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Acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs), members of a vital housekeeping protein family, are present in various animal and plant species. They are divided into four classes: small ACBPs (class I), ankyrin-repeat ACBPs (class II), large ACBPs (class III), and kelch-ACBPs (class IV). Plant ACBPs play a pivotal role in intracellular transport, protection, and pool formation of acyl-CoA esters, promoting plant development and stress response. Even though legume crops are important for vegetable oils, proteins, vegetables and green manure, legume ACBPs are not well investigated. To comprehensively explore the functions of ACBPs in nine legumes (Lotus japonicus, Medicago truncatula, Glycine max, Vigna angularis, Vigna radiata, Phaseolus vulgaris, Arachis hypogaea, Arachis duranensis, and Arachis ipaensis), we conducted genome-wide identification of the ACBP gene family. Our evolutionary analyses included phylogenetics, gene structure, the conserved motif, chromosomal distribution and homology, subcellular localization, cis-elements, and interacting proteins. The results revealed that ACBP Orthologs of nine legumes had a high identity in gene structure and conserved motif. However, subcellular localization, cis-acting elements, and interaction protein analyses revealed potentially different functions from previously reported. The predicted results were also partially verified in Arachis hypogaea. We believe that our findings will help researchers understand the roles of ACBPs in legumes and encourage them to conduct additional research.

This study was performed to investigate the difference in developmental competence of oocytes derived from ovum pick-up (OPU) and slaughterhouse ovaries (SLH), and its underlying mechanisms. The OPU and SLH oocytes were in-vitro maturated and fertilized to produce blastocysts, and these blastoycsts were collected to explore the expression of key genes for developmental potential and telomere (Oct-4, Sox2, Nanog, Cdx2, Gata3, E-cadherin, β-catenin, TERT, TERF1 and TERF2). The results showed that both the cleavage and blastocyst rates were significantly higher for the OPU group (68.31%, 39.48%, respectively) than SLH group (57.59%, 26.50%, respectively) (P 0.01). The relative mRNA abundances of Sox2, Oct-4, Nanog and E-cadherin were significantly higher in the OPU blastocysts than the SLH ones (P 0.01). Protein expression analysis by Western blot and immunofluorescence also revealed that the expression of E-cadherin and Sox2 was significantly higher in OPU blastocysts than SLH ones. However, there was no significant differences between the two groups in the expression of Cdx2, β-catenin, Gata3, TERT, TERF1, TERF2. These results imply oocyte sources modify the expression of development and adhesion related genes in blastocysts, which may elucidate a possible reasoning for the low development competence of buffalo SLH embryos.

Frequent tax avoidance incidents have caused huge losses to corporate reputation and corporate value. Research is required on whether and how the irrational judgment of management, a powerful factor in corporate decision-making, affects corporate tax avoidance behavior. Taking all A-share listed companies from 2006 to 2020 as a sample, this paper empirically tests the relationships among management’s irrational expectations, level of corporate risk-taking, and level of corporate tax avoidance using an fixed effects regression model (FEM). The results of the three-stage regression model and Sobel test suggest that the level of corporate risk-taking plays a mediating role between managers’ irrational expectations and Corporate tax avoidance. The managers’ stockholding plays a moderating role in this process. This study also finds evidence that the irrational expectations of management lead to an increase in levels of research and development manipulation, which indirectly increases the level of corporate tax avoidance. Therefore, to control the risk caused by managers’ risky decisions, such as R&D manipulation and tax avoidance, it is necessary to lessen the effects of irrational expectations of management, and the management equity incentive plan has been identified as a reliable method in the risk reduction process.

The MAP kinase high osmolarity glycerol 1 (Hog1) plays a central role in responding to external oxidative stress in budding yeast Saccchromyces cerevisiae. However, the downstream responsive elements regulated by Hog1 remain poorly understood. In this study, we report that a Sporisorium scitamineum ortholog of Hog1, named as SsHog1, induced transcriptional expression of a putative cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase encoding gene SsCPR1, to antagonize oxidative stress. We found that upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ), SsHog1 underwent strikingly phosphorylation, which was proved to be critical for transcriptional induction of SsCPR1. Loss of SsCPR1 led to hypersensitive to oxidative stress similar as the sshog1Δ mutant did, but was resistant to osmotic stress, which is different from the sshog1Δ mutant. On the other hand, overexpression of SsCPR1 in the sshog1Δ mutant could partially restore its ability of oxidative stress tolerance, which indicated that the Hog1 MAP kinase regulates the oxidative stress response specifically through cytochrome P450 (SsCpr1) pathway. Overall, our findings highlight a novel MAPK signaling pathway mediated by Hog1 in regulation of the oxidative stress response via the cytochrome P450 system, which plays an important role in host-fungus interaction. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Malva vein clearing virus (MVCV) is a member of the Potyvirus species, and has a negative impact on the aesthetic development of Alcea rosea. It was first reported in Germany in 1957, but its complete genome sequence data are still scarce. In the present work, A. rosea leaves with vein-clearing and mosaic symptoms were sampled and analyzed with small RNA deep sequencing. By denovo assembly the raw sequences of virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRs) and whole genome amplification of malva vein cleaning virus SX strain (MVCV-SX) by specific primers targeting identified contig gaps, the full-length genome sequences (9,645 nucleotides) of MVCV-SX were characterized, constituting of an open reading frame that is long enough to encode 3,096 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis showed that MVCV-SX was clustered with euphorbia ringspot virus and yam mosaic virus. Further analyses of the vsiR profiles revealed that the most abundant MVCV-vsiRs were between 21 and 22 nucleotides in length and a strong bias was found for “A” and “U” at the 5′-terminal residue. The results of polarity assessment indicated that the amount of sense strand was almost equal to that of the antisense strand in MVCV-vsiRs, and the main hot-spot region in MVCV-SX genome was found at cylindrical inclusion. In conclusion, our findings could provide new insights into the RNA silencing-mediated host defence mechanism in A. rosea infected with MVCV-SX, and offer a basis for the prevention and treatment of this virus disease.

Supplementary Material 1

Additional file 1: Figure S1. A Comparative assessment of expression of HER2 CAR according to the anti-4D5 epitope idiotype antibody recognizing HER2 directly compared to the detection of the tNGFR tag. The latter, is a preferred method for sorting and phenotyping of cells since it has no direct biological effect on T cell activation/function. B Kinetics of expression of dCas9 and Q8 by qPCR. C CAR-T manufacturing process���CD3+ T cells are negatively selected from peripheral blood monocytes and stimulated with OKT3/CD28. LdCK is added for transduction a day later followed on the second day by HER2-TEV. Five days after the original stimulation the activation is removed and on the following day cells are sorted to enrich the tNGFR+/Q8+ population. The expansion is then continued till time of release between day 14 of production. Cells are also tested at that point for permanence of transduction as shown in Fig. 1A.

Additional file 6: Figure S6. The overlap genes in the four feature subsets identified by Lasso-RCPH, Enet-RCPH, L0-RCPH and SCAD-RCPH.

Additional file 4: Figure S4. A Intratumoral administration model and study design. B Experimental set up���all treatment groups included 5 or 6 mice receiving subcutaneous implantation of 1 million FaDu cells followed by adoptive transfer of CAR-T cells at day 9. Atezolizumab (10 mg/kg) was administered intravenously in the relevant groups the day before adoptive transfer (day 8) and subsequently dosed at 5 mg/kg twice a week.

Additional file 2: Figure S2. A Antigen density-dependent activation of HER2 CAR���conventional HER2 CAR cells were stimulated with beads coated with BSA, low or high densities of HER2 ectodomain (Low HER2 and High HER2) at indicated beads to CAR-T cells ratio for expression of CD69 and PD-1 at day 3 following stimulation. B Cytotoxic and expansion properties of RB-340-1 cellular components���non-transduced (NT), conventional HER2 CAR, cRB-340-1 and RB-340-1 T cells were exposed for 3 days to FaDu cell line at 1:20 effector to target ratio. Different proportion of CD4+/CD8+ T cells were tested for cytotoxic activity (upper panel) and expansion (lower panel). The numbers in the headline refer to the proportion of CD4+ T cells (%) present in each group over total number of T cells. C RB-340-1 specificity of gene regulation���primary T cells transduced with LdCK plus HER2-TEV constructs including either PD-1sg, TIM-3sg or both were tested for expression of the respective target genes 5 days after stimulation with FaDu cells to induce the expression of the two checkpoints. D Kinetics of gene-expression regulation by RB-340-1���RB-340-1 (red line) and cRB-340-1 (black line) were stimulated with HER2-coated (filled shapes) or BSA-coated (empty shapes) beads and the expression of PD-1, TIM-3 and CD69 was followed in CD8+ T cells at baseline and 48 and 72 hours after stimulation.

Additional file 5: Figure S5. A Systemic administration model and study design. B, C Experimental set up���all treatment groups included seven mice (in B for Fig. 5) or nine mice (in C for Fig. 6) receiving subcutaneous implantation of 0.5 million FaDu cells followed by adoptive transfer of CAR-T cells at day 10. Atezolizumab (10 mg/kg) was administered intravenously in the relevant groups the day before adoptive transfer (day 9) and subsequently dosed at 5 mg/kg twice a week.

Additional file 3: Figure S3. A Intratumoral administration model and study design. B Experimental set up���all treatment groups included eight mice receiving subcutaneous implantation of 0.5 million FaDu cells followed by adoptive transfer of CAR-T cells at day 10.

The digitalization of planning and designing for the historic city and its conservation is practically in great and urgent demands but until now no such a computer-based platform is appropriately invented. Through the analysis of the functionalities required by the digitalization itself and the planning and designing, a computer-based platform, named as H-CIM in this paper, is conceptualized to integrate the realities, the stakeholders and the information to improve the performances of any interventions in the ever-lasting transformation process of the historic city and the conservation status in reality. Therefore, H-CIM is structured by the professional circuits of the conservation planning and designing activities with four independent core functional units: (1) the digitalization of all relevant information, (2) the decision making based on the evaluation and assessment, (3) execution of the decision, including planning and designing any concrete scheme, and (4) dissemination of the historic city and its conservation. The whole structure of the computer-based platform is composed by three tiers by the internal organization of functional unites and the external bridging with the realities and stakeholders. However, comparing with the other platforms for the single built heritages, the running of H-CIM depends on the four critical particularities, including the comprehensive categories of information and the way of digitalization, the high openness and inclusion for stakeholders, especially the planners, designers, managers and their clients, the independent functional units and their integrations and the applications of the multiple technologies. However, this conceptualization is a prototype for the sort of platform which is provided to be varied according to the specific situations.

Phytochemical investigation of the roots of Pueraria lobata led to the isolation of two pairs of new isoflavone glucosides, 3'-hydroxyneopuerarin A/B (1-2) and 3'-methoxyneopuerarin A/B (3-4). A pair of known compounds (5-6), which possess a very similar structure, were obtained together. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data interpretation. Compounds 3-6 dose-dependently blocked the production of TNF-α and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, which indicated the potential anti-inflammatory effect of these compounds.

Urban population swelling and the expansion of people’s need for transportation make traffic congestions an important urban deficiency faced by cities over the globe. Fortunately, emerging information technologies grant us many possible ways to improve the situation. This research built intersection traffic models in PTV Vissim platform to test the performance of Fluctuated Traffic Light technology, Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) technology, and Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) technology under both peak and bottom volumes. The results indicate that these emerging technologies have the potential to boost traffic performance. V2I method functions the best under higher traffic volumes, while V2V tested to be the best under lower traffic volumes. Take a step back, from urban planning perspective, these technologies are still in their early stages and seems far from reality, however, planners should be prepared for the challenges it may pose.

Based on the formative factors of the formation of new energy industry cluster in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper uses the location quotient and industrial agglomeration index to make a comprehensive regression analysis on the panel data of the Yangtze River Delta from 2010 to 2019, and concludes that local energy dependence, economic development level, scientific research investment and output level are the main driving factors for the formation of new energy industry cluster in the Yangtze River Delta. Therefore, we should promote the formation of new energy industry cluster by improving the level of public service facilitation, relying on digital policy development, improving the technological innovation system, accurately positioning energy dependence and demands, as well as increasing the proportion of return on investment.

This work aimed to investigate the effect of fucoidan (FPS) on urate transporters induced by uric acid (UA). The results showed that UA stimulated the expression of glucose transporter 9 (GLUT9) and urate transporter 1 (URAT1) in HK-2 cells, and FPS could reverse the effect. Moreover, UA could activate NF-κB, JNK and PI3K/Akt pathways, but both pathway inhibitors and FPS inhibited the UA-induced activation of these three pathways. These data suggested that FPS effectively inhibited the expression induction of reabsorption transporters URAT1 and GLUT9 by UA, through repressing the activation of NF-κB, JNK and PI3K/Akt signal pathways in HK-2 cells. The in vitro research findings support the in vivo results that FPS reduces serum uric acid content in hyperuricemia mice and rats through inhibiting the expression of URAT1 and GLUT9 in renal tubular epithelial cells. This study provides a theoretical basis for the application of FPS in the treatment of hyperuricemia.

An efficient method for the synthesis of aryl and heteroaryl iodides is described in this study. The reactions of aryl and heteroaryl bromides with potassium iodide proceeded smoothly in the presence of a copper catalyst under mild reaction conditions to produce the corresponding iodides in satisfactory to excellent yields.

The basidiomycetous fungus Sporisorium scitamineum causes a serious sugarcane smut disease in major sugarcane growing areas. Sexual mating is essential for infection to the host; however, its underlying molecular mechanism has not been fully studied. In this study, we identified a conserved farnesyltransferase (FTase) β subunit Ram1 in S. scitamineum. The ram1Δ mutant displayed significantly reduced mating/filamentation, thus of weak pathogenicity to the host cane. The ram1Δ mutant sporidia showed more tolerant toward cell wall stressor Congo red compared to that of the wild-type. Transcriptional profiling showed that Congo red treatment resulted in notable up-regulation of the core genes involving in cell wall integrity pathway in ram1Δ sporidia compared with that of WT, indicating that Ram1 may be involved in cell wall integrity regulation. In yeast the heterodimeric FTase is responsible for post-translational modification of Ras (small G protein) and a-factor (pheromone). We also identified and characterized two conserved Ras proteins, Ras1 and Ras2, respectively, and a MAT-1 pheromone precursor Mfa1. The ras1Δ, ras2Δ and mfa1Δ mutants all displayed reduced mating/filamentation similar as the ram1Δ mutant. However, both ras1Δ and ras2Δ mutants were hypersensitive to Congo red while the mfa1Δ mutant was the same as wild-type. Overall our study displayed that RAM1 plays an essential role in S. scitamineum mating/filamentation, pathogenicity, and cell wall stability.

The life cycle of the sugarcane smut fungus Sporisorium scitamineum is a multistep process. Haploid sporidia of compatible (MAT-1 versus MAT-2) mating types fuse to generate pathogenic dikaryotic hyphae to infect the host. Within the host tissues, diploid teliospores are formed and induce a characteristic sorus that looks like a black whip. The diploid teliospores germinate to form haploid sporidia by meiosis. In order to monitor fungal development throughout the whole life cycle, we expressed the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and red fluorescent protein (RFP) in S. scitamineum MAT-1 and MAT-2 sporidia, respectively. Observation by epifluorescence microscope showed that conjugation tube formation and sporidia fusion occurred at 4 to 8 h, and formation of dikaryotic filaments was detected at 12 h after mating. The resultant teliospores, with diffused GFP and RFP, underwent meiosis as demonstrated by septated hypha with single fluorescent signal. We demonstrated that GFP- and RFP-tagged strains can be used to study the life cycle development of the fungal pathogen S. scitamineum, including the sexual mating and meiosis events. This dual-color imaging system would be a valuable tool for investigation of biotic and abiotic factors that might affect the fungal life cycle development and pathogenesis.

The atomization and mixing process of fuel under transverse jet is one of the important contents in the research of scramjet. In this paper, the atomization characteristics and penetration of kerosene under transverse jet are studied. The influences of pore size, quantity and arrangement, momentum flux ratio and the Mach number of the transverse flow were analyzed by using different optical measuring instruments. The results show that the pressure drop of fuel injection and the transverse jet velocity are all positively correlated with atomization characteristics, while the pore size is negatively correlated with atomization characteristics. By analyzing the penetration depth under different working conditions it can be seen that, when other factors are the same, the penetration depth increases with the increase of pore size and pressure drop. Through analysis the experimental data, the empirical formula of jet penetration about momentum flux ratio and axial distance are obtained.

In this paper, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and experimental testing methods will be used to study the thermal boundary conditions of the engine wall. Which is one of the key technologies in liquid engine design. The paper carried out an experimental study on a gas-oxygen kerosene liquid rocket with the oxy-fuel ratio of 1:1(the total flow of mass is 120g/s). The study shows that the heat flow calculated by the bartz formula(0.76 MW/m2) is higher than the experimental value. However, the heat flow value calculated by the simulation of the gas thermal property parameters is the lowest (0.22 MW/m2 at point3 and 0.24 MW/m2 at point5). The main reason is that the numerical simulation ignores the effect of carbon deposition on heat transfer. The experiment measured 0.69 MW/m2 at point3 and 0.74 MW/m2 at point5, and found that carbon deposition can effectively reduce the heat transfer of gas to the wall. In the case of carbon deposition, the experimental results show that the heat flux values are respectively measured. It is 0.55 MW/m2 and 0.27 MW/m2, indicating that the closer to the engine outlet, the more serious the carbon deposition, and the lower the heat transfer efficiency of the gas to the wall.

We used a FluorCam portable chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system to measure QY-max (the maximum light quantum yield, Fv/Fm, the largest light quantum efficiency of PS II) of submerged plants in wetlands of Baisha Lake and Changhu Lake, Jiangxi Nanjishan Wetland National Nature Reserve, in winter 2013. Specifically, we measured ΦPS II (PS II actual quantum efficiency), qP (photochemical quenching) and corresponding fluorescence images. Using the visual method and sampling sites method to obtain coverage, richness and abundance of submerged plants, and determined nutrient levels in water. The results show that the QY-max of Hydrilla verticillata and Vallisneria natans in Baisha Lake ranged from 0.48 to 0.68 and 0.52 to 0.71, respectively: the ΦPS II of these two species ranged from 0.32 to 0.58 and 0.20 to 0.46, respectively. The two plants had similar photosynthetic efficiency. The QY-max of Nymphoides peltatum and V. natans in Changhu Lake ranged from 0.66 to 0.77 and 0.19 to 0.68, respectively; the ΦPS II of these two species ranged from 0.26 to 0.48 and 0.22 to 0.43, respectively. The observed higher photosynthetic efficiency of N peltatum suggests it is more likely to become the dominant species. In Baisha Lake, the frequency of occurrence of plants was: H. verticillata, 90%; V. natans, 93.3%; Najas minor 26.7%, and Potamogeton franchetii 10%. In Changhu Lake, the frequency of N. peltatum was 86.7%, V. natans was 16.7%, and N. minor was 56.7%. The overall frequency of submerged plants living in Baisha Lake was much higher than that of submerged plants living in Changhu Lake, with different species dominating the two lakes. According to comprehensive analysis and comparison of trophic levels, biodiversity and photosynthetic fluorescence characteristics in the two lakes, eutrophication of Baisha Lake was higher than for Changhu Lake; and H. verticillata and V. natans were the dominant species, with similar photosynthetic activity. Conversely, in Changhu Lake, N. peltatum and V. natans were the dominant species, but the photosynthetic activity of N. peltatum was higher than V. natans. Differences in eutrophication levels in different water bodies in the Nanjishan Wetland and differing ecological niches of submerged plant species are characteristic of this system.

In order to solve the assembly sequence planning of a certain type of product (e.g., product is composed of different types of parts and each type has several identical parts), first of all, the rule of nomenclature for this type of product is designed. Secondly, geometric feasibility and coherence are designed as constraint conditions, and these two constrains and processability are combined with each other as the objective function. Finally, the proposed novel method under the name of immune particle swarm optimization algorithm is tested. The results show that the proposed immune particle swarm algorithm is an efficient approach to solve the assembly sequence planning problem.

Intensive efforts are focused on identifying regulators of human pancreatic islet cell growth and maturation to accelerate development of therapies for diabetes. After birth, islet cell growth and function are dynamically regulated; however, establishing these age-dependent changes in humans has been challenging. Here, we describe a multimodal strategy for isolating pancreatic endocrine and exocrine cells from children and adults to identify age-dependent gene expression and chromatin changes on a genomic scale. These profiles revealed distinct proliferative and functional states of islet α cells or βcells and histone modifications underlying age-dependent gene expression changes. Expression of SIX2 and SIX3, transcription factors without prior known functions in the pancreas and linked to fasting hyperglycemia risk, increased with age specifically in human islet β cells. SIX2 and SIX3 were sufficient toenhance insulin content or secretion in immature β cells. Our work provides a unique resource to study human-specific regulators of islet cell maturation and function.

The head of low-head hydropower stations is generally higher than 2.5m in the world, while micro-head hydropower resources which head is less than 2.5m are also very rich. In the paper, three-dimensional CFD method has been used to simulate flow passage of the micro-head bulb turbine. The design head and unit flow of the turbine was 1m and 3m3/s respectively. With the numerical simulation, the bulb turbine is researched by analyzing external characteristics of the bulb turbine, flow distribution before the runner, pressure distribution of the runner blade surface, and flow distribution of the outlet conduit under three different schemes. The turbine in second scheme was test by manufactured into a physical model. According to the results of numerical simulation and model test, bulb turbine with no guide vane in second scheme has simpler structure, lower cost, and better flow capacity than first scheme, which has traditional multi-guide vanes. Meanwhile, efficiency of second scheme has just little decrease. The results of three dimensions CFD simulation and test results agree well in second scheme, and higher efficiency is up to 77% which has a wider area with the head of 1m. The curved supports in third scheme are combined guide vanes to the fixed supports based on 2nd scheme. By the water circulations flowing along the curved supports which improve energy transformation ability of the runner, the efficiency of the turbine in third scheme is up to 82.6%. Third scheme, which has simpler structure and best performance, is appropriate for the development and utilization of micro-head hydropower resources in plains and oceans.Copyright © 2013 by ASME

To improve the bidirectional power performance of a tidal unit, two designs were investigated. The use of unilateral or double guide vanes in a tubular tidal unit influences the performance of the hydraulic unit. Based on the N-S equations and the RNG k-ε turbulence model, the SIMPLEC algorithm was used for 3D steady-state numerical simulation of the entire turbine flow passage with unilateral and double guide vanes. The internal flow condition under positive and reverse power generation conditions was also analyzed. At the same time, the turbine, with a runner 1.6 m in diameter, was scaled down to 0.35 m diameter for model tests. The model tests were based on a multifunction hydromechanical test bench at Hohai University. The water head, discharge, and torque of the tubular turbine were, respectively, tested using a pressure difference sensor, electromagnetic flow meter, and torque meter under different guide-vane openings. The results show that turbine efficiency in the model test is slightly lower than that predicted by numerical simulation under the same conditions. However, the difference is not large. With double side guide vanes, although the efficiency of positive power generation decreased, the efficiency of reverse power generation is greatly improved.