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Simple Summary: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) inactivated vaccines play a crucial role in curbing the spread of FMDV. The 50% protective dose (PD50) is considered the "gold standard" to assess the efficacy of FMD inactivated vaccines. It is a highly important metric to evaluate vaccine quality. However, assessing PD50 requires antibody-negative pigs or cattle, and so it is time-consuming and costly and requires high-level biosafety facilities. The 146S component, which represents intact virus particles containing all the neutralizing epitopes of FMDV, can effectively stimulate the production of protective antibodies in animals. We found that antibody titers and IFN-γ secretion levels at specific time points after immunization were positively associated with 146S contents. Additionally, 146S content showed a positive correlation with PD50, with greater PD50 values recorded for 146S contents ranging from 4.72 to 16.55 µg/dose. The determination of 146S contents could serve as a new method for potency testing, offering an alternative to animal challenge tests. This approach would not only significantly reduce the cost and duration of vaccine production testing but also minimize the need for animal challenge tests, thereby enhancing animal welfare. To investigate the association between 146S antigen contents in FMD inactivated vaccines and levels of antiviral immunity, this study vaccinated 30 kg pigs with three batches of FMD types O and A bivalent inactivated vaccines. Antibody titers and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secretion levels were measured on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 after primary immunization and on days 14 and 28 following booster immunization to assess associations between 146S contents and both antibody titers and IFN-γ secretion levels. Furthermore, 30 kg pigs were vaccinated with 46 batches of FMD type O inactivated vaccines and challenged on day 28, after which PD50 values were determined to evaluate the association between 146S content and PD50. The findings suggested that antibody titers and IFN-γ secretion levels at specific time points after immunization were positively associated with 146S contents. Additionally, 146S content showed a positive correlation with PD50, with greater PD50 values recorded for 146S contents ranging from 4.72 to 16.55 µg/dose. This investigation established a significant association between the 146S content in FMD inactivated vaccines and induced immune response against FMDV, thereby emphasizing its critical role in vaccine quality control. The determination of 146S content could serve as a new method for potency testing, offering an alternative to animal challenge tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical investigation of Penicillium sp. GDGJ-N37, a Sophora tonkinensis-associated fungus, yielded two new azaphilone derivatives, N-isoamylsclerotiorinamine (1) and 7-methoxyl-N-isoamylsclerotiorinamine (2), and four known azaphilones (3–6), together with two new chromone derivatives, penithochromones X and Y (7 and 8). Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic data, CD spectrum, and semi-synthesis. Sclerotioramine (3) showed significant antibacterial activities against B. subtilis and S. dysentery, and it also showed most potent anti-plant pathogenic fungi activities against P. theae, C. miyabeanus, and E. turcicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo is a fast-growing plant with properties such as low cost, abundant resources, and good carbon sequestration effect. However, the swift growth of bamboo resources generates an immense quantity of processing waste, which is necessary to effectively utilize bamboo processing waste. The leftovers from bamboo processing can be reutilized by fast pyrolysis to prepare renewable bio-oil. In this study, bamboo bio-oil was partially substituted for phenol to synthesize phenolic resin with different substitution rates under the action of an alkaline catalyst, and then to serve as the adhesive to produce bamboo scrimber. Bamboo bundles were impregnated with synthetic bio-oil phenolic resin to create bamboo scrimber, which was subsequently hot-pressed. The research shows that modified phenolic resins with a bio-oil substitution rate of under 30% have good physical and chemical properties, while the free aldehyde content of phenolic resin with 40% bio-oil substitution exceeds the limit value (0.3%) specified in the Chinese National Standard. The thermal stability of phenolic resins was also increased after bio-oil modification, indicated by the movement of the TG curve to higher temperature ranges. It was found that the bamboo scrimber prepared with 20% BPF resin adhesive had the best comprehensive properties of a good mechanical strength, hydrophobicity, and mildew resistance, particularly with an elastic modulus of 9269 MPa and a static bending strength of 143 MPa. The microscopic morphology showed that the BPF resin was well impregnated into the interior of the bamboo bundle and had a compact bonding structure within the bamboo scrimber. The anti-mold performance experiment found that the bio-oil-modified resin increased the anti-mold level of the bamboo scrimber from slightly corrosion-resistant to strong corrosion-resistant. The conclusions obtained from this study have a good reference value for achieving the comprehensive utilization of bamboo, helping to promote the use of all components, reduce the production cost of bamboo scrimber, and improve its mildew resistance performance. This provides new ideas for the development of low-cost mildew resistant bamboo scrimber novel materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal inflammation and fibrosis are the important pathological phenomena associated with obstructive nephropathy. However, the underlying mechanism associated with this disease has yet to be fully elucidated. The present study, therefore, aimed to investigate the effects mediated by C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein 13 (CTRP13) on renal inflammation and fibrosis in addition to elucidating the underlying mechanism. To meet this aim, a mouse unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)-mediated renal dysfunction model was established. In addition, hematoxylin–eosin staining (H&E) staining and immunofluorescence experiments as well as Western blotting and reverse transcription quantitative (RT q) PCR analyses were performed. Recombinant CTRP13 was used to investigate the role of CTRP13 in chronic renal inflammation and fibrosis. A decreased expression level of CTRP13 was identified in the plasma of patients with renal fibrosis and in UUO-model mice. The renal histopathological and functional analyses revealed that CTRP13 could both reverse UUO mediated renal dysfunction and ameliorate the conditions of tubulointerstitial fibrosis and tubular injury. Additionally, CTRP13 was found to inhibit the expression levels of extracellular matrix proteins and proinflammatory mediators. In terms of the underlying mechanism, the protective effects on inflammation and fibrosis of the kidneys of CTRP13-treated mice undergoing UUO were found to be associated with the inactivation of the TGF β/Smad and NF κB p65 signaling pathways. Taken together, these findings have suggested that CTRP13 fulfills a vital role in the progression of obstructive nephropathy, thereby uncovering brand new insights into possible leads for the therapeutic treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of green and low-carbon era, efficiently utilization of renewable biomass materials is one of the important choices to promote ecologically sustainable development. Accordingly, 3D printing is an advanced manufacturing technology with low energy consumption, high efficiency, and easy customization. Biomass 3D printing technology has attracted more and more attentions recently in materials area. This paper mainly reviewed six common 3D printing technologies for biomass additive manufacturing, including Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Direct Ink Writing (DIW), Stereo Lithography Appearance (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) and Liquid Deposition Molding (LDM). A systematic summary and detailed discussion were conducted on the printing principles, common materials, technical progress, post-processing and related applications of typical biomass 3D printing technologies. Expanding the availability of biomass resources, enriching the printing technology and promoting its application was proposed to be the main developing directions of biomass 3D printing in the future. It is believed that the combination of abundant biomass feedstocks and advanced 3D printing technology will provide a green, low-carbon and efficient way for the sustainable development of materials manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus causes pine wilt disease, which poses a serious threat to forestry ecology around the world. Microorganisms are environmentally friendly alternatives to the use of chemical nematicides to control B. xylophilus in a sustainable way. In this study, we isolated a nematophagous fungus—Arthrobotrys robusta—from the xylem of diseased Pinus massoniana. The nematophagous activity of A. robusta against the PWNs was observed after just 6 h. We found that B. xylophilus entered the trap of A. robusta at 24 h, and the nervous system and immunological response of B. xylophilus were stimulated by metabolites that A. robusta produced. At 30 h of exposure to A. robusta, B. xylophilus exhibited significant constriction, and we were able to identify xenobiotics. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus activated xenobiotic metabolism, which expelled the xenobiotics from their bodies, by providing energy through lipid metabolism. When PWNs were exposed to A. robusta for 36 h, lysosomal and autophagy-related genes were activated, and the bodies of the nematodes underwent disintegration. Moreover, a gene co-expression pattern network was constructed by WGCNA and Cytoscape. The gene co-expression pattern network suggested that metabolic processes, developmental processes, detoxification, biological regulation, and signaling were influential when the B. xylophilus specimens were exposed to A. robusta. Additionally, bZIP transcription factors, ankyrin, ATPases, innexin, major facilitator, and cytochrome P450 played critical roles in the network. This study proposes a model in which mobility improved whenever B. xylophilus entered the traps of A. robusta. The model will provide a solid foundation with which to understand the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms underlying interactions between nematodes and nematophagous fungi. Taken together, these findings contribute in several ways to our understanding of B. xylophilus exposed to microorganisms and provide a basis for establishing an environmentally friendly prevention and control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Klotho (KL) is a glycosyl hydrolase and aging-suppressor gene. Stress is a risk factor for depression and anxiety, which are highly comorbid with each other. The aim of this study is to determine whether KL is regulated by estrogen and plays an important role in sex differences in stress resilience. Our results showed that KL is regulated by estrogen in rat hippocampal neurons in vivo and in vitro and is essential for the estrogen-mediated increase in the number of presynaptic vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (Vglut1)-positive clusters on the dendrites of hippocampal neurons. The role of KL in sex differences in stress response was examined in rats using 3-week chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). CUMS produced a deficit in spatial learning and memory, anhedonic-like behaviors, and anxiety-like behaviors in male but not female rats, which was accompanied by a reduction in KL protein levels in the hippocampus of male but not female rats. This demonstrated the resilience of female rats to CUMS. Interestingly, the knockdown of KL protein levels in the rat hippocampus of both sexes caused a decrease in stress resilience in both sexes, especially in female rats. These results suggest that the regulation of KL by estrogen plays an important role in estrogen-mediated synapse formation and that KL plays a critical role in the sex differences in cognitive deficit, anhedonic-like behaviors, and anxiety-like behaviors induced by chronic stress in rats, highlighting an important role of KL in sex differences in stress resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is a worldwide pest of pine trees, spreading at an alarming rate and with great ecological adaptability. In the process of causing disease, the nematode causes metabolic disorders and changes in the endophytic microbial community of the pine tree. However, the changes at the pine nidus during early nematode invasion have not been well studied, especially the differential metabolites, in Pinus massoniana, the main host of B. xylophilus in China. In this study, we analyzed the endophytic bacterial and fungal communities associated with healthy and B. xylophilus-caused wilted pine trees. The results show that 1333 bacterial OTUs and 502 fungal OTUs were annotated from P. massoniana stem samples. The abundance of bacterial communities in pine trees varies more following infection by B. xylophilus, but the abundance changes of fungal communities are less visible. There were significant differences in endophytic microbial diversity between wilted and healthy P. massoniana. In wilted pine trees, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidia were differential indicators of bacterial communities, whereas, in healthy pine trees, Rhizobiales in the Proteobacteria phylum were the major markers of bacterial communities. Meanwhile, the differential markers of fungal communities in healthy pines are Malasseziales, Tremellales, Sordariales, and Fusarium, whereas Pleosporaceae is the key marker of fungal communities in wilted pines. Our study examines the effect of changes in the endophytic microbial community on the health of pine trees that may be caused by B. xylophilus infection. In parallel, a non-targeted metabolomic study based on liquid mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology was conducted on pine trees inoculated with pine nematodes and healthy pine trees with a view to identifying key compounds affecting early pine lesions. Ultimately, 307 distinctly different metabolites were identified. Among them, the riboflavin metabolic pathway in pine trees may play a key role in the early pathogenesis of pine wood nematode disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA interference (RNAi) efficiency dramatically varies among different nematodes, which impacts research on their gene function and pest control. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is a pine wood nematode in which RNAi-mediated gene silencing has unstable interference efficiency through soaking in dsRNA solutions, the factors of which remain unknown. Using agarose gel electrophoresis, we found that dsRNA can be degraded by nematode secretions in the soaking system which is responsible for the low RNAi efficiency. Based on the previously published genome and secretome data of B. xylophilus, 154 nucleases were screened including 11 extracellular nucleases which are potential factors reducing RNAi efficacy. To confirm the function of nucleases in RNAi efficiency, eight extracellular nuclease genes (BxyNuc1-8) were cloned in the genome. BxyNuc4, BxyNuc6 and BxyNuc7 can be upregulated in response to dsGFP, considered as the major nuclease performing dsRNA degradation. After soaking with the dsRNA of nucleases BxyNuc4/BxyNuc6/BxyNuc7 and Pat10 gene (ineffective in RNAi) simultaneously for 24 h, the expression of Pat10 gene decreased by 23.25%, 26.05% and 11.29%, respectively. With soaking for 36 h, the expression of Pat10 gene decreased by 43.25% and 33.25% in dsBxyNuc6+dsPat10 and dsBxyNuc7+dsPat10 groups, respectively. However, without dsPat10, dsBxyNuc7 alone could cause downregulation of Pat10 gene expression, while dsBxyNuc6 could not disturb this gene. In conclusion, the nuclease BxyNuc6 might be a major barrier to the RNAi efficiency in B. xylophilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion video recognition has been well explored in applications of computer vision. In this paper, we propose a novel video representation, which enhances motion recognition in videos based on SURF (Speeded-Up Robust Features) and two filters. Firstly, the detector scheme of SURF is used to detect the candidate points of the video because it is an efficient faster local feature detector. Secondly, by using the optical flow field and trajectory, the feature points can be filtered from the candidate points, which enables a robust and efficient extraction of motion feature points. Additionally, we introduce a descriptor, called MoSURF (Motion Speeded-Up Robust Features), based on SURF (Speeded-Up Robust Features), HOG (Histogram of Oriented Gradient), HOF (Histograms of Optical Flow), MBH(Motion Boundary Histograms), and trajectory information, which can effectively describe motion information and are complementary to each other. We evaluate our video representation under action classification on three motion video datasets namely KTH, YouTube, and UCF50. Compared with state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method shows advanced results on all datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, a pine-parasitic nematode, poses a serious threat to pine trees globally, causing pine wilt disease. When dispersal-stage juvenile 4 (dauer, JIV, a durable stage) of B. xylophilus enters the new pine, it transforms into a propagative adult (dauer moulting) and reproduces quickly. Our previous studies have found that pine-volatile β-pinene promotes dauer moulting of B. xylophilus; however, this mechanism is not clear. Here, this study is attempting to unravel the molecular process underlying dauer moulting of B. xylophilus through signal chemical tests and transcriptome analysis. The results showed that β-pinene could promote dauer moulting of B. xylophilus, while other common dauer moulting signals, such as dafachronic acid (DA), part of the TGF/insulin signal pathway, were inoperative. Moreover, the JIV soaked in 1% β-pinene for only 6 h could transform into adults at a significant rate. Therefore, the transcriptomes of JIV soaked in 1% β-pinene for 6 h were sequenced. It was found that 15,556 genes were expressed; however, only 156 genes were expressed differentially and enriched in the metabolism of xenobiotics, peroxisome, fatty acid metabolism, and carbon metabolism, indicating that energy metabolism was active at the early stage of dauer moulting. With a stricter parameter, the number of differential genes fell to 19, including 4 sterol hydroxylase, 5 dehydrogenase, 2 glucuronosyltransferase, 5 nuclear-related factor, 1 calcium-binding protein, 1 nitrogen metabolic regulation protein, and 1 cystathionine gamma-lyase. These results indicated that dauer moulting of B. xylophilus into adults might not be regulated by the TGF-β/insulin signal pathway but by another new signal pathway related to the 19 differential genes which need more exploration. Our results contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind dauer moulting and may be useful in reducing pine wilt disease by suppressing this moulting to cut the life cycle of B. xylophilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Pine wilt disease caused by the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus causes significant harm to China's forests, but there are currently no effective prevention and control measures. Additionally, this devastating disease is currently spreading northward. We determined that third-stage dispersal juveniles of B. xylophilus can resist low-temperature stress by cryptobiosis, allowing these nematodes to tolerate a greater range of temperatures. These results facilitate the prediction of potential areas at risk for B. xylophilus in the mid-temperature and cold temperature zones of China. Nematodes can enter cryptobiosis by dehydration as an adaptation to low-temperature environments and recover from cryptobiosis by rehydration after environmental improvement. In this work, the survival of Bursaphelenchusxylophilus third-stage dispersal juveniles was studied in response to low-temperature treatment. The average survival rates were 1.7% after −80 °C treatment for 30 d and 82.2% after −20 °C treatment for 30 d. The changes of water content and inorganic salt ions that occur in pine trees during winter gradually alter the osmotic pressure in the liquid environment to dehydrate B. xylophilus juveniles, resulting in improved survival after low-temperature treatment. The survival rate at −20 °C improved to 92.1% when the juveniles entered cryptobiosis by osmotic regulation. The results of this study demonstrate that B. xylophilus third-stage dispersal juveniles can resist low-temperature stress through cryptobiosis, providing the theoretical basis for the identification of areas potentially vulnerable to B. xylophilus in the mid-temperature and cold temperature zones of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (B. xylophilus) is responsible for a devastating disease of pine forests. Its pathogenicity is closely related to the numbers of individual B. xylophilus. The ratio of female to male (sex ratio) is key to understanding population change in this species. The sex ratio of B. xylophilus varies widely, but it is unclear how it is affected by environmental changes. The sex ratios of nematodes, isolated from different samples in the wild, varied between 0.93 and 2.20. Under laboratory conditions, maternal age and the population did not affect the sex ratio of progeny. A change from good to poor nutritional status was associated with a reduction of the sex ratio of progeny from 1.85 to 1.41, which was speculated to result from a change in the primary sex ratio. Thus, B. xylophilus effectively maintains the sex ratio with maternal age and population changes but adjusts the sex ratio of progeny on the basis of the changes in nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) can cause fatal damage to trees and is transmitted by the vector species of the Monochamus genus. In December 2017, pinewood nematodes were found to be harming a large plot of pine trees, Pinus tabuliformis, in a new region with an average annual temperature of 6.7 °C in China. However, the vector insects were unknown and urgently needed to be identified. Hence, in April 2018, we collected wood sections of P. tabuliformis trees that had died from pine wilt disease. All 127 longhorn beetles that emerged from the P. tabuliformis samples were identified as Monochamus saltuarius, and the nematodes they carried were fourth-stage dispersal juveniles of the pinewood nematode. The carrier rate of pinewood nematodes in the M. saltuarius population was 58.3%, and the average carrying capacity was 642.4 ± 89.3. In the same P. tabuliformis plot, 742 M. saltuarius beetles were collected from hormone traps. Our results revealed that M. saltuarius can damage P. tabuliformis and is a new vector species of the pinewood nematode in China. These findings can inform the prevention and control of pinewood nematode damage to pine forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the pinewood nematode has continuously adapted to low-temperature environments and expanded from the South to the North of China. In December 2018, a large area of pinewood nematode was suspected to be harmful to Pinus tabuliformis under natural conditions in Fushun City, Liaoning Province. In order to clarify the low-temperature environment and population characteristics of pinewood nematodes in this new epidemic area, we analyzed the difference in temperature between the inside and outside of P. tabuliformis in low-temperature environments, conducted the morphological and molecular identification of pinewood nematodes in P. tabuliformis, summarized the distribution characteristics of the wintering of pinewood nematodes and explored the population structure of pinewood nematodes under different low-temperature conditions. The results indicated that the diurnal variation of temperature in dead P. tabuliformis was significantly less than the environment temperature. The lowest temperature in P. tabuliformis was 3.2 °C higher than the lowest temperature in the environment in one day; the pathogen of a large area of dead P. tabuliformis in Fushun was pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus); 84.9% of the average populations of pinewood nematodes were third-stage dispersal juveniles, which mainly gathered in 5 cm within the pupal chamber of Monochamus saltuarius Gebler. At −40 ℃, most of the third-stage dispersal juveniles of pinewood nematode in dead pine can still survive. Our study laid a foundation for the understanding of the low-temperature adaptation mechanism of pinewood nematode and contributed to the monitoring of pine wilt disease in the mid-temperate zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is a nematode species that has damaged pine trees worldwide, but its pathogenesis has not been fully characterized. α-pinene helps protect host species during the early B. xylophilus infection and colonization stages. In this study, we identified potential molecular mimicry proteins based on a comparative transcriptomic analysis of B. xylophilus. The expression levels of three genes encoding secreted B. xylophilus proteins were influenced by α-pinene. We cloned one gene encoding a thaumatin-like protein, Bx-tlp-2 (accession number MK000287), and another gene encoding a cysteine proteinase inhibitor, Bx-cpi (accession number MK000288). Additionally, α-pinene appeared to induce Bx-tlp-1 expression, but had the opposite effect on Bx-cpi expression. An analysis of the expression of the potential molecular mimicry proteins in B. xylophilus infecting pine trees revealed that the α-pinene content was consistent with the expression levels of Bx-tlp-1 (Bx-cpi) and Pm-tlp (Pm-cpi) over time. Thus, these genes likely have important roles contributing to the infection of pine species by B. xylophilus. The results of this study may be relevant for future investigations of the functions of Bx-tlp-1, Bx-tlp-2 and Bx-cpi, which may provide a point to explore the relationship between B. xylophilus and host pines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying sex communication is necessary to develop new methods to control the population expansion of gonochoristic species Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the pathogen of pine wilt disease (PWD). Small chemical signals called ascarosides have been reported to attract potential mates. However, they have not been studied in the sex attraction of B. xylophilus. Here, we confirmed the sex attraction of B. xylophilus using a chemotaxis assay. Then, we cloned the downstream ascaroside biosynthetic gene Bx-daf-22 and explored its function in the sex attraction of B. xylophilus through bioinformatics analysis and RNA interference. The secretions of females and males were the sources of sex attraction in B. xylophilus, and the attractiveness of females to males was stronger than that of males to females. Compared with daf-22 of Caenorhabditis elegans, Bx-daf-22 underwent gene duplication events, resulting in Bx-daf-22.1, Bx-daf-22.2, and Bx-daf-22.3. RNA interference revealed that the attractiveness of female secretions to males increased after all three Bx-daf-22 genes or Bx-daf-22.3 had been interfered. However, the reciprocal experiments had no effect on the attractiveness of male secretions to females. Thus, Bx-daf-22 genes, especially Bx-daf-22.3, may be crucial for the effectiveness of female sex attractants. Our studies provide fundamental information to help identify the specific components and signal pathways of sex attractants in B. xylophilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is fatal to the pine trees around the world. The production of the pine tree secondary metabolite gradually increases in response to a B. xylophilus infestation, via a stress reaction mechanism(s). α-pinene is needed to combat the early stages of B. xylophilus infection and colonization, and to counter its pathogenesis. Therefore, research is needed to characterize the underlying molecular response(s) of B. xylophilus to resist α-pinene. We examined the effects of different concentrations of α-pinene on the mortality and reproduction rate of B. xylophilus in vitro. The molecular response by which B. xylophilus resists α-pinene was examined via comparative transcriptomics of the nematode. Notably, B. xylophilus genes involved in detoxification, transport, and receptor activities were differentially expressed in response to two different concentrations of α-pinene compared with control. Our results contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which B. xylophilus responds to monoterpenes in general, and the pathogenesis of B. xylophilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA methylation is a pivotal process that regulates gene expression and facilitates rapid adaptation to challenging environments. The pinewood nematode (PWN; Bursaphelenchus xylophilus ), the causative agent of pine wilt disease, survives at low temperatures through third-stage dispersal juvenile, making it a major pathogen for pines in Asia. To comprehend the impact of DNA methylation on the formation and environmental adaptation of third-stage dispersal juvenile, we conducted whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and transcriptional sequencing on both the third-stage dispersal juvenile and three other propagative juvenile stages of PWN. Our findings revealed that the average methylation rate of cytosine in the samples ranged from 0.89% to 0.99%. Moreover, we observed significant DNA methylation changes in the third-stage dispersal juvenile and the second-stage propagative juvenile of PWN, including differentially methylated cytosine (DMCs, n = 435) and regions (DMRs, n = 72). In the joint analysis of methylation-associated transcription, we observed that 23 genes exhibited overlap between differentially methylated regions and differential gene expression during the formation of the third-stage dispersal juvenile of PWN. Further functional analysis of these genes revealed enrichment in processes related to lipid metabolism and fatty acid synthesis. These findings emphasize the significance of DNA methylation in the development of third-stage dispersal juvenile of PWN, as it regulates transcription to enhance the probability of rapid expansion in PWN., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Nanosized Co-Cr-V alloy powders were synthesized via coprecipitation method. Effects of precipitants ((NH₄)₂C₂O₄·H₂O and Na₂CO₃) and pH were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Zeta potential analyzer, thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Co-Cr-V alloy powders were consisted of major face-centered cubic Co (fcc Co) and minor hexagonal close-packed Co (hcp Co). Grain sizes of precursors and Co-Cr-V alloy powders were increased with pH value (7-10) within the ranges of 3~39 and 39~66 nm, respectively. Rod-like or granular Co-Cr-V alloy particles were assembled by interconnected nanograins. At pH = 7, Na₂CO₃ precipitant was found to be beneficial to maintain the desirable composition of Co-Cr-V powders. It was also found that lower pH favors the maintenance of pre-designed composition, while grain coarsens at higher pH. Effects of variation for precipitant and pH on the morphology and composition of Co-Cr-V alloy powder were discussed in detail and relevant mechanism was further proposed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.