A novel p-n junction photocatalyst of Bi4Ti3O12 nanofibers-BiOI nanosheets has been fabricated through a simple and economical technique of electrospinning combined with a successive ionic layer ...adsorption and reaction (SILAR) process. The products are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The as-formed Bi4Ti3O12 nanofibers are composed of inter-linked nanoparticles of 50-80 nm in size. The thickness of the as-grown BiOI nanosheets is about 10 nm and the size of the BiOI nanosheets increases with the SILAR cycles. In particular, many {001} facets of BiOI nanosheets are exposed, which is favorable to enhance the visible-light photocatalytic activity. The p-n junction photocatalyst exhibits enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for decomposition of rhodamine B (RhB) and phenol. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the extended absorption in the visible light region resulting from the BiOI nanosheets and the effective separation of photogenerated carriers driven by the photo-induced potential difference generated at the Bi4Ti3O12-BiOI p-n junction interface.
Although the functions of carotenogenic genes are well documented, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate their expression, especially those genes involved in α- and β-branch carotenoid ...metabolism.
In this study, an R2R3-MYB transcriptional factor (CrMYB68) that directly regulates the transformation of α- and β-branch carotenoids was identified using Green Ougan (MT), a stay-green mutant of Citrus reticulata cv Suavissima. A comprehensive analysis of developing and harvested fruits indicated that reduced expression of β-carotene hydroxylases 2 (CrBCH2) and 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase 5 (CrNCED5) was responsible for the delay in the transformation of α- and β-carotene and the biosynthesis of ABA. Additionally, the expression of these genes was negatively correlated with the expression of CrMYB68 in MT.
Further, electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) and dual luciferase assays indicated that CrMYB68 can directly and negatively regulate CrBCH2 and CrNCED5. Moreover, transient overexpression experiments using leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana indicated that CrMYB68 can also negatively regulate NbBCH2 and NbNCED5.
To overcome the difficulty of transgenic validation, we quantified the concentrations of carotenoids and ABA, and gene expression in a revertant of MT. The results of these experiments provide more evidence that CrMYB68 is an important regulator of carotenoid metabolism.
AP2/ERF (APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor) is a family of plant-specific transcription factors whose members are widely involved in many biological processes, such as growth, development, and ...biotic and abiotic stress responses. Here, 20
genes were identified based on wheat RNA-seq data before and after drought stress, and classified as AP2, ERF, DREB, and RAV. The analysis of gene structure revealed that about 85% of
family members had lost introns, which are presumed to have been lost during the formation and evolution of the wheat genome. The expression of 20
family genes could be verified by qRT-PCR, which further supported the validity of the RNA-seq data. Subsequently, subcellular localization and transcriptional activity experiments showed that the ERF proteins were mainly located in the nucleus and were self-activating, which further supports their functions as transcription factors. Furthermore, we isolated a novel
gene induced by drought, salt, and cold stresses and named it
.
overexpression increased sensitivity to drought and salt stresses in
, which was supported by physiological and biochemical indices. Moreover, the expression of stress- and antioxidant-related genes was downregulated in
-overexpressing plants. Overall, these results contribute to the further understanding of the
gene function in wheat.
Classical theoretical approaches to evaluate CPTU-based hydraulic conductivity gave the expression of a bilinear relation defined by KD-BqQt, for undrained and drained soils. In fact, a dividing line ...may be selected with a certain degree of subjectivity, and several undrained/drained points occur in opposite sites, which may make us doubt the necessity of two intersecting lines to distinguish the undrained and drained soils. And a uniform and relatively simple curve including an arc, parabola, or ellipse correlation may be more suitable and accessible from a practical point of view. A database in the Yangtze Delta region has been collated to assess the three curves compared with the bilinear line. With the graphical and statistical analyses, the results indicate that the arc, parabola, and ellipse simplified curves could give better performance than the bilinear line. Through the statistical analyses and the number of variables, the overall best curve was the ellipse with only two variables, which is expected to improve the application scope and simplicity of hydraulic conductivity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The object of this paper is to gather, analyze and assess CPT–Vs correlation equations. Consequently, in this paper the validity of some of these correlations between Vs and CPT parameters for ...Jiangsu clays was assessed using piezocone data from Yangtze Delta deposits through six existing and two new indexes and the cumulative frequency curve graph. Common existing correlations are briefly reviewed and discussed. New empirical formulae are suggested to correlate CPT-based parameters and Vs, using regression analysis. The comparison is conducted between the existing and proposed equation based on a dataset collected at seven sites in Jiangsu, China. This paper proposes a new statistical assessment method taking the location of the points into account, including the perfect distance and the slope of the specific line that links the point D10 and the point D90. The method is more obvious and accurate. The results of these indexes and the cumulative frequency curve graph show that a new improved expression gave better performance. The new indexes and the cumulative frequency curve graph can surely be used to analyze and assess correlations including the new expression, which is very helpful to evaluate correlations.
•The study focuses primarily on five reasons to explain the empirical correlations for the shear wave velocity of soils.•This paper proposes two new indexes and the cumulative frequency curve graph.•A new improved expression helps better assess CPT–Vs correlation for Jiangsu Clays.
Chemical design of SiO2-based glasses with high elastic moduli and low weight is of great interest. However, it is difficult to find a universal expression to predict the elastic moduli according to ...the glass composition before synthesis since the elastic moduli are a complex function of interatomic bonds and their ordering at different length scales. Here we show that the densities and elastic moduli of SiO2-based glasses can be efficiently predicted by machine learning (ML) techniques across a complex compositional space with multiple (>10) types of additive oxides besides SiO2. Our machine learning approach relies on a training set generated by high-throughput molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, a set of elaborately constructed descriptors that bridges the empirical statistical modeling with the fundamental physics of interatomic bonding, and a statistical learning/predicting model developed by implementing least absolute shrinkage and selection operator with a gradient boost machine (GBM-LASSO). The predictions of the ML model are comprehensively compared and validated with a large amount of both simulation and experimental data. By just training with a dataset only composed of binary and ternary glass samples, our model shows very promising capabilities to predict the density and elastic moduli for k-nary SiO2-based glasses beyond the training set. As an example of its potential applications, our GBM-LASSO model was used to perform a rapid and low-cost screening of many (~105) compositions of a multicomponent glass system to construct a compositional-property database that allows for a fruitful overview on the glass density and elastic properties.
Key message
CitWRKY28 and CitNAC029 are involved in cuticular wax synthesis as indicated by the comparative analysis of fruit aliphatic wax content between
Citrus reticulata
and
Citrus trifoliata
and ...gene co-expression analysis.
Cuticular wax covers the fruit surface, playing important roles in reduction of fruit water loss and resistance to pathogen invasion. However, there is limited research on the synthesis and transcriptional regulation of cuticular wax in citrus fruit. In this study, we characterized the variations of aliphatic wax in HJ (
Citrus reticulata
) and ZK (
Citrus trifoliata
) from young fruit to mature fruit, as well as performed transcriptome sequencing on 27 samples at different fruit developmental stages. The results revealed that the ZK fruit always had a higher aliphatic wax content than the HJ fruit during development. qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that two
KCS
genes,
CitKCS1
and
CitKCS12
, had the most significant difference in expression between HJ and ZK. Furthermore, a heterologous expression assay in
Arabidopsis
indicated that
CitKCS1
and
CitKCS12
are involved in cuticular wax synthesis. Subsequently, gene co-expression network analysis screened CitWRKY28 and CitNAC029. Dual luciferase and EMSA assays indicated that CitWRKY28 might bind to the promoter of
CitKCS1
and
CitKCS12
and CitNAC029 might bind to that of
CitKCS1
to activate their expression. Moreover, CitWRKY28 and CitNAC029 could promote the accumulation of cuticular wax in
Arabidopsis
leaves. Our findings provide new insights into the synthesis and regulation of cuticular wax and valuable information for further mining of wax-related genes in citrus fruit.
The piezocone penetration test (CPTU) is widely used to estimate the soil properties, in geotechnical engineering. This study focuses on the developed graphical assessment method through existing ...CPTU-based
I
c
–
k
(soil behavior index-hydraulic conductivity) correlations and a proposed new one. Frequency curve graph is extended to the differences of different curves more clearly, by comparing downward trend of curves, calculating areas and introducing derived novel area indexes. The combination of the clarity of frequency curve graphs and the derivative indexes will ensure the suitability and accuracy, especially for engineers. The results of the traditional statistical index and the developed graphic assessment show that the proposed correlations show better performance. Hence, the proposed method could be further applied to different engineering fields.
Corrosion of metals in atmospheric environments is a worldwide problem in industry and daily life. Traditional anticorrosion methods including sacrificial anodes or protective coatings have ...performance limitations. Here, we report atomically thin, polycrystalline few-layer graphene (FLG) grown by chemical vapor deposition as a long-term protective coating film for copper (Cu). A six-year old, FLG-protected Cu is visually shiny and detailed material characterizations capture no sign of oxidation. The success of the durable anticorrosion film depends on the misalignment of grain boundaries between adjacent graphene layers. Theoretical calculations further found that corrosive molecules always encounter extremely high energy barrier when diffusing through the FLG layers. Therefore, the FLG is able to prevent the corrosive molecules from reaching the underlying Cu surface. This work highlights the interesting structures of polycrystalline FLG and sheds insight into the atomically thin coatings for various applications.
Typical thioredoxin (TRX) plays an important role in maintaining redox balance in plants. However, the typical
genes in wheat still need to be comprehensively and deeply studied. In this research, a ...total of 48 typical
genes belonging to eight subtypes were identified
a genome-wide search in wheat, and the gene structures, protein conserved motifs, and protein 3D structures of the same subtype were very similar. Evolutionary analysis showed that there are two pairs of tandem duplication genes and 14 clusters of segmental duplication genes in typical
family members;
,
, and
had positive selection compared with the orthologs of their ancestral species; rice and maize have 11 and 13 orthologous typical
with wheat, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis indicated that typical
were involved in maintaining redox homeostasis in wheat cells. Estimation of ROS content, determination of antioxidant enzyme activity, and gene expression analysis in a line overexpressing one typical
confirmed that
plays an important role in maintaining redox balance in wheat. A predictive analysis of
-acting elements in the promoter region showed that typical
were extensively involved in various hormone metabolism and response processes to stress. The results predicted using public databases or verified using RT-qPCR show that typical
were able to respond to biotic and abiotic stresses, and their expression in wheat was spatiotemporal. A total of 16 wheat proteins belonging to four different families interacting with typical TaTRXs were predicted. The above comprehensive analysis of typical
genes can enrich our understanding of this gene family in wheat and provide valuable insights for further gene function research.
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