Exploring the phosphorus-starch content balance mechanisms in maize grains using GWAS population and transcriptome data.

Examining the connection between P and starch-related signals can help elucidate the balance between nutrients and yield. This study utilized 307 diverse maize inbred lines to conduct multi-year and multi-plot trials, aiming to explore the relationship among P content, starch content, and 100-kernel weight (HKW) of mature grains. A significant negative correlation was found between P content and both starch content and HKW, while starch content showed a positive correlation with HKW. The starch granules in grains with high-P and low-starch content (HPLS) were significantly smaller compared to grains with low-P high-starch content (LPHS). Additionally, mian04185-4 (HPLS) exhibited irregular and loosely packed starch granules. A significant decrease in ZmPHOs genes expression was detected in the HPLS line ZNC442 as compared to the LPHS line SCML0849, while no expression difference was observed in AGPase encoding genes between these two lines. The down-regulated genes in ZNC442 grains were enriched in nucleotide sugar and fatty acid anabolic pathways, while up-regulated genes were enriched in the ABC transporters pathway. An accelerated breakdown of fat as the P content increased was also observed. This implied that HPLS was resulted from elevated lipid decomposition and inadequate carbon sources. The GWAS analysis identified 514 significantly associated genes, out of which 248 were differentially expressed. Zm00001d052392 was found to be significantly associated with P content/HKW, exhibiting high expression in SCML0849 but almost no expression in ZNC442. Overall, these findings suggested new approaches for achieving a P-yield balance through the manipulation of lipid metabolic pathways in grains.

Genome-wide association studies dissect low-phosphorus stress response genes underling field and seedling traits in maize.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for plant growth, and its deficiency can cause decreased crop yield. This study systematically evaluated the low-phosphate (Pi) response traits in a large population at maturity and seedling stages, and explored candidate genes and their interrelationships with specific traits. The results revealed a greater sensitivity of seedling maize to low-Pi stress compared to that at maturity stage. The phenotypic response patterns to low-Pi stress at different stages were independent. Chlorophyll content was found to be a potential indicator for screening low-Pi-tolerant materials in the field. A total of 2900 and 1446 significantly associated genes at the maturity and seedling stages were identified, respectively. Among these genes, 972 were uniquely associated with maturity traits, while 330 were specifically detected at the seedling stage under low-Pi stress. Moreover, 768 and 733 genes were specifically associated with index values (low-Pi trait/normal-Pi trait) at maturity and seedling stage, respectively. Genetic network diagrams showed that the low-Pi response gene Zm00001d022226 was specifically associated with multiple primary P-related traits under low-Pi conditions. A total of 963 out of 2966 genes specifically associated with traits under low-Pi conditions or index values were found to be induced by low-Pi stress. Notably, ZmSPX4.1 and ZmSPX2 were sharply up-regulated in response to low-Pi stress across different lines or tissues. These findings advance our understanding of maize's response to low-Pi stress at different developmental stages, shedding light on the genes and pathways implicated in this response.

UV-C Promotes the Accumulation of Flavane-3-ols in Juvenile Fruit of Grape through Positive Regulating VvMYBPA1.

Flavane-3-ol monomers are the precursors of proanthocyanidins (PAs), which play a crucial role in grape resistance. Previous studies showed that UV-C positively regulated leucoanthocyanidin reductase (LAR) enzyme activity to promote the accumulation of total flavane-3-ols in juvenile grape fruit, but its molecular mechanism was still unclear. In this paper, we found that the contents of flavane-3-ol monomers increased dramatically at the early development stage grape fruit after UV-C treatment, and the expression of its related transcription factor VvMYBPA1 was also enhanced significantly. The contents of (-)-epicatechin and (+)-catechin, the expression level of VvLAR1 and VvANR, and the activities of LAR and anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) were improved significantly in the VvMYBPA1 overexpressed grape leaves compared to the empty vector. Both VvMYBPA1 and VvMYC2 could interact with VvWDR1 using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and yeast two hybrid (Y2H). Finally, VvMYBPA1 was proven to bind with the promoters of VvLAR1 and VvANR by yeast one hybrid (Y1H). To sum up, we found that the expression of VvMYBPA1 increased in the young stage of grape fruit after UV-C treatment. VvMYBPA1 formed a trimer complex with VvMYC2 and VvWDR1 to regulate the expression of VvLAR1 and VvANR, thus positively promoting the activities of LAR and ANR enzyme, and eventually improved the accumulation of flavane-3-ols in grape fruit.

Related factors based on non-targeted metabolomics methods in minor ischaemic stroke.

Objective: This study aimed to identify potential biomarkers associated with the occurrence of minor ischaemic stroke. Methods: Four hundred patients hospitalized with minor ischaemic stroke were enrolled in the department of neurological internal medicine in Taiyuan Central Hospital, and 210 healthy subjects examined at the Taiyuan Central Hospital Medical Center during the same period were selected. We collected information on the general demographic characteristics and fasting blood samples of the subjects. We then used untargeted metabolomic assay to measure blood glucose, blood lipids, homocysteine, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Results: There were statistically significant differences between the mild ischemic stroke group and the healthy control group in smoking, hypertension, and physical activity (P< 0.05). Compared with the healthy group, the minor ischaemic stroke group showed increased lactate, pyruvate, trimetlylamine oxide levels, and lactic acid, pyruvic acid, and trimethylamine N-oxidation (TMAO) levels were statistically significant (P< 0.001). In the minor ischaemic stroke risk model, hypertension, physical activity, smoking, and elevated TMAO levels influenced the occurrence of minor stroke. Conclusion: Increased levels of lactic acid, pyruvate, and TMAO may be related to the pathophysiological changes in the minor ischaemic stroke population. High blood pressure, a lack of physical activity, smoking, and increased TMAO level were the influencing factors for the occurrence of minor ischaemic stroke. The serum metabolite TMAO may be associated with MS occurrence.

A Novel Adaptive Deskewing Algorithm for Document Images.

Document scanning often suffers from skewing, which may seriously influence the efficiency of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Therefore, it is necessary to correct the skewed document before document image information analysis. In this article, we propose a novel adaptive deskewing algorithm for document images, which mainly includes Skeleton Line Detection (SKLD), Piecewise Projection Profile (PPP), Morphological Clustering (MC), and the image classification method. The image type is determined firstly based on the image's layout feature. Thus, adaptive correcting is applied to deskew the image according to its type. Our method maintains high accuracy on the Document Image Skew Estimation Contest (DISEC'2013) and PubLayNet datasets, which achieved 97.6% and 80.1% accuracy, respectively. Meanwhile, extensive experiments show the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Urinary cadmium and peripheral blood telomere length predict the risk of renal function impairment: a study of 547 community residents of Shanxi, China.

Few reports have investigated the predictive value of urinary cadmium (UCd) and telomere length on renal function impairment. Therefore, we constructed nomogram models, using a cross-sectional survey to analyze the potential function of UCd and telomere length in renal function impairment risk. We randomly selected two community populations in Shanxi, China, and general information of the subjects was collected through face-to-face questionnaire surveys. Venous blood of subjects was collected to detect absolute telomere length (ATL) by real-time quantitative chain reaction (RT-PCR). Collecting urinary samples detected UCd and urinary N-acetyl-ß-d-glucosaminidase (UNAG). Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was obtained based on serum creatinine (SCr). Nomogram models on risk prediction analysis of renal function impairment was constructed. After adjusting for other confounding factors, UCd (ß = 0.853, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.739 ~ 0.986) and ATL (ß = 1.803, 95%CI: 1.017 ~ 1.154) were independent risk influencing factors for increased UNAG levels, and the risk factors for eGFR reduction were UCd (ß = 1.011, 95%CI: 1.187 ~ 1.471), age (ß = 1.630, 95%CI: 1.303 ~ 2.038), and sex (ß = 0.181, 95%CI: 0.105 ~ 0.310). Using UCd, ATL, sex, and age to construct the nomogram, and the C-statistics 0.584 (95%CI: 0.536 ~ 0.632) and 0.816 (95%CI: 0.781 ~ 0.851) were obtained by internal verification of the calibration curve, C-statistics revealed nomogram model validation was good and using decision curve analysis (DCA) confirmed a good predictive value of the nomogram models. In a nomogram model, ATL, UCd, sex, and age were detected as independent risk factors for renal function impairment, with UCd being the strongest predictor.

VvANR silencing promotes expression of VvANS and accumulation of anthocyanin in grape berries.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology was applied to silence VvANR in cv. Zaoheibao grape berries, and the effects of VvANR silencing on berries phenotype; gene expression level of ANS, LAR1, LAR2, and UFGT; enzyme activity of ANS; and accumulations of anthocyanin and flavan-3-ol were investigated. At the third day after treatment, the VvANR silenced grape berries began to turn red slightly, which was 2 days earlier than that of the control group. And the flavan-3-ol content in VvANR-silenced grape berries had been remarkable within 1 to 5 days, the ANR enzyme activity in VvANR-silenced grapes extremely significantly decreased in 3 days, and LAR enzyme activity also decreased, but the difference was not striking. The ANS enzyme activity of the transformed berries was significantly higher than that of the control after 3 days of infection, and it was exceedingly significantly higher than that of the control after 5 to 10 days. The content of anthocyanin in transformed berries increased of a very marked difference within 3 to 15 days. pTRV2-ANR infection resulted in an extremely significant decrease in the expression of VvANR gene, and the expression of VvLAR1, VvLAR2, VvMYBPA1, VvMYBPA2, and VvDFR were also down-regulated. However, the expression of VvANS and VvUFGT was up-regulated significantly. After VvANR silencing via VIGS, VvANR expression in grape berries was extremely significantly decreased, resulting in decreased ANR enzyme activity and flavan-3-ol content; berries turned red and deeper in advance. In addition, VvANR silencing can induce up-regulation of VvANS and VvUFGT expression, significantly increase ANS enzyme activity, and increase of anthocyanin accumulation.

Functional analysis of a miRNA-like small RNA derived from Bombyx mori cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus.

Bombyx mori cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (BmCPV) is a major pathogen of the economic insect silkworm, Bombyx mori. Virus-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proven to play important roles in host-pathogen interactions. In this study we identified a BmCPV-derived miRNA-like 21 nt small RNA, BmCPV-miR-1, from the small RNA deep sequencing of BmCPV-infected silkworm larvae by stem-loop quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and investigated its functions with qPCR and lentiviral expression systems. Bombyx mori inhibitor of apoptosis protein (BmIAP) gene was predicted by both target prediction software miRanda and Targetscan to be one of its target genes with a binding site for BmCPV-miR-1 at the 5' untranslated region. It was found that the expression of BmCPV-miR-1 and its target gene BmIAP were both up-regulated in BmCPV-infected larvae. At the same time, it was confirmed that BmCPV-miR-1 could up-regulate the expression of BmIAP gene in HEK293T cells with lentiviral expression systems and in BmN cells by transfecting mimics. Furthermore, BmCPV-miR-1 mimics could up-regulate the expression level of BmIAP gene in midgut and fat body in the silkworm. In the midgut of BmCPV-infected larvae, BmCPV-miR-1 mimics could be further up-regulated and inhibitors could lower the virus-mediated expression of BmIAP gene. With the viral genomic RNA segments S1 and S10 as indicators, BmCPV-miR-1 mimics could up-regulate and inhibitors down-regulate their replication in the infected silkworm. These results implied that BmCPV-miR-1 could inhibit cell apoptosis in the infected silkworm through up-regulating BmIAP expression, providing the virus with a better cell circumstance for its replication.

Surface Modification of Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) Magnetic Nanoparticles for Immobilization of Lipase.

Magnetic Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles were prepared through hydrothermal method and coated with silica on the surface to obtain Fe3O4@SiO2 core­shell nanoparticles. After modification with different functional groups including aldehyde, amine and diimide, the nanoparticles were used as carrier for covalent immobilization of lipase. The nanoparticles with aldehyde groups showed highest immobilization yield (52.8%) and efficiency (86.5%). And the immobilization conditions including pH, temperature and the concentration of enzyme were optimized. After immobilization, the K m of lipase was altered from 2.3 to 3.2 mM. The thermal stability and pH stability were enhanced by immobilization at the investigated conditions: pH 5.0­8.0 and temperature 30­70 °C. After 10 batches conversion of 4-Nitrophenyl palmitate into p-Nitrophenol, the immobilized lipase retained over 75% of the original activity. Compared with the commercial lipase Novozym435, the immobilized lipase showed better stability and higher catalytic efficiency. These results demonstrate that the immobilized lipase on the modified Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticles has enhanced stability and reusability, which make lipase of potential interest in a number of industrial applications.

Application of Molecular Imprinted Magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 Nanoparticles for Selective Immobilization of Cellulase.

Magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles were prepared with molecular imprinting method using cellulase as the template. And the surface of the nanoparticles was chemically modified with arginine. The prepared nanoparticles were used as support for specific immobilization of cellulase. SDS-PAGE results indicated that the adsorption of cellulase onto the modified imprinted nanoparticles was selective. The immobilization yield and efficiency were obtained more than 70% after the optimization. Characterization of the immobilized cellulase revealed that the immobilization didn't change the optimal pH and temperature. The half-life of the immobilized cellulase was 2-fold higher than that of the free enzyme at 50 degrees C. After 7 cycles reusing, the immobilized enzyme still retained 77% of the original activity. These results suggest that the prepared imprinted nanoparticles have the potential industrial applications for the purification or immobilization of enzymes.