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Objective The study investigated the origin of the Akhal-Teke horse using genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and mitochondrial hypervariable region 1 (HVR-1) nucleotide sequences Methods Genome-wide SNP data from 22 breeds (481 horses) and mitochondrial HVR-1 sequences from 24 breeds (544 sequences) worldwide to examine the origin of the Akhal-Teke horse. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis, linkage disequilibrium analysis, neighbor-joining dendrograms, and ancestry inference to determine the population relationships, ancestral source, genetic structure, and relationships with other varieties. Results A close genetic relationship between the Akhal-Teke horse and horses from the Middle East was found. Analysis of mitochondrial HVR-1 sequences showed that there were no shared haplotypes between the Akhal-Teke and Tarpan horses, and the mitochondrial data indicated that the Akhal-Teke horse has not historically expanded its group. Ancestral inference suggested that Arabian and Caspian horses were the likely ancestors of the Akhal-Teke horse. Conclusion The Akhal-Teke horse originated in the Middle East.

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) is a major disease that limits the culture of rainbow trout. In practical production, it has been found that the temperature of the culture water is a crucial factor affecting its mortality. Currently, little is known about how temperature affects the immune response of rainbow trout gut microbiota and metabolites to IHNV. In this study, our main objective is to analyze the changes in gut microorganisms of rainbow trout (juvenile fish with a consistent genetic background) after 14 days of infection with IHNV (5 × 105 pfu/fish) at 12–13°C (C: injected with saline, A: injected with IHNV) and 16–17°C (D: injected with saline, B: injected with IHNV) using metagenomic and metabolomic analyses, and to screen for probiotics that are effective against IHNV. The results showed that infection with IHNV at 12–13°C caused Eukaryote loss. Compared to Group C, Group A showed a significant increase in harmful pathogens, such as Yersiniaceae, and a significant alteration of 4,087 gut metabolites. Compared to group D, group B showed a significant increase in the abundance of Streptococcaceae and Lactococcus lactis, along with significant changes in 4,259 intestinal metabolites. Compared with their respective groups, the levels of two immune-related metabolites, 1-Octadecanoyl-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine and L-Glutamate, were significantly upregulated in groups A and B. Compared to group B, Group A showed significantly higher pathogenic bacteria including Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, and Yersiniaceae, while group B showed a significant increase in Streptococcaceae and Lactococcus lactis. Additionally, there were 4,018 significantly different metabolites between the two groups. Interestingly, 1-Octadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine and L-Glutamate were significantly higher in group A than in group B. Some of the different metabolites in C vs. A are correlated with Fomitopsis pinicola, while in D vs. B they were correlated with Lactococcus raffinolactis, and in A vs. B they were correlated with Hypsizygus marmoreus. This study exposed how rainbow trout gut microbiota and metabolites respond to IHNV at different temperatures, and screens beneficial bacteria with potential resistance to IHN, providing new insights and scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of IHN.

The salt rock resource in China is characterized with multiple interlayers, thin salt formation and poor purity. Meanwhile, the conventional single vertical cavern has small volume and low utilization rate of salt formation, which cannot meet the requirements of rapid and efficient storage construction. Multi-step horizontal leaching can improve the utilization rate of salt formation and is suitable for constructing large gas storage in thin salt beds, and the cavern shape is a key factor affecting its volume and stability. Therefore, a physical simulation experiment was performed for the characteristics of horizontal leaching herein. Meanwhile, the effect of leaching parameters such as leaching rate, brine discharge position and back-step length on cavern shape and brine discharge concentration was explored. The results show that the large leaching rate and the high brine discharge position can reduce the brine concentration, and the effect is more significant in the early leaching stage. The small step length will form a hump cavern roof, while the large step length and use of blanket will form a flat cavern roof, and the alternate injection by two wells will form large body at both ends and small body in the middle. The cavern shape obtained by experiment is basically consistent with the numerical simulation result, which verifies the accuracy of experiment result. In addition, reference values were provided for such parameters as leaching rate and step length of multi-step horizontal leaching on site based on the experiment results, so as to build a hump-shaped horizontal cavern, further improving the stability and gas storage capacity of cavern.

Electro-optic modulator is used to encode electrical signals onto light. Here the authors demonstrate an electro-optic modulator, based on Silicon Carbide, which can be useful for quantum and optical communications.