Assessing the interactive effects of microplastics and acid rain on cadmium toxicity in rice seedlings: Insights from physiological and transcriptomic analyses.

In heavy metal-contaminated areas, the simultaneous occurrence of increasing microplastic pollution and persistent acid rain poses a serious threat to food security. However, the mechanisms of combined exposure to microplastics (MP) and acid rain (AR) on the toxicity of cadmium (Cd) in rice seedlings remain unclear. Our study investigated the combined effects of exposure to polyvinyl chloride microplastics and AR (pH 4.0) on the toxicity of Cd (0.3, 3, and 10 mg/L) in rice seedlings. The results showed that at low Cd concentrations, the combined exposure had no significant effect, but at high Cd concentrations, it alleviated the effects of Cd stress. The combined application of MP and AR alleviated the inhibitory effects of Cd on seedling growth and chlorophyll content. Under high Cd concentration (10 mg/L), the simultaneous addition of MP and AR significantly reduced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), and the activity of the superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme. Compared to AR or MP alone, the combination of MP and AR reduced root cell damage and Cd accumulation in rice seedlings. Transcriptomic analysis confirmed that under high Cd concentrations, the combination of MP and AR altered the expression levels of genes related to Cd transport, uptake, MAPK kinase, GSTs, MTs, and transcription factors, producing a synergistic effect on oxidative stress and glutathione metabolism. These results indicate that coexposure to MP and AR affects the toxicity of Cd in rice seedlings and alleviates Cd toxicity under high Cd concentrations to some extent. These findings provide a theoretical basis for evaluating the toxicological effects of microplastic and acid rain pollution on crop growth in areas contaminated with heavy metals, and are important for safe agricultural production and ecological security.

Strategies of invasive snail Pomacea canaliculata during hibernation in rice fields of south China: effects of body size, sex, and soil depth.

BACKGROUND: The invasive freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata is an agricultural pest with a certain level of tolerance to abiotic stress. After the harvest of late rice, the snails usually burrow themselves into the soil surface layers to overwinter and pose a renewed threat to rice production in the following year. Revealing the response of snails to environmental stresses is crucial for developing countermeasures to control their damage and spread. RESULTS: In this study, we conducted a 120-day in situ experiment during the winter to investigate the survival and physiological changes of hibernating snails in 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil depths, aiming to explore their overwintering strategies. Our results showed that 73.61%, 87.50%, and 90.28% of male, female, and juvenile snails survived after hibernation for 120 days in 0-10 cm soil depth, respectively. The differences in survival rates based on sex and size of snails potentially reflect the countermeasures of snails to rapidly reproduce after hibernation. Simultaneously, the hibernating snails exhibited the ability to maintain a certain level of body weight. During this period, the snails increased their antioxidant enzyme activities to cope with oxidative stress, and enhanced their lipid storage. The hibernation survival of snails was not significantly affected by different soil depths, indicating that they have the potential to hibernate into deeper soils. Furthermore, snails were capable of increasing their contents of bound water and glycerol to cope with sudden cold spells during hibernation. CONCLUSION: Our findings emphasize the adaptive changes of P. canaliculata snails overwintering in paddy soils. In future studies, the vulnerabilities of P. canaliculata during hibernation (e.g. shell characteristics, nutrient reserves, and dehydration tolerance, etc.,) should be investigated to develop effective control methods for this period. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Microplastics predominantly affect gut microbiota by altering community structure rather than richness and diversity: A meta-analysis of aquatic animals.

The impacts of microplastics on the gut microbiota, a crucial component of the health of aquatic animals, remain inadequately understood. This phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis aims to identify general patterns of microplastic effects on the alpha diversity (richness and Shannon index), beta diversity, and community structure of gut microbiota in aquatic animals. Data from 63 peer-reviewed articles on the Web of Science were synthesized, encompassing 424 observations across 31 aquatic species. The analysis showed that microplastics significantly altered the community structure of gut microbiota, with between-group distances being 87.75% higher than within-group distances. This effect was significant even at environmentally relevant concentrations (≤1 mg L-1). However, their effects on richness, Shannon index, and beta diversity (community variation) were found to be insignificant. The study also indicated that the effects of microplastics were primarily dependent on their concentration and size, while the phylogeny of tested species explained limited heterogeneity. Furthermore, variations in gut microbiota alpha diversity, beta diversity, and community structure were correlated with changes in antioxidant enzyme activities from the liver and hepatopancreas. This implies that gut microbiota attributes of aquatic animals may provide insights into host antioxidant levels. In summary, this study illuminates the impacts of microplastics on the gut microbiota of aquatic animals and examines the implications of these effects for host health. It emphasizes that microplastics mainly alter the community structure of gut microbiota rather than significantly affecting richness and diversity.

More deterministic assembly constrains the diversity of gut microbiota in freshwater snails.

Growing evidence has suggested a strong link between gut microbiota and host fitness, yet our understanding of the assembly mechanisms governing gut microbiota remains limited. Here, we collected invasive and native freshwater snails coexisting at four independent sites in Guangdong, China. We used high-throughput sequencing to study the assembly processes of their gut microbiota. Our results revealed significant differences in the diversity and composition of gut microbiota between invasive and native snails. Specifically, the gut microbiota of invasive snails exhibited lower alpha diversity and fewer enriched bacteria, with a significant phylogenetic signal identified in the microbes that were enriched or depleted. Both the phylogenetic normalized stochasticity ratio (pNST) and the phylogenetic-bin-based null model analysis (iCAMP) showed that the assembly process of gut microbiota in invasive snails was more deterministic compared with that in native snails, primarily driven by homogeneous selection. The linear mixed-effects model revealed a significant negative correlation between deterministic processes (homogeneous selection) and alpha diversity of snail gut microbiota, especially where phylogenetic diversity explained the most variance. This indicates that homogeneous selection acts as a filter by the host for specific microbial lineages, constraining the diversity of gut microbiota in invasive freshwater snails. Overall, our study suggests that deterministic assembly-mediated lineage filtering is a potential mechanism for maintaining the diversity of gut microbiota in freshwater snails.

Role of self-actualization in green production behavior: Evidence from rice smallholders in China.

Understanding who adopt green production and why they choose this strategy is an important issue that needs to be addressed in the context of increasingly severe agricultural pollution. Previous studies have generally investigated subsistence-oriented smallholders, typically employing profit maximization or risk minimization models. However, Chinese farmers have differentiated, and have unique characteristics. This study collected data from 960 random samples of rice farmers and conducted quantitative analysis. The findings reveal that 94.9 % of the farmers had less than 2-ha rice-planting area, and 80.21 % of farmers reported that their purpose of planting rice was for family self-feeding. Furthermore, the new standard to define smallholder based on whether their production purpose is self-feeding or selling and found that non-smallholders had an overall advantage and passed the t-test. Even more non-smallholder (76.32 %) intentionally chose green pesticide than smallholders (66.1 %), but their decision-making logic was different. Binary logistic regression results show that three aspects of self-actualization (environmental, market, and personal) positively and significantly affected the green production behavior of smallholders, but not significant for non-smallholders. This study suggests that in China, where smallholders are the mainstay of agriculture production, green production by smallholders will greatly improve the ecological environment and provide high quality agricultural products.

Biochar of invasive plants alleviated impact of acid rain on soil microbial community structure and functionality better than liming.

Acid rain and invasive plants have quintessential adverse impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. As an environmentally safe method for disposal of invasive plants, we tested the effect of biochar produced from these plants in altering soil deterioration under acid rain as compared with lime. Given the impacts of the feedstock type and soil properties on the response of soil to the added biochar, we hypothesized that the microbial community and functions would respond differently to the charred invasive plants under acid rain. A pot experiment was conducted to examine the response of soil microbiomes and functions to the biochar produced from Blackjack (Biden Pilosa), Wedelia (Wedelia trilobata), and Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha Kunth), or quicklime (CaO) at a rate of 1 % (w/w) under acid rain. Like soil pH, the nutrient contents (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), calcium, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were important as dominant edaphic factors affecting soil microbial community and functionality. In this respect, lime decreased nutrients availability, driven by 11-fold, 44 %, and 2-fold increments in calcium content, pH, and C/N ratio. Meanwhile, biochar improved nutrients availability under acid rain owing to maintaining a neutral pH (∼6.5), increasing calcium (by only 2-fold), and improving CEC, water repellency, and aggregation while decreasing the C/N ratio and aluminum content. Unlike biochar, lime decreased the relative abundance of Nitrosomonadaceae (the dominant ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) while augmenting the relative abundance of some fungal pathogens such as Spizellomycetaceae and Sporormiaceae. Given the highest nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon content than other biochar types, Wedelia-biochar resulted in the greatest relative abundance of Nitrosomonadaceae; thus, the microbial carbon and nitrogen biomasses were maximized. This study outlined the responses of the soil biogeochemical properties and the related microbial community structure and functionality to the biochar produced from invasive plants under acid rain. This study suggests that biochar can replace lime to ameliorate the effects of acid rain on soil physical, chemical and biological properties.

Impacts of conventional and biodegradable microplastics in maize-soil ecosystems: Above and below ground.

The increasing accumulation of microplastics (MPs) in agroecosystems has raised significant environmental and public health concerns, facilitating the application of biodegradable plastics. However, the comparative effects of conventional and biodegradable MPs in agroecosystem are still far from fully understood. Here we developed microcosm experiments to reveal the ecological effects of conventional (polyethylene [PE] and polypropylene [PP]) and biodegradable (polyadipate/butylene terephthalate [PBAT] and polycaprolactone [PCL]) MPs (0, 1%, 5%; w/w) in the maize-soil ecosystem. We found that PCL MPs reduced plant production by 73.6-75.2%, while PE, PP and PBAT MPs elicited almost negligible change. The addition of PCL MPs decreased specific enzyme activities critical for soil nutrients cycling by 71.5-95.3%. Biodegradable MPs tended to reduce bacterial α-diversity. The 1% treatments of PE and PBAT, and PCL enhanced bacterial networks complexity, whereas 5% of PE and PBAT, and PP had adverse effect. Moreover, biodegradable MPs appeared to reduce the α-diversity and networks complexity of fungal community. Overall, PCL reduced the ecosystem multifunctionality, mainly by inhibiting the microbial metabolic activity. This study offers evidence that biodegradable MPs can impair agroecosystem multifunctionality, and highlights the potential risks to replace the conventional plastics by biodegradable ones in agricultural practices.

Influences of crop diversification on yield, resource use efficiency, and environmental footprint in farmland landscapes in intensive farming.

Enhancing crop diversification in intensive fields has the potential to increase crop yield and reduce environmental footprint. However, these relationships at the landscape scale remained unclear in intensive farming. Addressing this gap, this paper aims to elucidate how crop yield, resources use efficiency (RUE), and environmental footprint (EF) vary with crop diversification levels in the North China Plain. Management practices, including crop pattern, field size, and agronomic inputs, were collected for 421 landscapes of 1 × 1 km subplots using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 images and survey. The results showed that, at the landscape scale, energy and fertilizer contributed over 53 %, and 37 % of the carbon footprint, respectively. N fertilizer constituted >98 % of the nitrogen footprint. P fertilizer accounted for over 80 %, while electricity comprised >13 % of the phosphorus footprint. Compared with simplified landscapes, diversified landscapes exhibited several significant features: 1) 56 % reduction of the area ratio of winter wheat-summer maize double crop pattern (WM), 2) a significant decrease in field size, 3) the decreased use of total NPK fertilizers at 32 %, 30 %, and 30 %, respectively, 4) the increased inputs of irrigation water, diesel, electricity, pesticide and labour at 21 %, 19 %, 21 %, 77 %, and 92 %, respectively. Although yield could be reduced at 33 % when transforming simplified landscapes into moderately diversified ones, they increased with the further promotion of crop diversification. Thus, the diversified landscapes could achieve a balance in yield, RUE, and EF to enhance sustainability, whereas simplified landscapes can similarly achieve a balance to benefit productivity. We emphasize the viable potential of diversified landscapes to enhance sustainable agricultural development by optimizing crop composition. This analysis offers pioneering evidence of landscape-scale agronomic and environmental performances of crop diversification.

A Bibliometric Analysis on Research Progress of Earthworms in Soil Ecosystems.

The earthworm, as a soil engineer, plays highly important roles in the soil ecosystem for shaping soil structure, promoting soil fertility, regulating microbial community composition and activities and decomposing soil pollutants. However, the research progresses on this important soil fauna have rarely been reviewed so far. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the literature published during 1900-2022, which was collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS). The results showed that three periods (1900-1990, 1991-2005 and 2006-2022) could be identified in terms of the intensity of publications on the topic, and the number of publications kept increasing since 2006. The United States produced the highest publication record at the country scale, whereas Chinese Academy of Sciences was the most productive institution. Chinese institutions and authors played an active and prominent role during 2018-2022. Soil Biology & Biochemistry was the most popular journal for the topic-related research. In these publications, Professor Lavelle P was the most influential author. Based on a citation network of the top 50 cited papers, four hotspots were identified, i.e., the ecological effects of earthworms, the impact of agricultural activities on earthworms, earthworm ecotoxicology and earthworm invasion. Moreover, "impact", "biodiversity", "oxidative stress", "diversity", "response", "Eisenia fetida" and "exposure" were the emerging and active topics in recent years. This study can help us to better understand the relevant subject categories, journals, countries, institutions, authors and articles and identify the research hotspots and emerging trends in the field of soil earthworm research.

Effect of Metaldehyde on Survival, Enzyme Activities, and Histopathology of the Apple Snail Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck 1822).

Pomacea canaliculata, as an invasive exotic species in Asia, can adversely affect crop yields, eco-environment, and human health. Application of molluscicides containing metaldehyde is one effective method for controlling P. canaliculata. In order to investigate the effects of metaldehyde on adult snails, we conducted acute toxicological experiments to investigate the changes in enzyme activities and histopathology after 24 h and 48 h of metaldehyde action. The results showed that the median lethal concentrations (LC) of metaldehyde on P. canaliculata were 3.792, 2.195, 1.833, and 1.706 mg/L at exposure times of 24, 48, 72, and 96 h, respectively. Treatment and time significantly affected acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) activity, with sex significantly affecting AChE, GST, and TAC activity and time significantly affecting carboxylesterase (CarE). In addition, the interaction of treatment and time significantly affected the activity of GST, CarE and TAC. In addition, histopathological changes occurred in the digestive glands, gills and gastropods of apple snail exposed to metaldehyde. Histological examination of the digestive glands included atrophy of the digestive cells, widening of the hemolymph gap, and an increase in basophils. In treated snails, the hemolymph gap in the gills was widely dilated, the columnar cells were disorganized or even necrotic, and the columnar muscle cells in the ventral foot were loosely arranged and the muscle fibers reduced. The findings of this study can provide some references for controlling the toxicity mechanism of invasive species.

Carbon footprint of synthetic nitrogen under staple crops: A first cradle-to-grave analysis.

More than half of the world's population is nourished by crops fertilized with synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers. However, N fertilization is a major source of anthropogenic emissions, augmenting the carbon footprint (CF). To date, no global quantification of the CF induced by N fertilization of the main grain crops has been performed, and quantifications at the national scale have neglected the CO2 assimilated by plants. A first cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was performed to quantify the CF of the N fertilizers' production, transportation, and application to the field and the uses of the produced biomass in livestock feed and human food, as well as biofuel production. We quantified the direct and indirect inventories emitted or sequestered by N fertilization of main grain crops: wheat, maize, and rice. Grain food produced with N fertilization had a net CF of 7.4 Gt CO2eq. in 2019 after excluding the assimilated C in plant biomass, which accounted for a quarter of the total CF. The cradle (fertilizer production and transportation), gate (fertilizer application, and soil and plant systems), and grave (feed, food, biofuel, and losses) stages contributed to the CF by 2%, 11%, and 87%, respectively. Although Asia was the top grain producer, North America contributed 38% of the CF due to the greatest CF of the grave stage (2.5 Gt CO2eq.). The CF of grain crops will increase to 21.2 Gt CO2eq. in 2100, driven by the rise in N fertilization to meet the growing food demand without actions to stop the decline in N use efficiency. To meet the targets of climate change, we introduced an ambitious mitigation strategy, including the improvement of N agronomic efficiency (6% average target for the three crops) and manufacturing technology, reducing food losses, and global conversion to healthy diets, whereby the CF can be reduced to 5.6 Gt CO2eq. in 2100.

Rice-fish coculture without phosphorus addition improves paddy soil nitrogen availability by shaping ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in subtropical regions of South China.

Rice-fish coculture (RFC), as a traditional agricultural strategy in China, can optimally utilize the scarce resource, especially in subtropical regions where phosphorus (P) deficiency limits agricultural production. However, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) are involved in the ammonia oxidation, but it remains uncertain whether their community compositions are related to the RFC combined with and without P addition that improves soil nitrogen (N) use efficiency. Here, a microcosm experiment was conducted to assess the impacts of RFC combined with and without inorganic P (0 and 50 mg P kg-1 as KH2PO4) addition on AOA and AOB community diversities, enzyme activities and N availability. The results showed that RFC significantly increased available N content without P addition compared with P addition. Moreover, RFC significantly increased urease activity and AOA shannon diversity, and reduced NAG activity and AOB shannon diversity without P addition, respectively. Higher diversity of AOA compared with that of AOB causes greater competition for resources and energy within their habitats, thereby resulting in lower network complexity. Our findings indicated that the abundances of AOA and AOB are influenced through the introduction of fish and/or P availability, of which AOB is linked to N availability. Overall, RFC could improve paddy soil N availability without P addition in subtropical region, which provides a scientific reference for promoting the practices that reduce N fertilizer application in RFC.

Influence of nitrogen substitution at an equivalent total nitrogen level on bacterial and fungal communities, as well as enzyme activities of the ditch bottom soil in a rice-fish coculture system.

BACKGROUND: Rice-fish coculture system (RFS) operates through effectively utilizing water and land resources in a complementary form, but it requires more efficient utilization of fertilizer and feed without compromising rice yield. However, the knowledge of how to regulate the proportion of nitrogen (N) supplied from fertilizer and feed at an equivalent total N level to improve the benefits of RFS remains limited. Therefore, four treatments (S0: RFS with 0% N from fertilizer and 100% N from feed; S25: RFS with 25% N from fertilizer and 75% N from feed; S50: RFS with 50% N from fertilizer and 50% N from feed; S75: RFS with 75% N from fertilizer and 25% N from feed) were conducted to assess the variation of ditch bottom soil properties, microbial communities and enzyme activities, as well as to obtain the optimal ratio of N supplied from fish feed and fertilizer. RESULTS: The experiments showed that the contents of soil organic matter, total carbon and total N, and the activities of urease, N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidase, protease, ß-1,4-glucosidase and catalase in the ditch bottom soil significantly reduced in S25 treatment, compared with the other three treatments. Ammonium N content decreased with increasing percentage of the basal fertilizer, whereas nitrate N content and pH value showed an adverse trend. However, the bacterial and fungal communities were unaffected by the ratio shifts between fertilizer-N and feed-N, but their dominant phyla were influenced by the ditch bottom soil N level. Moreover, the bacterial community composition was positively related to nitrate N, whereas fungal diversity was positively correlated with pH, ammonium N and nitrate N, and urease. We also found that the treatment of N input with 25% N from fertilizer and 75% N from feed can reduce N deposition in the ditch bottom soil in the rice-fish coculture system. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that under the equivalent total N input level, the relative higher ratio of N from fish feed increased (S0 treatment) or reduced (S25 treatment) the deposition of N in the ditch bottom soil, and improved fish production, but decreased rice yield; while the higher ratio of N from basal fertilizer increased the transportation of nutrients into the ditch bottom soil and rice yield, but reduced fish production. So when considering multi-balance and multiple benefits, we recommend that a selective substitution ratio within 50% ~ 75% from fish feed to substitute for the basal fertilizer under the equivalent total N input may achieve a good balance of rice and fish production improvement, and reduce nutrients wastage to the ditch bottom, as well as alleviate the potential of non-point source pollution. This study also provides an evidence for regulating and optimizing the ratio of N supplied from fertilizer and fish feed at an equivalent total N level through monitoring the nutrient accumulation in ditch bottom soil in the rice-fish coculture system. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Role of the ADAMTS18 Gene-Induced Immune Microenvironment in Mouse Kidney Development.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of the ADAMTS18 gene in regulating the renal development of mice. PAS staining was used to observe the kidney development of E12.5-E17.5 mice, while immunofluorescence staining and RT-PCR were used to observe the expression of ADAMTS18. Ureteric bud (UB) branches were observed using immunofluorescence staining using the UB marker E-cadherin, and the apoptosis and proliferation of posterior renal mesenchymal cells were analyzed using TUNEL and PH3 fluorescence staining. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the immune cell infiltration, and western blotting (WB) was used to analyze the expression of PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4. As a result, the ADAMTS18 gene expression gradually increased as the kidney continued to mature during embryonic development. Compared with that in the control and vector groups, UB branching was significantly reduced in the ADAMTS18 deletion group (p < 0.05), but that deletion of ADAMTS18 did not affect posterior renal mesenchymal cell proliferation or apoptosis (p > 0.05). Compared with those in the control and vector groups, the proportion of embryonic kidney B cells and the proportion of CD8+ cells were significantly greater after ADAMTS18 was knocked down (p < 0.05), but the difference in neutrophil counts was not significant (p > 0.05). The WB analysis revealed that the PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 expression was significantly increased after ADAMTS18 was knocked down (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the ADAMTS18 gene may be involved in mice kidney development by regulating the immune microenvironment and activating immune checkpoints. Deletion of the ADAMTS18 gene may be unfavorable for kidney development.

ZNF471 Interacts with BANP to Reduce Tumour Malignancy by Inactivating PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signalling but is Frequently Silenced by Aberrant Promoter Methylation in Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common malignant tumours of the urinary system. However, the aetiology and pathogenesis of RCC remain unclear. The C2H2 zinc finger protein (ZNF) family is the largest transcriptional regulatory factor family found in mammals, and Krüppel-associated box domain-containing zinc finger proteins (KRAB-ZFPs) constitute the largest subfamily of the C2H2 zinc finger protein family and play an important role in the occurrence and development of tumours. The aim of this study was to explore the role of abnormal methylation of ZNF471 in the development of renal carcinoma. Methods: In this study, we first used the TCGA and EWAS Data Hub databases to analyse the expression and methylation levels of ZNF471 in renal carcinoma tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Second, we collected samples of renal cancer and adjacent normal tissues at Peking University First Hospital to investigate the expression and methylation level of ZNF471 in renal cancer tissues and the relationships between these levels and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with renal cancer. Next, we investigated the effects of ZNF471 on the proliferation, metastasis, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis of renal cell carcinoma cells by cell biology experiments. Finally, we elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms of ZNF471 in renal cell carcinoma by transcriptome sequencing, bioinformatics analysis and molecular biology experiments. Results: The expression of ZNF471 in renal carcinoma tissues and cell lines was significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues and cell lines due to abnormal promoter CpG methylation. Furthermore, the expression of ZNF471 in renal carcinoma tissues was negatively correlated with tumour stage and grade in patients with renal carcinoma. The results of the cell biology experiments showed that ZNF471 could significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration and cell cycle progression of renal cell carcinoma cells and promote apoptosis in these cells. In addition, ZNF471 could interact with BANP and suppress the malignant phenotype of RCC by inactivating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway. Conclusions: As an important tumour suppressor, ZNF471 can interact with BANP in renal cancer cells and inhibit the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway, thereby inhibiting the occurrence and development of renal cancer.

The progression of obstructive renal fibrosis in rats is regulated by ADAMTS18 gene methylation in the embryonic kidney through the AKT/Notch pathway.

This study aimed to explore the mechanism by which postembryonic renal ADAMTS18 methylation influences obstructive renal fibrosis in rats. After exposure to transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 during the embryonic period, analysis of postembryonic renal ADAMTS18 methylation and expression levels was conducted. Histological analysis was performed to assess embryonic kidney lesions and damage. Western blot analysis was used to determine the expression of renal fibrosis markers. Rats with ureteral obstruction and a healthy control group were selected. The methylation levels of ADAMTS18 in the different groups were analyzed. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry were performed to analyze the expression of renal fibrosis markers, and kidney-related indicators were measured. Treatment with TGF-ß1 resulted in abnormal development of the postembryonic kidney, which was characterized by rough kidney surfaces with mild depressions and irregularities on the outer surface. TGF-ß1 treatment significantly promoted ADAMTS18 methylation and activated the protein kinase B (AKT)/Notch pathway. Ureteral obstruction was induced to establish a renal hydronephrosis model, which led to renal fibrotic injury in newborn rats. Overexpression of the ADAMTS18 gene alleviated renal fibrosis. The western blot results showed that compared to that in the control group, the expression of renal fibrosis markers was significantly decreased after ADAMTS18 overexpression, and there was a thicker renal parenchymal tissue layer and significantly reduced p-AKT/AKT and Notch1 levels. TGF-ß1 can induce ADAMTS18 gene methylation in the postembryonic kidney, and the resulting downregulation of ADAMTS18 expression has long-term effects on kidney development, potentially leading to increased susceptibility to obstructive renal fibrosis. This mechanism may involve activation of the AKT/Notch pathway. Reversing ADAMTS18 gene methylation may reverse this process.

Polyethylene microplastics alter soil microbial community assembly and ecosystem multifunctionality.

Although pervasive microplastics (MPs) pollution in terrestrial ecosystems invites increasing global concern, impact of MPs on soil microbial community assembly and ecosystem multifunctionality received relatively little attention. Here, we manipulated a mesocosm experiment to investigate how polyethylene MPs (PE MPs; 0, 1%, and 5%, w/w) influence ecosystem functions including plant production, soil quality, microbial community diversity and assembly, enzyme activities in carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling, and multifunctionality in the maize-soil continuum. Results showed that PE MPs exerted negligible effect on plant biomass (dry weight). The treatment of 5% PE MPs caused declines in the availability of soil water, C and P, whereas enhanced soil pH and C storage. The activity of C-cycling enzymes (α/ß-1, 4-glucosidase and ß-D-cellobiohydrolase) was promoted by 1% PE MPs, while that of ß-1, 4-glucosidase was inhibited by 5% PE MPs. The 5% PE MPs reduced the activity of N-cycling enzymes (protease and urease), whereas increased that of the P-cycling enzyme (alkaline phosphatase). The 5% PE MPs shifted soil microbial community composition, and increased the number of specialist species, microbial community stability and networks resistance. Moreover, PE MPs altered microbial community assembly, with 5% treatment decreasing dispersal limitation proportion (from 13.66% to 9.96%). Overall, ecosystem multifunctionality was improved by 1% concentration, while reduced by 5% concentration of PE MPs. The activity of α/ß-1, 4-glucosidase, urease and protease, and ammonium-N content were the most important predictors of ecosystem multifunctionality. These results underscore that PE MPs can alter soil microbial community assembly and ecosystem multifunctionality, and thus development and implementation of practicable solutions to control soil MPs pollution become increasingly imperative in sustainable agricultural production.

Curcumin inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced proximal renal tubular epithelial cell death by regulating ADAMTS18 methylation and AKT/Notch pathways.

Introduction: This study aimed to explore the effect of curcumin on the activity of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced proximal renal tubular epithelial cells (PRTECs) and to analyze the molecular mechanism by which curcumin regulates their occurrence. Material and methods: LPS-induced PRTECs were used to construct an inflammatory cell model. RT-qPCR and western blot (WB) were used to detect ADAMTS18 expression. Methylation-specific PCR was used to detect ADAMTS18 methylation levels. After curcumin treatment, MTT assay was used to analyze cell viability, flow cytometry was used to analyze apoptosis, and ADAMTS18 expression and methylation levels were detected again. After transfection with siADAMTS18, cell viability and apoptosis were analyzed again. The levels of inflammatory factors were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the expression levels of AKT, Notch-1 and Notch-2 were analyzed by WB. Results: Curcumin strongly inhibited LPS-induced PRTEC inflammatory lesions, restored normal cell proliferation, and reduced the apoptosis rate by downregulating ADAMTS18 methylation and restoring ADAMTS18 expression. After siADAMTS18, the ability of curcumin to improve cell viability was reduced, and the ability of curcumin to downregulate inflammatory factors was significantly reduced. Curcumin could also inhibit the expression of AKT, Notch-1 and Notch-2 simultaneously. siADAMTS18 attenuated the abovementioned effects of curcumin. Conclusions: Curcumin inhibits LPS-induced PRTEC death by regulating ADAMTS18 methylation and AKT/Notch pathways.

Ca2+ addition facilitates the shell repair with eggs production of Pomacea canaliculata through biomineralization and food intaking regulation.

Pomacea canaliculata was by far one of the most harmful invasive organisms in the world, causing serious harm to aquatic crops and ecosystem. Calcium carbonate is a common component of aquatic environment, which is important for the growth of Pomacea canaliculata. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the response characteristics of P. canaliculata suffered shell breakage to the addition of calcium carbonate in water environment. In this experiment, we explored the effects of calcium carbonate addition on the P. canaliculata shell repair rate, food intake, egg production, shell strength, and calcium content through breaking the snails shell and the addition of calcium carbonate treatment. The results showed that snail broken-shell repaired mostly within 21 days. The snails experienced a significant increase in shell repair rates during earlier days of the treatment, especially for female snails. Food intake of snails exhibited different patterns when their shells were broken and calcium carbonate was added. Shell breakage treatment combined with calcium carbonate addition significantly increased the diameter of snail eggs compared with the control and the calcium carbonate addition treatment without shell-broken snail group. There was no significant difference in shell strength or calcium content of male snails between the treatments. The study suggests that P. canaliculata exhibits a sex-dependent response pattern when subjected to shell damage and calcium carbonate addition. The findings can provide some references to better understand the invasion mechanism and survival strategy of the P. canaliculata.