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•3D hierarchical LSTN@NiMn-layered double hydroxide electroctalyst developed for hydrogen production.•Electrocatalyst showed superior HER and OER performance comparable to noble ...metals.•The enhancing the overall activity is attributed to the interface engineering of perovskite and layered hydroxides.
The development of bifunctional electrocatalyst with effective activity and high stability for water splitting reactions is essential for hydrogen production and fuel cell technology. Herein, a 3D hierarchical heterostructure LSTN@NiMn-layered double hydroxide (La0.4Sr0.4Ti0.9Ni0.1O3-δ @NiMn-LDH) supported on highly conductive nickel foam, is presented as a novel bifunctional electrocatalyst with outstanding performance. LSTN heterostructure synthesized by sol-gel method followed by hydrothermal reaction to grow LDH layers (LSTN@NiMn-LDH) resulted in phenomenal bifunctional activity towards both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), by exhibiting a low overpotential of 125 mV at 15 mA cm−2 (OER) and 32 mV at 10 mA cm−2 (HER). Moreover, the 3D electrode showed good long-term durability for 24 hrs. stability test at a current density of 100 µA cm−2, as well as constant LSV results after operating HER for 1000 cycles. This approach of preparing heterostructure LSTN@NiMn-LDH combines the fundamental properties of La0.4Sr0.4Ti0.9Ni0.1O3-δ (highly efficient HER catalyst) with NiMn-LDH (catalytically active for OER) by using interface engineering, resultantly opens a new way of enhancing the overall activity of water splitting reactions.
Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (GGPS) is a structural enzyme of the terpene biosynthesis pathway that is involved in regulating plant photosynthesis, growth and development, but this gene ...family has not been systematically studied in cotton.
In the current research, genome-wide identification was performed, and a total of 75 GGPS family members were found in four cotton species, Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium raimondii. The GGPS genes were divided into three subgroups by evolutionary analysis. Subcellular localization prediction showed that they were mainly located in chloroplasts and plastids. The closely related GGPS contains a similar gene structure and conserved motif, but some genes are quite different, resulting in functional differentiation. Chromosome location analysis, collinearity and selection pressure analysis showed that many fragment duplication events occurred in GGPS genes. Three-dimensional structure analysis and conservative sequence analysis showed that the members of the GGPS family contained a large number of α-helices and random crimps, and all contained two aspartic acid-rich domains, DDxxxxD and DDxxD (x is an arbitrary amino acid), suggesting its key role in function. Cis-regulatory element analysis showed that cotton GGPS may be involved in light response, abiotic stress and other processes. A GGPS gene was silenced successfully by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), and it was found that the chlorophyll content in cotton leaves decreased significantly, suggesting that the gene plays an important role in plant photosynthesis.
In total, 75 genes were identified in four Gossypium species by a series of bioinformatics analysis. Gene silencing from GGPS members of G. hirsutum revealed that GGPS plays an important regulatory role in photosynthesis. This study provides a theoretical basis for the biological function of GGPS in cotton growth and development.
Key message
Analysis of fiber quality lncRNAs and their target genes from a pair of
Gossypium mustelinum
near-isogenic lines provide new prospects for improving the fiber quality of Upland cotton.
...Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an important part of genome transcription and play roles in a wide range of biological processes in plants. In this research, a pair of near-isogenic cotton lines, namely, a
Gossypium mustelinum
introgression line (IL9) with outstanding fiber quality and its recurrent Upland cotton parent (PD94042), were used as the experimental materials. Cotton fibers were selected for lncRNA sequencing at 17 and 21 days post-anthesis. A total of 2693 differentially expressed genes were identified. In total, 5841 lncRNAs were ultimately screened, from which 163 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified. Target genes of the lncRNAs were predicted by two different methods:
cis
and
trans
. Some of the target genes were related to cell components, membrane components, plant hormone signal transduction and catalytic metabolism, and the results indicated that there might also be important effects on the development of fiber. Four differentially expressed target genes related to fiber quality (
Gomus.D05G015100
,
Gomus.A05G281300
,
Gomus.A12G023400
and
Gomus.A10G226800
) were screened through gene function annotation, and the functions of these four genes were verified through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). Compared to the negative controls, plants in which any of these four genes were silenced showed significant reductions in fiber strength. In addition, the plants in which the
Gomus.A12G023400
gene was silenced showed a significant reduction in fiber uniformity, whereas the plants in which
Gomus.A05G281300
was silenced showed a significant increase in fiber fineness as measured via micronaire. Our results showed that these genes play different roles during fiber development, impacting fiber quality.
Cottonseed is an invaluable resource, providing protein, oil, and abundant minerals that significantly contribute to the well-being and nutritional needs of both humans and livestock. However, ...cottonseed also contains a toxic substance called gossypol, a secondary metabolite in
Gossypium
species that plays an important role in cotton plant development and self-protection. Herein, genome-wide analysis and characterization of the terpene synthase (TPS) gene family identified 304 TPS genes in
Gossypium
. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the gene family was grouped into six subgroups TPS-a, TPS-b, TPS-c, TPS-e, TPS-f, and TPS-g. Whole-genome, segmental, and tandem duplication contributed to the evolution of TPS genes. According to the analysis of selection pressure, it was predicted that TPS genes experience predominantly negative selection, with positive selection occurring subsequently. RT-qPCR analysis in TM-1 and CRI-12 lines revealed
GhTPS48
gene as the candidate gene for silencing experiments. To summarize, comprehensive genome-wide studies, RT-qPCR, and gene silencing experiments have collectively demonstrated the involvement of the TPS gene family in the biosynthesis of gossypol in cotton.
Sustainability necessitates the protection of infrastructure from any kind of deterioration over the life cycle of the asset. Deterioration in the capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructure ...(e.g., bridges, buildings, etc.) may result from localised damage sustained during extreme loading scenarios, such as earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis. In addition, factors such as the corrosion of rebars or ageing may also deteriorate or degrade the capacity of an RC column, thereby necessitating immediate strengthening to either extend or ensure its design life is not limited. The aim of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art review of various strengthening and repair methods for RC columns proposed by different researchers in the last two decades. The scope of this review paper is limited to jacketing techniques for strengthening and/or repairing both normal- and high-strength RC columns. The paper also identifies potential research gaps and outlines the future direction of research into the strengthening and repair of RC columns.
Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) are a family of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of aldehyde molecules into the corresponding carboxylic acid, regulate the balance of aldehydes and protect plants ...from the poisoning caused by excessive accumulation of aldehydes; however, this gene family has rarely been studied in cotton.
In the present study, genome-wide identification was performed, and a total of 114 ALDH family members were found in three cotton species, Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium raimondii. The ALDH genes were divided into six subgroups by evolutionary analysis. ALDH genes in the same subgroup showed similar gene structures and conserved motifs, but some genes showed significant differences, which may result in functional differences. Chromosomal location analysis and selective pressure analysis revealed that the ALDH gene family had experienced many fragment duplication events. Cis-acting element analysis revealed that this gene family may be involved in the response to various biotic and abiotic stresses. The RT‒qPCR results showed that the expression levels of some members of this gene family were significantly increased under salt stress conditions. Gohir.A11G040800 and Gohir.D06G046200 were subjected to virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) experiments, and the sensitivity of the silenced plants to salt stress was significantly greater than that of the negative control plants, suggesting that Gohir.A11G040800 and Gohir.D06G046200 may be involved in the response of cotton to salt stress.
In total, 114 ALDH genes were identified in three Gossypium species by a series of bioinformatics analysis. Gene silencing of the ALDH genes of G. hirsutum revealed that ALDH plays an important role in the response of cotton to salt stress.
Background: In various biological processes and cell functions, Post Translational Modifications (PTMs) bear critical significance. Hydroxylation of proline residue is one kind of PTM, which occurs ...following protein synthesis. The experimental determination of hydroxyproline sites in an uncharacterized protein sequence requires extensive, time-consuming and expensive tests.
Methods: With the torrential slide of protein sequences produced in the post-genomic age, certain remarkable computational strategies are desired to overwhelm the issue. Keeping in view the composition and sequence order effect within polypeptide chains, an innovative in-silico predictor via a mathematical model is proposed.
Results: Later, it was stringently verified using self-consistency, cross-validation and jackknife tests on benchmark datasets. It was established after a rigorous jackknife test that the new predictor values are superior to the values predicted by previous methodologies.
Conclusion: This new mathematical technique is the most appropriate and encouraging as compared with the existing models.
In this paper, we propose a circularly polarized (CP) ultra-wideband (UWB) MIMO antenna. Compared with common linearly polarized (LP) UWB antenna, the proposed antenna can excite circular ...polarization (CP) mode for WLAN communication and its impedance bandwidth can also fully cover UWB spectrum. It consists of identical circularly polarized antennas. Each unit adopts circular monopole with extended orthogonal rectangle patch to realize broadband and symmetrical rectangular ground with slot in the diagonal of each antenna unit to achieve circular polarization for WLAN band. It has a very compact size and the dimension is 25 × 51 × 0.8 mm3. The impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna is from 3.1 GHz to 13.5 GHz, with average gain of 4 dBi, fully covering UWB bandwidth and enhanced by 38%. At the same time, circular polarization is achieved by embedding two symmetrical rectangular slot structures in the two opposite corners of every antenna unit. The extended orthogonal rectangle patch is introduced to enhance impedance bandwidth and broaden axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. The measured 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 1.8 GHz (4.7-6.5 GHz), fully covering WLAN band. Meanwhile, the slit slot between antenna units and rectangular openings are introduced to achieve high isolation. The proposed antenna keeps ECC (envelope correlation coefficient) below 0.01, which showing good isolation and diversity characteristics. The proposed antenna can simultaneously operate in the UWB spectrum and exhibit circularly polarized (CP) radiation characteristic in WLAN.
Drug carriers have been designed and investigated remarkably due to their effective use in the modern medication process. In this study, the decoration of the Mg12O12 nanocluster has been done with ...transition metals (Ni and Zn) for effective adsorption of metformin (anticancer drug). Decoration of Ni and Zn on a nanocluster allows two geometries, and similarly, the adsorption of metformin also provides two geometries. Density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory have been employed at the B3LYP with 6-311G(d,p) level. The decoration of Ni and Zn offers good attachment and detachment of the drug, which is observed from their good adsorption energy values. Further, the reduction in the energy band gap is noted in the metformin-adsorbed nanocluster, which allows high charge transfer from a lower energy level to a high energy level. The drug carrier systems show an efficient working mechanism in a water solvent with the visible-light absorption range. Natural bonding orbital and dipole moment values suggested that the adsorption of the metformin causes charge separation in these systems. Moreover, low values of chemical softness with a high electrophilic index recommended that these systems are naturally stable with the least reactivity. Thus, we offer novel kinds of Ni- and Zn-decorated Mg12O12 nanoclusters as efficient carriers for metformin and also recommend them to experimentalists for the future development of drug carriers.
Mental health disorders are an emerging challenge with the progressively increasing usage of social media platforms. Social media use is the second leading cause of disability among psychiatric ...disorders. A great deal of literature has tried to establish links between social media exposure and mental health diseases. However, there is a need to discuss the current literature that presents crucial perspectives on social media-induced psychiatric disorders to establish a holistic, evidence-based approach for their prevention and treatment. The use of social networks is strongly correlated with the development of anxiety and other psychological problems such as depression, insomnia, stress, decreased subjective happiness, and a sense of mental deprivation. The majority of the cited literature predicts that the likelihood of social media-induced mental health problems is directly proportional to the amount of time spent on these sites, the frequency of usage, and the number of platforms being used. Various possible explanations have been implicated, including a negative impact on self-esteem through unhealthy comparisons, social media burnout, stress, lack of emotional regulation due to social media preoccupation, and development of social anxiety due to decreased real-life social interactions. It has been postulated that increased social media use is driven by preexisting anxiety and is a coping strategy. This era of progressively increasing digitalization, the recent trend of a dramatic shift toward online social life, and the desire to get social attention is expected to take a gruesome toll on the population's mental health, which therefore warrants more attention to mental health care.
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