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Granulosa cell abnormalities are characteristics of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Abnormal expression of serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1) can cause various diseases, but the role of SRSF1 in mouse granulosa cells remains largely unclear. In this study, we found that SRSF1 was expressed in the nuclei of both mouse oocytes and granulosa cells. The specific knockout of Srsf1 in granulosa cells led to follicular development inhibition, decreased granulosa cell proliferation, and increased apoptosis. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of RNA-seq results revealed abnormal expression of genes involved in DNA repair, cell killing and other signalling pathways. Alternative splicing (AS) analysis showed that SRSF1 affected DNA damage in granulosa cells by regulating genes related to DNA repair. In summary, SRSF1 in granulosa cells controls follicular development by regulating AS of genes associated with DNA repair, thereby affecting female reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Akebia trifoliata belongs to the Lardizabalaceae family of flowering plants, has tremendous potential as a new fruit crop for further domestication and commercialization in China. However, the selection of A. trifoliata is extremely limited due to lack of information about basic inheritance of fruit traits. In this study, 11 key fruit characters, including single fruit weight (SFW), fruit length (FL), fruit width (FW), peel thickness (PT), peel weight (PW), soluble solids content (SSC), seed weight (SW), pulp weight (PuW), edible ratio (ER), hundred-grain weight (HGW) and seed number (SN) were evaluated, and genetic parameters were analyzed. The results showed that the 11 tested traits have high repeatability range from 0.87 to 0.95. Correlation analysis showed that SFW was positively correlated with FL, FW, PT, PW and PuW, but negatively correlated with ER. The Smith-Hazel-index based multitrait selection was used to select superior lines. The SH selection index identified superior lines with high SFW and ER, and low SN. Taken together, our results provide important information for domestication and breeding program of Akebia trifoliate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interspecies relationships within Actinidia remain controversial due to lack of sufficient taxon sampling and molecular markers. Intergenic spacers (IGS) in the chloroplast genome have been shown to yield substantial variability and were successfully used in phylogenetic study in diverse plants. Hence, in this study, we develop IGS markers by comparing the available chloroplast genomes of Actinidia to explore the interspecific relationships within Actinidia. A total of 46 species were sampled, and three phylogenetic analyses methods (MP, ML and Bayesian) were used. Compared to the plastomes of other congeneric species, twenty-four highly variable intergenic spacers are identified, and four intergenic spacers with high polymorphism [ndhF-rps32, ndhC-trnV (UAC), rps16-trnQ (UUG) and trnE (UUC)-trnT (GGU)] were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within Actinidia. The phylogeny reveals two main groups within Actinidia, and the four traditionally recognized sections are not monophyletic. Two sections (Leiocarpae and Maculatae) can be proposed, among which Leiocarpae is the earliest diverged lineage in the genus. As compared to previous work, our study provides a robust phylogenetic hypothesis that aids in our understanding of the interspecific relationships of Actinidia. Several closely related species are placed in disparate parts of the phylogeny. Moreover, the same species sampled at least two varieties are polyphyletic in our cpDNA trees, which suggests frequent hybridization/introgression events occurred in the genus of Actinidia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a strategy to fabricate a hydrogel-based microvascular construct by direct writing alginate bioink inside the viscous pre-polymer of hydrogels, which acts as a support bath. As the print needle translates through the polymers, the extruded alginate instantaneously forms calcium alginate hydrogel (Ca-Alg) templates deposited within the bath. This phase change allows the formed templates to be anchored within the pre-polymers, while maintaining their structure. After the printing process, the pre-polymers are solidified to form a mechanically robust hydrogel. Finally, a hydrogel construct with embedded microchannels is generated by liquefying and removing the Ca-Alg templates. Using this method, not only the alginate ink alone can be directly printed within the engineered constructs, but also the size and shape of the formed microchannels are controllable. Furthermore, a confluent endothelial layer for the generation of vascular networks can be constructed by adhering and proliferating endothelial cells on the channel linings. This strategy demonstrates a promising technique for rapid construction of in vitro vasculatures, which would provide a versatile platform for a wide array of applications such as tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip and drug screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastome sequences are rich sources of information for resolving difficult phylogenetic relationships and provide genomic data for conservation studies. Here, the complete plastome sequence of Alniphyllum eberhardtii Guillaumin is reported, representing the first plastome of the basal asterid family Styracaceae (Ericales). The plastome is 155,384 bp in length and contains 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes, totaling 113 unique genes with 19 genes in the inverted repeat region. Unusual features of the plastome include the presence a large 20-kb inversion in the Large Single-Copy region, the pseudogenization of the accD gene, and the loss of the second intron from clpP. The 20-kb inversion includes 14 genes and has not been previously reported in other Ericales plastomes. Thirty-nine plastid simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that may provide genetic resources for the conservation of this economically import timber plant are characterized. Phylogenetic results inferred from ML and MP analyses of 66 plastid genes and 26 taxa reveal that the Styracaceae are sister to a clade including Actinidiaceae and Ericaceae and suggest that complete plastomes are likely to be very helpful in resolving the basal relationships among Ericales families, which have resisted resolution in smaller phylogenetic data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate elastography using a bi-plane transducer for localizing prostate cancer (PCa) in patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy (RP), in comparison with step section pathological analysis. Methods: Fifty-six consecutive PCa patients underwent real-time elastography examination with a bi-plane transducer before RP. Transverse elastographic images were obtained from the apex to the base by slightly compressing and releasing the prostate tissue using the probe. The diagnostic performance of elastography was evaluated in correlation with step section RP histopathology. Results: In 56 PCa patients, gray-scale ultrasonography detected at least one lesion in 36 patients, whereas elastography detected at least one lesion in 53 patients ( P = 0.001). The overall sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of elastography in depicting tumor lesions were 67.6, 89.5 and 82.7 %, respectively. The detection rate of a PCa lesion with elastography was best in the left posterior region, followed by the right posterior region. Elastography was more sensitive in detecting PCa lesions with higher Gleason scores, diameter >5 mm and extracapsular extension. Conclusions: The additional use of elastography with the bi-plane transducer can improve PCa detection rate by providing more information about tissue stiffness within the prostate gland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air-sea $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ flux was measured from a research vessel in the North Yellow Sea in October 2007 using an open-path eddy-covariance technique. In 11 out of 64 samples, the normalized spectra of scalars ( $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$, water vapour, and temperature) showed similarities. However, in the remaining samples, the normalized $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ spectra were observed to be greater than those of water vapour and temperature at low frequencies. In this paper, the noise due to cross-sensitivity was identified through a combination of intercomparisons among the normalized spectra of three scalars and additional analyses. Upon examination, the cross-sensitivity noise appeared to be mainly present at frequencies $${<}0.8\,\text{ Hz }$$. Our analysis also suggested that the high-frequency fluctuations of $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ concentration (frequency $${>}0.8\,\text{ Hz }$$) was probably less affected by the cross-sensitivity. To circumvent the cross-sensitivity issue, the cospectrum in the high-frequency range 0.8-1.5 Hz, instead of the whole range, was used to estimate the $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ flux by taking the contribution of the high frequency to the $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ flux to be the same as the contribution to the water vapour flux. The estimated air-sea $$\text{ CO }_{2}$$ flux in the North Yellow Sea was $$-0.039\,\pm \,0.048\,\text{ mg } \text{ m }^{-2}\,\text{ s }^{-1},$$ a value comparable to the estimates using the inertial dissipation method and Edson's method (Edson et al., J Geophys Res 116:C00F10, ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report focuses on studying generation and/or evolution of sea-salt aerosols (SSA) on basis of measurements in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (NWPO), the marginal seas of China, at sea-beach sites and a semi-urban coastal site in 2012-2015. From measurements in the NWPO, we obtained the smallest generation function of the super-micron SSA mass ([MSSA]) by the local wind comparing to those previously reported. Vessel-caused wave-breaking was found to greatly enhance generation of SSA and increase [MSSA], which was subject to non-natural generation of SSA. However, naturally enhanced generation of SSA was indeed observed in the marginal seas and at the sea-beach site. The two enhancement mechanisms may explain the difference among this and previous studies. Size distributions of super-micron SSA exhibited two modes, i.e., 1-2 μm mode and ~5 μm mode. The 1-2 μm mode of SSA was enhanced more and comparable to the ~5 μm mode under the wind speed >7 m/s. However, the smaller mode SSA was largely reduced from open oceans to sea-beach sites with reducing wind speed. The two super-micron modes were comparable again at a semi-urban coastal site, suggesting that the smaller super-micron mode SSA may play more important roles in atmospheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]