Flexible Multimodal Sensing System Based on a Vertical Stacking Strategy for Efficiently Decoupling Multiple Signals.

Multisensory integration enables the simultaneous perception of multiple environmental stimuli while minimizing size and energy consumption. However, conventional multifunctional integration in flexible electronics typically requires large-scale horizontal sensing arrays (such as flexible printed circuit boards), posing decoupling complexities, tensile strain limitation, and spatial constraints. Herein, a fully flexible multimodal sensing system (FMSS) is developed by coupling biomimetic stretchable conductive films (BSCFs) and strain-insensitive communication interfaces using a vertical stacking integration strategy. The FMSS achieves vertical integration without additional adhesives, and it can incorporate individual sensing layers and stretchable interconnects without any essential constraint on their deformations. Accordingly, the temperature and pressure are precisely decoupled simultaneously, and tensile stress can be accurately discerned in different directions. This vertical stacking integration strategy is expected to offer a new approach to significantly streamline the design and fabrication of multimodal sensing systems and enhance their decoupling capabilities.

Efficient photoreduction of carbon dioxide to ethanol using diatomic nitrogen-doped black phosphorus.

Successful conversion of CO2 into C2 products requires the development of new catalysts that overcome the difficulties in efficient light harvesting and CO-CO coupling. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) is used to assess the photoreduction properties of nitrogen-doped black phosphorus. The geometric structure, redox potential, first step of hydrogenation activation, CO desorption, and CO-CO coupling are systematically calculated, based on which the diatomic nitrogen-doped black phosphorus (N2@BPV) stands out. The calculated results of the CO2RR pathway demonstrate that N2@BPV has excellent selectivity and high activity for CH3CH2OH production. The results of the time-dependent ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulation show that the diatomic N active sites of N2@BPV facilitate charge separation and inhibit electron-hole recombination. In addition, the activation mechanism of CO2 is studied. The main reason for CO2 activation is attributed to the imbalance in electron transfer that destroys the symmetry of CO2. We expect that our study will offer some theoretical guidance in CO2 conversion.

Synthesis of MOF-5/polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix membranes for enhancing membrane filtration performance in polyphenol purification.

The various apple products industries produce a large amount of apple residue, which is easily fermented, causes environmental pollution, and its disposal cost is high, but is rich in nutrients, such as polyphenols. Polyphenols can be purified to realize high-value deep processing of apple pomace and to promote energy reuse of food waste. In this study, the highly selective purification of polyphenols was achieved by membrane filtration using prepared Metal-organic framework (MOF)-5/PES mixed matrix membranes with apple peels as raw material. The polyethersulfone mixed matrix membrane was loaded with MOF-5 by the phase inversion method, and their structural and physicochemical properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Zeta potential and specific surface area of MOF-5 particles were measured, as well as the water contact angle and anti-fouling properties of the mixed matrix membrane were analyzed. It was confirmed that the membrane loaded with MOF-5 showed better hydrophilicity and mechanical properties compared with the pristine polyether sulfone membrane. Under practical conditions, the increased hydrophilicity could enhance the anti-fouling properties of membranes, which would improve the flux recovery ratio of membranes. In addition, the prepared MOF-5/PES mixed matrix membrane was applied to the purification of polyphenols, showing excellent purification performance of polyphenols. In particular, the purity of polyphenol after membrane filtration could reach 70.45% when the additional amount of MOF-5 was 10%. This research provides a method to prepare MOF-5/PES mixed matrix membranes, which effectively solves the problem of unstable and unsatisfactory purification effect of commercially available membranes, promotes the development of new materials in membrane science, and realizes high-value deep processing and comprehensive resource development of food waste using membrane filtration.

ISLS: An Illumination-Aware Sauce-Packet Leakage Segmentation Method.

The segmentation of abnormal regions is vital in smart manufacturing. The blurring sauce-packet leakage segmentation task (BSLST) is designed to distinguish the sauce packet and the leakage's foreground and background at the pixel level. However, the existing segmentation system for detecting sauce-packet leakage on intelligent sensors encounters an issue of imaging blurring caused by uneven illumination. This issue adversely affects segmentation performance, thereby hindering the measurements of leakage area and impeding the automated sauce-packet production. To alleviate this issue, we propose the two-stage illumination-aware sauce-packet leakage segmentation (ISLS) method for intelligent sensors. The ISLS comprises two main stages: illumination-aware region enhancement and leakage region segmentation. In the first stage, YOLO-Fastestv2 is employed to capture the Region of Interest (ROI), which reduces redundancy computations. Additionally, we propose image enhancement to relieve the impact of uneven illumination, enhancing the texture details of the ROI. In the second stage, we propose a novel feature extraction network. Specifically, we propose the multi-scale feature fusion module (MFFM) and the Sequential Self-Attention Mechanism (SSAM) to capture discriminative representations of leakage. The multi-level features are fused by the MFFM with a small number of parameters, which capture leakage semantics at different scales. The SSAM realizes the enhancement of valid features and the suppression of invalid features by the adaptive weighting of spatial and channel dimensions. Furthermore, we generate a self-built dataset of sauce packets, including 606 images with various leakage areas. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that our ISLS method shows better results than several state-of-the-art methods, with additional performance analyses deployed on intelligent sensors to affirm the effectiveness of our proposed method.

A review of the polyphenols extraction from apple pomace: novel technologies and techniques of cell disintegration.

Apple pomace, a solid waste produced during industrial processing of apple juice or cider, is a rich source of high value-added compounds such as polyphenols. This review summarizes present studies on the qualitative and quantitative methods, including Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric, high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence spectrum, as well as enhanced extraction methods of polyphenols in apple pomace by different traditional and novel technologies, including ultrasounds (US), microwave (MW), pulsed electric fields (PEF), high voltage electrical discharges (HVED) and enzyme. The principles and characteristics of different effective enhanced extraction technologies of polyphenols in apple pomace were compared. In addition, the different cell disruption analysis methods, such as destructive detection method (electrical conductivity disintegration index, Zc), image analysis method (including scanning electron microscopy, SEM, and confocal laser scanning microscopy, CLSM), and nondestructive method (such as magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) are presented in this review. The study proved that there was a correlation between destructive detection method and image analysis method. However, each of the technologies reviewed in this study has some disadvantages to overcome, and some mechanisms need to be further substantiated. Therefore, more competitive techniques for polyphenols extraction and analysis of cell disintegration are needed to emerge in the future.

A review of the polyphenols purification from apple products.

Apple polyphenols are one of the major bioactive compounds in apple products and have strong anti-inflammatory effects and the ability to prevent chronic diseases with health benefits. The development of apple polyphenol products is dependent on the extraction, purification and identification of apple polyphenols. The extracted polyphenols need to be further purified to improve the concentration of the extracted polyphenols. This review, therefore, presents the studies on the conventional and novel methods for polyphenols purification from apple products. The different chromatography methods, as one of the most widely used conventional purification methods, for polyphenol purification from various apple products are introduced. In addition, the perspective of the adsorption-desorption process and membrane filtration technique in enhancing the purification of polyphenols from apple products are presented in this review. The advantages and disadvantages of these purification techniques are also discussed and compared in depth. However, each of the reviewed technologies has some disadvantages that need to be overcome, and some mechanisms need to be further identified. Therefore, more competitive polyphenols purification techniques need to emerge in the future. It is hoped that this review can provide a research basis for the efficient purification of apple polyphenols, which can facilitate their application in various fields.

Characterization of Type I/II g-C3N4/MoS2 van der Waals Heterostructures: A New Theoretical Insight.

The charge transfer mechanism of the g-C3N4/MoS2 heterojunction is still disputed. Some regard it as a type I pathway, some regard it as a type II pathway, and still some regard it as a Z-scheme pathway. Especially, the results obtained by density functional theory (DFT) calculations are not totally in agreement. Here, we constructed four g-C3N4/MoS2 heterojunctions on the basis of the aperture alignment modes of g-C3N4 and MoS2. Their morphology and photocatalytic activity were investigated via first-principles and excited state dynamics simulations. By systemically comparing the interfacial binding energy and electronic structure (e.g., band structure, electrostatic potential, and band edge positions) of g-C3N4/MoS2 heterojunctions, we found that both type I and type II band alignment structures could be obtained. Moreover, the calculated lifetimes of interlayer photogenerated electrons and holes show that type II g-C3N4/MoS2 tends to favor a general type II pathway rather than a Z-scheme pathway. This study could provide a deep understanding of the photocatalytic mechanism of g-C3N4/MoS2 van der Waals heterostructures, which will be of great use for applications in photocatalysis.

Enhancing photocatalytic overall water-splitting performance on dual-active-sites of the Co-P@MoS2 catalysts: a DFT study.

The rational construction of photocatalysts possesses tremendous potential to solve the energy crisis and environmental pollution; however, designing a catalyst for solar-driven overall water-splitting remains a great challenge. Herein, we propose a new MoS2-based photocatalyst (Co-P@MoS2), which skillfully uses the cobalt (Co) atom to stimulate in-plane S atoms and employs the phosphorus (P) atom to stabilize the basal plane by forming the Co-P bands. Using density functional theory (DFT), it was found that oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) can occur at the P site and S2 site of the Co-P@MoS2, respectively, and the dual-active sites successfully makes a delicate balance between the adsorption and dissociation of hydrogen. Furthermore, the improved overall water-splitting performance of Co-P@MoS2 was verified by analyzing the results of the electron structure and the dynamics of photogenerated carries. It was found that the imbalance of electron transfer caused by the introduction of the Co atom was the main contributor to the catalytic activity of Co-P@MoS2. Our study broadens the idea of developing photocatalysts for the overall water-splitting.

Impact of Regional Collaborative Network on the Rescue of Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction First Visit to non-PCI Hospitals.

Objective: To assess the effect of a regional collaborative network on the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients first admitted to non- percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) hospitals. Methods: Using data from Kunshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine's chest pain center database, patients were grouped based on the establishment of the regional collaborative rescue network. Key timepoints and in-hospital complications were analyzed. Results: A total of 152 ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients were included in the study. Compared to control group, symptom-to-balloon time (S-B), time of first medical contact to balloon and inter-hospital referral time in observation group were significantly shorter [(314.03 ± 209.26) min vs (451.27 ± 290.44) min, P = .001], [(115.32 ± 54.73) min vs (191.67 ± 130.30) min, P = .001], [(55.09 ± 37.23) min vs (112.67 ± 95.90) min, P = .001], but time of symptom to first medical contact were not statistically significant[(210.27±217.07) min vs (239.61 ± 200.92) min, P = .136].The incidence of heart failure and total complications during hospitalization decreased [7 (8.14%) vs 13 (19.70%), P = .037] and [14 (16.28%) vs 24 (36.36%), P = .004]. However no statistically significant difference were observed in rate of death during hospitalization [2 (2.33%) vs 3 (4.55%), P = .450], ventricular fibrillation [2 (2.33%) vs 3 (4.55%), P = .450], left ventricular thrombosis [2 (2.33%) vs 4 (6.06%), P = .244] and recurrent myocardial infarction[1 (1.16%) vs 1 (1.52%), P = .851]. Conclusions: The regional cooperative rescue network notably reduces ischemic and referral times for STEMI patients, lowering the incidence of heart failure during their hospital stay.

Folic Acid Protects Against Kidney Damage in Mice with Diabetic Nephropathy by Inhibiting M1 Macrophage Polarization via Nuclear Factor-k-gene Binding Pathway.

Kidney damage is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and inflammation caused by macrophage infiltration plays an important role. Folic acid (FA), a water-soluble vitamin, was previously found to affect inflammation by regulating macrophage polarization. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of FA on renal injury in mice with diabetic nephropathy (DN). We found that FA treatment ameliorated diabetic metabolic parameters in mice with DN, including reducing 24-hour food consumption, 24-hour urine volume and 24-hour water intake and increasing body weight and serum insulin. Of note, FA treatment improved renal functional and structural damage in mice with DN. In addition, FA treatment significantly reduced the number of renal infiltrating M1 macrophages, inflammatory cytokine FA stimulation significantly reduced the increase in F4/80+CD86+ cell ratio, inflammatory factor content and p-p65/p65 protein expression induced by high glucose exposure in RAW264.7 cells. All in all, our results indicated that FA protects against kidney damage in mice with DN by inhibiting M1 macrophage polarization, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of nuclear factor-k-gene binding (NF-kB) signaling pathway.

Effect of heat and pulsed electric field treatment on the physicochemical and nutritional properties of carrots.

BACKGROUND: Carrots are widely used in home cooking and vegetable processing industries because of their high nutritional value. However, different processing methods may produce a negative impact on carrot texture and nutrition quality. Therefore, the development of better processing methods to preserve the texture and nutrition quality of carrots will be beneficial to the carrot industry. RESULTS: The effects of heat and pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments with different heat temperatures (T) and holding time (th ) on comprehensive changes in thermal efficiency profiles, and physicochemical (color, hardness, cell structural damage) and nutritional (releasable ß-carotene contents) properties of carrots were studied. In addition, electrical conductivity (σ) and soluble matter contents (°Brix) were determined for the heat-treated extracts. The value of total color difference (∆E) and cell structural damage index (Z) of carrots, σ and °Brix of extracts all increased with increasing T and th under different heat experimental conditions, whereas the value of cutting force (F) presented an opposite tendency and content of releasable ß-carotene decreased after th > 2 min at T = 100 °C. CONCLUSION: The results show that PEF heating is beneficial in preventing changes in physicochemical and nutritional properties of carrots compared to traditional heat treatment. PEF has potential as a heating technology in the food industry. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride based ratiometric fluorescent nanosensors for multiplex anion discrimination.

Compared with the well-studied cations, the development of methods for anion detection is relatively slow due to the anion characteristics such as a complex geometry, strong hydration and a low charge density. Herein, a colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent anion sensing platform based on trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride ([THTP][Cl]) was developed for the first time. Such nanosensors exhibited a pH response of 5-7 as well as a high selectivity to perchlorate. The selectivity behavior followed the Hofmeister series in which lipophilic anions were more readily co-extracted. To deviate from the Hofmeister series, anion ionophores should be introduced for selective complexation of the target anions. As a proof of concept, the organomercury compounds ETH9033 and ETH9009 were employed as model ionophores. The obtained nitrate- and chloride-selective [THTP][Cl]-based nanosensors demonstrated prominent colorimetric and spectroscopic transformations specifically induced by the anion species. The fluorescence (I675/I600) and absorbance (A650/A500) intensities versus the logarithm values of anion concentrations proved a high selectivity towards the major anion. The excellent performance such as high selectivity, good sensitivity and fast response times enabled the accurate determination of nitrate in mineral water. More importantly, through simply altering the ionophores, a pool of [THTP][Cl]-based anion-selective nano-optodes for extended targets could be achieved. The nanosensor shows great potential for anion determination in the environmental and biomedical fields.

Enhancing cofactor regeneration of cyanobacteria for the light-powered synthesis of chiral alcohols.

Cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was exploited as green cell factory for light-powered asymmetric synthesis of aromatic chiral alcohols. The effect of temperature, light, substrate and cell concentration on substrate conversions were investigated. Under the optimal condition, a series of chiral alcohols were synthesized with conversions up to 95% and enantiomer excess (ee) > 99%. We found that the addition of Na2S2O3 and Angeli's Salt increased the NADPH content by 20% and 25%, respectively. As a result, the time to reach 95% substrate conversion was shortened by 12 h, which demonstrated that the NADPH regeneration and hence the reaction rates can be regulated in cyanobacteria. This blue-green algae based biocatalysis showed its potential for chiral compounds production in future.

Dietary supplementation with microalgae enhances the zebrafish growth performance by modulating immune status and gut microbiota.

Microalgae are known to be abundant in various habitats around the globe, and are rich in high value-added products such as fatty acids, polysaccharides, proteins, and pigments. Microalgae can be exploited as the basic and primitive food source of aquatic animals. We investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with Schizochytrium sp., Spirulina platensis, Chloroella sorokiniana, Chromochloris zofingiensis, and Dunaliella salina on the growth performance, immune status, and intestinal health of zebrafish (Danio rerio). The results showed that these five microalgae diets could improve the feed conversion rate (FCR), especially the D. salina (FCR = 1.02%) and Schizochytrium sp. (FCR = 1.20%) additive groups. Moreover, the microalgae diets decreased the gene expression level of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6, IL8, and IL1ß at a normal physiological state of the intestine, especially the Schizochytrium sp., S. platensis, and D. salina dietary groups. The expression of neutrophil marker b7r was increased in the C. sorokiniana diet group; after, the zebrafish were challenged with Vibrio anguillarum, improving the ability to resist this disease. We also found that microalgae diets could regulate the gut microbiota of fish as well as increase the relative abundance of probiotics. To further explain, Cetobacterium was significantly enriched in the S. platensis additive group and Stenotrophomonas was higher in the Schizochytrium sp. additive group than in the other groups. Conversely, harmful bacteria Mycoplasma reduced in all tested microalgae diet groups. Our study indicated that these microalgae could serve as a food source supplement and benefit the health of fish. KEY POINTS: • Microalgae diets enhanced the growth performance of zebrafish. • Microalgae diets attenuated the intestinal inflammatory responses of zebrafish. • Microalgae diets modulated the gut microbiota composition to improve fish health.

Detection of miR-122 by fluorescence real-time PCR in blood from patients with chronic hepatitis B and C infections.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine whether relative miR-122 levels in peripheral blood are correlated with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) virus infection and viral replication to determine whether miR-122 can be a new marker for liver injury. METHODS: MicroRNA (miRNA) was extracted from the peripheral blood of 20 CHB patients, 20 CHC patients, and 20 healthy controls. The levels of miR-122 were determined using fluorescence real-time reverse transcription PCR. Then, the associations of miR-122 with CHB and CHC were analyzed, and its correlation with other markers of liver function and viral replication were determined. RESULTS: The expression level of miR-122 in patients with CHB was significantly higher when compared to subjects in the control group (P = 0.007) or CHC patients (P = 0.005). Furthermore, the miR-122 level in patients with CHC was somewhat higher when compared to healthy controls (66% higher), but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.229). MiR-122 levels were significantly correlated with ALT (correlation coefficient [R] = 0.7, P < 0.001), AST (R = 0.71, P < 0.001), and HBV NA (R = 0.9, P < 0.001). The regression analysis indicated that the AUC of miR-122 levels in the diagnosis of CHB was 0.87, with a sensitivity of 0.8 and a specificity of 0.8. CONCLUSION: MiR-122 can be used to distinguish healthy persons and patients with CHB infection with high sensitivity and specificity. These present findings presented that the complex and context-specific associations of miR-122 with liver diseases, suggesting that this may be a promising marker for liver injury.

Roles of Nrf2/HO-1 and HIF-1α/VEGF in lung tissue injury and repair following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI) leads to injury in distant organs, most commonly the lungs, although limited studies have examined self-protective mechanisms during CIRI-induced lung injury. Here, we investigated self-protective mechanisms that attenuate stress-related injury and promote the angiogenetic repair of epithelial function during CIRI-induced lung injury by measuring nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) levels. A CIRI model was established in male Sprague-Dawley rats by blocking the middle cerebral artery. Rats were divided into five subgroups based on the reperfusion time (6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hr). Lung injury was assessed using a semiquantitative score and a thiobarbituric acid-based method of determining malonaldehyde production. Lung tissue angiogenesis was detected by CD34 and CD31 immunolabeling. Changes in Nrf2, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), HIF-1α, vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), extracellular-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2), and phospho-ERK1/2 ( p-ERK1/2) protein- and mRNA-expression levels were measured by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions, respectively. Oxidative stress induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (CI/R) caused lung injury. Expression of the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidative stress pathway in lung tissues increased following CI/R, peaking after 24 hr. PI3K, ERK, and p-ERK1/2, which act upstream of Nrf2/HO-1, were expressed at higher levels in the CI/R-model group, consistent with the general trends observed for Nrf2/HO-1. Within 72 hr post-CI/R, HIF-1α, and VEGF expression significantly increased versus the sham group. Thus, during CIRI-induced lung injury, the body may upregulate antioxidative stress activities and promote angiogenesis to repair the endothelial barrier through the Nrf2/HO-1 and HIF-1α/VEGF signaling pathways, enabling self-protection.

Epidemiological and molecular characteristics of emergent dengue virus in Yunnan Province near the China-Myanmar-Laos border, 2013-2015.

BACKGROUND: Yunnan Province is located in southwestern China and neighbors the Southeast Asian countries, all of which are dengue-endemic areas. In 2000-2013, sporadic imported cases of dengue fever (DF) were reported almost annually in Yunnan Province. During 2013-2015, we confirmed that a large-scale indigenous DF outbreak emerged in cities of Yunnan Province near the China-Myanmar-Laos border. METHODS: Epidemiological characteristics of DF in Yunnan Province during 2013-2015 were evaluated by retrospective analysis. A total of 232 dengue virus (DENV)-positive sera were randomly collected for sequence analysis of the capsid/premembrane region of DENV from patients with DF in Yunnan Province. The envelope gene of DENV isolates was also amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using the neighbor-joining method with the Tajima-Nei model. RESULTS: Phylogenetically, all DENV-positive samples could be classified into DENV-1 genotype I and DENV-2 Asian I genotype during 2013-2015 and DENV-4 genotype I in 2015 from Ruili City; and DENV-3 genotype II in 2013 and DENV-2 Cosmopolitan genotype in 2015 from Xishuangbanna Prefecture. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that imported DF from patients from Laos and Myanmar was the primary cause of the DF epidemic in Yunnan Province. Additionally, DENV strains of all four serotypes were identified in indigenous cases in Yunnan Province during the same time period, while the dengue epidemic pattern observed in southwestern Yunnan showed characteristics of a hypoendemic nature: circulation of DENV-1 and DENV-2 over consecutive years.

Genomic Foundation of Starch-to-Lipid Switch in Oleaginous Chlorella spp.

The ability to rapidly switch the intracellular energy storage form from starch to lipids is an advantageous trait for microalgae feedstock. To probe this mechanism, we sequenced the 56.8-Mbp genome of Chlorella pyrenoidosa FACHB-9, an industrial production strain for protein, starch, and lipids. The genome exhibits positive selection and gene family expansion in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and genes related to cell cycle and stress response. Moreover, 10 lipid metabolism genes might be originated from bacteria via horizontal gene transfer. Transcriptomic dynamics tracked via messenger RNA sequencing over six time points during metabolic switch from starch-rich heterotrophy to lipid-rich photoautotrophy revealed that under heterotrophy, genes most strongly expressed were from the tricarboxylic acid cycle, respiratory chain, oxidative phosphorylation, gluconeogenesis, glyoxylate cycle, and amino acid metabolisms, whereas those most down-regulated were from fatty acid and oxidative pentose phosphate metabolism. The shift from heterotrophy into photoautotrophy highlights up-regulation of genes from carbon fixation, photosynthesis, fatty acid biosynthesis, the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, and starch catabolism, which resulted in a marked redirection of metabolism, where the primary carbon source of glycine is no longer supplied to cell building blocks by the tricarboxylic acid cycle and gluconeogenesis, whereas carbon skeletons from photosynthesis and starch degradation may be directly channeled into fatty acid and protein biosynthesis. By establishing the first genetic transformation in industrial oleaginous C. pyrenoidosa, we further showed that overexpression of an NAD(H) kinase from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) increased cellular lipid content by 110.4%, yet without reducing growth rate. These findings provide a foundation for exploiting the metabolic switch in microalgae for improved photosynthetic production of food and fuels.

A deep sequencing reveals significant diversity among dominant variants and evolutionary dynamics of avian leukosis viruses in two infectious ecosystems.

BACKGROUND: As a typical retrovirus, the evolution of Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) in different infectious ecosystems is not characterized, what we know is there are a cloud of diverse variants, namely quasispecies with considerable genetic diversity. This study is to explore the selection of infectious ecosystems on dominant variants and their evolutionary dynamics of ALV-J between DF1 cells and specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. High-throughput sequencing platforms provide an approach for detecting quasispecies diversity more fully. RESULTS: An average of about 20,000 valid reads were obtained from two variable regions of gp85 gene and LTR-U3 region from each sample in different infectious ecosystems. The top 10 dominant variants among ALV-J from chicken plasmas, DF1 cells and liver tumor were completely different from each other. Also there was a difference of shannon entropy and global selection pressure values (ω) in different infectious ecosystems. In the plasmas of two chickens, a large portion of quasispecies contained a 3-peptides "LSD" repeat insertion that was only less than 0.01% in DF1 cell culture supernatants. In parallel studies, the LTR-U3 region of ALV-J from the chicken plasmas demonstrated more variants with mutations in their transcription regulatory elements than those from DF1 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data taken together suggest that the molecular epidemiology based on isolated ALV-J in cell culture may not represent the true evolution of virus in chicken flocks in the field. The biological significance of the "LSD" insert and mutations in LTR-U3 needs to be further studied.