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Jiaosu is a healthy food that has received increasing attention in recent years, while it mainly uses fruits as raw materials. In order to explore the feasibility of using Chinese medicinal plants to make Jiaosu, the study took Houttuynia cordata and Gynostemma pentaphyllum as examples to make Jiaosu products, and measured the main components and antioxidant capacity. The results showed that the color of the Jiaosu was dark yellow and the pH was acidic. Jiaosu products were rich in total protein, total sugar, vitamin E, and total0 phenols, of which total protein content was the highest. At the same time, Jiaosu products had strong antioxidant capacity. Enriching the form of healthy food is of great significance for maintaining human health in the post-epidemic era and the ageing era.

IntroductionHeavy metals negatively affect plant physiology. However, plants can reduce their toxicity through physiological responses. Broussonetia papyrifera is a suitable candidate tree for carrying out the phytoremediation of manganese (Mn)-contaminated soil.MethodsConsidering that Mn stress typically exerts a binary effect on plants, to reveal the dynamic characteristics of the physiological indexes of B. papyrifera to Mn stress, we conducted pot experiments with six different Mn concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 mmol/L) for 60 days. In addition to the chlorophyll content, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline (PRO), soluble sugar, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), the absorption and transfer characteristics of Mn, and root structure were also measured.ResultsPhytoremedial potential parameters such as the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF) displayed an increasing trend with the increase of Mn concentration. At lower Mn concentrations ( stem > root. The root structure analysis revealed that low-level concentrations of Mn (1 mmol/L) promoted root development. Mn concentration and stress duration had significant effects on all measured physiological indexes, and except soluble sugar, Mn concentration and stress time displayed a significant interaction on the physiological indexes.DiscussionOur study demonstrates that the physiological indexes of B. papyrifera display dynamic characteristics under Mn stress. Thus, during the monitoring process of Mn stress, it appears to be necessary to appropriately select sampling parts according to Mn concentration.

Flavonoids are important secondary metabolites involved in plant development and environmental responses. Sex differences in flavonoids are common in plants. Broussonetia papyrifera is a dioecious plant that is rich in flavonoids. However, few studies have been done on its molecular mechanism, especially sex differences. In the present study, we performed an integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis of the sex differences in the accumulation of flavonoids in B. papyrifera leaves at different developmental stages. In general, flavonoids accumulated gradually with developmental time, and the content in female plants was higher than that in male plants. The composition of flavonoids in female and male plants was similar, and 16 kinds of flavonoids accumulated after flowering. Correspondingly, a significant enrichment of differentially expressed genes and metabolites was observed in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. WGCNA and qRT-PCR analyses identified several key genes regulating the accumulation of flavonoids, such as those encoding CHS, CHI and DFR. In addition, 8 TFs were found to regulate flavonoid biosynthesis by promoting the expression of multiple structural genes. These findings provide insight into flavonoid biosynthesis in B. papyrifera associated molecular regulation.

Soil heavy metal pollution is a common problem in mining areas. The soil of the Xikuangshan located in Lengshuijiang, Hunan Province, China contains various excessive heavy metals, especially antimony and cadmium. Previous studies have shown that heavy metal-tolerant microorganisms screened from mining areas have the potential to adsorb heavy metals. In this study, we screened out a cadmium and antimony tolerant fungus named XK8 from the slags collected from the Xikuangshan. Then, we explored the single and binary biosorption characteristics of Cd(II) and Sb(III) on it. In our results, the fungus XK8 was identified as Curvularia coatesiae XK8 by ITS sequencing analysis. Under the optimal conditions, in binary biosorption of the XK8, the main effect of the initial cadmium concentration on the cadmium removal rate of XK8 is negative, while the main effect of the initial antimony concentration, biosorption time, and initial pH on the cadmium removal rate of XK8 is positive. The initial pH has the greatest impact on the biosorption of cadmium on XK8, followed by the biosorption time; moreover, the effects of both are stronger than the coexisting ions. SAS analysis shows that under the optimal conditions, the theoretical maximum cadmium removal rate of XK8 is 100%, and the actual removal rate is 67.57%. Compared to the single biosorption with binary biosorption, the maximum biosorption capacity of XK8 for cadmium in the composite biosorption system increased to 23.6 mg g–1. It shows that under the background of high antimony, Sb(III) has a promoting effect on the biosorption of Cd(II) on XK8. In summary, a cadmium and antimony tolerant fungus with strong cadmium biosorption ability under the background of high antimony was screened out. It provides a potential microbial material for the bioremediation of heavy metal pollution.

A novel PbMoO4@MBC (MBL-2) magnetic heterojunction photocatalyst was prepared by the successful loading of Fe3O4 with PbMoO4 onto the highly conductive BC surface through the integration of co-precipitation and pyrolysis. Using advanced characterization methods could reveal the composition, morphology, and optoelectronic properties of the material. The results showed that using BC as the electron transfer interface provided a pathway for charge transfer between Fe3O4 and PbMoO4, and importantly, the PbMoO4@MBC (MBL-2) nanocomposite had a large specific surface area, excellent magnetic response, high light absorption capacity for efficient carrier separation, and thus the photocatalytic activity was high. The degradation rate of MBL-2 for TC under visible light was as high as 89%. More importantly, PbMoO4@MBC (MBL-2) possessed good stability and reusability. The Z-scheme electron transfer pathway for improved photocatalytic performance was proposed by radical capture experiments and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurement analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochar had been widely used to improve the activity of photocatalysts, the biochar-based photocatalysts had more potential for environmental pollution remediation, but their effect on the sediment remained unknown. To understand these, the typical photocatalyst g-C3N4 was modified by biochar to develop g-C3N4/biochar with enhanced photocatalytic ability. Riverbed sediment was exposed to g-C3N4 and g-C3N4/biochar respectively for 30 days, and Illumina sequencing was utilized to examine the changes in the bacterial community in the sediment. The results showed that in riverbed sediment, g-C3N4 exposure had a concentration-dependent effect on the diversity of bacteria, while g-C3N4/biochar exposure had a slight influence on the bacterial diversity and the diversity almost maintained stable with different g-C3N4/biochar concentration. The application of g-C3N4 exhibited an inhibition influence on the growth of Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Rokubacteria in sediment, whose relative abundance increased when g-C3N4 was 25 mg/kg, and then decreased when g-C3N4 beyond this concentration. The presence of g-C3N4/biochar increased the relative abundance of Cyanobacteria in sediment and showed no obvious impact on other dominant phyla. Both g-C3N4 and g-C3N4/biochar could alter the levels of TP, NN, and AN in the sediment, but the magnitude of the changes of these physicochemical factors caused by g-C3N4/biochar was much smaller than those caused by g-C3N4. In addition, the complexity of the bacterial community network was reduced in a high concentration of g-C3N4, while it remained stable with different concentrations of g-C3N4/biochar treatments. Totally, this study demonstrated that, compared to g-C3N4, g-C3N4/biochar was able to maintain the relative stability of the bacterial community in riverbed sediment and mitigate the negative effects of photocatalysts to some extent, making biochar an ecological remediation agent with great potential for application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]