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• A high efficiency passively Q-switched Nd:GdTaO 4 laser at 1066 nm is presented. • Q-switched pulse with high repetition rate and short pulse width are obtained. • Compact structure, small volume, suitable for various narrow working environments. We report an 879 nm laser diode directly pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdTaO 4 laser at 1066 nm. The continuous-wave output power at 1066 nm reaches 5.6 W under an incident pump power of 12.8 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 43.8% and a slope efficiency of 48.0%. By using Cr4+:YAG as the saturable absorber, passively Q-switched laser operation is conducted, yielding a highest pulse repetition frequency of 185 kHz and a maximum average power of 3.6 W. The shortest pulse width of 15.2 ns is achieved with a peak power of 2.34 kW at 33.7 kHz. The beam quality factors at the maximum average output power is measured to be M x 2 = 2.2, M y 2 = 1.5 by using knife-edge method. The thermal focal length and internal loss for Nd:GdTaO 4 crystal is also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Papilio bianor Cramer, 1777 (commonly known as the Chinese peacock butterfly) (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Papilionidae) is a widely distributed swallowtail butterfly with a wide number of geographic populations ranging from the southeast of Russia to China, Japan, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand. Its wing color consists of both pigmentary colored scales (black, reddish) and structural colored scales (iridescent blue or green dust). A high-quality reference genome of P. bianor is an important foundation for investigating iridescent color evolution, phylogeography, and the evolution of swallowtail butterflies. Findings We obtained a chromosome-level de novo genome assembly of the highly heterozygous P. bianor using long Pacific Biosciences sequencing reads and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture technology. The final assembly is 421.52 Mb on 30 chromosomes (29 autosomes and 1 Z sex chromosome) with 13.12 Mb scaffold N50. In total, 15,375 protein-coding genes and 233.09 Mb of repetitive sequences were identified. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that P. bianor separated from a common ancestor of swallowtails ∼23.69–36.04 million years ago. Demographic history suggested that the population expansion of this species from the last interglacial period to the last glacial maximum possibly resulted from its decreased natural enemies and its adaptation to climate change during the glacial period. Conclusions We present a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome of P. bianor using long-read single-molecule sequencing and Hi-C–based chromatin interaction maps. Our results lay the foundation for exploring the genetic basis of special biological features of P. bianor and also provide a useful data source for comparative genomics and phylogenomics among butterflies and moths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary A genome-wide association study identified LMO1 , which encodes an LIM-domain-only transcriptional cofactor, as a neuroblastoma susceptibility gene that functions as an oncogene in high-risk neuroblastoma. Here we show that dβh promoter-mediated expression of LMO1 in zebrafish synergizes with MYCN to increase the proliferation of hyperplastic sympathoadrenal precursor cells, leading to a reduced latency and increased penetrance of neuroblastomagenesis. The transgenic expression of LMO1 also promoted hematogenous dissemination and distant metastasis, which was linked to neuroblastoma cell invasion and migration, and elevated expression levels of genes affecting tumor cell-extracellular matrix interaction, including loxl3 , itga2b , itga3 , and itga5 . Our results provide in vivo validation of LMO1 as an important oncogene that promotes neuroblastoma initiation, progression, and widespread metastatic dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]