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The flowering period of rice significantly impacts variety adaptability and yield formation. Properly shortening the reproductive period of rice varieties can expand their ecological range without significant yield reduction. Targeted genome editing, like CRISPR/Cas9, is an ideal tool to fine-tune rice growth stages and boost yield synergistically. In this study, we developed a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated multiplex genome-editing vector containing five genes related to three traits, Hd2, Ghd7, and DTH8 (flowering-stage genes), along with the recessive rice blast resistance gene Pi21 and the aromatic gene BADH2. This vector was introduced into the high-quality japonica rice variety in Zhejiang province, Jiahe212 (JH212), resulting in 34 T0 plants with various effective mutations. Among the 17 mutant T1 lines, several displayed diverse flowering dates, but most exhibited undesirable agronomic traits. Notably, three homozygous mutant lines (JH-C15, JH-C18, and JH-C31) showed slightly earlier flowering dates without significant differences in yield-related traits compared to JH212. Through special Hyg and Cas marker selection of T2 plants, we identified seven, six, and two fragrant glutinous plants devoid of transgenic components. These single plants will serve as sib lines of JH212 and potential resources for breeding applications, including maintenance lines for indica–japonica interspecific three-line hybrid rice. In summary, our research lays the foundation for the creation of short-growth-period CMS (cytoplasmic male sterility, CMS) lines, and also provides materials and a theoretical basis for indica–japonica interspecific hybrid rice breeding with wider adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atractylodes chinensis has a high medicinal value and is widely cultivated. However, root rot disease seriously affects the yield and quality of A. chinensis. To develop green and safe pesticides, the inhibitory effect of essential oils (EOs) of three Labiatae plants on the pathogenic fungi that causes root rot disease in Atractylodes chinensis was investigated. The results showed that the Origanum vulgare EO and Thymus mongolicus EO exhibited strong inhibitory effects on Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, and Fusarium redolens, with 100% inhibition rate. The low MIC values of EOs and their main components against the three pathogenic fungi indicated that all of them showed strong fungicidal effects. The MIC values of O. vulgare EO against F. oxysporum, F. solani, and F. redolens were 2.60 mg/mL, 3.13 mg/mL, and 1.56 mg/mL, respectively. Analyses using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the O. vulgare EO severely damaged the cell wall and cell membrane of mycelial cells. The O. vulgare EO increased cell permeability, leading to a large leakage of cell contents (DNA and proteins). In addition, O. vulgare EO inhibited F. oxysporum by inducing ROS production and reducing the amount of intracellular GSH, leading to a large accumulation of ROS. This study showed that plant EOs have excellent fungicidal activity and can be used as novel natural and environmentally friendly pesticides for the control of root rot in A. chinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Here, we investigated the response of the coccolithophore Pleurochrysis carterae (P. carterae) isolated from the Bohai Sea to ocean acidification under different irradiance levels. A full factorial matrix of two pCO2 conditions (400 ppm and 800 ppm) and irradiance levels of 50, 200, 500 and 800 μmol photons m−2 s−1 were examined. The results suggest that ocean acidification suppressed the photosynthesis and increased the saturation irradiance for growth of the coccolithophore Pleurochrysis carterae. Further comparison with previously published results reveals that the physiological processes of the coastal coccolithophore specie Pleurochrysis carterae are less sensitive to ocean acidification than the smaller-sized species Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica, and the saturation irradiance for the growth, particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) production of Pleurochrysis carterae are much lower than those of the other two species. The ecologically important marine phytoplankton group coccolithophores have a global distribution. The impacts of ocean acidification on the cosmopolitan species Emiliania huxleyi have received much attention and have been intensively studied. However, the species-specific responses of coccolithophores and how these responses will be regulated by other environmental drivers are still largely unknown. To examine the interactive effects of irradiance and ocean acidification on the physiology of the coastal coccolithophore species Pleurochrysis carterae, we carried out a semi-continuous incubation experiment under a range of irradiances (50, 200, 500, 800 μmol photons m−2 s−1) at two CO2 concentration conditions of 400 and 800 ppm. The results suggest that the saturation irradiance for the growth rate was higher at an elevated CO2 concentration. Ocean acidification weakened the particulate organic carbon (POC) production of Pleurochrysis carterae and the inhibition rate was decreased with increasing irradiance, indicating that ocean acidification may affect the tolerating capacity of photosynthesis to higher irradiance. Our results further provide new insight into the species-specific responses of coccolithophores to the projected ocean acidification under different irradiance scenarios in the changing marine environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butene is a typical component of exhaust gas in the petrochemical industry, the emission of which into the atmosphere would lead to air pollution. In this study, a tubular multilayer dielectric barrier discharge (TM-DBD) reactor was developed to decompose 1-butene at ambient pressure. The experimental results show that a decomposition efficiency of more than 99% and COx selectivity of at least 43% could be obtained at a specific energy density of 100 J/L with an inlet concentration of 1-butene ranging from 100 to 400 ppm. Increasing the volume ratio of O2/N2 from 0 to 20% and the specific energy density from 33 to 132 J/L were beneficial for 1-butene destruction and mineralization. Based on organic byproduct analysis, it was inferred that the nitrogenous organic compounds were the main products in N2 atmosphere, while alcohol, aldehyde, ketone, acid and oxirane were detected in the presence of O2. In addition, the contents of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid and propionic acid increased with an increase in specific energy density, but the contents of propionaldehyde, ethyl oxirane, butyraldehyde and formic acid decreased. Three main pathways of 1-butene destruction were proposed involving Criegee intermediates and ozonolysis of the olefins, and the following degradation could be the dominant pathways rather than epoxidation. Overall, the developed TM-DBD system paved the way for scaling up the applications of plasma technology for gaseous pollutant decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Top seal failure of ram blowout preventer (BOP) is one of the main factors leading to well control risk. The constitutive model and parameters of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) were optimized by compression and tensile tests, and the failure analysis model of the contact seal of the ram BOP top seal was built. The nonlinear contact mechanical behavior of the connection part of the BOP top seal was analyzed by the finite element method. Then, the influence of corrosion and wear defects at the top seal position of the 2FZ35-70 BOP under rated working pressure on the contact seal were studied, and the results showed that the overall contact pressure distribution of the top seal corrosion defects was uniform, the local contact pressure of the corrosion pit edge increased, and the top contact pressure decreased. The overall contact pressure of the wear defect of the top seal decreased linearly, the contact pressure at the maximum depth of the wear defect was the smallest, and the contact pressure gradually decreased to both sides. Ultimately, to guarantee the safety and reliability of the ram BOP, it is suggested that the acceptable depths of the seal corrosion pit and the wear at the top of the ram BOP are 4.0 mm and 0.2 mm, respectively, thus the reliability evaluation problem of the quantitative seal of the ram BOP top seal is solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucommia ulmoides, a single extant species of Eucommiaceae, is a perennial deciduous tree distributed across central China. The bark of E. ulmoides is rich in chlorogenic acid and flavonoids that possesses high medicinal value, whereas its leaves and seeds contain abundant Eucommia ulmoides gum (EUG), which is a unique strategic resource in China that can be used as a substitute for natural rubber. Under the background of global warming, the evaluation of habitat suitability is of great significance for the protection and management of E. ulmoides. For this study, maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling was employed to simulate the potentially suitable region for E. ulmoides over four periods (current, 2050s, 2070s, and 2090s) under four climate change scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5), as well as to analyze changes in the spatial patterns of E. ulmoides and the essential environmental factors affecting the growth and distribution of E. ulmoides. The results revealed that the current potentially suitable region for E. ulmoides was 211.14 × 104 km2, which accounted for 21.99% of China's territory. The low impact areas for E. ulmoides were distributed in Guizhou, Zhejiang, Sichuan, eastern Chongqing, southern Shaanxi, western Hubei, eastern Shandong, southern Anhui, southern Gansu, and northern Yunnan Provinces. The key bioclimatic variables affecting the distribution of E. ulmoides were mean diurnal range and mean temperature of the coldest quarter, with their contribution rates of 53.8% and 41.4%, respectively. Furthermore, core distributional shift analysis indicated that the center of the potentially suitable regions of E. ulmoides exhibited a general trend of shifting to the northwest and high latitudes. Finally, conservation strategies are proposed, such as the establishment of ex situ protection sites and germplasm resource collection. Future researchers can conduct further studies by integrating the quality of E. ulmoide herbs and environmental variables. In this study, for technical reasons, we only considered the effect of climate on species distribution without considering other biotic and abiotic factors, which can be further addressed by future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WRKY, named for its special heptapeptide conserved sequence WRKYGOK, is one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and is widely involved in plant responses to biotic, abiotic, and hormonal stresses, especially the important regulatory function in response to drought stress. However, there is no complete comprehensive analysis of this family in H. perforatum, which is one of the most extensively studied plants and is probably the best-known herbal medicine on the market today, serving as an antidepressant, neuroprotective, an antineuralgic, and an antiviral. Here, we identified 86 HpWRKY genes according to the whole genome database of H. perforatum, and classified them into three groups through phylogenetic analysis. Gene structure, conserved domain, motif, cis-elements, gene ontology, and expression profiling were performed. Furthermore, it was found that HpWRKY85, a homologous gene of AtWRKY75, showed obvious responses to drought treatment. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that this protein was localized in the nucleus by the Arabidopsis protoplasts transient transfection. Meanwhile, HpWRKY85-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants showed a stronger ability of root growth and scavenging endogenous reactive oxygen species. The results provide a reference for further understanding the role of HpWRKY85 in the molecular mechanism of drought resistance of H. perforatum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is highly sensitive to cold stress, which leads to large reductions in rice yield at the booting stage. In this study, Kongyu131 and Kenjiandao6 rice cultivars with different levels of cold stress sensitivity were sprayed with diethylaminoethyl hexanoate (DA-6) concentrations of 500, 200, 20, 2, 0.2, and 0 mg/L one day before undergoing cold water stress (CWS). We analyzed changes in yield and its factors, dry matter production, stem characteristics, and physiological and biochemical characteristics of the rice plants. The results showed that DA-6 increased peroxidase activity, delayed nitrogen and chlorophyll degradation, maintained soluble protein and potassium contents, and suppressed the accumulation of malondialdehyde in the leaves of both cultivars under CWS. DA-6 also increased the phosphorous content and superoxide dismutase activity in Kenjiandao6 under CWS; however, in Kongyu131, DA-6 increased the soluble sugar content. In addition, DA-6 treatment increased the weight of the panicle at maturity, and of the leaf, panicle, and stem-sheath at heading in both cultivars. The lengths of the panicle, the top first internode, the export rate of stem-sheath, translocation rate of stem-sheath, and export of stem-sheath from heading to maturity were increased in Kenjiandao6; however, in Kongyu131, DA-6 increased the dry weight ratio of panicle to total plant and reduced the dry weight ratio of stem-sheath to total plant at maturity. Furthermore, DA-6 improved yield in both cultivars, mainly by increasing the grain weight in the inferior grains (IG) and middle grains (MG) under CWS. DA-6 increased the grain weight in the IG and MG in Kenjiandao6 mainly by enhancing the seed setting rate and number of filled grains (NFG) in the IG and MG, and in Kongyu131 by improving the NFG in MG and IG. The optimal concentration of DA-6 to alleviate CWS was 2 mg/L. In conclusion, exogenous DA-6 was effective for maintaining dry matter production and physiology in two early japonica rice cultivars under CWS at booting, thereby improving cold tolerance and enhancing yield. The less cold-tolerant cultivar Kenjiandao6 was more sensitive to the effects of DA-6 and displayed better results than the more cold-tolerant cultivar Kongyu131. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetized soft ferromagnetic films with micrometer thickness were studied. A FeSi film, with a total thickness of 2000 nm, separated by 10 nm-thick Ta interlayers, was fabricated using the direct-current magnetron sputtering technique. The thickness of each FeSi layer between adjacent Ta layers was 100 nm. Hysteresis loop measurement was used to characterize the magnetic properties of the layer. X-ray diffraction patterns and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize its texture. The experimental results showed that the FeSi film separated by Ta interlayers exhibited a lower saturation magnetization and a higher coercivity than those of the 1140 nm-thick FeSi film. The insertion of Ta interlayers resulted in the disappearance of the crystal plane of FeSi (221), and better texture of the crystal plane of FeSi (210). The FeSi film exhibited a crystal plane of FeSi (210) with a bcc crystalline structure. The Ta interlayers were partially amorphous, exhibiting crystal plane of Ta (002) and TaSi2 (310). The matching of magnetic properties between interlayers and soft magnetic layers played an important role in maintaining its soft magnetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate an accurate detection method to detect defects in the gasket ring groove of the blowout preventer (BOP) using the ultrasonic phased array technology. Traditionally, it is difficult to accurately determine the type and size of defects in the gasket ring groove due to the complexity of the BOP configuration and the interference between the defect echo and the structural echo when using the ultrasonic phased array detection technology. In this study, firstly, the appropriate detection process parameters are determined by using simulation software for simulating and analyzing the defects of different sizes and types in the gasket ring groove of a BOP. Thereafter, according to the detection process parameters determined by the simulation analysis, we carry out a corresponding actual detection test. Simulation analysis and detection test results show that the relative amplitude of the test results and the simulation results differ within 1 dB, and the simulation results have a guiding role for the actual detection. The defect echo and structure echo can be clearly distinguished by selecting appropriate detection process parameters, such as probe frequency 5 MHz, array elements 36, and probe aperture 16 mm. The research results can provide theoretical reference for the detection of blowout preventer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images has been widely applied in maritime management and surveillance. However, some issues still exist in SAR ship detection due to the complex surroundings, scattering interferences, and diversity of the scales. To address these issues, an improved anchor-free method based on FCOS + ATSS is proposed for ship detection in SAR images. First, FCOS + ATSS is applied as the baseline to detect ships pixel by pixel, which can eliminate the effect of anchors and avoid missing detections. Then, an improved residual module (IRM) and a deformable convolution (Dconv) are embedded into the feature extraction network (FEN) to improve accuracy. Next, a joint representation of the classification score and localization quality is used to address the inconsistent classification and localization of the FCOS + ATSS network. Finally, the detection head is redesigned to improve positioning performance. Experimental simulation results show that the proposed method achieves 68.5% average precision (AP), which outperforms other methods, such as single shot multibox detector (SSD), faster region CNN (Faster R-CNN), RetinaNet, representative points (RepPoints), and FoveaBox. In addition, the proposed method achieves 60.8 frames per second (FPS), which meets the real-time requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship detection in large-scale synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images has achieved breakthroughs as a result of the improvement of SAR imaging technology. However, there still exist some issues due to the scattering interference, sparsity of ships, and dim and small ships. To address these issues, an anchor-free method is proposed for dim and small ship detection in large-scale SAR images. First, fully convolutional one-stage object detection (FCOS) as the baseline is applied to detecting ships pixel by pixel, which can eliminate the effect of anchors and avoid the missing detection of small ships. Then, considering the particularity of SAR ships, the sample definition is redesigned based on the statistical characteristics of ships. Next, the feature extraction is redesigned to improve the feature representation for dim and small ships. Finally, the classification and regression are redesigned by introducing an improved focal loss and regression refinement with complete intersection over union (CIoU) loss. Experimental simulation results show that the proposed R-FCOS method can detect dim and small ships in large-scale SAR images with higher accuracy compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder, requires long-term treatment; however, large fluctuations in blood drug concentration increase the risk of adverse reactions. We prepared a long-term risperidone (RIS) implantation system that can stabilize RIS release and established in-vitro and in-vivo evaluation systems. Cumulative release, drug loading, and entrapment efficiency were used as evaluation indicators to evaluate the effects of different pore formers, polymer ratios, porogen concentrations, and oil–water ratios on a RIS implant (RIS-IM). We also built a mathematical model to identify the optimized formulation by stepwise regression. We also assessed the crystalline changes, residual solvents, solubility and stability after sterilization, in-vivo polymer degradation, pharmacokinetics, and tissue inflammation in the case of the optimized formulation. The surface of the optimized RIS microspheres was small and hollow with 134.4 ± 3.5 µm particle size, 1.60 SPAN, 46.7% ± 2.3% implant drug loading, and 93.4% entrapment efficiency. The in-vitro dissolution behavior of RIS-IM had zero-order kinetics and stable blood concentration; no lag time was released for over three months. Furthermore, the RIS-IM was not only non-irritating to tissues but also had good biocompatibility and product stability. Long-acting RIS-IMs with microspheres and film coatings can provide a new avenue for treating schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jasmonic acid (JA) carboxyl methyltransferase (JMT), a key enzyme in jasmonate-regulated plant responses, may be involved in plant defense and development by methylating JA to MeJA, thus influencing the concentrations of MeJA in plant. In this study, we isolated the JMT gene from Salvia miltiorrhiza, an important medicinal plant widely used to treat cardiovascular disease. We present a genetic manipulation strategy to enhance the production of phenolic acids by overexpresion SmJMT in S. miltiorrhiza. Global transcriptomic analysis using RNA sequencing showed that the expression levels of genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of phenolic acids and MeJA were upregulated in the overexpression lines. In addition, the levels of endogenous MeJA, and the accumulation of rosmarinic acid (RA) and salvianolic acid (Sal B), as well as the concentrations of total phenolics and total flavonoids in transgenic lines, were significantly elevated compared with the untransformed control. Our results demonstrate that overexpression of SmJMT promotes the production of phenolic acids through simultaneously activating genes encoding key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of phenolic acids and enhancing the endogenous MeJA levels in S. miltiorrhiza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under dynamic conditions, motion blur is introduced to star images obtained by a star sensor. Motion blur affects the accuracy of the star centroid extraction and the identification of stars, further reducing the performance of the star sensor. In this paper, a star image restoration algorithm is investigated to reduce the effect of motion blur on the star image. The algorithm includes a blur kernel calculation aided by a MEMS gyroscope, blur kernel correction based on the structure of the star strip, and a star image reconstruction method based on scaled gradient projection (SGP). Firstly, the motion trajectory of the star spot is deduced, aided by a MEMS gyroscope. Moreover, the initial blur kernel is calculated by using the motion trajectory. Then, the structure information star strip is extracted by Delaunay triangulation. Based on the structure information, a blur kernel correction method is presented by utilizing the preconditioned conjugate gradient interior point algorithm to reduce the influence of bias and installation deviation of the gyroscope on the blur kernel. Furthermore, a speed-up image reconstruction method based on SGP is presented for time-saving. Simulated experiment results demonstrate that both the blur kernel determination and star image reconstruction methods are effective. A real star image experiment shows that the accuracy of the star centroid extraction and the number of identified stars increase after restoration by the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WRKY, named for its special heptapeptide conserved sequence WRKYGOK, is one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and is widely involved in plant responses to biotic, abiotic, and hormonal stresses, especially the important regulatory function in response to drought stress. However, there is no complete comprehensive analysis of this family in H. perforatum , which is one of the most extensively studied plants and is probably the best-known herbal medicine on the market today, serving as an antidepressant, neuroprotective, an antineuralgic, and an antiviral. Here, we identified 86 HpWRKY genes according to the whole genome database of H. perforatum , and classified them into three groups through phylogenetic analysis. Gene structure, conserved domain, motif, cis-elements, gene ontology, and expression profiling were performed. Furthermore, it was found that HpWRKY85 , a homologous gene of AtWRKY75 , showed obvious responses to drought treatment. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that this protein was localized in the nucleus by the Arabidopsis protoplasts transient transfection. Meanwhile, HpWRKY85 -overexpressing Arabidopsis plants showed a stronger ability of root growth and scavenging endogenous reactive oxygen species. The results provide a reference for further understanding the role of HpWRKY85 in the molecular mechanism of drought resistance of H. perforatum .

The number of feature points on the surface of a non-cooperative target satellite used for monocular vision-based relative navigation affects the onboard computational load. A feature point selection method called the quasi-optimal method is proposed to select a subset of feature points with a good geometric distribution. This method, with the assumption that all of the feature points are in a plane and have the same variance, is based on the fact that the scattered feature points can provide higher accuracy than that of them grouped together. The cost is defined as a function of the angle between two unit vectors from the projection center to feature points. The redundancy of a feature point is calculated by summing all costs associated with it. Firstly, the feature point with the most redundant information is removed. Then, redundancies are calculated again with the second feature point removed. The procedures above are repeated until the desired number of feature points is reached. Dilution of precision (DOP) represents the mapping relation between the observation variance and the estimated variance. In this paper, the DOP concept is used in a vision-based navigation system to verify the performance of the quasi-optimal method. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of calculating the relative position and attitude by using a subset of feature points with a good geometric distribution. It also shows that the feature points selected by the quasi-optimal method can provide a high accuracy with low computation time., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The plant SABATH gene family is a group of O -methyltransferases ( O -MTs), which belongs to the S -adenosyl-l-methionine-dependent methyltransferases (SAM-MTs). The resulting reaction products of SABATH genes play an important role in various processes of plant development. In this study, a total of 30 SABATH genes were detected in Salvia miltiorrhiza , which is an important medicinal plant, widely used to treat cardiovascular disease. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analyses showed that SmSABATH genes could be classified into three groups. The ratios of non-synonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution rates of 11 pairs paralogous of SmSABATH genes revealed that the SmSABATH genes had gone through purifying selection. Positive selection analyses using site models and branch-site models indicated that SmSABATH genes had undergone selective pressure for adaptive evolution. Functional divergence analyses suggested that the SmSABATH subgroup genes were divergent in terms of functions and positive selection sites that contributed to a functional divergence among the subgroups that were detected. Tissue-specific expression showed that the SABATH gene family in S. miltiorrhiza was primarily expressed in stems and leaves., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Polygonatum sibiricum polysaccharides (PSPs) are used to improve immunity, alleviate dryness, promote the secretion of fluids, and quench thirst. However, the PSP biosynthetic pathway is largely unknown. Understanding the genetic background will help delineate that pathway at the molecular level so that researchers can develop better conservation strategies. After comparing the PSP contents among several different P. sibiricum germplasms, we selected two groups with the largest contrasts in contents and subjected them to HiSeq2500 transcriptome sequencing to identify the candidate genes involved in PSP biosynthesis. In all, 20 kinds of enzyme-encoding genes were related to PSP biosynthesis. The polysaccharide content was positively correlated with the expression patterns of β-fructofuranosidase ( sacA ), fructokinase ( scrK ), UDP-glucose 4-epimerase ( GALE ), Mannose-1-phosphate guanylyltransferase ( GMPP ), and UDP-glucose 6-dehydrogenase ( UGDH ), but negatively correlated with the expression of Hexokinase ( HK ). Through qRT-PCR validation and comprehensive analysis, we determined that sacA , HK , and GMPP are key genes for enzymes within the PSP metabolic pathway in P. sibiricum. Our results provide a public transcriptome dataset for this species and an outline of pathways for the production of polysaccharides in medicinal plants. They also present more information about the PSP biosynthesis pathway at the molecular level in P. sibiricum and lay the foundation for subsequent research of gene functions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.