First Report of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Causing Anthracnose on Wisteria sinensis in China.

Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) is a well-known ornamental plant for environmental protection in the garden, which also has a high value for medicinal use. In December 2021, leaf spots were observed on W. sinensis plants growing on the campus of Jiangxi Agricultural University in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province (28.45° N, 115.49° E), with a incidence rate of 40% plants were infested (n = 100 investigated plants). Initially leaf spots were small and pale brown (Approx. 2 mm in diameter), which gradually expanded into round or irregular dark brown spots as disease progressed, and lesions developed greyish-white necrotic tissues in the center at later stages, eventually causing the leaves to rot. To isolate the pathogen, tissues (5 × 5 mm) at the margin of lesions were cut from ten symptomatic leaves, surface disinfected with 75% ethanol for 30 s followed by 2% sodium chloride (NaClO) for 1 min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, and the dried tissues were cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28 ± 1℃ in darkness for 3 days. After culture purification, five isolates were obtained and the representative single spore isolate (ZTTJ1) was used for subsequent identification tests. After 10 days of incubation on PDA medium, colonies had dense aerial mycelium with a gray center and dark gray-green mycelium outward, with orange-red conidial masses distributed in a ring on the surface. The underside of the colonies was light gray to dark gray. Conidia were cylindrical, with ends obtuse-rounded, 11.83 to 20.74 × 3.34 to 5.33 µm (av=16.11 µm × 4.26 µm, n = 50) in size. These morphological characteristics were consistent with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Shi et al, 2019). Six conserved regions of isolate (ZTTJ1), internal transcribed spacer (ITS), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), calmodulin (CAL), ß-tublin (TUB), actin (ACT), and chitin synthase 1 (CHS1) gene regions were amplified using ITS1/ITS4 (Gardes et al, 1993), GDF/GDR (Templeton et al, 1992), CL1C/CL2C (Li et al, 2018), Bt2a/Bt2b (Prihastuti et al, 2009), ACT-512F/ACT-783R and CHS-79F/CHS-345R (Carbone et al, 1999) primers, respectively. Using BLAST, ITS, GAPDH, CAL, TUB, ACT, and CHS1 gene sequences (GenBank Accession No. OP703312, OP713773, OP713775, OP713776, OP713772, OP713774, respectively) were over 99% identical to C. gloeosporioides (GenBank Accession No. MK967281, MH594288, MT449307, MN624110, MN107239 and MN908602, respectively). A maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis based on ITS-ACT-GAPDH-CHS1-CAL-TUB2 sequences using MEGA7.0, placed isolate (ZTTJ1) within C. gloeosporioides. To complete Koch's postulates, 10 µL spore suspension (1.0 × 106 conidia/mL) of ZTTJ1 (7-day-old culture on PDA medium) was dropped onto 10 leaves wounded with a sterilized needle and 10 non-wounded leaves, respectively. Ten wounded leaves were inoculated with sterile water as controls. All leaves were incubated at 28 ± 1 °C and 90 % relative humidity (12 h/12 h light/dark). After 7 days, all wounded leaves inoculated with C. gloeosporioides developed symptoms as previously observed, while the control and non-wounded leaves remained healthy. The fungus re-isolated from the inoculated leaves were identified as C. gloeosporioides by morphological and molecular identification; the pathogen causing disease in W. sinensis was determined to be C. gloeosporioides. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. gloeosporioides causing anthracnose on W. sinensis in China. This work has identified the pathogenic species of the disease, which helps to take targeted measures to control its spread, providing a basis for the prevention and treatment of the disease.

First Report of Black Spot Disease Caused by Alternaria alternata on Persimmon Fruit in China.

Sweet persimmon is native to Japan and valued for its fruit, which are high in sugar and vitamins. In October 2021, symptoms were observed on persimmon (Diospyros kaki L. cv. Yangfeng) fruits in cold storage room in Suiping county, Henan Province (32.59 °N, 15 113.37 °E). Initially, small circular dark-brown spots were visible on the fruit rind, turning into irregular sunken dark areas, and eventually rotting 15% of 200 fruits after four weeks of cold storage (10°C, 95% relative humidity). To isolate the causal agent, 10 fruits of symptomatic tissues (4 mm2) were surface-sterilized in 2% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for 1 minute, washed three times in sterile distilled water, then aseptically transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated for 7 days at 25°C. Fungal colonies were isolated from plant tissue, and on three colonies of similar morphology, single-spore isolation was performed. On PDA, the isolates produced circular colonies of fluffy aerial mycelia, gray-brown in the center with gray-white margins. Conidia were dark brown, obclavate or pyriform, with 0 to 3 longitudinal septa and 1 to 5 transverse septa, and a size range of 19.2 - 35.1 × 7.9 - 14.6 µm (n=100). Conidiophores were olivaceous, septate, straight, or bent, with a length of 18 - 60 × 1 - 3 µm (n=100). These morphological characteristics identify the isolates as Alternaria alternata (Simmons. 2007). Genomic DNA was extracted from a representative isolate YX and re-isolated strain Re-YX by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The primers of ITS1/4, Alt-F/R, GPD-F/R, EF1/2, EPG-F/R (Chen et al. 2022), RPB2-5F/7cR (Liu et al. 1999), and H3-1a/1b (Lousie et al. 1995) were used to amplify the partial internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, Alternaria major allergen (Alt a1), Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF), endo-polygalacturonase (endoPG), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) and Histone 3 (His3), respectively. GenBank accession No of ITS, Alt a1, GAPDH, TEF, endoPG, RPB2, His3 were ON182066, ON160008 to ON160013 for YX and OP559163, OP575313 to OP575318 for Re-YX respectively. Sequence data of Alternaria spp. were downloaded from GenBank and the BLAST analysis showed 99%-100% homology between various A. alternata strains (ITS: MT498268; Alt a1: MF381763; GAPDH: KY814638; TEF: MW981281; endoPG: KJ146866; RPB2: MN649031; His3: MH824346). A phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, Alt a1, GAPDH, TEF, and RPB2 sequences using MEGA7 (Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis) revealed that the isolate YX and Re-YX were clustered in A. alternata clade (Demers M. 2022). For the pathogenicity test, seven-day-old cultures were used to create spores suspensions (5.0 × 105 spores/mL) of each of the three isolates. Ten µL aliquots from each isolate were inoculated onto ten needle-wounded persimmon fruits; ten additional fruits were inoculated with water only to serve as controls. The pathogenicity test was three replications. Fruits were deposited in a climate box at 25°C, 95% relative humidity. Seven days post-inoculation, the wounded fruit treated with spore suspensions displayed black spot symptoms similar to the symptoms on the original fruit. There were no symptoms on the control fruits. The strain Re-YX was re-isolated from the symptomatic tissue of inoculated fruits and its identity confirmed using the morphological and molecular methods previously mentioned, fulfilling Koch's postulates. The persimmon fruit rot caused by A. alternata had been reported in Turkey and Spain (Kurt et al., 2010, Palou et al., 2012). According to our knowledge, this is the first report of black spot disease on persimmon fruits caused by A. alternata in China. The disease could infect persimmon fruits during cold storage, so more control methods should be developed to prevent postharvest disease of persimmon in the future.

CASP8 Is a Potential Therapeutic Target and Is Correlated with Pyroptosis in Traumatic Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of neurological and psychological problems, especially long-term disability. The purpose of this article is to explore molecular mechanisms linking TBI and pyroptosis with the aim of providing a promising target for future therapeutic interventions. METHODS: GSE104687 microarray dataset was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database to obtain differential expressed genes. Meanwhile, pyroptosis-related genes were screened from GeneCards database, and the overlapped genes were considered as the pyroptosis-related genes in TBI. The immune infiltration analysis was conducted to quantify lymphocyte infiltration levels. Moreover, we researched the relevant microRNAs (miRNAs) and transcription factors and investigated the interactions and functions of miRNAs. In addition, the validation set and in vivo experiment further verified the expression of hub gene. RESULTS: Altogether, we found 240 differential expressed genes in GSE104687 and 254 pyroptosis-related genes in the GeneCards database, and the overlapped gene was caspase 8 (CASP8). Immune Infiltration Analysis suggested the abundance of Tregs cells was significantly higher in TBI group. The NKT and CD8+ Tem were positively correlated with the expression levels of CASP8. The most significant term regarding CASP8 in Reactome pathways analysis was related to NF-kappaB. A total of 20 miRNAs and 25 transcription factors associated with CASP8 were obtained. After investigating the interactions and functions of miRNAs, the NF-kappaB-related signaling pathway was still enriched with a relatively low P-value. The validation set and in vivo experiment further verified the expression of CASP8. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed the potential role of CASP8 in pathogenesis of TBI, which may provide a new target for individualized therapy and drug development.

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease on Chamaedorea elegans Caused by Fusarium oxysporum in China.

Chamaedorea elegans, native to Mexico and Guatemala, is a commonly planted indoor and small-scale garden ornamental due to its stately appearance, tolerance of low light levels, and its ability to improve air quality (El-Khateeb et al. 2010). In December 2021, an unknow leaf-spot disease was observed on C. elegans in Ganzhou City of Jiangxi Province, China (25.83 °N, 114.93 °E). The symptoms were small brown spots on the leaves, gradually expanded into irregular dark brown spots with necrotic tissue forming in the center of the lesions (Figure 2 A-1 and A-2). To isolate the pathogen, the diseased leaves were surface sterilized in 75% ethanol for 30 s. Small pieces of tissue (5 × 5 mm) were taken from the margin between diseased and healthy tissue, disinfected 1% NaClO for 45 s, washed three times in sterile water, and then placed on PDA at 25 ± 1°C for 5 days. Later, five isolates were purified from single spores and each of the five isolates has the same properties as described below. The isolates had abundant pale purple flocculent hyphae with purple pigmentation (Figure 2 C-1 and C-2). Macroconidia were falciform, straight or slightly curved, 1-2 septate, 11.75 to 22.99 × 3.06 to 4.44 µm (µ=16.08 µm × 3.37 µm, n=50) (Figure 2 D-1). Microconidia were oval or elliptical, a septate, 4.03 to 9.19 × 1.92 to 3.73 µm (µ=5.88 µm × 2.66 µm, n=50) (Figure 2 D-2). Chlamydospores formed singly or in pairs, and were terminal or intercalary in hyphae (Figure 2 D-3). Based on morphological characteristics, the fungus was preliminarily identified as a Fusarium sp. (Leslie et al. 2006). To confirm the identification, primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), RPB2-5f2/RPB2-7cr (O'Donnell et al. 2010; Liu et al. 1999) and TEF 1-αF/TEF 1-αR (O'Donnell et al. 2000) were used to amplify and sequence apportion of the ITS, RPB2 and TEF (Table 1). The sequences (Genebank accession number: OM780148, OM782679, OM782680) shared 100% idnetity with Fusarium oxysporum (Genebank accession number: MH866024.1, MH484930.1, MH485021.1). The maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis of the concantenated ITS, RPB2 and TEF sequences was performed in MEGA7.0. (Sudhir et al. 2016), assigning the isoaltes to the F. oxysporum species complex (Figure 1). To confirm the pathogenicity, nine pots of healthy 3-year-old C. elegans plants were inoculated in the greenhouse (12 h light/12 h dark cycle, RH 90 %, three for wounded inoculation, three for nonwounded inoculation and three for control). Fifty disinfected leaves were wounded with sterile needles and fifty remained unwounded. The wounded (Figure 2 B-1 and B-2) and unwounded leaves were inoculated with a 10 µL spore suspension (1.0 × 106 conidia/ml) which was taken from each of the five isolates cultured for 7 days. Fifty leaves were mock-inoculated with sterile water (Figure 2 B-3 and B-4). After incubation for 7 days, the wounded leaves inoculated with the spore suspension had similar symptoms to the original diseased leaves, while the unwounded leaves and the control leaves did not develop symptoms. The experiment was repeated three times and the pathogens was reisolated from wound-inoculated leaves with the same morphological characteristics to the original pathogens, and identified as F. oxysporum by morphological and molecular analysis, completing Koch's postulates. F. oxysporum, a pathogen with a broad spectrum of hosts, ranks 5th among the top 10 fungal plant pathogens (Amjad et al. 2018.) and has been reported to Carpinus betulus, Citrullus lanatus, Pinus pinea (Mao et al. 2021; Muhammad et al. 2021; Monther et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot disease on C. elegans caused by F. oxysporum in China. C. elegans is an important ornamental plant in China with high economic value, so the disease has the potential to be a threat to its cultivation industry.

Deep Eutectic Solvent-Mediated Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting.

As green, safe, and cheap solvents, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) provide tremendous opportunities to open up attractive perspectives for electrocatalysis. In this review, the achievement of DESs in the preparation of catalysts for electrolytic water splitting is described in detail according to their roles combined with our own work. DESs are generally employed as green media, templates, and electrolytes. A large number of hydrogen bonds in DESs result in supramolecular structures which have the ability to shape the morphologies of nanomaterials and then tune their performance. DESs can also serve as reactive reagents of metal electrocatalysts through directly participating in synthesis. Compared with conventional heteroatom sources, they have the advantages of high safety and designability. The "all-in-one" transformation strategy is expected to realize 100% atomic transformation of reactants. The aim of this review is to offer readers a deeper understanding on preparing DES-mediated electrocatalysts with higher performance for water splitting.

Exploring the pathogenesis linking traumatic brain injury and epilepsy via bioinformatic analyses.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious disease that could increase the risk of epilepsy. The purpose of this article is to explore the common molecular mechanism in TBI and epilepsy with the aim of providing a theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). Two datasets of TBI and epilepsy in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were downloaded. Functional enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction, and hub gene identification were performed based on the cross-talk genes of aforementioned two diseases. Another dataset was used to validate these hub genes. Moreover, the abundance of infiltrating immune cells was evaluated through Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI). The common microRNAs (miRNAs) between TBI and epilepsy were acquired via the Human microRNA Disease Database (HMDD). The overlapped genes in cross-talk genes and target genes predicted through the TargetScan were obtained to construct the common miRNAs-mRNAs network. A total of 106 cross-talk genes were screened out, including 37 upregulated and 69 downregulated genes. Through the enrichment analyses, we showed that the terms about cytokine and immunity were enriched many times, particularly interferon gamma signaling pathway. Four critical hub genes were screened out for co-expression analysis. The miRNA-mRNA network revealed that three miRNAs may affect the shared interferon-induced genes, which might have essential roles in PTE. Our study showed the potential role of interferon gamma signaling pathway in pathogenesis of PTE, which may provide a promising target for future therapeutic interventions.

First Report of Postharvest Fruit Rot on Citrus reticulata Blanco Caused by Fusarium concentricum in China.

Nanfeng tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is highly regarded for its nutritional and economic value. In January 2022, an unknown fruit rot was observed on Nanfeng tangerine fruits harvested from Nanfeng County (27.22 °N, 116.53 °E), Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province after 70 days in storage (25 °C, 90% relative humidity). The disease mostly started from the pedicel or a wound. Symptoms initiated with dark brown lesions that rapidly expanded between the fruit center and pulp capsule causing total fruit rot. The surface of symptomatic fruit was sterilized with 75% ethanol for 30 s and 2% NaClO for 30 s. Small diseased tissue pieces (2 mm2) between diseased and healthy tissues were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and put in an incubator (25 ± 1 °C) for 3 days. The representative isolate NFMJ-1 was subcultured onto PDA using single-spore purification. Colonies on PDA were light yellow to white, with abundant flocculent aerial hyphae. Microconidia were oval, obovoid to allantoid, 0 septate, occasionally 1 septate, 4.07 to 17.53 × 1.69 to 3.56 µm (average=7.40 µm × 2.55 µm, n=50). Macroconidia were slender, with a beaked apical cell and a foot-shaped basal cell, 3 to 5 septate, 22.99 to 81.12 × 2.34 to 3.81 µm (average=45.04 µm × 3.12 µm, n=50). According to morphological characteristics, the isolate was tentatively identified as Fusarium sp. (Leslie and Summerell 2006). To confirm the identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), beta-tubulin gene (TUB2), and calmodulin gene (CaM) sequences were amplified with primers ITS1/ITS4 (Gardes et al. 1993), TEF1/TEF2 (O'Donnell et al. 2010), RPB2-5f2/RPB2-7cr (Liu et al. 1999), Bt2a/Bt2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995), and CL1C/CL2C (Weir et al. 2012), respectively. The obtained sequences (ON184033, ON212051, ON212052, ON212053, ON212054) showed homology with F. concentricum ITS (MW016417.1; 514/514 bp), TEF (MK609902.1; 667/667 bp), RPB2 (LC631461.1; 941/972 bp), TUB2 (MT942588.1; 331/337 bp), and CaM (MK609916.1; 558/597 bp). A phylogenetic analysis of concatenated ITS-RPB2-TEF sequences was performed by MEGA7.0 with the maximum likelihood and Kimura 2-parameter model, revealing that the isolate was placed in the F. concentricum clade. To confirm pathogenicity, 36 healthy tangerine fruits were surface sterilized with 75% alcohol, then 18 disinfected fruits were wounded with sterile needles and 18 remained unwounded. Half of the wounded and un-wounded fruits were inoculated with 10 µL of a conidial suspension (1.0 × 106 conidia/ml) of isolate NFMJ-1 cultured for 7 days on PDA. Half of the wounded and un-wounded fruits were mock-inoculated with sterile water as controls. After incubation in an incubator (25 ± 1°C, 90% relative humidity) for 7 days, the wounded fruits inoculated with F. concentricum showed similar symptoms to the original diseased fruits, while the mock-inoculated fruits were asymptomatic. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times. The pathogen was re-isolated from the wound-inoculated fruits and identified as F. concentricum by morphological and molecular analysis, completing Koch's postulates. F. concentricum has been reported as a pathogen of Podocarpus macrophyllus (Dong et al. 2022), Capsicum annuum (Wang et al. 2013) and Zea mays (Du et al. 2020) in China. This is the first report of fruit rot caused by F. concentricum on Citrus reticulata in China. Appropriate prevention and control measure of the pathogen need to be developed to preserve marketability of this economically important citrus fruit.

Fabrication of Multifocal Microlens Array by One Step Exposure Process.

Microlenses can be widely used in integrated micro-optical systems. However, in some special applications, such as light field imaging systems, multifocal microlens arrays (MLA) are expected to improve imaging resolution. For the fabrication of multifocal MLA, the traditional fabrication method is no longer applicable. To solve this problem, a fabrication method of multifocal MLA by a one step exposure process is proposed. Through the analyses and research of photoresist AZ9260, the nonlinear relationship between exposure dose and exposure depth is established. In the design of the mask, the mask pattern is corrected according to the nonlinear relationship to obtain the final mask. The continuous surface of the multifocal MLA is fabricated by the mask moving exposure. The experimental results show that the prepared multifocal MLA has high filling factor and surface fidelity. What is more, this method is simple and efficient to use in practical applications.

Integrated Double-Sided Random Microlens Array Used for Laser Beam Homogenization.

Double microlens arrays (MLAs) in series can be used to divide and superpose laser beam so as to achieve a homogenized spot. However, for laser beam homogenization with high coherence, the periodic lattice distribution in the homogenized spot will be generated due to the periodicity of the traditional MLA, which greatly reduces the uniformity of the homogenized spot. To solve this problem, a monolithic and highly integrated double-sided random microlens array (D-rMLA) is proposed for the purpose of achieving laser beam homogenization. The periodicity of the MLA is disturbed by the closely arranged microlens structures with random apertures. And the random speckle field is achieved to improve the uniformity of the homogenized spot by the superposition of the divided sub-beams. In addition, the double-sided exposure technique is proposed to prepare the rMLA on both sides of the same substrate with high precision alignment to form an integrated D-rMLA structure, which avoids the strict alignment problem in the installation process of traditional discrete MLAs. Then the laser beam homogenization experiments have been carried out by using the prepared D-rMLA structure. The laser beam homogenized spots of different wavelengths have been tested, including the wavelengths of 650 nm (R), 532 nm (G), and 405 nm (B). The experimental results show that the uniformity of the RGB homogenized spots is about 91%, 89%, and 90%. And the energy utilization rate is about 89%, 87%, 86%, respectively. Hence, the prepared structure has high laser beam homogenization ability and energy utilization rate, which is suitable for wide wavelength regime.

Transcriptome sequencing revealed the mechanism of promoting floret opening by exogenous methyl jasmonate in sorghum.

Flowering time is a critical trait reflecting the adaptation of plants to their environments. Our initial research has shown that exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) significantly promoted the floret opening of sorghum. To better understand the mechanism of this phenomenon in sorghum, the comparative transcriptome analysis was performed. Transcriptomic analysis showed that the most number of differentially expressed genes was presented between control plants and plants treated with 2.0 mM exogenous MeJA in 2.5 h. A large number of differentially expressed genes were assigned to the subcategory of carbohydrate metabolism and lipid metabolism. The transcriptomic analysis of differentially expressed genes involved in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and tricarboxylic acid cycle indicated a close relationship between carbohydrates metabolism and flowering. In addition, potassium uptake proteins and aquaporins also played important role in response to the exogenous MeJA in the flowering process. These results provide insights into the effect of MeJA on flowering time and explore the possible molecular mechanism of advancing the flowering period by spraying MeJA. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-02743-6.

Transcriptome analysis of the impact of exogenous methyl jasmonate on the opening of sorghum florets.

BACKGROUND: Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA) could promote the opening of sorghum florets, but the molecular mechanism remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of exogenous MeJA in promoting the opening of sorghum florets. METHODS: Hybrid sorghum Aikang-8 was selected as the test material in this study. Sorghum plants of uniform growth with approximately 20%-25% florets open were selected and treated with 0, 0.5 and 2.0 mmol/L of MeJA. Totally there were 27 samples with lodicules removed were obtained at different time points and used for the transcriptome analysis using the BGISEQ_500RS platform. RESULTS: The results showed the sorghum florets opened earlier than the control after the treatment with exogenous MeJA, and the promotive effect increased along with the increase of exogenous MeJA concentration. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in plasma cells increased with the increase of MeJA concentration, whether up- or down-regulated, after the exogenous MeJA treatment. Besides, the number of metabolic pathways was also positively correlated with the concentration of MeJA. GO and KEGG analysis suggested the DEGs were mainly enriched in starch and sucrose metabolism-related pathways (i.e., LOC8063704, LOC8083539 and LOC8056206), plant hormone signal transduction pathways (i.e., LOC8084842, LOC8072010, and LOC8057408), energy metabolic pathway (i.e., LOC8076139) and the α-linolenic acid metabolic pathway (i.e., LOC8055636, LOC8057399, LOC8063048 and LOC110430730). Functional analysis of target genes showed that two genes named LOC-1 (LOC8063704) and LOC-2 (LOC8076139) could induce the earlier flowering of Arabidopsis thaliana. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that exogenous MeJA treatments could induce the up- or down- regulation of genes related to starch and sucrose metabolism, -linolenic acid metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction pathways in the plasma cells of sorghum florets, thereby promoting the opening of sorghum florets.

Fabrication of Random Microlens Array for Laser Beam Homogenization with High Efficiency.

The miniaturized and integrated microlens array (MLA) can effectively achieve the beam homogenization, compactness and miniaturization of laser systems. When the high-coherence laser beam is homogenized by means of using the MLA, interference fringes will occur in the homogenized light spot due to the periodicity of the MLA, which seriously affects the uniformity of the homogenized light spot. To solve this problem, a novel random microlens array (rMLA) structure was proposed for the purpose of achieving beam homogenization. The coherence in the homogenization process is suppressed by means of breaking the periodicity of the MLA. The homogenized light spot with a high energy utilization is then obtained accordingly. In the fabrication process, a clever method of combining chemical etching with lithography technology is performed to fabricate a honeycomb rMLA and a rectangular rMLA. The experimental results show that the energy utilization rate of the two types of the rMLAs is about 90%, and the uniformity of the homogenized light spots generated by the honeycomb rMLA and the rectangular rMLA are more than 80% and 85%, respectively. Meanwhile, fully cost-effective fabrication is possible to be realized.

Effect of exogenous methyl jasmonate treatment on disease resistance of postharvest kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv. Jinkui) were treated with 0.1 mmol/L methyl jasmonate (MeJA) to investigate the effects on disease resistance to soft rot caused by Botryosphaeria dothidea. The results showed that MeJA treatment significantly reduced the diameter of lesions after inoculation with B. dothidea. This treatment significantly enhanced the activities of related antioxidant protective enzymes, defence-related enzymes including catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), chitinase (CHI), ß-1,3 glucanase (GLU) and increased the accumulation of total phenolic content, while the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation was reduced. MeJA treatment effectively enhanced gene expression of AcPOD, AcSOD, AcCHI and AcGLU. The results from this research suggest that MeJA treatment is a promising and safe strategy for controlling postharvest rot soft of kiwifruit.

Identification and Expression Analysis of Gretchen Hagen 3 (GH3) in Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) During Postharvest Process.

In plants, the Gretchen GH3 (GH3) protein is involved in free auxin (IAA) and amino acid conjugation, thus controlling auxin homeostasis. To date, many GH3 gene families have been identified from different plant species. However, the GH3 gene family in kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) has not been reported. In this study, 12 AcGH3 genes were identified, phylogenetic analysis of AtGH3 (Arabidopsis), SlGH3 (Solanum lycopersicum), and AcGH3 provided insights into various orthologous relationships among these proteins, which were categorized into three groups. Expression analysis of AcGH3 genes at different postharvest stages suggested limited or no role for most of the AcGH3 genes at the initiation of fruit ripening. AcGH3.1 was the only gene exhibiting ripening-associated expression. Further study showed that the expression of AcGH3.1 gene was induced by NAA (1-naphthylacetic acid, auxin analogue) and inhibited by 1-MCP (1-methylcyclopropene, ethylene receptor inhibitor), respectively. AcGH3.1 gene silencing inhibited gene expression and delayed fruit softening in kiwifruit. The results indicate that AcGH3.1 may play an important role in the softening process of fruits. Analysis of the AcGH3.1 promoter revealed the presence of many cis-elements related to hormones, light, and drought. The determination of GUS (ß-Galactosidase) enzyme activity revealed that promoter activity increased strikingly upon abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene, or NAA treatment, and significantly decreased with salicylic acid (SA) treatment. The present study could help in the identification of GH3 genes and revelation of AcGH3.1 gene function during postharvest stages, which pave the way for further functional verification of the AcGH3.1 gene.

Transmit-Array, Metasurface-Based Tunable Polarizer and High-Performance Biosensor in the Visible Regime.

There are two types of metasurfaces, reflect-array and transmit-array,-which are classified on the basis of structural features. In this paper, we design a transmit-array metasurface for y-polarized incidence which is characterized by having a transmission spectrum with a narrow dip (i.e., less than 3 nm). Furthermore, a tunable polarizer is achieved using linear geometric configurations, realizing a transmittivity ratio between x- and y-polarized incidence ranging from 0.031% to 1%. Based on the narrow-band polarization sensitivity of our polarizer, a biosensor was designed to detect an environmental refractive index ranging from 1.30 to 1.39, with a factor of sensitivity S = 192 nm/RIU and figure of merit (FOM) = 64/RIU. In the case of a narrow-band feature and dips in transmission spectrums close to zero, FOM* can have a value as large as 92,333/RIU. This unique feature makes the novel transmit-array metasurface a potential market candidate in the field of biosensors. Moreover, transmit-array metasurfaces with lossless materials offer great convenience by means of detecting either the reflectance spectrum or the transmission spectrum.

Monitoring tetracycline through a solid-state nanopore sensor.

Antibiotics as emerging environmental contaminants, are widely used in both human and veterinary medicines. A solid-state nanopore sensing method is reported in this article to detect Tetracycline, which is based on Tet-off and Tet-on systems. rtTA (reverse tetracycline-controlled trans-activator) and TRE (Tetracycline Responsive Element) could bind each other under the action of Tetracycline to form one complex. When the complex passes through nanopores with 8 ~ 9 nanometers in diameter, we could detect the concentrations of Tet from 2 ng/mL to 2000 ng/mL. According to the Logistic model, we could define three growth zones of Tetracycline for rtTA and TRE. The slow growth zone is 0-39.5 ng/mL. The rapid growth zone is 39.5-529.7 ng/mL. The saturated zone is > 529.7 ng/mL. Compared to the previous methods, the nanopore sensor could detect and quantify these different kinds of molecule at the single-molecule level.

Near-field visualization of plasmonic lenses: an overall analysis of characterization errors.

Many factors influence the near-field visualization of plasmonic structures that are based on perforated elliptical slits. Here, characterization errors are experimentally analyzed in detail from both fabrication and measurement points of view. Some issues such as geometrical parameter, probe-sample surface interaction, misalignment, stigmation, and internal stress, have influence on the final near-field probing results. In comparison to the theoretical ideal case of near-field probing of the structures, numerical calculation is carried out on the basis of a finite-difference and time-domain (FDTD) algorithm so as to support the error analyses. The analyses performed on the basis of both theoretical calculation and experimental probing can provide a helpful reference for the researchers probing their plasmonic structures and nanophotonic devices.

Moiré interferometry with high alignment resolution in proximity lithographic process.

Moiré interferometry is widely used as the precise metrology in many science and engineering fields. The schemes of moirés-based interferometry adopting diffraction gratings are presented in this paper for applications in a proximity lithographic system such as wafer-mask alignment, the in-plane twist angle adjustment, and tilts remediation. For the sake of adjustment of lateral offset as well as the tilt and in-plane twist angle, schemes of the (m,-m) and (m,0) moiré interferometry are explored, respectively. Fundamental derivation of the moiré interferometry and schemes for related applications are provided. Three pairs of gratings with close periods are fabricated to form the composite grating. And experiments are performed to confirm the moiré interferometry for related applications in our proximity lithographic system. Experimental results indicate that unaligned lateral offset is detectable with resolution at the nanometer level, and the tilt and in-plane twist angle between wafer and mask could be manually decreased down to the scope of 10(-3) and 10(-4) rad, respectively.

The Talbot effect of plasmonic nanolenses.

The Talbot effect of an Ag nanolens with five periodic concentric rings that are illuminated by the radially polarized light was numerically studied by means of rigorous finite-difference and time-domain (FDTD) algorithm. It was found that the Talbot effect occurs only when the incident wavelength is at the scale of less than half of period of the grating structures of the nanolenses. Specifically, in this work, the nanolenses with a 500 nm period grating structures has five focal points due to Talbot effect for the incident wavelength of λ = 248 nm. The diameter of the first focal spot after the exit plane in free space is 100 nm. In contrast, we analyzed the corresponding focal points on the basis of Talbot self-imaging by scalar diffraction theory. It was found that the scalar Talbot effect cannot interpret the Talbot effect phenomenon for the metallic nanolenses. It may attribute to the paraxial approximation applied in the Talbot effect theory in far-field region. However, the approximation does not hold in our nanolenses structures during the light propagation. In addition, the Talbot effect appears at the short-wavelength regime only, especially in the ultraviolet wavelength region.

Experimental investigation of superfocusing of plasmonic lens with chirped circular nanoslits.

A plasmonic lens with metallic chirped circular nanoslits corrugated on Au film supported on quartz substrate for the purpose of superfocusing was put forth and fabricated by means of focused ion beam direct milling technique. Topography of the lens was imaged using an atomic force microscope. After that a near-field scanning optical microscope was employed for optical characterization of focusing performance of the lens. Our experimental results verify the focusing performance and further demonstrate that they are in agreement with the theoretical calculation results. Focusing performance is significantly improved in comparison to that of the non-chirped lens. The lenses are possible to be used for the applications of bioimaging, detection, and inspection in submicron scale resolution.