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Background Methods Results Conclusion In this study, we combined two techniques, ultrasound‐guided needle biopsy and flow cytometry (FCM), to explore their value in patients with enlarged lymph nodes.We compared the results of 198 needle biopsies on FCM and pathology. Forty‐two were done by (fine needle aspiration, FNA), and the remaining 156 with (core needle biopsy, CNB), in 36 of 156 patients, a FNA was performed in the same lymph node after completion of the CNB. Except for five types of pathological entities, the rest were differentiated only detected or undetected tumours as the outcome distinction.Among the 198 needle biopsies, 13 were inadequate specimens, while the remaining 185 had pathological findings, including 47 benign and 138 neoplastic findings. Thirty‐six patients underwent puncture with both FNA and CNB, both needles produced identical results by FCM, but more cells were obtained by FNA. Among the pathologically positive results, there were 23 missed diagnoses in FCM, in contrast, evidence of tumours was observed in the FCM images of 15 needle biopsies that reported benign or findings that were inconsistent with pathology, and the final diagnosis was consistent with the FCM in 10 cases. FCM detected haematolymphoid tumours with a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 91.9%.The combination of FCM and ultrasound‐guided lymph node needle biopsy can quickly provide guidance for clinical decision‐making. We recommend that all lymph node needle biopsies be sent for FCM, the specimen can be obtained by the last puncture with FNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites present in plant organs and tissues. These natural metabolites are the most prevalent and display a wide range of beneficial physiological effects, making them usually intriguing in several scientific fields. Due to their safety for use and protective attributes, including antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, anticancer, and antimicrobial functions, flavonoids are broadly utilized in foods, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. However, conventional methods for producing flavonoids, such as plant extraction and chemical synthesis, entailed dangerous substances, and laborious procedures, with low product yield. Recent studies have documented the ability of microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria, to synthesize adequate amounts of flavonoids. Bacterial biosynthesis of flavonoids from plant biomass is a viable and environmentally friendly technique for producing flavonoids on a larger scale and has recently received much attention. Still, only a few bacteria species, particularly Escherichia coli, have been extensively studied. The most recent developments in bacterial biosynthesis of flavonoids are reviewed and discussed in this article, including their various applications as natural food biocontrol agents. In addition, the challenges currently faced in bacterial flavonoid biosynthesis and possible solutions, including the application of modern biotechnology approaches for developing bacterial strains that could successfully produce flavonoids on an industrial scale, were elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Previous studies have revealed that triglyceride-rich lipoprotein cholesterol (TRL-c) is closely related to diabetes mellitus (DM) in hypertensive patients. However, this relationship in stroke patients has not been reported. The aims of this study are to investigate the relationship between TRL-c and diabetes in adult Chinese stroke. Methods. Patients with stroke treated in the Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 2019 to January 2021 were selected. TRL-c was calculated from total cholesterol minus (high-density and low-density lipoprotein). DM was diagnosed based on previous medical history (diagnosed by secondary hospitals or above) and/or current use of hypoglycemic drugs and/or intravenous blood glucose measurement (fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L or nonfasting blood glucose > 11.1 mmol/L). The relationship between the TRL-c and DM was determined using multivariate logistic regression, smoothing curve fitting (penalized spline method), and subgroup analysis. Results. A total of 890 patients with stroke (age, 66.1 ± 11.8 years) were enrolled, including 329 females. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that TRL-c had a positive association with DM (OR 1.88; 95% CI: 1.22 to 2.89). Strong linear associations of TRL-c with DM were confirmed by restricted cubic spline analysis. And the association between TRL-c and DM was consistent in the different subgroups. Conclusion. Positive associations were found between TRL-c and DM in patients with stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ecological remediation reduced human MeHg exposure and produced huge economic benefits. • Planting structure adjustment generated rapid and substantial economic benefits with no cost. • Flooding caused negative effect and pollution source treatment can offset this effect. • Risk assessment model of human MeHg exposure via rice consumption was established. Methylmercury (MeHg) exposure via rice consumption poses health risk to residents in mercury contaminated areas, such as the Wanshan Hg mining area (WSMA) in southwest China. Making use of the published data for WSMA, this study developed a database of rice MeHg concentrations for different villages in this region for the years of 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2019. The temporal changes of human MeHg exposure, health effects, and economic benefits under different ecological remediation measures were then assessed. Results from this study revealed a decrease of 3.88 μg/kg in rice MeHg concentration and a corresponding reduction of 0.039 μg/kg/d in probable daily intake of MeHg in 2019 compared to 2007 on regional average in the WSMA. Ecological remediation measures in this region resulted in the accumulated economic benefits of $38.7 million during 2007–2022, of which 84 % was from pollution source treatment and 16 % from planting structure adjustment. However, a flooding event in 2016 led to an economic loss of $2.43 million (0.38 % of regional total Gross Domestic Product). Planting structure adjustment generates the greatest economic benefits in the short term, whereas pollution source treatment maximizes economic benefits in the long term and prevents the perturbations from flooding event. These findings demonstrate the importance of ecological remediation measures in Hg polluted areas and provide the foundation for risk assessment of human MeHg exposure via rice consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food analysis is a scientific discipline that has evolved from traditional methods into sophisticated approaches due to advances in analytical chemistry and modern biotechnology. With the global demand for safe, nutritious, and sustainable food, omics techniques have become pivotal in ensuring food authenticity and safety. These analytical techniques encompass genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, offering comprehensive insights into food composition and functionality. Besides, omics analytical techniques offer multidisciplinary insights into food science and analysis. Despite their diverse potential, these techniques remain underutilized in food analysis due to knowledge, technical, and cost barriers, necessitating further action for improvement. This review explored the contributions of omics analytical techniques, chemometrics, and bioinformatics in revolutionizing modern food analysis, highlighting their significance and potential breakthroughs through multi-omics integration and sophisticated data platforms. However, the abundance and complexity of omics data necessitate efficient handling and analysis, where bioinformatics and chemometrics play crucial roles. Integrating varied omics data, which coincide with standardizing processes and quality control, and developing prediction models are anticipated for sustainable food analysis. • The role of modern biotechnology based on omics analytical techniques in modern food analysis is discussed. • Omics analytical techniques have become pivotal in ensuring food authenticity, traceability and safety. • Chemometrics and bioinformatics are efficient for handling the complexity of omics data. • Multi-omics reveals a robust analytical advancement in food analysis by integrating omics data. • Future roadmap for improving omics analytical techniques in modern food analysis is elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing demand for sustainability and reducing CO2 footprint, lignocellulosic biomass has attracted much attention as a renewable, carbon‐neutral and low‐cost feedstock for the production of chemicals and fuels. To realize efficient utilization of biomass resource, it is essential to selectively alter the high degree of oxygen functionality of biomass‐derivates. Herein, we introduced a novel procedure to transform renewable lignin‐derived alcohols to various functionalized bibenzyl chemicals. This strategy relied on a short deoxygenation coupling pathway with economical molybdenum catalyst. A well‐designed H‐donor experiment was performed to investigate the mechanism of this Mo‐catalyzed process. It was proven that benzyl carbon‐radical was the most possible intermediate to form the bibenzyl products. It was also discovered that the para methoxy and phenolic hydroxyl groups could stabilize the corresponding radical intermediates and then facilitate to selectively obtain bibenzyl products. Our research provides a promising application to produce functionalized aromatics from biomass‐derived materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a sustainable route for the synthesis of 1,2,3,4-cyclohexanetetracarboxylate from sugar-derived muconic acid and fumaric acid. The key Diels–Alder reaction constructed a cyclohexene framework substituted by four ester groups. The isolated yield of tetramethyl 5-cyclohexene-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate was up to 95.5% without any catalyst used. And the hydrogenation reaction of the cycloadduct was catalyzed by commercial RANEY® Ni at room temperature and nearly 100% yield of the cyclohexyl target products was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catalysts with well‐defined mononuclear active sites are expected to develop more active catalytic systems for the key chemical transformations. But the rational design of catalyst with stable mononuclear Mo site is still a crucial challenge because of its oligomerization tendency under reaction condition. Herein, Molybdenum catalyst (Mo‐8‐HQ) with single Mo sites was designed via the pyridine nitrogen and oxygen in hydroxyl of 8‐hydroxyquinoline coordinated with Mo atom. The crystal catalyst was stabilized by π‐π stacking interaction and hydrogen bonds to form isolated Mo specie. The single‐site molybdenum catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance in didehydroxylation reactions with high selectively of dibutyl fumarate (86 %) product at mild reaction condition. Deuterium isotopic studies demonstrated that the mechanism feature of didehydroxylation reaction catalyzed by Mo‐8‐HQ was through concerted cleavage of two C−O bonds process, which could be accelerated by single‐site molybdenum catalysts with electron‐rich Mo centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We retrospectively studied 133 myelodysplastic syndrome patients receiving decitabine during January 2009 and September 2017. The dose of 15 mg/m2/d (n = 83) and 20 mg/m2/d (n = 50) had comparable overall response rates (ORR) (51.8% vs. 52.00%) and complete remission rate (CRR) (15.66% vs. 22.00%). The 15 mg/m2/d group had a lower incidence of grade 3/4 neutropenia (60.24% vs. 88.00%, p <.05) and thrombocytopenia (65.06% vs. 88.00%, p <.05). The 15 mg/m2/d group had a longer median overall survival (OS) (21.60 months vs. 15.23 months, p =.02). The same results were seen in refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) patients: The 15 mg/m2/d group also had comparable ORR, CRR, decreased hematological toxicities and longer OS. Further analysis suggested that survival benefit of 15 mg/m2/d group was mainly in those patients with lower risk stratification. In conclusion, 15 mg/m2/d decitabine is associated with a lower incidence of hematological toxicities and longer OS and may be more suitable for patients with relatively lower risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with hematologic malignancies are often immunodeficient and therefore have a higher risk of severe symptoms from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We retrospectively examined a cohort of 289 patients from 16 hospitals in Zhejiang Province who had hematologic malignancies and COVID-19 during a period when the Omicron variant was predominant. Univariate analysis showed that some clinical characteristics, including elder age (P = 0.014), multiple comorbid conditions (P = 0.011), and receipt of active antineoplastic therapy (P = 0.018) were associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19. Patients with severe/critical COVID-19 had significantly lower levels of lymphocytes and serum albumin, and significantly higher levels of D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 (all P < 0.05). Fifty-four patients (18.7%) had symptoms lasting ≥3 weeks, suggesting that persistent long-term COVID-19 infection is likely present in a significant proportion of patients. Receipt of the inactivated vaccine was unrelated to disease severity (P = 0.143), which indicated that many patients with hematologic malignancies may not have effective humoral immunity to inactivated vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 double-shelled nanocages (DSNCs) were successfully prepared through a metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) route. The strategy includes the synthesis of zeolite imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67)/Ni-Co layer doubled hydroxides precursor and subsequent transformation to Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 DSNCs by thermal annealing of the as-prepared precursor in air. Various techniques such as XRD, SEM/EDS, BET and TEM were employed for the characterization of microstructure and morphology of the as-prepared Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 DSNCs. The use of as-prepared Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 DSNCs as a gas sensing material in a gas sensor gave an enhanced sensitivity to acetone compared with result obtained in Co 3 O 4 nanocages (NCs). In addition, excellent reversibility and selectivity of the sensor were observed. These properties make the Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 DSNCs a good candidate for acetone detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred and forty-six highly polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of 196 peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) cultivars which had been extensively planted in different regions in China. These SSR markers amplified 440 polymorphic bands with an average of 2.99, and the average gene diversity index was 0.11. Eighty-six rare alleles with a frequency of less than 1% were identified in these cultivars. The largest Fst or genetic distance was found between the cultivars that adapted to the south regions and those to the north regions in China. A neighbor-joining tree of cultivars adapted to different ecological regions was constructed based on pairwise Nei’s genetic distances, which showed a significant difference between cultivars from the south and the north regions. A model-based population structure analysis divided these peanut cultivars into five subpopulations (P1a, P1b, P2, P3a and P3b). P1a and P1b included most the cultivars from the southern provinces including Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. P2 population consisted of the cultivars from Hubei province and parts from Shandong and Henan. P3a and P3b had cultivars from the northern provinces including Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu and the Yangtze River region including Sichuan province. The cluster analysis, PCoA and PCA based on the marker genotypes, revealed five distinct clusters for the entire population that were related to their germplasm regions. The results indicated that there were obvious genetic variations between cultivars from the south and the north, and there were distinct genetic differentiation among individual cultivars from the south and the north. Taken together, these results provided a molecular basis for understanding genetic diversity of Chinese peanut cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Association mapping is a powerful approach for exploring the molecular basis of phenotypic variations in plants. A peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) mini-core collection in China comprising 298 accessions was genotyped using 109 simple sequence repeat (SSR)markers, which identified 554 SSR alleles and phenotyped for 15 agronomic traits in three different environments, exhibiting abundant genetic and phenotypic diversity within the panel. A model-based structure analysis assigned all accessions to three groups. Most of the accessions had the relative kinship of less than 0.05, indicating that there were no or weak relationships between accessions of the minicore collection. For 15 agronomic traits in the peanut panel, generally the Q+K model exhibited the best performance to eliminate the false associated positives compared to the Q model and the general linear model-simple model. In total, 89 SSR alleles were identified to be associated with 15 agronomic traits of three environments by the Q+K model-based association analysis. Of these, eight alleles were repeatedly detected in two or three environments, and 15 alleles were commonly detected to be associated with multiple agronomic traits. Simple sequence repeat allelic effects confirmed significant differences between different genotypes of these repeatedly detected markers. Our results demonstrate the great potential of integrating the association analysis and marker-assisted breeding by utilizing the peanut mini-core collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to utilize germplasm resources more efficiently for peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genetic improvement, a core collection of 576 accessions and a primary mini core collection of 298 accessions were developed previously from a collection of 6839 cultivated peanut lines stored at the Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences at Wuhan. For an efficient evaluation and characterization of the most useful agronomic and disease-resistant traits, an even smaller collection of peanut accessions that represent a spectrum of phenotypes could be more desirable. For this reason, a mini-mini core collection with 99 accessions from the core accessions was developed based on the analysis of 21 morphological traits. It was demonstrated that there were no significant differences between the core and mini-mini core collections in 20 out of the 21 morphological traits studied. Further, the mini-mini core collection captured the ranges of all of the 21 traits displayed in the core collection. The newly developed mini-mini core collection was assessed for resistance to bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Two accessions showing a high level of resistance to bacterial wilt were identified, demonstrating the usefulness of the mini-mini core collection. The mini-mini-core collection provides a more efficient means of germplasm evaluation and will be resequenced as part of the International Peanut Genome Consortium sequencing project at the UC-Davis Genome Center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in the British Journal of Haematology, discusses a case of a 43-year-old female patient who was diagnosed with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) of nodular sclerosis type. The patient underwent chemotherapy but developed a large pleural effusion. Analysis of the fluid showed a large number of Reed-Sternberg (R-S) cells, which are characteristic of Hodgkin lymphoma. The presence of such a large number of R-S cells in the pleural fluid is rare. The study was supported by the Scientific Research Project of Zhejiang Province and the 13th Five-year Plan of Haematology of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. The research was conducted with the approval of the Ethics Committees of the Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, and informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of images. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: Post-neurosurgical intracranial infection caused by carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria (CRGNB) is a life-threatening complication. This study aimed to assess the current practices and clinical outcomes of intravenous (IV) combined with intraventricular (IVT)/intrathecal (ITH) polymyxin B in treating CRGNB intracranial infection. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients with post-neurosurgical intracranial infection due to CRGNB from January 2013 to December 2020. Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were collected and described. Kaplan–Meier survival and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: The study included 114 patients, of which 72 received systemic antimicrobial therapy combined with IVT/ITH polymyxin B, and 42 received IV administration alone. Most infections were caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB, 63.2%), followed by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP, 31.6%). Compared with the IV group, the IVT/ITH group had a higher cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sterilization rate in 7 days (p < 0.001) and lower 30-day mortality (p = 0.032). In the IVT/ITH group, patients with CRKP infection had a higher initial fever (p = 0.014), higher incidence of bloodstream infection (p = 0.040), lower CSF sterilization in 7 days (p < 0.001), and higher 30-day mortality (p = 0.005) than those with CRAB infection. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the duration of IVT/ITH polymyxin B (p = 0.021) was independently associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions: Intravenous combined with IVT/ITH polymyxin B increased CSF microbiological eradication and improved clinical outcomes. CRKP intracranial infections may lead to more difficult treatment and thus warrant attention and further optimized treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) are the most common aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus in peanuts, with high carcinogenicity and teratogenicity. Identification of DNA markers associated with resistance to aflatoxin production is likely to offer breeders efficient tools to develop resistant cultivars through molecular breeding. In this study, seeds of 99 accessions of a Chinese peanut mini-mini core collection were investigated for their reaction to aflatoxin production by a laboratory kernel inoculation assay. Two resistant accessions (Zh.h0551 and Zh.h2150) were identified, with their aflatoxin content being 8.11%–18.90% of the susceptible control. The 99 peanut accessions were also genotyped by restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). A total of 60 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers associated with aflatoxin production were detected, and they explained 16.87%–31.70% of phenotypic variation (PVE), with SNP02686 and SNP19994 possessing 31.70% and 28.91% PVE, respectively. Aflatoxin contents of accessions with "AG" (existed in Zh.h0551 and Zh.h2150) and "GG" genotypes of either SNP19994 or SNP02686 were significantly lower than that of "AA" genotypes in the mean value of a three-year assay. The resistant accessions and molecular markers identified in this study are likely to be helpful for deployment in aflatoxin resistance breeding in peanuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: We identified two stable and homologous major QTLs for sucrose content in peanut, and developed breeder-friendly molecular markers for marker-assisted selection breeding. Sucrose content is a crucial quality trait for edible peanuts, and increasing sucrose content is a key breeding objective. However, the genetic basis of sucrose content in peanut remains unclear, and major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for sucrose content have yet to be identified. In this study, a high-density genetic map was constructed based on whole-genome re-sequencing data from a peanut RIL population. This map consisted of 2,042 bins and 24,142 SNP markers, making it one of the most comprehensive maps to date in terms of marker density. Two major QTLs (qSCA06.2 and qSCB06.2) were identified, explaining 31.41% and 24.13% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. Notably, these two QTLs were located in homologous genomic regions between the A and B subgenomes. The elite allele of qSCA06.2 was exclusive to Valencia-type, while the elite allele of qSCB06.2 existed in other peanut types. Importantly, the distribution of alleles from two homologous QTLs in the RIL population and diverse germplasm accessions consistently demonstrated that only the combination of elite allelic genotypes from both QTLs/genes resulted in a significantly dominant phenotype, accompanied by a substantial increase in sucrose content. The newly developed diagnostic markers for these QTLs were confirmed to be reliable and could facilitate future breeding efforts to enhance sucrose content using marker-assisted selection techniques. Overall, this study highlights the co-regulation of sucrose content by two major homologous QTLs/genes and provides valuable insights into the genetic basis of sucrose in peanuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Three major QTLs qA01, qB04.1 and qB05 for VLCFA content and their corresponding allele-specific markers will benefit peanut low VLCFA breeding, and a candidate gene Arahy.IF1JV3 was predicted. Peanut is a globally significant oilseed crop worldwide, and contains a high content (20%) of saturated fatty acid (SFA) in its seeds. As high level SFA intake in human dietary may increase the cardiovascular disease risk, reducing the SFA content in peanut is crucial for improving its nutritional quality. Half of the SFAs in peanut are very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA), so reducing the VLCFA content is a feasible strategy to decrease the total SFA content. Luoaowan with extremely low VLCFA (4.80%) was crossed with Jihua16 (8.00%) to construct an F2:4 population. Three major QTLs including qA01, qB04.1 and qB05 for VLCFA content were detected with 4.43 ~ 14.32% phenotypic variation explained through linkage mapping. Meanwhile, three genomic regions on chromosomes B03, B04 and B05 were identified via BSA-seq approach. Two co-localized intervals on chromosomes B04 (100.10 ~ 103.97 Mb) and B05 (6.39 ~ 10.90 Mb) were identified. With markers developed based on SNP/InDel variations in qA01 between the two parents, the remaining interval was refined to 103.58 ~ 111.14 Mb. A candidate gene Arahy.IF1JV3 encoding a β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase was found in qA01, and its expression level in Luoaowan was significantly lower than that in Jihua16. Allele-specific markers targeting qA01, qB04.1 and qB05 were developed and validated in F4 population, and an elite line with high oleic, low VLCFA (5.05%) and low SFA (11.48%) contents was selected. This study initially revealed the genetic mechanism of VLCFA content, built a marker-assisted selection system for low VLCFA breeding, and provided an effective method to decrease the SFA content in peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DNA methylation is gradually acquired during oogenesis, a process sustained by successful follicle development. However, the functional roles of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2), an epigenetic regulator displaying specifical binding with methylated DNA, remains unknown in oogenesis. In this study, we found MeCP2 protein was highly expressed in primordial and primary follicle, but was almost undetectable in secondary follicles. However, in aged ovary, MeCP2 protein is significantly increased in both oocyte and granulosa cells. Overexpression of MeCP2 in growing oocyte caused transcription dysregulation, DNA hypermethylation, and genome instability, ultimately leading to follicle growth arrest and apoptosis. MeCP2 is targeted by DCAF13, a substrate recognition adaptor of the Cullin 4-RING (CRL4) E3 ligase, and polyubiquitinated for degradation in both cells and oocytes. Dcaf13-null oocyte exhibited an accumulation of MeCP2 protein, and the partial rescue of follicle growth arrest induced by Dcaf13 deletion was observed following MeCP2 knockdown. The RNA-seq results revealed that large amounts of genes were regulated by the DCAF13-MeCP2 axis in growing oocytes. Our study demonstrated that CRL4DCAF13 E3 ubiquitin ligase targets MeCP2 for degradation to ensure normal DNA methylome and transcription in growing oocytes. Moreover, in aged ovarian follicles, deceased DCAF13 and DDB1 protein were observed, indicating a potential novel mechanism that regulates ovary aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective combination of Bi 2 MoO 6 /kaolinite and g-C 3 N 4 promote the formation of heterojunction, which enhancing the visible light photocatalytic performance. [Display omitted] • Three-component g-C 3 N 4 /Bi 2 MoO 6 /kaolinite photocatalyst was constructed. • Both superoxide and hydroxyl radicals played the role in degradation. • Composite with mass ratio of 0.25:0.75 showed excellent performance. In order to overcome the shortcoming of g-C 3 N 4 as a photocatalyst with high electron-hole pair recombination rate, an efficient photocatalyst of g-C 3 N 4 /Bi 2 MoO 6 /kaolinite composite was constructed in this work. Depending on the electrostatic self-assembly, g-C 3 N 4 prepared by thermal condensation and Bi 2 MoO 6 /kaolinite by hydrothermal method were combined closely. The results showed that composite with multilevel structure was built, which proves that the collaboration of three components was successfully realized. When the mass ratio of Bi 2 MoO 6 /kaolinite and g-C 3 N 4 was 0.25:0.75, the composite showed excellent photocatalytic performance. By constructing the interface in close contact and layered assembly, the synergistic effect between kaolinite and Bi 2 MoO 6 /g-C 3 N 4 heterostructure was in favor of producing the excellent photocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, lead halide perovskites arouse intensive attentions in photoelectric fields owing to their low trap state density, high carrier mobility, large extinction coefficient, and low‐temperature solution processing technique. However, their future commercial development is severely hampered by the lead toxicity and instability. Although lead‐free metal‐halide perovskites recently have been extensively studied in optoelectronics, their low‐dimensional counterparts can further expand their novel optical and electronic properties for potential applications. In this work, the planar growth of one‐dimensional (1D) CsAg2I3 single‐crystal microwires (MWs) on diverse substrates by space‐confined method is reported. The growth kinetic process of CsAg2I3 single‐crystal MWs is elucidated by in situ observation. Furthermore, the CsAg2I3 single‐crystal MWs exhibit potential applications in ultraviolet light photodetectors as a photoactive layer. The fabricated heterojunction photodetector exhibits pronounced photoelectric performances working in self‐powered mode, including a specific detectivity of 2.09 × 108 Jones, a high responsivity of 26.5 mA W−1, and fast response speed of 258.43/289.32 ms under light illumination of 265 nm, due to the high crystallinity and effective photogenerated carrier transfer. This study provides a vital insight into the rational design of low‐dimensional perovskites for versatile optoelectronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) as one of the key targets for the treatment of HIV, and in recent years a series of indole class non‐nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) with potent anti‐HIV‐1 properties have been reported. In this paper, Topomer CoMFA model with reliable validation results (q2=0.809, R2=0.983, R2pred=0.870) for exploring the quantitative structure‐activity relationship (QSAR) of the inhibitors. And the relationship between molecular structures and activities were further analysed using the contour plots. The Topomer search technique was employed to search and then designed novel compounds with stronger inhibitory effects. Molecular docking showed that the residue LYS101, GLU138 and ILE180 played a key role, meanwhile, the stability of the docking results was verified by molecular dynamics simulations (MD). Finally, the calculated results of the binding free energy calculations agree with the predictions of the model, further validating the reliability of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: An InDel marker closely linked with a major and stable quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome A08, qSUCA08.2, controlling sucrose content will benefit peanut flavor improvement. Sucrose is the main soluble sugar in mature peanut kernel, and its content is a key determinant of flavor. However, the genetic basis of sucrose content in peanut remains poorly understood, which limits the progress of flavor improvement. In the present study, two genomic regions (qSUCA08a and qSUCB06a) for sucrose content on chromosomes A08 and B06 were identified by QTL-seq in a RIL population derived from a cross between Zhonghua 10 and ICG 12625. In the interval of qSUCB06a, QTL qSUCB06.2 was detected through QTL mapping in a single environment. The qSUCA08a was further dissected into 3 adjacent genomic regions using linkage analysis including a major QTL qSUCA08.2 explaining 5.43–17.84% phenotypic variation across five environments. A 61-bp insertion at position 35,099,320 in the higher sucrose parent ICG 12625 was found in qSUCA08.2. An InDel marker SUC.InDel.A08 based on the insertion/deletion polymorphism was developed and validated within a natural population containing 172 peanut cultivars in two environments. The mean sucrose content of 93 cultivars with ICG 12625 allele was significantly higher than that of 79 cultivars with Zhonghua 10 allele. The qSUCA08.2 corresponding to a 2.11 Mb interval harbored 110 genes. Among these genes, a total of 19 genes were considered as candidate genes including 5 non-synonymous mutation genes and 14 differentially expressed genes during seed development. These results provide new insights into the genetic basis of sucrose regulation in peanut and benefit the breeding program for developing new varieties with excellent flavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peanut is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection, and the consequent aflatoxin contamination has been recognized as an important risk factor affecting food safety and industry development. Planting peanut varieties with resistance to aflatoxin contamination is regarded as an ideal approach to decrease the risk in food safety, but most of the available resistant varieties have not been extensively used in production because of their low yield potential mostly due to possessing small pods and seeds. Hence, it is highly necessary to integrate resistance to aflatoxin and large seed weight. In this study, an RIL population derived from a cross between Zhonghua 16 with high yield and J 11 with resistance to infection of A. flavus and aflatoxin production, was used to identify quantitative trait locus (QTL) for aflatoxin production (AP) resistance and hundred-seed weight (HSW). From combined analysis using a high-density genetic linkage map constructed, 11 QTLs for AP resistance with 4.61–11.42% phenotypic variation explanation (PVE) and six QTLs for HSW with 3.20–28.48% PVE were identified, including three major QTLs for AP resistance (qAFTA05.1, qAFTB05.2 and qAFTB06.3) and three for HSW (qHSWA05, qHSWA08 and qHSWB06). In addition, qAFTA05.1, qAFTB06.3, qHSWA05, qHSWA08 and qHSWB06 were detected in multiple environments. The aflatoxin contents under artificial inoculation were decreased by 34.77–47.67% in those segregated lines harboring qAFTA05.1, qAFTB05.2 and qAFTB06.3, while the HSWs were increased by 47.56–49.46 g in other lines harboring qHSWA05, qHSWA08 and qHSWB06. Conditional QTL mapping indicated that HSW and percent seed infection index (PSII) had no significant influence on aflatoxin content. Interestingly, the QT 1059 simultaneously harboring alleles of aflatoxin content including qAFTA05.1 and qAFTB05.2, alleles of PSII including qPSIIB03.1, qPSIIB03.2, and qPSIIB10 and alleles of HSW including qHSWA05, qHSWB06, qHSWA08 had better resistance to A. flavus infection and to toxin production and higher yield potential compared with the two parents of the RIL. The above identified major loci for AP resistance and HWS would be helpful for marker-assisted selection in peanut breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important source of edible oil and protein for human nutrition. The quality of peanut seed oil is mainly determined by the composition of fatty acids, especially the contents of oleic acid and linoleic acid. Improving the composition of fatty acids in the seed oil is one of the main objectives for peanut breeding globally. To uncover the genetic basis of fatty acids and broaden the genetic variation in future peanut breeding programs, this study used genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify loci associated with target traits and developed diagnostic marker. The contents of eight fatty acid components of the Chinese peanut mini-core collection were measured under four environments. Using the phenotypic information and over one hundred thousand single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), GWAS were conducted to investigate the genetics basis of fatty acids under multi-environments. Overall, 75 SNPs were identified significant trait associations with fatty acid components. Nineteen associations were repeatedly identified in multiple environments, and 13 loci were co-associated with two or three traits. Three stable major associated loci were identified, including two loci for oleic acid and linoleic acid on chromosome A09 [mean phenotypic variation explained (PVE): 38.5%, 10.35%] and one for stearic acid on B06 (mean PVE: 23%). According to functional annotations, 21 putative candidate genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis were found underlying the three associations. The allelic effect of SNP A09-114690064 showed that the base variation was highly correlated with the phenotypic variation of oleic acid and linoleic acid contents, and a cost-effective Kompetitive allele-Specific PCR (KASP) diagnostic marker was developed. Furthermore, the SNP A09-114690064 was found to change the cis-element CAAT (-) in the promoter of ahFAD2A to YACT (+), leading dozens of times higher expression level. The enhancer-like activity of ahFAD2A promoter was identified that was valuable for enriching the regulation mechanism of ahFAD2A. This study improved our understanding on the genetic architecture of fatty acid components in peanut, and the new effective diagnostic marker would be useful for marker-assisted selection of high-oleic peanut breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Combining QTL-seq, QTL-mapping and RNA-seq identified a major QTL and candidate genes, which contributed to the development of KASP markers and understanding of molecular mechanisms associated with seed weight in peanut. Seed weight, as an important component of seed yield, is a significant target of peanut breeding. However, relatively little is known about the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes associated with seed weight in peanut. In this study, three major QTLs on chromosomes A05, B02, and B06 were determined by applying the QTL-seq approach in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. Based on conventional QTL-mapping, these three QTL regions were successfully narrowed down through newly developed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and simple sequence repeat markers. Among these three QTL regions, qSWB06.3 exhibited stable expression, contributing mainly to phenotypic variance across environments. Furthermore, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at the three seed developmental stages between the two parents of the RIL population. It was found that the DEGs were widely distributed in the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, the serine/threonine-protein pathway, signal transduction of hormones and transcription factors. Notably, DEGs at the early stage were mostly involved in regulating cell division, whereas DEGs at the middle and late stages were primarily involved in cell expansion during seed development. The expression patterns of candidate genes related to seed weight in qSWB06.3 were investigated using quantitative real-time PCR. In addition, the allelic diversity of qSWB06.3 was investigated in peanut germplasm accessions. The marker Ah011475 has higher efficiency for discriminating accessions with different seed weights, and it would be useful as a diagnostic marker in marker-assisted breeding. This study provided insights into the genetic and molecular mechanisms of seed weight in peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aflatoxin contamination caused by Aspergillus fungi has been a serious factor affecting food safety of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) because aflatoxins are highly harmful for human and animal health. As three mechanisms of resistance to aflatoxin in peanut including shell infection resistance, seed infection resistance and aflatoxin production resistance exist among naturally evolved germplasm stocks, it is highly crucial to pyramid these three resistances for promoting peanut industry development and protecting consumers' health. However, less research effort has been made yet to investigate the differentiation and genetic relationship among the three resistances in diversified peanut germplasm collections. Results: In this study, the Chinese peanut mini-mini core collection selected from a large basic collection was systematically evaluated for the three resistances against A. flavus for the first time. The research revealed a wide variation among the diversified peanut accessions for all the three resistances. Totally, 14 resistant accessions were identified, including three with shell infection resistance, seven with seed infection resistance and five with aflatoxin production resistance. A special accession, Zh.h1312, was identified with both seed infection and aflatoxin production resistance. Among the five botanic types of A. hypogaea, the var. vulgaris (Spanish type) belonging to subspecies fastigiata is the only one which possessed all the three resistances. There was no close correlation between shell infection resistance and other two resistances, while there was a significant positive correlation between seed infection and toxin production resistance. All the three resistances had a significant negative correlation with pod or seed size. A total of 16 SNPs/InDels associated with the three resistances were identified through genome-wide association study (GWAS). Through comparative analysis, Zh.h1312 with seed infection resistance and aflatoxin production resistance was also revealed to possess all the resistance alleles of associated loci for seed infection index and aflatoxin content. Conclusions: This study provided the first comprehensive understanding of differentiation of aflatoxin resistance in diversified peanut germplasm collection, and would further contribute to the genetic enhancement for resistance to aflatoxin contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aplastic anaemia (AA) is a highly prevalent blood disorder in the East and Southeast Asian countries, and a proportion of the patients is poorly treated with immunosuppressive agents. This study is aimed at exploring the effects of sodium copper chlorophyllin (SCC) on rats with AA and at providing the theoretical basis for the treatment of AA using traditional Chinese medicine.Methods: A rat model of AA was induced by combining 5-fluorouracil with busulfan, and different groups were treated with 25 mg/kg cyclosporin A (CsA) and low-, medium-, and high-dose SCC (25-, 50-, and 100-mg/kg; L-, M-, and H-SCC, respectively). A comparative analysis of peripheral blood counts, T-cell subsets, cytokine levels, bone marrow pathology, and APO-1 expression in mesenchymal stem cells in each group was conducted.Results: SCC can increase the platelet count and haemoglobin concentration in the peripheral blood of AA rats, whereas bone marrow biopsies revealed that the number of nucleated cells and megakaryocytes of SCC-treated rats increased compared with the model group. This was particularly evident in the H-SCC group. As regards the correction of immune function, unlike CsA, which reduced the absolute CD8+ T-cell count, SCC corrected the imbalanced CD4/CD8 ratio by increasing the absolute CD4+ T-cell count, whereas SCC increased the number of regulatory T-cells and reduced the level of interferon-γ in AA rats. When comparing the expression of APO-1 in the MSCs, results of the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis showed that SCC can increase the expression of APO-1 both at the mRNA and protein levels.Conclusion: We found that SCC can improve haematopoietic function and regress immune disorders in AA rats, which enhanced the expression of APO-1 in bone marrow MSCs. This may be one of the mechanisms of SCC in treating AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resveratrol, a polyphenolic compound, is related with stress resistance or tolerance in plants and highly beneficial to human health. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is not only an important oilseed crop worldwide but also a key source of resveratrol from dietary food. In this study, a peanut recombinant inbred line (RIL) population consisting of 166 lines derived from a cross combination with a high resveratrol variety ICGV86699 and a normal resveratrol variety Zhonghua 5 as parents was assessed for resveratrol content across three environments. Broad phenotypic variation of resveratrol content ranging from 76.75 to 1617.00 µg/kg was observed among the RILs. From phenotyping resveratrol content and other traits, three elite lines (QT079, QT135, and QT141) were identified with resveratrol level as high as ICGV86699 while their seeds weights were around 1.5 times of ICGV8669. Nine additive QTLs with phenotypic variation explained (PVE) ranging from 6.66 to 11.33% were detected for resveratrol contnet, among which, qRESA05.3 with 7.88–10.91% PVE was repeatedly detected. Furthermore, an InDel marker (InDel-A05-8,713,397) based on qRESA05.3 could be detected in both the RILs and selected diverse peanut germplasm accessions possessing "aa" genotype, and the average resveratrol content of these "aa" accessions was significantly higher than that in the genotypes possessing "AA". The favorable allele was found to raise the resveratrol content by 292.15 ± 32.05 µg/kg in the diverse germplasm panel. This is the first report of stable marker for peanut resveratrol, which would be helpful for further fine-mapping the locus and developing marker-assisted selection strategy for high resveratrol peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sucrose content is a key factor for the flavor of edible peanut, which determines the sweet taste of fresh peanut and also attribute to pleasant flavor of roasted peanut. To explore the genetic mechanism of the sucrose content in peanut, an F 2 population was created by crossing the sweet cultivar Zhonghuatian 1 (ZHT1) with Nanyangbaipi (NYBP). A genomic region spanning 28.26 kb on chromosome A06 was identified for the sucrose content through genetic mapping, elucidating 47.5% phenotypic variance explained. As the sucrose content had a significantly negative correlation with the oil content, this region was also found to be related to the oil content explaining 37.2% of phenotype variation. In this region, Arahy.42CAD1 was characterized as the most likely candidate gene through a comprehensive analysis. The nuclear localization of Arahy.42CAD1 suggests its potential involvement in the regulation of gene expression for sucrose and oil contents in peanut. Transcriptome analysis of the developing seeds in both parents revealed that genes involved in glycolysis and triacylglycerol biosynthesis pathways were not significantly down-regulated in ZHT1, indicating that the sucrose accumulation was not attributed to the suppression of triacylglycerol biosynthesis. Based on the WGCNA analysis, Arahy.42CAD1 was co-expressed with the genes involved in vesicle transport and oil body assembly, suggesting that the sucrose accumulation may be caused by disruptions in TAG transportation or storage mechanisms. These findings offer new insights into the molecular mechanisms governing sucrose accumulation in peanut, and also provide a potential gene target for enhancing peanut flavor. • A candidate gene was identified for simultaneously regulation of sucrose and oil contents in peanut. • Sucrose accumulation in peanut is attributed to a reduction of oil content. • Disruptions in TAG transportation or storage mechanisms may contribute to sucrose accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Message: AhRt1 controlling red testa color in peanut was fine-mapped to an interval of 580 kb on chromosome A03, and one gene encoding bHLH transcriptional factor was identified as the putative candidate gene. Peanut with red testa has higher nutritional and economic value than the traditional pink testa varieties. Identification of genes controlling red testa color will accelerate the breeding program and facilitate uncovering the genetic mechanism. In this study, in order to identify gene underlying the red testa color in peanut, a F2 population derived from a cross between a pink testa peanut variety "Fuhua 8" and a red testa variety "Quanhonghua 1" was constructed. The genetic analysis for the F2 population revealed that the red testa color was controlled by one single dominant locus. This locus, named as AhRt1 (Arachis hypogaea Red Testa 1), was preliminary identified in chromosome A03 by BSA-sequencing analysis. Using a segregation mapping population, AhRt1 was fine-mapped to a 580-kb genomic region by substitution mapping strategy. Gene candidate analysis suggested that one predicted gene encoding bHLH transcriptional factor may be the possible candidate gene for AhRt1. A diagnostic marker closely linked to candidate gene has been developed for validating the fine-mapping result in different populations and peanut germplasm. Our findings will benefit the breeding program for developing new varieties with red testa color and laid foundation for map-based cloning gene responsible for red testa in peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: NiMnCoGa alloys were studied as candidate of high-temperature shape-memory alloys with Mn substituted by Co. The results show that the hot workability and room-temperature ductility of NiMnGa alloys can be greatly improved by forming ductile γ phase through Co addition. When the amount of γ phase is about 19%, the tensile stress and strain are 491 MPa and 8.2%, respectively. When the amount of γ phase increased to about 43%, the tensile stress and strain are 729.3 MPa and 14.1%, respectively. The reversible strain due to shape-memory effect is 2.1% under a prestrain of 5.3% for x = 4, and the shape-memory ability almost disappears for x = 8 due to large amount of γ phase, which seriously hampers the reorientation of martensitic variants and/or detwinning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peanut is one of major sources for vegetable oil. Improving oil content is an important goal for peanut breeding programs. Major loci with linked markers for oil content could facilitate rapid development of high-oil varieties through marker-assisted breeding. To identify major loci underlying the oil content, we conducted the QTL analysis based on the high-dense genetic map, using RIL population derived from Zhonghua10 and ICG12625. A total of 18 additive QTLs, including two major and stable QTLs (qOCB06 and qOCB10.1), were identified in three environments. Besides, 26 pairs of QTLs with epistatic (additive × additive) interaction were mapped on 17 linkage groups. qOCB06 with up to 22.59% of the phenotypic variations was located in a 0.6-Mb interval of B06. qOCB10.1 on B10 explained 9.18–12.55% of the phenotypic variations. The additive effect of two QTLs ranged from 0.70 to 1.13% oil content in different environments. Favorable alleles of the two loci were from male and female parent, respectively. Pyramiding the two favorable alleles in the RIL population could increase "2.66 ± 0.48%" oil content across multiple environments. The marker Ai06B29452 and AGGS2133-1 linked to qOCB06 and qOCB10.1, respectively, were validated to be associated with oil content in peanut germplasms with diverse phenotypes. These markers were valuable in marker-assisted selection and pyramiding breeding for improving oil content in peanut. Major and stable QTLs with linked markers in the present study provided resources to discovery candidate genes in the future and to guide marker-assisted selection for improving oil content in peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Spatio‐temporal and developmental stage‐specific transcriptome analysis plays a crucial role in systems biology‐based improvement of any species. In this context, we report here the Arachis hypogaea gene expression atlas (AhGEA) for the world's widest cultivated subsp. fastigiata based on RNA‐seq data using 20 diverse tissues across five key developmental stages. Approximately 480 million paired‐end filtered reads were generated followed by identification of 81 901 transcripts from an early‐maturing, high‐yielding, drought‐tolerant groundnut variety, ICGV 91114. Further, 57 344 genome‐wide transcripts were identified with ≥1 FPKM across different tissues and stages. Our in‐depth analysis of the global transcriptome sheds light into complex regulatory networks namely gravitropism and photomorphogenesis, seed development, allergens and oil biosynthesis in groundnut. Importantly, interesting insights into molecular basis of seed development and nodulation have immense potential for translational genomics research. We have also identified a set of stable expressing transcripts across the selected tissues, which could be utilized as internal controls in groundnut functional genomics studies. The AhGEA revealed potential transcripts associated with allergens, which upon appropriate validation could be deployed in the coming years to develop consumer‐friendly groundnut varieties. Taken together, the AhGEA touches upon various important and key features of cultivated groundnut and provides a reference for further functional, comparative and translational genomics research for various economically important traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peanut is one of the primary sources for vegetable oil worldwide, and enhancing oil content is the main objective in several peanut breeding programs of the world. Tightly linked markers are required for faster development of high oil content peanut varieties through genomics-assisted breeding (GAB), and association mapping is one of the promising approaches for discovery of such associated markers. Results: An association mapping panel consisting of 292 peanut varieties extensively distributed in China was phenotyped for oil content and genotyped with 583 polymorphic SSR markers. These markers amplified 3663 alleles with an average of 6.28 alleles per locus. The structure, phylogenetic relationship, and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated two subgroups majorly differentiating based on geographic regions. Genome-wide association analysis identified 12 associated markers including one (AGGS1014_2) highly stable association controlling up to 9.94% phenotypic variance explained (PVE) across multiple environments. Interestingly, the frequency of the favorable alleles for 12 associated markers showed a geographic difference. Two associated markers (AGGS1014_2 and AHGS0798) with 6.90–9.94% PVE were verified to enhance oil content in an independent RIL population and also indicated selection during the breeding program. Conclusion: This study provided insights into the genetic basis of oil content in peanut and verified highly associated two SSR markers to facilitate marker-assisted selection for developing high-oil content breeding peanut varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Groundnut has entered now in post-genome era enriched with optimum genomic and genetic resources to facilitate faster trait dissection, gene discovery and accelerated genetic improvement for developing climate-smart varieties. Cultivated groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea), an allopolyploid oilseed crop with a large and complex genome, is one of the most nutritious food. This crop is grown in more than 100 countries, and the low productivity has remained the biggest challenge in the semiarid tropics. Recently, the groundnut research community has witnessed fast progress and achieved several key milestones in genomics research including genome sequence assemblies of wild diploid progenitors, wild tetraploid and both the subspecies of cultivated tetraploids, resequencing of diverse germplasm lines, genome-wide transcriptome atlas and cost-effective high and low-density genotyping assays. These genomic resources have enabled high-resolution trait mapping by using germplasm diversity panels and multi-parent genetic populations leading to precise gene discovery and diagnostic marker development. Furthermore, development and deployment of diagnostic markers have facilitated screening early generation populations as well as marker-assisted backcrossing breeding leading to development and commercialization of some molecular breeding products in groundnut. Several new genomics applications/technologies such as genomic selection, speed breeding, mid-density genotyping assay and genome editing are in pipeline. The integration of these new technologies hold great promise for developing climate-smart, high yielding and more nutritious groundnut varieties in the post-genome era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Two novel and adjacent genomics and candidate genes for bacterial wilt resistance were identified on chromosome B02 in peanut variety Zhonghua 6 using both traditional QTL mapping and QTL-seq methods. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) is an important oilseed crop worldwide. Utilization of genetic resistance is the most economic and effective approach to control bacterial wilt, one of the most devastating plant diseases, in peanut production. To accelerate the genetic improvement of bacterial wilt resistance (BWR) in peanut breeding programs, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping has been conducted for two resistant varieties. In this context, we deployed linkage mapping as well as sequencing-based mapping approach, QTL-seq, to identify genomic regions and candidate genes for BWR in another highly resistant variety Zhonghua 6. The recombination inbred line population (268 progenies) from the cross Xuhua 13 × Zhonghua 6 was used in BWR evaluation across five environments. QTL mapping using both SSR- and SNP-based genetic maps identified a stable QTL (qBWRB02-1) on chromosome B02 with 37.79–78.86% phenotypic variation explained (PVE) across five environments. The QTL-seq facilitated further dissection of qBWRB02-1 into two adjacent genomic regions, qBWRB02-1-1 (2.81–4.24 Mb) and qBWRB02-1-2 (6.54–8.75 Mb). Mapping of newly developed Kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers on the genetic map confirmed their stable expressions across five environments. The effects of qBWRB02-1-1 (49.43–68.86% PVE) were much higher than qBWRB02-1-2 (3.96–6.48% PVE) and other previously reported QTLs. Nineteen putative candidate genes affected by 49 non-synonymous SNPs were identified for qBWRB02-1-1, and ten of them were predicted to code for disease resistance proteins. The major and stable QTL qBWRB02-1-1 and validated KASP markers could be deployed in genomics-assisted breeding (GAB) to develop improved peanut varieties with enhanced BWR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resveratrol, a stilbene phytoalexin in plants, is believed to benefit human health. In this study, an optimized enzyme‐assisted method was developed to extract the total content of trans‐resveratrol (free or combined with glucose) in peanut seeds, followed by detection using high‐performance liquid chromatography. The extraction process was optimized by Box–Behnken design and response surface methodology. The optimized enzyme concentration, digestion time, pH, and temperature were 3.02 g/L, 57.06 min, 5.88, and 51.05°C, respectively. Validation tests indicated that the experimental yield of trans‐resveratrol was 0.183 ± 0.007 µg/g with a relative standard deviation of 3.87% (n = 5) under the optimal condition, which was closely agreed with the predicted value (0.182 µg/g). The recoveries obtained from the spiked samples were varied from 89.4 to 103.9%. Therefore, this study will provide a useful method for quantification of total trans‐resveratrol in peanut seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The transcriptome connects genome to the gene function and ultimate phenome in biology. So far, transcriptomic approach was not used in peanut for performing trait mapping in bi‐parental populations. In this research, we sequenced the whole transcriptome in immature seeds in a peanut recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and explored thoroughly the landscape of transcriptomic variations and its genetic basis. The comprehensive analysis identified total 49 691 genes in RIL population, of which 92 genes followed a paramutation‐like expression pattern. Expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis identified 1207 local eQTLs and 15 837 distant eQTLs contributing to the whole‐genome transcriptomic variation in peanut. There were 94 eQTL hot spot regions detected across the genome with the dominance of distant eQTL. By integrating transcriptomic profile and annotation analyses, we unveiled a putative candidate gene and developed a linked marker InDel02 underlying a major QTL responsible for purple testa colour in peanut. Our result provided a first understanding of genetic basis of whole‐genome transcriptomic variation in peanut and illustrates the potential of the transcriptome‐aid approach in dissecting important traits in non‐model plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: ddRAD-seq-based high-density genetic map comprising 2595 loci identified a major and consensus QTL with a linked marker in a 0.8-Mb physical interval for oil content in peanut. Enhancing oil content is an important breeding objective in peanut. High-resolution mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with linked markers could facilitate marker-assisted selection in breeding for target traits. In the present study, a recombined inbred line population (Xuhua 13 × Zhonghua 6) was used to construct a genetic map based on double-digest restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-seq). The resulting high-density genetic map contained 2595 loci, and spanned a length of 2465.62 cM, with an average distance of 0.95 cM/locus. Seven QTLs for oil content were identified on five linkage groups, including the major and stable QTL qOCA08.1 on chromosome A08 with 10.14–27.19% phenotypic variation explained. The physical interval of qOCA08.1 was further delimited to a ~ 0.8-Mb genomic region where two genes affecting oil synthesis had been annotated. The marker SNPOCA08 was developed targeting the SNP loci associated with oil content and validated in peanut cultivars with diverse oil contents. The major and stable QTL identified in the present study could be further dissected for gene discovery. Furthermore, the tightly linked marker for oil content would be useful in marker-assisted breeding in peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is a devastating disease affecting over 350 plant species. A few peanut cultivars were found to possess stable and durable bacterial wilt resistance (BWR). Genomics‐assisted breeding can accelerate the process of developing resistant cultivars by using diagnostic markers. Here, we deployed sequencing‐based trait mapping approach, QTL‐seq, to discover genomic regions, candidate genes and diagnostic markers for BWR in a recombination inbred line population (195 progenies) of peanut. The QTL‐seq analysis identified one candidate genomic region on chromosome B02 significantly associated with BWR. Mapping of newly developed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers narrowed down the region to 2.07 Mb and confirmed its major effects and stable expressions across three environments. This candidate genomic region had 49 nonsynonymous SNPs affecting 19 putative candidate genes including seven putative resistance genes (R‐genes). Two diagnostic markers were successfully validated in diverse breeding lines and cultivars and could be deployed in genomics‐assisted breeding of varieties with enhanced BWR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats (SSRs), represent important DNA variations that are widely distributed across the entire plant genome and can be used to develop SSR markers, which can then be used to conduct genetic analyses and molecular breeding. Cultivated peanut (A. hypogaea L.), an important oil crop worldwide, is an allotetraploid (AABB, 2n = 4× = 40) plant species. Because of its complex genome, genomic marker development has been very challenging. However, sequencing of cultivated peanut genome allowed us to develop genomic markers and construct a high-density physical map. Results: A total of 8,329,496 SSRs were identified, including 3,772,653, 4,414,961, and 141,882 SSRs that were distributed in subgenome A, B, and nine scaffolds, respectively. Based on the flanking sequences of the identified SSRs, a total of 973,984 newly developed SSR markers were developed in subgenome A (462,267), B (489,394), and nine scaffolds (22,323), with an average density of 392.45 markers per Mb. In silico PCR evaluation showed that an average of 88.32% of the SSR markers generated only one in silico-specific product in two tetraploid A. hypogaea varieties, Tifrunner and Shitouqi. A total of 39,599 common SSR markers were identified among the two A. hypogaea varieties and two progenitors, A. duranensis and A. ipaensis. Additionally, an amplification effectiveness of 44.15% was observed by real PCR validation. Moreover, a total of 1276 public SSR loci were integrated with the newly developed SSR markers. Finally, a previously known leaf spot quantitative trait locus (QTL), qLLS_T13_A05_7, was determined to be in a 1.448-Mb region on chromosome A05. In this region, a total of 819 newly developed SSR markers were located and 108 candidate genes were detected. Conclusions: The availability of these newly developed and public SSR markers both provide a large number of molecular markers that could potentially be used to enhance the process of trait genetic analyses and improve molecular breeding strategies for cultivated peanut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are diverse pollutants of significant environmental concerns, requiring effective biodegradation. This study used different bioinformatics tools to conduct whole-genome sequencing of two novel bacterial strains, Klebsiella michiganensis EF4 and K. oxytoca ETN19, to improve our understanding of their many genomic functions and degradation pathways of phenanthrene and pyrene. After 28 days of cultivation, strain EF4 degraded approximately 80% and 60% of phenanthrene and pyrene, respectively. However, their combinations (EF4 +ETN19) showed tremendous phenanthrene degradation efficiency, supposed to be at the first-level kinetic model with a t 1/2 value of approximately 6 days. In addition, the two bacterial genomes contained carbohydrate-active enzymes and secondary metabolites biosynthetic gene clusters associated with PAHs degradation. The two genomes contained the bZIP superfamily of transcription factors, primarily the cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), which could regulate the expression of several PAHs degradation genes and enzymes. Interestingly, the two genomes were found to uniquely degrade phenanthrene through a putative pathway that catabolizes 2-carboxybenzalpyruvate into the TCA cycle. An operon containing multicomponent proteins, including a novel gene (JYK05_14550) that could initiate the beginning step of phenanthrene and pyrene degradation, was found in the EF4 genome. However, the degradation pathway of ETN19 showed that the yhfP gene encoding putative quinone oxidoreductase was associated with phenanthrene and pyrene catabolic processes. Furthermore, the significant expression of catechol 1,2-dioxygenase and quinone oxidoreductase genes in EF4 +ETN19 and ETN19 following the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis confirmed the ability of the bacteria combination to degrade pyrene and phenanthrene effectively. These findings present new insight into the possible co-metabolism of the two bacterial species in the rapid biodegradation of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil environments. [Display omitted] • K. michiganensis EF4 and K. oxytoca ETN19 were isolated from PAHs-contaminated soil. • Their combination showed rapid degradation of phenanthrene and pyrene after 28 days. • Their genomes revealed unique and shared genes for PAHs degradation. • PAHs degradation genes were significantly expressed when two novel strains were associated. • The co-metabolism of EF4 and ETN19 could rapidly degrade these PAHs in soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important grain legume providing high‐quality cooking oil, rich proteins and other nutrients. Shelling percentage (SP) is the 2nd most important agronomic trait after pod yield and this trait significantly affects the economic value of peanut in the market. Deployment of diagnostic markers through genomics‐assisted breeding (GAB) can accelerate the process of developing improved varieties with enhanced SP. In this context, we deployed the QTL‐seq approach to identify genomic regions and candidate genes controlling SP in a recombinant inbred line population (Yuanza 9102 × Xuzhou 68‐4). Four libraries (two parents and two extreme bulks) were constructed and sequenced, generating 456.89–790.32 million reads and achieving 91.85%–93.18% genome coverage and 14.04–21.37 mean read depth. Comprehensive analysis of two sets of data (Yuanza 9102/two bulks and Xuzhou 68‐4/two bulks) using the QTL‐seq pipeline resulted in discovery of two overlapped genomic regions (2.75 Mb on A09 and 1.1 Mb on B02). Nine candidate genes affected by 10 SNPs with non‐synonymous effects or in UTRs were identified in these regions for SP. Cost‐effective KASP (Kompetitive Allele‐Specific PCR) markers were developed for one SNP from A09 and three SNPs from B02 chromosome. Genotyping of the mapping population with these newly developed KASP markers confirmed the major control and stable expressions of these genomic regions across five environments. The identified candidate genomic regions and genes for SP further provide opportunity for gene cloning and deployment of diagnostic markers in molecular breeding for achieving high SP in improved varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triptolide (TPL), an extract of the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent that further possesses anticancer activity. Its antiproliferative effects are well established. Only few studies have focused on TPL as a potential treatment in multiple myeloma (MM). In the current study, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) from patients with MM were isolated and treated with TPL at varying concentrations. Thalidomide is currently used as a positive control drug in the treatment of MM. Cell Counting kit-8 assays were performed to assess proliferation activity and flow cytometry with Annexin V-fluorescein/propidium iodide was used to detect cell apoptosis of TPL-treated BMMSCs. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were applied to measure interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β and stem cell factor (SCF or Kit ligand) mRNA expression and western blot assays were performed to analyze transcription factor p65 (P65) expression in TPL-treated BMMSCs. ELISA was applied to measure vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in the supernatant of the cultured and treated BMMSCs. TPL treatment significantly inhibited BMMSC proliferation compared with the untreated control (P<0.05). At 48 h following TPL treatment, a Cell Counting kit-8 study was performed and the IC50 value was determined at 101.55±2.45 ng/ml. Apoptotic rates were observed to increase with increasing concentrations of TPL (P<0.001), and IL-6, IL-1β and SCF mRNA expression was significantly decreased with increasing TPL (P<0.001). P65 expression following TPL treatment was significantly decreased compared with the untreated control (P<0.05). VEGF levels were significantly reduced in the presence of increasing amounts of TPL (P<0.05). These findings suggest that TPL inhibited BMMSC growth and improved the bone marrow hematopoietic microenvironment by decreasing IL-6, IL-1β and SCF mRNA expression, subsequently inhibiting the proliferation of MM cells. Therefore, TPL may be used in the future to treat patients with MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plant basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play crucial roles in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. However, systematic investigation and analyses of the bZIP gene family in peanut are lacking in spite of the availability of the peanut genome sequence. Results: In this study, we identified 50 and 45 bZIP genes from Arachis duranensis and A. ipaensis genomes, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Arachis bZIP genes were classified into nine groups, and these clusters were supported by several group-specific features, including exon/intron structure, intron phases, MEME motifs, and predicted binding site structure. We also identified possible variations in DNA-binding-site specificity and dimerization properties among different Arachis bZIPs by inspecting the amino acid residues at some key sites. Our analysis of the evolutionary history analysis indicated that segmental duplication, rather than tandem duplication, contributed greatly to the expansion of this gene family, and that most Arachis bZIPs underwent strong purifying selection. Through RNA-seq and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses, the co-expressed, differentially expressed and several well-studied homologous bZIPs were identified during seed development stages in peanut. We also used qRT-PCR to explore changes in bZIP gene expression in response to salt-treatment, and many candidate bZIPs in groups A, B, and S were proven to be associated with the salt-stress response. Conclusions: This study have conducted a genome-wide identification, characterization and expression analysis of bZIP genes in Arachis genomes. Our results provide insights into the evolutionary history of the bZIP gene family in peanut and the funcntion of Arachis bZIP genes during seed development and in response to salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important edible oil crops globally, pigments present in the testa influence both the processing efficiency and the quality of the oil. In peanut, polymeric phenolic compounds are present in the episperm rather than in the endothelium and their levels increase during ripening; therefore, to better understand testa development, and especially the accumulation of pigments, RNA-Seq was applied to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the regulation of peanut testae at three different developmental stages (i.e., at 20 days after flowering – 20DAF – and at 40DAF and 60DAF). A total of 5452 differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) were obtained encompassing these three stages; comparative results showed that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction comprised the principal KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathways expressed during peanut testa development. Further studies revealed that the expression patterns of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway genes PAL , C4H , CHS , and CHI (early biosynthetic genes – EBGs) were consistent with the accumulation of testa pigments. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate that EBGs, as well as the homologs of AtMYB111 (i.e., c35101_g4 and c37398_g2 ), are likely the principal regulators of testa pigment accumulation; the gene database assembled here is therefore a sequencing resource for future research and provides a foundation for understanding the regulation of pink testa pigmentation in peanuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]