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Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is routinely included in the prostate MRI protocol for a long time; its role has been questioned. It provides rich spatial and temporal information. However, the contained information cannot be fully extracted in radiologists' visual evaluation. More sophisticated computer algorithms are needed to extract the higher-order information. The purpose of this study was to apply a new deep learning algorithm, the bi-directional convolutional long short-term memory (CLSTM) network, and the radiomics analysis for differential diagnosis of PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). To systematically investigate the optimal amount of peritumoral tissue for improving diagnosis, a total of 9 ROIs were delineated by using 3 different methods. The results showed that bi-directional CLSTM with ± 20% region growing peritumoral ROI achieved the mean AUC of 0.89, better than the mean AUC of 0.84 by using the tumor alone without any peritumoral tissue (p = 0.25, not significant). For all 9 ROIs, deep learning had higher AUC than radiomics, but only reaching the significant difference for ± 20% region growing peritumoral ROI (0.89 vs. 0.79, p = 0.04). In conclusion, the kinetic information extracted from DCE-MRI using bi-directional CLSTM may provide helpful supplementary information for diagnosis of PCa.

To build three prognostic models using radiomics analysis of the hemorrhagic lesions, clinical variables, and their combination, to predict the outcome of stroke patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH).Eighty-three sICH patients were included. Among them, 40 patients (48.2%) had poor prognosis with modified Rankin scale (mRS) of 5 and 6 at discharge, and the prognostic model was built to differentiate mRS ≤ 4 vs. 5 + 6. The region of interest (ROI) of intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) were separately segmented. Features were extracted using PyRadiomics, and the support vector machine was applied to select features and build radiomics models based on IPH and IPH + IVH. The clinical models were built using multivariate logistic regression, and then the radiomics scores were combined with clinical variables to build the combined model.When using IPH, the AUC for radiomics, clinical, and combined model was 0.78, 0.82, and 0.87, respectively. When using IPH + IVH, the AUC was increased to 0.80, 0.84, and 0.90, respectively. The combined model had a significantly improved AUC compared to the radiomics by DeLong test. A clinical prognostic model based on the ICH score of 0-1 only achieved AUC of 0.71.The combined model using the radiomics score derived from IPH + IVH and the clinical factors could achieve a high accuracy in prediction of sICH patients with poor outcome, which may be used to assist in making the decision about the optimal care.

The aim of this study was to apply registration and three-dimensional (3D) display tools to assess the evolution of intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We identified 109 TBI patients who had two computed tomography (CT) scans within 4 days retrospectively. The IPH was manually outlined. The registration was performed in 39 lesions from 29 patients with lesion volume 1.5 cm on both baseline and follow-up CT. The center of mass (COM) of each lesion was calculated, and the distance between baseline and follow-up CT was used to evaluate the registration effect. The mean distances of COM before registration in the XYZ, XY, and YZ coordinates were 20.5 ± 10.2 mm, 17.8 ± 9.4 mm, and 15.9 ± 9.4 mm, respectively, which decreased significantly (p 0.001) to 7.9 ± 4.9, 7.8 ± 5.0, and 6.1 ± 4.1 mm after registration. A 3D short video displaying the rendering view of all lesions in 34 randomly selected patients from baseline and follow-up scans were presented side-by-side for comparison. The detection rate of new IPH lesions increased in 3D videos (100%) as compared with axial CT slices (78.6-92.9%). A very high interrater agreement (k = 0.856) on perceiving IPH lesion progression upon viewing 3D video was noted, and the absolute volume increase was significantly higher (p 0.001) for progressive lesions (median 7.36 cc) over non-progressive lesions (median 0.01 cc). Compared to patients with spontaneous hemorrhagic stroke, evaluation of multiple small traumatic hemorrhages in TBI is more challenging. The applied image analysis and visualization methods may provide helpful tools for comparing changes between serial CT scans.

Conventional polyurethane (PU) thermosets are built by nonrenewable petrifaction resources and are burdensome to be recycled, reprocessed, and reshaped in virtue of their permanent covalent cross-l...

Latent curing agents are significantly important to develop one-component epoxy resins. However, the reported latent curing agents are from unsustainable fossil resources. Herein, a new type of latent curing agent—amino acids—was developed from bioresources. Amino acids can be naturally occurring and can also be synthesized from bio-based compounds. The latent curing feature and mechanism were revealed through investigation of curing kinetics and small-molecule model curing reaction. A bio-based amino acid containing amide bond (PDA-MAH) was synthesized from 1,5-pentanediamine and maleic anhydride, and used together with a bio-based epoxy monomer from itaconic acid (EIA) to achieve a fully bio-based one-component epoxy system. The obtained epoxy network exhibited significantly enhanced glass transition temperature, tensile strength and Young's modulus compared with the control amino acid/EIA system due to the hydrogen bonding from the amide bonds. In addition, the epoxy network exhibited excellent degradability under alkaline conditions.

The huge amount of plastic waste is imperiling our daily life. Here, we designed a green and efficient large-scale one-pot method combining grafting and reversible cross-linking on a twin-screw extruder. Post-consumer plastic bags were upcycled to covalent adaptable networks (CANs) based on internally catalyzed anhydride monoester transesterification, and superior performance and reprocessability at elevated temperatures were achieved. This work provides a new idea for upcycling post-consumer polyolefin plastics, and the produced materials show great potential to be used at the industrial scale.

Carbon fiber (CF) reinforced polyurethane (PU) composites have attracted increasing attention in recent years. It is still a challenge to recycle the CF reinforced composites, and there is no repor...

Vitrimers undergoing dynamic bond exchange enable reprocessing and recycle of thermosets. However, vitrimers are susceptible to creep, leading to their poor dimensional stability, which limits thei...

Recycling thermosets have become extremely important due to their ecological and economic benefits. The development of thermosets that undergo reversible polymerization provides a solution to the e...

Smart polymeric materials based on the positive temperature coefficient (PTC) effect have been widely utilized; nevertheless, the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) effect and poor repeatability severely limit their advanced applications. Here, for the first time, vitrimers were exploited to fabricate smart nanocomposites with high PTC intensity, superior repeatability and no NTC effect based on their high thermal expansion rate and cross-linking nature. The PTC behavior can be facilely tuned by adjusting the vitrimer matrix or CB content. Moreover, vitrimer nanocomposites exhibited excellent recyclability and the regenerated ones preserved the PTC behavior pretty well. Finally, they demonstrated great potential to be employed in thermal-sensitive sensors. This work will open a door to developing thermo-sensitive materials (or devices) from vitrimers.

A catalyst-free, solvent-free thiol–ene addition reaction was developed to produce a dynamic–permanent hybrid cross-linked polymer from two simple components, a tetrathiol and a divinyl ether, in one pot. The tetrathiol and divinyl ether underwent two competitive Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov addition reactions simultaneously and separately generated S,O-thioacetal cross-links and thioether cross-links. The dynamic feature of S,O-thioacetal cross-links imparts excellent malleability, reprocessability and degradability to the obtained network, and the permanent covalent thioether cross-links provide favorable high-temperature creep resistance. This work will broaden the thiol–ene chemistry and provide a green method to achieve recyclable cross-linked polymers and covalent adaptable networks (CANs) or vitrimer-like materials with high-temperature creep resistance.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) often leads to neonatal death or severe, irreversible neurological deficits. Pathologically, the occurrence of massive cell death and subsequent inflammation suggested that pyroptosis, an inflammation associated programed cell death, might play a role in HIE. Here, by measuring changes of key molecules in pyroptosis pathway in HIE patients, we discovered that their elevation levels tightly correlate with the severity of HIE. Next, we demonstrated that application of MCC950, a small molecule to inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome and thus pyroptosis, substantially alleviated pyroptosis and the injury severity in rats with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD). Mechanistically, we showed that NLRP-3/caspase-1/GSDMD axis is required for microglia pyroptosis and activation. Our data demonstrated that microglia mediated pyroptosis played a crucial role in neonatal HIE, which shed lights into the development of intervention avenues targeting pyroptosis to treat HIE and traumatic brain injuries.

Plastics are indispensable in modern society, but are non-sustainable resources, releasing hazardous chemicals during their service life, and post-disposal issues make traditional plastics a risk. Herein, we report a “digestible”, rigid-and-flexible, bio-sourced building block for high-performance degradable plastics. This building block was synthesized from the bioresources vanillin (lignin derivative) and glycerol through solvent-free acetalization with a high conversion rate and high selectivity. It could be extremely rapidly degraded into non-toxic vanillin and glycerol under mild acidic conditions even at a similar pH and temperature to gastric juice in the human stomach (“digested”), resulting in the outstanding chemical degradability of its corresponding epoxy thermosets, which is beneficial for their recycling. By virtue of the benzene ring, heterocycle, and methoxyl group-related hydrogen bond, the degradable thermosetting plastic showed much higher mechanical properties (stronger and tougher) and comparable thermal properties relative to a commercial high-performance counterpart based on bisphenol A (BPA). This favorable performance combination has never been reported for plastics. Thus, this bio-derived building block exhibits great potential as a sustainable and upgraded alternative to petroleum-sourced aromatic chemicals such as BPA for high-performance plastics.

PURPOSE: To improve the performance of less experienced clinicians in the diagnosis of benign and malignant spinal fracture on MRI, we applied the ResNet50 algorithm to develop a decision support system. METHODS: A total of 190 patients, 50 with malignant and 140 with benign fractures, were studied. The visual diagnosis was made by one senior MSK radiologist, one fourth-year resident, and one first-year resident. The MSK radiologist also gave the binary score for 15 qualitative imaging features. Deep learning was implemented using ResNet50, using one abnormal spinal segment selected from each patient as input. The T1W and T2W images of the lesion slice and its two neighboring slices were considered. The diagnostic performance was evaluated using tenfold cross-validation. RESULTS: The overall reading accuracy was 98, 96, and 66% for the senior MSK radiologist, fourth-year resident, and first-year resident, respectively. Of the 15 imaging features, 10 showed a significant difference between benign and malignant groups with p < = 0.001. The accuracy achieved by using the ResNet50 deep learning model for the identified abnormal vertebral segment was 92%. Compared to the first-year resident’s reading, the model improved the sensitivity from 78 to 94% (p < 0.001) and the specificity from 61 to 91% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our deep learning-based model may provide information to assist less experienced clinicians in the diagnosis of spinal fractures on MRI. Other findings away from the vertebral body need to be considered to improve the model, and further investigation is required to generalize our findings to real-world settings.

Background: To investigate the impact of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) on the classification of hematoma expansion (HE), and the development of radiomics models using features extracted from the baseline hematoma to predict HE.Methods: Eighty-four patients with baseline and follow-up non-contrast CT within 4~24 hours were included. The intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) and IVH were separately outlined by an experienced neuroradiologist. HE was defined as an absolute hematoma growth >6 mL or percentage growth >33%. HE was determined based on two criteria, using IPH alone (HEP) or IPH+IVH (HEP+V). The radiomics analysis was performed by using PyRadiomics to extract features, followed by random forest algorithm to select features, and lastly the decision tree to build classification models. Results: The classification of expansion showed 37 (44%) HEP and 47 (56%) non-HEP based on IPH alone, and similar results of 38 (45%) HEP+V and 46 (55%) non-HEP+V based on IPH+IVH. The majority, >94% of HE patients, had a poor outcome (death or mRS>3 at discharge). Three radiomics analysis (RA) models were built. The first model using baseline IPH to predict HEP (RAP-P) showed an accuracy of 80% but loss of correlation with the clinical outcome; the second model using IPH+IVH to predict HEP (RAPV-V) had a slightly higher accuracy of 81% and resumed the poor outcome association with HE; and the third model using IPH+IVH to predict HEP+V (RAPV-PV) had the highest accuracy of 86% with preserved clinical outcome correlation of HE. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of three decision trees (RAP-P, RAPV-P, RAPV-PV) were 0.8/ 0.68/ 0.89; 0.81/ 0.92/ 0.72 and 0.86/ 0.82/ 0.89, respectively.Conclusions: The proposed radiomics approach with additional IVH information could be used to classify the expansion status highly associated with the clinical outcome and provide a robust tool for the enrollment of high-risk ICH cases in the anti-expansion trials.

Determining time-dependent mechanical properties of soft materials is essential in understanding their deformation behaviors under various stimuli. This paper investigates the use of indentation creep tests to measure the viscoelastic properties of soft materials at local areas. A simple scaling law between the reduced creep function and the creep displacement of the indenter is revealed in this paper based on a theoretical analysis. We show that the scaling relation can be used to interpret indentation creep tests of viscoelastic soft solids with arbitrary surface profile provided that the contact area does not change. Both numerical and practical experiments have been performed to validate the theory and the analytical solution. In our experiments, a low-cost portable indentation system is proposed to measure the reduced creep function. Our results show that the low-cost instrument and the analytical solution to interpret the experimental data reported here represent a useful testing method to deduce the intrinsic viscoelastic properties of soft materials in a non-destructive manner.

Expansins are a group of plant cell wall loosening proteins that play important roles in plant growth and development. In this study, we performed the first study on the molecular characterization, transcriptional expression and functional properties of two wheat expansin genes TaEXPA2 and TaEXPB1. The results indicated that TaEXPA2 and TaEXPB1 genes had typical structural features of plant expansin gene family. As a member of ?-expansins, TaEXPA2 is closely related to rice OsEXPA17 while the ?- expansin member TaEXPB1 has closely phylogenetic relationships with rice OsEXPAB4. The genetic transformation to Arabidopsis showed that both TaEXPA2 and TaEXPB1 were located in cell wall and highly expressed in roots, leaves and seeds. Overexpression of TaEXPA2 and TaEXPB1 genes showed similar functions, causing rapid root elongation, early bolting, and increases in leaves number, rosette diameter and stems length. These results demonstrated that wheat expansin genes TaEXPA1 and TaEXPB2 can enhance plant growth and development.

Digital mammography has become a first-line diagnostic tool for clinical breast cancer screening due to its high sensitivity and specificity. Mammographic compression force is closely associated with image quality and patient comfort. Therefore, optimizing breast compression parameters is essential. Subjects were recruited for digital mammography and breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within a month. Breast MRI images were used to calculate breast volume and volumetric breast density (VBD) and construct finite element models. Finite element analysis was performed to simulate breast compression. Simulated compressed breast thickness (CBT) was compared with clinical CBT and the relationships between compression force, CBT, breast volume, and VBD were established. Simulated CBT had a good linear correlation with the clinical CBT (R2 = 0.9433) at the clinical compression force. At 10, 12, 14, and 16 daN, the mean simulated CBT of the breast models was 5.67, 5.13, 4.66, and 4.26 cm, respectively. Simulated CBT was positively correlated with breast volume (r > 0.868) and negatively correlated with VBD (r < –0.338). The results of this study provides a subject-specific and evidence-based suggestion of mammographic compression force for radiographers considering image quality and patient comfort.

We report the complete mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of Pareas formosensis (Squamata: Colubridae). This circular mtDNA is 17,703 bp in size and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs,...

A body force concentrated at a point and moving at a high speed can induce shear-wave Mach cones in dusty-plasma crystals or soft materials, as observed experimentally and named the elastic Cherenkov effect (ECE). The ECE in soft materials forms the basis of the supersonic shear imaging (SSI) technique, an ultrasound-based dynamic elastography method applied in clinics in recent years. Previous studies on the ECE in soft materials have focused on isotropic material models. In this paper, we investigate the existence and key features of the ECE in anisotropic soft media, by using both theoretical analysis and finite element (FE) simulations, and we apply the results to the non-invasive and non-destructive characterization of biological soft tissues. We also theoretically study the characteristics of the shear waves induced in a deformed hyperelastic anisotropic soft material by a source moving with high speed, considering that contact between the ultrasound probe and the soft tissue may lead to finite deformation. On the basis of our theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we propose an inverse approach to infer both the anisotropic and hyperelastic parameters of incompressible transversely isotropic (TI) soft materials. Finally, we investigate the properties of the solutions to the inverse problem by deriving the condition numbers in analytical form and performing numerical experiments. In Part II of the paper, both ex vivo and in vivo experiments are conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the inverse method in practical use. YPC acknowledges the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 11172155 and 11432008). peer-reviewed 2018-06-25

Novel three-dimensional (3D) flowerlike hierarchical γ-Fe

Architectural design is important to achieve appropriate chemical and biological properties of nanostructures. Yolk–shell magnetic microspheres consisting of Fe3O4 cores and porous and hollow YPO4 affinity shells have been designed and constructed. The yolk–shell magnetic microspheres have a saturation magnetization (Ms) value of 48.3 emu g−1 with a negligible coercivity and remanence at 300 K and a BET specific surface area of 12.5 m2 g−1 with an average pore size of 10.1 nm for the mesoporous YPO4 shell. The novel multifunctional yolk–shell nanostructures can realize the selective capture, convenient magnetic separation and rapid identification of target phosphopeptides by taking advantage of the Fe3O4 magnetic cores and the selective YPO4 affinity shells. Sensitivity and selectivity of the affinity yolk–shell nanostructures were evaluated by digests of standard proteins and complex biosamples. 2678 unique phosphopeptides were captured and identified from the digest of mouse brain proteins. Therefore, this work will be highly beneficial for future applications in the isolation and purification of biomolecules, in particular, low-abundance phosphopeptide biomarkers.

The multifunctional microspheres consisting of the magnetic γ-Fe

Determining the mechanical properties of brain tissues is essential in the field of brain biomechanics. In this paper, we use ultrasound-based shear wave elastography to measure both in vivo and ex vivo elastic properties of brain tissues. Our results demonstrate that the shear modulus from in vivo measurements is about 47% higher than that given by the ex vivo measurements (p value = 0.0063). The change in ex vivo elastic properties within 60-min post-mortem is negligible. The results also show that within 60-min post-mortem and in a temperature range of 37–23 °C, the elastic properties of brain tissues approximately linearly depend on the temperature in both cooling and re-heating processes.

Adequate compression during mammography lowers the absorbed dose in the breast and improves the image quality. The compressed breast thickness (CBT) is affected by various factors, such as breast volume, glandularity, and compression force. In this study, we used the finite element analysis to simulate breast compression and deformation and validated the simulated CBT with clinical mammography results. Image data from ten subjects who had undergone mammography screening and breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were collected, and their breast models were created according to the MR images. The non-linear tissue deformation under 10−16 daN in the cranial-caudal direction was simulated. When the clinical compression force was used, the simulated CBT ranged from 2.34 to 5.90 cm. The absolute difference between the simulated CBT and the clinically measured CBT ranged from 0.5 to 7.1 mm. The simulated CBT had a strong positive linear relationship to breast volume and a weak negative correlation to glandularity. The average simulated CBT under 10, 12, 14, and 16 daN was 5.68, 5.12, 4.67, and 4.25 cm, respectively. Through this study, the relationships between CBT, breast volume, glandularity, and compression force are provided for use in clinical mammography.

Ultrasound imaging can generate real-time images and is a low-cost, safe, and mobile imaging modality, which has broad applications in clinical radiology. During the past decade, ultrasound-based elastography has emerged as a highly useful technique for characterizing the mechanical properties of living soft tissues. Tissue-mimicking phantoms play an essential role in the development, validation, and use of elastography methods. Phantoms with desired acoustic and mechanical properties that are stable over time and can be stored in a broad range of temperatures have been pursued over the years. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the typical phantom materials reported in the literature; in particular, we discuss the progress made in recent years and the open issues that deserve further investigation.

The advantage of electron beam radiotherapy is that the absorbed dose rapidly decreases with the increasing depth, which can prevent damage to deeper organs and tissues. Accurately evaluating the absorbed dose in the superficial tumor is imperative. This study assessed the characteristics of electron beams by using the N-isopropyl-acrylamide (n-NIPAM) gel dosimeter. The n-NIPAM gel was composed of 6% gelatin, 5% monomer, and 2.5% cross-linker with 5 mM tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride for deoxygenation. The gel was irradiated with 6-, 9-, and 12-MeV electron beams with dose rates of 100−600 MU/min, respectively. The energy dependence and dose rate dependence were assessed. The beam profiles and percentage depth doses were measured and compared with the results of the Gafchromic film and ionization chamber. The linearity of the n-NIPAM gel under 6-, 9-, and 12-MeV electrons was larger than 0.990 with 2% variation in sensitivity. The sensitivity of the gel under 100−600 MU/min showed 5% variations. The energy and dose rate dependence can be negligible. The beam profiles and percentage depth doses measured by the n-NIPAM gel matched well with the results of the ionization chamber and film. This study reveals the possibility of using the n-NIPAM gel dosimeter for electron beam measurements in clinical radiotherapy.

Background Drought stress during grain development causes significant yield loss in cereal production. The phosphorylated modification of starch granule-binding proteins (SGBPs) is an important mechanism regulating wheat starch biosynthesis. In this study, we performed the first proteomics and phosphoproteomics analyses of SGBPs in elite Chinese bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar Jingdong 17 under well-watered and water-stress conditions. Results Water stress treatment caused significant reductions in spike grain numbers and weight, total starch and amylopectin content, and grain yield. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed that the quantity of SGBPs was reduced significantly by water-deficit treatment. Phosphoproteome characterization of SGBPs under water-deficit treatment demonstrated a reduced level of phosphorylation of main starch synthesis enzymes, particularly for granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS I), starch synthase II-a (SS II-a), and starch synthase III (SS III). Specifically, the Ser34 site of the GBSSI protein, the Tyr358 site of SS II-a, and the Ser837 site of SS III-a exhibited significant less phosphorylation under water-deficit treatment than well-watered treatment. Furthermore, the expression levels of several key genes related with starch biosynthesis detected by qRT-PCR were decreased significantly at 15 days post-anthesis under water-deficit treatment. Immunolocalization showed a clear movement of GBSS I from the periphery to the interior of starch granules during grain development, under both water-deficit and well-watered conditions. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that the reduction in gene expression or transcription level, protein expression and phosphorylation levels of starch biosynthesis related enzymes under water-deficit conditions is responsible for the significant decrease in total starch content and grain yield. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-017-1118-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Determining the mechanical properties of brain tissues is essential in such cases as the surgery planning and surgical training using virtual reality based simulators, trauma research and the diagnosis of some diseases that alter the elastic properties of brain tissues. Here, we suggest a protocol to measure the temperature-dependent elastic properties of brain tissues in physiological saline using the shear wave elastography method. Experiments have been conducted on six porcine brains. Our results show that the shear moduli of brain tissues decrease approximately linearly with a slope of −0.041±0.006 kPa/°C when the temperature T increases from room temperature (~23 °C) to body temperature (~37 °C). A case study has been further conducted which shows that the shear moduli are insensitive to the temperature variation when T is in the range of 37 to 43 °C and will increase when T is higher than 43 °C. With the present experimental setup, temperature-dependent elastic properties of brain tissues can be measured in a simulated physiological environment and a non-destructive manner. Thus the method suggested here offers a unique tool for the mechanical characterization of brain tissues with potential applications in brain biomechanics research.

Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight (FHB), a devastating disease of wheat. Salicylic acid (SA) is involved in the resistance of wheat to F. graminearum. Cell wall mannoprotein (CWM) is known to trigger defense responses in plants, but its role in the pathogenicity of F. graminearum remains unclear. Here, we characterized FgCWM1 (FG05_11315), encoding a CWM in F. graminearum. FgCWM1 was highly expressed in wheat spikes by 24 h after initial inoculation and was upregulated by SA. Disruption of FgCWM1 (&Delta, FgCWM1) reduced mannose and protein accumulation in the fungal cell wall, especially under SA treatment, and resulted in defective fungal cell walls, leading to increased fungal sensitivity to SA. The positive role of FgCWM1 in mannose and protein accumulation was confirmed by its expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Compared with wild type (WT), &Delta, FgCWM1 exhibited reduced pathogenicity toward wheat, but it produced the same amount of deoxynivalenol both in culture and in spikes. Complementation of &Delta, FgCWM1 with FgCWM1 restored the WT phenotype. Localization analyses revealed that FgCWM1 was distributed on the cell wall, consistent with its structural role. Thus, FgCWM1 encodes a CWM protein that plays an important role in the cell wall integrity and pathogenicity of F. graminearum.