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High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and HMGB2 have been demonstrated to be key regulators not only in DNA recombination, replication, gene transcription, but also in host inflammation and immune responses. In the present study, orthologs of HMGB1 and HMGB2 named Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 were characterized in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The ORFs of Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 are 621 bp and 648 bp, encoding proteins of 206 aa and 215 aa, with the putative Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 proteins both contain two HMG domains, respectively. The genome organizations of Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 are both composed of four exons and three introns, which are conserved in vertebrates. Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 were identified as cell nucleus localized proteins, and were ubiquitously distributed in the examined organs/tissues. Additionally, Lc-HMGB1 was significantly up-regulated under LPS and PGN stimulation, whereas the stimulation of poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida infection could significantly induce Lc-HMGB2 expression in vivo. Notably, both Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 overexpression could significantly up-regulated the expression of diverse immune-related genes, including IFN1, IRF3, ISG15, ISG56, RSAD2, g-type lysozyme, and TNF-α. Moreover, overexpression of Lc-HMGB1 could also induce the expression of IRF7 and Mx. These results collectively indicate that Lc-HMGB1 and Lc-HMGB2 play important roles in host immune responses against pathogen infection.

Enzymatic alginate oligosaccharides were proved with various biological activities. Developing robust alginate lyase with high production is essential for its industrial application. In this study, a novel alginate lyase gene, AL07, was successfully screened and expressed in Pichia pastoris, and its characteristics were characterized. The secreted alginate lyase has a molecular weight of approximately 40.0 kDa and an activity of 45.4 U/mL. AL07 exhibits superior biological activity at pH 7.0 and 40 °C, with a preference for polyG substrates. Notably, the enzyme exhibits more than 60% relative activity over a pH range of 5.0 to 10.0. AL07 is also independent of ions and exhibits salt tolerance properties. The main degradation product of AL07 is DP2 oligosaccharide. Using AL07-based enzyme cocktail, Laminaria japonica can be degraded within 120 min. Therefore, AL07 has been demonstrated to be an efficient tool for the preparation of alginate oligosaccharides and the degradation of L. japonica.

Inducing maturation of the ovaries to enable the production of good-quality eggs is critical for the successful artificial breeding of Anguilla japonica. During the spawning season, however, the ovaries of A. japonica have been found to develop into asynchronous clutches, impeding the success of artificial breeding on a commercial scale. The dynamic molecular regulation of follicular development in the same individual was assessed by transcriptome analysis of the five stages of follicles, the pre-vitellogenic, early vitellogenic, midvitellogenic, late vitellogenic, and migratory nucleus stages in artificial maturing A. japonica. Comparisons across these developmental stages identified a total of 19,298 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs). Short time-series expression miner analysis across these DETs revealed four significant expression profiles. Gene Ontology function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses found that some of the significantly enriched biological processes and metabolic pathways included those related to steroid hormone biosynthesis (cyp11a1, cyp17a1, cyp17a2, hsd17b1, and hsd17b12), cargo receptor activity (vtgr and vldlr), meiosis and ovulation (pgrs and mPRγ), hydration (cts and aqp1), and egg coat formation (zp). These genes and pathways were associated with serum 17β-estradiol concentrations and morphological changes. The levels of hsd17b12 and mPRγ mRNAs were much higher during the migratory nucleus stage, suggesting their respective involvement in the biosynthesis and functional pathway of the maturation-inducing steroid 17α,20β-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one. The gene subtypes aqp1b and ctsd may regulate water influx into oocytes and yolk protein proteolysis, respectively. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to describe combined transcriptome profiling of asynchronously developing follicles in the same individual. The findings suggest that steroid hormone synthesis and nutrient absorption in follicular somatic cells play important roles during follicular development and maturation, despite the same external physiological surroundings.

Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factors (TRAFs) play vital roles in tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNF-R) and interleukin-1 receptor/Toll-like receptor (IL-1R/TLR) mediated signaling pathway. However, the role that TRAF7 plays in the host immune responses is largely unknown in comparison to the extensive and in-depth research that has been conducted on other members of the TRAF family. Notably, Lc-TRAF7, a cloned TRAF7 ortholog, was discovered in the large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) in the current study, which has an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,962 base pairs and encodes a protein of 653 amino acids (aa). Lc-TRAF7 is consisted of a RING finger domain, a coiled-coil domain, and seven WD40 domains, with the genomic organization consisted of 20 exons and 19 introns. According to the expression analysis, Lc-TRAF7 was presented in a wide range of detected organs and tissues of the healthy fish, and was able to significantly induced by stimulations of poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida infection. Subcellular distribution analysis revealed that Lc-TRAF7 was a cytoplasmic protein, with the RING finger and coiled-coil domain function importantly in its subcellular localization. Luciferase assays demonstrated that Lc-TRAF7 overexpression significantly induced the activation of NF-κB, IRF3, IRF7, and IFN1 promoters. In addition, the WD40 domains play a pivotal role in the NF-κB promoter activation, whereas the RING finger and coiled-coil domain were essential in the IRF3, IRF7, and IFN1 promoter activation. Notably, Lc-TRAF7 overexpression could suppress SVCV proliferation in EPC cells, and the expression levels of IRF3, IRF7, ISG15, ISG56, RSAD2, and TNF-α were up-regulated under Lc-TRAF7 overexpression in LYCMS cells. These findings collectively implied that Lc-TRAF7 may function as an important regulator in the host antiviral responses via the NF-κB as well as IRF3/7 involved signaling pathways.

As a TIR domain-containing molecular, sterile α-and armadillo motif-containing protein (SARM) acts as an adaptor in Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling, and also plays important roles in mediating apoptosis and neuronal injury. In the present study, the ortholog of SARM, named as Lc-SARM, was cloned and identified in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The full-length ORF of Lc-SARM consists of 2,154 bp, encoding a protein of 717 amino acids (aa), which is comprised of an N-terminal ARM domain, two SAM domains, and a C-terminal TIR domain. Confocal microscopy revealed that Lc-SARM was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm, and the mRNA expression level of Lc-SARM was broadly distributed in all the detected organs/tissues, with the highest expression level found in the brain. The expression patterns of Lc-SARM could be induced in response to poly I:C, LPS, PGN stimulations, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida infection. Notably, although the overexpression of Lc-SARM could significantly induce NF-κB, IRF3, IRF7, and type I IFN promoter activation, whereas the co-expression of Lc-SARM with Lc-TRIF, Lc-TRAF3, Lc-IRF3, or Lc-IRF7 significantly down-regulated the induction of NF-κB, IRF3, IRF7, or type I IFN promoter activation, and suppressed the antiviral effects as well as the downstream antiviral-related genes expression compared to the only overexpression of Lc-TRIF, Lc-TRAF3, Lc-IRF3, or Lc-IRF7. Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assays also demonstrated that Lc-SARM interacts separately with Lc-TRIF, Lc-TRAF3, Lc-IRF3, and Lc-IRF7. It is thus collectively suggested that Lc-SARM functions as a negative regulator in Lc-TRIF, Lc-TRAF3, and Lc-IRF3/7 involved antiviral signaling.

The operational stability of organic (opto)electronic devices largely depends on the intrinsic stability of organic materials on service. For organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials, a key pa...

Optimized ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions (solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:7, ultrasonication time of 66 min, ultrasonication temperature of 55 °C and ultrasonication power of 395 W) were obtained by using response surface methodology to obtain the maximum oil yield from peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) seeds. The yield of extracted oil under optimized conditions from peony seeds in response to different harvest times ranged from 25.35 ± 1.45% to 30.85 ± 1.15% and reached a maximum 100 days after pollination (DAP). Analyses of fatty acid composition in peony seed oil by GC–MS showed that the relative contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids and α-linolenic acid were higher during the period from 95 to 105 DAP, exceeding 90% and 33% of total fatty acids, respectively, and the ratios of ω-6:ω-3 varied from 0.87:1 to 1.66:1. Moreover, the optimized extraction conditions and fatty acid characteristics of peony seed oil in different harvest time periods may be used as important references for the industrialization of peony and harvest time of peony seeds in the future.

Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factors (TRAFs) are important adaptor molecules that play important roles in host immune regulation and inflammatory responses. Compared to other members of TRAFs, the function of TRAF4 in vertebrate immunity remains unclear, especially in teleosts. In the present study, TRAF4 ortholog was cloned and identified in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea), named as Lc-TRAF4. The open reading frame (ORF) of Lc-TRAF4 is 1,413 bp and encodes a protein of 470 amino acids (aa), which is consisted of a RING finger domain, two zinc finger domains, and a MATH domain. The genome organization of Lc-TRAF4 is conserved in teleosts, amphibians, birds, and mammals, with 7 exons and 6 introns. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that Lc-TRAF4 was broadly distributed in various organs/tissues of healthy large yellow croakers and could be significantly up-regulated in the gill, intestine, spleen, head kidney, and blood under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulations. Notably, luciferase assays showed that overexpression of Lc-TRAF4 could significantly induce the activation of IRF3, IRF7, and type I IFN promoters, with the RING finger and zinc finger domains function importantly in such promoter activation. Confocal microscopy revealed that Lc-TRAF4 is located in the cytoplasm, whereas the deletion of the RING finger, zinc finger or MATH domain showed little effect on the subcellular localization of Lc-TRAF4. Interestingly, Lc-TRAF4 overexpression could significantly enhance Lc-TRIF and Lc-TRAF6 medicated IRF3 and IRF7 promoter activation. In addition, co-expression of Lc-TRAF4 with Lc-TRIF or Lc-TRAF6 could significantly induce the expression of antiviral and inflammation-related genes, including IRF3, IRF7, ISG15, ISG56, Mx, RSAD2, TNF-α, and IL-1β compared to the only overexpression of Lc-TRAF4, Lc-TRIF or Lc-TRAF6. These results collectively imply that Lc-TRAF4 functions as an enhancer in Lc-TRIF and Lc-TRAF6 mediated antiviral and inflammatory signaling.

Purpose: L-Leucine is an essential amino acid for humans since it is only synthesized in fungi, bacteria, and plants. Its production has not been well documented as L-lysine and L-glutamic acid due to multivalent regulation and longer synthesis pathways. In Corynebacterium glutamicum, L-leucine synthesis is strongly regulated at α-isopropylmalate synthase (α-IMPS) node by the end product. Amino acid substitutions of the α-IMPS variant from strain ARTP-L04 were analyzed, and the α-IMPS variant was further characterized. To enhance the L-leucine production, the effect of α-IMPS variant was also evaluated.Methods: In the present study, construction of plasmid and recombination strain, protein expression and purification, enzymatic properties, fermentation, and amino acid analysis were performed.Results: Compared with leuA from wild-type strain ATCC 13032, 10 nucleotide exchanges were identified in the α-IMPS variant, leading to amino acid exchanges of Gly92Asp, Ile162Val, Gln494Arg, and Gly526Asp. Furthermore, the α-IMPS variant was expressed and characterized. It was found that the α-IPMS variant exhibited higher resistance to feedback inhibition by L-leucine. In the presence of 20 mM L-leucine, over 50% of α-IPMS variant activity was still observed. However, there was no significant difference in specific activity between the α-IPMS variant and wild-type α-IPMS. Therefore, the α-IPMS variant almost removed inhibition by L-leucine. Interestingly, co-expression of α-IPMS and AHAS both from strain ARTP-L04 could significantly enhance L-leucine production, accumulating 7.79 g/L L-leucine.Conclusions: Mutation that occurred in the α-IPMS variant played an important role in feedback resistance, almost removing feedback inhibition by L-leucine. In C. glutamicum, the expression of the α-IPMS variant could significantly enhance L-leucine production, especially when it was co-expressed with AHAS. Collectively, our findings provided valuable insights into further development in gene engineering.

As a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor (TRAF) family, TRAF5 acts as a crucial adaptor molecule and plays important roles in the host innate immune responses. In the present study, the typical form and a splicing variant of TRAF5, termed Lc-TRAF5_tv1 and Lc-TRAF5_tv2 were characterized in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The putative Lc-TRAF5_tv1 protein is constituted of 577 aa, contains a RING finger domain, two zinc finger domains, a coiled-coil domain, and a MATH domain, whereas Lc-TRAF5_tv2 protein is constituted of 236 aa and only contains a RING finger domain due to a premature stop resulted from the intron retention. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that both of Lc-TRAF5_tv1 and Lc-TRAF5_tv2 were localized in the cytoplasm, with Lc-TRAF5_tv2 found to aggregate around the nucleus. It was revealed that Lc-TRAF5_tv1 mRNA was broadly expressed in examined organs/tissues and showed extremely higher level than that of Lc-TRAF5_tv2, and both of them could be up-regulated under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulations in vivo. Interestingly, overexpression of Lc-TRAF5_tv1 and Lc-TRAF5_tv2 could significantly induce NF-κB but not IFN1 activation, whereas co-expression of them remarkably induced IFN1 activation but impaired NF-κB activation. In addition, both Lc-TRAF5_tv1 and Lc-TRAF5_tv2 were associated with TRAF3 and RIP1 in IFN1 activation, whereas only Lc-TRAF5_tv1 cooperated with TRAF3 and RIP1 in NF-κB activation. These results collectively indicated that the splicing variant together with the typical form of TRAF5 function importantly in the regulation of host immune signaling in teleosts.

Anesthesia of neonates with propofol induces persistent behavioral abnormalities in adulthood. Although propofol-triggered apoptosis of neurons in the developing brain may contribute to the development of cognitive deficits, the mechanism of neurotoxicity induced by neonatal exposure to propofol remains unclear. In this study, the effects of neonatal propofol anesthesia on synaptic plasticity and neurocognitive function were investigated. Postnatal day 7 (PND-7) Sprague-Dawley rats were intraperitoneally injected with fat emulsion or 20, 40 or 60 mg/kg propofol for three consecutive days. The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) in the rat hippocampus at PND-10 and PND-12 was measured by Western blotting. The number of dendritic branches, total dendritic length and dendritic spine density were observed by Golgi-Cox staining 24 h and 72 h after the last propofol administration. Long-term potentiation (LTP) was measured electrophysiologically in hippocampus of PND-60 rats to evaluate the synaptic function. The learning and memory abilities of rats were evaluated by Morris water maze (MWM) experiments, Novel object recognition test (NORT) and Object location test (OLT) at PND-60. Our results showed that neonatal exposure to propofol significantly inhibited the expression of BDNF, TrkB and PSD-95 in the rat hippocampus. The number of dendritic branches, total dendritic length and dendritic spine density of neurons in the rat hippocampus were markedly reduced after neonatal propofol anesthesia. LTP was significantly diminished in hippocampus of PND-60 rats after repeated exposure to propofol in the neonatal period. Morris water maze experiments showed that repeated neonatal exposure to propofol significantly prolonged the escape latency and decreased the time spent in the target quadrant and the number of platform crossings. NORT and OLT showed that repeated neonatal exposure to propofol markedly reduced the Investigation Time for novel object or location. All of the results above indicate that repeated exposure to propofol in the neonatal period can impair hippocampal synaptic plasticity and the recognition function of rats in adulthood.

As a member of the Sox gene family, Sox3 plays a vital role in gonadal development and gametogenesis. Nevertheless, the exact expression pattern of this gene in fish is still unknown. Here, we identified the Sox3 gene of Centropyge vrolikii, namely, Cv-Sox3. The Cv-Sox3 mRNA expression in the ovary and testis was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis, and the mRNA expression level of Cv-Sox3 in the ovary in the resting stage was significantly higher than that in other tissues. The phylogenetic tree and alignment of multiple sequences were constructed to analyze the evolutionary relationships of Cv-Sox3. Cv-Sox3 was relatively conserved in the evolution of teleost fish, indicating the importance and similarity of its function. The in situ hybridization results demonstrate that Cv-Sox3 was present in the follicle cells and cytoplasm of oocytes in the ovary of different stages, and the positive signals occurred in germ cells of the testis. After interfering with Cv-Sox3, the growth rate of ovarian cells in culture became slow, and the expression of ovary-bias-related genes Cyp19a and Foxl2 significantly increased. Meanwhile, the expression of testis-bias-related genes Dmrt1, Sox9, Cyp11a, Amh, and Sox8 significantly decreased. These results suggest that Cv-Sox3 gene might be expressed in the germ cells of male and female gonads during gonadal development. This study provides a precise expression pattern of Cv-Sox3 and demonstrates that Cv-Sox3 might play a significant role in the reproductive regulation of C. vrolikii. In this study, Sox3 of C. vrolikii (Cv-Sox3) was cloned to understand the expression pattern in the gonadal development, which is expressed in germ cells, involved in the process of gonadal development. The results demonstrated that Cv-Sox3 may play a significant role in the reproductive regulation of C. vrolikii.

Receptor interacting protein 1 (RIP1) plays important roles not only in cell-death pathways but also in host innate immune responses. In the present study, a RIP1 ortholog named Lc-RIP1 was cloned and characterized in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The open reading frame (ORF) of Lc-RIP1 is 2,046 bp, encoding a protein of 681 amino acids (aa), with an N-terminal kinase domain, an RHIM domain, and a C-terminal death domain. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that Lc-RIP1 was a cytosolic protein, which was broadly expressed in examined tissues/organs, and could be up-regulated under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulation in vivo based on qRT-PCR analysis. Notably, Lc-RIP1 could induce NF-κB, but not IRF3, IRF7 or type I IFN promoter activation. In addition, Lc-RIP1 overexpression could enhance Lc-MAVS, Lc-TRAF3, and Lc-TRAF6 mediated NF-κB promoter activation, and also Lc-TRIF and Lc-MAVS mediated IRF3 promoter activation, whereas suppress Lc-TRIF mediated NF-κB and type I IFN promoter activation, as well as Lc-TRAF3 and Lc-IRF3 mediated IRF3 promoter activation, Lc-IRF3 mediated type I IFN promoter activation and Lc-IRF7 mediated IRF7 promoter activation. These results collectively indicated that Lc-RIP1 function importantly in regulation of host innate immune signaling.

Chimonanthus praecox, a deciduous shrub tree, is endemic to China and widely cultivated in the world as a popular garden and ornamental plant. Here, we have reported its complete chloroplast genome...

As an adaptor in Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathway, Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain containing adaptor inducing interferon-β (TRIF) mediates downstream signaling cascades and plays important roles in host innate immune responses. In the present study, a TRIF ortholog named Lc-TRIF was identified in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). Sequence comparison analysis revealed that Lc-TRIF has a conserved TIR domain but without TRAF6 binding motif. The genome structure of Lc-TRIF is conserved, with two exons and one intron. Syntenic comparison showed that the loci of fish TRIF was different from that in mammals or birds, and TRAM was absent in the genomes of fish, amphibians, and birds, but present in mammals and reptiles. Expression analysis revealed that Lc-TRIF was broadly expressed in examined organs/tissues, with the highest expression level in gill and weakest in brain, and could be up-regulated under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulation. Fluorescence microscopy results showed that Lc-TRIF exhibited a global localization throughout the entire cell including the nucleus in HEK 293T cells. Additionally, luciferase assays demonstrated that Lc-TRIF expression could significantly induce NF-κB, type I IFN, IRF3 as well as IRF7 promoter activation. These results collectively indicated that Lc-TRIF was function in host antiviral and antibacterial responses via NF-κB and IRF3/7 related signaling pathway.

ortho-Linkages are effective in improving the performance of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials but may weaken the local chemical bonds and even incur chemical degradation due to bond cleavage reactions in operating OLEDs, especially for blue-emitting materials. Here, we conducted a systematic theoretical study on a series of carbazole (Cz)-based molecules with typical donor (D)−π−acceptor (A) structures to investigate the influence of ortho-substituents on the bond dissociation energies (BDEf) of their fragile D−π bonds (i.e., C–N bonds), where “fragile” means that the bonds have the minimum or a comparable-to-the-minimum BDE in the molecule. Through calculations, it was found that different substituents or even the same substituent on different sites of the molecule could bring variable effects on the polar D−π bond. Specifically, in the π-group, the effects of a substituent on BDEf mainly depend on the steric hindrance that it brings to the D−π bond. Thus, ortho-CH3 groups hardly affect BDEf...

Mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) acts as an essential adaptor in host RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs) mediated antiviral signaling pathway. In the present study, two MAVS transcript variants, the typical form and a splicing variant, namely Lc-MAVS_tv1 and Lc-MAVS_tv2 were characterized in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The putative Lc-MAVS_tv1 protein contains 512 aa, with an N-terminal CARD domain, a central proline-rich region, and a C-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain, whereas Lc-MAVS_tv2 contains 302 aa and lacks the C-terminal TM domain due to a premature stop in the 102 bp intron fragment insertion. Lc-MAVS_tv1 was identified as a mitochondrion localized protein whereas Lc-MAVS_tv2 exhibited an entire cytosolic distribution. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that Lc-MAVS_tv1 mRNA was broadly expressed in examined organs/tissues and showed extremely higher level than that of Lc-MAVS_tv2, and both of them could be up-regulated under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulation in vivo. Interestingly, overexpression of Lc-MAVS_tv2 could induce the activation of NF-κB but not IRF3, and Lc-MAVS_tv2 co-transfected with Lc-MAVS_tv1 induced a significantly higher level of NF-κB and IRF3 promoter activity. In addition, Lc-MAVS_tv2 overexpression could enhance TRAF3 and TRAF6 mediated NF-κB activation, but suppress TRAF3 and TRAF6 mediated IRF3 activation, implying that the splicing variant Lc-MAVS_tv2 may function as an important regulator in MAVS mediated signaling pathway.

Chimonanthus praecox, a deciduous shrub tree, is endemic to China and widely cultivated in the world as a popular garden and ornamental plant. Here, we have reported its complete chloroplast genome with a length of 153,181 bp, containing a large single copy (LSC) region of 86,916 bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 19,767 bp and two identical inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 23,249 bp. The overall GC contents of the plastome were 39.27%. A total of 114 unique genes were successfully annotated consisting of 80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes and four rRNA genes. Sixteen genes each possessed one intron and three genes had two introns. The ML phylogenetic analysis supports Chimonanthus as sister to Calycanthus. This result will be helpful for genetic breeding and population genetics of C. praecox, DNA barcoding of Chimonanthus, and phylogenetic studies of Calycanthaceae.

The development of robust organic (opto)electronic devices is mainly depressed by the poor intrinsic stability of organic materials on service. For organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials, a key parameter for intrinsic stability is the bond-dissociation energy of the most fragile bond (BDEf). Although rarely concerned, many OLED molecules have the lowest BDEf in anionic states (BDEf(−) ∼1.6−2.5 eV), which could be a fatal short-slab for device stability. Here, we confirmed the clear relationship between BDEf(−), intrinsic material stability, and device lifetime, and further developed a general and effective strategy to promote BDEf(−) ~1 eV for various fragile bonds by introducing appropriate negative charge manager within the molecule. The manager can firmly confine negative-charge and protect fragile bonds, which was verified in typical phosphine-oxide and carbazole derivatives, and backed by newly-designed molecules. This tactic provides a new perspective to reform the vulnerable building blocks for robust organic (opto)electronic materials and devices.

Nucleotide-binding site (NBS)-type disease resistance genes (R genes) play key roles in plant immune responses and have co-evolved with pathogens over the course of plant lifecycles. Comparative genomic studies tracing the dynamic evolution of NBS-encoding genes have been conducted using many important plant lineages. However, studies on Sapindaceae species have not been performed. In this study, a discrepant number of NBS-encoding genes were identified in the genomes of Xanthoceras sorbifolium (180), Dinnocarpus longan (568), and Acer yangbiense (252). These genes were unevenly distributed and usually clustered as tandem arrays on chromosomes, with few existed as singletons. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that NBS-encoding genes formed three monophyletic clades, RPW8-NBS-LRR (RNL), TIR-NBS-LRR (TNL), and CC-NBS-LRR (CNL), which were distinguished by amino acid motifs. The NBS-encoding genes of the X. sorbifolium, D. longan, and A. yangbiense genomes were derived from 181 ancestral genes (three RNL, 23 TNL, and 155 CNL), which exhibited dynamic and distinct evolutionary patterns due to independent gene duplication/loss events. Specifically, X. sorbifolium exhibited a “first expansion and then contraction” evolutionary pattern, while A. yangbiense and D. longan exhibited a “first expansion followed by contraction and further expansion” evolutionary pattern. However, further expansion in D. longan was stronger than in A. yangbiense after divergence, suggesting that D. longan gained more genes in response to various pathogens. Additionally, the ancient and recent expansion of CNL genes generated the dominance of this subclass in terms of gene numbers, while the low copy number status of RNL genes was attributed to their conserved functions.

This paper uses public opinion propagation structure of Sina microblog as research object, it sets up simulation model of public opinion propagation structures based on complex network theory. Through the analysis of the degree distribution, clustering coefficient and community structure of the model, the validity of the model has been well confirmed. The paper also conducts research and analysis towards propagation quantity of the hot topic within 800 well-known spread microblog from 2013 to 2015, the paper establishes a community structure, through the simulation and demonstration of the community structure, it declares the community structure characteristic under the complex network environment.

As a member of tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-associated factor (TRAF) family, TRAF3 is an important regulator of NF-κB and type I interferon (IFN) activation, especially in Toll-like receptors (TLRs)- and retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs)-mediated signaling pathway. In the present study, a TRAF3 homologue named Lc-TRAF3 was characterized in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea). The open reading frame (ORF) of Lc-TRAF3 contains 1788 bp encoding a protein of 595 amino acids (aa). Sequence analysis indicated that Lc-TRAF3 is conserved in vertebrates, constituted with a N-terminal RING finger, two TRAF-type zinc fingers, and a C-terminal TRAF-MATH domain. The genome organization of Lc-TRAF3 is conserved in fish, with 13 exons and 12 introns, but different from that in birds or mammals, which contains 10 exons and 9 introns. Lc-TRAF3 was identified as cytosolic protein base on fluorescence microscopy analysis. Expression analysis revealed that Lc-TRAF3 was broadly distributed in examined organs/tissues, with the highest expression level in gill and weakest in brain, and could be up-regulated under poly I:C, LPS, PGN, and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida stimulation in vivo. Interestingly, overexpression Lc-TRAF3 could induce the activation of NF-κB, and Lc-TRAF3 co-transfected with Lc-TRIF induced a significantly higher level of NF-κB and IRF3 promoter activity, implying that Lc-TRAF3 may function as an enhancer in Lc-TRIF-mediated signaling pathway.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are fundamental components of building a safe and intelligent transportation system. However, due to its wireless nature, VANETs have serious security and privacy issues that need to be addressed. The conditional privacy-preserving authentication protocol is one important tool to satisfy the security and privacy requirements. Many such schemes employ the certificateless signature, which not only avoids the key management issue of the PKI-based scheme but also solves the key escrow problem of the ID-based signature scheme. However, many schemes have the drawback that the computational expensive bilinear pairing operation or map-to-point hash function are used. In order to enhance the efficiency, certificateless signature schemes for VANETs are usually constructed to support signature aggregation or online/offline computation. In this paper, we propose an efficient conditional privacy-preserving authentication scheme using an online/offline certificateless aggregate signature, which does not require bilinear pairing or map-to-point hash function, to address the security and privacy issues of VANETs. Our proposed scheme is proven to be secure with a rigorous security proof, and it satisfies all the security and privacy requirements with a better performance compared with other related schemes.

Mixed cobalt and manganese oxides embedded in the nanoporous carbon framework (M/MO@C) were synthesized by the direct carbonization of a binary mixed-metal organic framework (CoMn-MOF-74) for the first time. The unique M/MO@C carbon materials maintained the primary morphology of CoMn-MOF-74, and showed a uniform dispersibility of Co, MnO and CoO nanoparticles in the carbon matrix, and therefore greatly increased the conductivity of the M/MO@C materials. A series of M/MO@C samples were tested as the electrode materials for supercapacitors, and a remarkable specific capacitance of 800 F g(-1) was obtained using the M/MO@C-700 sample at a current density of 1 A g(-1) in 6 M KOH electrolyte. Moreover, the M/MO@C sample showed a good cycling stability with a capacitance retention of 85% after 1000 cycles. It is also found that the optimized carbonization temperature is a critical parameter to obtain such a M/MO@C nanoporous carbon framework with the best capacitive performances. The present approach is convenient and reproducible, which could be easily extended to the preparation of other M/MO@C composites with excellent electrochemical performances.

Homogeneous catalysis by gold involves organogold complexes as precatalysts and reaction intermediates. Fundamental knowledge of the gold–carbon bonding is critical to understanding the catalytic mechanisms. However, limited spectroscopic information is available about organogolds that are relevant to gold catalysts. Here we report an investigation of the gold–carbon bonding in gold(I)–alkynyl complexes using photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. We find that the gold–carbon bond in the ClAu–CCH− complex represents one of the strongest gold–ligand bonds—even stronger than the known gold–carbon multiple bonds, revealing an inverse correlation between bond strength and bond order. The gold–carbon bond in LAuCCH− is found to depend on the ancillary ligands and becomes stronger for more electronegative ligands. The strong gold–carbon bond underlies the catalytic aptness of gold complexes for the facile formation of terminal alkynyl–gold intermediates and activation of the carbon–carbon triple bond., Fundamental understanding of gold–carbon bonding in homogeneous catalysts is vital for improved catalyst design, although spectroscopic information is limited. Here, the authors probe the bonding in gold–alkyne complexes using a combination of photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations.

Nature Communications 4: Article number: 2223 (2013), Published 26 July 2013; Updated 29 March 2018 The original HTML version of this Article had an incorrect article number of 2201; it should have been 2223. This has now been corrected in the HTML; the PDF version of the Article was correct from the time of publication.

The objective of this study is trying to solve water pollution problems related to duck house wastewater by developing a novel duck house wastewater treatment technology. A pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system using different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) for treating duck house wastewater was developed and applied in this study. Experimental results showed that removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand in untreated duck house wastewater was 98.4, 98.4, 87.8, and 72.5% for the different HRTs of 5, 3, 1, and 0.5 d, respectively. In addition, removal efficiency of biochemical oxygen demand in untreated duck house wastewater was 99.6, 99.3, 90.4, and 58.0%, respectively. The pilot-scale SBR system was effective and deemed capable to be applied to treat duck house wastewater. It is feasible to apply an automatic SBR system on site based on the previous case study of the farm-scale automatic SBR systems for piggery wastewater treatment.

The convolution neural networks (CNNs) can extract the rich feature of the image. It was widely used in the field of computer vision (CV) and made great breakthroughs. However, most of the existing CNNs models only utilize the features out put by last layer, the representation of features is not comprehensive enough. In this paper, we propose a multilevel features fusion method, in order to make full use of the intermediate layer features. This method can strengthen feature propagation and improve the accuracy of downstream tasks. We evaluate our method through experiments on two image classification benchmark tasks: CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100. The experimental results show that our method is able to significantly improve the accuracy of VGG-like model. The improved model is better than most existing models.

Gold compounds, clusters, and nanoparticles are widely used as catalysts and therapeutic medicines; the interactions between gold and its ligands in these systems play important roles in their chemical properties and functionalities. In order to elucidate the nature of the chemical interactions between Au(I) and its ligands, herein we use several theoretical methods to study the chemical bonding in a variety of linear [AuX2](-) complexes, where X = halogen atoms (F, Cl, Br, I, At and Uus), H, OH, SH, OCH3, SCH3, CN and SCN. It is shown that the most important bonding orbitals in these systems have significant contributions from the Au sd hybridized atomic orbitals. The ubiquitous linear or quasi-linear structures of [AuX2](-) are attributed to the well-balanced optimal overlap in both σ and π bonding orbitals and minimal repulsion between the two negatively charged ligands. The stability of these complexes is related to the covalency of the Au-X bond and a periodic trend is found in the evolution of covalency along the halogen group ligands. The special stability of [Au(CN)2](-) is a result of strong covalent and ionic interactions. For the superheavy element Uus, the covalency of Au-Uus is enhanced through the spin-orbit interactions.

The structure, evolution, and function of heat shock proteins 90 (Hsp90s) have been investigated in great detail in fungi and animals. However, studies on the Hsp90 genes in plants are generally limited. Brachypodium distachyon (L.) P. Beauv., as a model plant for cereal crops, has become a potential biofuel grass. During its long evolution, the Hsp90 gene family in Brachypodium has developed some strategies to cope with adverse environments. How the Hsp90 gene family in Brachypodium evolved in different plant lineages and what its role is in plant responses to drought and salt stresses remains to be elucidated. We used a set of different bioinformatics tools to identify 94 Hsp90 genes from 10 species representing four plant lineages and classified into three subgroups. Eight BdHsp90 genes were detected from B. distachyon. The number of exon-intron structures differed in each subgroup, and the motif analysis revealed that these genes were relatively conservative in each group. The fragments duplication and tandem duplication, which are the prime powers for functional diversity, generally occurred during the duplication of the whole plant genome. Transcriptional analysis of the BdHsp90 genes under salt and drought stress conditions indicated that the expression of these genes was delayed or increased at different stress time points; The expression was more affected in that of Bradi3g39630, Bradi4g06370, and Bradi1g30130. Our findings suggest the involvement of BdHsp90s in plant abiotic stress response, and further consolidate our views on the stress response mechanism of Hsp90 in general.

In homothermic animals, toll-like receptors (TLRs) participate in detecting microbial-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) of probiotics for activation of intestinal mucosal immunity and modulation of gut microbiota. This study evaluated the possible roles of TLRs in fish intestinal mucosal immune response to probiotic Psychrobacter sp. SE6 and microbiota modulation by examining the dominant microbial community and expression of TLR genes and other genes involved in TLR-mediated signaling within the intestine of grouper Epinephelus coioides. The fish were fed for 60 days with three different diets: control (without probiotic), diets T1 and T2 supplemented with 1.0 × 108 cells g− 1 viable and heat-inactivated Psychrobacter sp. SE6, respectively. Upregulated expression of TLR2 and TLR5, adaptor MyD88 and cytokines (IL-1β, IL-8 and TGF-β1) was observed in fish fed the viable SE6, while elevated expression of TLR2, but not MyD88 and cytokines, was observed in fish fed the heat-inactivated SE6, which suggested that MyD88-independent TLR2 signaling pathway may be involved in the probiotic recognition in E. coioides. The induced activation of intestinal mucosal immunity, especially the enhanced expression of antibacterial epinecidin-1 and IgM, was consistent with the intestinal microbial data showing that several bacteria were suppressed to undetectable level by both the viable and heat-inactivated SE6. These findings lay the foundation for future studies on the molecular interactions between the probiotics, gut microbiota and mucosal immunity in fish.