Application of Ceriporia lacerata HG2011 as biocontrol agent against multiple phytopathogenic fungi and oomycetes.

Overuse of fungicides to control crop diseases results in ecological damage, environmental pollution, and human health risks. Biocontrol is an increasingly popular alternative in plant disease management due to sustainability and environmental friendliness. Herein, antagonistic tests and greenhouse experiments were conducted to investigate the antagonism of a self-isolated white-rot fungus Ceriporia lacerata HG2011 against phytopathogens in vitro, the underlying mechanism exerted by this fungus, and disease control efficiency in the greenhouse. The results demonstrated that both soluble and volatile substances produced by this fungus suppressed the growth of all test phytopathogen fungi and oomycetes in vitro, with the inhibitory rates of 10.4-60.6% for soluble metabolites and 30.3-52.9% for volatiles. C. lacerata HG2011 could grow in and gradually spread on living phytopathogenic colonies, concurrently deformed and lysed pathogenic hyphae in dual culture, which were associated with the release of hydrolase (cellulose, chitinase, ß-glucanase, and protease) from this biocontrol fungus for the use of the pathogens as nutrient sources. The chitinolytic and cellulolytic production by C. lacerata HG2011 presents the specific response to the cell wall of pathogenic fungi and oomycetes, and ß-glucanase was triggered by carbon competition. Consequently, C. lacerata HG2011 successfully controlled eggplant stem blight and cucumber vine blight (control efficacy 67.9-70.9%) in the greenhouse experiments. C. lacerata HG2011 showed multiple antagonistic mechanisms against the phytopathogenic fungi and oomycetes concurrently. Our results provided information about a new potential use of this fungus as a biocontrol agent to control plant diseases in modern agriculture beyond medical purposes, wastewater treatment, and biofuel production.

[Effect of different fertilization treatments on growth,secondary metabolites,and seed yield and quality of Perilla frutescens].

Perilla frutescens,an annual plant in Labiatae family,is grown throughout China and can be used for medicine purposes and as food additives. The present field experiment was carried out to study the effects of different fertilizer treatments on the concentrations and accumulations of antioxidant components,including flavonoids and polyphenols,growth,seed yields and qualities of this plant.The main aim of this study is to provide farmers some advice for improving the yields and qualities of P. frutescens in theory and practice.Five treatments were set up,including a no fertilizer control(CK),chemical fertilizers(CF),organic fertilizers(M),organic fertilizers plus chemical fertilizers at the rates of 1 ∶1 and 1 ∶3 in terms of nitrogen(50 M,25 M). Plant growth parameters were recorded and total flavonoids and polyphenols were determined in three key growth stages of P. frutescens. At the fast growth period,samples of roots,leaves,and stems were collected for determining a total of flavonoids and polyphenols as well as DPPH removal rate of ethanol extracts. Seed yields and qualities were also recorded at harvest. The results showed fertilization enhanced growth and seed yields although no significant difference was observed in growth and seed yields in inorganic-organic fertilizer treatments. The total flavonoids,polyphenols,and DPPH removal rate of ethanol extracts followed the sequence leaves>stems>roots,indicating synthesis of these metabolites in the leaves. DPPH removal rate showed a positive linear correlation with total flavonoid and polyphenol concentrations. In addition,organic-inorganic fertilization significantly increased the numbers of both effective panicles and paniclegrains. Fertilizer treatments had no effect on seed qualities of P. frutescens,while 50 M achieved the highest yield,which increased by 14. 73% compared to CF alone. In general,50 M increased antioxidant components,biomass,and seed yield of P. frutescens,meriting advocate in cultivation.

Exploring the predictive ability of the CA-Markov model for urban functional area in Nanjing old city.

With advancements in sustainable urban development, research on urban functional areas has garnered significant attention. In recent years, Point-of-Interest, with their large volume of information and ease of acquisition, have been widely applied in research on urban functional domains. However, scholars currently focus on the identification of urban functional areas, usually relying on data from a single period, whereas research on the prediction of functional areas has not yet been well validated. Therefore, in this study, we propose a new method based on several years of POI data to predict urban functional areas. Taking Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, as an example, we first identified the functional area distribution of the old city of Nanjing over several years using POI data and then designed multiple sets of experiments to explore the CA-Markov model's ability to predict functional areas from various aspects, including model overall accuracy, robustness, and comparison analysis between predictions and actual situations. The results show that (1) for mixed or single functional areas, the model's predictions over several years tend to be stable, and the accuracy of the predictions over many years indicates the robustness of the model in predicting urban functional areas. (2) For mixed functional areas in cities, model predictions largely rely on the distribution of the base years used for prediction, leading to inaccurate results; thus, it is still not applicable for simulating and predicting mixed functional areas. (3) For single functional areas in cities or primary functions within an area, the model's predicted degree of change was close to the actual degree of change, making the results referable.

Long non-coding RNA H19 regulates Bcl-2, Bax and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase expression in spontaneous abortion.

Spontaneous abortion (SA) is the most frequently occurring pregnancy disorder and is a serious threat to women's health. Identifying novel risk factors and the molecular mechanisms underlying SA are important. The present study reported that the RNA expression levels of long non-coding RNA H19 were lower in SA group compared with those in the control group, and the expression of Bax was increased and levels of Bcl-2 and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (GPX4) were decreased in SA group at both the mRNA and protein levels. H19 expression was positively correlated with Bcl-2 and GPX4 expression and negatively linked with Bax levels. It was demonstrated that silencing H19 downregulated Bcl-2 and GPX4 expression and upregulated Bax expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells. In conclusion, the present findings suggested that H19 has important roles in SA by promoting apoptosis and ferroptosis.

[Impacts of Biochar and Straw Application on Soil Organic Carbon Transformation].

To explore the effects of biochar and straw application on soil carbon constitution and transformation, an incubation experiment was conducted to study the characteristics of the release of carbon dioxide,as well as the changes in microbial biomass carbon and organic carbon in soil after applying biochar or straw only, or biochar plus straw. The results showed that the straw mineralization rate of organic carbon in soil was 21.50% at 2% application level, which was much higher than that of biochar (8.09%). With the same addition amount of biochar and straw at 4% level for 200 days incubation, the soil organic carbon content was 24.40 and 17.40 g·kg-1,respectively. It suggested that the positive impact of biochar application on improving soil organic carbon was greater than that of straw. The application of biochar had protective function on soil original organic carbon. Biochar promoted the straw mineralization and resulted in positive interaction effect between biochar and straw on mineralization of soil organic carbon. The application of straw increased soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) greatly, while biochar had less impact on MBC. The application of straw and biochar also increased soil microbial biomass carbon, but the interaction effect could be positive or negative, which was dependent on the incubation time or application rate.