First report of Alternaria alternata causing leaf yellow spot on Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) in Laifeng, China.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is a highly important commercial crop in China, which is widely cultivated for its medicinal and nutritional qualities. Fengtou ginger is a variety mainly grown in Central China. From June to September of 2021, leaf yellow spot symptoms were observed on ginger plants var. Fengtou in commercial fields, localized in Laifeng county (29.37゜N, 109.31゜E), Hubei Province, China. Early symptoms were small yellow spots (approximately 0.2 cm) on leaves, but these spots gradually expanded, and the middle turn brown. The incidence of yellow spot on plants was 15% to 35%. To identify the causal agent of the disease, 15 symptomatic leaves were collected on from plants in the field. From each ginger leaf, small fragments (2 to 4 mm) were cut from the margin of the lesions and surface disinfected with 75% ethanol and 2% sodium hypochlorite for 30 s and 60 s, respectively, and rinsed three times with sterile water (Zhong et al. 2022). The disinfected small fragments were placed on Rose Bengal Agar medium at 25 ℃. After 3 to 5 days of incubation, a total of 11 isolates from leaf samples were obtained, of which 8 showed a radial mycelial growth that was grayish and then darkened. Conidiophores were brown and branched. Conidia were multicellular, obclavate to obpyriform within 9.1-22.6 µm (average 14.3 µm) in length and 6.0-13.5 µm (average 7.9 µm) in width (n=30). The isolates were identified as Alternaria sp. according to their morphological characteristics (Simmons 2007). For further molecular identification, genomic DNAs of two representative isolates (isolate 1 and isolate 4) were extracted and amplificated using a set of primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), RPB2-5F/RPB2-7R (Liu et al. 1999) and gpd1/gpd2 (Berbee et al. 1999), for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-rDNA region, partial RNA polymerase II largest subunit (RPB2), and Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (GADPH), respectively. The sequences were submitted to GenBank with submission Nos. OM701795 and OM701794 for ITS-rDNA; OM864662 and OM864663 for RPB2; OM864664 and OM864665 for the GADPH gene. A BLAST analysis in GenBank showed 100% identity with A. alternata for ITS (GenBank No. MN907440), RPB2 (GenBank No. KP057228) and GADPH (GenBank No. MK637444), respectively. A pathogenicity test was performed on potted healthy plants of ginger var. Fengtou of 2.5-month-old in a greenhouse. A total of five plants were sprayed with a conidial suspension (105 spores/mL) of each isolate on leaves until runoff (3 to 5 ml per plant) occurred. Five plants were sprayed with sterile water. The plants were grown in a greenhouse at 25 ℃. Eight days after inoculation, the symptoms similar to diseased leaves in the field appeared on the inoculated leaves, while the controls remained healthy. The fugus re-isolated from infected tissues was morphologically and molecularly identical to the original isolates of A. alternata, which fulfill the Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. alternata causing yellow spot on ginger in China. The work will be beneficial to develop effective management methods for preventing and treating this disease and avoid yield and economic loss of ginger in China.

Bullying behaviors and subjective well-being of left-behind students in Bijie City / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the status and relationship between bullying behaviors and subjective well-being among left-behind students in Bijie,and to provide reference for the governments to support the development of policies and intervention.@*Methods@#A total of 735 left-behind students were investigated on the spot with the Olweus Bully Questionnaire and Adolescent Subjective Well-being Scale.@*Results@#Among the 735 left-behind students, 28.71% were found of participating in behaviors of bullying. More boys involved behaviors of bullying (bullies,victims and bully-victims) others than the girls(χ2=25.93, P<0.05), Bullying was more likely to be reported among children with poor peer relations(χ2=12.46, P<0.05). Total scores of the feelings of friendship，family，freedom,negative emotion and life differed significantly among different bullying roles(F=12.76, 2.86, 3.30, 5.98, 4.72, P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that there were many factors affecting the subjective well-being of these students, such as bullying behaviors, relationship with their classmates, academic record, the frequency which they contacted with parents(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Bullying is highly prevalent among left-behind children in Bijie. Effective prevention and control mechanisms should be established at the social, school and family levels to reduce the occurrence of bullying. Attention should be paid to the psychological and behavioral dynamics of left-behind middle school students, so as to improve their happiness.

Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus vallismortis NBIF-001, a Novel Strain from Shangri-La, China, That Has High Activity against Fusarium oxysporum.

Bacillus vallismortis NBIF-001, a Gram-positive bacterium, was isolated from soil in Shangri-La, China. Here, we provide the complete genome sequence of this bacterium, which has a 3,929,787-bp-long genome, including 4,030 protein-coding genes and 195 RNA genes. This strain possesses a number of genes encoding virulence factors of pathogens.

The Genome Sequence of Alcaligenes faecalis NBIB-017 Contains Genes with Potentially High Activities against Erwinia carotovora.

Alcaligenes faecalisNBIB-017, a Gram-negative bacterium, was isolated from soil in China. Here, we provide the complete genome sequence of this bacterium, which possesses a high number of genes encoding antibacterial factors, including proteins and small molecular peptides.

Draft genome sequence of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens HB-26.

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens HB-26, a Gram-positive bacterium was isolated from soil in China. SDS-PAGE analysis showed this strain secreted six major protein bands of 65, 60, 55, 34, 25 and 20 kDa. A bioassay of this strain reveals that it shows specific activity against P. brassicae and nematode. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the draft genome sequence and annotation. The 3,989,358 bp long genome (39 contigs) contains 4,001 protein-coding genes and 80 RNA genes.