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To clarify the role of the extension region on the structure-functional relationship of the α-subunit of β-conglycinin, α-subunit and its segment of the core region (αc-subunit) were expressed via an Escherichia coli system. Their physicochemical properties were compared under acid, neutral or alkaline conditions (pH 4.0, 7.0, and 8.0) and high or low ionic strength (μ = 0.05 and 0.5), respectively.The results showed that the extension region contributed to increasing thermal stability, especially at low ionic strength under acidic and neutral conditions. The extension region stabilized the α-subunit with high solubility, low turbidity, and small particle size under neutral and alkaline conditions, whereas these impacts were suppressed at a high ionic strength and acidic conditions. Surface hydrophobicity of the α-subunit decreased under acidic and alkaline conditions without being interfered with by ionic strength.It can be concluded that the extension region played different roles under different pH and ionic strength conditions. These factors should be specified carefully and speculated individually to explore the more detailed and profound nature of β-conglycinin at the submolecular level. The results could benefit a better understanding of the relationship between domain structure and functions of soybean protein. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Corn gluten meal is a by-product of corn starch production. To extend its application in the food industry, the extrusion of corn gluten meal was conducted, and the effects of temperature (80, 100, 120, and 140 °C) on physicochemical properties and protein structure of the extrudates were investigated. Corn gluten meal was texturized when the extrusion temperature reached 120 °C, and puffed when it reached 140 °C. With an increment of temperature from 120 to 140 °C, the bulk density, particle size, and zeta-potential of extrudates decreased (from 662.0 to 642.5 mg/cm

In order to further explain the fillet texture improvement of Yellow River carp (Cyprinus carpio) fed with faba bean (Vicia faba L.), a three-month rearing trial was conducted to investigate fatty acid composition, antioxidant capacity, myofiber development, collagen deposition and transcriptome in white muscle of two farmed carp groups (One was fed only faba bean, the other was fed commercial diet). As a strong oxidant, faba bean changed fatty acids composition in white muscle, especially DHA and EPA, up-regulated the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and down-regulated major antioxidant enzyme activities in the hepatopancreas and white muscle. Through the analysis of transcriptome and subsequent verification analysis, we speculated that the increase of ROS led to the decrease of myofiber diameter and collagen metabolism. This study provides a theoretical basis for further understanding the regulation of faba bean on fillet texture characteristic of Yellow River carp.

In the present work, polydopamine nanotubes (PDA NTs) decorated with silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully fabricated via a template induced self-polymerization of dopamine, followed by...

Appropriate exploration strategy is crucial to the success of reinforcement learning tasks. One challenge for efficient explorations is to deal with noise in the reinforcement learning (RL), namely parametric uncertainty and intrinsic uncertainty. Researchers pointed out that intrinsic uncertainty may cause disaster to many common exploration strategies. The paper investigates an information-directed exploration strategy: Information Directed Sampling (IDS), which has been extended to general RL setting due to its merit of modeling both parametric uncertainty and intrinsic uncertainty. A modified version based on existing framework was proposed. Modified and original IDS were compared with in two Atari games: Asterix and Gravitar. It was observed that under the similar computational cost, modified method outperformed the original version in Asterix, and performed slightly worse in Gravitor but with much lower variance. Convincing justifications for the superior of modified method were also provided in the last part.

Laser projection is the mainstream projection technology in the market, but compared with other projection technologies, the laser source has higher demand on the stability of operating temperature. Therefore, the ventilation system is one of the most important components in the laser projector and its performance restricts the lifespan and stability of the laser projector. In this paper, a forced ventilation cooling system is proposed. Firstly, in order to achieve the best cooling effect, the types of ventilators, the effect of air leak, the pressure loss and wind resistance characteristics were analyzed. Then, the forward air inlet and the bottom air inlet structures were compared by the computer simulation. The results showed that the bottom air inlet structure is better than the forward one. Finally, the cooling system was applied to a laser projector to test the heat dissipation effect. The result showed that the ventilation cooling system design can meet the cooling demand.

Omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA), particularly docosahexaenoic acids (22:6n-3, DHA), have positive effects on multiple biologic and pathologic processes. Fish are the major dietary source of n-3 LC-PUFA for humans. Growing evidence supports acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase 6 (acsl6) being involved in cellular DHA uptake and lipogenesis in mammals, while its molecular function and regulatory mechanism remain unknown in fish. The present study focused on investigating the molecular characterization and transcription regulation of the acsl6 gene in the freshwater teleost common carp (Cyprinus carpio). First, the full length of acsl6 cDNA contained a coding region of 2148 bp for 715 amino acids, which possessed all characteristic features of the acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL) family. Its mRNA expression was the highest in the brain, followed by in the heart, liver, kidney, muscle, and eyes, but little expression was detected in the ovary and gills. Additionally, a candidate acsl6 promoter region of 2058 bp was cloned, and the sequence from −758 bp to −198 bp was determined as core a promoter by equal progressive deletion and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The binding sites for important transcription factors (TFs), including stimulatory protein 1 (SP1), CCAAT enhancer-binding protein (C/EBPα), sterol-regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP1c), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α (PPARα), and PPARγ were identified in the core promoter by site-directed mutation and functional assays. Furthermore, the intraperitoneal injection of PPARγ agonists (balaglitazone) increased the expression of acsl6 mRNA, coupling with an increased proportion of DHA in the muscle, while opposite results were obtained in the injection of the SREBP1c antagonist (betulin). However, the expression of acsl6 and DHA content in muscle were largely unchanged by PPARα agonist (fenofibrate) treatment. These results indicated that acsl6 may play an important role for the muscular DHA uptake and deposition in common carp, and PPARγ and SREBP-1c are the potential TFs involved in the transcriptional regulation of acsl6 gene. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the characterization of acsl6 gene and its promoter in teleosts.