The SsWRKY1 transcription factor of Saccharum spontaneum enhances drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana and interacts with 21 potential proteins to regulate drought tolerance in S. spontaneum.

In this study, we characterized a WRKY family member gene, SsWRKY1, which is located in the nucleus and contains multiple stress-related cis-acting elements. In addition, constructed SsWRKY1-overexpressing Arabidopsis thaliana had higher antioxidant enzyme activity and proline content under drought stress conditions, with lower malondialdehyde content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and the expression levels of six stress-related genes were significantly upregulated. This indicates that the overexpression of SsWRKY1 in Arabidopsis thaliana improves resistance to drought stress. SsWRKY1 does not have transcriptional autoactivation activity in yeast cells. The yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) system and the S. spontaneum cDNA library were used to screen 21 potential proteins that interact with SsWRKY1, and the interaction between SsWRKY1 and ATAF2 was verified by GST pull-down assay. In summary, our results indicate that SsWRKY1 plays an important role in the response to drought stress and provide initial insights into the molecular mechanism of SsWRKY1 in response to drought stress.

The Gene Coexpression Analysis Identifies Functional Modules Dynamically Changed After Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, both in adult and pediatric populations. However, the dynamic changes of gene expression profiles following TBI have not been fully understood. In this study, we identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) following TBI. Remarkably, Serpina3n, Asf1b, Folr1, LOC100366216, Clec12a, Olr1, Timp1, Hspb1, Lcn2, and Spp1 were identified as the top 10 with the highest statistical significance. The weighted gene coexpression analysis (WGCNA) identified 12 functional modules from the DEGs, which showed specific expression patterns over time and were characterized by enrichment analysis. Specifically, the black and turquoise modules were mainly involved in energy metabolism and protein translation. The green yellow and yellow modules including Hmox1, Mif, Anxa2, Timp1, Gfap, Cd9, Gja1, Pdpn, and Gpx1 were related to response to wounding, indicating that expression of these genes such as Hmox1, Anxa2, and Timp1 could protect the brains from brain injury. The green yellow module highlighted genes involved in microglial cell activation such as Tyrobp, Cx3cr1, Grn, Trem2, C1qa, and Aif1, suggesting that these genes were responsible for the inflammatory response caused by TBI. The upregulation of these genes has been validated in an independent dataset. These results indicated that the key genes in microglia cell activation may serve as a promising therapeutic target for TBI. In summary, the present study provided a full view of the dynamic gene expression changes following TBI.

Effectiveness and safety of 3 different traditional Chinese therapies for asthma in minors: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used in the treatment of asthma, but currently there has been no comprehensive evaluation on the efficacy and safety of different traditional Chinese medicine therapies, based on network meta-analysis (NMA). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The retrieval strategy was strictly followed in the English databases PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Chinese databases: CNKI and Wanfang. The retrieval time was limited from the beginning of each database construction to September 12, 2020. Meanwhile, in order to prevent data missing, we compared the previous meta-analysis to determine the final inclusion results. The main indexes were Spirometry, the secondary indexes were Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire and adverse events. Methodological quality of articles was assessed using the Cochrane Collaborative tool, and evidence quality was assessed using the Recommended Scoring, Development, and Evaluation tool. Completed The NMA using Stata statistical software (Version 14.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). The Cochrane Collaboration's Tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of articles, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation instrument was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. NMA was completed by using Stata Statistical Software (Version 14.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). RESULTS: The study will rank 3 traditional Chinese medicine treatments for asthma. CONCLUSION: This study is the first time to use NMA to compare the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of asthma, which will provide ideas and methods for the clinical treatment for asthma. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202090052.

A dimensionally stable and fast-discharging graphite-silicon composite Li-ion battery anode enabled by electrostatically self-assembled multifunctional polymer-blend coating.

A high-performance graphite-Si composite anode for Li-ion batteries containing Si nanoparticles (NPs) attached onto graphite microparticles was synthesized by adopting a polymer-blend of poly(diallyl dimethyl-ammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate). The polymer-blend enabled uniform distribution of Si NPs during synthesis and served as a robust artificial solid-electrolyte interphase that substantially enhanced the cycle stability and rate performance of the composite electrode. The electrode exhibited a specific capacity of 450 mA h g(-1), 96% capacity retention at a 10 C-rate, 95% retention after 200 cycles, and the same electrode expansion behavior as a pristine graphite electrode.

A mechanically robust and highly ion-conductive polymer-blend coating for high-power and long-life lithium-ion battery anodes.

A mechanically robust and ion-conductive polymeric coating containing two polymers, polyethylene glycol tert-octylphenyl ether and poly(allyl amine), with four tailored functional groups is developed for graphite and graphite-Si composite anodes. The coating, acting as an artificial solid electrolyte interphase, leads to remarkable enhancement in capacity reversibility and cycling stability, as well as a high-rate performance of the studied anodes.

[Biodegradation mechanisms of 17beta-estradiol (E2) by lake sediment].

Batch experiments using lake sediment mud liquors spiked with E2 were performed under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The catabolic mechanisms of E2 were also induced. The results indicate that under aerobic condition, 99% of E2 can be removed from aqueous phase after as short as 24 h. Concentration of estrone (E1) firstly increase and then decrease slowly until to vanish from aqueous phase; Under anaerobic condition, 4% of E2 still be in aqueous phase after 96 h of reaction. Concentration profile of E1 show that E1 firstly increase then decrease, then increase and then decrease to vanish from aqueous phase finally. Analyzing the concentration profiles of E2 and E1, we draw a conclusion that E2 is oxidized to E1 by dehydrogenase and then E1 was oxidized by other enzymes within sediment to mineralization completely under aerobic condition. Under anaerobic condition, there is a mutual translation relation between E2 and E1. E2 was oxidized to E1 by dehydrogenase and synchronously E1 is reduced to E2. During this mutual translation course, E2 and E1 can be degraded gradually to finally mineralization completely by other enzymes within the reaction system. Comparing with E2, E1 can accumulate more easily within biosolid in natural waters.

[Effects of organic pollutants in drinking water on the removal of dimethyl phthalate by advanced oxidation processes].

Humic acids were used to simulate natural organic compounds in water for the investigation of DMP oxidation by three different AOPs (advanced oxidation processes) of UV-H2O2, O3 and UV-O3. The results showed that pseudo-first-order reaction equation could describe the oxidation of DMP by UV-H2O2 perfectly, which was strongly affected humic acids in water. The relationship between pseudo-first-order reaction rate and TOC value could be expressed as K = 0. 162 0 [TOC]-0.8171. It was also found that humic acids in the water exhibited obvious influence on the oxidation of DMP by UV-O3. However, effect of humic acids on the oxidation of DMP by ozone was not obvious. It was also analyzed that oxidation of DMP was dominated by ozone oxidation both in ozonation process and UV-O3 process; the importance of "OH in the oxidation of DMP was enhanced as the concentration of DMP decreased in UV-O3 process. The degree of impact form humic acids towards different AOPs could be ranked in a decreasing order as UV-H2O3, UV-O3, 03.

Improved coreceptor usage prediction and genotypic monitoring of R5-to-X4 transition by motif analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 env V3 loop sequences.

Early in infection, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) generally uses the CCR5 chemokine receptor (along with CD4) for cellular entry. In many HIV-1-infected individuals, viral genotypic changes arise that allow the virus to use CXCR4 (either in addition to CCR5 or alone) as an entry coreceptor. This switch has been associated with an acceleration of both CD3(+) T-cell decline and progression to AIDS. While it is well known that the V3 loop of gp120 largely determines coreceptor usage and that positively charged residues in V3 play an important role, the process of genetic change in V3 leading to altered coreceptor usage is not well understood. Further, the methods for biological phenotyping of virus for research or clinical purposes are laborious, depend on sample availability, and present biosafety concerns, so reliable methods for sequence-based "virtual phenotyping" are desirable. We introduce a simple bioinformatic method of scoring V3 amino acid sequences that reliably predicts CXCR4 usage (sensitivity, 84%; specificity, 96%). This score (as determined on the basis of position-specific scoring matrices [PSSM]) can be interpreted as revealing a propensity to use CXCR4 as follows: known R5 viruses had low scores, R5X4 viruses had intermediate scores, and X4 viruses had high scores. Application of the PSSM scoring method to reconstructed virus phylogenies of 11 longitudinally sampled individuals revealed that the development of X4 viruses was generally gradual and involved the accumulation of multiple amino acid changes in V3. We found that X4 viruses were lost in two ways: by the dying off of an established X4 lineage or by mutation back to low-scoring V3 loops.