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This study aimed to explore and improve the different economic values of Pinus koraiensis (Siebold and Zucc.) by examining the variations in 6 growth traits and 9 physicochemical wood properties among 53 P. koraiensis half-sib families. Growth traits assessed included height, diameter at breast height, volume, degree of stem straightness, stem form, and branch number per node, while wood properties assessed included density, fiber length and width, fiber length to width ratio, and cellulose, hemicellulose, holocellulose, lignin, and ash contents. Except for degree of stem straightness and branch number per node, all other traits exhibited highly significant variations (P

Juglans mandshurica is an economically and ecologically valuable species that is used for various construction purposes, making luxurious furniture, as food and sources of medicinal substances and landscaping because of its excellent wood, edible fruits and rich in various types of chemical compounds. In the past few decades, several genetic improvements of J. mandshurica were made, with a focus on the selection of improved varieties and on breeding technology. Many elite provenances and families were selected based on growth traits or wood properties. In recent years, with the increasing demand for high-quality seedlings in Chinese forestry production, the breeding goals of genetic improvement for J. mandshurica were redefined to include other traits, such as fruit yield and contents of medicinal component. However, the improvement processes were still slow due to the long breeding cycle and the limited use of advanced breeding technologies, resulting in the selection of fewer improved varieties. In this review, we summarized the research progresses on genetic improvements of J. mandshurica and other related works, and discussed research gaps and suggested future directions for genetic improvement of the species. The review provides valuable insight for the selection of improved varieties and production of excellent germplasms.

Korean pine (

In order to quantify within- and between-population variation in seed and seedling traits of Juglans mandshurica and reveal the relationship among genetic and environmental variations and select elite families, samples of 50 J. mandshurica families from five natural populations in Liaoning Province, northeast China, were taken to measure seed and seedling traits. The results show that all seed traits varied significantly among families within the population, but only kernel weight and kernel rate showed significant variations among populations. Average values of single seed weight, length, width, lateral diameter, and average size, and kernel weight and rate were 10.1 g, 43.0 mm, 29.2 mm, 28.1 mm, 33.4 mm, and 2.2 g and 22.5%, respectively. Significant variations were observed in seedling height and root collar diameter among families and interaction between families and blocks, but the block effects on height and root collar diameter were insignificant. Average values of height and root collar diameter were 94.0 cm and 8.7 mm, respectively. Family heritability of traits ranged from 0.6 gm (kernel weight) to 0.9 mm (seedling height). Correlation analysis showed a strong relationship among seed traits but a weak correlation between seed and seedling traits. Cluster analysis grouped the five natural populations of J. mandshurica into three significant clusters with different characteristics. The general combining ability analysis showed that most traits in one family (WD11) were higher, suggesting parental traits were excellent for selecting elite parent clones. Using the comprehensive evaluation method, five families with better seed traits and five families with better seedling traits were selected as elite materials with 10% selection rate. The genetic gains of these elite materials for seed weight, kernel weight, average seed size, kernel rate, seedling height, and root collar diameter were 13.1%, 10.3%, 4.1%, 2.4%, 29.7%, and 21.1%, respectively.

Growing evidence has indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a pivotal role as functional RNAs in diverse cancers. However, most circRNAs involved in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain undefined, and the underlying molecular mechanisms mediated by circRNAs are largely unclear. Here, we screened human circRNA expression profiles in ESCC tissues and found significantly increased expression of hsa_circ_0000277 (termed circPDE3B) in ESCC tissues and cell lines compared to the normal controls. Moreover, higher circPDE3B expression in patients with ESCC was correlated with advanced tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and dismal prognosis. Functional experiments demonstrated that circPDE3B promoted the tumorigenesis and metastasis of ESCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, bioinformatics analysis, a dual-luciferase reporter assay, and anti-AGO2 RNA immunoprecipitation showed that circPDE3B could act as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) by harboring miR-4766-5p to eliminate the inhibitory effect on the target gene laminin α1 (LAMA1). In addition, LAMA1 was significantly upregulated in ESCC tissues and was positively associated with the aggressive oncogenic phenotype. More importantly, rescue experiments revealed that the oncogenic role of circPDE3B in ESCC is partly dependent on the miR-4766-5p/LAMA1 axis. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis combined with validation experiments showed that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) activation was involved in the oncogenic functions of the circPDE3B–miR-4766-5p/LAMA1 axis in ESCC. Taken together, we demonstrate for the first time that the circPDE3B/miR-4766-5p/LAMA1 axis functions as an oncogenic factor in promoting ESCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by inducing EMT, implying its potential prognostic and therapeutic significance in ESCC.

Light is one of the most important environmental cues that affects plant development and regulates its behavior. Light stress directly inhibits physiological responses and plant tissue development and even induces mortality in plants. Korean pine (

This work presented the microfluidic preparation of zeolite film in a capillary microchannel with different length-to-diameter ratios. In the quartz capillary with an inner diameter of 0.53 and 0.32 mm, Zeolite Socony Mobil-5 (ZSM-5) film was prepared by a continuous flow hydrothermal method. Considering the chemically inert surface of quartz capillary and the difficulty of preparing uniform and continuous zeolite film by conventional static synthesis, the ZSM-5 seed layer was precoated as active sites to induce film growth. The parameters of length-to-diameter ratio, seed coating, feed flow rate, and synthesis time were investigated. It revealed that the crystallinity of the ZSM-5 film was significantly affected by the capillary length-to-diameter ratio and seed coating in this flow system. The film morphology and thickness could be precisely controlled by adjusting the feed flow rate and synthesis time. This hydrogen form of the ZSM-5 (HZSM-5) film capillary microreactor was applied in the ketalization reaction of glycerol with acetone to produce solketal. The single-pass yield of solketal could reach ∼30% under mild conditions. This work provided a convenient stratagem of preparing zeolite catalytic coating or other support coatings in closed microchannels with a high length-to-diameter ratio and the potential application in valuable transformation of biomass glycerol.

Background Manchurian walnut (Juglans mandshurica Maxim.) is a tree with multiple industrial uses and medicinal properties in the Juglandaceae family (walnuts and hickories). J. mandshurica produces juglone, which is a toxic allelopathic agent and has potential utilization value. Furthermore, the seed of J. mandshurica is rich in various unsaturated fatty acids and has high nutritive value. Findings Here, we present a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome assembly and annotation for J. mandshurica (n = 16) with a contig N50 of 21.4 Mb by combining PacBio high-fidelity reads with high-throughput chromosome conformation capture data. The assembled genome has an estimated sequence size of 548.7 Mb and consists of 657 contigs, 623 scaffolds, and 40,453 protein-coding genes. In total, 60.99% of the assembled genome consists of repetitive sequences. Sixteen super-scaffolds corresponding to the 16 chromosomes were assembled, with a scaffold N50 length of 33.7 Mb and a BUSCO complete gene percentage of 98.3%. J. mandshurica displays a close sequence relationship with Juglans cathayensis, with a divergence time of 13.8 million years ago. Combining the high-quality genome, transcriptome, and metabolomics data, we constructed a gene-to-metabolite network and identified 566 core and conserved differentially expressed genes, which may be involved in juglone biosynthesis. Five CYP450 genes were found that may contribute to juglone accumulation. NAC, bZip, NF-YA, and NF-YC are positively correlated with the juglone content. Some candidate regulators (e.g., FUS3, ABI3, LEC2, and WRI1 transcription factors) involved in the regulation of lipid biosynthesis were also identified. Conclusions Our genomic data provide new insights into the evolution of the walnut genome and create a new platform for accelerating molecular breeding and improving the comprehensive utilization of these economically important tree species.

Combining phenotypic and genetic characteristics in a genetic variation study is of paramount importance to effectively orient the selection of producers&rsquo, elite trees in a seed orchard. In total, 28 phenotypic characteristics and 16 microsatellite loci were used to analyze the clonal genetic variation, to characterize the genetic diversity, and to refine the genetic classifications of 110 Pinus koraiensis clones grown in the Naozhi orchard in northeastern China. All clones were significantly different in most traits. Most of the phenotypic characteristics showed great genetic variation among clones, while the genotypic differentiation was weak between the selection sites of clones. The SSR markers showed a relatively high level of genetic diversity (Na = 4.67 &plusmn, 0.43, Ne = 2.916 &plusmn, 0.18, I = 1.15 &plusmn, 0.07, Ho = 0.69 &plusmn, 0.04, He = 0.62 &plusmn, 0.02, and mean polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.574), with higher heterozygosity as an indication of a lower probability of inbreeding events in the orchard. Despite weak correlation coefficients between dissimilarity matrices (r(A/B), range equal to 0.022, p-value &lt, 0.001), the genetic and phenotypic classifications congruently subdivided all the clones into three major groups. The patterns of phenotypic trait variations and genetic diversity are valuable to effectively select materials in breeding programs of P. koraiensis.

Although Pinus sibirica and Pinus koraiensis are resistant to cold or low temperatures in the cold temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, the former has a stronger cold resistance. Research has been limited to the comparison of physiological responses of the two species to cold stress. In this study, 5-year-old seedlings of P. sibirica and P. koraiensis were subjected to six temperature treatments, [20 °C (control), 0 °C, − 20 °C, − 40 °C, − 60 °C, and − 80 °C], under different stress periods (6, 12, 24, and 48 h). The results showed that differences in each physiological index were significant between P. sibirica and P. koraiensis, except for the permeability of cell membranes, reactive oxygen species, proline and soluble proteins. An ANOVA test indicated that there were extreme differences among the temperatures for each index, stress time and temperature × time for most indices. All indices showed a similar trend for P. sibirica and P. koraiensis with decreasing temperature or the extension of stress time. Soluble sugars and proline increased at 0 to − 20 °C and then remained unchanged with temperature decline. Other indices showed an increase from 20 to − 20 °C, stable from − 20 to − 40 °C and a decrease from − 40 to − 80 °C. All the indices increased and then declined along with the prolonged cold stress time, except for the control. From 0 to − 40 °C, the permeability of cell membranes, relative conductivity, reactive oxygen species and malonaldehyde of P. koraiensis seedlings were higher than in P. sibirica, but superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase activity and soluble sugars, proline, and soluble proteins content emerged as opposite. This study compared the physiological mechanism responses to cold stress between P. sibirica and P. koraiensis to provide the basis for the introduction, distribution, and genetic improvement of these coniferous species.

In this paper, Euglena sp. microalgae with low lipid and high ash contents were successfully converted into bio-oil with/without catalysts through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) at 280 °C and a reaction time of 30 min. The introduction of acidic microporous zeolite catalysts (HZSM-22, HZSM-5, H beta, MCM-22, and SAPO-11) with high hydrothermal stability further improved the bio-oil quality in situ. Various methods, including elemental analysis, high heat value (HHV), and gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS), were used to analyze the physicochemical properties of the obtained bio-oil. Results indicated that catalyst addition could enhance C and H contents, reduce O and N contents, and also improve HHV (the maximum value of 37.08 MJ kg−1 was obtained for the H beta catalyst). GC-MS revealed that the bio-oil obtained by direct HTL contained relatively high amounts of N-containing compounds (30.87%) and acid compounds (16.44%). Meanwhile, the catalysts introduced in situ not only lowered the contents of nitrogen and acids to some extent, but also simultaneously increased the hydrocarbon content. This result was most pronounced over the H beta catalyst, which reduced the nitrogen content to 16.68% and decreased the acid content to 9.50%. The hydrocarbon content increased to 43.43%. Ultimately, a reasonable reaction network for Euglena sp. HTL was proposed and provides a basis for the process's further industrialization.

In this paper, SO42 −/Al2O3-SiO2 (SAS) was prepared and used for the esterification of octanoic acid with methanol. The effect of introduction of SiO2 was characterized by nitrogen sorption, ICP-AES, XRD, NH3-TPD, TG, FTIR and FTIR-pyridine adsorption. The results demonstrated that the doping of SiO2 resulted in the increase of BET surface areas and amount of surface sulfur species which led to an increase of acid sites especially Bronsted acid sites, which consequently boosted the catalytic esterification activity. In addition, the introduction of SiO2 can also increase the thermal stability of SO42 − and its interaction with Al2O3 support which resulted in the alleviation of catalyst deactivation.

The development of visible-light-responsive photocatalysts is a promising challenge in the management of environmental pollution. Silver–silver halide nano-photocatalysts have received intensive attention due to their excellent photocatalytic performance in recent years, where silver nanoparticles/nanoclusters demonstrate plasmonic enhanced light absorption efficiency and have been considered as an important component in various functional photocatalytic nanocomposite materials, serving for harvesting visible light. This review provides an overall survey on the state-of-the-art silver–silver halide-based photocatalysts, fundamental understanding of their plasmonically induced photo-reactions and their major environmental applications. We first discuss the basic concepts of localized surface plasmon resonance, and outline the general mechanism of silver–silver halide-based photocatalysis. We then discuss the latest progress in the design and fabrication of silver halide based photocatalysis using various strategies. Next, we highlight some selected examples to demonstrate the new applications of silver/silver halide nano-photocatalysts. Eventually, we provide an outlook of the present challenges and some perspectives of new directions in this interesting and emerging research area.

Rapid growth and high quality have always been important goals pursued for timber forests. Therefore, growth traits and wood properties are the basis of superior materials to select and breed new cultivars. In this study, 42 half-sib families of 31-year-old P. koraiensis trees were used as materials. Nine growth traits (tree height, diameter at breast height, volume, basal diameter, average annual growth of the tree height, under branch height, stem straightness degree, form quotient, and branching angle) and eight wood properties (cellulose contents, hemicellulose contents, holocellulose contents, lignin contents, ash contents, wood density, fiber length and fiber width) were measured and analyzed. The results of an analysis of variance showed that there were extremely significant differences among the families in their growth and wood properties with the exception of the form quotient and wood density; that there were significant differences among block by family for growth traits except for the tree height, basal diameter, under branch height and branching angle; and that there was no significant difference for each growth trait among the blocks. The phenotypic coefficient of variation and heritability of the growth traits ranged from 7.17 to 42.35% and from 0.13 to 0.62, respectively. The phenotypic coefficient of variation and heritability of the wood properties ranged from 10.21 to 50.26% and from 0.67 to 0.92, respectively. There were extremely significantly positive correlations between the tree height, basal diameter, diameter at breast height, volume, under branch height, average annual growth of tree height and form quotient. However, there was no significant correlation between growth traits and wood properties. The result of the principal component analysis indicated that the tree height, diameter at breast height, volume, basal diameter, and cellulose contents, holocellulose contents, and lignin contents could be selected as comprehensive evaluation indices of growth and wood properties, respectively. According to a comprehensive evaluation, when the selection rate was 10%, four families (PK 40, PK 80, PK 42, and PK 71) were selected as elite families based on growth performance; another four families (PK 70, PK 62, PK 52, and PK 44) were selected as elite families based on their wood quality; and finally, four elite families (PK 70, PK 62, PK 61, and PK 40) were selected due to a combination of growth traits and wood properties. This study will provide a theoretical basis for the genetic improvement of fast-growing and high-quality P. koraiensis families.

A highly efficient and selective photocatalyst, UPC-CMP-1 has been successfully synthesized by a Sonogashira–Hagihara coupling reaction between iron(III) 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4′-bromophenyl) porphine and 1,4-diethynylbenzene. The scanning electron microscopy shows UPC-CMP-1 possesses a dendrite-like nanostructure. Interestingly, within 120 s, UPC-CMP-1 can decompose 88.3% of Congo red (CR) molecules under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, UPC-CMP-1 exhibits high selectivity to CR over other dyes. These results reveal that conjugated microporous polymer should be an excellent candidate on the application of dye degradation.

In the current paper, Mo doped Ni–ZrO2 catalyst was prepared, which was used for the liquid hydrocarbon from conversion of octanoic acid via hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). The experimental results showed that the reaction product is mainly C8 alkane with a yield of 77.07% when 10Mo/Ni–ZrO2 was used as the catalyst compared with the major product of C7 alkane over Ni–ZrO2 catalyst with a yield of 69.68%. The introduction of Mo into the Ni–ZrO2 channel generated in Mo/Ni–ZrO2 samples was characterized by nitrogen sorption, TEM, XRD, TPR, and TPD. The results demonstrated that the doping Mo particles to the Ni–ZrO2 catalyst resulted in the transformation of ZrO2 support from cubic form (c-ZrO2) to monoclinic form (m-ZrO2), and the improvement of the hydrogen adsorption capacity and acid property of the catalyst. Thus, the doping of Mo favored the dehydration–hydrogenation reactions of octanol intermediate which in turn facilitated octanoic acid HDO to C8 alkane. Therefore, a novel approach to octanoic acid HDO to C8 alkane is introduced, which provides a basis as well as technical parameters for its further industrialization.

Hollow-structured polyhedral nanostructures of AgI nanoboxes and cube-tetrapod Ag/AgI cages have been fabricated through the controlled reaction of I− ions with nanocubes and cube-tetrapods of AgCl based on the principle of the Kirkendall effect. The Ag0 nanodomains in the source nanoparticles of AgCl:Ag are preserved in the final hollow Ag/AgI cages during the chemical conversion of AgCl to AgI. The obtained hollow cube-tetrapod Ag/AgI nanostructures exhibited enhanced light absorption in the visible region and photocatalytic performance towards hydrogen evolution from water reduction and decomposition of organic pollutants, owing to the contribution of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of silver nanoparticles (nanodomains). The present versatile route can be generalized to the preparation of other inorganic functional materials with hollow interiors for different applications.

Oil-soluble bimetallic Ni-Mo sulfide nanoparticles (NiMoS) with narrow size distribution were successfully synthesized through a composite-surfactants-assisted-solvothermal process. The surface functionality and lipophilicity of the Ni-Mo sulfides were shown by transmission electronic microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopy. The as-prepared Ni-Mo sulfides supported on activated carbon (NiMoS/AC) exhibited enhanced catalytic activity towards naphthalene hydrogenation instead of cracking. For comparison, CoMoS/AC and MoS2/AC catalysts were also prepared through similar procedures, and it was found that their catalytic performance decreased in the order of NiMoS/AC>CoMoS/AC>MoS2/AC. Furthermore, the activity of the bimetallic NiMoS nanocatalyst can be effectively tuned via variation of the atomic ratio of Ni/(Ni+Mo).

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to investigate the coordinative states of surface Al species on various alkylaluminum-modified Phillips CrOx/SiO2 catalysts. The alkylaluminum-modified Phillips CrOx/SiO2 catalysts were examined via ethylene homopolymerization. 1H and 27Al magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra clearly demonstrated that the existing states of surface Al species in alkylaluminum-modified catalysts strongly depended on the type of alkylaluminum cocatalyst, concentration of alkylaluminum and the calcination temperature. 1H MAS NMR spectra of alkylaluminum-modified Phillips CrOx/SiO2 catalysts, calcined at two different temperatures, exhibited similar trends in peak shift. 1H spectra showed that with an increase of Al/Cr ratio and calcination temperature, the main peak shifted to high field, indicating that the dominant surface proton species changed from hydroxyl to ethoxyl and ethyl groups. 27Al MAS NMR spectra showed the presence of three different coordination states (6-, 5-, and 4-coordinated Al species) in the alkylaluminum-modified Phillips catalysts. In comparison of different alkylaluminum cocatalysts, it was found that the reactivity of alkylaluminum modified Phillips catalyst decreased in the order of TEA>DEAH>DEAE. The amount of 4-coordinated Al species of Phillips catalysts modified by TEA, DEAE and DEAH also decreased in the order of TEA>DEAH>DEAE, indicating that the presence of 4-coordinated Al species is related to the polymerization activity.

Triindole and hexabromotriindol's self-assemble behavior on the substrate from solution has been investigated. Through changing the polarity of solvents, various nanostructures have been prepared in a controllable manner. Hexabromotriindol could self-assemble into uniform nanowires with the length up to hundreds microns. Experiment data reveal that molecules grow from solution in a nucleation and growth model. DMF seems playing important role on stabilize system and also increasing intermolecular interaction. The highly ordered structures on the surface in a controllable manner are expected to be applied in fabrication of organic electrical devices.

In this work, lead-free 1–3 composites based on piezoelectric 0.947Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3–0.053BaTiO3 (NBT–0.053BT) single crystal and epoxy are fabricated for ultrasonic transducer applications by a modified dice-and-fill method. Excellent properties for ultrasonic transducer applications have been achieved, such as high electromechanical coupling coefficient (kt = 73%), lower acoustic impedance (Z = 16 MRayl) and moderate dielectric constant. Based on this lead-free piezoelectric single crystal composite, single-element ultrasonic transducer and linear array have been fabricated and characterized. Both types of transducers exhibit similar performance with broad bandwidth of exceeding 100%. The promising results show that these lead-free composites have the potential to be used for high-performance ultrasonic transducers.

0.95Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 TiO 3 –0.05K 0.5 Bi 0.5 TiO 3 lead-free piezoelectric single crystal with rhombohedral structure was grown by the top-seeded solution growth method. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant and loss, polarization hysteresis loops, the optimum poling condition and the electromechanical coupling property were investigated for the 〈100〉-oriented as-grown crystal. The curves e ( T ) show two anomalies, which are related to the two phase transformations at the temperature range of 130–340 °C. The piezoelectric constant d 33 and electromechanical coupling coefficient k t for the 〈001〉-oriented crystal at room temperature reached 147 pC/N and 0.52, respectively. The value of k t demonstrated a relatively stable thermal electromechanical coupling property over the temperature range of 15–130 °C.

The paper describes the fabrication of angle beam two-element prototype ultrasonic transducers with PMN–PT single crystal and PMN–PT/epoxy 1–3 composite. The optimal designs of transducers were obtained based on the simulation of PiezoCAD software. A two-layer front matching structure for PMN–PT single crystal transducer and a one-layer front matching structure for PMN–PT/epoxy 1–3 composite transducer were selected to match the polyimide slopping block. In the detection on the stainless steel reference block, PMN–PT single crystal and commercial PZT-based 1–3 composite transducer show similar performances in sensitivity and bandwidth, and PMN–PT/epoxy 1–3 composite transducer shows the best performances. The two-way insertion loss and bandwidth at −6 dB of the PMN–PT/epoxy 1–3 composite transducer are −21.3 dB and 94.5%, respectively.