The response of compensatory growth is an important adaptive strategy for plants to grazing. However, most previous studies on compensatory growth of plants focused on the compensation of the biomass ...or the number of sexual reproductive offspring and neglected the compensatory growth of vegetative reproduction (VR). This is important not only for plant compensatory growth studies, but also for theoretical and practical studies of grassland production. The clonal tussock grass
Hordeum brevisubulatum
was selected as the research object. Four different clipping severities (unclipping and clipping stubble at heights of 15, 10, and 5 cm) at the jointing stage and flowering stage were implemented to study the effect of simulated grazing. To explore the effect of recovery growth time on plant growth after simulated grazing, three sampling times were used at different recovery times after simulated grazing (1, 3, and 7 weeks). We found that light and moderate grazing severity significantly increased the number of vegetative reproduction modules, the promotion of simulated grazing on the number of vegetative reproduction modules was higher in the jointing stage than the flowering stage, and the increase in simulated grazing severity decreased with prolonged recovery growth time. The number of tillers significantly decreased with the increase in simulated grazing in both the jointing and flowering stages at 1 week after damage, and the decreasing effect weakened with the prolonged recovery growth time. The bud number mainly showed over-compensation, the juvenile tiller number showed complete compensation, and the tiller number showed under-compensation at 1 and 3 weeks after recovery growth. The number of tillers showed complete compensation under different grazing severities in the jointing stage, while it showed under-compensation in the flowering stage at 7 weeks after recovery growth. Our results indicated that different grazing severities in the jointing stage could promote the output of tillers with matter production capacity from vegetative reproduction modules, as well as improve the capability of compensatory growth. Therefore, in plant production, there will be a sustainable development effect on the renewal and productivity of the
H. brevisubulatum
population, resulting in different grazing severities in the jointing stage.
Gleditsia sinensis
is a valuable tree species with important pharmaceutical uses. However, high soil NaCl concentration limits its growth in saline soil, including coastal areas. This study aimed to ...investigate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on
G. sinensis
salinity tolerance and reveal its underlying physiological mechanism. A greenhouse experiment was performed.
G. sinensis
seedlings with and without AMF inoculation were subjected to four salinity levels: 0- (control), 50-, 100-, and 150-mM NaCl. After 2 months, the seedlings were harvested and analyzed for growth and biochemical parameters (antioxidant enzyme activity, superoxide anion content, malondialdehyde content, nutrient concentration, ion concentration, etc.). High AMF colonization rates (over 95%) and high mycorrhizal dependencies (over 75%) were observed across all NaCl levels. AMF effectively enhanced the salinity tolerance of
G. sinensis
seedlings by enhancing leaf stomatal conductance inducing higher net photosynthetic rates; improving peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities resulting in higher membrane stability indexes, lower superoxide anion and malondialdehyde contents in leaves and roots; increasing P/N ratio to mitigate P-limited biomass products; selectively absorbing less Na
+
and more Ca
2+
in their tissues to alleviate ion toxicity and maintain more favorable ion balances (e.g., K
+
/Na
+
) in their tissues. The results suggested AMF could effectively improve the salinity tolerance of
G. sinensis
, owning the great potential for afforestation and rehabilitation of
G. sinensis
in coastal areas.
Obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in both developed and developing counties in a state of nutrition transition are often related to diet, which also play a major role in shaping human gut ...microbiota. The human gut harbors diverse microbes that play an essential role in the well-being of their host. Complex interactions between diet and microorganisms may lead to beneficial or detrimental outcomes to host cardiometabolic health. Despite numerous studies using rodent models indicated that high-fat diet may disrupt protective functions of the intestinal barrier and contribute to inflammatory processes, evidence from population-based study is still limited. In our recent study of a 6-month randomized controlled-feeding trial, we showed that high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet was associated with unfavorable changes in gut microbiota, fecal microbial metabolites, and plasma proinflammatory factors in healthy young adults. Here, we provide an overview and extended discussion of our key findings, and outline important future directions.
Bacteria in human milk could directly seed the infant intestinal microbiota, while information about how milk microbiota develops during lactation and how geographic location, gestational ...hypertensive status, and maternal age influence this process is limited. Here, we collected human milk samples from mothers of term infants at the first day, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks postpartum from 117 longitudinally followed-up mothers (age: 28.7 ± 3.6 y) recruited from three cities in China. We found that milk microbial diversity and richness were the highest in colostrum but gradually decreased over lactation. Microbial composition changed across lactation and exhibited more discrete compositional patterns in 2-week and 6-week milk samples compared with colostrum samples. At phylum level, the abundance of Proteobacteria increased during lactation, while Firmicutes showed the opposite trend. At genus level, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Lactobacillus were predominant in colostrum samples and showed distinct variations across lactation. Maternal geographic location was significantly associated with the milk microbiota development and the abundance of predominant genus. In addition, milk from mothers with gestational prehypertension had a different and less diverse microbial community at genus level in early lactation times, and contained less Lactobacillus in the 2-week milk samples than those from normotensive mothers. Findings of our study outlined the human milk microbial diversity and community development over lactation, and underscored the importance of maternal geographic locations and gestational hypertensive status on milk microbiota, which might have important implications in the establishment of the infant intestinal microbiota via breastfeeding.
Telomere length homeostasis is essential for genomic stability and unlimited self-renewal of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We show that telomere-associated protein Rif1 is required to maintain ...telomere length homeostasis by negatively regulating Zscan4 expression, a critical factor for telomere elongation by recombination. Depletion of Rif1 results in terminal hyperrecombination, telomere length heterogeneity, and chromosomal fusions. Reduction of Zscan4 by shRNA significantly rescues telomere recombination defects of Rif1-depleted ESCs and associated embryonic lethality. Further, Rif1 negatively modulates Zscan4 expression by maintaining H3K9me3 levels at subtelomeric regions. Mechanistically, Rif1 interacts and stabilizes H3K9 methylation complex. Thus, Rif1 regulates telomere length homeostasis of ESCs by mediating heterochromatic silencing.
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•Rif1 maintains telomere length homeostasis and chromosomal stability of ESCs•Rif1 suppresses Zscan4 to prevent hyper telomere recombination•Rif1 interacts with and stabilizes the H3K9 methylation complex•Rif1 facilitates epigenetic silencing at subtelomeric heterochromatin
Dan et al. uncover a role for telomere-associated protein Rif1 in the maintenance of telomere length homeostasis and genomic stability in mouse ESCs and during early embryonic development. Rif1 modulates sporadic Zscan4 expression, important for telomere elongation by recombination, by stabilizing subtelomeric heterochromatin and thereby prevents hyper telomere recombination.
Background and Objectives: Findings from observational studies in China show that increased dietary fat consumption might be a contributor to the developing obesity epidemic. However, some cohort ...studies suggest that carbohydrate intake, especially from white rice, is a risk factor for obesity, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease in China. Our study aims to determine whether the traditional lower-fat, higher-carbohydrate Chinese or the Western higher-fat, lower-carbohydrate dietary pattern is more effective for weight control and the related cardiometabolic profiles increasingly found among contemporary Chinese. Methods and Study Design: The Optimal Dietary Macronutrient Distribution in China (ODMDC) trial is a 6-month, multi-centre, three-arm controlled feeding study. Based on the macronutrient transition in the past 30 years in China, three isoenergetic diets with a spectrum of fat and carbohydrate intake, but same protein contents, have been formulated. Percentages of fat, carbohydrate, and protein energy are one of 20, 66 and 14%; 30, 56 and 14%; 40, 46 and 14%, respectively. Participants will be provided with all their food and most beverages for 6 months. Results: The study population is planned to be 300 healthy non-obese adults aged 18 to 35 years. The primary outcome is body weight and the secondary variables are waist circumference and cardiometabolic risk factors. Conclusions: The ODMDC trial will have implications for nutrition policy in regard to weight control and related cardiometabolic disturbances among otherwise healthy non-obese Chinese.
Cytokines are important mediators and regulators of host responses against foreign antigen, with their main function to orchestrate the functional activities of the cells of the immune system. ...However little is known about the role of cytokines in pathogenesis and immune responses caused by infectious bursa disease virus (IBDV). The aim of this study was to examine the transcripts of cell-mediated immune response-related cytokine genes in the bursal tissues of chickens infected with IBDVs of varying virulence to gain an understanding of pathological changes and mechanisms of immunosuppression caused by IBDV infection and the immune responses evoked.
Real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the expression levels of both Th1 interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukins (IL)-2 and IL-12p40 and Th2 (IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and IL-10) cytokines were significantly up-regulated following challenge with the H strain (vvIBDV) and up to 2- and 30-fold, respectively (P < 0.05). Following infection with the Ts strain (cell-adapted virus) these cytokine transcripts were up-regulated at 5 days post-infection (dpi), 2- and 13-fold respectively (P < 0.05), while the expression levels of IL-2 and IL-4 were not significantly different (P > 0.05). A higher degree of cytokine expression was induced by the H strain compared with the Ts strain.
The results indicate that the expression of cell-mediated immune-related cytokine genes is strongly induced by IBDV, especially by the vvIBDV, H strain and reveal that these cytokines could play a crucial role in driving cellular immune responses during the acute phase of IBDV infection, and the cellular immune responses caused by IBDV of varying virulence are through different signaling pathways.
Although microorganisms play a key role in the carbon cycle of the Poyang Lake wetland, the relationship between soil microbial community structure and organic carbon characteristics is unknown. ...Herein, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to explore the effects of water level (low and high levels above the water table) and vegetation types (
and
) on microbial community characteristics in the Poyang Lake wetland, and the relationships between soil microbial and organic carbon characteristics were revealed. The results showed that water level had a significant effect on organic carbon characteristics, and that soil total nitrogen, organic carbon, recombinant organic carbon, particle organic carbon, and microbial biomass carbon were higher at low levels above the water table. A positive correlation was noted between soil water content and organic carbon characteristics. Water level and vegetation type significantly affected soil bacterial and fungal diversity, with water level exerting a higher effect than vegetation type. The impacts of water level and vegetation type were higher on fungi than on bacteria. The bacterial diversity and evenness were significantly higher at high levels above the water table, whereas an opposite trend was noted among fungi. The bacterial and fungal richness in
community soil was higher than that in
community soil. Although both water level and vegetation type had significant effects on bacterial and fungal community structures, the water level had a higher impact than vegetation type. The bacterial and fungal community changes were the opposite at different water levels but remained the same in different vegetation soils. The organic carbon characteristics of wetland soil were negatively correlated with bacterial diversity but positively correlated with fungal diversity. Soil water content, soluble organic carbon, C/N, and microbial biomass carbon were the key soil factors affecting the wetland microbial community. Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Gammaproteobacteria, and Eurotiomycetes were the key microbiota affecting the soil carbon cycle in the Poyang Lake wetland. Thus, water and carbon sources were the limiting factors for bacteria and fungi in wetlands with low soil water content (30%). Hence, the results provided a theoretical basis for understanding the microbial-driven mechanism of the wetland carbon cycle.
It has been suggested that the increase in carbohydrate at the expense of fat has contributed to the obesity epidemic in North America and some European countries. However, obesity rates in China ...have increased rapidly in parallel with a transition from the traditional low fat, high carbohydrate diet to a diet relatively high in fat and reduced in carbohydrate. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine whether the traditional Chinese diet was likely to be more effective than a diet with higher fat and lower carbohydrate — which is consumed in most Western societies, at weight control among a non-obese healthy population in China.
The 6-month, two-center, three-arm, randomized, parallel-group, controlled-feeding trial was conducted at People's Liberation Army General Hospital in north China and Zhejiang University in south China. We recruited healthy young adults (aged 18–35years, body mass index <28) who lived in the university campus or the hospital dormitory during the whole study intervention period. They were required to eat only the foods provided, and to avoid excessive or unusual strenuous exercise during the trial. Participants were simultaneously enrolled and randomized using a computer-generated number (stratified by clinic center, age, sex, and body mass index) by data manager to one of the three isocaloric diets (1:1:1): a lower fat, higher carbohydrate diet (fat 20%, carbohydrate 66% energy); a moderate fat, moderate carbohydrate diet (fat 30%, carbohydrate 56% energy); a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet (fat 40%, carbohydrate 46% energy). Protein provided 14% energy in all diets. We provided all food and beverages throughout the 6-month intervention. Laboratory personnel were masked to treatment allocation. Body weight was the primary outcome and measured each month. Data were primarily analyzed according to an intention-to-treat approach, supplemented with per-protocol analysis. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee at Zhejiang University. Each participant provided written informed consent. The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT02355795.
Between April 30, 2016, and October 30, 2016, 307 participants were randomly assigned to the lower fat diet (n=101), the moderate fat diet (n=105) and the higher fat diet (n=101), and 245 (79.8%) participants completed the study. Reduction in body weight was significantly greater in the lower fat, higher carbohydrate group throughout the intervention (P<0.001 for the interaction between diet group and time) than in the two other groups. Weight change at 6months was −1.6kg (95% CI −1.8 to −1.4) in the lower fat, higher carbohydrate group; −1.1kg (95% CI −1.3 to −0.9) in the moderate fat, moderate carbohydrate group, and −0.9kg (95% CI −1.1 to −0.6) in the higher fat, lower carbohydrate group. Reduction in waist circumference, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol on the lower fat, higher carbohydrate group were greater than those observed on the other two diet groups.
A lower fat, relatively higher carbohydrate diet, similar in macronutrient composition to that traditionally eaten in China appears to be less likely to promote excessive weight gain and be associated with a lower cardiometabolic risk profile than a diet more typical of that eaten in Western countries in healthy non-obese Chinese. Findings from studies in European and North American populations suggesting possible benefits of carbohydrate restriction may not apply to people of other ethnicities.
•A LF-HC diet was associated with a greater weight loss and great reduction in waist circumference than a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet.•Cardiometabolic risk profiles were more favorable on the LF-HC diet than on a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet.•Measures of glycemia were unchanged throughout the trial, regardless if the macronutrient composition.
This is a controlled-feeding trial to evaluate the effects of altering dietary fat and carbohydrate intake on weight change among non-obese subjects in a country experiencing nutritional transition. All the foods and most beverages were provided in order to maximize dietary targets and reduce other dietary or lifestyle related confounding factors during the intervention period. Our findings in conjunction with all other available evidence suggest that the Chinese population should be discouraged from following the continuing trend towards increasing dietary fat intake at the expense of carbohydrate.
Humans have consumed lard for thousands of years, but in recent decades, it has become much less popular because it is regarded as saturated fat. Animal studies showed that lard plus soybean oil ...(blend oil) was more advantageous for liver health than using either oil alone. This study aims to assess the effects of blend oil on liver function markers in healthy subjects. The 345 healthy subjects were randomized into 3 isoenergetic diet groups with different edible oils (30 g/day) (soybean oil, lard, and blend oil (50% lard and 50% soybean oil)) for 12 weeks. The reductions in both aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were greater in the blend oil group than in the two other groups (
= 0.001 and <0.001 for the interaction between diet group and time, respectively). The reductions in AST and ALT in the blend oil group were more significant compared with those in the soybean oil group (
< 0.001) or lard group (
< 0.001). There were no significant differences in the other liver function markers between the groups. Thus, blend oil was beneficial for liver function markers such as AST and ALT compared with soybean oil and lard alone, which might help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the healthy population.
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