Designing Zero-Dimensional Cadmium-Based Organic-Inorganic Hybrids: The Role of Halogen Doping in Modulating Multifunctional Properties.

Advances in materials science are increasingly dependent on the development of multifunctional materials capable of improving system efficiency and reducing the environmental impact. In this study, two zero-dimensional (0D) cadmium-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials (BEMPD)2CdBr4 (BEMPD-Br, 1) and (BEMPD)2CdBr2Cl2 (BEMPD-ClBr, 2) (BEMPD = 1-(2-bromoethyl)-1-methylpiperidine) were prepared by halogen doping. Compound 2 is a mixed halide in which there are two halogen sites, Cl and Br, and in a disordered state, which has a regulatory effect on the structural distortion and properties of the compound. The Curie temperatures of compounds 1 and 2 are 348 and 390 K, respectively, and the UV-vis absorption spectra showed that the direct band gaps of compounds 1 and 2 were 4.68 and 4.8 eV, respectively. In addition, room-temperature photoluminescence experiments show broadband emission peaks at 717 and 683 nm for compounds 1 and 2, respectively, with fluorescence lifetimes of 2.414 and 3.915 µs. These 0D hybrids provide an avenue for the development of smart materials and optoelectronic devices, and also provide positive clues for manipulating the properties of organic-inorganic hybrid compounds.

Comparison of genomic prediction methods for early growth traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats based on multi trait models.

Inner Mongolia cashmere goat is an excellent livestock breed formed through long-term natural selection and artificial breeding, and is currently a world-class dual-purpose breed producing cashmere and meat. Multi trait animal model is considered to significantly improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation in livestock and poultry, enabling indirect selection between traits. In this study, the pedigree, genotype, environment, and phenotypic records of early growth traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats were used to build multi trait animal model., Then three methods including ABLUP, GBLUP, and ssGBLUP wereused to estimate the genetic parameters and genomic breeding values of early growth traits (birth weight, weaning weight, average daily weight gain before weaning, and yearling weight). The accuracy and reliability of genomic estimated breeding value are further evaluated using the five fold cross validation method. The results showed that the heritability of birth weight estimated by three methods was 0.13-0.15, the heritability of weaning weight was 0.13-0.20, heritability of daily weight gain before weaning was 0.11-0.14, and the heritability of yearling weight was 0.09-0.14, all of which belonged to moderate to low heritability. There is a strong positive genetic correlation between weaning weight and daily weight gain before weaning, daily weight gain before weaning and yearling weight, with correlation coefficients of 0.77-0.79 and 0.56-0.67, respectively. The same pattern was found in phenotype correlation among traits. The accuracy of the estimated breeding values by ABLUP, GBLUP, and ssGBLUP methods for birth weight is 0.5047, 0.6694, and 0.7156, respectively; the weaning weight is 0.6207, 0.6456, and 0.7254, respectively; the daily weight gain before weaning was 0.6110, 0.6855, and 0.7357 respectively; and the yearling weight was 0.6209, 0.7155, and 0.7756, respectively. In summary, the early growth traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats belong to moderate to low heritability, and the speed of genetic improvement is relatively slow. The genetic improvement of other growth traits can be achieved through the selection of weaning weight. The ssGBLUP method has the highest accuracy and reliability in estimating genomic breeding value of early growth traits in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats, and is significantly higher than that from ABLUP method, indicating that it is the best method for genomic breeding of early growth weight in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats.

Investigating the Structure-property Relationships of Two Cd-based Hybrid Multifunctional Compounds with High Tc, Bright Fluorescence and Wide Band-gap.

Organic-inorganic hybrid multifunctional materials have shown significant application in lighting and sensor fields, owing to their prominent performance and diversity structures. Herein, we synthesized two multifunctional compounds: (propyl-quinuclidone)2 CdBr4 (1) and (F-butyl-quinuclidone)2 CdBr4 (2). By introducing light-emitting organic cation with flexible long chain, 1 and 2 exhibit excellent transition properties and bright blue-white fluorescence. Then, combine fluorescence lifetime and first-principal calculation, providing evidence for the electron transfer emission. Subsequently, investigated the impact of substituent carbon chain length (methyl to butyl), structural rigidity (C-C to C-F) and halide framework (Cl to I) on the fluorescence properties. Results indicate that Cd⋅⋅⋅Cd distance and structural rigidity play an important role in fluorescence. Overall, our research provides valuable insight and example for chemical modifications enhance compound performance.

Study on the mechanism of action of effective monomeric, berberine of Xianglian Pill in inhibiting human colon cancer cells based on fatty acid synthase target.

Background and aim: Xianglian Wan (XLW) as a classic prescription of traditional Chinese medicine protects digestive function; however, few studies have investigated its anti-colorectal cancer effects. This study verified that the effective monomer berberine of XLW plays an antitumo r role by regulating the acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC)/fatty acid synthase (FASN) lipid metabolism-related signaling pathway. Experimental procedure: The connection between XLW and FASN was identified through literature mining, bioinformatics and structural biology. In vivo experiments verified the rationality of the antitumor effect of berberine by regulating the ACC/FASN pathway, and in vitro experiments verified the regulatory relationship between berberine and FASN. Results and conclusion: The most frequent Chinese medicine component in XLW was Coptis chinensis. Berberine, the active ingredient of XLW, has a FASN binding site. FASN expression is higher in tumor tissues than in normal tissues. FASN is related to colorectal adenocarcinoma occurrence and patient survival time. Experiments showed that XLW, berberine and orlistat (FASN inhibitor) can cooperate with palmitic acid (PA) to inhibit tumors in mice. Berberine can downregulate FASN and ACC expression in tumor tissues and inhibit the increase in acetyl-CoA, the intermediate product of exogenous PA intake. The mechanism by which berberine inhibits colon cancer cell proliferation by lowering lipids is related to its downregulation of FASN protein expression. The ACC/FASN signaling pathway is a critical pathway through which berberine, the effective monomer of XLW, plays an antitumor role in colon cancer.

Beneficial and biocontrol effects of Trichoderma atroviride, a dominant species in white birch rhizosphere soil.

White birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.) is a typical pioneer tree species that is important in forest restoration in northern China, Japan, and Korea. In the present study, 37 isolates were obtained from B. platyphylla rhizosphere soils in Heilongjiang Province; they were identified as T. pleuroticola (3 isolates), T. virens (2 isolates), T. hamatum (8 isolates), T. atroviride (21 isolates, dominant species) and T. asperelloides (3 isolates). Stress tolerance tests (salt, alkali, and nutritional stress that simulated saline alkali or barren soil) and confrontation assays (with four pathogens) were performed to determine which isolates had good biocontrol ability in barren soil; the results show that T. atroviride was outstanding. Then, in order to determine the effect of T. atroviride on plants and soil, Gynura cusimbua seeds were sown and treated with a T. atroviride spore suspension, as was unsown soil. The seedlings treated using T. atroviride had significantly greater height, stem diameter, soluble protein content, soluble sugar content, and malonaldehyde (MDA) content and their catalase (CAT) activity was also significantly increased. In addition, when the plants were inoculated with Alternaria alternata, the plants treated using T. atroviride had stronger CAT activity, significantly higher soluble protein content and soluble sugar content, and significantly lower MDA content, which indicates stronger resistance and less injury caused by the pathogen. In addition, T. atroviride not only increased the content of available nitrogen and available phosphorus in the soil, but also promoted G. cusimbua seedlings' absorption of available nitrogen and available phosphorus. Thus, the characteristics of T. atroviride may make it the main factor that helps B. platyphylla colonise cut-over lands. T. atroviride, a promising biocontrol candidate, can be used in agriculture and forestry.

Analysis of the Properties of 44 ABC Transporter Genes from Biocontrol Agent Trichoderma asperellum ACCC30536 and Their Responses to Pathogenic Alternaria alternata Toxin Stress.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are involved in transporting multiple substrates, such as toxins, and may be important for the survival of Trichoderma when encountering biotic toxins. In this study, genome searching revealed that there are 44 ABC transporters encoded in the genome of Trichoderma asperellum. These ABC transporters were divided into six types based on three-dimensional (3D) structure prediction, of which four, represented by 39 ABCs, are involved in transport and the remaining two, represented by 5 ABCs, are involved in regulating translation. The characteristics of nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) are important in the identification of ABC proteins. Even though the 3D structures of the 79 NBDs in the 44 ABCs are similar, multiple sequence alignment showed they can be divided into three classes. In total, 794 motifs were found in the promoter regions of the 44 ABC genes, of which 541 were cis-regulators related to stress responses. To characterize how their ABCs respond when T. asperellum interact with fungi or plants, T. asperellum was cultivated in either minimal media (MM) control, C-hungry, N-hungry, or poplar medium (PdPap) to simulate normal conditions, competition with pathogens, interaction with pathogens, and interaction with plants, respectively. The results show that 17 of 39 transport ABCs are highly expressed in at least one condition, whereas four of the five translation-regulating ABCs are highly expressed in at least one condition. Of these 21 highly expressed ABCs, 6 were chosen for RT-qPCR expression under the toxin stress of phytopathogen Alternaria alternata, and the results show ABC01, ABC04, ABC05, and ABC31 were highly expressed and may be involved in pathogen interaction and detoxifying toxins from A. alternata.

Detection of all isoforms of human leukocyte antigen G in maternal serum could be clinically applied for prediction of preeclampsa.

OBJECTIVE: Previously, a number of previous studies on human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) and preeclampsia (PE) have demonstrated that expression of HLA-G is significantly reduced in women with PE. However, no study has confirmed whether maternal serum HLA-G could be used as a clinical test when HLA-G1/-G5 isoforms were measured. Therefore, the present study is to develop a novel HLA-G ELISA which is able to detect all isoforms of HLA-G and then to perform a retrospective case-control study to investigate clinical significance of maternal serum HLA-G for predicting PE. METHODS: A recombinant HLA-G fragment which containing partial sequences of HLA-G α1 and α2 domains was constructed to develop two novel monoclonal antibodies against HLA-G. A novel HLA-G sandwich ELISA which could detect all isoforms of HLA-G was developed. By using the ELISA, predictive effectiveness of maternal serum HLA-G in a retrospective case control study was evaluated. RESULTS: At the first trimester and early second trimester, detection of maternal serum HLA-G had the sensitivity of 54.3% and 48.5% and the specificity of 97.8% and 96.3% in the prediction of PE. These were significantly higher than those at the third trimester (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: HLA-G isoforms other than HLA-G1/-G5 are expressed in some pregnant women who have low level or lack HLA-G1/-G5. Measurement of all HLA-G isoforms in maternal serum could be used as a clinical test for early prediction of PE.

Golgi anti-apoptotic proteins redundantly counteract cell death by inhibiting production of reactive oxygen species under endoplasmic reticulum stress.

Maintaining proteostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is critical for cell viability and plant survival under adverse conditions. The unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways interact with reactive oxygen species (ROS) to precisely trigger adaptive outputs or cell death under ER stress with varying degrees. However, little information is known about the relationship between UPR signalling and ROS regulation. Here, Arabidopsis GOLGI ANTI-APOPTOTIC PROTEIN1 (GAAP1)-GAAP4 were found to play redundant positive roles under ER stress. Genetic analysis showed that GAAP4 played a role in INOSITOL-REQUIRING ENZYME (IRE1)-dependent and -independent pathways. In addition, GAAPs played negative roles to activate the adaptive UPR under conditions of stress. Quantitative biochemical analysis showed that mutations in GAAP genes decreased the oxidised glutathione content and altered the pattern of ROS and glutathione in early ER stress. When plants were challenged with unmitigated ER stress, mutations in GAAP advanced ROS accumulation, which was associated with a decline in adaptive UPR. These data indicated that GAAPs resist cell death by regulating glutathione content to inhibit ROS accumulation and maintain UPR during ER stress. They provide a basis for further analysis of the regulation of cell fate decision under ER stress.

Most dominant roles of insect gut bacteria: digestion, detoxification, or essential nutrient provision?

BACKGROUND: The insect gut microbiota has been shown to contribute to the host's digestion, detoxification, development, pathogen resistance, and physiology. However, there is poor information about the ranking of these roles. Most of these results were obtained with cultivable bacteria, whereas the bacterial physiology may be different between free-living and midgut-colonizing bacteria. In this study, we provided both proteomic and genomic evidence on the ranking of the roles of gut bacteria by investigating the anal droplets from a weevil, Cryptorhynchus lapathi. RESULTS: The gut lumen and the anal droplets showed qualitatively and quantitatively different subsets of bacterial communities. The results of 16S rRNA sequencing showed that the gut lumen is dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, whereas the anal droplets are dominated by Proteobacteria. From the anal droplets, enzymes involved in 31 basic roles that belong to 7 super roles were identified by Q-TOF MS. The cooperation between the weevil and its gut bacteria was determined by reconstructing community pathway maps, which are defined in this study. A score was used to rank the gut bacterial roles. The results from the proteomic data indicate that the most dominant role of gut bacteria is amino acid biosynthesis, followed by protein digestion, energy metabolism, vitamin biosynthesis, lipid digestion, plant secondary metabolite (PSM) degradation, and carbohydrate digestion, while the order from the genomic data is amino acid biosynthesis, vitamin biosynthesis, lipid digestion, energy metabolism, protein digestion, PSM degradation, and carbohydrate digestion. The PCA results showed that the gut bacteria form functional groups from the point of view of either the basic role or super role, and the MFA results showed that there are functional variations among gut bacteria. In addition, the variations between the proteomic and genomic data, analyzed with the HMFA method from the point of view of either the bacterial community or individual bacterial species, are presented. CONCLUSION: The most dominant role of gut bacteria is essential nutrient provisioning, followed by digestion and detoxification. The weevil plays a pioneering role in diet digestion and mainly digests macromolecules into smaller molecules which are then mainly digested by gut bacteria.

[Progress in goat genome studies].

The goat genome is the research basis for the protection and utilization of goat resources, which is important for breeding and improving goat breeds. At present, with the continuous improvement of goat reference genome, various important research progress in goat origin, evolution and adaptability has been achieved. In this review, we summarize the research progress in the goat genome in detail, encompassing goat genome structure, genome map (genetic, physical and comparative maps), goat high throughput sequencing and SNP chip development. We aim to provide a theoretical foundation for the development of goat genome selection.