Over the past 40 years since China’s reform and opening up, the industrial structure has undergone tremendous changes. The rapid development of the economy has been accompanied by a surge in carbon ...emissions. How to achieve a win-win situation for economic growth and carbon emissions reduction has aroused widespread concern from all sectors of society. Here, this paper discusses the dynamic relationship of industrial structure upgrading, economic growth, and carbon emission reduction. Results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship among industrial structure upgrading, economic growth, and carbon emissions. In the short term, when the three variables deviate from the long-term equilibrium state, the non-equilibrium state will be pulled back to equilibrium with the adjustment strength of − 0.0633, − 0.0097, and 0.0013. Carbon emission reduction promotes industrial structure upgrading. Industrial structure upgrading has a greater positive impact on economic growth. Industrial structure upgrading and economic growth have a negative impact on carbon emissions, thereby promoting emission reduction. And at the 10% significance level, there is a one-way Granger causality from carbon emissions to industrial structure upgrading, economic growth can cause one-way changes in carbon emissions, and industrial structure upgrading is a one-way Granger cause of economic growth. Finally, several carbon emission reduction policies are proposed promote industrial restructuring and sustainable economic development.
To address climate change effectively, it is essential to quantify CO2 emissions and the driving factors in high-energy-consuming countries. China is the top CO2-emitting country; moreover, there is ...a lack of comprehensive analytical studies on quantifying the contributions of key drivers to high-energy-consuming countries' CO2 emissions. Therefore, based on data of China's energy consumption from 2005 to 2016, this paper combines the extended Kaya identity with the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method to construct an optimized carbon emission decomposition model. Carbon emission and carbon emission intensity are measured and decomposed. Then, the results of the decomposition are discussed, and the effects of various drivers on carbon emissions from energy consumption in China are analysed. Furthermore, we demonstrate real applications of decomposition analysis in policy-making using examples from China and present some ideas to reduce CO2. The results show that from 2005 to 2016, China's total carbon emissions accounted for nearly one-third of the world's total carbon emissions, and the intensity of carbon emissions in China was generally higher than that of worldwide. The rapid development of economy and acceleration of urbanization are not conducive to reduction of carbon emissions. Reducing the intensity of energy consumption, adjusting the internal structure of the industry and perfecting the economic policy system should be important means used to promote the development of China's low-carbon economy in the future.
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•Economic output increase is the largest driving factor promoting the CO2 emissions of China.•In China, CO2 missions from energy consumption in industrial sector accounted for the greatest proportion.•Phasing out excess capacity in China reduced emissions in the industry sector.•Energy intensity reduction is a key for high-energy-consuming countries to reduce CO2 emissions.•Promoting the transformation of the industrial structure is an efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Foreign trade and technological innovation are major driving forces for the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. This paper investigates the green development of 32 countries along the Belt ...and Road during the period of 2010–2018, and uses the Data Envelopment Analysis method to measure the green development level of countries along the Belt and Road. Based on the dynamic panel model, the system generalized method of moments is used to estimate the impact of foreign trade and technological innovation on green development. The results indicate that most of countries along the Belt and Road are in inefficient green development, and that there is still much room for improvement. Meanwhile, foreign trade and technological innovation can significantly contribute to green development of countries along the Belt and Road. Further research has found that there is a threshold effect on the impact of technological innovation on green development of countries along the Belt and Road. Therefore, it is suggested that policymakers should promote green development of countries along the Belt and Road by strengthening their trade flows, improving innovation efficiency, changing the way of urbanization and optimizing their health care systems.
The quorum sensing (QS) circuit plays a role in the precise regulation of genes controlling virulence factors and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. QS-controlled biofilm formation by ...Pseudomonas aeruginosa in clinical settings has remained controversial due to emerging drug resistance; therefore, screening diverse compounds for anti-biofilm or anti-QS activities is important. This study demonstrates the ability of sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of baicalin, an active natural compound extracted from the traditional Chinese medicinal Scutellaria baicalensis, to inhibit the formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms and enhance the bactericidal effects of various conventional antibiotics in vitro. In addition, baicalin exerted dose-dependent inhibitory effects on virulence phenotypes (LasA protease, LasB elastase, pyocyanin, rhamnolipid, motilities and exotoxin A) regulated by QS in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, the expression levels of QS-regulatory genes, including lasI, lasR, rhlI, rhlR, pqsR and pqsA, were repressed after sub-MIC baicalin treatment, resulting in significant decreases in the QS signaling molecules 3-oxo-C12-HSL and C4-HSL, confirming the ability of baicalin-mediated QS inhibition to alter gene and protein expression. In vivo experiments indicated that baicalin treatment reduces Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenicity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Greater worm survival in the baicalin-treated group manifested as an increase in the LT50 from 24 to 96 h. In a mouse peritoneal implant infection model, baicalin treatment enhanced the clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the implants of mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa compared with the control group. Moreover, the combination of baicalin and antibiotics significantly reduced the numbers of colony-forming units in the implants to a significantly greater degree than antibiotic treatment alone. Pathological and histological analyses revealed mitigation of the inflammatory response and reduced cell infiltration in the peritoneal tissue surrounding the implants after baicalin treatment. Measurement of the cytokine levels in the peritoneal lavage fluid of mice in the baicalin treatment group revealed a decrease in IL-4, an increase in interferon γ (IFN-γ), and a reversed IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio compared with the control group, indicating that baicalin treatment activated the Th1-induced immune response to expedite bacterial load clearance. Based on these results, baicalin might be a potent QS inhibitor and anti-biofilm agent for combating Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm-related infections.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In the
family, the CBL-interacting protein kinases have shown crucial roles in hormone signaling transduction, and response to abiotic stress in plant developmental processes. The
family is ...characterized by conserved NAF/FISL (Asn-Ala-Phe) and PPI (protein-phosphatase interaction) domains in the C-terminus. However, little data has been reported about the
family in apple. A total of 34
genes were identified from the apple genome in this study and were later divided into two groups according to the CIPK domains, characterized by gene structure and chromosomal distribution, and then mapped onto 17 chromosomes. All
genes were expressed in the four apple tissues (leaf, root, flower, and fruit). In addition, the
gene expression profile showed that five members among them revealed enhanced expression during the pollen tube growth stages. The
4 was the most expressive during the entire fruit development stages. Under stress conditions 21
genes transcript levels were up-regulated in response to fungal and salt treatments. This suggested the possible features of these genes' response to stresses in apples. Our findings provide a new insight about the roles of
genes in apples, which could contribute to the cloning and functional analysis of
genes in the future.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Key message
In this study, we have identified 120 UGT genes in pigeonpea and performed a bioinformatics analysis, which showed their tissue-specific and stress-induced expression patterns.
Family 1 ...UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs; EC 2.4.1.x) are enzymes that glycosylate aglycones into glycoside-associated compounds. They play an important role in plant resistance to abiotic stresses by regulating the synthesis of plant hormones and secondary metabolites. However, in pigeonpea, the UGT family has not yet been reported. Here, 120 CcUGT genes were identified from the pigeonpea genome, which all contained the plant secondary product glycosyltransferase motif (PSPG). According to the phylogenetic relationship, 120 CcUGTs can be classified into 11 major groups. The CcUGTs are distributed on 10 chromosomes except chromosome 5. Homology modeling of CcUGT proteins and conserved motif search were used to predict the structure of 120 UGTs. Most protein structures can be predicted with high accuracy. After that, 11 representative CcUGT genes were selected for further analysis. We measured their specific expression in different tissues and the changes in transcription levels after stress. The results show that 11 genes are specific in different tissues and the expression of genes in leaves is higher than that of other tissues. In roots,
CcUGT69 genes
were highly expressed in salt and osmotic stresses, and
CcUGT110
was up-regulated in low temperature injury. In leaves, most of the genes were up-regulated after stress treatment, and only
CcUGT6, 37, 56
had little change in transcription levels. Overall, this study systematically analyses the UGT gene family in pigeonpea for the first time and provides some useful clues for further functional studies of UGT genes.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Sjögren’s syndrome or radiotherapy for head and neck cancer leads to the irreversible hypofunction of salivary gland (SG). The stem/progenitor cell-based regenerative strategy has been proven to be ...the most promising approach to repair the function of SG. The molecular mechanisms that regulate SG morphogenesis, especially during lumen formation, provide valuable hints for establishment of such regenerative strategies. It has been demonstrated that numerous growth factors particularly belonging to SHH, BMP, and FGF signaling pathway are involved in the regulation of lumen formation and have shown protective effects on the SG from irradiation in mouse models. However, it remains elusive whether the expression pattern and function of these signaling molecules are conserved in humans. In this study, we examined the expression patterns of the molecules critical for SHH, BMP, and FGF signaling cascades from the canalicular stage to the terminal bud stage, the key stages for lumen formation, in human SG and compared them with the expression data observed in mice. Our results manifested that genes involved in SHH signaling pathway showed identical expression patterns, while genes involved in BMP as well as FGF pathway exhibited similar but distinct expression patterns in humans to those in the mouse. We concluded that the expression patterns of genes involved in SHH, BMP, and FGF pathways in the development of human SG exhibit high similarity to that in the development of mouse SG during lumen formation, suggesting that the molecular mechanism regulating the morphogenesis of SG during lumen formation may be conserved in mice and humans. Our results will have an implication in the future establishment of stem-cell based approaches for the repair of SG function.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Multidrug and Toxic Compound Extrusion (MATEs) is one of the characteristic transporter families, which plays a key role in the detoxication of endogenous secondary metabolites and exogenous agents ...in both animal and plant cells. In this study, we identified a total of 67 MATE genes (CcMATEs) from the pigeonpea genome, on which we performed bioinformatics analysis and we group them by phylogenetic analysis. Finally, eight represented CcMATE genes were selected for further qRT-PCR analysis of tissue specificity and response to metal stress in pigeonpea. The results showed that both CcMATE34 and 45 genes were significantly up-regulated and the CcMATE4 gene was only up-regulated in the roots under the stress of Al, Mn and Zn. We speculated that the function of CcMATE34 and 45 might be related to the transport of alkaloids and harmful substances and the function of CcMATE4 might be related to the delivery of flavonoids.
Pigeonpea is an important economic crop in the world and is mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. In order to further expand the scope of planting, one of the problems that must be ...solved is the impact of soil acidity on plants in these areas. Based on our previous work, we constructed a time series RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis under aluminum (Al) stress in pigeonpea. Through a comparison analysis, 11,425 genes were found to be differentially expressed among all the time points. After clustering these genes by their expression patterns, 12 clusters were generated. Many important functional pathways were identified by gene ontology (GO) analysis, such as biological regulation, localization, response to stimulus, metabolic process, detoxification, and so on. Further analysis showed that metabolic pathways played an important role in the response of Al stress. Thirteen out of the 23 selected genes related to flavonoids and phenols were downregulated in response to Al stress. In addition, we verified these key genes of flavonoid- and phenol-related metabolism pathways by qRT-PCR. Collectively, our findings not only revealed the regulation mechanism of pigeonpea under Al stress but also provided methodological support for further exploration of plant stress regulation mechanisms.
Abstract
Mature pollen germinates rapidly on the stigma, extending its pollen tube to deliver sperm cells to the ovule for fertilization. The success of this process is an important factor that ...limits output. The flavonoid content increased significantly during pollen germination and pollen tube growth, which suggests it may play an important role in these processes. However, the specific mechanism of this involvement has been little researched. Our previous research found that hyperoside can prolong the flowering period of
Abelmoschus esculentus
(okra), but its specific mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the effect of hyperoside in regulating the actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF), which further affects the germination and growth of pollen. We found that hyperoside can prolong the effective pollination period of okra by 2–3-fold and promote the growth of pollen tubes in the style. Then, we used
Nicotiana benthamiana
cells as a research system and found that hyperoside accelerates the depolymerization of intercellular microfilaments. Hyperoside can promote pollen germination and pollen tube elongation in vitro. Moreover,
AeADF1
was identified out of all
AeADF
genes as being highly expressed in pollen tubes in response to hyperoside. In addition, hyperoside promoted AeADF1-mediated microfilament dissipation according to microfilament severing experiments in vitro. In the pollen tube, the gene expression of
AeADF1
was reduced to 1/5 by oligonucleotide transfection. The decrease in the expression level of
AeADF1
partially reduced the promoting effect of hyperoside on pollen germination and pollen tube growth. This research provides new research directions for flavonoids in reproductive development.
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