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Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel enteric coronavirus and is becoming one of the major causative agents of diarrhea in pig herds in recent years. To date, there are no commercial vaccines or antiviral pharmaceutical agents available to control PDCoV infection. Therefore, developing a reliable strategy against PDCoV is urgently needed. In this study, to observe the antiviral activity of RNA interference (RNAi), four short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) specific to the nucleocapsid (N) gene of PDCoV were designed and tested in vitro. Of these, a double-shRNA-expression vector, designated as pSil-double-shRNA-N1, was the most effectively expressed, and the inhibition of PDCoV replication was then further evaluated in neonatal piglets. Our preliminary results reveal that plasmid-based double-shRNA-expression targeting the N gene of PDCoV can significantly protect LLC-PK1 cells and piglets from pathological lesions induced by PDCoV. Our study could benefit the investigation of the specific functions of viral genes related to PDCoV infection and offer a possible methodology of RNAi-based therapeutics for PDCoV infection.

Fe-dependent nitrate reduction by anammox consortia could serve as a valuable autotrophic denitrification process for wastewater treatment. However, influences of temperature, pH, and Fe/NO3-N ratio on this biochemical process have not been studied. The present study investigated individual and interactive effects of aforementioned parameters on nitrate removal performance and bioactivity of anammox consortia via a series of batch assays. Enzymes activity of nitrate reductase (NAR) and hydrazine dehydrogenase (HDH) of anammox consortia had high consistency with nitrogen removal performance and significantly depended on temperature and Fe/NO3-N ratio, while the narG and hdh genes expression were drastically depressed by extreme temperature. Models developed by response surface methodology (RSM) showed the significance of individual parameter followed by Fe/NO3-N ratio > temperature > pH, while combined effects of temperature versus Fe/NO3-N ratio exerted the most significant impacts. The pH in range of 4.0–8.0 had less influence. The optimum condition for nitrate removal efficiency (NRE) > 90% and total nitrogen removal efficiency (TNRE) > 75% was 4.0–7.4 for pH, 25.5–30.0 °C for temperature, and 31–48 for Fe/NO3-N molar ratio. The maximum NRE and TNRE could be 98.68% and 79.42%, respectively, under the condition of pH = 4.00, temperature = 28.5 °C and Fe/NO3-N ratio = 37.4. The models showed good dependability for simulation nitrogen removal performance by anammox in the real semiconductor wastewater.

In this study, ternary Cu2SnS3 (CTS) nanostructure materials with high crystallinity were successfully prepared via a facile solvothermal method, which was followed by high-temperature treatment. The morphology of the as-synthesized samples is uniform flower-like spheres, with these spheres consisting of hierarchical nanosheets and possessing network features. Sodium storage measurements demonstrate that the annealed CTS electrodes have high initial reversible capacity (447.7 mAh·g−1 at a current density of 100 mA·g−1), good capacity retention (200.6 mAh·g−1 after 50 cycles at a current density of 100 mA·g−1) and considerable rate capability because of their high crystallinity and unique morphology. Such good performances indicate that the high crystallinity CTS is a promising anode material for sodium ion batteries.

The Shapotou National Nature Reserve in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a typical arid region in China. There is an exceptionally serious problem of surface water resource conservation, and dynamic monitoring of surface water with the help of water indices can help to elucidate its change patterns and impact mechanisms. Here, we analysed the characteristics of interannual variation in surface water area in the study area from 1992–2021. The correlation coefficients of the surface water area in the previous year and the contemporaneous water bodies of the Yellow River with the total surface water area (TSWA) were calculated. The results show the following: ① In terms of the classification accuracy of the two methods, water indices and support vector machine classification, water indices are more suitable for water body extraction in the study area. In particular, the three water indices, NDWI, MNDWI and AWEIsh, were more effective, with average overall accuracies of 90.38%, 90.33% and 90.36% over the 30-year period, respectively. ② From the TSWA extraction results from the last 30 years, the TSWA showed an increasing trend with an increase of 368.28 hm2. Among the areas, Tenggeli Lake contributed the most to the increase in TSWA. ③ The highest correlation between the TSWA and the previous year’s TSWA was 0.89, indicating that the better way to protect the water body is to maintain water surface stability year-round. The surface water area of the Yellow River and TSWA also showed a strong correlation, indicating that the rational use of Yellow River water is also an important direction for the future conservation of water resources in the study area.

3-methyl-4-nitrophenol (PNMC), a well-known constituent of diesel exhaust particles and degradation products of insecticide fenitrothion, is a widely distributed environmental contaminant. PNMC is toxic to the female reproductive system; however, how it affects meiosis progression in oocytes is unknown. In this study, in vitro maturation of mouse oocytes was applied to investigate the deleterious effects of PNMC. We found that exposure to PNMC significantly compromised oocyte maturation. PNMC disturbed the spindle stability; specifically, it decreased the spindle density and increased the spindle length. The weakened spindle pole location of microtubule-severing enzyme Fignl1 may result in a defective spindle apparatus in PNMC-exposed oocytes. PNMC exposure induced significant mitochondrial dysfunction, including mitochondria distribution, ATP production, mitochondrial membrane potential, and ROS accumulation. The mRNA levels of the mitochondria-related genes were also significantly impaired. Finally, the above-mentioned alterations triggered early apoptosis in the oocytes. In conclusion, PNMC exposure affected oocyte maturation and quality through the regulation of spindle stability and mitochondrial function.

The ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzyme family, which includes TET1/2/3, participates in active DNA demethylation in the eukaryotic genome; moreover, TET1/2/3 are functionally redundant in mice embryos. However, the combined effect of TET1/2/3 triple-gene knockdown or knockout on the porcine oocytes or embryos is still unclear. In this study, using Bobcat339, a specific small-molecule inhibitor of the TET family, we explored the effects of TET enzymes on oocyte maturation and early embryogenesis in pigs. Our results revealed that Bobcat339 treatment blocked porcine oocyte maturation and triggered early apoptosis. Furthermore, in the Bobcat339-treated oocytes, spindle architecture and chromosome alignment were disrupted, probably due to the huge loss of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC)and concurrent increase in 5-methylcytosine (5mC). After Bobcat339 treatment, early parthenogenetic embryos exhibited abnormal 5mC and 5hmC levels, which resulted in compromised cleavage and blastocyst rate. The mRNA levels of EIF1A and DPPA2 (ZGA marker genes) were significantly decreased, which may explain why the embryos were arrested at the 4-cell stage after Bobcat339 treatment. In addition, the mRNA levels of pluripotency-related genes OCT4 and NANOG were declined after Bobcat339 treatment. RNA sequencing analysis revealed differentially expressed genes in Bobcat339-treated embryos at the 4-cell stage, which were significantly enriched in cell proliferation, cell component related to mitochondrion, and cell adhesion molecule binding. Our results indicated that TET proteins are essential for porcine oocyte maturation and early embryogenesis, and they act by mediating 5mC/5hmC levels and gene transcription.