Impact of soluble organic matter and particulate organic matter on anammox system: Performance, microbial community and N2O production.

In this study, the effects of soluble readily biodegradable COD (sCOD) and particulate slowly biodegradable COD (pCOD) on anammox process were investigated. The results of the long-term experiment indicated that a low sCOD/N ratio of 0.5 could accelerate the anammox and denitrification activity, to reach as high as 84.9%±2.8% TN removal efficiency. Partial denitrification-anammox (PDN/anammox) and denitrification were proposed as the major pathways for nitrogen removal, accounting for 91.3% and 8.7% of the TN removal, respectively. Anammox bacteria could remain active with high abundance of anammox genes to maintain its dominance. Candidatus Kuenenia and Thauera were the predominant genera in the presence of organic matter. Compared with sCOD, batch experiments showed that the introduction of pCOD had a negative effect on nitrogen removal. The contribution of denitrification to nitrogen removal decreased from approximately 14% to 3% with increasing percentage of pCOD. In addition, the analysis result of the process data using an optimized ASM1 model indicated that high percentage of pCOD resulted in serious N2O emission (the peak value up to 0.25 mg N/L), which was likely due to limited mass diffusion and insufficient available carbon sources for denitrification. However, a high sCOD/N ratio was beneficial for alleviating N2O accumulation.

Driving factors and clustering analysis of expressway vehicular CO2 emissions in Guizhou Province, China.

Expressways are essential for intercounty trips of passenger travel and freight mobility, which are also an important source of vehicular CO2 emissions in transportation sector. This study takes the expressway system of Guizhou Province as the research objective, and establishes the multi-year expressway vehicular CO2 emission inventories at the county level from 2011 to 2019. We employ the extended STIRPAT model incorporating ridge regression to identify driving factors from six different aspects, and then utilize the affinity propagation cluster method to conduct the differentiation research by dividing Guizhou's counties into four clusters. Based upon clustering analysis, localized and targeted policies are formulated for each cluster to reduce expressway vehicular CO2 emissions. The results indicate that generally: (1) Guizhou's expressway vehicular CO2 emissions manifest a continuously upward trend during 2011-2019. Small-duty passenger vehicle (SDV), light-duty truck (LDT), and heavy-duty truck (HDT) contribute to the largest CO2 emissions in eight vehicle types. (2) GDP and population are the foremost two positive driving factors, followed by urbanization rate and expressway length. The proportion of secondary industry is also a positive driver, but that of tertiary industry exhibits an opposite effect. (3) Regional disparity exists in four county clusters of Guizhou Province. Efficient policies are proposed, such as improving the layout and infrastructure of transportation hubs, promoting multimodal integration, and implementing industrial upgrading as per regional advantages. Sustainable expressway vehicular CO2 emission reduction is realized from both the source of industry and low-carbon modes of transport.

Physiological response of CmWRKY15-1 to chrysanthemum white rust based on TRV-VIGS.

Chrysanthemum White Rust (CWR) caused by Puccinia horiana Henn. is a major disease in the production process of chrysanthemum, which is widely spread all over the world and can be called "cancer" of chrysanthemum. To clarify the disease resistance function of disease resistance genes can provide a theoretical basis for the utilization and genetic improvement of chrysanthemum resistant varieties. In this study, the resistant cultivar 'China Red' was used as the experimental material. We constructed the silencing vector pTRV2-CmWRKY15-1 and obtained the silenced line named TRV-CmWRKY15-1. The results of enzyme activity after inoculation with pathogenic fungi showed that the activities of antioxidant enzymes SOD, POD, CAT and defense-related enzymes PAL and CHI in leaves were stimulated under the stress of P. horiana. In the WT, the activities of SOD, POD and CAT at the peak value were 1.99 times, 2.84 times and 1.39 times higher than that in TRV-CmWRKY15-1, respectively. And the activities of PALand CHI at the peak were 1.63 times and 1.12 times of TRV-CmWRKY15-1. The content of MDA and soluble sugar also confirmed that chrysanthemum was more susceptible to pathogenic fungi when CmWRKY15-1 was silenced. The expression levels of POD, SOD, PAL and CHI at different time points showed that the expressions of defense enzyme related genes were inhibited in TRV-WRKY15-1 under the infection of P. horiana, which weakened the ability of chrysanthemum to resist white rust. In conclusion, CmWRKY15-1 may increased the resistance of chrysanthemum to white rust by increasing the activity of protective enzyme system, which laid a foundation for breeding new varieties with disease resistance.

CmWRKY15-1 Promotes Resistance to Chrysanthemum White Rust by Regulating CmNPR1 Expression.

Chrysanthemum white rust (CWR), a disease caused by the fungus Puccinia horiana Henn., seriously impairs the production and ornamental value of chrysanthemums. We previously isolated the disease-resistance gene CmWRKY15-1 from the chrysanthemum and generated CmWRKY15-1 transgenic plants. Here, we determined that CmWRKY15-1-overexpressing lines of the susceptible cultivar 'Jinba' show higher defensive enzyme activity and lower H2O2 levels than a wild type after inoculation with P. horiana, indicating that CmWRKY15-1 positively regulates plant responses to P. horiana. To further explore the mechanism underlying this effect, we performed RNA sequencing using the leaves of wild-type and CmWRKY15-1-RNA interference lines of the resistant cultivar 'C029' after treatment with P. horiana. We identified seven differentially expressed genes in the salicylic acid (SA) pathway, including CmNPR1 (Non-expressor of pathogenesis-related genes 1), encoding an important regulator of this pathway. We isolated the CmNPR1 promoter by hiTAIL-PCR and predicted that it contains pathogen-induced W-box elements. The promoter region of CmNPR1 was activated by P. horiana in a ß-glucuronidase activity assay. Yeast one-hybrid assays showed that CmWRKY15-1 binds to the CmNPR1 promoter region to regulate its expression. Finally, we confirmed the interaction between CmWRKY15-1 and CmNPR1 in a bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. We propose that CmWRKY15-1 interacts with CmNPR1 to activate the expression of downstream pathogenesis-related genes that enhance resistance to P. horiana through the SA pathway. These findings shed light on the mechanism underlying resistance to CWR.

Chrysanthemum WRKY15-1 promotes resistance to Puccinia horiana Henn. via the salicylic acid signaling pathway.

Chrysanthemum white rust disease, which is caused by the fungus Puccinia horiana Henn., severely reduces the ornamental quality and yield chrysanthemum. WRKY transcription factors function in the disease-resistance response in a variety of plants; however, it is unclear whether members of this family improve resistance to white rust disease in chrysanthemum. In this study, using PCR, we isolated a WRKY15 homologous gene, CmWRKY15-1, from the resistant chrysanthemum cultivar C029. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) revealed that CmWRKY15-1 exhibited differential expression patterns between the immune cultivar C029 and the susceptible cultivar Jinba upon P. horiana infection. In addition, salicylic acid (SA) treatment strongly induced CmWRKY15-1 expression. Overexpression of CmWRKY15-1 in the chrysanthemum-susceptible cultivar Jinba increased tolerance to P. horiana infection. Conversely, silencing CmWRKY15-1 via RNA interference (RNAi) in C029 increased sensitivity to P. horiana infection. We also determined that P. horiana infection increased both the endogenous SA content and the expression of salicylic acid biosynthesis genes in CmWRKY15-1-overexpressing plants, whereas CmWRKY15-1 RNAi plants exhibited the opposite effects under the same conditions. Finally, the transcript levels of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes involved in the SA pathway were positively associated with CmWRKY15-1 expression levels. Our results demonstrated that CmWRKY15-1 plays an important role in the resistance of chrysanthemum to P. horiana by influencing SA signaling.

Investigation of High-Temperature Normal Infrared Spectral Emissivity of ZrO2 Thermal Barrier Coating Artefacts by the Modified Integrated Blackbody Method.

Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is widely used as the thermal barrier coating in turbines and engines. Accurate emissivity measurement of ZrO2 coating at high temperatures, especially above 1000 °C, plays a vital role in thermal modelling and radiation thermometry. However, it is an extremely challenging enterprise, and very few high temperature emissivity results with rigorously estimated uncertainties have been published to date. The key issue for accurately measuring the high temperature emissivity is maintaining a hot surface without reflection from the hot environment, and avoiding passive or active oxidation of material, which will modify the emissivity. In this paper, a novel modified integrated blackbody method is reported to measure the high temperature normal spectral emissivity of ZrO2 coating in the temperature range 1000 °C to 1200 °C and spectral range 8 µm to 14 µm. The results and the associated uncertainty of the measurement were estimated and a relative standard uncertainty better than 7% (k = 2) is achieved.

Exosomal miR-320d derived from adipose tissue-derived MSCs inhibits apoptosis in cardiomyocytes with atrial fibrillation (AF).

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a key role in various pathological processes like atrial fibrillation (AF), which is a common cardiac arrhythmia. Exosomes are essential information carrier in the intercellular communication. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of exosomal miR-320d on cardiomyocytes with AF and related mechanisms. To do this, AMSCs were transfected with miR-320d mimics, AMSCs-derived exosomes were co-cultured with cardiomyocytes with AF. MTT, TUNEL staining, flow cytometry, real-time PCR, western blots, and luciferase reporter assays were performed. The results revealed that miR-320d expression was decreased in AF cardiomyocytes. AF increased apoptosis and reduced cell viability in cardiomyocytes. By transfection with miR-320d mimics, the miR-320d level was increased in AMSCs, exosomes and cardiomyocytes, which reversed the effect of AF on cardiomyocytes. STAT3 was down-regulated in AF cardiomyocytes and was a direct target gene of miR-320d. Inhibition of STAT3 abolished the effect of modified exosomes in cardiomyocytes, causing decreased apoptosis and increased cell viability. Taken together, the results suggested that exosomal miR-320d was associated with AF cardiomyocytes apoptosis and cell viability and that the effect of miR-320d on cardiomyocytes is STAT3-dependent. Therefore, this study provides a novel understanding of the molecular basis of AF and provides insight into therapeutic strategies for AF.