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Seawater intrusion has a significant impact on the irrigation quality of agricultural water, thereby posing a threat to plant growth and development. We hypothesized that the rhizosphere of tea plants harbors beneficial microorganisms, which may improve the tolerance of tea plants to seawater stress. This study utilized 16s and ITS techniques to analyze microbial community shifts in the tea plant rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere under seawater stress conditions. The findings suggest that seawater stress leads to a reduction in microbial diversity, although the rhizosphere microbial diversity in stressed soils showed a relatively higher level. Moreover, the rhizosphere of the tea plant under seawater stress exhibited an enrichment of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria alongside a higher presence of pathogenic fungi. Network analysis revealed that seawater stress resulted in the construction of a more complex and stable rhizosphere microbial network compared to normal conditions. Predictions of bacterial potential functions highlighted a greater diversity of functional groups, enhancing resource utilization efficiency. In general, the rhizosphere microorganisms of tea plants are jointly selected by seawater and the host. The microorganisms closely related to the rhizosphere of tea plants are retained and, at the same time, attract beneficial microorganisms that may alleviate stress. These findings provide new insights into plant responses to saline stress and have significant implications for leveraging vegetation to enhance the resilience of coastal saline soils and contribute to economic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco is an ideal model plant in scientific research. G-quadruplex is a guanine-rich DNA structure, which regulates transcription and translation. In this study, the prevalence and potential function of G-quadruplexes in tobacco were systematically analyzed. In tobacco genomes, there were 2,924,271,002 G-quadruplexes in the nuclear genome, 430,597 in the mitochondrial genome, and 155,943 in the chloroplast genome. The density of the G-quadruplex in the organelle genome was higher than that in the nuclear genome. G-quadruplexes were abundant in the transcription regulatory region of the genome, and a difference in G-quadruplex density in two DNA strands was also observed. The promoter of 60.4% genes contained at least one G-quadruplex. Compared with up-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs), the G-quadruplex density in down-regulated DEGs was generally higher under drought stress and salt stress. The G-quadruplex formed by simple sequence repeat (SSR) and its flanking sequence in the promoter region of the NtBBX (Nitab4.5_0002943g0010) gene might enhance the drought tolerance of tobacco. This study lays a solid foundation for further research on G-quadruplex function in tobacco and other plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a primary approach to nutrient propagation for many woody plants, cutting roots is essential for the breeding and production of Eucommia ulmoides Oliver. In this study, hormone level, transcriptomics, and metabolomics analyses were performed on two E. ulmoides varieties with different adventitious root (AR) formation abilities. The higher JA level on the 0th day and the lower JA level on the 18th day promoted superior AR development. Several hub genes executed crucial roles in the crosstalk regulation of JA and other hormones, including F-box protein (EU012075), SAUR-like protein (EU0125382), LOB protein (EU0124232), AP2/ERF transcription factor (EU0128499), and CYP450 protein (EU0127354). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and metabolites of AR formation were enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and isoflavonoid biosynthesis pathways. The up-regulated expression of PAL, CCR, CAD, DFR, and HIDH genes on the 18th day could contribute to AR formation. The 130 cis-acting lncRNAs had potential regulatory functions on hub genes in the module that significantly correlated with JA and DEGs in three metabolism pathways. These revealed key molecules, and vital pathways provided more comprehensive insight for the AR formation mechanism of E. ulmoides and other plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sauropus androgynus (S. androgynus) (2n = 4x = 52) is one of the most popular functional leafy vegetables in South and Southeast Asia. With its rich nutritional and pharmaceutical values, it has traditionally had widespread use for dietary and herbal purposes. Here, the genome of S. androgynus was sequenced and assembled, revealing a genome size of 1.55 Gb with 26 pseudo-chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis traced back the divergence of Sauropus from Phyllanthus to approximately 29.67 million years ago (Mya). Genome analysis revealed that S. androgynus polyploidized around 20.51 Mya and shared a γ event about 132.95 Mya. Gene function analysis suggested that the expansion of pathways related to phloem development, lignin biosynthesis, and photosynthesis tended to result in the morphological differences among species within the Phyllanthaceae family, characterized by varying ploidy levels. The high accumulation of ascorbic acid in S. androgynus was attributed to the high expression of genes associated with the L-galactose pathway and recycling pathway. Moreover, the expanded gene families of S. androgynus exhibited multiple biochemical pathways associated with its comprehensive pharmacological activity, geographic adaptation and distinctive pleasurable flavor. Altogether, our findings represent a crucial genomic asset for S. androgynus, casting light on the intricate ploidy within the Phyllanthaceae family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CRISPR/Cas9 is an efficient genome-editing tool, and the identification of editing sites and potential influences in the Camellia sinensis genome have not been investigated. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used to characterise the Camellia sinensis genome including editing sites, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), G-quadruplexes (GQ), gene density, and their relationships. A total of 248,134,838 potential editing sites were identified in the genome, and five PAM types, AGG, TGG, CGG, GGG, and NGG, were observed, of which 66,665,912 were found to be specific, and they were present in all structural elements of the genes. The characteristic region of high GC content, GQ density, and PAM density in contrast to low gene density and SSR density was identified in the chromosomes in the joint analysis, and it was associated with secondary metabolites and amino acid biosynthesis pathways. CRISPR/Cas9, as a technology to drive crop improvement, with the identified editing sites and effector elements, provides valuable tools for functional studies and molecular breeding in Camellia sinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea plants are an economically important crop and conducting research on tea breeding contributes to enhancing the yield and quality of tea leaves as well as breeding traits that satisfy the requirements of the public. This study reviews the current status of tea plants germplasm resources and their utilization, which has provided genetic material for the application of multi-omics, including genomics and transcriptomics in breeding. Various molecular markers for breeding were designed based on multi-omics, and available approaches in the direction of high yield, quality and resistance in tea plants breeding are proposed. Additionally, future breeding of tea plants based on single-cellomics, pangenomics, plant–microbe interactions and epigenetics are proposed and provided as references. This study aims to provide inspiration and guidance for advancing the development of genetic breeding in tea plants, as well as providing implications for breeding research in other crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibitors of triacylglycerol (TG) synthesis have been developed to treat metabolism-related diseases, but we know little about their mechanisms of action. Here, we report cryo-EM structures of the TG-synthesis enzyme acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), a membrane bound O-acyltransferase (MBOAT), in complex with two different inhibitors, T863 and DGAT1IN1. Each inhibitor binds DGAT1's fatty acyl-CoA substrate binding tunnel that opens to the cytoplasmic side of the ER. T863 blocks access to the tunnel entrance, whereas DGAT1IN1 extends further into the enzyme, with an amide group interacting with more deeply buried catalytic residues. A survey of DGAT1 inhibitors revealed that this amide group may serve as a common pharmacophore for inhibition of MBOATs. The inhibitors were minimally active against the related MBOAT acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 1 (ACAT1), yet a single-residue mutation sensitized ACAT1 for inhibition. Collectively, our studies provide a structural foundation for developing DGAT1 and other MBOAT inhibitors. Sui et al. elucidate the mechanisms of action for small molecule inhibitors of human triacylglycerol synthesis enzyme DGAT1 and provide insights into how these inhibitors achieve selectivity for DGAT1 rather than other closely related MBOAT enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) pose estimation has been widely used in many three-dimensional human motion analysis applications, where inertia-based path estimation is gradually being adopted. Systems based on commercial inertial measurement units (IMUs) usually rely on dense and complex wearable sensors and time-consuming calibration, causing intrusions to the subject and hindering free body movement. The sparse IMUs-based method has drawn research attention recently. Existing sparse IMUs-based three-dimensional pose estimation methods use neural networks to obtain human poses from temporal feature information. However, these methods still suffer from issues, such as body shaking, body tilt, and movement ambiguity. This paper presents an approach to improve three-dimensional human pose estimation by fusing temporal and spatial features. Based on a multistage encoder–decoder network, a temporal convolutional encoder and human kinematics regression decoder were designed. The final three-dimensional pose was predicted from the temporal feature information and human kinematic feature information. Extensive experiments were conducted on two benchmark datasets for three-dimensional human pose estimation. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, the mean per joint position error was decreased by 13.6% and 19.4% on the total capture and DIP-IMU datasets, respectively. The quantitative comparison demonstrates that the proposed temporal information and human kinematic topology can improve pose accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The buckle before the lens coating is still typically disassembled manually. The difference between the buckle and the background is small, while that between the buckles is large. This mechanical disassembly can also damage the lens. Therefore, it is important to estimate pose with high accuracy. This paper proposes a buckle pose estimation method based on a generative adversarial network. An edge extraction model is designed based on a segmentation network as the generator. Spatial attention is added to the discriminator to help it better distinguish between generated and real graphs. The generator thus generates delicate external contours and center edge lines with help from the discriminator. The external rectangle and the least square methods are used to determine the center position and deflection angle of the buckle, respectively. The center point and angle accuracies of the test datasets are 99.5% and 99.3%, respectively. The pixel error of the center point distance and the absolute error of the angle to the horizontal line are within 7.36 pixels and 1.98°, respectively. This method achieves the highest center point and angle accuracies compared to Hed, RCF, DexiNed, and PidiNet. It can meet practical requirements and boost the production efficiency of lens coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface defect detection is a key task in industrial production processes. However, the existing methods still suffer from low detective accuracy to pit and small defects. To solve those problems, we establish a dataset of pit defects and propose a prior model-guided network for defect detection. This network is composed of a segmentation network with a weight label, classification network, and pyramid feature fusion module. The segmentation network as the prior model can improve the accuracy of the classification network. The weight label with center distance transformation can reduce the label cost of the segmentation network. The pyramid feature fusion module can adapt defects of different scales and avoid information loss of small defects. The comparison experiments are implemented to identify the performance of the proposed network. Ablation experiments are designed to specify the effectiveness of every module. Finally, the network is performed on a public dataset to verify its robustness. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method can effectively identify pit defects of different scales and improve the accuracy of defect detection. The accuracy can reach 99.3%, which is increased by 2~5% compared with other methods, revealing its excellent applicability in automatic quality inspection of industrial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B-box (BBX) is a zinc finger transcription factor, which is involved in regulating the growth and development of plants and resisting various stresses. In this study, 43 NtBBX genes were identified and divided into five subgroups in tobacco. The members in each subgroup had similar characteristics. The promoter region of NtBBX genes had cis-acting elements related to light response, hormone regulation and stress response. Transcriptome analysis showed that NtBBX30 was significantly up-regulated, and NtBBX12, NtBBX13, NtBBX16 and NtBBX17 were significantly down-regulated under abiotic stresses. The NtBBX genes also responded to the infection of Ralstonia solanacearum. NtBBX9, NtBBX1, NtBBX15 and NtBBX17 showed the greatest response under stresses. The NtBBX genes are expressed in various degrees under different tissues. This research will provide a solid foundation for further study of the biological function of NtBBX genes in tobacco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The titanium alloy blade is a key part of an aero-engine, but its high surface efficiency and precision machining present technical problems. Belt grinding can effectively prolong the fatigue life of the blade and enhance the service performance of the aero-engine. However, the residual stress of the workpiece after belt grinding directly affects its service performance and life. The traditional single particle abrasive model simulation is limited in exploring the influence of grinding process parameters on surface residual stress. In this study, an ABAQUS simulation model of multi-particle belt grinding is established for titanium alloy material, a finite element (FE) simulation is conducted with different technological parameters, and the results are analysed. The critical belt grinding experiment is conducted on thin-walled titanium alloy parts, and the distribution characteristics of surface residual stress after grinding are studied to understand the influence of grinding parameters on the formation of surface residual stress. Comparing the results of the FE simulation and the grinding experiment, the common law of stress change and the prediction model are obtained. The results show that the multi-particle belt grinding simulation is consistent with the belt grinding experiment in terms of the influence of grinding parameters on residual stress. The simulation can serve as a guide in actual belt grinding to some extent. Directions for improving the multi-particle abrasive simulation model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]