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This study establishes a procedure to couple Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) and China Agroecological Zone model (AEZ-China). This procedure enables us to quantify the effects of two natural adaptation measures on soybean production in China, concern on which has been growing owing to the rapidly rising demand for soybean and the foreseen global climate change. The parameters calibration and mode verification are based on the observation records of soybean growth at 13 agro-meteorological observation stations in Northeast China and Huang-Huai-Hai Plain over 1981–2011. The calibration of eco-physiological parameters is based on the algorithms of DSSAT that simulate the dynamic bio-physiological processes of crop growth in daily time-step. The effects of shifts in planting day and changes in the length of growth cycle (LGC) are evaluated by the speedy algorithms of AEZ. Results indicate that without adaptation, climate change from the baseline 1961–1990 to the climate of 2050s as specified in the Providing Regional Climate for Impacts Studies-A1B would decrease the potential yield of soybean. By contrast, simulations of DSSAT using AEZ-recommended cultivars with adaptive LGC and also the corresponding adaptive planting dates show that the risk of yield loss could be fully or partially mitigated across majority of grid cells in the major soybean-growing areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) cleavage-activating protein (SCAP) is a widely expressed membrane glycoprotein that acts as an important modulator of lipid metabolism and inflammatory stress. N -glycosylation of SCAP has been suggested to modulate cancer development, but its role in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is poorly understood. In this study, the N -glycosylation of SCAP was analyzed by using sequential trypsin proteolysis and glycosidase treatment. The liver cell lines expressing wild-type and N- glycosylation sites mutated SCAP were constructed to investigate the N- glycosylation role of SCAP in regulating inflammation and lipid accumulation as well as the underlying mechanisms. The hepatic SCAP protein levels were significantly increased in C57BL/6J mice fed with Western diet and sugar water (WD + SW) and diabetic db/db mice, which exhibited typical liver steatosis and inflammation accompanied with hyperglycemia. In vitro, the enhanced N- glycosylation by high glucose increased the protein stability of SCAP and hence increased its total protein levels, whereas the ablation of N- glycosylation significantly decreased SCAP protein stability and alleviated lipid accumulation and inflammation in hepatic cell lines. Mechanistically, SCAP N- glycosylation increased not only the SREBP-1-mediated acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2) transcription but also the AMPK-mediated S659 phosphorylation of ACCS2 protein, causing the enhanced ACSS2 levels in nucleus and hence increasing the histone H3K27 acetylation (H3K27ac), which is a key epigenetic modification associated with NASH. Modulating ACSS2 expression or its location in the nuclear abolished the effects of SCAP N- glycosylation on H3K27ac and lipid accumulation and inflammation. In conclusion, SCAP N- glycosylation aggravates inflammation and lipid accumulation through enhancing ACSS2-mediated H3K27ac in hepatocytes. NEW & NOTEWORTHY N- glycosylation of SCAP exacerbates inflammation and lipid accumulation in hepatocytes through ACSS2-mediated H3K27ac. Our data suggest that SCAP N- glycosylation plays a key role in regulating histone H3K27 acetylation and targeting SCAP N- glycosylation may be a new strategy for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).