Transcriptional networks orchestrating red and pink testa color in peanut.

BACKGROUND: Testa color is an important trait of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) which is closely related with the nutritional and commercial value. Pink and red are main color of peanut testa. However, the genetic mechanism of testa color regulation in peanut is not fully understood. To elucidate a clear picture of peanut testa regulatory model, samples of pink cultivar (Y9102), red cultivar (ZH12), and two RNA pools (bulk red and bulk pink) constructed from F4 lines of Y9102 x ZH12 were compared through a bulk RNA-seq approach. RESULTS: A total of 2992 differential expressed genes (DEGs) were identified among which 317 and 1334 were up-regulated and 225 and 1116 were down-regulated in the bulk red-vs-bulk pink RNA pools and Y9102-vs-ZH12, respectively. KEGG analysis indicates that these genes were divided into significantly enriched metabolic pathways including phenylpropanoid, flavonoid/anthocyanin, isoflavonoid and lignin biosynthetic pathways. Notably, the expression of the anthocyanin upstream regulatory genes PAL, CHS, and CHI was upregulated in pink and red testa peanuts, indicating that their regulation may occur before to the advent of testa pigmentation. However, the differential expression of down-stream regulatory genes including F3H, DFR, and ANS revealed that deepening of testa color not only depends on their gene expression bias, but also linked with FLS inhibition. In addition, the down-regulation of HCT, IFS, HID, 7-IOMT, and I2'H genes provided an alternative mechanism for promoting anthocyanin accumulation via perturbation of lignin and isoflavone pathways. Furthermore, the co-expression module of MYB, bHLH, and WRKY transcription factors also suggested a fascinating transcriptional activation complex, where MYB-bHLH could utilize WRKY as a co-option during the testa color regulation by augmenting anthocyanin biosynthesis in peanut. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reveal candidate functional genes and potential strategies for the manipulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis to improve peanut varieties with desirable testa color.

Hydrophobic-action-driven removal of six organophosphorus pesticides from tea infusion by modified carbonized bacterial cellulose.

The abuse of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in tea planting makes it easy to transfer from tea into its infusion, bringing potential health risks to consumers. Thus, it is essential to adopt reliable techniques to remove OPPs from tea infusion. In this study, three treatment methods were used to modify carbonized bacterial cellulose (CBC) to improve its adsorption performance. Among them, CBC treated by hydrazine hydrate (N-CBC) had the best adsorption effect, whose removal rate for dicrotophos is 13 times that of CBC. The in-depth study of adsorption mechanism proved that hydrophobic interaction dominated the adsorption of OPPs onto N-CBC. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model were more suitable to describe the process. Additionally, there were no significant changes in tea infusion quality after N-CBC treatment. This work clarifies that N-CBC benefitted from simple preparation method, excellent adsorption performance and unique adsorption mechanism has potential applications in tea infusion.

Influence of agro-ecosystem modeling approach on the greenhouse gas profiles of wheat-derived biopolymer products.

An approach is presented to include a wider range of factors involved in the nitrogen and carbon cycles in agro-ecosystems than is typical of many Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of agriculture-based products. This use results from the process-oriented Denitrification-Decomposition (DNDC, modified version) model. Here we evaluate the effects of using site-specific N(2)O emissions derived from the DNDC model rather than the values derived from the commonly used Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 empirical model on the results of whole life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) profiles for wheat-based biopolymer products. Statistical methods were also used to analyze the quality of the DNDC and IPCC outputs and to characterize the uncertainty in the GHG results. The results confirm that the GHG profiles of the wheat-derived biopolymer products are sensitive to how the agricultural system is modeled and uncertainty analyses indicate that DNDC is preferred over the IPCC Tier 1 approach for site-specific LCAs. The former allows inclusion of a wider range of important site-specific agricultural parameters in the LCA, provides for improved quality in the LCA data, and permits better calibration of uncertainty in the LCA inventory.

Quickly and efficiently remove multiple pesticides in tea infusions by low-cost carbonized bacterial cellulose.

Soaking tea leaves make tea consumers exposure to pesticide residues more easily. However, there are few studies on the removal of pesticides in tea infusions. Therefore, a low-cost carbonized bacterial cellulose material was prepared by direct calcination method, and used to remove multiple pesticides in tea infusions quickly and efficiently. CBC-350 has the best removal efficiency for 9 pesticides and then screened the best adsorption conditions. The adsorption isotherm experiment was carried out and indicated that the adsorption process was in consist with the Freundlich model. The thermodynamic parameters are also calculated. Moreover, the adsorption mechanism was discussed, which suggests that π-π interaction and hydrophobic action are the driving force during the adsorption process. Exhilaratingly, the CBC-350 also has excellent adsorption capacity compared to other adsorbents and can be reused at least five times.

Microplastics reduce the bioaccumulation and oxidative stress damage of triazole fungicides in fish.

Microplastics (MPs) and pesticides are typical representatives of harmful chemicals in polluted waters. It is understood that the combined toxicity may differ from that of a single toxic substance. Although their combined toxicities on aquatic organisms have practical significance and research value, they have received little attention due to their complicated interaction, and the mechanism has rarely been reported. In this paper, we designed a study to investigate the single and combined effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) and the triazole fungicide difenoconazole on zebrafish, and to explore the mechanism of this effect. The results showed that PS-MPs could reduce the bioaccumulation of difenoconazole in zebrafish to a certain extent and alleviate the oxidative stress damage of difenoconazole in the zebrafish liver. The transcriptome and qRT-PCR data revealed the association of multiple pathways in the difenoconazole response, while the presence of PS-MPs ameliorated this effect in gene expression changes. Due to the properties of PS-MPs and the interaction between them, the toxic effect of difenoconazole when combined with PS-MPs is more prominent. These results provide a novel aspect to understand the environmental behavior of MPs and to evaluate the combined effect of MPs and pesticides on aquatic food.

A mild and one-pot method to activate lignin-derived biomass by using boric acid for aqueous tetracycline antibiotics removal in water.

A mild and one-pot activation approach of activated carbon was found. The feasibility of boric acid as the activated reagent which was used for the adsorption of four tetracyclines antibiotics (TCs) in water. Boric acid activated carbon (BAC) from bioresource has a much higher removal efficiency than currently reported biochar. The maximum adsorption capacity of BAC is 173.9 mg/g for TCs. BAC is an ecofriendly, nontoxic, and low-cost absorbent from sawdust waste. BAC and TCs could keep coalescing at least 55 days on the surface without stable release. BAC was fully characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman, zeta potential, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis; the large surface area and rich pore structure were proved. The interaction between BAC and TCs are hydrogen bond interaction, π-π interaction, and electrostatic interaction. These interactions are also related to the surface charge of BAC and the TCs' species of ions in different pH. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm of BAC were studied thoroughly. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, intra-particle diffusion, Elovich Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich models were fitted and the physical adsorption process was proved. After the study on adsorption thermodynamics, adsorption exhibits a spontaneous and favorable process.

Fully organic compliant dry electrodes self-adhesive to skin for long-term motion-robust epidermal biopotential monitoring.

Wearable dry electrodes are needed for long-term biopotential recordings but are limited by their imperfect compliance with the skin, especially during body movements and sweat secretions, resulting in high interfacial impedance and motion artifacts. Herein, we report an intrinsically conductive polymer dry electrode with excellent self-adhesiveness, stretchability, and conductivity. It shows much lower skin-contact impedance and noise in static and dynamic measurement than the current dry electrodes and standard gel electrodes, enabling to acquire high-quality electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in various conditions such as dry and wet skin and during body movement. Hence, this dry electrode can be used for long-term healthcare monitoring in complex daily conditions. We further investigated the capabilities of this electrode in a clinical setting and realized its ability to detect the arrhythmia features of atrial fibrillation accurately, and quantify muscle activity during deep tendon reflex testing and contraction against resistance.

A higher efficiency removal of neonicotinoid insecticides by modified cellulose-based complex particle.

Cellulose as an eco-friendly material is extensive in the nature. In this study, modified cellulose-based complex particle (MCCP) was produced through hydrothermal carbonization with methacrylic acid in the stirring and sand bath circumstance. The activated modified carbon-based porous particle (AMCCP) was prepared by treating with potassium hydroxide at high temperature, showing higher efficiency in removing neonicotinoids than MCCP. The AMCCP was fully characterized via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis showed the prepared AMCCP has smaller aggregated particles with higher surface area than MCCP. The adsorption kinetic and the adsorption isotherm of AMCCP were studied, revealing that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model correlated with the experimental data better. The maximum adsorption capacity of AMCCP is 142.36 mg/g for acetamiprid. The adsorption process is spontaneous, favorable, and endothermic in nature. After five regeneration time, the adsorption efficiency of the AMCCP is still over 95%.

Roles of L-type calcium channels (CaV1.2) and the distal C-terminus (DCT) in differentiation and mineralization of rat dental apical papilla stem cells (rSCAPs).

OBJECTIVE: Voltage-gated inward Ca2+ currents (ICa) are triggered by cell depolarization and commonly produce transient increases in the cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration. The CaV1.2 distal C-terminus is susceptible to proteolytic cleavage, which yields a truncated CaV1.2 subunit and a cleaved C-terminal fragment (CCt or DCT). Stem cells from the apical papilla (SCAPs) has a capacity for differentiation into the odontoblastic-like cells in vitro and dentin forming in vivo, which makes SCAPs advantages in tissue engineering and regenerative endodontic. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of CaV1.2 and its distal C-terminal fragment in the odontoblastic differentiation of rat SCAPs (stem cells from the apical papilla). DESIGN: In this study, we generated stable CaV1.2 knockdown and DCT over-expressed rSCAPs using short hairpin RNA and DCT gene containing Lentivirus vectors, respectively. The transfected apical papilla cells were induced to differentiate into the odontoblast-like cells, and the expression of markers for odontoblastic differentiation were analyzed by alizarin red staining, Real-time Polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: The knockdown of CaV1.2 and excess expression of DCT both suppressed the expression of DSPP, ALP in mRNA level and the formation of calcium nodules. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CaV1.2 and DCT play important roles in the differentiation of rSCAPs, DCT might act as a transcription factor and regulate the differentiation of rSCAPs.