Search

Effects of aggregate size and shape on monotonic shear behaviour of unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced aggregate interfaces were systematically investigated through direct shear tests. Five different grades of angular aggregates and five kinds of rounded aggregates with identical particle size distribution were selected as test materials. Experiment results revealed the coupling effects of particle shape and aperture ratio (AS/D50), defined as the ratio of geogrid aperture size (AS) to the average particle size of aggregate (D50), on the shear behaviour of the unreinforced and reinforced interfaces. The peak shear stress, shear displacements corresponding to peak shear stress and residual shear stress, as well as maximum dilation of aggregate–geogrid interfaces at each AS/D50 were greater than those of glass beads–geogrid interfaces. The largest interface shear strength coefficient of aggregate–geogrid interfaces was achieved at AS/D50 = 2.55, and the optimum reinforcement of glass beads–geogrid interfaces appeared at AS/D50 = 5.05. The shear strength decreased more after the peak when the value of AS/D50 was relatively small, and the post-peak strength reduction of aggregate–geogrid interfaces was more pronounced. A generalised stress-dilatancy relationship was proposed, which introduced a variable dilatancy index (ζ) that reflected the effects of aperture ratio and particle shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nineteen polymorphic microsatellites isolated from a partial genomic DNA library of Sarcocheilichthys sinensis enriched for CA repeats were developed. Variability was tested on 48 unrelated individuals collected from Jiangsu province, China. Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.200 ( Ss236) to 1.00 ( Ss223, Ss224), whereas the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.213 ( Ss232) to 0.939 ( Ss224). Shannon's information index ranged from 0.405 ( Ss236) to 2.988 ( Ss224). Sixteen of the 19 microsatellites conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These microsatellites can be used for the evaluation of genetic parameters in populations to supply valuable information for conservation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient UV excitable Ce3+ ion activated SrWO4 phosphors, which were successfully prepared through a hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, CIE color coordinates and photoluminescence were used to characterize the samples. The effect of adding pH solution on the luminescent properties of SrWO4: Ce3+ was studied, the luminescence material SrWO4:Ce3+ exhibits intense blue photoluminescence (PL) with the maximum peak located at 306 nm, which is ascribed to the 4f→5d transition of Ce3+, All these results indicate that the SrWO4: Ce3+ phosphor holds tremendous potential for practical applications in and display with high performance LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) produces nitric oxide (NO) by catalyzing the conversion of l-arginine to l-citrulline, with the concomitant oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. Recently, various studies have verified the importance of NOS invertebrates and invertebrates. However, the NOS gene family in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense is poorly understood. In this study, we cloned the full-length NOS complementary DNA from M. nipponense (MnNOS) and characterized its expression pattern in different tissues and at different developmental stages. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) showed the MnNOS gene to be expressed in all investigated tissues, with the highest levels observed in the androgenic gland (P < 0.05). Our results revealed that the MnNOS gene may play a key role in M. nipponense male sexual differentiation. Moreover, RT-qPCR revealed that MnNOS mRNA expression was significantly increased in post-larvae 10 days after metamorphosis (P < 0.05). The expression of this gene in various tissues indicates that it may perform versatile biological functions in M. nipponense., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Sturgeons (Acipenser schrenckii) are of high evolutionary, economic, and conservation value, and caviar isone of the most valuable animal food products in the world. The Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencing platform was used to construct testicular and ovarian transcriptomes to identify genes involved in reproduction and sex determination in A. schrenckii. A total of 122,381 and 114,527 unigenes were obtained in the testicular and ovarian transcriptomes, respectively, with average lengths of 748 and 697 bp. A total of 46,179 genes were matched to the non-redundant nr database. GO (31,266), KEGG (39,712), and COG analyses (20,126) were performed to identify potential genes and their functions. Twenty-six gene families involved in reproduction and sex determination were identified from the A. schrenckii testicular and ovarian transcriptomes based on functional annotation of non-redundant transcripts and comparisons with the published literature. Furthermore, 1309 unigenes showed significant differences between the testes and ovaries, including 782 genes that were up-regulated in the testes and 527 that were up-regulated in the ovaries. Eleven genes were involved in reproduction and sex determination mechanisms. Furthermore, 19,065 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified in the expressed sequence tagged dataset, and 190,863 and 193,258 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained from the testicular and ovarian transcriptomic databases, respectively. This study provides new sequence information about A. schrenckii, which will provide a basis for the further study of reproduction and sex determination mechanisms in Acipenser species. The potential SSR and SNP markers isolated from the transcriptome may shed light on the evolution and molecular ecology of Acipenser species.

The oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense, is an important aquaculture species in China. The androgenic gland produces hormones that play crucial roles in the differentiation of crustaceans to the male sex. MicroRNA (miRNA) post-transcriptionally regulates many protein-coding genes, influencing important biological and metabolic processes. However, currently, there is no published data identifying miRNA in M. nipponense. In this study, we identified novel miRNA in the androgenic gland of M. nipponense. Using the high-throughput Illumina Solexa system, 1077 miRNA were identified from small RNA libraries by aligning with the de novo androgenic gland transcriptome of M. nipponense (obtained from RNA-Seq) and the sequences in the miRBase21 database. A total of 8,248, 76,011, and 78,307 target genes were predicted in the EST and SRA sequences provided in the NCBI database, and the androgenic gland transcriptome of M. nipponense, respectively. Some potential sex-related miRNA were identified based on the function of the predicted target genes. The results of our study provide new information regarding the miRNA expression in M. nipponense, which could be the basis for further genetic studies on decapod crustaceans.

Increasing evidence suggests that the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (IAG) gene plays an important role in male sexual differentiation, metabolism, and growth in crustaceans. In the present study, we isolated the full-length genome sequence of IAG by genome walking based on the cDNA sequence in Macrobrachium nipponense. Four novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were studied, including 509G>T, 529G>T, 590A>T in intron 1, and 2226A>G in intron 2. The association of genetic variation with growth traits [body length (BL) and body weight (BW)] was analyzed. Individuals with GG geno- type at locus 2226A>G maintained higher mean BL (P < 0.01) and BW (P < 0.05) than AA and GA individuals. These results suggest that IAG SNPs may be useful molecular markers for selecting growth traits in M. nipponense.

Broad-Complex (BR-C) is an early ecdysone-responsive gene encoding a family of zinc-finger transcription factors. In this study, we isolated the full-length cDNA of a BR-C homolog from the testes of the oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense), according to established expressed sequence tag information, using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends technique. The homolog was designated as MnBR-C. The full-length cDNA of MnBR-C contained a 1095-bp open reading frame encoding a precursor protein of 365 amino acid residues. Comparative and bioinformatic analyses revealed that MnBR-C exhibited a high degree of homology with BR-C proteins, and contained the BTB and Zf-H2C2-2 domains. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis revealed that the MnBR-C expression level varied significantly in the developing embryo, postembryonic larva, and adult tissue. Real-time qPCR showed that the MnBR-C gene was expressed in all of the tissues investigated, with the highest level of expression in the brain. In addition, MnBR-C was more abundantly expressed in the testes than in the ovaries.

The gene female sterile homeotic (fsh) plays crucial roles in molecular function, including protein kinase activity and DNA binding, which are involved in biological processes such as terminal region determination and negative regulation of DNA-dependent transcription. Although fsh has been found in Drosophila melanogaster, little is known regarding its expression in crustaceans. In this study, a fsh gene homologue, designated as Mnfsh, was cloned and characterized from the testis of the oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense, by using EST analysis and the RACE approach for the first time. The full-length cDNA of Mnfsh was 2029 bp, consisting of a 5' UTR of 361 bp, a 3' UTR of 216 bp, and an ORF of 1452 bp encoding 484 amino acids. qRT-PCR analysis showed that the Mnfsh gene was expressed in the testis, ovary, muscle, heart, eyestalk, and abdominal ganglion, with the highest level of expression in the ovary and the lowest in the heart. qRT-PCR analyses showed that the expression levels of Mnfsh mRNA both significantly increased in the zoea stage, the VII larvae, and 1st day post-larvae after metamorphosis. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that Mnfsh is an arthropod fsh homologue and probably also plays important roles in embryogenesis, organogenesis, and morphological differentiation of M. nipponense.

A group of 107 F1 hybrid common carp was used to construct a linkage map using JoinMap 4.0. A total of 4877 microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers isolated from a genomic library (978 microsatellite and 3899 SNP markers) were assigned to construct the genetic map, which comprised 50 linkage groups. The total length of the linkage map for the common carp was 4775.90 cM with an average distance between markers of 0.98 cM. Ten quantitative trait loci (QTL) were associated with eye diameter, corresponding to 10.5-57.2% of the total phenotypic variation. Twenty QTL were related to eye cross, contributing to 10.8-36.9% of the total phenotypic variation. Two QTL for eye diameter and four QTL for eye cross each accounted for more than 20% of the total phenotypic variation and were considered to be major QTL. One growth factor related to eye diameter was observed on LG10 of the common carp genome, and three growth factors related to eye cross were observed on LG10, LG35, and LG44 of the common carp genome. The significant positive relationship of eye cross and eye diameter with other commercial traits suggests that eye diameter and eye cross can be used to assist in indirect selection for many commercial traits, particularly body weight. Thus, the growth factor for eye cross may also contribute to the growth of body weight, implying that aggregate breeding could have multiple effects. These findings provide information for future genetic studies and breeding of common carp.

In this study, male-specific lethal 3 homolog (Mnmsl3) was cloned and characterized from the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The deduced amino acid sequences of Mnmsl3 showed high-sequence homology to the insect Msl3 and contained a conserved chromatin organization modifier domain and an MORF4-related gene domain. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction showed that the Mnmsl3 gene was expressed in all the investigated tissues, with the highest level of expression in the testis. The expression level of Mnmsl3 between males and females was different in the gonad (testis or ovary), abdominal ganglion, and heart. The results revealed that the Mnmsl3 gene might play roles in regulating chromatin and in dosage compensation of M. nipponense. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction also revealed that Mnmsl3 mRNA expression was significantly increased in both 5 and 20 days post-larvae after metamorphosis, suggesting that Mnmsl3 plays complex and important roles in the early embryonic development and sex differentiation of M. nipponense.

This study utilized high-throughput RNA sequencing technology to identify reproduction- and development-related genes of Macrobrachium nipponense by analyzing gene expression profiles of testis and ovary. More than 20 million 1 x 51-bp reads were obtained by Illumina sequencing, generating more than 7.7 and 11.7 million clean reads in the testis and ovary library, respectively. As a result, 10,018 unitags were supposed to be differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ovary and testis. Compared to the ovary library, 4563 (45.5%) of these DEGs exhibited at least 6-fold upregulated expression, while 5455 (54.5%) DEGs exhibited at least 2-fold downregulated expression in the testis. The Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that 113 GO terms had potential molecular functions in reproduction. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes results revealed that the most important pathways may be relevant to reproduction and included 7 pathways. Forty-two genes were identified as reproduction-, development-, and sex-related genes based on GO classification and sequence comparison with other publications, including male reproductive-related LIM protein, spermatogenesis-associated protein, gametocyte-specific factor 1, VASA-like protein, vitellogenin, sex-determining protein fem-1, and other potential candidates. These results will advance research in the field of molecular genetics in M. nipponense and offer a valuable resource for further research related to reproduction in crustaceans.

To assess the genetic status of this species, the genetic diversity of wild Macrobrachium nipponense from seven geographic locations in the Yellow River basin were investigated using 20 polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci. The genetic diversity between populations was indicated by the mean number of alleles per locus and mean observed heterozygosity (H) and the expected H, which was arranged from 2 to 10, from 0.4705 to 0.5731, and from 0.5174 to 0.6146, respectively. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium analysis indicated that a deficiency of heterozygotes existed in all seven populations. Both the F(ST) and AMOVA analyses showed that there is significant difference on population differentiation among populations. The UPGMA clustering tree demonstrated that their close relationship is consistent with their geographic proximity. The data suggest that this Yellow River population has a wide genetic base that is suitable for breeding.

In this study, two Sxl gene homologs, designated as Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2, were cloned and characterized from the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium nipponense by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The deduced amino acid sequences of Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2 showed high sequence homology to the insect Sxl and contained conserved domains in two RNA-binding motifs. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-QPCR) showed that the Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2 genes were expressed in all investigated tissues, with the highest level of expression in the intestine and liver. RT-QPCR also revealed that Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2 mRNAs expressions were both significantly increased at 5 and 20 days post-larvae after metamorphosis. Thus, the results of the present study imply that Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2 play complex and important roles in the sex differentiation of M. nipponense.

In chromatography, if analytes are strong acid anions or strong alkali cations, the dependence of a logarithm of the adjusted retention value on the logarithm of the concentration of the eluent is given by log tR' = const - (j/i).log C, where j is the charge of the analyte ion, i is the charge of the eluent ion, const is a constant that depends on the column, eluent and analyte ion. But in weak acid anion chromatography, existing forms of the sample anion change with the change of the concentration of the eluent. So the study on the relationship between retention value of weak acid anion and concentration of the eluent is more difficult. Relationship between adjusted retention value of some weak acid anion and concentration of the eluent was studied with sodium hydroxide as eluent. The nonlinear fitting function has been set up. We transform it into multiple linear fitting to give the answer. The correlation coefficients for phosphate defined by the function were over 0.99. The relative errors with the use of function were below 5%.

This study was designed prospectively to evaluate the development of anti-p53 antibodies (Abs) in lung cancer patients in relation to their clinical outcome. Sera, derived from 125 lung cancer patients, consisting of 14 small cell lung cancers (SCLC) and 111 non-SCLCs (NSCLC), were surveyed. The p53-null human NSCLC cell line, NCI-H1299, transfected with a human mutant p53 gene was prepared as the source of p53 antigen for immunoblotting analyses to detect the presence of serum anti-p53 Abs. The control group included sera from 10 healthy adults and 14 patients with benign pulmonary diseases. Clinical data including staging and survival were recorded for statistical analyses. The anti-p53 Abs were found in 8% (10 of 125) of the lung cancer patients studied (8.1% of NSCLC versus 7.1% of SCLC patients), whereas none of the control sera had detectable anti-p53 Abs. The presence of anti-p53 Abs was closely associated with malignant pleural effusions (P = 0.001). The p53 Ab-positive patients had a worse prognosis than the p53 Ab-negative patients (P < 0.02; median survival, 20 versus 41 weeks). In both univariate and multivariate analyses, the tumor extension and probably the presence of anti-p53 Abs were significant predictors for cancer death. The development of anti-p53 Abs (n = 9) was also a predictor for poor survival in patients with malignant effusions (n = 51). In conclusion, the presence of serum anti-p53 Abs is closely associated with malignant pleural effusions in lung cancer patients. It may serve as a negative prognostic factor for survival independent of malignant pleural effusions and tumor staging.