Subtribe Orchidinae (Orchidaceae, Orchidoideae) are a nearly cosmopolitan taxon of terrestrial orchids, comprising about 1800 species in 47 to 60 genera. Although much progress has been made in ...recent years of phylogenetics of Orchidinae, considerable problems remain to be addressed. Based on molecular phylogenetics, we attempt to illustrate the phylogenetic relationships and discuss generic delimitation within Orchidinae. Seven DNA markers (five plastid and two nuclear), a broad sampling of Orchidinae (400 species in 52 genera) and three methods of phylogenetic analysis (maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference) were used.
Orchidinae s.l. are monophyletic. Satyrium is sister to the rest of Orchidinae s.l. Brachycorythis and Schizochilus are successive sister to Asian-European Orchidinae s.s. Sirindhornia and Shizhenia are successive sister to clade formed by Tsaiorchis-Hemipilia-Ponerorchis alliance. Stenoglottis is sister to the Habenaria-Herminium-Peristylus alliance. Habenaria, currently the largest genus in Orchidinae, is polyphyletic and split into two distant clades: one Asian-Australian and the other African-American-Asian. Diplomeris is sister to Herminium s.l. plus Asian-Australian Habenaria.
We propose to recognize five genera in the Ponerorchis alliance: Hemipilia, Ponerorchis s.l., Sirindhornia, Shizhenia and Tsaiorchis. Splitting Habenaria into two genera based on morphological characters and geographical distribution may be the least disruptive approach, and it is reasonable to keep Satyrium in Orchidinae.
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal brain networks in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in emotional processing. While any cognitive task consists of a series of stages, ...little is yet known about the topology of functional brain networks in MDD for these stages during emotional face recognition. To address this problem, electroencephalography (EEG)-based functional brain networks of MDD patients at different stages of facial information processing were investigated in this study. First, EEG signals were collected from 16 patients with MDD and 18 age-, gender-, and education-matched normal subjects when performing an emotional face recognition task. Second, the global field power (GFP) method was employed to divide group-averaged event-related potentials into different stages. Third, using the phase transfer entropy (PTE) approach, the brain networks of MDD patients and normal individuals were constructed for each stage in negative and positive face processing, respectively. Finally, we compared the topological properties of brain networks of each stage between the two groups using graph theory approaches. The results showed that the analyzed three stages of emotional face processing corresponded to specific neurophysiological phases, namely, visual perception, face recognition, and emotional decision-making. It was also demonstrated that depressed patients showed abnormally decreased characteristic path length at the visual perception stage of negative face recognition and normalized characteristic path length in the stage of emotional decision-making during positive face processing compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, while both the MDD and normal groups' brain networks were found to exhibit small-world network characteristics, the brain network of patients with depression tended to be randomized. Moreover, for patients with MDD, the centro-parietal region may lose its status as a hub in the process of facial expression identification. Together, our findings suggested that altered emotional function in MDD patients might be associated with disruptions in the topological organization of functional brain networks during emotional face recognition, which further deepened our understanding of the emotion processing dysfunction underlying MDD.
Radiotherapy (RT) mainly elicits antitumor immunity via the cGAS/STING axis for type I interferon (IFN) production. However, dysregulation of cGAS/STING constrains radiotherapy-induced antitumor ...immunity and type I IFN-dependent cell death and is associated with shorter survival of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Due to their tumor tropism, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown the potential to deliver therapeutic genes for cancer therapy. Here, we showed that MSCs enhance the sensitivity to RT by inducing TRAIL-dependent cell death and remodel the tumor microenvironment by recruiting CD8
immune cells to upregulate PD-L1 in the tumor. By engineering MSCs to express CRC-specific soluble TRAIL via adenovirus-associated virus 2 (AAV2), we found that the therapeutic activity of MSC-sTRAIL was superior to that of MSCs alone when combined with RT. Combined treatment with MSC-sTRAIL and RT significantly reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis by inducing TRAIL-dependent cell death in STING-deficient colorectal cancer cells. MSC-sTRAIL directly triggered TRAIL-dependent cell death to overcome the deficiency of the cGAS/STING axis. Moreover, these combination treatments of MSC-sTRAIL and RT significantly remodeled the tumor microenvironment, which was more suitable for anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy. Taken together, this therapeutic strategy represents a novel targeted treatment option for patients with colorectal cancer, especially cGAS/STING-deficient patients.
Cordyceps militaris is a traditional medicinal fungus contains a variety of functional ingredients and has been developed as an important mushroom food recently. Ergothioneine, one of the ...antioxidative compounds in C. militaris, is benefits on aging-related diseases and therefore became a novel functional food nutritive fortifier. Currently, the main diet source of ergothioneine is mushroom food. However, the mushroom farming faces the problems such as rather low ingredient yield and spontaneous degeneration associated fruiting body that restricts large scale production of ergothioneine. In this study, we excavated the ergothioneine synthetases in mushroom and modified the genes in C. militaris to construct a new ergothioneine synthesis pathway. By further introducing this pathway into C. militaris genome, we succeeded to increase the ingredients' production of engineering strain, the highest amount of ergothioneine and cordycepin were up to 2.5 g/kg dry weight and 2 g/L, respectively. Additionally, the expression of ergothioneine synthetase genes in the shape-mutated degenerative C. militaris could recover the ability of degenerative strain to produce high amount of ingredients, suggesting the metabolic regulation of ergothioneine might release the symptom of mushroom degeneration. This study reveals a new pathway to fulfill the market needs of functional mushroom food and food fortifier ergothioneine. It implied the mycelium of C. militaris could be engineered as a novel medicinal mushroom food which could produce higher amount of valuable ingredients.
•Paleoproterozoic magmatism and sedimentation were first discovered in Susong area.•∼2.0 Ga I-type granite was formed by reworking of ancient crust during orogenic event.•Metasedimentary strata and ...mafic dikes representing post-orogenic extensional environment.•Paleoproterozoic rocks represent the tectonic transition from collisional to extensional.
Paleoproterozoic and Archean rocks in the poorly exposed Yangtze Craton provide a unique proxy for understanding early cratonic evolution. In this study, we report the newly discovered Paleoproterozoic granitoids, mafic dikes, and metasedimentary rocks in the Susong area near the northern margin of the Yangtze Craton. The zircon U–Pb analysis results of the Luohanjian granite (hereinafter referred to as LHJ-granite) and mafic dikes yielded 207Pb/206Pb ages of 2020–2002 Ma and 1837 ± 21 Ma, respectively. Metasedimentary strata that were intruded by the mafic dikes yielded detrital zircon 207Pb/206Pb ages of 2.55–2.32 Ga and 2.15–1.93 Ga, suggesting a depositional age of ∼ 1.90–1.85 Ga for the metasedimentary rock. The whole-rock εNd(t) and zircon εHf(t) values of the LHJ-granite were negative and ranged from − 10.4 to − 9.4 and − 11.4 to − 9.0, with corresponding TDM2 model ages of 3.3–3.2 Ga and ∼ 3.1 Ga, respectively. This implies that the granitic magma originated from the reworking of ancient pre-existing crustal components. The granitoids were weakly peraluminous (A/CNK = 1.00–1.18) with high SiO2 concentrations of 71.98–76.00 wt%, LREE enrichment, high (La/Yb)N values of 26.55–100.49, and moderately negative Eu anomalies, characterized by the enrichment of Rb, Ba, Th, U, and Nd, and the relative depletion of Nb, Ta, Sr, P, and Ti. These granite samples exhibited a negative correlation between SiO2 and P2O5 and low Rb/Ba (0.15–0.33) and Rb/Sr (0.30–1.55) ratios. All these features indicate that the LHJ-granite is most likely belongs to I-type granite, which may have formed via the reworking of the TTG gneiss during subduction–collisional events. In combination with the mafic dikes and metasedimentary strata, our study proposes a mid–late Paleoproterozoic geological transition from a compressional to an extensional setting, indicating a tectonic shift from a collision orogeny (2.0 Ga) to a post-collision extensional environment (1.84 Ga) in the Susong region.
Platelets corrugated horn is a promising technology for its scalability to a large corrugated horn array. In this communication, we present the design, fabrication, measurement, and uncertainty ...analysis of a wideband 170-320 GHz platelet corrugated horn that features with low sidelobe across the band (<−30 dB). We also propose an accurate and universal method to analyze the axial misalignment of the platelets for the first time. It is based on the mode matching (MM) method with a closed-form solution to off-axis circular waveguide discontinuities obtained by using Graf addition theorem for the Bessel functions. The uncertainties introduced in the fabrication have been quantitatively analyzed using the Monte Carlo method. The analysis shows that the cross-polarization of the corrugated horn degrades significantly with the axial misalignment. It well explains the discrepancy between the designed and the measured cross-polarization of platelets corrugated horn fabricated in the THz band. The method can be used to determine the fabrication tolerance needed for other THz corrugated horns and evaluate the impact of the corrugated horn for astronomical observations.
Zwitterionic materials have emerged as highly effective ultralow fouling materials for many applications, however the underlying mechanism of fouling resistance remains unclear. Using
ab initio
...molecular dynamics simulations and surface-sensitive sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy, we studied the hydration behaviors of zwitterionic materials, including trimethylamine-
N
-oxide (TMAO) and carboxybetaines of different charge-separation distances, to understand their fouling-resistant mechanism and provide a design principle for improved performance. Our study reveals that the interplay among hydrogen bonding, net charge, and dipole moment is crucial to the fouling-resistant capabilities of zwitterionic materials. Shortening of the zwitterionic spacing strengthens hydrogen bonding with water against biomolecule attachment due to the increased electrostatic and induction interactions, charge transfer, and improved structural stability. Moreover, the shortened charge separation reduces the dipole moment of zwitterionic materials with an intrinsic near-neutral net charge, decreasing their electrostatic and dipole-dipole interactions with biofoulers, and increasing their resistance to fouling. Compared to carboxybetaine compounds, TMAO has the shortest zwitterionic spacing and exhibits the strongest hydrogen bonding, the smallest net charge, and the minimum dipole moment, making it an excellent nonfouling material.
Understanding the nonfouling mechanism of zwitterionic materials is crucial for their broad applications. Our study reveals the importance of strong hydration bonding, near-neutral net charge, and small dipole moment in achieving fouling resistance.
Chemotherapy resistance accompanied by energy metabolism abnormality functions as one of the main reasons for treatment failure and poor prognosis. However, the function of N6-methyladenosine ...(m6A)-modified circular RNA (circRNA) on osteosarcoma (OS) is still unclear. Here, present research investigated the potential role and mechanism of circARHGAP12 on OS doxorubicin (Dox) resistance and aerobic glycolysis. Results indicated that circARHGAP12 was a novel m6A-modified circRNA, which was up-regulated in OS cells. Overexpression of circARHGAP12 promoted the Dox resistance half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and aerobic glycolysis (glucose uptake, lactate and ATP production) in OS cells (Saos-2/Dox, MG63/Dox). Mechanistically, m6A-modified circARHGAP12 could bind with c-Myc mRNA through m6A-dependent manner, thereby enhancing the c-Myc mRNA stability. Thus, these findings revealed the critical function of circARHGAP12 on OS Dox-resistance and aerobic glycolysis. Taken together, our study demonstrated a critical function of circARHGAP12 on OS chemotherapy resistance and energy metabolism abnormality, providing critical roles on OS treatment.
In our previous study, we reported that sirtuin5 (SIRT5), a member of the NAD
-dependent class III histone deacetylase family, is highly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC). Herein we show that ...SIRT5 knockdown impairs the production of ribose-5-phosphate, which is essential for nucleotide synthesis, resulting in continuous and irreparable DNA damage and consequently leading to cell cycle arrest and enhanced apoptosis in CRC cells. These SIRT5 silencing-induced effects can be reversed by nucleoside supplementation. Mechanistically, SIRT5 activates transketolase (TKT), a key enzyme in the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, in a demalonylation-dependent manner. Furthermore, TKT is essential for SIRT5-induced malignant phenotypes of CRC both in vivo and in vitro. Altogether, SIRT5 silencing induces DNA damage in CRC via post-translational modifications and inhibits tumor growth, suggesting that SIRT5 can serve as a promising target for CRC treatment.
Three-dimensional distributions of the apparent heat source (Q₁) – radiative heating (QR
) estimated from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) utilizing the spectral ...latent heating (SLH) algorithm are analyzed. Mass-weighted and vertically integratedQ₁ –QR
averaged over the tropical oceans is estimated as ∼72.6 J s−1(∼2.51 mm day−1) and that over tropical land is ∼73.7 J s−1(∼2.55 mm day−1) for 30°N–30°S. It is shown that nondrizzle precipitation over tropical and subtropical oceans consists of two dominant modes of rainfall systems: deep systems and congestus. A rough estimate of the shallow-heating contribution against the total heating is about 46.7% for the average tropical oceans, which is substantially larger than the 23.7% over tropical land.
Although cumulus congestus heating linearly correlates with SST, deep-mode heating is dynamically bounded by large-scale subsidence. It is notable that a substantial amount of rain, as large as 2.38 mm day−1on average, is brought from congestus clouds under the large-scale subsiding circulation. It is also notable that, even in the region with SSTs warmer than 28°C, large-scale subsidence effectively suppresses the deep convection, with the remaining heating by congestus clouds.
The results support that the entrainment of mid–lower-tropospheric dry air, which accompanies the large-scale subsidence, is the major factor suppressing the deep convection. Therefore, a representation of the realistic entrainment is very important for proper reproduction of precipitation distribution and the resultant large-scale circulation.
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