Intercropping is one of the most vital practice to improve land utilization rate in China that has limited arable land resource. However, the traditional intercropping systems have many disadvantages ...including illogical field lay-out of crops, low economic value, and labor deficiency, which cannot balance the crop production and agricultural sustainability. In view of this, we developed a novel soybean strip intercropping model using maize as the partner, the regular maize-soybean strip intercropping mainly popularized in northern China and maize-soybean relay-strip intercropping principally extended in southwestern China. Compared to the traditional maize-soybean intercropping systems, the main innovation of field lay-out style in our present intercropping systems is that the distance of two adjacent maize rows are shrunk as a narrow strip, and a strip called wide strip between two adjacent narrow strips is expanded reserving for the growth of two or three rows of soybean plants. The distance between outer rows of maize and soybean strips are expanded enough for light use efficiency improvement and tractors working in the soybean strips. Importantly, optimal cultivar screening and increase of plant density achieved a high yield of both the two crops in the intercropping systems and increased land equivalent ratio as high as 2.2. Annually alternative rotation of the adjacent maize- and soybean-strips increased the grain yield of next seasonal maize, improved the absorption of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potasium of maize, while prevented the continuous cropping obstacles. Extra soybean production was obtained without affecting maize yield in our strip intercropping systems, which balanced the high crop production and agricultural sustainability.
Xylan is the major plant hemicellulosic polysaccharide in the secondary cell wall. The transcription factor KNOTTED‐LIKE HOMEOBOX OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA 7 (KNAT7) regulates secondary cell wall ...biosynthesis, but its exact role in regulating xylan biosynthesis remains unclear. Using transactivation analyses, we demonstrate that KNAT7 activates the promoters of the xylan biosynthetic genes, IRREGULAR XYLEM 9 (IRX9), IRX10, IRREGULAR XYLEM 14‐LIKE (IRX14L), and FRAGILE FIBER 8 (FRA8). The knat7 T‐DNA insertion mutants have thinner vessel element walls and xylary fibers, and thicker interfascicular fiber walls in inflorescence stems, relative to wild‐type (WT). KNAT7 overexpression plants exhibited opposite effects. Glycosyl linkage and sugar composition analyses revealed lower xylan levels in knat7 inflorescence stems, relative to WT; a finding supported by labeling of inflorescence walls with xylan‐specific antibodies. The knat7 loss‐of‐function mutants had lower transcript levels of the xylan biosynthetic genes IRX9, IRX10, and FRA8, whereas KNAT7 overexpression plants had higher mRNA levels for IRX9, IRX10, IRX14L, and FRA8. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated that KNAT7 binds to the IRX9 promoter. These results support the hypothesis that KNAT7 positively regulates xylan biosynthesis.
KNAT7, as a transcription factor repressor, has been shown to negatively regulate secondary cell wall biosynthesis. In this study, we demonstrate that KNAT7 positively regulates xylan biosynthesis, which is one of the main components of secondary cell wall, by activating xylan biosynthesis genes IRX9, IRX10, IRX14L and FRA8.
Background
Recent clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of vonoprazan‐amoxicillin (VA) dual therapy as the first‐line treatment for Helicobacter pylori infection in different regions with ...inconsistent results reported. In this systematic review and meta‐analysis, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of VA dual therapy compared to the currently recommended therapy for eradicating H. pylori.
Materials and Methods
A comprehensive search of the PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases was performed using the following search terms: (“Helicobacter” OR “H. pylori” OR “Hp”) AND (“vonoprazan” OR “potassium‐competitive acid blocker” OR “P‐CAB”) AND (“amoxicillin” OR “penicillin”) AND (“dual”). The primary outcome was to evaluate the eradication rate according to intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol analysis. The secondary outcomes were adverse events and compliance.
Results
A total of 15 studies involving 4, 568 patients were included. The pooled eradication rate of VA dual therapy was 85.0% and 90.0% by intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol analysis, respectively. The adverse events rate and compliance of VA dual therapy were 17.5% and 96%, respectively. The efficacy of VA dual therapy was superior to proton pump inhibitors‐based triple therapy (82.0% vs. 71.4%, p < 0.01) but lower than vonoprazan‐containing quadruple therapy (83.1% vs. 93.3%, p = 0.02). 7‐day VA dual therapy showed lower eradication rates than 10‐day (χ2 = 24.09, p < 0.01) and 14‐day VA dual therapy (χ2 = 11.87, p < 0.01). The adverse events rate of VA dual therapy was lower than vonoprazan triple therapy (24.6% vs. 30.9%, p = 0.01) and bismuth‐containing quadruple therapy (20.5% vs. 47.9%, p < 0.01). No significant difference of compliance was observed between VA dual therapy and each subgroup.
Conclusion
VA dual therapy, a novel regimen, showed high efficacy as the first‐line treatment for H. pylori eradication, which should be optimized before application in different regions.
Excessive rainfall provides a favorable condition for field mold infection of plants, which triggers field mold (FM) stress. If FM stress occurs during the late maturation stage of soybean seed, it ...negatively affects seed yield and quality. To investigate the responses of soybean seed against FM stress and identify the underlying biochemical pathways involved, a greenhouse was equipped with an artificial rain producing system to allow the induction of mold growth on soybean seed. The induced quality changes and stress responses were revealed on the levels of both transcriptome and metabolome. The results showed that soybean seeds produced under FM stress conditions had an abnormal and inferior appearance, and also contained less storage reserves, such as protein and polysaccharide. Transcriptional analysis demonstrated that genes involved in amino acid metabolism, glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid, β-oxidation of fatty acids, and isoflavone biosynthesis were induced by FM stress. These results were supported by a multiple metabolic analysis which exhibited increases in the concentrations of a variety of amino acids, sugars, organic acids, and isoflavones, as well as reductions of several fatty acids. Reprogramming of these metabolic pathways mobilized and consumed stored protein, sugar and fatty acid reserves in the soybean seed in order to meet the energy and substrate demand on the defense system, but led to deterioration of seed quality. In general, FM stress induced catabolism of storage reserves and diminished the quality of soybean seed in the field. This study provides a more profound insight into seed deterioration caused by FM stress.
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•Surface-manipulated membranes were prepared to firstly exert AME-D in MBfRs.•Improved interfacial interaction energy between microbes and modified membrane.•Modified membrane ...accelerates biofilm formation and shortens MBfR start-up time.•Biofilm resistance is enhanced for stable denitrification performances of MBfR.
Undesired long start-up time and unstable denitrification performance are major bottlenecks for engineering application of methane-based membrane biofilm reactors (MBfRs). In this study, two surface-manipulated membranes by respectively coating dopamine (DOPA) and grafting methoxy-poly(ethyleneglycol)-amine (mPEG-NH2) onto the base polypropylene (PP) membrane were prepared, and for the first employed to aerobic methane oxidation coupled to denitrification (AME-D) process in MBfRs for quick biofilm formation and improving denitrification performance. The experiments demonstrated that the modified membranes, especially for PP/DOPA/mPEGNH2 membrane, accelerated biofilm formation, and then shorten above 31% start-up time compared to the base PP membrane. Meanwhile, the biofilm detachment resistances also improved in the MBfRs employing the modified membrane. Extended Deraguin-Landau-Verwery-Oxerbeek (XDLVO) theory analysis indicated these benefits mainly attribute to enhanced interfacial interaction energy, which is significant to microbial initial attachment onto membrane surface. 16S rRNA gene analysis demonstrated the modified membrane also preferentially increased the abundances of key microorganisms at initial stage. These findings revealed the importance of quick biofilm formation and robust detachment resistance by involving surface-manipulated membranes onto maintaining MBfRs efficiency and stability.
Soybean is one of the major oil seed crops,which is usually intercropped with other crops to increase soybean production area and yield.However,soybean is highly sensitive to shading.It is unclear if ...soybean morphology responds to shading（i.e.,shade tolerance or avoidance）and which features may be suitable as screening materials in relay strip intercropping.Therefore,in this study,various agronomic characteristics of different soybean genotypes were analyzed under relay intercropping conditions.The soybean materials used in this study exhibited genetic diversity,and the coefficient of variations of the agronomic parameters ranged from 13.84 to 72.08%during the shade period and from 6.44 to 52.49%during the maturity period.The ratios of shading to full irradiance in stem mass fraction（SMF）were almost greater than 1,whereas opposite results were found in the leaves.Compared with full irradiance,the average stem length（SL）,leaf area ratio（LAR）and specific leaf area（SLA）for the two years（2013 and 2014）increased by 0.78,0.47 and 0.65 under shady conditions,respectively.However,the stem diameter（SD）,total biomass（TB）,leaf area（LA）,number of nodes（NN）on the main stem,and number of branches（BN）all decreased.During the shady period,the SL and SMF exhibited a significant negative correlation with yield,and the SD exhibited a significant positive correlation with yield.The correlation between the soybean yield and agronomic parameters during the mature period,except for SL,the first pod height（FPH）,100-seed weight（100-SW）,and reproductive growth period（RGP）,were significant（P〈0.01）,especially for seed weight per branch（SWB）,pods per plant（PP）,BN,and vegetative growth period（VGP）.These results provide an insight into screening the shade tolerance of soybean varieties and can be useful in targeted breeding programs of relay intercropped soybeans.
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•Adsorption capacity of modified MMT for ZEN from corn oil was significantly enhanced.•Modification increased the hydrophobicity and adsorption sites of MMT.•Modification increased ...contact number and interaction energy between MMT and ZEN.•Modified MMT improved the quality of corn oil.
The aim of this study was to explore the detoxification effect and mechanism of montmorillonite (MMT) modified with quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) on zearalenone (ZEN) in corn oil. Therefore, the characteristics and adsorption behavior of MMT before and after QAS modification were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and molecular dynamics simulations. The results showed that hexadecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride modified MMT (H-MMT) was an excellent adsorbent for removing ZEN from corn oil and the maximum adsorption amount of H-MMT (0.469 mg/g) for ZEN was 21.9 times that of MMT. This might be attributed to the numerous amounts of intercalation between MMT layers caused by QAS, which changed the appearance of MMT, increased the hydrophobicity, adsorption site, contact number and interaction energy of MMT with ZEN in corn oil. Adsorption experiments indicated that adsorption process of QAS modified MMT on ZEN was mainly chemical adsorption. Notably, H-MMT could not only remove pigment and ZEN in corn oil, but also improve oil quality by decreasing peroxide value and acid value. Therefore, H-MMT could be used as a potential adsorbent for the removal of ZEN from vegetable oil.
The safety problems associated with the occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in edible oils pose a serious threat to human health. In this research, the adsorbents of montmorillonite (MMT) modified with ...histidine under acidic conditions were prepared for AFB1 detoxification from peanut oil. To this goal, the characteristic of montmorillonite (MMT) modified with histidine at pH 4 (HMMT-4), 2 (HMMT-2), and 1 (HMMT-1) were analyzed by SEM, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, XRD, FT-IR, and TGA. Meanwhile, the adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics of HMMTs for AFB1 in peanut oil were investigated. The results showed that HMMT-1 was an excellent adsorbent for AFB1 detoxification from peanut oil due to the graft of histidine into the interlayer of MMT under acidic conditions, which increased the surface area and changed the appearance of MMT. The adsorption process of AFB1 by HMMTs was mainly chemical adsorption, which belonged to endothermic reaction. Notably, the adsorbent of HMMT-1 not only effectively removed AFB1 and pigment from peanut oil but also had no significant effect on the nutrients content in peanut oil. Therefore, HMMT-1 has the characteristics of safety, high efficiency, economy, and practicality and could be used as a novel promising adsorbent for AFB1 detoxification from vegetable oil.
•HMMT-1 with adsorption capacity of 1.417 mg/g was a possible AFB1 adsorbent from oil.•The maximum adsorption capacity of HMMT-1 for AFB1 was 1.7 times that of MMT.•The nutrition of oil could largely remain after HMMT-1 detoxification.•The removal of AFB1 from oil by HMMT-1 was a simple, safe and feasible method.
The spatial and temporal distribution of sunlight around plants is constantly changing in natural and farmland environments. Previous studies showed that the photosynthesis of crops responds ...significantly to heterogeneous light conditions in fields. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, soybean plants were treated by heterogeneous light after a pre-shading (SH-HL) to simulate the light condition in relay strip intercropping. Gas exchange and nitrogen (N) of leaves were measured to evaluate the photosynthetic performance, as well as photosynthetic N- and water-use efficiency (PNUE and PWUE). Chlorophylls (Chl) and Rubisco were analyzed as representative photosynthetic N components. Results suggest that SH-HL treated soybean exhibited evident photosynthetic compensation as the net photosynthetic rate (P
n
) increased significantly in unshaded leaves, from which the export of photosynthates was enhanced. Under SH-HL, leaf N concentration remained relatively stable in unshaded leaves. While Chl concentration decreased but Rubisco concentration increased in unshaded leaves, indicating preferential allocation of leaf N for CO
2
fixation. Results also showed that PNUE increased and PWUE decreased in unshaded leaves under SH-HL. Therefore, we suggest that within-leaf N allocation for CO
2
fixation in unshaded leaves rather than within-plant N distribution to unshaded leaves drives the photosynthetic compensation under heterogeneous light after a pre-shading. However, enhanced water loss from unshaded leaves is a cost for efficient N-use under these conditions.
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