Zinc finger proteins are widely involved and play an important role in plant growth and abiotic stress. In this research,
, a gene encoding C2H2-type zinc finger protein, was cloned and investigated. ...The
was highly expressed in flower tissues by qRT-PCR analyses and GUS staining. Promoter analysis showed that
contained multiple response elements, and the expression levels of
were induced by various abiotic stress treatments. Overexpression of
in apple calli positively regulated anthocyanin accumulation by activating the expressions of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes. Overexpression of
in
also enhanced the accumulation of anthocyanin. In addition,
increased the sensitivity to salt stress in apple calli. Ectopic expression of
in
reduced the expression of salt-stress-related genes (
and
) and improved the sensitivity to salt stress. In conclusion, these results suggest that
plays a positive regulatory role in anthocyanin accumulation and negatively regulates salt resistance.
The low-cost room-temperature sodium-sulfur battery system is arousing extensive interest owing to its promise for large-scale applications. Although significant efforts have been made, resolving low ...sulfur reaction activity and severe polysulfide dissolution remains challenging. Here, a sulfur host comprised of atomic cobalt-decorated hollow carbon nanospheres is synthesized to enhance sulfur reactivity and to electrocatalytically reduce polysulfide into the final product, sodium sulfide. The constructed sulfur cathode delivers an initial reversible capacity of 1081 mA h g
with 64.7% sulfur utilization rate; significantly, the cell retained a high reversible capacity of 508 mA h g
at 100 mA g
after 600 cycles. An excellent rate capability is achieved with an average capacity of 220.3 mA h g
at the high current density of 5 A g
. Moreover, the electrocatalytic effects of atomic cobalt are clearly evidenced by operando Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and density functional theory.
Melatonin can increase plant resistance to stress, and exogenous melatonin has been reported to promote stress resistance in plants. In this study, a melatonin biosynthesis-related
gene was cloned ...from tomato (
Mill. cv.
), which is highly expressed in fruits compared with other organs. The protein was found to locate in the cytoplasm. Melatonin content in
overexpression transgenic tomato plants was significantly higher than that in wild-type plants. Under 800 mM NaCl stress, the transcript level of
in tomato leaf was positively related to the melatonin contents. Furthermore, compared with that in wild-type plants, levels of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide were lower while the content of proline was higher in
transgenic tomatoes. Therefore,
was closely associated with melatonin biosynthesis confers the significant salt tolerance, providing a clue to cope with the growing global problem of salination in agricultural production.
Ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1), a saponin extracted from Panax ginseng, has been well documented to be effective against ischemic/reperfusion (I/R) neuronal injury. However, the underlying mechanisms remain ...obscure. In the present study, we investigated the roles of Nrf2 and miR-144 in the protective effects of Rg1 against I/R-induced neuronal injury. In OGD/R-treated PC12 cells, Rg1 (0.01-1 μmol/L) dose-dependently attenuated the cell injury accompanied by prolonging nuclear accumulation of Nrf2, enhancing the transcriptional activity of Nrf2, as well as promoting the expression of ARE-target genes. The activation of the Nrf2/ARE pathway by Rg1 was independent of disassociation with Keap1, but resulted from post-translational regulations. Knockdown of Nrf2 abolished all the protective changes of Rg1 in OGD/R-treated PC12 cells. Furthermore, Rg1 treatment significantly decreased the expression of miR-144, which downregulated Nrf2 production by targeting its 3'-untranlated region after OGD/R. Knockdown of Nrf2 had no effect on the expression of miR-144, suggesting that miR-144 was an upstream regulator of Nrf2. We revealed that there was a direct binding between Nrf2 and miR-144 in PC12 cells. Application of anti-miR-144 occluded the activation of the Nrf2/ARE pathway by Rg1 in OGD/R-treated PC12 cells. In tMCAO rats, administration of Rg1 (20 mg/kg) significantly alleviated ischemic injury, and activated Nrf2/ARE pathway. The protective effects of Rg1 were abolished by injecting of AAV-HIF-miR-144-shRNA into the predicted ischemic penumbra. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that Rg1 alleviates oxidative stress after I/R through inhibiting miR-144 activity and subsequently promoting the Nrf2/ARE pathway at the post-translational level.
Anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin (PA) are important secondary metabolites and beneficial to human health. Their biosynthesis is induced by jasmonate (JA) treatment and regulated by MYB transcription ...factors (TFs). However, which and how MYB TFs regulate this process is largely unknown in apple. In this study, MdMYB9 and MdMYB11 which were induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) were functionally characterized. Overexpression of MdMYB9 or MdMYB11 promoted not only anthocyanin but also PA accumulation in apple calluses, and the accumulation was further enhanced by MeJA. Subsequently, yeast two-hybrid, pull-down and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays showed that both MYB proteins interact with MdbHLH3. Moreover, Jasmonate ZIM-domain (MdJAZ) proteins interact with MdbHLH3. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR and yeast one-hybrid assays demonstrated that both MdMYB9 and MdMYB11 bind to the promoters of ANS, ANR and LAR, whereas MdbHLH3 is recruited to the promoters of MdMYB9 and MdMYB11 and regulates their transcription. In addition, transient expression assays indicated that overexpression of MdJAZ2 inhibits the recruitment of MdbHLH3 to the promoters of MdMYB9 and MdMYB11. Our findings provide new insight into the mechanism of how MeJA regulates anthocyanin and PA accumulation in apple.
Polymer‐based thermal management materials have many irreplaceable advantages not found in metals or ceramics, such as easy processing, low density, and excellent flexibility. However, their limited ...thermal conductivity and unsatisfactory resistance to elevated temperatures (<200 °C) still prevent effective heat dissipation during applications with high‐temperature conditions or powerful operation. Therefore, herein highly thermoconductive and thermostable polymer nanocomposite films prepared by engineering 1D aramid nanofiber (ANF) with worm‐like microscopic morphologies into rigid rod‐like structures with 2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) are reported. With no coils or entanglements, the rigid polymer chain enables a well‐packed crystalline structure resulting in a 20‐fold (or greater) increase in axial thermal conductivity. Additionally, strong interfacial interactions between the weaved ANF rod and the stacked BNNS facilitate efficient heat flux through the 1D/2D configuration. Hence, unprecedented in‐plane thermal conductivities as high as 46.7 W m−1 K−1 can be achieved at only 30 wt% BNNS loading, a value of 137% greater than that of a worm‐like ANF/BNNS counterpart. Moreover, the thermally stable nanocomposite films with light weight (28.9 W m−1 K−1/103 (kg m−3)) and high strength (>100 MPa, 450 °C) enable effective thermal management for microelectrodes operating at temperatures beyond 200 °C.
A highly thermoconductive, high‐temperature stable, and superflexible paper is fabricated via a rational construction of 1D rigid rod‐like aramid nanofibers and 2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS). Significantly, the rod‐like nanofiber morphology and rigid molecular chain can enable more efficient phonon transport through the 1D/2D configuration. Hence, the heat sink paper paves the way for thermal management of new and powerful components.
The ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) is a new technique employing a high strain rate and severe plastic deformation (SPD), and treated materials show high homogeneity, a large depth of ...strengthening and excellent surface integrity. In this work, USRP was used to treat 17-4 martensite precipitation-hardening (PH) stainless steels with a body-centered tetragonal (BCT) structure, and the deformation nanocrystallization mechanism was systematically investigated using microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results indicated that a gradient nanocrystalline structure comprising thermal-mechanical coupled layer, elongated nanograin layer (long axis parallel to the treated surface), elongated ultrafine grain layer, refined grain layer and low-strain matrix layer was fabricated in 17-4PH stainless steels, reaching a thickness of 650 µm. The grain size presented a regular large-small-large variation, while the dislocation density showed a high-low-high variation with increasing depth. During the nanocrystallization process of 17-4PH stainless steel subjected to USRP, elongated ultrafine grains were formed first, and then grains were refined by dislocation tangles, dislocation bands, and dislocation walls through dislocation glide. In the near surface (approximately 10 µm below the processed surface), deformation twins presented in the nano-lath microstructure had a positive effect on the formation of nanocrystallites via an interaction between twinning and dislocations. Moreover, the disperse ε-Cu precipitated phase had a positive effect on the evolution of the nanocrystalline microstructure. The additivity of strengthening by dislocation density, grains and precipitates was prominently enhanced, and high compressive residual stress was developed.
Stimuli‐responsive circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials are ideal for information anti‐countering applications, but the best‐performing materials have not yet been identified. This work ...presents enantiomorphic hybrid antimony halides R‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 (1) and S‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 (2) showing mirror‐imaged CPL activity with a dissymmetry factor of 1.2×10−3. Interestingly, the DMF‐induced structural transformation is realized to obtain non‐emissive R‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 ⋅ DMF (3) and S‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 ⋅ DMF (4) upon exposure to DMF vapor. The transformation process is reversed upon heating. DFT calculations showed that the DMF‐induced‐quenched‐luminescence is attributed to the intersection of the ground and excited state curves on the configuration coordinates. Unexpectedly, the nanocrystals of the chiral antimony halides 1 and 2 were prepared and indicate the excellent solution process performance. The reversible PL and CPL switching gives the system applications in information technology, anti‐counterfeiting, encryption‐decryption, and logic gates.
The chiral hybrid antimony halides R‐/S‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 have excitation‐dependent emission originating from the synergistic effects of ligand and self‐trapped excitons, and exhibit reversible structural transformation between non‐emissive R‐/S‐(C5H12NO)2SbCl5 ⋅ DMF upon exposure to DMF and heat. CPL switch, chiral optical logic gate and anti‐counterfeiting applications have been investigated based on the multiple stimuli‐responsive properties.
This study is aimed at investigating the effects of procyanidin on cardiomyocyte apoptosis of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.
Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into ...four groups: control group (normal saline), ischemic group (normal saline), procyanidin low-dose group (procyanidin 50 mg/kg/day) and procyanidin high-dose group (procyanidin 100 mg/kg/day) by intragastric administration for 2 weeks. After last administration, myocardial I/R model was induced by ligating left anterior descending artery for 30 min followed by 120 min of perfusion. The activity of serum creatine kinase mb isoenzyme (CK-MB) was detected after experiment. The content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was determined by ROS fluorescent probe dihydroethidium; the expressions of p53, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by western blotting; myocardial apoptosis was measured by the method of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling.
Compared with control group, the contents of serum CK-MB, ROS, the expressions of p53, Caspase-9, Caspase-3 and Bax increased significantly in ischemic group, the Bcl-2 expression, Bcl-2/Bax ratio decreased and the cardiomyocyte apoptosis index increased (p < 0.05); compared with ischemic group, the content of CK-MB, ROS, the expressions of p53, Caspase-9, Caspase-3 and Bax decreased, the Bcl-2 expression, Bcl-2/Bax ratio increased and the cardiomyocyte apoptosis index decreased in procyanidin group (p < 0.05).
Procyanidin can reduce cardiomyocyte apoptosis after I/R. This beneficial effect is partially dependant on decreased ROS, p53, Caspase-9, Caspase-3 and Bax, as well as increased Bcl-2 and Bcl-2/Bax ratio.
Network security situation prediction is difficult due to its strong uncertainty, but DS evidence theory performs well in solving the problem of uncertainty. Based on DS evidence theory, this study ...analyzed the prediction of the network security situation, designed a prediction model based on the improved DS evidence theory, and carried out a simulation experiment. The experimental results showed that the improved method could predict accurately in the case of a large conflict, and had strong anti‐jamming abilities as compared with the original method. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the improved method in the prediction of the network security situation and provide some theoretical basis for the further application of DS evidence theory.
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