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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play vital roles in coloration of leaves, flowers, and fruits in plants. However, their functions in spathe coloration are poorly known. Anthurium andraeanum is a popular ornamental plant with various spathe colors. In this study, small RNA and degradome libraries from three A. andraeanum cultivars with different-colored spathes were constructed and sequenced. Illumina sequencing resulted in 94 conserved miRNAs, and 34 novel miRNAs in total were then identified based on precursor sequences and hairpin structures. Differential expression analysis showed that 52, 51, and 49 miRNAs were differentially expressed in comparisons of orange- versus white-colored spathe, purple- versus white-colored spathe, and purple- versus orange-colored spathe, respectively. The expression patterns of miRNAs and their corresponding targets involved in spathe coloration were further analyzed, and displayed that miR156b and miR529 were highly abundant in the spathes with higher anthocyanin content. These two miRNAs co-targeted a gene encoding SPL17, which may function as a negative regulator in anthocyanin accumulation. In addition, miR408 was also abundantly expressed in purple- and orange-colored spathes, and its typical targets were also identified. This comprehensive integrated analysis provides insight into the miRNA-mediated genetic regulation in spathe coloration of A. andraeanum.

Pepper (Capsicum) are consumed worldwide as vegetables and food additives due to their pungent taste. Capsaicinoids are the bioactive compounds that confer the desired pungency to pepper fruits. Capsaicinoid biosynthesis was thought to occur exclusively in fruit placenta. Recently, biosynthesis in the pericarp of extremely pungent varieties was discovered, however, the mechanism of capsaicinoid biosynthesis regulation in the pericarp remains largely unknown. Here, the capsaicinoid contents of placenta and pericarp were analyzed. The results indicated that the Capsicum chinense pericarp accumulated a vast amount of capsaicinoids. Expression of the master regulator MYB31 and capsaicinoid biosynthesis genes (CBGs) were significantly upregulated in the pericarp in C. chinense accessions compared to accessions in other tested species. Moreover, in fruit of extremely-pungent 'Trinidad Moruga Scorpion' (C. chinense) and low-pungent '59' inbred line (C. annuum), the capsaicinoid accumulation patterns in the pericarp were consistent with expression levels of CBGs and MYB31. Silencing MYB31 in 'Trinidad Moruga Scorpion' pericarp leads to a significantly decreased CBGs transcription level and capsaicinoids content. Taken together, our results provide insights into the molecular mechanism arising from the expression of MYB31 in the pericarp that results in exceedingly hot peppers.

Ebractenoid F was identified to be a GlmU inhibitor from Euphorbia ebracteolata, which could inhibit the cell wall biosynthesis of M. tb H37Ra, along with the biofilm formation.

Approximately 10% of von Willebrand factor (VWF) gene variants are suspected to disrupt messenger RNA (mRNA) processing, the number of which might be underestimated due to the lack of transcript assays. In the present study, we provided a detailed strategy to evaluate the effects of nine putative splice site variants (PSSVs) of VWF on mRNA processing as well as protein properties and establish their genotype-phenotype relationships. Eight of nine PSSVs affected VWF splicing: c.322AT, c.1534-13_1551delinsCA, and c.8116-2del caused exon skipping; c.221-2AC, c.323+1GT, and c.2547-13TA resulted in the activation of cryptic splice sites; c.2684AG led to exon skipping and activation of a cryptic splice site; c.2968-14AG created a new splice site. The remaining c.5171-9del was likely benign. The efficiency of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) was much higher in platelets compared to leukocytes, impairing the identification of aberrant transcripts in 4 of 8 PSSVs. The nonsense variant c.322AT partially impaired mRNA processing, leaking a small amount of correct transcripts with c.322T (p.Arg108*), while the missense variant c.2684AG totally disrupted normal splicing of VWF, rather than produced mutant protein with the substitution of Gln895Arg. The results of this study would certainly add novel insights into the molecular events behind von Willebrand disease.

The gut viral community has been linked to human physiology and health, but our knowledge of its genetic and functional contents and disease dependence is far from complete. Here, we collected 11,327 bulk or viral metagenomes from fecal samples from large-scale Chinese populations to establish a Chinese gut virus catalogue (cnGVC) comprising 67,096 nonredundant viral genomes. This catalogue included ∼70% of novel viruses that are not represented in existing gut viral databases, and allowed us to characterize the functional diversity and specificity of the gut virome. Using cnGVC, we 1) profiled the gut virome in large-scale populations and evaluated their sex- and age-related variations, 2) investigated the diversity and compositional patterns of the gut virome across common diseases by analyzing 6,314 bulk metagenomes spanning 28 disease or unhealthy statuses, and 3) identified a large number of universal viral signatures of diseases and validated their predictive ability for health status. Overall, our resources and results would contribute to the grand effort of expanding the knowledge of the human gut virome and addressing a full picture of the associations between viruses and common diseases.

Selfie activity may contribute to the acceptance of cosmetic surgery in adolescents, although few empirical studies exist. Based on social comparison theory, this study examined the association between selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese adolescents and further tested the possible mediating roles of social comparison and facial appearance concern in this relationship. A sample of 537 adolescents (339 girls and 198 boys) were recruited voluntarily to complete questionnaires on selfie behavior, upward physical appearance comparison, facial appearance concern and cosmetic surgery consideration. Linear regression and mediation analyses were conducted. The results showed that selfie behavior predicted higher level of adolescents' cosmetic surgery consideration. Moreover, this relationship was sequentially mediated through upward physical appearance comparison and facial appearance concern. These findings expand the existent literature by suggesting that selfie behavior may trigger upward social comparison in adolescents, which in turn increase their acceptance of cosmetic surgery.

In this work, the light coupling efficiency of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and polymer optical waveguide integrated device was improved by the grating coupler. To maximize light coupling efficiency, the grating coupler was optimized by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Based on the simulation results, the grating coupler was fabricated via laser interference lithography process and an OLED was integrated on the surface of it. Comparing the integrated devices without and with grating coupler, light coupling efficiency of the grating-based integrated device was improved by about 5%. The proposed integrated device has the potential application for low-cost and flexible monolithic optical sensors.

Objectives The hospital environment has been implicated in the enrichment and exchange of pathogens and antibiotic resistance, but its potential in shaping the symbiotic microbial community of hospital staff is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the alteration of the gut microbiome in medical workers compared to non-medical controls. Methods A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and other departments of a centre in north-eastern China. Faecal samples of 175 healthy medical workers—short-term (1–3 months) workers (n = 80) and long-term (>1 year) workers (n = 95)—and 80 healthy non-medical controls were analysed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The hospital environmental samples (n = 9) were also analysed. Results The gut microbiomes of medical workers exhibited marked deviations in diversity and alteration in microbial composition and function. Short-term workers showed significantly higher abundances of taxa such as Lactobacillus, Butyrivibrio, Clostridiaceae, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Dialister, Bifidobacterium, Odoribacter, and Desulfovibrio and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Blautia than the controls. Long-term workers showed higher abundances of taxa such as Dialister, Veillonella, Clostridiaceae, Clostridium, Bilophila, Desulfovibrio, Pseudomonas, and Akkermansia and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Coprococcus than the controls. The medical workers' department (ICU versus non-ICU) and position (resident doctor versus nursing staff) also impacted their gut microbiome. Compared with the non-ICU workers, workers in the ICU showed a significant increase in the abundances of Dialister, Enterobacteriaceae, Phascolarctobacterium, Pseudomonas, Veillonella, and Streptococcus and a marked depletion of Faecalibacterium, Blautia, and Coprococcus. In contrast with the nursing staff, the resident doctors showed a significant increase in Erysipelotrichaceae and Clostridium and a decrease in Bacteroides, Blautia, and Ruminococcus in the gut microbiome. Moreover, we found that the microbiota of hospital environments potentially correlated with the workers' gut microbiota. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated structural changes in the gut microbial community of medical workers.

The microgrid (MG) is an effective way to alleviate the impact of the large-scale penetration of distributed generations. Due to the seasonal characteristics of rural areas, the load curve of the rural MG is different from the urban MG. Besides, the economy and stability of MG’s scheduling may be impacted due to the uncertainty of the distributed generations’ output. To adapt the seasonal characteristics of the rural microgrid, a Wasserstein distance-based distributionally robust optimal scheduling model of rural microgrid considering the coordinated interaction among source-grid-load-storage is proposed to minimize the operating costs of the rural microgrid in this paper, and the distributionally robust optimization method based on the Wasserstein distance is utilized to deal with the uncertainty of distributed generations’ output in the proposed model, which can balance the robustness and economy of MG’s scheduling when compared with the robust optimization method and stochastic optimization method. The case study shows that the proposed model can achieve better economical and robust scheduling strategies of source-grid-load-storage than the robust optimization-based model and the stochastic optimization-based model. Besides, the robustness and economy of rural MG’s scheduling strategies are adjusted flexibly by the proposed model.

SummaryCarotenoids act as phytohormones and volatile compound precursors that influence plant development and confer characteristic colours, affecting both the aesthetic and nutritional value of fruits. Carotenoid pigmentation in ripening fruits is highly dependent on developmental trajectories. Transcription factors incorporate developmental and phytohormone signalling to regulate the biosynthesis process. In contrast to the well-established pathways regulating ripening-related carotenoid biosynthesis in climacteric fruit, carotenoid regulation in nonclimacteric fruit is poorly understood. Capsanthin is the primary carotenoid of nonclimacteric pepper (Capsicum) fruit; its biosynthesis is tightly associated with fruit ripening, and it confers red pigment to the ripening fruit. In this study, using a weighted gene coexpression network and expression analysis, we identified an R-R-type MYB transcription factor, DIVARICATA1, and demonstrated that it is tightly associated with the levels of carotenoid biosynthetic genes (CBGs) and capsanthin accumulation. DIVARICATA1 encodes a nucleus-localized protein that functions primarily as a transcriptional activator. Functional analyses demonstrated that DIVARICATA1 positively regulates CBG transcript levels and capsanthin contents by directly binding to and activating the CBG promoter transcription. Furthermore, the association analysis revealed a significant positive association between DIVARICATA1 transcription level and capsanthin content. Abscisic acid (ABA) promotes capsanthin biosynthesis in a DIVARICATA1-dependent manner. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of DIVARICATA1 in pepper and its orthologue in a climacteric fruit, tomato, suggests that its function might be subject to divergent evolution among the two species. This study illustrates the transcriptional regulation of capsanthin biosynthesis and offers a novel target for breeding peppers with high red colour intensity.

Bismuth telluride-based alloy materials are currently the best performing thermoelectric materials at near room temperature; however, their production and use generate waste (e.g., cutting waste and failed grains). There is also lack of efficient recycling strategies for the generated waste. In this study, a selective sulfidation-vacuum volatilization method is proposed for recovering bismuth telluride waste. The Gibbs free energies of the sulfidation reaction of bismuth telluride are calculated, the saturated vapor pressure of each substance is analyzed, and the composition of the products is predicted. Based on the differences among the sulfidation and volatile properties of bismuth and tellurium, by adding sulfur to bismuth telluride waste, the composition of the substances was regulated, and efficient separation of tellurium and bismuth was achieved. We combined theoretical calculations and experimental studies to investigate the effect of process conditions on the separation and recovery of tellurium and bismuth. The results show that bismuth was thoroughly sulfereted and tellurium was a pure metal when the mass ratio of sulfur to bismuth telluride was 0.168, the sulfidation temperature was 573 K, and the holding time was 60 min. After sulfidation of the bismuth telluride waste, the sulfides were telluride and bismuthous sulfide. The sulfides, that resulted from sulfureted bismuth telluride production, were treated via vacuum volatilization. The optimal vacuum volatilization condition was 873 K for 120 min. The purities of tellurium and bismuth sulfide obtained by the selective sulfidation-vacuum volatilization experiment were99%. The distribution ratios of tellurium and bismuth were 98.46% and 99.59%, respectively. The method thoroughly separated tellurium and bismuth from bismuth telluride waste, considerably reducing the environmental and economic costs compared with those of the conventional processes.

In this study, a triple-layered optical interconnecting integrated waveguide chip was designed and fabricated using an epoxy cross-linking polymer photonic platform. Fluorinated photopolymers FSU-8 and AF-Z-PC EP were self-synthesized as waveguide cores and cladding materials, respectively. The triple-layered optical interconnecting waveguide device comprised 4 × 4 arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) -based wavelength-selective switching (WSS) arrays, 4 × 4 multi-mode interference (MMI) -cascaded channel-selective switching (CSS) arrays, and 3 × 3 direct-coupling (DC) interlayered switching arrays. The overall optical polymer waveguide module was fabricated by direct UV writing. For the multilayered WSS arrays, the wavelength-shifting sensitivity was ∼0.48 nm/°C. For the multilayered CSS arrays, the average switching time was ∼280 µs, and the maximum power consumption was

Interaction of plants with beneficial microbes is one of the strategies for increasing growth and resistance under environmental stresses. In this study, the effects of a fungus, Piriformospora indica, on growth and salt resistance in gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii L.) seedlings were investigated. After co-cultivation with P. indica, the gerbera roots were colonized by the mature chlamydospores of P. indica. A large increase in plant biomass and enhanced photosynthesis were observed in the P. indica-colonized seedlings. Moreover, these seedlings also exhibited a strong tolerance to salt stress after the colonization. The wilting symptoms, the impairments in chlorophyll, carotenoids, and photosynthesis, and anthocyanin accumulation, that can be caused by salt stress, were alleviated in the P. indica-colonized plants. The malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide levels were lower in P. indica-colonized plants than in non-colonized plants under salt treatment, whereas both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were not increased by P. indica colonization. Differential expressions of sodium transporter genes and aquaporin genes were found in gerbera plants after P. indica colonization. The P. indica colonization positively regulated the transcription level of genes involved in ionic homeostasis, such as NHX2 and SOS1, while most aquaporin genes were not induced in P. indica-colonized gerbera seedlings exposed to salt stress, except for NIP6;1 gene. These results demonstrate a strategy through plant–microbe interaction to promote Gerbera jamesonii performance under salt stress.

Nowadays, the valid development and full utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar energy are considered to be one of the most significant approaches to get rid of the energy dilemma and realize environmental governance. However, although there are more and more renewable power sources connected to power systems, the renewable energy has not been fully used yet. In this context, an optimization model for the regional power system with the pump storage power, wind, hydro, and thermal power is proposed to enhance the economy, environmental protection, energy-saving and stability of the power system. Besides, the fuzzy chance constraint programming and the improved analytic hierarchy process are used to deal with the uncertainty of the wind power and the load demand and the multi-objectives function, respectively. The case study not only verify the effectiveness of the proposed model but also shows that better comprehensive performance of the power system can be achieved through the proposed model when considering the effect of the pump storage power.

The integrated energy system (IES) is the physical carrier of the Energy Internet, whose optimal operation has become a hot topic because of its effectiveness in improving energy utilization efficiency. This paper proposes an optimal operation model of integrated energy system, where the internal energy flow transmission characteristic of the heating network is modeled as virtual heating energy storage by the node method to enhance the operating flexibility of IES. The second-order cone relaxation method and the incremental formulation for the piecewise linearization method are utilized to transform the proposed nonlinear model into mixed integer quadratic constraint programming model, which can be effectively solved by the commercial solver. Case studies show that the proposed model effectively reduces the operating costs and improves the renewable energy penetration level of IES.

The past decade has witnessed tremendous progress achieved in taste research, while few studies focus on interactions among taste compounds. Indeed, sweeteners and acidulants are commonly used food additives, and sweet-sour mixtures always provide improved tastes. For example, sensory studies have shown that sourness suppresses sweetness. However, the degree of sweetness suppression by sourness is difficult to evaluate quantitatively and objectively. Therefore, we propose a biohybrid tongue that is constructed by integrating mammalian gustatory epithelium with a microelectrode array chip. The taste quality and intensity information is coded in time-frequency patterns of local field potential. Different response patterns evoked by sweet and sour stimuli are observed, and the response is dose-dependent. Then, interaction effects of sourness against sweetness are quantified. The results indicate that suppression of sweetness by sourness occurs by increasing sourness concentrations. In summary, this study provides a powerful new tool for quantitative evaluation of sweet, sour, and their binary taste interactions that mimic the mammalian taste system.

In this study, interlayer directional coupling (DC) thermo-optic (TO) waveguide switches were designed and fabricated using functionalized epoxy-crosslinking polymers. Fluorinated SU-8 (FSU-8) with a photo-initiating epoxy-crosslinking network was self-synthesized as a waveguide core material. A copolymer of methyl methacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate P(MMA-co-GMA) with a thermo-initiating epoxy crosslinking structure was self-synthesized as a waveguide cladding material. Compared with commercial pure SU-8 and PMMA, FSU-8 exhibited a lower absorption loss and P(MMA-co-GMA) exhibited a higher thermal stability. Using epoxy-crosslinking functionalized polymers, the structure of the waveguides and electrode heaters were optimized, and the performance parameters of the interlayer DC TO switches were simulated. At a signal wavelength of 1550 nm, the insertion loss, extinction ratio, and power consumption of the actual interlayer devices were measured as 6.7 dB, 15.6 dB, and 9 mW, respectively. The rising and falling response times of the TO switches were obtained as 631.6 µs and 362 µs, respectively. The self-leveling ability and solvent resistance characteristic of the epoxy-crosslinking network for FSU-8 and P(MMA-co-GMA) may guarantee the realization of interlayer DC TO waveguide switches. The proposed technique will be suitable for photonic integrated waveguide chips with multilayer stacking dynamic optical information interactions.

As the physical carrier of the Energy Internet, integrated energy system (IES) is a future development trend in the energy field, and the optimal scheduling of IES for improving energy utilisation efficiency has become a hot topic. An optimal day‐ahead scheduling model of multiple IESs considering integrated demand response (IDR), cooperative game and virtual energy storage (VES) is proposed innovatively in this study to maximise the overall benefits of the cooperative alliance. IDR and VES are considered together for the first time to optimise the internal scheduling of each IES, where IDR can enhance the response potential on the demand side and VES can improve the scheduling flexibility of IES. Cooperative game theory is utilised to process the energy trading mechanism among multiple IESs and the Nash bargaining method is utilised to solve the cooperative game problem and obtain a fair and Pareto‐optimal energy trading strategy. The case study shows that the proposed model effectively improves the operating benefits and the renewable energy penetration levels of each IES.

The ectopic co-expression of taste and olfactory receptors in cardiomyocytes provides not only possibilities for the construction of biomimetic gustatory and olfactory sensors but also promising novel therapeutic targets for tachycardia treatment. Here, bitter taste and olfactory receptors endogenously expressed in HL-1 cells were verified by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining. Then HL-1 cardiomyocyte-based integrated gustatory and olfactory sensing array coupling with the microelectrode array (MEA) was first constructed for drugs screening and evaluation for tachycardia treatment. The MEA sensor detected the extracellular field potentials and reflected the systolic-diastolic properties of cardiomyocytes in real time in a label-free and non-invasive way. The in vitro tachycardia model was constructed using isoproterenol as the stimulator. The proposed sensing array facilitated potential drug screening for tachycardia treatment, such as salicin, artemisinin, xanthotoxin, and azelaic acid which all activated specific receptors on HL-1 cells. IC

Ananas comosus var. bracteatus f. tricolor (GL1) is a red pineapple accession whose mostly green leaves with chimeric white leaf margins turn red in spring and autumn and during flowering. It is an important ornamental plant and ideal plant research model for anthocyanin metabolism, chimeric leaf development, and photosynthesis. Here, we generated a highly contiguous chromosome-scale genome assembly for GL1 and compared it with other 3 published pineapple assemblies (var. comosus accessions MD2 and F153, and var. bracteatus accession CB5). The GL1 assembly has a total size of ∼461 Mb, with a contig N50 of ∼2.97 Mb and Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Ortholog score of 97.3%. More than 99% of the contigs are anchored to 25 pseudochromosomes. Compared with the other 3 published pineapple assemblies, the GL1 assembly was confirmed to be more continuous. Our evolutionary analysis showed that the Bromeliaceae and Poaceae diverged from their nearest common ancestor ∼82.36 million years ago (MYA). Population structure analysis showed that while GL1 has not undergone admixture, bracteatus accession CB5 has resulted from admixture of 3 species of Ananas. Through classification of orthogroups, analysis of genes under positive selection, and analysis of presence/absence variants, we identified a series of genes related to anthocyanin metabolism and development of chimeric leaves. The structure and evolution of these genes were compared among the published pineapple assemblies with reveal candidate genes for these traits. The GL1 genome assembly and its comparisons with other 3 pineapple genome assemblies provide a valuable resource for the genetic improvement of pineapple and serve as a model for understanding the genomic basis of important traits in different pineapple varieties and other pan-cereal crops.

The composite face effect (CFE) is recognized as a hallmark for holistic face processing, but our knowledge remains sparse about its cognitive and neural loci. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging with independent localizer and complete composite face task, we here investigated its neural-behavioral correspondence within face processing and attention networks. Complementing classical comparisons, we adopted a dimensional reduction approach to explore the core cognitive constructs of the behavioral CFE measurement. Our univariate analyses found an alignment effect in regions associated with both the extended face processing network and attention networks. Further representational similarity analyses based on the Euclidian distances among all experimental conditions were used to identify cortical regions with reliable neural-behavioral correspondences. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering analyses for neural-behavioral correspondence data revealed two principal components underlying the behavioral CFE effect, which fit best to the neural responses in the bilateral insula and medial frontal gyrus. These findings highlight the distinct neurocognitive contributions of both face processing and attentional networks to the behavioral CFE outcome, which bridge the gaps between face recognition and attentional control models. peerReviewed

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represents the consequence of an immune response of the body’s immune system attacking healthy cells. This chronic inflammatory disorder has complicated pathogenesis. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is well recognized as an effective therapy in treating RA and has been widely applied for centuries. Wu-Teng-Gao (WTG) is used as a representative natural herb formula in RA treatment in China, while its mechanisms are to be fully clarified. The present study attempted to explore mechanisms of WTG on RA treatment in a network pharmacological approach and verified using experiments in vitro. Following the establishment of a rat model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), WTG was applied externally on the metapedes of rats. HE staining was subsequently performed to visualize the pathological changes of synovium and bone. Simultaneously, flow cytometry was conducted to detect the cell ratio of T helper 17 (Th17) and Regulatory T cells (Treg) in splenic lymphocytes. Additionally, ELISA, qRT-PCR, and Western blot assays were adopted to determine expressions of RA-related factors in joints and serum. Results of network pharmacological analysis suggested that Th17 cell differentiation might serve as a potential signaling pathway of WTG therapy for RA. Animal experiments demonstrated that WTG ameliorated the articular inflammation and effectively inhibited the destruction of articular cartilage, and decreased Th17 and Treg cell ratios in CIA rats. Furthermore, WTG also greatly suppressed relevant levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-17, TNF-α, IL-1, and IL-6) and RNAKL, whereas it elevated expressions of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β. Our results confirmed that WTG might improve the imbalance of Th17/Treg cells in CIA animals through differentiation regulation, thus alleviating joint inflammation and bone destruction.

The present research attempted to investigate the molecular mechanism of Jin-Wu-Jian-Gu Formulation (JWJGF) in inhibiting rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a pharmacological approach for analysis and experimental validation. First, the potential targets and pathways of JWJGF for RA were predicted by network pharmacology. Second, the effect of JWJGF on RA was observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Further, we observed the effects of JWJGF on the IL33-ST2 signaling pathway by Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) experiments, and finally, we studied the effects of Liquiritigenin on rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblast (RASF) cells and the IL33-ST2 signaling pathway. Network pharmacology results showed that the key component of JWJGF was Liquiritigenin and the core target of JWJGF was IL-33. The results of HE and ELISA showed that JWJGF could alleviate RA. Western blot and qPCR findings indicated that JWJGF could inhibit the IL33-ST2 signaling pathway. Furthermore, JWJGF could inhibit the proliferation of RASF cells and the IL33-ST2 signaling pathway. In conclusion, this study revealed that JWJGF attenuated RA by inhibiting the IL33-ST2 signaling pathway.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plant, which has great controllability and scheduling flexibility, is a promising renewable energy power generation technology. The reasonable scheduling of a CSP plant can effectively reduce the operating cost of the integrated energy system (IES). In this context, a day-ahead optimal coordinative operation model of the electric–thermal–gas IES considering CSP plant is proposed in this study with the objective function of minimising the operating cost of the IES. In the proposed model, the transmission delay characteristic of the thermal network is considered to reflect the large thermal inertia of the thermal network. Then, the incremental formulation for the piecewise linearisation and the second-order cone relaxation method are utilised to transform the proposed non-linear model into a mixed integer quadratically constrained programming model, which can be efficiently solved by CPLEX solver. The case study shows that the optimal operation model considering CSP plant has better performance in reducing the operating cost and promoting the wind power penetration when compared with the model considering photovoltaic. In addition, the scheduling flexibility of IES can be enhanced by the virtual thermal energy storage characteristic of the thermal network to reduce the operating cost and promote the wind power penetration of IES.

The eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is rich in vitamin P (also known as rutin), which is beneficial for humans. In this study, the vitamin P contents of 53 eggplant lines were measured via UV spectrophotometry. The results showed that the vitamin P content differed significantly among the eggplant lines and the actual contents of vitamin P in fresh fruit pulp and fresh peel were 0.18–0.82 mg · g−1 and 0.42–2.32 mg · g−1, respectively. Furthermore, the mixed major gene and polygene inheritance model method was used for the inheritance analysis of the vitamin P content in F2 populations of three hybridization combinations. Inheritance analysis demonstrated that the vitamin P content of these eggplant lines was a quantitative trait. One or two major genes were the contributor, and the genetic effect was an additive-dominance effect. The high vitamin P content trait was regulated by the main gene and followed an additive effect. The heritability of the major genes controlling the high vitamin P content was low, while the heritability of the major gene that controls the low vitamin P content trait was high. These results provide a theoretical basis for the breeding of eggplants with high vitamin P content.

To improve the understanding of molecular mechanisms of anther and/or pollen development in Chili pepper, in the present study, full-length cDNA and DNA sequences of the pollen development-related gene CaMF5 were obtained from the anthers of a Capsicum annuum nuclear male-fertile line. Sequence analysis indicated that the full length of CaMF5 was 747 bp, containing a maximum opening reading frame of 447 bp. Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that CaMF5 shared approximately 37%–77% homology with a series of uncharacterized or hypothetical proteins and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins from other plants. However, no LEA structural domain was detected in CaMF5, which indicated that it might be a new type of LEA gene. CaMF5 was only expressed in flower buds at stages 7 and 8 and in open flowers of the male-fertile line, whereas it exhibited no expression in any examined organs of the male-sterile line. In addition, CaMF5 showed the highest transcript abundance in the anthers of the male-fertile line, with no expression being detected in any other examined organs, such as the sepals, petals, pistils, roots, stems, or leaves. Taken together, our results suggest that CaMF5 is an anther-specific gene that might encode a new type of LEA protein related to anther and/or pollen development in C. annuum. Keywords: Capsicum annuum, CaMF5, Anther-specific gene, Late embryogenesis abundant, Expression analysis

Bacterial wilt (BW) caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious disease affecting the production of Solanaceae species, including eggplant (Solanum melongena). However, few resistance genes have been identified in eggplant, and therefore the underlying mechanism of BW resistance remains unclear. Hence, we investigated a spermidine synthase (SPDS) gene from eggplant and created knock-down lines with virus-induced gene silencing. After eggplant was infected with R. solanacearum, the SmSPDS gene was induced, concurrent with increased spermidine (Spd) content, especially in the resistant line. We speculated that Spd plays a significant role in the defense response of eggplant to BW. Moreover, using the yeast one-hybrid approach and dual luciferase-based transactivation assay, an R2R3-MYB transcription factor, SmMYB44, was identified as directly binding to the SmSPDS promoter, activating its expression. Overexpression of SmMYB44 in eggplant induced the expression of SmSPDS and Spd content, increasing the resistance to BW. In contrast, the SmMYB44-RNAi transgenic plants showed more susceptibility to BW compared with the control plants. Our results provide insight into the SmMYB44-SmSPDS-Spd module involved in the regulation of resistance to R. solanacearum. This research also provides candidates to enhance resistance to BW in eggplant.

The architecture of topologically associating domains (TADs) varies across plant genomes. Understanding the functional consequences of this diversity requires insights into the pattern, structure, and function of TADs. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation of the 3D genome organization of pepper (Capsicum annuum) and its association with gene expression and genomic variants. We report the first chromosome-scale long-read genome assembly of pepper and generate Hi-C contact maps for four tissues. The contact maps indicate that 3D structure varies somewhat across tissues, but generally the genome was segregated into subcompartments that were correlated with transcriptional state. In addition, chromosomes were almost continuously spanned by TADs, with the most prominent found in large genomic regions that were rich in retrotransposons. A substantial fraction of TAD boundaries were demarcated by chromatin loops, suggesting loop extrusion is a major mechanism for TAD formation; many of these loops were bordered by genes, especially in highly repetitive regions, resulting in gene clustering in three dimensional space. Integrated analysis of Hi-C profiles and transcriptomes showed that change in 3D chromatin structures (e.g. subcompartments, TADs, and loops) was not the primary mechanism contributing to differential gene expression between tissues, but chromatin structure does play a role in transcription stability. TAD boundaries were significantly enriched for breaks of synteny and depletion of sequence variation, suggesting that TADs constrain patterns of genome structural evolution in plants. Together, our work provides insights into principles of 3D genome folding in large plant genomes and its association with function and evolution.

Bacterial wilt (BW) is a soil-borne disease that severely impacts plant growth and productivity globally. Ubiquitination plays a crucial role in disease resistance. Our previous research indicated that NAC transcription factor SmNAC negatively regulates BW resistance in eggplant (Solanum melongena). However, whether the ubiquitin/26S proteasome system (UPS) participates in this regulation is unknown.This study used SmNAC as a bait to screen eggplant cDNA library and obtained SmDDA1b, an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Subcellular location and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays revealed that SmDDA1b could interact with SmNAC in the nucleus. The in vivo and in vitro ubiquitination experiments indicated that SmDDA1b can degrade SmNAC through UPS. However, the discovery of negative regulation of SmDDA1b expression by SmNAC showed that there was a negative feedback loop between SmNAC and SmDDA1b in eggplant.The SmDDA1b-overexpressed lines showed a higher BW resistance associated with high expression levels of salicylic acid (SA)-related genes and SA content than the wild-type lines. However, SmDDA1b-silencing lines showed the opposite results, indicating that SmDDA1b is a positive regulatory gene for BW resistance.This study provides a candidate gene that can enhance BW resistance in eggplants. In addition, it provides insight into a mechanism that promotes plant disease resistance via the SmDDA1b-SmNAC-SA pathway.

The organization of chromatin into self-interacting domains is universal among eukaryotic genomes, though how and why they form varies considerably. Here we report a chromosome-scale reference genome assembly of pepper (Capsicum annuum) and explore its 3D organization through integrating high-resolution Hi-C maps with epigenomic, transcriptomic, and genetic variation data. Chromatin folding domains in pepper are as prominent as TADs in mammals but exhibit unique characteristics. They tend to coincide with heterochromatic regions enriched with retrotransposons and are frequently embedded in loops, which may correlate with transcription factories. Their boundaries are hotspots for chromosome rearrangements but are otherwise depleted for genetic variation. While chromatin conformation broadly affects transcription variance, it does not predict differential gene expression between tissues. Our results suggest that pepper genome organization is explained by a model of heterochromatin-driven folding promoted by transcription factories and that such spatial architecture is under structural and functional constraints.

A growing number of behavioural and neuroimaging studies have investigated the cognitive mechanisms and neural substrates underlying various forms of visual expertise, such as face and word processing. However, it remains poorly understood whether and to what extent the acquisition of one form of expertise would be associated with that of another. The current study examined the relationship between music-reading expertise and face and Chinese character processing abilities. In a series of experiments, music experts and novices performed discrimination and recognition tasks of musical notations, faces, and words. Results consistently showed that musical experts responded more accurately to musical notations and faces, but not to words, than did musical novices. More intriguingly, the music expert’s age of training onset could well predict their face but not word processing performance: the earlier musical experts began musical notation reading, the better their face processing performance. Taken together, our findings provide preliminary and converging evidence that music-reading expertise links with face, but not word, processing, and lend support to the notion that the development of different types of visual expertise may not be independent, but rather interact with each other during their acquisition.

Olfactory dysfunction is an early symptom of neurodegenerative disease. Amyloid-beta oligomers (AβOs), the pathologic protein of Alzheimer's disease (AD), have been confirmed to be firstly deposited in olfactory bulb (OB), causing smell to malfunction. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying pathogenic nature of AβOs-induced olfactory neuronal degeneration in AD are not completely realized. Here, an early-stage olfactory dysfunction pathological model of AD in vitro based on biomimetic OB neuronal network chip was established for dynamic multi-site detection of neuronal electrical activity and network connection. We found both spike firing and correlation of overall neuronal network change regularly displayed gradually active state and then rapidly decay state after AβOs induction. Moreover, MK-801 and memantine were administrated at early-stage to detect alteration of OB neurons simulating nasal administration for AD treatment, which showed an almost recovery through the intermittent firing pattern. Together, this neuronal network-on-chip has revealed synaptic impairment and network neurodegeneration of olfactory dysfunction in AD, providing potential mechanisms information for early-stage progressive olfactory amyloidogenic pathology.