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•The microbial ecosystem of Chinese liquor cellar was studied as a whole.•Significantly distinctive microbial communities were identified in jiupei and pit mud.•The metabolic ...contribution in organic acid synthesis of jiupei and pit mud microbiota was explored.•Acetate and lactate accumulated in jiupei were further converted to butyrate and hexanoate by pit mud microbiota.•Synergistic cooperation within jiupei and pit mud microbiota drives baijiu’s typical flavor formation.
Mud cellars have long been used as anaerobic bioreactors for the fermentation of Chinese strong-flavor Baijiu, where starchy raw materials (mainly sorghum) are metabolized to ethanol and various flavor compounds by multi-species microorganisms. Jiupei (fermented grains) and pit mud are two spatially linked microbial habitats in the mud cellar, yet their metabolic division of labor remains unclear. Here, we investigated the changes in environmental variables (e.g., temperature, oxygen, pH), key metabolites (e.g., ethanol, organic acids) and microbial communities in jiupei and pit mud during fermentation. Jiupei (low pH, high ethanol) and pit mud (neutral pH) provided two habitats with distinctly different environmental conditions for microbial growth. Lactic acid accumulated in jiupei, while butyric and hexanoic acids were mainly produced by microbes inhabiting the pit mud. Biomass analysis using quantitative real-time PCR showed that bacteria dominated the microbial consortia during fermentation, moreover cluster and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) analysis showed that the bacterial communities of jiupei and pit mud were significantly divergent. The bacterial community diversity of jiupei decreased significantly during the fermentation process, and was relatively stable in pit mud. Lactobacillus dominated the jiupei bacterial community, and its relative abundance reached 98.0% at the end of fermentation. Clostridia (relative abundance: 42.9–85.5%) was the most abundant bacteria in pit mud, mainly distributed in the genus Hydrogenispora (5.3–68.4%). Fungal communities of jiupei and pit mud showed a similar succession pattern, and Kazachstania, Aspergillus and Thermoascus were the predominant genera. PICRUSt analysis demonstrated that enzymes participating in the biosynthesis of acetic and lactic acid were mainly enriched in jiupei samples, while the bacterial community in the pit mud displayed greater potential for butyric and hexanoic acid synthesis. Assays from an in vitro simulated fermentation further validated the roles of jiupei microbiota in acetic and lactic acid production, and these acids were subsequently metabolized to butyric and hexanoic acid by the pit mud microbiota. This work has demonstrated the synergistic cooperation between the microbial communities of jiupei and pit mud for the representative flavor formation of strong-flavor Baijiu.
Summary
Rice grain filling rate contributes largely to grain productivity and accumulation of nutrients. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of development and physiology in plants and become a ...novel key target for engineering grain size and crop yield. However, there is little studies, so far, showing the miRNA regulation of grain filling and rice yield, in consequence. Here, we show that suppressed expression of rice miR1432 (STTM1432) significantly improves grain weight by enhancing grain filling rate and leads to an increase in overall grain yield up to 17.14% in a field trial. Molecular analysis identified rice Acyl‐CoA thioesterase (OsACOT), which is conserved with ACOT13 in other species, as a major target of miR1432 by cleavage. Moreover, overexpression of miR1432‐resistant form of OsACOT (OXmACOT) resembled the STTM1432 plants, that is, a large margin of an increase in grain weight up to 46.69% through improving the grain filling rate. Further study indicated that OsACOT was involved in biosynthesis of medium‐chain fatty acids. In addition, RNA‐seq based transcriptomic analyses of transgenic plants with altered expression of miR1432 demonstrated that downstream genes of miR1432‐regulated network are involved in fatty acid metabolism and phytohormones biosynthesis and also overlap with the enrichment analysis of co‐expressed genes of OsACOT, which is consistent with the increased levels of auxin and abscisic acid in STTM1432 and OXmACOT plants. Overall, miR1432‐OsACOT module plays an important role in grain filling in rice, illustrating its capacity for engineering yield improvement in crops.
Pistachio (Pistacia vera), one of the most important commercial nut crops worldwide, is highly adaptable to abiotic stresses and is tolerant to drought and salt stresses.
Here, we provide a draft de ...novo genome of pistachio as well as large-scale genome resequencing. Comparative genomic analyses reveal stress adaptation of pistachio is likely attributable to the expanded cytochrome P450 and chitinase gene families. Particularly, a comparative transcriptomic analysis shows that the jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthetic pathway plays an important role in salt tolerance in pistachio. Moreover, we resequence 93 cultivars and 14 wild P. vera genomes and 35 closely related wild Pistacia genomes, to provide insights into population structure, genetic diversity, and domestication. We find that frequent genetic admixture occurred among the different wild Pistacia species. Comparative population genomic analyses reveal that pistachio was domesticated about 8000 years ago and suggest that key genes for domestication related to tree and seed size experienced artificial selection.
Our study provides insight into genetic underpinning of local adaptation and domestication of pistachio. The Pistacia genome sequences should facilitate future studies to understand the genetic basis of agronomically and environmentally related traits of desert crops.
The external quantum efficiencies of state-of-the-art colloidal quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are now approaching the limit set by the out-coupling efficiency. However, the brightness of ...these devices is constrained by the use of poorly conducting emitting layers, a consequence of the present-day reliance on long-chain organic capping ligands. Here, we report how conductive and passivating halides can be implemented in Zn chalcogenide-shelled colloidal quantum dots to enable high-brightness green QLEDs. We use a surface management reagent, thionyl chloride (SOCl2), to chlorinate the carboxylic group of oleic acid and graft the surfaces of the colloidal quantum dots with passivating chloride anions. This results in devices with an improved mobility that retain high external quantum efficiencies in the high-injection-current region and also feature a reduced turn-on voltage of 2.5 V. The treated QLEDs operate with a brightness of 460,000 cd m−2, significantly exceeding that of all previously reported solution-processed LEDs.
Rational utilization of biomass waste into usable energy is of great significance. In this work, a facile method was proposed to prepare porous carbon as supercapacitor electrode by using biomass ...waste-kapok flower as a precursor. The obtained porous carbon exhibited hierarchical pores rich in microporous and mesoporous, containing oxygen from kapok flowers. The optimal porous carbon ACF-4.5, which was achieved with a mass ratio of KOH to the precursor obtained from kapok flower was 4.5:1, showed a remarkable electrochemical performance with a capacitance as high as 286.8 F/g at 1 A/g current density. It was worth noting that the capacitance retention rate can still reach 97.4% after 5000 cycles, which indicated that the ACF-4.5 supercapacitor electrode has excellent cyclic stability. Therefore, a strategy that not only utilizes biomass waste, but also produces high-performance supercapacitor electrode in industry effectively was realized.
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•Facile method of preparing porous carbon from biomass waste-kapok flower is proposed.•The oxygen-rich porous structure can be controlled by adjusting KOH/precursor ratio.•A high specific capacitance of 286.8 F/g at 1 A/g for ACF-4.5 was achieved.•The ACF-4.5 electrode shows a capacitance retention rate of 97.4% after 5000 cycles.
In order to fabricate high performance fiber pseudocapacitors, the trade‐off between high mass loading and high utilization efficiency of pseudocapacitive materials should be carefully addressed. ...Here, a solution that is to construct a carbon‐based versatile scaffold is reported for loading pseudocapacitive materials on carbonaceous fibers. The scaffold can be easily built by conformally coating commercial pen ink on the fibers without any destruction to the fiber skeleton. Due to the high electrical conductivity and abundant macropore structure, it can provide sufficient loading room and a high ion/electron conductive network for pseudocapacitive materials. Therefore, their loading mass and utilization efficiency can be increased simultaneously, and thus the as‐designed fibrous electrode displays a high areal capacitance of 649 mF cm−2 (or 122 mF cm−1 based on length), which is higher than most of the reported fiber pseudocapacitors. The simple and low‐cost strategy opens up a new way to prepare high performance portable/wearable energy storage devices.
A versatile carbon‐based scaffold for loading pseudocapacitive materials on carbonaceous fibers is built by conformally coating conductive pen ink on the surface of activated carbon fibers, which enhances the loading mass and utilization efficiency of pseudocapacitive materials simultaneously. The fibrous supercapacitors display a capacitance of up to 649 mF cm−2 and stable cycling performance.
Key message
Cytokinins are a class of phytohormone that participate in the regulation of the plant growth, development, and stress response. In this review, the potential regulating mechanism during ...plant growth and stress response are discussed.
Cytokinins are a class of phytohormone that participate in the regulation of plant growth, physiological activities, and yield. Cytokinins also play a key role in response to abiotic stresses, such as drought, salt and high or low temperature. Through the signal transduction pathway, cytokinins interact with various transcription factors via a series of phosphorylation cascades to regulate cytokinin-target gene expression. In this review, we systematically summarize the biosynthesis and metabolism of cytokinins, cytokinin signaling, and associated gene regulation, and highlight the function of cytokinins during plant development and resistance to abiotic stress. We also focus on the importance of crosstalk between cytokinins and other classes of phytohormones, including auxin, ethylene, strigolactone, and gibberellin. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent findings on the mechanisms by which cytokinins act as central regulators of plant development and stress reactions, and highlight topics for future research.
Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a sensitive, fast, and nondestructive technology to detect trace amounts of molecules. The development of ultrasensitive and environmentally stable ...noble‐metal‐free SERS substrates is crucial for practical applications but still very challenging. In this contribution, an in situ substitutional doping strategy to synthesize Re‐doped WSe2 (Re‐WSe2) with different doping levels is reported. By increasing the Re content to ≈50 at%, the Re‐WSe2 alloy inherits the 1T″ phase of the ReSe2 lattice. Furthermore, Nb atoms are doped into the 1T″ Re‐WSe2 alloy to further modulate its electronic structure. The as synthesized 1T″ Nb, Re‐WSe2 demonstrates a femtomolar‐level molecular sensing capability with a detectable concentration of 5 × 10–15 m and the corresponding enhancement factor is 2.0 × 109, which is superior to that of most non‐noble‐metal SERS substrates and comparable or even superior to that of noble‐metal substrates to the best of the authors’ knowledge. More importantly, the as‐synthesized 1T″ Nb, Re‐WSe2 exhibits excellent air‐stability over a long term (≈6 months) and selective detection capability in the mixed molecular solution, which are essential for their practical applications. The work provides a new strategy for the rational design of noble‐metal‐free SERS substrates to achieve ultrasensitive molecular sensing.
The synthesis of a Nb, Re dual‐doped monolayer WSe2 with the phase modulation is reported. The as‐synthesized Nb, Re‐WSe2 demonstrates an ultrasensitive molecular sensing performance with a record low concentration of 5 × 10–15 m, which is superior to that of most state‐of‐the‐art non‐noble metal substrates, and exhibits excellent environmental stability (≈6 months) and selective detection.
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•Both solution-casting and electrospinning methods are used to fabricate smart membranes.•Electrospun fibrous membrane owns an extended transition range of oil/water wettability.•The ...as-prepared membranes realize many types oil/water separations through regulating the temperature.•The separations are driven only by gravity and exhibit excellent efficiency higher than 98.5%.•Electrospun fibrous membrane achieves a higher liquid flux due to the high porosity and the large surface-to-volume ratio.
Smart polymeric surfaces with switchable oil/water wettability are ideal candidates for oil/water separation, which still suffer from significant restrictions in practical separation applications. Appropriate fabrication method should be explored to devise and mass produce smart polymeric membranes. Herein, we prepared two smart membranes through solution-casting method and electrospinning technology, respectively, based on temperature-responsive copolymer poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMMA-b-PNIPAAm). According to the thermo-responsive component PNIPAAm, both membranes exhibited temperature-modulable oil/water wettability. Electrospun fibrous membrane owned an extended transition range of oil/water wettability compared to polymer solution-casting membrane because of its 3D network porous structure of the random entangled fibers. The as-prepared membranes realized gravity-driven oil/water separation with efficiency higher than 98% through regulating temperature. Solution-casting membrane exhibited a water flux of about 6200Lh−1m−2 and an oil flux of about 1550Lh−1m−2. By contrast, characteristics of the high porosity and the large surface-to-volume ratio made the electrospun fibrous membrane achieve higher fluxes of about 9400Lh−1m−2 for water and about 4200Lh−1 for oil. Electrospinning is a powerful and cost-effective method to construct smart membrane with excellent wetting property and separation performance.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a disease caused by a dysregulated immune with unknown etiology. Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus) is a Chinese medicinal fungus, with the effect of prevention and ...treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. In this study, we have tested the anti-inflammatory effect of polysaccharide of H. erinaceus (HECP, Mw: 86.67 kDa) in the model of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6 mice. Our data indicated that HECP could improve clinical symptoms and down-regulate key markers of oxidative stresses, including nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and myeloperoxidase (MPO). HECP also suppressed the secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and decreased the expression of related mRNA. Meanwhile, HECP blocked phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65, NF-κB inhibitor alpha (IκB-α), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and Protein kinase B (Akt) in DSS-treated mice. Moreover, HECP reversed DSS-induced gut dysbiosis and maintained intestinal barrier integrity. In conclusion, HECP ameliorates DSS-induced intestinal injury in mice, which suggests that HECP can serve as a protective dietary nutrient against IBD.
Hericium erinaceus, is a mushroom with edible values and medicinal properties. Here we reported the anti-inflammatory effect of polysaccharide of H. erinaceus (HECP) in the model of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6 mice. HECP improved clinical symptoms, down regulated oxidative stresses, and suppressed the secretion of inflammatory factors. The mechanism by which it inhibits colitis in mice is blocking phosphorylation of NF-κB, MAPK and Akt in DSS-treated mice. Beside, HECP also modulated the distribution of the intestinal flora and restored the relative abundances of vital bacteria including Clostridiales, Akkermansia as well as Desulfovibrio, and prevented the imbalance of gut microbiota in DSS-induced colitis. Display omitted
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