Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) fulfill various roles ranging from food and entertainment to religion and ornamentation. To survey its genetic diversity and trace the history of ...domestication, we investigated a total of 4938 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragments including 2843 previously published and 2095 de novo units from 2044 domestic chickens and 51 red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). To obtain the highest possible level of molecular resolution, 50 representative samples were further selected for total mtDNA genome sequencing. A fine-gained mtDNA phylogeny was investigated by defining haplogroups A-I and W-Z. Common haplogroups A-G were shared by domestic chickens and red junglefowl. Rare haplogroups H-I and W-Z were specific to domestic chickens and red junglefowl, respectively. We re-evaluated the global mtDNA profiles of chickens. The geographic distribution for each of major haplogroups was examined. Our results revealed new complexities of history in chicken domestication because in the phylogeny lineages from the red junglefowl were mingled with those of the domestic chickens. Several local domestication events in South Asia, Southwest China and Southeast Asia were identified. The assessment of chicken mtDNA data also facilitated our understanding about the Austronesian settlement in the Pacific.
Sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) catalyses the reversible oxidation of sorbitol, xylitol and ribitol to their corresponding ketoses. In this study, we investigated the expression and role of Arabidopsis ...SDH in salt and osmotic stress tolerance, and abscisic acid (ABA) response. The expression patterns of SDH were investigated using transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing beta-glucuronidase (GUS) under control of the promoter with the first intron of SDH. qRT-PCR and histochemical assay of GUS activity were used to study SDH expression regulation by ABA, salt and osmotic stress. SDH-overexpression lines of Arabidopsis were used to investigate the role of SDH in salt and osmotic stress, and ABA response. Arabidopsis SDH was predominantly expressed in source organs such as green cotyledons, fully expanded leaves and sepals, especially in vascular tissues of theses organs. SDH expression was inhibited by NaCl and mannitol treatments. Seed germination and post-germination growth of SDH-overexpressing lines exhibited decreased sensitivity to salt and osmotic stress compared to WT plants. The transcript of SDH was induced by ABA. Overexpression of SDH decreased sensitivity to ABA during seed germination and post-germination growth. Expression of AAO3 increased but ABI5 and MYB2 decreased in SDH-overexpressing lines after ABA treatment. This study demonstrates that expression of SDH is regulated by ABA, salt and osmotic stress. SDH functions in plant tolerance to salt and osmotic stress, and ABA response via specific regulating gene expression of ABA synthesis and signalling in Arabidopsis.
Atomic packing of three Fe-based metallic glasses (MGs) has been studied by X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption fine structure, combining with reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) and ab initio molecular ...dynamics (AIMD) simulations. It is found that the addition of Y and Nb atoms to the binary Fe–B MG mainly stabilizes large high-coordinated polyhedra by substituting the center Fe atoms, promoting the formation of icosahedron-like clusters and their connectivity with high-coordinated polyhedra. Moreover, the heterogeneities in local structures are found to increase due to element segregations of Fe, Y and Nb atoms. The obtained results indicate that the large-sized Y and Nb atoms can frustrate the geometry of competing crystalline phases and improve the atomic packing efficiency, therefore leading to the enhanced glass forming ability.
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Synchrotron x-ray diffraction reveals a pressure induced crystallization at about 3.4 GPa and a polymorphic transition near 10.3 GPa when compressed a liquid GaIn eutectic alloy up to ~13 GPa at room ...temperature in a diamond anvil cell. Upon decompression, the high pressure crystalline phase remains almost unchanged until it transforms to the liquid state at around 2.3 GPa. The ab initio molecular dynamics calculations can reproduce the low pressure crystallization and give some hints on the understanding of the transition between the liquid and the crystalline phase on the atomic level. The calculated pair correlation function g(r) shows a non-uniform contraction reflected by the different compressibility between the short (1st shell) and the intermediate (2nd to 4th shells). It is concluded that the pressure-induced liquid-crystalline phase transformation likely arises from the changes in local atomic packing of the nearest neighbors as well as electronic structures at the transition pressure.
The secondary β-relaxation is an intrinsic feature in glassy materials. However, its structural origin is still not well understood. Here we report that the β-relaxations in La50Al15Ni35 and ...La50Al15Cu35 metallic glasses (MGs) mainly depend on the vibration of small Ni and Cu atoms in local cages. By using advanced synchrotron X-ray techniques and theoretical calculations, we elucidate that the tricapped-trigonal-prism-like polyhedra with more large La atoms in shells favor the local vibration of center Ni atoms, leading to the pronounced β-relaxation event. In contrast, the in-cage vibration of Cu atoms is somehow suppressed by the appearance of more shell Cu atoms. Nevertheless, they could easily diffuse out of the cages compared with Ni, thus triggering the onset of α-relaxation. This work provides a pathway to understand the different structural relaxation behaviors in MGs and other disordered materials from their local atomic packing and dynamics points of view.
We used Banerjee's criteria, modified Arrott plots, and the scaling hypothesis to analyze magnetic-field dependences of magnetization near the ferromagnetic–paramagnetic (FM–PM) phase-transition ...temperature (TC) of perovskite-type manganites La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 (x=0.09, 0.12 and 0.15). In the FM region, experimental results for the critical exponent β (=0.171 and 0.262 for x=0.09 and 0.12, respectively) reveal two first samples exhibiting tricriticality associated with the crossover of first- and second-order phase transitions. Increasing Ni-doping content leads to the shift of the β value (=0.320 for x=0.15) towards that expected for the 3D Ising model (β=0.325). This is due to the fact that the substitution of Ni ions into the Mn site changes structural parameters and dilutes the FM phase, which act as fluctuations and influence the FM-interaction strength of double-exchange Mn3+–Mn4+ pairs, and the phase-transition type. For the critical exponent γ (=0.976–0.990), the stability in its value demonstrates the PM behavior above TC of the samples. Particularly, around TC of La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 compounds, magnetic-field dependences of the maximum magnetic-entropy change can be described by a power law of |ΔSmax|∝Hn, where values n=0.55–0.77 are quite far from those (n=0.33–0.48) calculated from the theoretical relation n=1+(β−1)/(β+γ). This difference is related to the use of the mean-field theory for the samples exhibiting the magnetic inhomogeneity.
•The crossover region of first- and second-order phase transitions in La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3.•Ni-doping and field induced the second-order phase transition.•Magnetic inhomogeneity due to the mixed phase state, and existence of first- and second-order phase transitions.•Assessment of critical exponents associated with field dependences of the magnetic entropy change.
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