shells (UCNP@mSiO2), which were modified with hyaluronic acid (HA-UCNP@mSiO2) and Roussin’s black salt (RBS). HA molecules recognize and bind to CD44 proteins, which are overexpressed on activated HSCs. Under exposure to a 980-nm NIR laser, the UCNP cores convert the 980-nm wavelength into ultraviolet (UV) light, which then energizes the RBS (NO donors), resulting in an efficient release of NO inside of the HSCs. Once released, NO triggers HSC apoptosis and reverses the liver fibrosis. This targeted and controlled release method provides the theoretical and experimental basis for novel therapeutic approaches to treat hepatic fibrosis.

This study has investigated the key contribution of sodium acetate as co-substrate on the performances of microbial fuel cells (MFC) during the conversion of a toxic blue-green algae (BGA) biomass into bioelectricity. Microcystis aeruginosa biomass was employed as a target substrate and sodium acetate (AC) as a co-substrate. Compared with MFC treated with BGA alone (MFC-BGA), the MFCs treated with BGA together with acetate (MFC-BGA-AC) significantly magnified the voltage output by 261.3%. Moreover, the addition of co-substrate extended the electric batch cycle by 253.1% and 7.9% compared with MFC-BGA-AC and its corresponding MFC treated only with AC (MFC-AC), respectively. The co-substrate strategy also enhanced the maximum power density by a factor of 3.53 MFC-BGA and 1.2 MFC-AC. It has also displayed the smallest charge transfer resistance of 12.01 Ω which was approximately 45.8% lower than that of MFC-BGA and even slightly lower than the control. Based on the transmission electron microscope results, the cell morphology was also less affected in MFC-BGA-AC. Thus, our new study revealed that the co-substrate could empower the bio-electrochemical active bacteria for toxin survival and make a crucial contribution in alleviating the internal resistance within the operating reactors, which consequently promote the transfer of the generated charges to the bio-anode for power production evolution. The current investigation will conspicuously help in paving ways toward sustainable clean energy production and durable wastes control in the aquatic environment.

Cell therapy has been a promising strategy for cardiac repair after injury or infarction; however, low retention and engraftment of transplanted cells limit potential therapeutic efficacy. Seeding scaffold material with cells to create cardiac patches that are transplanted onto the surface of the heart can overcome these limitations. However, because patches need to be freshly prepared to maintain cell viability, long-term storage is not feasible and limits clinical applicability. Here, we developed an off-the-shelf therapeutic cardiac patch composed of a decellularized porcine myocardial extracellular matrix scaffold and synthetic cardiac stromal cells (synCSCs) generated by encapsulating secreted factors from isolated human cardiac stromal cells. This fully acellular artificial cardiac patch (artCP) maintained its potency after long-term cryopreservation. In a rat model of acute myocardial infarction, transplantation of the artCP supported cardiac recovery by reducing scarring, promoting angiomyogenesis, and boosting cardiac function. The safety and efficacy of the artCP were further confirmed in a porcine model of myocardial infarction. The artCP is a clinically feasible, easy-to-store, and cell-free alternative to myocardial repair using cell-based cardiac patches.

In this paper, Fe(1-x)Znx@Zn(1-y)FeyOz nanocrystals were successfully synthesized via a simple programmed microfluidic process (SPMP). The sizes, shapes, crystal structures and surface compositions were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that the Fe(1-x)Znx@Zn(1-y)FeyOz nanocrystals (NCs) were mainly composed of iron-rich FeZn alloys and surface coatings are mainly formed by the Fe-doped ZnO. These nanocrystals preserved unique Fe/Zn ratio dependent optical and magnetic properties. A visible green emission at 530 nm and a weak violet emission at 425 nm were observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra due to the radiative transition of electrons from antisite defect (OZn) and zinc interstitial defects to the conduction band, respectively, as compared to that in pure ZnO (∼379 nm). The PL intensities of these nanocrystals can be increased significantly with the increase of the Zn contents in nanocrystals. The Fe(1-x)Znx@Zn(1-y)FeyOz nanocrystals with a Fe/Zn atom ratio of 2.6/1 preserved the ferromagnetic property, which can be attributed to the high Fe content, varieties of defects caused by ZnFe2O4 shells and the interaction between the shell and FeZn alloy cores. With the decrease of iron content, the coercivities of nanocrystals decreased distinctly.

In this paper, the decoupled stabilized finite element methods are developed for the Boussinesq equations with temperature dependent coefficients. In our numerical schemes, the original problem is decoupled into the linearized Navier-Stokes equations and a parabolic problem, the low order mixed finite element pairs are used to approximate the spatial spaces and the backward Euler scheme is adopted to treat the time terms. Furthermore, the linear terms are dealt with the implicit scheme while the nonlinear terms are treated by the semi-implicit scheme, then, a lot of storage and computational cost are saved. The advantages for our numerical schemes are parameter-free, unconditionally stable, and constant matrix at each time level. Finally, some numerical tests are presented to verify the theoretical results of the developed numerical methods, and show that our schemes not only keep good accuracy but also save a lot of computational times.

Carbon supported FePt and FePtSn alloy nanocrystals were synthesized via a hybrid microfluidic-batch process. Their microstructures and compositions were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectric spectroscopy. All the nanocatalysts show a homogeneous distribution of ultra-small alloy nanoparticles (∼2–3 nm) on the surface of carbon black. The electrochemical results indicate that FePtSn/C nanocatalysts have more excellent catalytic activity for methanol oxidation compared with Pt/C catalyst. Chronoamperometry measurements were performed at 0.45 V for 3600 s. At 3600 s, the mass specific activity of FePtSn/C (Sn at% = 14) can retain 103 mA mg Pt −1 , about 10 times higher than that of Pt/C catalyst (10 mA mg Pt −1 ). The CO-stripping tests indicate that FePtSn/C (Sn at% = 14) nanocatalysts preserve a high electrochemical active specific surface and a higher ability to resist poisons, thus making the FePtSn/C (Sn at% = 14) catalyst an excellent electrocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cells.

Background Biosurfactants, being highly biodegradable, ecofriendly and multifunctional compounds have wide applications in various industrial sectors including environmental bioremediation. Surfactin, a member of lipopeptide family, which is considered as one of the most powerful biosurfactants due to its excellent emulsifying activities as well as environmental and therapeutic applications. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the newly isolated bacterial strain S2MT for production of surfactin-like biosurfactants and their potential applications for oil-contaminated soil remediation. Results In this study, the strain S2MT was isolated from lake sediment and was identified as Bacillus nealsonii based on transmitted electron microscopy (TEM) and 16S rRNA ribo-typing. The strain S2MT produced biosurfactant that reduced the surface tension (34.15 ± 0.6 mN/m) and displayed excellent emulsifying potential for kerosene (55 ± 0.3%). Additionally, the maximum biosurfactant product yield of 1300 mg/L was achieved when the composition of the culture medium was optimized through response surface methodology (RSM). Results showed that 2% glycerol and 0.1% NH4NO3 were the best carbon/nitrogen substrates for biosurfactant production. The parameters such as temperature (30 °C), pH (8), agitation (100 rpm), NH4NO3 (0.1%) and NaCl (0.5%) displayed most significant contribution towards surface tension reduction that resulted in enhanced biosurfactant yield. Moreover, the extracted biosurfactants were found to be highly stable at environmental factors such as salinity, pH and temperature variations. The biosurfactants were characterized as cyclic lipopeptides relating to surfactin-like isoforms (C13–C15) using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), Ultra high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). The crude biosurfactant product displayed up to 43.6 ± 0.08% and 46.7 ± 0.01% remediation of heavy engine-oil contaminated soil at 10 and 40 mg/L concentrations, respectively. Conclusion Present study expands the paradigm of surfactin-like biosurfactants produced by novel isolate Bacillus nealsonii S2MT for achieving efficient and environmentally acceptable soil remediation as compared to synthetic surfactants.

Additional file 1: Figure S1 Culture morphology of isolated strain S2MT (Bacillus nealsonii) (a), TEM image of strain (b), and TEM image during biosurfactant production, red arrow indicates the extracellular biomass produced by isolated strain (c). Potential of biosurfactant in oil displacement activity (d), drop collapse activity (e), and emulsification activity (f). Figure S2 Phylogenetic analysis of isolate S2MT with closely related taxa. Figure S3 Optimization profile of strain B. nealsonii S2MT for various carbon and nitrogen sources for product recovery (a–i). Figure S4 Percent contribution of normal probability chart, and Pareto chart indicates the rank wise positive and negative effects factors on biosurfactant production based on model (a, b). While the interaction between the factors such as temperature vs pH (c), temperature vs NaCl (d), and pH vs NaCl (e). Figure S5 Significant effects of individual factors i.e. temperature, pH, agitation, NH4NO3, yeast extract and NaCl conc. (a–f) respectively, on biosurfactant production yield according to model terms. Figure S6 Thin-layer chromatography analysis of lipopeptide biosurfactant. Various reagents were applied to detect the color development figure (a) and the spots were also detect in UV figure (b). Table S1 Physico-chemical and environmental parameters of collected samples. Table S2 Screening of all 32 cultivable bacterial isolates for biosurfactants production. Table S3 ANOVA table of the selected regular two-level factorial model designed for SFT (mN/m) reduction and product yield under laboratory settings. Table S4 Effect of environmental factors (temperature, pH and NaCl concentrations) on (40mg/L) crude biosurfactant production by determining surface tension measurement. Table S5 Molecular mass study of lipopeptide biosurfactants of Bacillus nealsonii (S2MT) by LC-ESI/MS.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and patients are in urgent need of therapies that can effectively target cancer with minimal off-target side effects. Exosomes are extracellular nano-shuttles that facilitate intercellular communication between cells and organs. It has been established that tumor-derived exosomes contain a similar protein and lipid composition to that of the cells that secrete them, indicating that exosomes might be uniquely employed as carriers for anti-cancer therapeutics. Methods: We isolated exosomes from two cancer cell lines, then co-cultured each type of cancer cells with these two kinds of exosomes and quantified exosome. HT1080 or Hela exosomes were systemically injected to Nude mice bearing a subcutaneous HT1080 tumor to investigate their cancer-homing behavior. Moreover, cancer cell-derived exosomes were engineered to carry Doxil (a common chemotherapy drug), known as D-exo, were used to detect their target and therapeutic efficacy as anti-cancer drugs. Exosome proteome array analysis were used to reveal the mechanism underly this phenomenon. Results: Exosomes derived from cancer cells fuse preferentially with their parent cancer cells, in vitro. Systemically injected tumor-derived exosomes home to their original tumor tissues. Moreover, compared to Doxil alone, the drug-loaded exosomes showed enhanced therapeutic retention in tumor tissues and eradicated them more effectively in nude mice. Exosome proteome array analysis revealed distinct integrin expression patterns, which might shed light on the underlying mechanisms that explain the exosomal cancer-homing behavior. Conclusion: Here we demonstrate that the exosomes' ability to target the parent cancer is a phenomenon that opens up new ways to devise targeted therapies to deliver anti-tumor drugs.

Stem cell therapies have shown promise in treating acute and chronic ischemic heart disease. However, current therapies are limited by the low retention and poor integration of injected cells in the injured tissue. Taking advantage of the natural infarct-homing ability of platelets, we engineered CD34 antibody-linked platelets (P-CD34) to capture circulating CD34-positive endogenous stem cells and direct them to the injured heart. In vitro, P-CD34 could bind to damaged aortas and capture endogenous stem cells in whole blood. In a mouse model of acute myocardial infarction, P-CD34 accumulated in the injured heart after intravenous administration, leading to a concentration of endogenous CD34 stem cells in the injured heart for effective heart repair. This represents a new technology for endogenous stem cell therapy.

The continuous surge in global energy demand, fossil fuel depletion, and related climate change issues have oriented the worldwide researchers’ endeavors to the investigation and development of sustainable and co-effective technology to satisfy the global energy needs. Referring to the non-toxic properties of hydrogen, it is considered as a suitable renewable energy source that could replace fossil fuel-based energy. It is the cleanest energy carrier, combustible with high calorific value, high energy yield. Producing biohydrogen energy from renewable resources such as lignocellulosic agricultural residues could be a sustainable carbon-neutral most cost-effective approach. Dark fermentation has been widely applied as a promising eco-friendly technique to produce biohydrogen from agricultural residues. However, it has shown drawbacks owing to the recalcitrance of lignocellulose structure, and the accumulation of acid-rich intermediate by-products. Microbial electrolysis cells use bio-electrochemical reactions to upgrade H2 production in a dark fermentation reactor by promoting further decomposition of the generated volatile fatty acids. Therefore, integrating microbial electrohydrogenesis with dark fermentation can be a promising strategy to optimize the straw biomass conversion to biohydrogen. This review aims in delineating the structural composition and recalcitrance of the agricultural residues and their major effects on biohydrogen production. It summarizes all possible pre-treatment methods of the lignocellulosic agricultural residues; elucidates the stable operational conditions of microbial electrolysis cell and dark fermentation integrated system and discusses its performance for biohydrogen production. This study also reviewed the current technical challenges of this integrated system application and suggested sustainable solutions towards its industrial implementation.

Metastasis accounts for the majority of all cancer deaths, yet the process remains poorly understood. A pivotal step in the metastasis process is the exiting of tumor cells from the circulation, a process known as extravasation. However, it is unclear how tumor cells extravasate and whether multicellular clusters of tumor cells possess the ability to exit as a whole or must first disassociate. In this study, we use in vivo zebrafish and mouse models to elucidate the mechanism tumor cells use to extravasate. We found that circulating tumor cells exit the circulation using the recently identified extravasation mechanism, angiopellosis, and do so as both clusters and individual cells. We further show that when melanoma and cervical cancer cells utilize this extravasation method to exit as clusters, they exhibit an increased ability to form tumors at distant sites through the expression of unique genetic profiles. Collectively, we present a new model for tumor cell extravasation of both individual and multicellular circulating tumor cells. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. While reperfusion therapy is vital for patient survival post-heart attack, it also causes further tissue injury, known as myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in clinical practice. Exploring ways to attenuate I/R injury is of clinical interest for improving post-ischemic recovery. A platelet-inspired nanocell (PINC) that incorporates both prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2))-modified platelet membrane and cardiac stromal cell-secreted factors to target the heart after I/R injury is introduced. By taking advantage of the natural infarct-homing ability of platelet membrane and the overexpression of PGE(2) receptors (EPs) in the pathological cardiac microenvironment after I/R injury, the PINCs can achieve targeted delivery of therapeutic payload to the injured heart. Furthermore, a synergistic treatment efficacy can be achieved by PINC, which combines the paracrine mechanism of cell therapy with the PGE(2)/EP receptor signaling that is involved in the repair and regeneration of multiple tissues. In a mouse model of myocardial I/R injury, intravenous injection of PINCs results in augmented cardiac function and mitigated heart remodeling, which is accompanied by the increase in cycling cardiomyocytes, activation of endogenous stem/progenitor cells, and promotion of angiogenesis. This approach represents a promising therapeutic delivery platform for treating I/R injury.

Acute liver failure is a critical condition characterized by global hepatocyte death and often time needs a liver transplantation. Such treatment is largely limited by donor organ shortage. Stem cell therapy offers a promising option to patients with acute liver failure. Yet, therapeutic efficacy and feasibility are hindered by delivery route and storage instability of live cell products. We fabricated a nanoparticle that carries the beneficial regenerative factors from mesenchymal stem cells and further coated it with the membranes of red blood cells to increase blood stability. Unlike uncoated nanoparticles, these particles promote liver cell proliferation in vitro and have lower internalization by macrophage cells. After intravenous delivery, these artificial stem cell analogs are able to remain in the liver and mitigate carbon tetrachloride-induced liver failure in a mouse model, as gauged by histology and liver function test. Our technology provides an innovative and off-the-shelf strategy to treat liver failure.

Recyclable visible-light photocatalyst Fe3O4@TiO2 with core-shell structure was prepared by a simple synthetic strategy using solvothermal crystallization of titanium precursor on preformed Fe3O4 nanopartiles. The photo-degradation reaction of neutral red aqueous solution was tested to evaluate the visible-light photocatalytic activity of the as prepared Fe3O4@TiO2 nanoparticles, which show excellent photocatalytic activity compared with commercial P25 catalyst. Moreover, the Fe3O4@TiO2 nanocomposites can be easily separated from the reaction mixture, and maintain favorable photocatalytic activity after five cycles. The high visible light absorption of the Fe3O4@TiO2 nanocomposites may originate from the absence of electronic heterojunction, excellently dispersity and the high specific surface area of the as-synthesized Fe3O4@TiO2 samples.

The paper describes a kind of multifunctional Fe 3 O 4 @C@Ag hybrid nanoparticles, which can be successfully synthesized using a simple route based on directly adsorption and spontaneous reduction of silver ions onto the surface shell of carbon-coated magnetic nanoparticles. The as-prepared samples have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and UV–vis spectrum (UV–vis). The Ag nanocrystals loaded on the surface shell of carbon-coated magnetic nanoparticles are nearly spherical with an average diameter of 10 nm. And the carbonaceous polysaccharides shell obtained using an glucose hydrothermal reaction act as a role of a bridge between magnetic Fe 3 O 4 core and noble metallic Ag nanocrystals. The as-prepared samples can be used as an effective catalyst for the photodegradation of organic dyes (neutral red) under the exposure of visible light. Results show that the as-prepared samples have a degradation rate of 93.7% for dyes within 30 min, which indicates their high-efficiency and rapid photocatalytic activity.

Wheat sharp eyespot, primarily caused by a soil-borne fungus Rhizoctonia cerealis, has become one of the most serious diseases of wheat in China. In this study, an ethylene response factor (ERF) gene from a wheat relative Thinopyrum intermedium, TiERF1, was characterized further, transgenic wheat lines expressing TiERF1 were developed, and the resistance of the transgenic wheat lines against R. cerealis was investigated. Southern blotting analysis indicated that at least two copies of the TiERF1 gene exist in the T. intermedium genome. Yeast one-hybrid assay indicated that the activation domain of TiERF1 is essential for activating the transcript of the reporter gene with the GCC-box cis-element. The TiERF1 gene was introduced into a Chinese wheat cultivar, Yangmai12, by biolistic bombardment. Results of PCR and Southern blotting analyses indicated that TiERF1 was successfully integrated into the genome of the transgenic wheat, where it can be passed down from the T0 to T4 generations. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis demonstrated that TiERF1 could be overexpressed in the stable transgenic plants, in which the expression levels of wheat pathogenesis-related (PR) genes primarily in the ethylene-dependent signal pathway, such as a chitinase gene and a beta-1,3-glucanase gene, were increased dramatically. Disease tests indicated that the overexpression of TiERF1 conferred enhanced resistance to sharp eyespot in the transgenic wheat lines compared with the wild-type and silenced TiERF1 plants. These results suggested that the overexpression of TiERF1 enhances resistance to sharp eyespot in transgenic wheat lines by activating PR genes primarily in the ethylene-dependent pathway.

Thinopyrum intermedium is resistant to many different pathogens. To understand the roles of ethylene response factors (ERFs) in defence responses, the first member of the ERF family in T. intermedium, TiERF1, was characterized and functionally analysed in this study. The TiERF1 gene encodes a putative protein of 292 amino acids, belonging to the B3 subgroup of the ERF transcription factor family. Biochemical assays demonstrated that the TiERF1 protein is capable of binding to the GCC box, a cis-element present in the promoters of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, and possessing transactivation activity, as well as localizing to the nucleus. The transcript of TiERF1 in T. intermedium is rapidly induced by infection with Rhizoctonia cerealis, Fusarium graminearum, or Blumeria graminis, and ethylene, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid treatments. More importantly, the ectopic expression of TiERF1 in tobacco activated the transcript of the PR genes of tobacco with a GCC box cis-element, and ACO and ACS genes key to ethylene synthesis, and in turn improved the resistance level to Alternaria alternata and tobacco mosaic virus, as well as causing some phenotypic changes associated with ethylene response in the transgenic tobacco plants. Taken together, TiERF1 protein as an ERF transcription activator positively regulates defence responses via the activation of some defence-related genes.

In this study, a pathogen-inducible ERF (ethylene-response factor) gene in wheat, designated TaERF3, was isolated and characterized in detail. The sequence of the TaERF3 protein possesses all of the traits commonly associated with ERFs, but its entire sequence shares low identity with other ERFs of transcription factor families. The results of assays on subcelluar localization, GCC box-binding ability, and transactivation activity indicated that TaERF3 is a nuclear targeting protein and functions as a GCC box-binding transcriptional activator. Following infection with Blumeria graminis, the induction peak of TaERF3 expression occurring at 12 h in the resistant line was about six times higher than that in its susceptible parent. Following infections with Fusarium graminearum or Rhizoctonia cerealis, the TaERF3 maximum inductions in the susceptible line occurring at 12 h were about three or six times higher than those in the resistant lines, whereas after 24 h or 48 h, the transcript inductions in the resistant lines were much higher than that in the susceptible line. Furthermore, the TaERF3 transcript peak induced by salicylic acid (SA) treatment occurred at 4 h, whereas the peaks induced by exogenous ethylene and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) occurred at 24 h, all of which were earlier than those induced by pathogens in the resistant lines. These results suggested that TaERF3 might be mainly involved in the active defence response to B. graminis at an earlier stage through SA signalling, and to F. graminearum and R. cerealis at a later stage through the ethylene/jasmonic acid signalling pathways.

Salinity and drought are major limiting factors of wheat (Triticum aestivum) productivity worldwide. Here, we report the function of a wheat ERF transcription factor TaERF3 in salt and drought responses and the underlying mechanism of TaERF3 function. Upon treatment with 250 mM NaCl or 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG), transcript levels of TaERF3 were rapidly induced in wheat. Using wheat cultivar Yangmai 12 as the transformation recipient, four TaERF3-overexpressing transgenic lines were generated and functionally characterized. The seedlings of the TaERF3-overexpressing transgenic lines exhibited significantly enhanced tolerance to both salt and drought stresses as compared to untransformed wheat. In the leaves of TaERF3-overexpressing lines, accumulation levels of both proline and chlorophyll were significantly increased, whereas H₂O₂ content and stomatal conductance were significantly reduced. Conversely, TaERF3-silencing wheat plants that were generated through virus-induced gene silencing method displayed more sensitivity to salt and drought stresses compared with the control plants. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analyses showed that transcript levels of ten stress-related genes were increased in TaERF3-overexpressing lines, but compromised in TaERF3-silencing wheat plants. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that the TaERF3 protein could interact with the GCC-box cis-element present in the promoters of seven TaERF3-activated stress-related genes. These results indicate that TaERF3 positively regulates wheat adaptation responses to salt and drought stresses through the activation of stress-related genes and that TaERF3 is an attractive engineering target in applied efforts to improve abiotic stress tolerances in wheat and other cereals.

Sichuan basin, situated in the west of China, is the fourth biggest basin in China. In order to describe a systematic study of the cry2-type genes resources from Bacillus thuringiensis strains of Sichuan basin, a total of 791 Bacillus thuringiensis strains have been screened from 2650 soil samples in different ecological regions. The method of PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to identify the type of cry2 genes. The results showed that 322 Bacillus thuringiensis strains harbored cry2-type genes and four different RFLP patterns were found. The combination of cry2Aa/cry2Ab genes was the most frequent (90.4%), followed by cry2Aa (6.8%) and cry2Ab alone (2.5%), and only one novel type of cry2 gene was cloned from one isolate (JF19-2). The full-length of this novel gene was obtained by the method of thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (Tail-PCR), which was designated as cry2Ag1 (GenBank No. ACH91610) by the Bt Pesticide Crystal Protein Nomenclature Committee. In addition, the result of scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observation showed that these strains had erose, spherical, bipyramidal, and square crystal. And the results of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) demonstrated that these strains harbored about one to three major proteins. These strains exhibited a wide range of insecticidal spectrum toxic to Aedes aegypti (Diptera) and Pieris rapae Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera). Particularly, JF19-2 contained cry2Ag gene had the highest insecticidal activity. All these researches mentioned above revealed the diversity and particularity of cry2-type gene resources from Bacillus thuringiensis strains in Sichuan basin.

The results of a comprehensive study on gas turbine combustor liner cooling calculation method are reported. Based on the present study, the radiation from non-luminous gases shall be calculated by new method, which is significantly different from the equation commonly available. Under high pressure the emissivity of non-luminous combustion gases shall be a new equation. A correlation for g e Δ is suggested. Present study has shown that the combustor casing wall temperature can not be assumed equal to combustor inlet air temperature 3 T . It shall be determined by heat flux balance equation through combustor casing wall. The results have shown that correctly calculated combustor casing wall temperature is very different from 3 T .

This study was to develop the time-specific and time-critical method to overcome the limitations of traditional field sampling methods for variable rate fertilization. Farmers, agricultural managers and grain processing enterprises are interested in measuring and assessing soil and crop status in order to apply adequate fertilizer quantities to crop growth. This paper focused on studying the relationship between vegetation index (OSAVI) and nitrogen content to determine the amount of nitrogen fertilizer recommended for variable rate management in precision agriculture. The traditional even rate fertilizer management was chosen as the CK. The grain yield, ear numbers, 1000-grain weight and grain protein content were measured among the CK, uniform treatments and variable rate fertilizer treatments. It indicated that variable rate fertilization reduced the variability of wheat yield, ear numbers and dry biomass, but it didn't increased crop yield and grain protein content significantly and did not decrease the variety of 1000-grain weight, compared to traditional rate application. The nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency was improved, for this purpose, the variable rate technology based on vegetation index could be used to prevent under ground water pollution and environmental deterioration.