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In the hydraulic fracturing process of shale reservoir, proppant will embed and deform under the action of high closure stress. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the mechanical process and influencing factors of proppant embedding in shale. This study reproduced rough fracture surface of real rock slabs based on the reverse reconstruction method and obtained the mechanical parameters of the rock slab and proppant. In this study, a numerical model for the elastoplastic deformation of the proppant embedding in the rough fracture surface, along with mechanical test experiments, is proposed. The reliability of the numerical model is verified by the proppant embedding simulation experiment. Based on this model, the process of proppant embedding in a rough fracture under the action of closing stress and the factors influencing the width of supporting fracture were analyzed. The results show that the embedment degree of the proppant is different in different areas of the rough fracture surface. Furthermore, a stress concentration effect is apparent. The proppant embedment becomes significant after the slab enters the plastic deformation stage under high closure stress. The slabs with high roughness and low Young's modulus or proppants with small particle sizes and high Young's moduli result in a smaller width of the propped fracture.

Salt stress is one of the main abiotic factors affecting castor yield. Wild castor resources can provide important insights for cultivated castor breeding. However, little is known about how wild castor responds or adapts to salt stress. To understand the physiological mechanisms for salt tolerance in castor, the morphological and physiological responses of two varieties, wild and cultivated castor, with contrasted salt tolerance were characterized under salt stress. Seedlings were exposed to 0, 50, and 100 mM NaCl. The results showed that salt application significantly inhibited the increase in chlorophyll content and relative water content of cultivated castor. The degree of electrolyte leakage of wild castor under salt stress was significantly less than that of cultivated castor. In addition, the WT showed a lower content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under the salt stress compared to CT. The activities of antioxidant enzymes like SOD, APX, GR, and MDHAR in the leaves of WT showed higher accumulation compared to those of CT under salt stress. The ratio of ASA/DHA and GSH/GSSG in leaves of WT showed a distinct increase compared to CT. In summary, our results revealed the salt stress resistance characteristics of wild castor. Wild castor also has the potential to be used as parental material in a breeding program. These results will be valuable for salt resistance breeding of cultivated castor.

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.), one of the top 10 oilseed crops in the world, has high economic value. Hybridization is the most direct and effective method to breed new varieties with high yield, high oil content, and strong stress resistance. Therefore, prediction of desired traits in castor hybrid offspring is particularly important. In this study, proteomic analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in seeds between castor hybrid offspring and their female (Lm female line aLmAB2) and male parents (CSR•181). Among the DEPs upregulated in the seeds of hybrid offspring, the majority were related to seed yield and stress resistance, while some were related to oil synthesis and fatty acid synthesis and metabolism in seeds. In other words, the hybrid offspring showed heterosis for seed yield, stress resistance, oil synthesis, and fatty acid synthesis and metabolism when compared with their parents. Further, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were performed on 12 genes encoding DEPs involved in oil synthesis, pollen abortion, yield, and stress resistance of seeds. The results showed that the expression levels of the 12 genes were consistent with those of the DEPs.

Liuting Zhou,1,2 Zhenyan Ye,3 E Zhang,4 Li Chen,1 Yitong Hou,1 JuChun Lin,2 Fenglan Huang,1 Zhixiang Yuan5 1Department of Osteoporosis, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pharmacy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Clinical Medical; Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 4Officers college of PAP, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 5College of Pharmacy, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fenglan Huang, Email huangfenglan2011@sina.comPurpose: Mesangial cells-mediated glomerulonephritis refers to a category of immunologically mediated glomerular injuries characterized by infiltration of circulating inflammatory cells, proliferation of mesangial cells, and the common pathological manifestation to the later stage is renal fibrosis, accompanied by excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). Treatment regimens include glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents, but their off-target distribution causes severe systemic toxicity. Hence, specific co-delivery of “anti-inflammatory/anti-fibrosis” drugs to the glomerular mesangial cell (MC) region is expected to produce better therapeutic effects.Methods: A novel kidney-targeted nanocarrier drug delivery system targeting MCs was constructed using passive targeting resulting from the difference in pore size between the glomerular endothelial layer and the basement membrane, and active targeting based on the specific binding of antibodies and antigens. Specifically, a liposome-nanoparticle hybrid (PLGA-LNHy) was formed by coating the surface of PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) with a phospholipid bilayer, and then PLGA-LNHy was co-modified with PEG and α 8 integrin antibodies to obtain PLGA immunoliposomes (PLGA-ILs).Results: The results showed that the obtained NPs had a core-shell structure, uniform and suitable particle size (119.1 ± 2.31 nm), low cytotoxicity, and good mesangial cell-entry ability, which can successfully accumulate in the glomerular MC region. Both dexamethasone (DXMS) and captopril (CAP) were loaded onto PLGA-ILs with a drug loading of 10.22 ± 1.00% for DXMS and 6.37 ± 0.25% for CAP (DXMS/CAP@PLGA-ILs). In vivo pharmacodynamics showed that DXMS/CAP@PLGA-ILs can effectively improve the pathological changes in the mesangial area and positive expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in glomeruli as well as reduce the expression of inflammatory factors, fibrotic factors and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Thus, renal inflammation and fibrosis were relieved.Conclusion: We have provided a strategy to increase nanoparticle accumulation in MCs with the potential to implement regulatory effects of anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrosis in glomerulonephritis (GN).Keywords: MCs, renal inflammatory, renal fibrosis, tem

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the world's top ten oil crops. China is the second largest producer of castor beans, but China's castor bean acreage has been declining. A principal reason for this decline is the prevalence of weeds and the absence of herbicide resistant varieties of castor plants. In this study, we used Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer to introduce the EPSPS (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase) gene, which confers resistance to glyphosate, and the Bar (phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase) gene, encoding resistance to glufosinate, into castor 2129 (high stem excellent recovery line) and CSR 181 (dwarf stem excellent recovery line). The transgenic plants exhibited significantly increased expression of the EPSPS and Bar genes and significantly increased resistance to glyphosate and glufosinate. Proteomic analysis showed differences in the amounts of 20 proteins in the dwarf stem transgenic plants. Nine of these proteins are involved in photosynthesis and indirectly related to the mechanism of action of the Bar gene. Eight proteins are involved in defense, repair, stress response, oxidative phosphorylation, and metabolic pathways and are indirectly related to the mechanism of action of the EPSPS gene. These results provide a foundation for the preparation of high herbicide resistant castor varieties.

Castor (Ricinus communis L.), known as castor oil plant or castor bean, is a non-edible oilseed crop. In the present study, the genetic diversity among 54 samples (3 wild and 51 cultivated) collected worldwide was evaluated using inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 9 ISSR primers produced 83 high-resolution bands with 61 (74.53%) as polymorphic. The percentage of polymorphic bands per primer and the genetic similarity coefficient ranged from 54.55% (UBC-836) to 100% (UBC-808) and from 0.74 to 0.96, respectively. A total of 11 out of 20 RAPD primers amplified unique polymorphic products with an average percentage of polymorphic bands of 60.98% (56 polymorphic bands out of a total of 90 bands obtained). The percentage of polymorphic bands per primer ranged from 25% (OPA-02 and B7) to 90.91% (B21) with the genetic similarity coefficient ranging from 0.73 to 0.98. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) dendrogram using two molecular markers divided 54 castor genotypes into three groups. Furthermore, based on morphological data, all 54 castor varieties were grouped into three main clusters. The genetic diversity analysis based on two molecular makers showed that most varieties from China were closely related to each other with three varieties (GUANGDONGwild, ZHEJIANGWild, and HANNANWild) belonging to a wild group separated from most of the cultivated castor samples from China, India, France, and Jordan. These results suggested that the cultivated castor contains a narrow genetic base. Accordingly, we recommend that wild castor genetic resources be introduced for breeding novel castor varieties. Furthermore, the Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria accessions were clustered into the same group. The results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and UPGMA cluster analysis were consistent with each other. The findings of this study are important for future breeding studies of castor.

Background: Castor is a dicotyledon, ricinus communis, Euphorbiaceae, and is oneof world ten oil crops. Lm female line castor has three inflorescence types(female with marker, haplometrotic and monoecious). Female with marker castor was realized as a restorer line and as a maintainer line,which was applied to castor hybrid breeding. The developmental mechanism of the three inflorescences is not clear.Results: Therefor, in this study , proteomic and metabolomic analyses of different inflorescences axis were performed. Seventy-three diferentially abundant protein species (DAPS) were detected in the proteomics analysis and 86 differentially abundant metabolites (DAMs) were identified from the proteomic and metabolomic analyses of the inflorescences axis, respectively. These DAPS and DAMs are primarily mainly involved in carbon metabolism, comprising carbon fixation in the photosynthetic organism pathway, the glycolysis pathway, carbon metabolic pathways, and the biosynthesis of amino acids. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) results demonstrated that the proteomics and metabolomic data collected in this study were reliable.Conclusions: The results of this study provides some valuable insights into the inflorescence development of castor: Specifically, the results showed that DAPS and DAMs are involved in photosynthesis and respiration to control the distribution of imported carbohydrates and exported photoassimilates and thus affect inflorescence development of castor. Furthermore, the dynamic balance of amino acids in different types of inflorescences was also shown to be essential in affecting inflorescence structure.

Ginsenoside Rg3, a ginsenoside isolated from Panax ginseng, can regulate autophagy via AMP-activated protein kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin (AMPK/mTOR) signaling pathway. AMPK/mTOR signaling and autophagy have been reported to be involved in osteogenesis. Here, the effect of Rg3 on ovariectomy (OVX)-induced osteoporosis is explored. In vivo, rats were treated with 20 mg/kg Rg3 after OVX and the body weight (BW) was monitored. Bone mineral density (BMD), hematoxylin-eosin staining of femur tissues, osteogenesis, autophagy, and AMPK/mTOR signaling were analyzed. In vitro, MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 100 μmol/L Rg3. 10 and 20 μmol/L Rg3, which had no significant effect on cell viability and significantly affected AMPK/mTOR signaling, were chosen for further analysis. Then osteogenic differentiation was induced with Rg3 or/and AMPK inhibitor (Compound C). AMPK/mTOR signaling, autophagy, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization by Alizarin Red staining were analyzed. The expression or activity of AMPK/mTOR signaling-related proteins, autophagy markers, and osteogenesis markers was measured by western blotting or commercial kits, and cell viability by cell counting kit-8 assay kits. Rg3 significantly alleviated OVX-induced BW increases, BMD declines and histological changes of femur tissues, promoted osteogenesis, autophagy, and AMPK signaling, but inhibited mTOR signaling in vivo. Moreover, Rg3 significantly enhanced AMPK signaling, autophagy, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization, but suppressed mTOR signaling in vitro. However, Compound C significantly reversed Rg3-induced alterations in vitro, indicating that Rg3 regulated autophagy, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization via AMPK/mTOR signaling. Hence, it was speculated that Rg3 might attenuate OVX-induced osteoporosis via AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway.

Ricinoleic acid, one of the biggest components in castor oil, is an unusual fatty acid with numerous industrial applications. Despite much research on the oil content of Ricinus communis L., the genes encoding the oil biosynthesis function in the seed developmental stages are still poorly known. Here, we analyzed differentially expressed transcripts during seed development using cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism. Almost all ingredients significantly decreased along with seed maturation, except for ricinoleic acid, which increased greatly from 6.7% to 86.8%. A total of 534 distinguished fragments were differentially expressed in six development stages. Among these, 67 fragments showed high homology with known-function genes, and 26 sequences were successfully annotated with fatty acid synthesis or storage proteins in castor and other species. The results showed that fatty acid synthesis and accumulation in castor seeds displayed various temporal patterns. Different cDNA-fragment patterns were mainly found in later development stages, coinciding with the onset of oil synthesis.

DNA methylation plays an important role in endosperm development and is involved in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. However, the epigenetic regulation of castor seed development has not yet been reported. In this study, methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) analysis was used to investigate the methylation level in castor. In 20-day-old castor seeds, 41.17% of the fragments were fully methylated and 15.61% were hemimethylated. In 60 day-old seed, the full methylation and hemimethylation rates were 19.77% and 7.56%, respectively, suggesting that some methylation level changes existed during the castor seed development. A total of 647 bands were identified with different methylation or demethylation patterns during the seed maturation. However, only 37 sequences were homologous to well-known proteins, such as phospholipid-transporting ATPase, phosphatases and methyltransferase. Therefore, these results clearly demonstrated that the MSAP technique is very useful for the analysis of the global DNA methylation state in castor and the complexity of DNA methylation changes during seed development. The different methylation levels may be correlated with the specific gene expression in different seed development stages.

Magnaporthe grisea is the most harmful pathogen in the world for rice and the main model organism for elucidating the molecular basis of plant fungal disease interaction. Carrying out relevant research of the growth and development of Magnaporthe grisea has a great significance for the control of Magnaporthe grisea . MGG _ 14095 gene is the pathogenic gene of Magnaporthe grisea . The bioinformatics prediction of MGG_14095 protein showed that the isoelectric point (PI) of MGG_14095 protein was 5.72, and the instability index was 50.99, belonging to the acid unstable protein and the α/β hydrolase superfamily, containing the keratinase conservative domain; having obvious transmembrane structure and signal peptide cutting site, belonging to the secretory protein. In this study, the MGG _ 14095 ( 38 ~ 281 ) gene of Magnaporthe grisea was cloned, and the prokaryotic expression system pETM20- MGG _ 14095 ( 38 ~ 28 ) was constructed. We use the stepwise chromatography to purify MGG_14095 protein, and the high-purity soluble target protein was obtained successfully. The results provided for the analysis of MGG_14095(38~281) protein structure, the exploration of pathogenetic mechanism of Magnaporthe grisea and the control of Magnaporthe grisea Certain theoretical and experimental basis.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between oil content and seed size in 32 castor accessions. The oil content and fatty acid composition were determined using the Soxhlet extraction method and capillary gas chromatography. The results indicated that the values of seed characteristics were very variable. The crude fat percentage among the accessions ranged from 36.62% to 49.19%. The content of ricinoleic acid was highest in all fatty acid compositions, from 82.3% to 88.6%. The other fatty acids appeared at a low content (less than 1%). Correlation analysis revealed that seed size was significantly positively correlated with 100-seed weight, the crude fat content and the ricinoleic acid content but showed negative correlation with the content of palmitic and arachidic acids. Hierarchical clustering of castor cultivars separated the 32 accessions into four independent clusters. The obtained results provide useful information for further research in breeding and utilization of castor oil.

Oil content and fatty acid composition were investigated on 12 castor varieties and strains by using the soxhlet extraction method and capillary gas chromatography. This was made to provide a reference and theoretical basis for castorbean breeding with high oil content, determine variability of seed compounds for breeding purposes, and broaden chemical material choices. Results revealed that crude fat percentage in seeds ranged from 18.91 to 35.84% with an average of 25.91%; the absolute content of ricinoleicacid varied between 171.65 g/kg and 314.03 g/kg with an averageof 222.43 g/kg, and kernel crude fat percentage was between 24.28 and 46.97% with an average of 34.30%. All these study variables were highest in the 2129 strain. The percentage of ricinoleic acid in crude fat was between 83.85 to 87.62%, and the highest value was found in the zhebi4 accession. The other fatty acids appeared in small concentrations, and showed small amplitude: 1.12 to 1.61%,1.21 to 1.61%, 3.53 to 4.80%, 5.35 to 6.38%, 0.52 to 0.79%, 0.05 to 0.08% and 0.43 to 0.55%, for palmitic, stearic, oleic, linolic, linolenic, arachidic, and arachidonic acids, respectively. One hundred seed weight was determined for each accession. One hundred seed weight ranged from 25.7 g to 34.0 g with an average of 29.9 g. There was a significant correlation between seed weight and oil content, but the correlation value was low (r=0.51). Cluster analysis by SSPS based on the content of fatty acid composition revealed that the accessions were divided into three independent clusters. These findings will clearly provide useful information for further research in breeding and utilization of castor oil.

Polyploidy is common in many plant species. Up to date, few studies were reported on photosynthesis and leaf anatomy of tetraploid black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia L.), which has considerable value for agriculture and forest. This study compared photosynthesis and leaf ultrastructure on two black locusts. The values of P n and C i in tetraploid were significantly higher than those in the corresponding diploids. Significantly lower stomata dimensions (6.0 μm in length and 2.4 μm in width) and tomatal density were observed in 4×. Leaf trichome density was statistically different between 2× and 4×. However, no substantial difference in the ultrastructure of chloroplasts and mitochondria between diploid and tetraploid was observed under any stress. These ultrastructural characteristics may contribute to tetraploid a better protection mechanism than diploid.

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is an important oilseed crop for the rich hydroxylated triacylglycerol (TAG)-ricinoleate which is a raw material with wide applications in industry. Hydroxylated TAG synthesis occurs through complicated pathways among multiple subcellular organelles. Some crucial enzymes have been identified in previous studies. After analyzing the available castor tissue-specific transcriptome sequencing data and comparing the classic pathways in other plants, a possible de novo biosynthesis pathway for the hydroxylated TAG has been revealed. In this study, some other crucial enzymes were ascertained and their expression levels were characterized and pinpointed into the pathways in castor. Several key enzymes were analyzed in terms of structure, biofunction prediction and similarity of expression pattern mechanisms, aiming to give an insight on the better understandings of the molecular knowledge for this oil-rich plant and the crucial enzyme performances in the hydroxylated triacylglycerol-ricinoleate biosynthesis pathways.

The auxin-related gene family adjusts auxin balance and the hormone signaling pathways in plants. The ARF (Auxin response factor), GH3 (Gretchen Hagen 3), and Aux/IAA (Auxin/indole-3-acetic acid) gene families, three key components of the auxin signaling pathway, are ubiquitous in plants and function as regulators of plant growth and response to stress. Although members of ARF, GH3, and Aux/IAA gene families have been identified in several plant species, they have not been identified in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.), a non-edible oil crop. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used and 18 ARF, seven GH3 and 19 Aux/IAA putative genes were identified in castor bean. Detailed sequence characterizations, multiple sequence alignment, and exon-intron structures revealed that the three auxin-related family members have high conservation. Phylogenetic trees constructed with 67 ARF, 38 GH3, and 78 Aux/IAA genes from castor bean, Arabidopsis thaliana, and rice (Oryza sativa L.) indicated that members within same group showed structural conservation, although some divergence occurred in different groups. Cis-regulatory element analysis of promoter regions showed that the ARF, GH3, and Aux/IAA genes have diverse functions in growth and development. Expression pattern analysis based on RNA-seq and qRT-PCR showed that one RcARF, three RcGH3, and four RcIAA genes were differentially expressed between high-stalk and dwarf castor, suggesting functions in castor growth. The present study provides useful information for functional analysis of ARF, GH3, and Aux/IAA genes and suggest that members of these gene families would be candidate for castor molecular breeding.

Castor bean meal is the by-product of castor oil production with many active components. One of the major active compounds in castor bean meal is ricinine. In the present study, a pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography (CCC) method was developed and established to separate ricinine from the by-product of Ricinus communis L. The CCC separation was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of MtBE–CH3CN–water (2:2:3, v/v) at a flow rate of 2.0 mL/min, 10 mM triethylamine (TEA) was added to the upper phase as a retainer and 10 mM HCl to the lower phase as an eluter. As a result, 496 mg of ricinine with the purity of 95.1% was obtained from 2 g crude sample in a single run, and the structure was confirmed by MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. Experimental results showed that the present method is time-saving, high sample recovery and very suitable for large-scale isolation of ricinine.

At present, a person-specific 3D model generation technology has been an active research topic for scientists in the field of computer vision and computer graphics. The paper proposes a 3D modeling method based on single photograph, by analysis of individual difference like geometric features which present the shape and locations of facial components. An extension of the basic Active Appearance Model is proposed to localize some facial feature points in the frontal image and all these feature points are aligned to fit the generic 3D face model to a specialized one to reflect the given person's face, being both more robust and faster. Then an optimized texture mapping of cylindrical projection and model adjustment technologies are presented, to synthesize personal virtual face realistically. This method rectifies these previous defects, such as the difficulty in gaining access to acquiring the accurate data of a 3D face model, slowly manual location methods, incomplete facial information mining. The approach gives a significant improvement in both the reliability and the overall accuracy of 3D modeling.

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is an essential and promising plant growth regulation factor that can improve plant development and growth. Here, we explored the mechanism by which MeJA regulates the tolerance of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) to salt stress. In this study, diploid and tetraploid R. pseudoacacia were subjected to three treatments: 500 mM NaCl; 100 μM MeJA; and 500 mM NaCl and 100 μM MeJA, and the changes in plant growth, endogenous MeJA levels and the anti-oxidative metabolism of leaves were investigated. The results showed that salt stress significantly inhibited plant growth and induced the accumulation of Na+ and Cl− ions, malondialdehyde (MDA) content and reactive oxygen species. However, these adverse effects could be alleviated by applying MeJA, which was followed by a marked increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes. In addition, some genes encoding several antioxidant enzymes were also up-regulated. Simultaneously, the endogenous MeJA content in MeJA-treated plants was lower than in salt-treated plants. It is noteworthy that tetraploids always possessed higher salt tolerance and obtained greater positive effects from MeJA than diploids. These results suggested that MeJA might play a protective role in defense responses, enabling diploid and tetraploid black locust, especially tetraploid, to better tolerate the adverse effects of salt stress.

Plants provide an immense reservoir of natural secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites and those involved enzymes accumulate in various compartments in specific plant tissues. The biosynthesis of diverse groups of secondary metabolites is often complicated, tightly controlled via network interconnections, metabolite levels, metabolite channeling and multi-enzyme complexes, and so on. Secondary metabolite profiles could be genetically altered by two strategies, i.e. single gene modification and multiple gene modification; which thus has opened a feasible and prospective platform for secondary chemicals production in plant.

With the rising of Chinese economy, the Chinese management pattern becomes the focus which takes scholars and managers’ attention to warmly discuss. In this paper, we analyze and summarize Chinese experts and the enterprise’ research on the Chinese management pattern’s innovation. So we hope it can lead more people to make deeper research in this area and promote this academic theory.