Comparison of physiological and transcriptome responses of corals to strong light and high temperature.

Coral reefs are essential for marine ecology and biodiversity. Global climate change has resulted in severe coral reef degradation, partly via coral bleaching, which is caused by rising sea temperatures and solar light intensity. In this study, we examined the impact of strong light (300 µmol.m-2.s-1) and high temperature (33°C) on the growth, immunity, and gene expression of Galaxea fascicularis. Strong light caused coral bleaching in the absence of high sea temperatures, while no obvious bleaching was observed under high temperature alone. The effect of strong light on calcification rate of G. fascicularis is significantly weaker than that of high temperature. Both strong light and high temperatures significantly affected the immune enzyme activity of G. fascicularis symbionts, with the former having a strong effect on their photosystem. Temperature affected the digestive system, replication and repair, and cell growth and death of coral hosts, as indicated by transcriptomics analysis. These results provide a valuable for strategies to mitigate coral bleaching. TEASER: We explored the effects of strong light exposure and high temperature on coral reefs and their symbiont algae.

Research on risk factor filtering and rating of cold chain logistics from the perspective of root-state risk identification.

The natural attributes of perishable and vulnerable cold chain products make the cold chain have more risks than the general supply chain. The attribute characteristics and internal relations of various risks increase the complexity of risk analysis. The purpose of this paper is to study the horizontal and vertical assessment of various risk factors. The multi-dimensional risk measurement model is used to integrate the assessment of multiple risk factors of human, machine, environment, and management, and the cold chain risk management is discussed from the perspective of risk factor classification. The root-state risk identification (RSRI) method was used to identify potential risks. Based on the double standard filtering and multiple criteria, the filtering of irrelevant risks and screening of uncontrollable risks were evaluated, and the triangular fuzzy number method was used to quantitatively evaluate the controllable risk factors. A total of 223 potential risks, 18 important risks, and 6 key risks were identified, followed by inspection and quarantine reports, pesticide residues, improper loading and unloading operations, unqualified centralized environment, unqualified pre-cooling technology of carriages, and unreasonable storage temperature. According to the analysis results, targeted control measures are proposed to better prevent risks and reduce the probability of cold chain accidents. The traditional risk assessment method can only assess the impact of a single risk factor on the system. This assessment method overcomes this limitation and provides a new perspective for cold chain risk management. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study laid the foundation for further risk safety management of cold chain logistics.

Measurement and Simulation of Risk Coupling in Port Hazardous Chemical Logistics.

Hazardous chemical logistics and transportation accidents are the main type of port safety accidents. Correctly and objectively analyzing the causes of port hazardous chemical logistics safety accidents and the coupling mechanisms of risk generation are very important for reducing the occurrence of port hazardous chemical safety accidents. Based on the causal mechanism and coupling principle, in this paper, we construct a risk coupling system for port hazardous chemical logistics and analyze the coupling effects in the risk system. More specifically, a personnel-ship-environment-management system is established and the coupling between the four systems is explored. Taking Tianjin Port as an example, the risk coupling factors are analyzed in combination with system dynamics simulation. Under dynamic changes in coupling coefficients, the change of coupling effects are explored more intuitively, the logical relationships between logistics risks are analyzed and deduced, a comprehensive view of the coupling effects and their evolution process in accidents is provided, and the key causes of accidents and their coupling risk effects are identified. For port hazardous chemicals logistics safety accidents, the presented results not only allow for effective analysis of the causes of safety accidents, but also provide reference for the formulation of prevention strategies.

Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis identifies one subpopulation of endothelial cells that proliferates and another that undergoes the endothelial-mesenchymal transition in regenerating pig hearts.

Background: In our previous work, we demonstrated that when newborn pigs undergo apical resection (AR) on postnatal day 1 (P1), the animals' hearts were completely recover from a myocardial infarction (MI) that occurs on postnatal day 28 (P28); single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) data suggested that this recovery was achieved by regeneration of pig cardiomyocyte subpopulations in response to MI. However, coronary vasculature also has a key role in promoting cardiac repair. Method: Thus, in this report, we used autoencoder algorithms to analyze snRNAseq data from endothelial cells (ECs) in the hearts of the same animals. Main results: Our results identified five EC clusters, three composed of vascular ECs (VEC1-3) and two containing lymphatic ECs (LEC1-2). Cells from VEC1 expressed elevated levels of each of five cell-cyclespecific markers (Aurora Kinase B [AURKB], Marker of Proliferation Ki-67 [MKI67], Inner Centromere Protein [INCENP], Survivin [BIRC5], and Borealin [CDCA8]), as well as a number of transcription factors that promote EC proliferation, while (VEC3 was enriched for genes that regulate intercellular junctions, participate in transforming growth factor ß (TGFß), bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signaling, and promote the endothelial mesenchymal transition (EndMT). The remaining VEC2 did not appear to participate directly in the angiogenic response to MI, but trajectory analyses indicated that it may serve as a reservoir for the generation of VEC1 and VEC3 ECs in response to MI. Notably, only the VEC3 cluster was more populous in regenerating (i.e., ARP1MIP28) than non-regenerating (i.e., MIP28) hearts during the 1-week period after MI induction, which suggests that further investigation of the VEC3 cluster could identify new targets for improving myocardial recovery after MI. Histological analysis of KI67 and EndMT marker PDGFRA demonstrated that while the expression of proliferation of endothelial cells was not significantly different, expression of EndMT markers was significantly higher among endothelial cells of ARP1MIP28 hearts compared to MIP28 hearts, which were consistent with snRNAseq analysis of clusters VEC1 and VEC3. Furthermore, upregulated secrete genes by VEC3 may promote cardiomyocyte proliferation via the Pi3k-Akt and ERBB signaling pathways, which directly contribute to cardiac muscle regeneration. Conclusion: In regenerative heart, endothelial cells may express EndMT markers, and this process could contribute to regeneration via a endothelial-cardiomyocyte crosstalk that supports cardiomyocyte proliferation.

Physiological basis and differentially expressed genes in the salt tolerance mechanism of Thalassia hemprichii.

Seagrass plays a vital role in the stability of marine ecology. The human development of marine resources has greatly affected the survival of seagrass. Seawater salinity is one of the important factors affecting its survival. Seagrass can survive in high saline environments for a long time and has evolved a variety of effective tolerance mechanisms. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance by seagrass. Thalassia hemprichii is a seagrass species with a global distribution. It is also an ecologically important plant species in coastal waters. Nevertheless, the continuous environmental deterioration has gradually reduced the ecological niche of seagrasses. In this study, experiments were conducted to examine the effects of salinity changes on T. hemprichii. The result showed that the optimal salinity for T. hemprichii is 25 to 35 PSU. Although it can survive under high and low salinity, high mortality rates are common in such environments. Further analyses revealed that high salinity induces growth and developmental retardation in T. hemprichii and further causes yellowing. The parenchyma cells in T. hemprichii also collapse, the structure changes, soluble sugar accumulates rapidly, soluble proteins accumulate rapidly, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content reduces, and lipid peroxidation reduces in plant membranes. The molecular mechanisms of salt tolerance differ significantly between marine and terrestrial plants. We found 319 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These genes regulate transport and metabolism, promoting environmental adaptation. The expression of these genes changed rapidly upon exposure of T. hemprichii to salinity stress for three hours. This is the first report on the physiological and biochemical changes and gene expression regulation of T. hemprichii under different salinity conditions. The findings of this study well deepen our understanding of T. hemprichii adaptations to changes in the shoal living environment.

Evolutionary Game Research on Green Construction Considering Consumers' Preference under Government Supervision.

Construction is closely related to people's lives and public activities. With regard to issues of energy conservation, emission reduction, and sustainable development put forth, the word "green" is increasingly used in the construction industry. Green construction is an inevitable requirement for the sustainable development of the construction industry. In addition, the government regulation mechanism is also the key to the establishment and development of green construction. Thus, on the basis of evolutionary game theory, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model of developers, general contractors, and the government. Then, the evolutionary stability strategies under different conditions are discussed. Lastly, the evolution mechanism in the game process of the green construction system and the influence of relevant parameters on the evolution path of the game model are analyzed through numerical simulation. The results show that (1) when consumer preferences change, the evolutionary stability strategies also change. Consumer preference plays a positive role in the establishment and development of green construction, but a certain increase in consumer preference will lead to free-rider behavior. (2) The government's control mechanism can not only effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises to participate but also effectively inhibit the free-rider behavior of enterprises; however, it cannot completely prevent the occurrence of free-rider behavior. (3) On the one hand, the government can advocate green consumption to promote the improvement of consumers' green preferences; on the other hand, enterprises actively carry out technological innovation and equipment advances to enhance the likelihood that consumers will embrace green preferences to achieve the optimal ESS. This study not only provides good guidance for developers and general contractors to make optimal strategic choices under different consumers' green preferences, but also provides a reference for the government to formulate reasonable regulatory policies. At the same time, it promotes the development of green construction and further promotes environmental protection.

Comparative evolutionary history of two closely related desert plant, Convolvulus tragacanthoide and Convolvulus gortschakovii (Convolvulaceae) from northwest China.

Desert ecosystems are one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. The study of the effects of paleoclimatic and geological changes on genetic diversity, genetic structure, and species differentiation of desert plants is not only helpful in understanding the strategies of adaptation of plants to arid habitats, but can also provide reference for the protection and restoration of vegetation in desert ecosystem. Northwest China is an important part of arid regions in the northern hemisphere. Convolvulus tragacanthoides and Convolvulus gortschakovii are closely related and have similar morphology. Through our field investigation, we found that the annual precipitation of the two species distribution areas is significantly different. Thus, C. tragacanthoides and C. gortschakovii provide an ideal comparative template to investigate the evolutionary processes of closely related species, which have adapted to different niches in response to changes in paleogeography and paleoclimate in northwest China. In this study, we employed phylogeographical approaches (two cpDNA spacers: rpl14-rpl36 and trnT-trnY) and species distribution models to trace the demographic history of C. tragacanthoides and C. gortschakovii, two common subshrubs and small shrubs in northwest China. The results showed the following: (1) Populations of C. tragacanthoides in northwest China were divided into three groups: Tianshan Mountains-Ili Valley, west Yin Mountains-Helan Mountains-Qinglian Mountains, and Qinling Mountains-east Yin Mountains. There was a strong correlation between the distribution of haplotypes and the floristic subkingdom. The three groups corresponded to the Eurasian forest subkingdom, Asian desert flora subkingdom, and Sino-Japanese floristic regions, respectively. Thus, environmental differences among different flora may lead to the genetic differentiation of C. tragacanthoides in China. (2) The west Yin Mountains-Helan Mountains-Qinglian Mountains, and Qinling Mountains-east Yin Mountains were thought to form the ancestral distribution range of C. tragacanthoides. (3) C. tragacanthoides and C. gortschakovii adopted different strategies to cope with the Pleistocene glacial cycle. Convolvulus tragacanthoides contracted to the south during the glacial period and expanded to the north during the interglacial period; and there was no obvious north-south expansion or contraction of C. gortschakovii during the glacial cycle. (4) The interspecific variation of C. tragacanthoides and C. gortschakovii was related to the orogeny in northwest China caused by the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during Miocene. (5) The 200 mm precipitation line formed the dividing line between the niches occupied by C. tragacanthoides and C. gortschakovii, respectively. In this study, from the perspective of precipitation, the impact of the formation of the summer monsoon limit line on species divergence and speciation is reported, which provides a new perspective for studying the response mechanism of species to the formation of the summer monsoon line, and also provides a clue for predicting how desert plants respond to future environmental changes.

TBX20 Improves Contractility and Mitochondrial Function During Direct Human Cardiac Reprogramming.

BACKGROUND: Direct cardiac reprogramming of fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes has emerged as a promising strategy to remuscularize injured myocardium. However, it is insufficient to generate functional induced cardiomyocytes from human fibroblasts using conventional reprogramming cocktails, and the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well studied. METHODS: To discover potential missing factors for human direct reprogramming, we performed transcriptomic comparison between human induced cardiomyocytes and functional cardiomyocytes. RESULTS: We identified TBX20 (T-box transcription factor 20) as the top cardiac gene that is unable to be activated by the MGT133 reprogramming cocktail (MEF2C, GATA4, TBX5, and miR-133). TBX20 is required for normal heart development and cardiac function in adult cardiomyocytes, yet its role in cardiac reprogramming remains undefined. We show that the addition of TBX20 to the MGT133 cocktail (MGT+TBX20) promotes cardiac reprogramming and activates genes associated with cardiac contractility, maturation, and ventricular heart. Human induced cardiomyocytes produced with MGT+TBX20 demonstrated more frequent beating, calcium oscillation, and higher energy metabolism as evidenced by increased mitochondria numbers and mitochondrial respiration. Mechanistically, comprehensive transcriptomic, chromatin occupancy, and epigenomic studies revealed that TBX20 colocalizes with MGT reprogramming factors at cardiac gene enhancers associated with heart contraction, promotes chromatin binding and co-occupancy of MGT factors at these loci, and synergizes with MGT for more robust activation of target gene transcription. CONCLUSIONS: TBX20 consolidates MGT cardiac reprogramming factors to activate cardiac enhancers to promote cardiac cell fate conversion. Human induced cardiomyocytes generated with TBX20 showed enhanced cardiac function in contractility and mitochondrial respiration.

Prediction of Hardenability Curves for Non-Boron Steels via a Combined Machine Learning Model.

Hardenability is one of the most basic criteria influencing the formulation of the heat treatment process and steel selection. Therefore, it is of great engineering value to calculate the hardenability curves rapidly and accurately without resorting to any laborious and costly experiments. However, generating a high-precision computational model for steels with different hardenability remains a challenge. In this study, a combined machine learning (CML) model including k-nearest neighbor and random forest is established to predict the hardenability curves of non-boron steels solely on the basis of chemical compositions: (i) random forest is first applied to classify steel into low- and high-hardenability steel; (ii) k-nearest neighbor and random forest models are then developed to predict the hardenability of low- and high-hardenability steel. Model validation is carried out by calculating and comparing the hardenability curves of five steels using different models. The results reveal that the CML model works well for its distinguished prediction performance with precise classification accuracy (100%), high correlation coefficient (≥0.981), and low mean absolute errors (≤3.6 HRC) and root-mean-square errors (≤3.9 HRC); it performs better than JMatPro and empirical formulas including the ideal critical diameter method and modified nonlinear equation. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the CML model combining material informatics and data-driven machine learning can rapidly and efficiently predict the hardenability curves of non-boron steel, with high prediction accuracy and a wide application range. It can guide process design and machine part selection, reducing the cost of trial and error and accelerating the development of new materials.