Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the Xyloglucan Endotransglucosylase/Hydrolase Gene Family in Sweet Potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam].

The xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XET/XEH, also named XTH) family is a multigene family, the function of which plays a significant role in cell-wall rebuilding and stress tolerance in plants. However, the specific traits of the XTH gene family members and their expression pattern in different tissues and under stress have not been carried out in sweet potato. Thirty-six XTH genes were identified in I. batatas, all of which had conserved structures (Glyco_hydro_16). Based on Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic analysis the IbXTHs can be divided into three subfamilies-the I/II, IIIA, and IIIB subfamilies, which were unevenly distributed on 13 chromosomes, with the exception of Chr9 and Chr15. Multiple cis-acting regions related to growth and development, as well as stress responses, may be found in the IbXTH gene promoters. The segmental duplication occurrences greatly aided the evolution of IbXTHs. The results of a collinearity analysis showed that the XTH genes of sweet potato shared evolutionary history with three additional species, including A. thaliana, G. max, and O. sativa. Additionally, based on the transcriptome sequencing data, the results revealed that the IbXTHs have different expression patterns in leaves, stems, the root body (RB), the distal end (DE), the root stock (RS), the proximal end (PE), the initiative storage root (ISR), and the fibrous root (FR), and many of them are well expressed in the roots. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis of FRs after hormone treatment of the roots indicated that IbXTH28 and IbXTH30 are up-regulated under salicylic acid (SA) treatment but down-regulated under methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. Attentionally, there were only two genes showing down-regulation under the cold and drought treatment. Collectively, all of the findings suggested that genes from the XTH family are crucial for root specificity. This study could provide a theoretical basis for further research on the molecular function of sweet potato XTH genes.

Engineered Nanomaterials Suppress the Soft Rot Disease (Rhizopus stolonifer) and Slow Down the Loss of Nutrient in Sweet Potato.

About 45% of the world's fruit and vegetables are wasted, resulting in postharvest losses and contributing to economic losses ranging from $10 billion to $100 billion worldwide. Soft rot disease caused by Rhizopus stolonifer leads to postharvest storage losses of sweet potatoes. Nanoscience stands as a new tool in our arsenal against these mounting challenges that will restrict efforts to achieve and maintain global food security. In this study, three nanomaterials (NMs) namely C60, CuO, and TiO2 were evaluated for their potential application in the restriction of Rhizopus soft rot disease in two cultivars of sweet potato (Y25, J26). CuO NM exhibited a better antifungal effect than C60 and TiO2 NMs. The contents of three important hormones, indolepropionic acid (IPA), gibberellic acid 3 (GA-3), and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the infected J26 sweet potato treated with 50 mg/L CuO NM were significantly higher than those of the control by 14.5%, 10.8%, and 24.1%. CuO and C60 NMs promoted antioxidants in both cultivars of sweet potato. Overall, CuO NM at 50 mg/L exhibited the best antifungal properties, followed by TiO2 NM and C60 NM, and these results were further confirmed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The use of CuO NMs as an antifungal agent in the prevention of Rhizopus stolonifer infections in sweet potatoes could greatly reduce postharvest storage and delivery losses.

In vitro photothermal study of gold nanoshells functionalized with small targeting peptides to liver cancer cells.

Gold nanoshells functionalized with a small peptide as a targeting agent were designed and synthesized for photothermal therapy of hepatocarcinoma. The nanoshells exhibited high absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) range, 800-1,100 nm, and were functionalized with 12-amino acid sequence peptides for targeting liver cancer cells. The nanoshells were characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and IR spectra. The functionalized gold nanoshells showed good targeting ability to liver cancer cells BEL-7404 and BEL-7402 while not to the normal healthy liver cell HL-7702, and also had a low cytotoxic activity. The fluorescence images showed that the gold nanoshells caused death to the liver cancer cells efficiently after being treated with a NIR light in vitro. These simple, stable, low cytotoxic, cancer-cell targeting gold nanoshells present a great promise as delivery agents for the selective photothermal treatment of liver cancer cells.

Application of near-infrared spectroscopy to predict sweetpotato starch thermal properties and noodle quality.

Sweetpotato starch thermal properties and its noodle quality were analyzed using a rapid predictive method based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). This method was established based on a total of 93 sweetpotato genotypes with diverse genetic background. Starch samples were scanned by NIRS and analyzed for quality properties by reference methods. Results of statistical modelling indicated that NIRS was reasonably accurate in predicting gelatinization onset temperature (T(o)) (standard error of prediction SEP=2.014 degrees C, coefficient of determination RSQ=0.85), gelatinization peak temperature (T(p)) (SEP=1.371 degrees C, RSQ=0.89), gelatinization temperature range (T(r)) (SEP=2.234 degrees C, RSQ=0.86), and cooling resistance (CR) (SEP=0.528, RSQ=0.89). Gelatinization completion temperature (T(c)), enthalpy of gelatinization (DeltaH), cooling loss (CL) and swelling degree (SWD), were modelled less well with RSQ between 0.63 and 0.84. The present results suggested that the NIRS based method was sufficiently accurate and practical for routine analysis of sweetpotato starch and its noodle quality.

[Aidi Injection-Asisted R-CHOP Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigaate the clinical efficacy of Aidi injection-asisted R-CHOP chemotherapy for the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). METHODS: Fifty-one patients diagnosed as DLBCL in our department from February 2005 to September 2015 were randomly divided into 2 groups. Out of them, 26 patients in one group received R-CHOP chemotherapy asisted by Aidi intravenous infection (Aidi+R-CHOP group), 25 patients were in another group received only R-CHOP chemotherapy (R-CHOP group), 3 weeks for one course, to tally continuous 2 courses. The recent therapeutic efficacy, adverse events, quality of life, sIL-2R level and long-term survival rate were compared between 2 groups. RESULTS: The efficacy of the Aidi+R-CHOP group was significantly higher than that of the R-CHOP group (P<0.05); the incidences of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were significantly lower than the R-CHOP group (P<0.05); besides, KPS scores were significantly higher than in the R-CHOP group (P<0.05); sIL-2R level in the Aidi+R-CHOP group after treatment was significantly lower than that in the R-CHOP group (P<0.05), however, these data were not statistically different between the two groups before treatment. In addition, 3 and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate in the Aidi+R-CHOP group was significantly higher than that in the R-CHOP group. CONCLUSION: The use of Aidi injection-asisted R-CHOP chemotherapy for treating patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma can increase the patient's tolerance to chemotherapy, improve their quality of life, also reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy, and the trerapeutic effect is more significant than that of R-CHOP regimen alone, thus improving the overall therapeutic efficacy of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Characterizations of Rapid Sintered Nanosilver Joint for Attaching Power Chips.

Sintering of nanosilver paste has been extensively studied as a lead-free die-attach solution for bonding semiconductor power chips, such as the power insulated gated bipolar transistor (IGBT). However, for the traditional method of bonding IGBT chips, an external pressure of a few MPa is reported necessary for the sintering time of ~1 h. In order to shorten the processing duration time, we developed a rapid way to sinter nanosilver paste for bonding IGBT chips in less than 5 min using pulsed current. In this way, we firstly dried as-printed paste at about 100 °C to get rid of many volatile solvents because they may result in defects or voids during the out-gassing from the paste. Then, the pre-dried paste was further heated by pulse current ranging from 1.2 kA to 2.4 kA for several seconds. The whole procedure was less than 3 min and did not require any gas protection. We could obtain robust sintered joint with shear strength of 30-35 MPa for bonding 1200-V, 25-A IGBT and superior thermal properties. Static and dynamic electrical performance of the as-bonded IGBT assemblies was also characterized to verify the feasibility of this rapid sintering method. The results indicate that the electrical performance is comparable or even partially better than that of commercial IGBT modules. The microstructure evolution of the rapid sintered joints was also studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This work may benefit the wide usage of nanosilver paste for rapid bonding IGBT chips in the future.