Kin recognition is an important mediator of interactions within individuals of a species. Despite increasing evidence of kin recognition in natural plant populations, relatively little is known about ...kin recognition in crop species where numerous cultivars have been generated by artificial selection.
We identified rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars with the ability for kin recognition from two sets of indica-inbred and indica-hybrid lines at different levels of genetic relatedness. We then assessed this ability among kin and nonkin and tested potential mechanisms in a series of controlled experiments and field trails.
Rice cultivars with the ability for kin recognition were capable of detecting the presence of kin and nonkin and responded to them by altering root behavior and biomass allocation, particularly for grain yield. Furthermore, we assessed the role of root exudates and found a root-secreted nitrogen-rich allantoin component to be responsible for kin recognition in rice lines.
Kin recognition in rice lines mediated by root exudates occurs in a cultivar-dependent manner. Rice cultivars with the ability for kin recognition may increase grain yield in the presence of kin. Such an improvement of grain yield by kin recognition of cultivar mixtures offers many implications and applications in rice production.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was initially identified in China and currently worldwide dispersed, resulting in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. ...Notably, COVID-19 is characterized by systemic inflammation. However, the potential mechanisms of the “cytokine storm” of COVID-19 are still limited. In this study, fourteen peripheral blood samples from COVID-19 patients (n=10) and healthy donors (n=4) were collected to perform the whole-transcriptome sequencing. Lung tissues of COVID-19 patients (70%) presenting with ground-glass opacity. Also, the leukocytes and lymphocytes were significantly decreased in COVID-19 compared with the control group (p<0.05). In total, 25,482 differentially expressed messenger RNAs (DE mRNA), 23 differentially expressed microRNAs (DE miRNA), and 410 differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs (DE lncRNAs) were identified in the COVID-19 samples compared to the healthy controls. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that the upregulated DE mRNAs were mainly involved in antigen processing and presentation of endogenous antigen, positive regulation of T cell mediated cytotoxicity, and positive regulation of gamma-delta T cell activation. The downregulated DE mRNAs were mainly concentrated in the glycogen biosynthetic process. We also established the protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks of up/downregulated DE mRNAs and identified 4 modules. Functional enrichment analyses indicated that these module targets were associated with positive regulation of cytokine production, cytokine-mediated signaling pathway, leukocyte differentiation, and migration. A total of 6 hub genes were selected in the PPI module networks including AKT1, TNFRSF1B, FCGR2A, CXCL8, STAT3, and TLR2. Moreover, a competing endogenous RNA network showed the interactions between lncRNAs, mRNAs, and miRNAs. Our results highlight the potential pathogenesis of excessive cytokine production such as MSTRG.119845.30/hsa-miR-20a-5p/TNFRSF1B, MSTRG.119845.30/hsa-miR-29b-2-5p/FCGR2A, and MSTRG.106112.2/hsa-miR-6501-5p/STAT3 axis, which may also play an important role in the development of ground-glass opacity in COVID-19 patients. This study gives new insights into inflammation regulatory mechanisms of coding and noncoding RNAs in COVID-19, which may provide novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic avenues for COVID-19 patients.
Semiconductor-based photocatalytic H2 generation as a direct approach of converting solar energy to fuel is attractive for tackling the global energy and environmental issues but still suffers from ...low efficiency. Here, we report a MoS2/CdS nanohybrid as a noble-metal-free efficient visible-light driven photocatalyst, which has the unique nanosheets-on-nanorod heterostructure with partially crystalline MoS2 nanosheets intimately but discretely growing on single-crystalline CdS nanorod. This heterostructure not only facilitates the charge separation and transfer owing to the formed heterojunction, shorter radial transfer path, and fewer defects in single-crystalline nanorod, thus effectively reducing the charge recombination, but also provides plenty of active sites for hydrogen evolution reaction due to partially crystalline structure of MoS2 as well as enough room for hole extraction. As a result, the MoS2/CdS nanosheets-on-nanorod exhibits a state-of-the-art H2 evolution rate of 49.80 mmol g–1 h–1 and an apparent quantum yield of 41.37% at 420 nm, which is the advanced performance among all MoS2/CdS composites and CdS/noble metal photocatalysts. These findings will open opportunities for developing low-cost efficient photocatalysts for water splitting.
Summary
The production of defensive metabolites in plants can be induced by signaling chemicals released by neighboring plants. Induction is mainly known from volatile aboveground signals, with ...belowground signals and their underlying mechanisms largely unknown.
We demonstrate that (−)‐loliolide triggers defensive metabolite responses to competitors, herbivores, and pathogens in seven plant species. We further explore the transcriptional responses of defensive pathways to verify the signaling role of (−)‐loliolide in wheat and rice models with well‐known defensive metabolites and gene systems.
In response to biotic and abiotic stressors, (−)‐loliolide is produced and secreted by roots. This, in turn, induces the production of defensive compounds including phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, benzoxazinoids, and cyanogenic glycosides, regardless of plant species. (−)‐Loliolide also triggers the expression of defense‐related genes, accompanied by an increase in the concentration of jasmonic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Transcriptome profiling and inhibitor incubation indicate that (−)‐loliolide‐induced defense responses are regulated through pathways mediated by jasmonic acid, H2O2, and Ca 2+.
These findings argue that (−)‐loliolide functions as a common belowground signal mediating chemical defense in plants. Such perception‐dependent plant chemical defenses will yield critical insights into belowground signaling interactions.
See also the Commentary on this article by Frost, 238: 1749–1751.
Disordered hyperuniform structures are locally random while uniform like crystals at large length scales. Recently, an exotic hyperuniform fluid state was found in several nonequilibrium systems, ...while the underlying physics remains unknown. In this work, we propose a nonequilibrium (driven-dissipative) hardsphere model and formulate a hydrodynamic theory based on Navier–Stokes equations to uncover the general mechanism of the fluidic hyperuniformity (HU). At a fixed density, this model system undergoes a smooth transition from an absorbing state to an active hyperuniform fluid and then, to the equilibrium fluid by changing the dissipation strength. We study the criticality of the absorbing-phase transition. We find that the origin of fluidic HU can be understood as the damping of a stochastic harmonic oscillator in q space, which indicates that the suppressed long-wavelength density fluctuation in the hyperuniform fluid can exhibit as either acoustic (resonance) mode or diffusive (overdamped) mode. Importantly, our theory reveals that the damping dissipation and active reciprocal interaction (driving) are the two ingredients for fluidic HU. Based on this principle, we further demonstrate how to realize the fluidic HU in an experimentally accessible active spinner system and discuss the possible realization in other systems.
In order to improve students’ learning effect, more and more universities favor foreign language teachers who are native speakers of English. Based on the analysis and summary of the research status ...of emotion recognition, this paper proposes that, in college English classroom teaching, foreign language teachers can reduce the communication barriers with Chinese students through emotion recognition. Based on literature review and actual situation investigation, this study identified four influencing factors on emotion recognition of foreign language teachers, namely, interactive action, facial expression, vocal emotion, and body posture. In our opinion, in the teaching process, teachers can adjust the four factors of emotion recognition to achieve better teaching effect. Further, improve students’ learning efficiency. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is chosen as the research method in this study. After building the analysis model, we collected the questionnaire using the Questionnaire Star, and finally got 12 valid data. After determining the importance of different factors by pairwise comparison, we draw the following conclusions: the influence degree of emotion recognition factors of foreign language teachers is in descending order, interactive action (43%), facial expression (28%), vocal emotion (21%), and body posture (9%). Our research adds to the body of knowledge on emotion recognition among college English teachers. Furthermore, this research assists students in improving their grasp of course content based on the emotions of foreign English lecturers. Based on the findings, we recommend that foreign language teachers in college English classrooms alter their interactive behaviors, facial expressions, and vocal emotions in response to various instructional materials and emphases.
Abstract
Given the failure of reverse cut-off seal performance in the test process of the check valve, the fault location and mechanism analysis were carried out, and the improvement measures were ...proposed and verified by the test. It is analyzed that the main reason for the failure is the unreasonable design of the moving pair and the welding position of the check valve, which makes the sealing pair cannot fit effectively after the welding of the check valve, leading to the failure of the reverse cut-off seal. By controlling the ratio of the length of the guide surface to the diameter of the guide surface to 1.25, and controlling the distance between the welding position and the sealing pair to 10mm, the failure problem of the reverse cut-off seal of the check valve caused by the unreasonable design of the moving pair and the weld position is successfully solved. The effectiveness of the improved scheme of the check valve is verified by the test.
Most visual system functions, such as opsin gene expression, retinal neural transmission, light perception, and visual sensitivity, display robust day-night rhythms. The rhythms persist in constant ...lighting conditions, suggesting the involvement of endogenous circadian clocks. While the circadian pacemakers that control the rhythms of animal behaviors are mostly found in the forebrain and midbrain, self-sustained circadian oscillators are also present in the neural retina, where they play important roles in the regulation of circadian vision. This review highlights some of the correlative studies of the circadian control of visual system functions in zebrafish. Because zebrafish maintain a high evolutionary proximity to mammals, the findings from zebrafish research may provide insights for a better understanding of the mechanisms of circadian vision in other vertebrate species including humans.
•Recent breakthroughs which changed our views on SMMs are highlighted.•The latest advances of this challenging field in China were emphasized.•Synthetic strategies to design high-performance SMMs are ...demonstrated.•Directions to which further efforts should be focused in the field are discussed.
The discovery of the first example of lanthanide-based single molecule magnets (Ln-SMMs), a revolutionary progress, marked the beginning of a new age for SMMs, has greatly inspired researchers to invest their efforts in the design of high-performance SMMs by introducing lanthanide ions, especially dysprosium ions. Lanthanide ions have always been considered as excellent candidates to construct single-molecule magnets for high-density data storage and quantum calculation. Impressive progress has been made in field of Ln-SMMs where synthetic chemists have played a major role through producing suitable systems for detailed study by physicists and materials scientists. In this review, some recent breakthroughs changing the perspective of the field will be highlighted with special emphasis on the synthetic efforts made in this fascinating and challenging field. Their findings on the elucidation of relaxation dynamics and the synthetic strategies towards high-performance Ln-SMMs provide valuable insights required to optimize the contribution of an Ising type spin to a molecular magnet and indicate the directions to which further synthetic efforts should be focused.
Recent developments in single-molecule toroics Li, Xiao-Lei; Tang, Jinkui
Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry,
2019, Letnik:
48, Številka:
41
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Single-molecule toroics (SMTs) are defined as bi-stable molecules with a toroidal magnetic state, which have broad application prospects in quantum computing and information storage, and can also be ...used as multiferroic materials with a magneto-electric coupling effect. Since the first observation of the SMT behavior of typical
Dy
3
molecules, great progress has been made in the field of SMTs. In this Perspective, we provide an up-to-date overview of the emerging SMT architectures reported in recent years. Accordingly, thirteen representative examples with toroidal magnetization moments are discussed in order to elucidate the synthetic strategy to design SMT complexes and the factors dictating the arrangement of toroidal magnetic moments, and ultimately enlighten the study of SMTs with enhanced toroidal magnetization.
An update overview of emerging single-molecule toroics (SMTs) is expounded to elucidate the strategy to design SMTs and ultimately inspire the seeking of SMTs with enhanced toroidal moment.
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