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Pigeons (Columba livia) are among a select few avian species that have developed a specialized reproductive mode wherein the parents produce a 'milk' in their crop to feed newborn squabs. Nonetheless, the transcriptomic dynamics and role in the rapid transition of core crop functions during 'lactation' remain largely unexplored. Here, we generated a de novo pigeon genome assembly to construct a high resolution spatio-temporal transcriptomic landscape of the crop epithelium across the entire breeding stage. This multi-omics analysis identified a set of 'lactation'-related genes involved in lipid and protein metabolism, which contribute to the rapid functional transitions in the crop. Analysis of in situ high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing revealed extensive reorganization of promoter-enhancer interactions linked to the dynamic expression of these 'lactation'-related genes between stages. Moreover, their expression is spatially localized in specific epithelial layers, and can be correlated with phenotypic changes in the crop. These results illustrate the preferential de novo synthesis of 'milk' lipids and proteins in the crop, and provides candidate enhancer loci for further investigation of the regulatory elements controlling pigeon 'lactation'. Author summary: The provision of food by parents is essential for offspring survival in some species. Unlike most birds, pigeons produce a 'milk' in their crops to feed hatched squabs. Here, using a multi-omics strategy, we conducted an integrated behavioral, genomic, transcriptomic, and chromatin interactome analysis of 'milk' production in the crop during the pigeon breeding stages. We generated a chromosome-level pigeon genome and annotated 18,660 high confidence protein-coding genes. Examination of spatio-temporal transcriptomic profiles revealed that lipid and protein synthesis-related genes are expressed at high levels in 'lactating' crops, suggesting that lipids and proteins used for 'milk' are preferentially synthesized de novo in the crop. We also identified the cis-regulatory elements of these 'lactation'-related genes and found that their expression is modulated by variation in promoter-enhancer chromatin-level interactions. Our data indicate that lipid- and protein-loaded crop epithelial cells proliferate rapidly and slough off during the 'lactation' stage to form pigeon 'milk'. This study provides an informative reference for further investigation of the transcriptional regulation underlying pigeon 'lactation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wadsley–Roth phased niobates are promising anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries, while their inherently low electrical conductivity still limits their rate‐capability. Herein, a novel doped Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 (MWNO) material is facilely prepared via an ionothermal‐synthesis‐assisted doping strategy. The detailed crystal structure of MWNO is characterized by neutron powder diffraction and aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, unveiling the full occupation of Mo6+‐dopant at the t1 tetrahedral site. In half‐cells, MWNO exhibits enhanced fast‐rechargeability. The origin of the improved performance is investigated by ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT) computation, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, revealing that bandgap narrowing improves the electrical conductivity of MWNO. Furthermore, operando X‐ray diffraction elucidates that MWNO exhibits a typical solid‐solution phase conversion‐based lithium‐ion insertion/extraction mechanism with reversible structural evolution during the electrochemical reaction. The boosted lithium‐ion diffusivity of MWNO, due to the Mo6+/W6+ doping effect, is confirmed by a galvanostatic intermittent titration technique and DFT. With the simultaneously enhanced electrical conductivity and lithium‐ion diffusivity, MWNO successfully demonstrates its fast‐rechargeability and practicality in the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4‐coupled full‐cells. Therefore, this work illustrates the potential of ionothermal synthesis in energy storage materials and provides a mechanistic understanding of the doping effect on improving material's electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the phase separation problem of Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O PCM (phase change material), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), xanthan gum (XG), sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) and polyacrylamide (PAM) were selected as additives. The effects of different proportions of the above thickeners on the supercooling degree, phase separation, phase change temperature and latent heat of Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O system were studied by using the cooling curve and DSC, so as to screen the best thickener for eutectic PCM. The experimental results show that CMC, XG and PAAS can eliminate the phase separation of Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O. Among them, the optimal ratio of CMC, XG and PAAS is 3 mass%, 3 mass% and 1 mass%, respectively. From the perspective of heat storage performance, PAAS is the optimal thickener for Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O. The phase change temperature is 40.5 °C. The subcooling degree is about 14.7 °C, and the latent heat is about 221 J g−1. The melting time is 15 min. Only PAAS can make Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O eutectic PCM completely exothermic at room temperature, which can not only play the role of thickener to eliminate phase separation, but also is a nucleating agent. After 100 melting-solidification cycles, the change rate of latent heat value was only 5%, and the change rate of phase transition temperature was less than 1%. Considering heat storage performance and cyclic stability, PAAS is the optimal thickener for Na2S2O3·5H2O–CH3COONa·3H2O PCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]