Improving wheat seedling quality through deep ploughing and soil compaction at sowing in lime concretion black soil.

The straw incorporation in lime concretion black soil compromises the emergence and quality of winter wheat seedlings in Huaibei Plain, China, lowering the potential of wheat productivity. To overcome the disadvantage, a two-year field experiment was conducted in 2017-18 and 2018-19 to investigate the effects of different tillage modes on seedling emergence and subsequent seedling growth, and final grain yield (GY) in winter wheat. The modes are rotary tillage with compaction after sowing (RCT), rotary tillage after deep ploughing (PT) and rotary tillage after deep ploughing with compaction after sowing (PCT), with the traditional rotary tillage (RT) method as the control. Compared to RT, greater soil moisture content (SMC) at the seedling stage was observed in deep ploughing or compaction treatment, and the highest SMC was achieved in PCT; the time of reaching the maximum number of seedlings was 1 d sooner in RCT or PT, and 3 d in PCT; the seedling number in RCT, PT and PCT was significantly increased by 32.6%, 34.5% and 61.5% respectively. The population size, shoot and root growth of winter wheat in ploughing mode was significantly enhanced than that of rotary treatment at the over-wintering stage; compared to no compaction after sowing, plant growth in compaction treatments was significantly promoted with greater plant population size and height of seedlings. At harvest, GY in RCT, PT and PCT was significantly improved by 5.87%, 10.8% and 16.4%, respectively, compared to RT and the highest GY was achieved in PCT by up to 8, 350.1 kg ha-1 due to the increased spike number. In conclusion, the seedling quality in the straw incorporation practice was improved through rotary after deep ploughing and compaction after sowing for lime concretion black soil in Huaibei Plain, China or a similar soil type.

Identification of exosomal mRNA, lncRNA and circRNA signatures in an osteoarthritis synovial fluid-exosomal study.

AIMS: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease that is pathologically characterized by destruction of the joint matrix and reduction of articular chondrocytes, resulting in joint deformity and motor dysfunction. However, the molecular mechanisms governing this pathology have not been elucidated to date. METHODS: In this study, we determined the expression levels of lncRNAs, circRNAs, and mRNAs extracted from synovial exosomes of OA and control patients. A network of circRNA/lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA interactions was established using MiRanda and TargetScan software to explore OA pathogenesis. The exosomal lncRNA, circRNA and mRNA expression profiles of the OA and control groups were analysed using LC human competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) microarrays. The differentially expressed genes were analysed to determine their potential roles in the pathogenesis of OA by bioinformatic analysis. RESULTS: There were 52 mRNAs, 196 lncRNAs and 98 circRNAs differentially expressed in synovial exosomes between osteoarthritis synovial and the control group. The final ceRNA network of lncRNAs and circRNAs exhibited a complex interaction between ncRNA and mRNA related to OA pathological mechanisms. An intersection analysis of the ceRNA network showed that 22 miRNAs, 45 lncRNAs, and 34 circRNAs enriched in the PI3K/Akt and autophagy pathways correlated with 7 mRNAs and may play important roles in OA pathological mechanisms. CONCLUSION: Our work analysed mRNA/lncRNA/circRNA expression and displayed the ceRNA network of lncRNAs and circRNAs to profile the pathogenesis of OA in synovial exosomes. The results of this study may help to elucidate the pathogenesis of OA and may provide important references for further research attempting to identify more effective targets for the diagnosis and therapy of OA.

[Spatial variability and evaluation of soil heavy metal contamination in the urban-transect of Shanghai].

Soil heavy metal concentrations along the typical urban-transect in Shanghai were analyzed to indicate the effect of urbanization and industrialization on soil environment quality. Spatial variation structure and distribution of 5 heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Mn, Pb and Zn) in the top soil of urban-transect were analyzed. The single pollution index and the composite pollution index were used to evaluate the soil heavy metal pollution. The results showed that the average concentrations of the Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Mn were 27.80, 28.86, 99.36, 87.72, 556.97 mg x kg(-1), respectively. Cu, Cr, Mn, Pb and Zn were medium in variability, Mn was distributed lognormally, while Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn were distributed normally. The results of semivariance analysis showed that Mn was fit for the exponential model, Cr, Pb, Cu and Zn were fit for the linear model. The spatial distribution maps of heavy metal content of the topsoil in this city-transect were produced by means of the universal kriging interpolation. Cu was spatially distributed in ribbon, Cr and Mn were distributed in island, while the spatial distribution of Pb and Zn showed the mixed characteristic of ribbon and island. With the result of soil pollution evaluation, it showed that the pollution of Cr, Zn and Pb was relatively severe. Cr, Zn, Pb, Mn and Cu were significantly correlated, and heavy metal co-contamination existed in soil. Difference of soil heavy metals pollution along "Urban-suburban-rural" was obvious, the special variation of heavy metal concentrations in the soil closely related to the degree of industrialization and urbanization of the city.